Chapter 39 - Mama?
Shinji was somewhat surprised when he stepped out of the changing room to find that the hallway was missing a certain redheaded pilot. Normally, Rei and Asuka would have finished before him -she once mentioned something about a 'quick-change'- and Asuka would be waiting outside the male door for him, no matter how fast he got his plugsuit on, perhaps tapping a foot on the ground in impatience. On any other day, he might have done the same to her. Now was definitely not the time, though. Even with how physically far apart they were, separated by a wall, Shinji could feel Asuka's apprehension, her worry, her... fear?
He gathered his courage and knocked on the female changing room door. A moment later the door slid open, revealing an anxious-looking Asuka. Rei was nowhere in sight; she had likely already left for the command centre. Asuka stood there, one hand still on the door control, and slightly raised an eyebrow. "...Shinji."
"Is everything alright?" asked Shinji. It was a stupid question, but he still had to ask it.
"...What do you think?" she retorted huffily. "I'm sure you can sense it; I know right now I'm feeling your concern." She paused, then looked away with a hastily mumbled, "...thanks..."
Shinji nodded. "You're still worried about how to talk to your mother. I'm guessing you still haven't come up with anything."
"Not a damn thing... what about you?"
"I'm sorry, but nothing comes to mind." Shinji sighed deeply. "All we have to go on is what Rei told us this morning."
"Open our heart," they both echoed together.
It was such an odd suggestion; an incredibly vague concept. Shinji never felt like he 'opened' anything when synchronising to an Evangelion. It was simply a matter of... of...
Actually, what was it that he did that allowed him to synchronise? Despite the dozens of times he'd gotten into an entry plug Shinji still didn't precisely know what actually happened to put him in control of the war machines. He had just let the people on the bridge do their thing and went along with it.
"Maybe we can work something out when we're actually in an Eva," he suggested. A thought occurred, something that could work as a minor change of subject, and he gave voice to it. "Speaking of which, is something happening with Unit-02? You seemed pretty surprised when Misato called."
Asuka's face lit up. "Oh! Right!" she exclaimed, already looking much happier. "Your old man apparently got those whatever-Committee guys to back off. Unit-02 won't be getting put on ice!"
Shinji didn't need any sort of synchronisation to know just how exuberant she was at the news. "That's... that's great news!" he replied with a smile. "And it does make sense, after all we lost Unit-03 in the last fight, and who knows what will happen in the next fight?"
"Exactly!" Asuka finally stepped out of the changing room doorway and began to head down the corridor. "So what if my Eva somehow got its own S2 Engine? That'll only make things better for us!"
"Well, I can sort of understand their concerns," Shinji admitted as he hurried to catch up. "I mean, it came from an Angel. It could cause all sorts of problems."
"It's been over two weeks now," Asuka retorted. "If anything was going to happen, it would have by now. Especially with people poking my Eva all over."
Shinji had to concede that point. By then, they had reached the command centre anyway.
"Afternoon, kids," Misato said by way of greeting from where she was standing by the three bridge officers. Rei wasn't here either. Doctor Akagi glanced up from Lieutenant Ibuki's screen and gave them a short nod. "Just a couple things to go over before you get into your Evas."
"I'm sure you're excited about the S2 Engine Unit-02 now has," said Doctor Akagi. "But for now it's remaining offline. I still don't entirely trust it and neither does the Committee."
"Sooo... we have an infinite battery for our war machine that we're not allowed to use. That makes absolutely perfect sense," said Asuka, sarcasm dripping from her words.
"Well first off, it's not an 'infinite' battery," Doctor Akagi testily replied. "While yes, S2 Engines generate theoretically limitless power, there's still an upper limit to how much energy the systems can store. It would still be possible for you to run dry in a combat situation, especially with excessive use of an AT-Field. Secondly, the fact that an Eva has such a power source is not entirely a good thing."
