Chapter 22 - Such An Altruist

"Well don't leave us in suspense!" exclaimed Asuka. "Just tell us already!"

"Alright, alright." Doctor Akagi took a piece of paper out of her pocket and unfolded it. She cleared her throat. "The Fourth Child is..."

The dramatic pause had to be deliberate, Shinji decided. He was sure that there would have been a drum roll if Doctor Akagi had thought of it ahead of time, especially with the way she was glancing at everybody else in the room.

"Kensuke Aida!"

The sudden announcement jolted Shinji out of his idle musing, and then his brain registered what his ears had heard.

"...Me?" said the newly christened Fourth Child, both hands wavering as they pointed at himself.

"Him?!" Asuka practically shouted.

"You," Doctor Akagi said with finality, her eyes focused on Kensuke. "The Marduk Institute has determined that you are the Fourth Child."

His eyes wide in amazement, Kensuke was frozen to his seat, even as Toji clapped him heavily on the back and offered his congratulations. While Hikari offered her own positive words, her eyes betrayed the concern she must have been feeling.

"However, thanks to this latest attack we don't have the time to sort you out just yet," Doctor Akagi continued. "We'll be in touch with you in a few days to hash out the details." With that said, she put the paper back in her pocket, nodded a farewell, and exited the room.

"Well, I suppose that'll give you time for it to sink in!" Misato remarked, momentarily standing behind a still stunned Kensuke. "I'd love to stay for the party, but there's gonna be a ton of paperwork for me to go through. Asuka, don't bother making dinner for me, I'll be here a while." She sighed heavily as she left the room.

"I'm... I get to be a pilot..." the boy dazedly mumbled. His head slowly turned to one side, where Toji gave him an encouraging grin, then to the other side, where Hikari's smile was somewhat brittle. He then looked across the table at the three pilots he'd soon be joining. Asuka had her arms crossed, shaking her head in disbelief, while Rei seemed to be taking the news in stride.

"...Congratulations," said Shinji, before mentally cursing himself for hesitating. The fact that the newest pilot was going to be one of his friends didn't quite sit right with him. But the Marduk Institute, whatever that was, had made its choice. He just hoped he, and Kensuke, didn't live to regret it.

"T-thanks, Shinji," Kensuke replied. "I just... I'm... well..." He took a few quick short breaths, then tilted his head back and let loose an ear piercing whoop of joy.

"Ugh." Asuka let her hands drop from where she had hastily clapped them over her ears. "Are you done, or do you want to deafen us some more?"

Rubbing the back of his head, Kensuke gave a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, um... sorry. Just had to let it out, you know?"

Asuka huffed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well... I'll admit that I was excited too when I found out, but then... I..." She blinked, eyes going distant and unfocused, then snapped her mouth shut. "Never mind. Forget I said anything."

Without another word, she got up out of her seat and stormed out of the room, yanking the door open fast enough to make it bounce off the wall and almost hit her on the way out.

The room was filled with awkward silence as the door clicked shut, its remaining occupants looking at each other in confusion.

"I... take it none of you know what that was about?" Toji finally asked, when the silence seemed about to crush them. Everybody else shook their head or made negative sounds.

"...I'll go see if she's alright," Shinji murmured, before standing and heading for the door.

"It was nice knowin' ya," Toji called out, which was immediately followed by a slapping sound and a yelp of pain.

Out in the corridor, Shinji just barely caught the sight of Asuka's hair as the girl rounded a corner. He jogged to catch up, turning the corner where he had to come to a stop in a hurry. It was that or run right over Asuka, who didn't seem to notice; she had her head down with a hand on her face as she leaned against a wall. Shinji proceeded to eloquently begin the conversation.

"Um..."

Asuka's head shot up, causing Shinji to jolt back slightly as she clenched the hand that had been on her face into a fist. Upon recognising who had just disturbed her, she settled back down again, folding her arms in front of her chest. "What do you want?" she growled.

Raising his hands in a placating gesture, Shinji replied, "I just... wanted to make sure you're alright. You kind of... disappeared in a hurry."

"I'm fine," she gruffly retorted, turning her head away from him.

Shinji recalled how he had essentially blown Asuka off earlier in the day in a similar manner, and a sly thought occurred. "Gee, sorry for being concerned," he said, mirroring the prior incident.

Asuka's head slowly turned back to him, her eyes wide in surprise. She blinked several times, as if unable to believe her eyes. Finally, her hands dropped to her side as she gave a small chuckle. "Smart ass."

Shinji smiled at her improved mood. "You do seem to be a magnet for them today," he remarked, rubbing the back of his head and mentally breathing a sigh of relief that his stupid plan worked, before turning serious again. "Really, though... are you alright?"

Asuka sighed heavily. "Yeah... I'm fine. I just... remembered something, that's all."

"Something bad?" Shinji asked, inquisitively tilting his head.

With a look of bemusement, she replied, "No, I just ran off and sat here because I left the stove on." Dropping the sarcasm, she continued. "It's... something that happened a long time ago. I don't wanna talk about it."

"Okay." Shinji nodded in agreement. He caught a brief look of surprise on Asuka's face, possibly at the fact that he was just going to let the matter go so easily, before he added, "But if you ever feel like telling me, I'll drop whatever I'm doing to hear you out, alright?"

"Uh... yeah," Asuka lamely replied. "Sure..."

"Yo, here you are!" said a voice from behind Shinji, causing them both to jump. Spinning around, he saw that Toji, Hikari and Kensuke were standing behind them.

"We're heading home now," said Kensuke, disappointment evident on his face. "We got, uh... 'asked' to vacate the briefing room."

"Oh yes, thanks for reminding me, nerd!" Asuka's eyes lit up in a dangerous way. "You do realise, now that you're going to be a pilot, that you'll be serving under me? And that you'll need to be trained up to our standard?"

Kensuke gulped, his face visibly paling. Shinji briefly considered jumping in to save Kensuke with a correction about the pilot ranks, or lack thereof, but since that would involve getting between a red-haired wolf and her unsuspecting prey, he decided discretion was the better part of valour.

Asuka slapped a fist into the palm of her other hand. "You can guarantee I'm going to enjoy this!"

'Well, at least she's in a much better mood now?'

XXX

For legal and security reasons, Soryu's 'boot camp', as she began to call it, had to wait until Kensuke was fully inducted and officially employed by NERV; not to mention the fact that he had to go through basic training first just to learn how to move an Evangelion. Shinji talking about how hard Soryu had pushed him in his training didn't help matters; Kensuke didn't know whether to be glad he could wait to get put through the wringer, or anxious about how long it was taking NERV to get in touch with him after the latest Angel attack.

On the surface, Masuhiro Aida seemed proud of the fact that his son had been chosen to become an Evangelion pilot, but Kensuke could see a father's concern whenever their eyes met. When wife and mother Hitomi Aida had died in a car accident, the poor man had struggled to balance work, family and his own grief; he'd briefly sunk into a bottle before a speeding driver had almost taken Kensuke away as well.

The shock of almost losing his son so soon after his wife had convinced Masuhiro to reevaluate the direction his life was heading in. After coming to terms with the death of his spouse, he ended up getting a job as part of an engineering team in the Geofront, eventually rising to the head of that team. While he did tend to arrive home late, Masuhiro always tried to spend as much of his free time as possible with Kensuke while the boy was growing up.

Lately though, his father apparently realised that teenagers sometimes needed time to themselves, and so Masuhiro had backed off slightly in the last couple of years. Considering his hobbies, Kensuke was rather grateful for that, as well as the computer hardware and other gadgets that his father had no qualms about spending money on.

Every day that passed with no word from NERV led to more and more nervous energy building up within Kensuke. Several times Class Rep had to bring him up on the fact that he was loudly tapping his foot, or a pen, or whatever happened to be in his hand. He would give an awkward chuckle, Soryu would scoff or roll her eyes at his impatience, and Toji would glance at him with something that almost seemed like jealousy. But that couldn't be right; Kensuke could barely get two words out of Toji whenever he was talking about NERV and the Evangelions, disparaging remarks about the people in charge notwithstanding.

It was when Kensuke asked the pil-... other pilots about how much money being saviours of humanity got them, one sunny day on the roof of the school, when he got a rather large clue. Upon being told the monthly wage by Rei, Kensuke's eyes boggled; it was almost twice what his father earned as head engineer. Out of the corner of his eye, though, he caught a glimpse of Toji clenching a fist and hitting it against his knee, and had a revelation.