Misato nodded. "Yeah, remember that the Evas have been known to go berserk in the past. Our only real method of stopping them when that happens is to stall and wait for their power to run out. Can't do that if the rampaging Eva has an S2 Engine." She pointed a finger at Asuka for emphasis. "And that is what's got us worried. So for the time being, the S2 Engine will be offline."
Asuka rolled her eyes, and her head as well, causing both adults to frown at her. "Fine," she grumped. "But apart from that, Unit-02 is back in business, right?"
"Indeed," replied Doctor Akagi. "With the total loss of Unit-03, and none of the Mass Production Evas ready yet, Commander Ikari was able to convince the Committee that we need every Eva we could field, regardless of any... unauthorised upgrades they might have."
"Wait!" Shinji exclaimed. "Mass Production Evas? There's even more of them?"
Doctor Akagi hesitated for a second, blinking a few times, before responding. "Oh. You must not have heard about them yet. Yes, there are twelve more Evas, dubbed the Mass Production Series, under construction in various countries around the world. Unfortunately they won't be ready until at least halfway through next year."
"Now then," Misato interjected. "If there are no more distracting questions? No? Good. Rei's already getting into Unit-00, so head on down to your Evas and let's get this show on the road."
XXX
Asuka could feel how nervous Shinji was starting to get now, as they drew closer to the Evangelion cages. She placed a hand on his shoulder just as they reached the door, and pulled just barely enough to get him to turn around. "We will work this out," she promised. "We have to, if we're ever going to be able to use our Evas properly again, without being full of doubts."
Shinji's eyes flicked over to the door for a split second, then he gave her a hesitant nod. She lightly slapped him on the shoulder. "Now look sharp! They're gonna think something's up if we go in there looking like we're scared."
The door opened, and Asuka strode through first, casually checking the set of her A-10 clips as she passed by Unit-00. Rei was apparently already in the entry plug, so she tossed a casual salute at the cyclopean eye. When they reached the second cage, Shinji turned off to head up the gantry to Unit-01's waiting entry plug, and she gave him a short nod of encouragement which he returned.
Now alone, and with the distance increasing between herself and Shinji, some of the anxiety was also dissipating. It was perhaps a good thing that they were doing activation tests and not sync tests, as with their strange mental bond, there was the possibility of a feedback loop occurring. Combine that with the shock of discovering the truth about their mothers or the despair of being proven wrong...
Asuka stared up at Unit-02 as she ascended the gantry. She knew what she experienced was true. It had simply been far too real to be a dream, even a lucid one. However, there was still the faintest, most minute possibility that she was mistaken about Shinji's mother. But she would much rather believe in the good possibility than the bad one.
Asuka idly wondered what Shinji's mother would think of her son's relationship with her, and almost immediately felt her face flush as her thoughts turned to what her own mother would say. Well... when she could finally work out how to contact her again of course.
She stepped into the entry plug and took her seat as the bridge crew ran through the startup sequence. LCL rushed into the plug and she took a deep breath just before it reached her neck then ducked her head underneath, swiftly expelled the breath and replaced it with a lungful of the orange liquid. Despite her long experience, the LCL still felt uncomfortably heavy in her chest.
Or was that just her nervousness again?
Asuka brought up a hand to gently rub against her collarbone. Or rather, the necklace that was resting at that exact spot. Some of her unease dissipated as she felt the sapphire press into her skin. Normally she wouldn't have risked damaging such a beautiful thing by potentially exposing it to LCL, but she'd found herself hesitating in the change room when it came time to remove it from around her neck. Instead, she had carefully slipped it under the collar of her plugsuit before activating it, hoping the seal was enough to protect Shinji's gift.
The comm system crackled to life, and Misato began speaking. "Alright, we'll be doing Rei's test first, since we anticipate no problems there. She will then be moved to overwatch for Shinji, and then the two of them will be overwatch for Asuka's test, in case of something going wrong."