The only reason Toji had gone along with his stealth photography gig was to try and get some money to help pay for his sister's surgeries. Currently, according to Toji, his sister might never walk again due to the lack of money. And now Kensuke had himself landed a job that could have paid for that with cash to spare. Guilt crawled through his belly as Kensuke realised there wasn't much he could do about that.

...Or perhaps there was.

XXX

When the call finally came, it was not by phone. Rather, it was the sudden presence of two black-suited men in Class 2-A that resulted in Kensuke entering the Geofront for the third time. Despite that, the fact this was the first time he was being officially invited was enough to cause his stomach to flip flop as the car trundled down the vehicle elevator.

After all, he was about to become an Evangelion pilot.

The skyscraper-sized robots had never been far from his mind ever since he got to see Unit-01 fight that Angel with the energy whips. Getting to actually sit in it, admittedly only as a passenger, had been like a dream come true, even with the nightmarish interrogation afterwards.

The vehicle elevator clanked to a stop, and the black sedan's engine came to life as the driver slowly rolled it onto solid ground before bringing it up to speed to continue down a tunnel that quickly opened up into the Geofront proper. Kensuke practically pressed his face up against the car window as he silently gawped at the splendour. To him, it looked like someone had simply pulled up a chunk of the surface and perfectly transplanted it a kilometre below, encased in a brilliant white sphere.

All too soon, however, the vista disappeared as the journey came to an end in another tunnel. Stopping in front of a security checkpoint, Kensuke and his two escorts got out of the car, one of the men beckoning for him to follow. They advanced through the checkpoint without incident, and Kensuke proceeded to completely lose his sense of direction as he followed the escorts through many twisting and intersecting corridors.

Finally, Kensuke saw a familiar sight; or rather, two of them. Doctor Akagi and Captain Katsuragi were standing in the corridor outside a room, clearly waiting for him. As the agents handed Kensuke off without a word, he came to attention and delivered a somewhat awkward salute.

Doctor Akagi simply stared at him, a folder in one of her hands tapping against her leg, while Captain Katsuragi chuckled and shook her head slightly. "No need for that, Aida, you're not a subordinate just yet."

"Perhaps, but it's still a formal sign of respect, ma'am," Kensuke replied, still holding the salute.

With an amiable smirk, the Captain relented and returned the salute, allowing him to lower his hand. She then gestured towards the door they were standing next to, indicating for him to precede them into the room.

This room looked exactly the same as the one from a few days ago, yet Kensuke was sure that he had been taken to a different area. He sat down on one side of the table, and the two women took their places opposite him. Doctor Akagi opened her folder and took some papers out of it, spreading them on the table. Kensuke caught a glimpse of his own face upside down, and attempted to surreptitiously read what was probably his profile.

"Alright, you already know who I am, and let's dispense with formalities while we're here," Misato began, clasping her hands in front of her on the table. "I'm not sure you've been properly introduced to my friend, however. This is Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, NERV's chief scientist in command of its Technical Branch, which governs research and development of the Evangelions along with repair and maintenance." She paused as the scientist gave Kensuke a tilt of her head in greeting. "First of all I'd like to thank you for agreeing to become the Fourth Child. It would have been entirely within your right to refuse... but I know that you wouldn't have even thought of turning us down."

Doctor Akagi nodded. "Indeed. We are in dire need of an extra pilot as this war against the Angels continues, and the Marduk Institute delivered you to us just in time."

Blinking in puzzlement, Kensuke asked, "What's the Marduk Institute? I've never heard of it."

"It's a committee that has been screening the global population for suitable Evangelion pilots," the scientist replied. "I haven't been told what the criteria are, besides that it must be a child born after Second Impact."

Kensuke leaned back in his chair slightly, raising an eyebrow. "That's... odd," he quipped.

"Confusing, yes, but that's not a discussion for today," said Misato, her eyes quickly darting to her co-worker and back to him. "We're here to go over the details of your employment with us as well as give you an induction."

"First off," said Doctor Akagi as she slid the piece of paper with his face on it towards him. "Please confirm that everything here is accurate."