Of course. They were now suspicious of Unit-02, as if a ten year Evangelion veteran would end up being completely incompetent at keeping things together. Asuka gritted her teeth and growled softly at the lack of trust. Soon, though, the usual technical jargon for synchronisation came through over the comm and she focused her mind on the task at hand.
Rei's test went off without a hitch, as was to be expected. But then again, she hadn't had to put up with any weird Evangelion business. Recently at least.
Unit-00 was quickly moved into position, and Asuka used that downtime to quietly open a comm channel to Unit-01. She and Shinji simply looked at each other through the screen. Nothing needed to be said aloud; they could see it in each other's eyes.
'Good luck.'
'Thank you.'
"Beginning Unit-01 activation test!"
The comm channel remained open. Shinji broke eye contact to focus on the test, but Asuka kept her full attention on him.
"Initiating first stage connections."
"Transmitting pulse."
"Graph readout normal."
She watched as Shinji frowned in concentration for a moment, before relaxing and closing his eyes.
"Full nerve link established."
"Harmonics are normal."
"Approaching absolute borderline..."
His face began twitching.
"Uh, we're getting some slight variances in the pilot's brainwaves."
"Shinji, please focus."
Asuka lightly scoffed. Shinji most certainly already was focusing. Just not exactly on what they wanted. A minute passed, with the bridge crew eventually debating whether to stop and try again. Before they could make up their minds, two things happened in the space of a second.
Shinji's eyes shot open; his expression one of pure shock. At the same time, somebody in the command centre called out that the activation was successful, but Asuka wasn't interested in that. She leaned forward in her seat, trying to catch Shinji's attention as he took several unnecessary deep breaths. He blinked rapidly for a few seconds, before turning his gaze to the comm screen. Asuka raised an eyebrow, and he responded with an ever-so-slight nod of the head, his eyes still wide open.
That confirmed it then. Shinji's mother was in Unit-01, and he had somehow managed to contact her. The only question was how-
...Of course Shinji heard the unspoken question. He raised a hand to his throat, seemingly casually tugging at the neck of his plugsuit as if to adjust it, but his pinkie finger tapped several times on his chest.
Right around where the necklace was resting.
Asuka fought the urge to touch that spot again. Shinji had somehow managed to work out that she was wearing the necklace for the test, and was using it as... a sort of signal? At this point what little of their mental synchronisation there was seemed to fizzle out as the bridge crew shut Unit-01 down in preparation for moving. The comm link was still open, but neither of them wanted to say a word for fear of alerting NERV to what they were attempting.
One of Shinji's eyes twitched a little, and the hand that was adjusting his collar moved to his ear and scratched a few times. Again, the pinkie finger tapped away, this time against the side of his head.
Slumping back in her seat with folded arms, Asuka outwardly projected the appearance of a bored and impatient pilot, but her mind was mulling things over. The necklace... and her head. It didn't seem to make much sense. How would thinking about Shinji's mother's jewellery help?
The realisation hit her like a slap across the back of the head. The necklace itself had nothing to do with anything; Shinji was just trying to do the best he could with what little he had available.
Mother. Think.
Think about mother.
Could it really be that simple?
If Asuka hadn't been sitting in a metal tube, she would have been pacing back and forth while waiting oh-so-patiently for the bridge crew to get sorted out for her test. But finally, they began their litany for the third time and Asuka set her mind to work.
"Initiating first stage connections."
Mama.
"Transmitting pulse."
Mama?
"Graph readout normal."
Mama!
"Approaching abbsssoooollllluuuuuuttttttteeeeeeee..."
Asuka blinked. Either the bridge crew had spontaneously gotten incredibly drunk, or-
A hand suddenly landed on her shoulder and she jumped clear out of her seat. When she landed again, her bare feet set down in soft grass under a partly cloudy sky. Asuka put a hand to her chest to try and still her hammering heart, and she turned around to give the intruder a piece of her mind. Her mouth opened... and stayed open as she took in just who it was that had given her a fright.