Kensuke's eyes just about bulged out of his head at the profile. It was scrupulously exact, down to his current height and weight; likely taken from a recent annual health check performed by the school. He looked up at the women and nodded in the affirmative.

"Good." The scientist pulled the profile back towards her, replacing it with another piece of paper. "This one is a non-disclosure agreement, stating that you will not discuss any sensitive NERV information with unauthorised persons."

"Understandable," said Kensuke as he signed it. "Awesome as they are, you wouldn't want someone shady getting their hands on Eva or weapon blueprints."

"Indeed." Another piece of paper. "This one is an agreement that you give NERV permission to do whatever is necessary in the event you are hospitalised while employed by us. NERV has what is probably the world's most advanced medical facilities. If you get knocked down for any reason, I can almost guarantee that we can pick you back up again."

His eyes lighting up at this information, Kensuke eagerly gave his signature again.

One more piece of paper from the scientist. "Finally, this one is the contract stating that you will work for us as an Evangelion pilot."

Kensuke paid far more attention to this one than the others, carefully reading through it. Among other things, it stated that he was not to leave Tokyo-3 for any reason without permission from NERV, and that he would follow every reasonable order given to him by a superior officer. He appreciated the fact that it said 'reasonable order', given the vast swath of stories about people in positions of power forcing subordinates to perform unsavoury acts.

The pen in his hand hovered over the spot where he was supposed to sign, its tip waggling back and forth as Kensuke marshalled his thoughts. It was highly likely that what he was about to attempt could land him in hot water, but it was something he felt had to be done.

"Before I sign," he said, lowering the pen. "There's a couple of things I'd like to sort out first." To his faint surprise, neither woman seemed at all concerned.

"Let me guess," said Doctor Akagi. "You want to negotiate what we'll be paying you?"

"No," said Kensuke with a shake of his head. He paused, then brought his left shoulder up in a half shrug. "Well, maybe that too, but that's not the primary thing I'm after here."

Now they were surprised.

"Oh?" Misato quirked an eyebrow. "You believe you can get more out of NERV than a wage most school kids could only dream of? You'd already be getting more than I earn, due to the high risk of your job."

"I know," replied Kensuke, "but that's not what I want most from NERV. No..." He set the pen down on the table and brought his hands together, one cupping the other in front of his face. He took a deep breath. "What I want from you is accountability for your actions."

Misato and Doctor Akagi glanced at each other, confusion rife on their faces. "What do you mean?" Misato asked as they turned their attention back to him.

Kensuke lowered his hands down to the table. "A few months ago, my friend's sister was badly injured when the building she was in partially collapsed."

Doctor Akagi frowned. "That's awful, and I am sympathetic, but I fail to see what that has to do with us."

Narrowing his eyes, Kensuke pressed on. "Hisae Suzuhara was injured during the Third Angel's attack because NERV dragged its feet about bringing in a new pilot and ensuring they were adequately trained to defend the city."

Misato's eyes widened, her expression quickly turning to a scowl as she glanced at Doctor Akagi. "Yes, you brought Shinji in literally at the last minute. Unit-01 fell over as soon as he got to the surface because we didn't have time to give him proper instruction."

Kensuke gestured with one hand at the Captain. "Exactly. I've been told that Ayanami had been injured well before that attack. You should have sent for Ikari immediately so that he could take her place, even if it would have only been temporary."

"I'm the chief scientist, not a Human Resources manager," Doctor Akagi said in rebuttal. "I don't know why that happened either. And I don't know what you expect us to do about it now."

"I want you to take responsibility!" Kensuke hotly retorted, just barely refraining from slamming a hand on the table. "You just told me that NERV has the best hospital in the world. If you want me to pilot, then NERV has to make up for their mistake by doing whatever is necessary to let my friend's sister walk again!"

In the face of his anger, both women blinked at him for a few seconds. Finally, Doctor Akagi sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Such an altruist. Why not just take the money we give you and pay for the surgery yourself?"

"Again. Best hospital in the world," Kensuke repeated. "The general hospital in the city wouldn't be nearly as well-funded. And just throwing money at a problem isn't taking responsibility." He leaned back in his seat and folded his arms. "Either NERV agrees to heal her or I walk."

Misato stifled an amused snort. "Bold words, kiddo. We could just drop you and find someone else."

Kensuke smirked and shook his head. "How much time passed between this Marduk thing finding the Third Child and me? If you're in such a dire need as you said before, can NERV afford to wait? I'm not asking for the impossible, I just want you to help somebody get better."

Doctor Akagi rolled her eyes and blew air past pursed lips. "...Very well," she soon said. "I'll get in touch with the general hospital and see about moving this girl to our medical facility. Happy? Would you like to try and squeeze anything else out of us while you believe you have us over a barrel?"

"Nah, I got what I wanted," Kensuke replied, giving a sigh of relief in the privacy of his own head. "Well... I wouldn't mind being able to get a university scholarship when all this is over."

Misato nodded. "That's certainly something we can manage, right?" she asked, looking at Doctor Akagi. "Maybe for all the pilots?" she meaningfully added.

The scientist returned the nod. "Of course. We won't just dump you back on the street when the war is over. NERV will put in a good word for whatever educational institution you and the others choose."

"Then I'm all set!" Kensuke enthusiastically replied, picking the pen back up and signing his name.

"Brilliant!" Misato got up out of her chair and gave him an encouraging smile. "Welcome to NERV, Pilot Aida! Just the induction left to go, and then we'll see you tomorrow for your first simulator training session."

Kensuke grinned, before realisation struck. "Oh damn," he muttered as his face fell. "Soryu's boot camp..."

"Sorry, can't help you there!" Misato replied with a shrug. "Sure we've got our own basic training you'll need to go through first, but Pilot Soryu's done such a great job of helping Ikari and Ayanami that we've decided to let her handle the majority of pilot training."

Doctor Akagi smirked humourlessly. "If you had thought of that beforehand, you could have stipulated that we protect you from her ministrations." She gathered the paperwork back into her folder. "Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do now. I'm off to process this paperwork; Misato will give you the tour. Farewell for now, Pilot Aida."

As she left the room, Kensuke's head dropped onto the table. "Will I even live to see the next Angel Attack?" he mumbled, to which Misato simply laughed.

XXX

NERV Headquarters was, in a word, labyrinthine. Just one glance at a wall map told Kensuke that he'd be getting lost quite a bit, and he resolved to try and wander its halls only with somebody else. Captain Katsuragi made sure to show him the most critical areas first, i.e. the changing room and the path to the Evangelion cages. However, since it was only the start of the tour, he didn't get to admire the gargantuan machines just yet.

Other stops included the command centre, the simulators, the medical wing, the main exit back to the surface, and finally the cafeteria, where they sat down and got something to eat. Between mouthfuls of food, Captain Katsuragi spoke of what he was to do in an emergency, which mostly boiled down to 'get to the Geofront, get changed and get to the cages'. Kensuke was somewhat unnerved by the news that a Section Two detachment would be following him wherever he went in the city, but at least they were going to be discreet about it; he hardly ever saw the agents assigned to the other pilots.

Soon after their meal was finished, Kensuke received the news he had been waiting for: finally, NERV was going to let him sit in an Evangelion. First would be a simple test to see which robot he could work best with, then basic training, then...

Kensuke shivered slightly as memory caught up with him. After basic training, he'd be thrown to the wolves. More specifically, a wolf with red hair that was quite possibly still holding a grudge against him. Forget the nasty drill sergeant cliché, this would be a spiteful drill sergeant. Who also happened to be in a skyscraper-sized robot.

Upon reaching the changing room, Kensuke was only mildly surprised to already find a locker with 'Fourth Child Kensuke Aida' stamped on a metal plate and affixed to its door. He stared at the title for a moment, reminding himself that even though Soryu would likely drag him through hell, it was so that he could be an effective Evangelion pilot. Being able to defend humanity against alien invaders would be worth that and more. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

"...Really?" he muttered, staring at the garish yellow plugsuit. "Would have preferred something in camo colours..."

With a groaning sigh, he unwrapped the plugsuit and unfurled it in front of him. A folded up piece of paper flopped out and landed on the floor, and he bent down to pick it up. It was a set of instructions for how to put the plugsuit on, presumably added to the package because it was his first time.