"Hello, my darling!" said Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, cheerfully waving a hand in greeting. "How good of you to comed̷̯̲̞̀̉i̴̱̤͗ë̶̖̤́͆͝ ̷̨̟̟͋̋ẘ̸̞̗͚̍͒ì̸̡͎̰̃͝t̸̢̛ḥ̷̂̃͊ ̵̢̐͋m̶̫̙͛e̸̡̙̊̓̍see me again!"
The shock of actually seeing Mama again was swiftly overridden with a horrible sense of unease. She had just been about to run towards her but something froze her feet to the ground. "H-hi... Mama... W-what did you just say?"
Mama tilted her head to the side, giving Asuka a blank look. "Are you feeling alright, darling? I said it was good of you to come see me again."
Asuka vigorously shook her head. Of course that was what Mama had said. She must have just been imagining that second voice. After all, she couldn't remember anything like that happening when she had been absorbed into the core.
"Yes, I had to make sure what happened was real," she said aloud. "But... what about the people watching over this test?"
"Oh don't worry about that," Mama airily replied. "I made this Eva; I'm the core of this Eva." She hesitated for a brief moment and shrugged. "Admittedly I never expected to become trapped in here, but I'd like to think I made the best of it. Anyway, we'll be fine to talk for at least a couple minutes before I'll have to let you go. I'm not yet sure how long I could shield us from NERV and the multitude of questions they'd have if they knew about this."
Asuka smiled sadly. "I... I see... Guess I better make the most of this then."
As soon as the last word left her mouth, with her legs finally back under her control again she swiftly closed the short distance between them, wrapping her arms around Mama in a fierce, desperate hug. "I can't really remember much of our last conversation, but I... really, really missed you."
"Oh... darling..." Mama returned the embrace. "I've been watching you grow up these last ten years, unable to even let you know I was still by your side. The fact that we're both here now, able to hold each other, is nothing less than a miracle."
Her eyes beginning to prickle with tears, Asuka shakily asked, "We... will be able to see each other again, right?"
Mama nodded, her chin gently tapping Asuka's head. "Of that you can be certain. We'll have to wait for the next sync test before we can speak again, though. In the meantime I'm going to see what I can do in here to facilitate a more... subtle communication method."
Around them, the world began to flicker like a light about to go out. Mama looked skyward and cursed under her breath. "It's time for you to go, before NERV notices and pulls the plug." She placed a kiss on Asuka's forehead. "Next time, we can have a far more leisurely chat. I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me."
That was an understatement. Asuka gave her mother a squeeze before reluctantly letting go. "Yeah, I do. But... for now... see you later, Mama."
Mama smiled, but her expression changed as she apparently remembered something. "Oh yes. Tell that lovely young Ikari boy to give Yui my regards. Farewell, Asuka."
Asuka froze. "Wait, you know ab-"
"Activation successful! Unit-02 is online!"
In the blink of an eye, she was back in the entry plug.
"And the S2 Engine?"
"Still completely offline. Not a peep out of it throughout the entire test."
"Good."
Asuka tuned out the bridge crew; she had more important things to think about, and quickly. First was the fact that Mama was definitely alive and inside Unit-02. There were so many things strange about that entire situation that she didn't know where to start, so instead she focused on what was said, trying to cement the words into her mind before they slipped away.
Mama had been watching over her from inside Unit-02 ever since her... apparent death ten years ago. Mama... was Unit-02, in a manner of speaking? But how did she even get in there? That was going to be one of the first questions Asuka would have to ask next time.
"Asuka?"
And... well... thinking back on it of course Mama would know about Shinji. After all, if Mama had been watching over her then she would have seen them piloting together. At least Mama seemed to like him; things would certainly have been awkward if Mama didn't approve of him, especially considering-
"Asuka! Wake up!"
The loud, irritated voice broke Asuka out of her reverie. Her head jerked up, taking in the comm window and the frowning blonde woman in front of her.