"'All clothing must be removed before'... Oh geeze." Kensuke looked around the changing room, specifically at the upper corners. As far as he could see, there were no security cameras in here, but that didn't prove their lack of existence. Fortunately there was a screen nearby; even though he was alone in the room, and it was unlikely that anybody on NERV's security team was a pervert, he chose to go behind it to disrobe.

Half of the instructions seemed to be written for somebody who had never worn clothes before, telling Kensuke precisely how to step into the plugsuit and pull it up his body. He did so, quickly noting how the rubber suit hung off his body in a manner entirely unlike how he'd seen Soryu and Ikari wear their plugsuits. The next line of instructions solved the issue by pointing out the panel on the underside of the left wrist. An exploratory press of the largest button there rapidly evacuated the suit, giving him a strange sensation as air rushed out of its neck when the suit conformed to his body.

Feeling just how tight it was, Kensuke nervously glanced down at his body. To his great relief, the designers of the plugsuit had clearly thought of everything; a discreet chunk of rubber over the groin region handily protected his modesty.

There was a knock at the door, and an unfamiliar woman's voice said, "Are you decent, Pilot Aida? We're ready to begin."

Suppressing a grin at the title, Kensuke called back, "Yeah, I'll be out in a sec!" Just as he was about to stuff his clothes into the locker he had taken the plugsuit from, he saw a pair of yellow plastic ovoids. It took him a moment to realise that these were his version of those hair clip things he had seen Soryu wearing. Assuming they were somehow part of the uniform, he grabbed them out of the locker as he put his glasses back on, then headed for the door.

Outside the changing room, there was a young woman who Kensuke almost thought was related to Shinji. They both had very similar hair, even to the point of it being the same shade of brown, and the woman had the same slightly nervous look that seemed to be a semi-permanent fixture on his friend's face.

"Hello, Pilot Aida, I am Lieutenant Ibuki," she said, giving a small bow. "Captain Katsuragi is briefing the other pilots, so I am here to escort you to the cages."

"Other pilots?" Kensuke echoed. "They're here already?"

"Of course," Lieutenant Ibuki replied with a nod. "It's simply a precaution, but one of them will be on standby in their Eva in case of an emergency."

Kensuke frowning, tilting his head slightly. "Emergency? They're robots aren't they? Can't you just pull the plug?"

With a shake of her head, Lieutenant Ibuki started walking, and he hurried to catch up. "I don't believe you are cleared to know yet, so I will just say again that it's a precaution."

Blinking in puzzlement, Kensuke decided to remain silent for the time being.

XXX

"Hey thanks, nerd, I didn't need my eyes anyway."

Kensuke took Soryu's deadpan greeting with a smirk as he stepped through the door into the Evangelion cages, where a giant purple head loomed over them all. "Says the girl who goes around wearing bright red."

Soryu snorted. "Perhaps, but now the pilot corps is just one green plugsuit away from looking like a traffic light themed posse."

"That is not strictly necessary," came Ayanami's soft voice. "The 'go' signal for traffic lights in Japan is a blue light, although it gets called 'green' in keeping with international law regarding traffic lights. Pilot Ikari would only need a slight adjustment in the colour of his plugsuit to create your 'posse'." As she went on, the other teenagers slowly turned their heads to stare wide-eyed at her. It took until she finished speaking before she noticed, whereupon she flinched slightly at their rapt attention. "Is... there a problem?"

"No no, nothing at all," Soryu immediately replied, rapidly waving her hands in front of her. "We just... weren't expecting to hear you say something like that, Wondergirl."

"...I do not see why that is irregular," Ayanami stiffly replied.

Shinji seemed about to say something, but Captain Katsuragi's voice cut him off as she spoke over the intercom. "Chat time's over, kids, head to your Evas. Aida, stay where you are, we'll be trying you in Unit-01 first."

Shinji, Soryu and Ayanami moved off towards the other cages, leaving Kensuke standing in front of the purple behemoth that had rescued him and Toji during the Fourth Angel's attack. Knowing that he was soon about to go through hell at the hands of Soryu did nothing to quell the excitement coursing through his body. He rubbed his hands together in glee and gave a low whistle.

"Oh, this is going to be fun!"