"Is everything alright in there?" Doctor Akagi asked. "We detected the same variances in your brainwaves just before activation as we did with Shinji."
"Oh. Um." Asuka shook her head. "No, I'm fine, I was just thinking about something, that's all."
Doctor Akagi stared at her for a few long seconds before turning away. "Very well. All three Evas are operational. Return Zero and One to their cages and shut everything down. We'll be doing diagnostics for the rest of the day, and tomorrow we'll run some harmonics tests and simulations. Can't have the pilots getting rusty."
Asuka's face twisted into a grin. To the bridge crew, it would likely seem that she was excited about getting to do something in her Evangelion again. Which, admittedly, was partially true. But now she only had to wait a day to be able to see Mama again.
The grin almost slipped off her face as she suddenly wondered about what had happened with Shinji.
XXX
Either Misato didn't notice the twin balls of anxious energy in the back seat of her car, or she simply didn't find their fidgeting worth mentioning. Rei was maintaining a neutral expression, staring out the passenger side window as Tokyo-3 flew past, but Shinji had seen the slight widening of her eyes when he had passed through Unit-00's cage on the way to the change rooms. And when he had stepped out to see Asuka waiting for him, the expression on her face had no doubt been a mirror of his own. But they couldn't bring themselves to speak openly about what they had just experienced while within NERV's walls; all they could do was wait until they got home.
Which, thanks of course to Misato's driving, didn't take very long.
Shinji and Asuka bid a temporary farewell to Misato and Rei as they reached their respective front doors, Asuka also stating that she would get started on dinner in about an hour. The moment the doors closed, she practically threw off her shoes and stomped into the kitchen to turn on the coffee machine. She raised a questioning eyebrow at Shinji, who waved off the offer of a cup and sat down at the table to watch and wait.
When they were both seated, Asuka's hands wrapped around a fresh cup of coffee, the two pilots remained silent for a short time, staring unblinkingly at each other. It hardly needed to be said that they had both met their mothers; that fact had been utterly clear just from their reactions during the activation test. But they were both curious. They wanted to hear the other person's story.
Asuka went first. Her story was over rather quickly, as there wasn't exactly much to talk about yet, but Shinji smiled at just how overjoyed she was at being able to talk to her mother again. The smile quickly faded when Asuka mentioned her mother's parting words.
"She... knows about me?" he mumbled, then ruefully shook his head. "Oh, well of course. Do... um... do you have any idea how much she actually knows?"
"At the very least, Mama likely knows everything that's happened while we've been piloting," replied Asuka.
"Well, that would make se-" Shinji froze, as the memory of a certain incident in Unit-02 played before his mind's eye, causing his cheeks to immediately heat up. And judging by Asuka's red face, she had just come to the same conclusion.
"W-well... um..." she stammered. "L-let's just... put that aside for now, yeah? There's still your side of the story."
After taking a moment to let his cheeks go from 'surface of the sun' to merely 'fry an egg', Shinji composed himself, gathered his memories of the test, and began to speak.
XXX
"Initiating first stage connections."
"Transmitting pulse."
"Graph readout normal."
Shinji frowned. He didn't have much time to experiment; Unit-01 would be shut down the moment the test was completed. He forced himself to relax and closed his eyes, wishing he could switch off his ears as well.
"Full nerve link established."
"Harmonics are normal."
What if he just... called out to her? That was one way to grab somebody's attention. Of course he couldn't start shouting about his mother or NERV would get somewhat suspicious.
"Approaching absolute borderline..."
But... the Evangelions worked by connecting to a pilot through... the neural link. All one had to do was think and the machine moved. So what if...?
'...Mum? Are you there? Mum?'
"Uh, we're getting some slight variances in the pilot's brainwaves."
The LCL suddenly seemed much warmer than before.
'Mum? Please answer!'
"Shinji, plleeeaaaassssseeeeee fffffffoooooooocccccccccuuuuuuuuuusssssssssss-"
His eyes shot open. The entry plug had disappeared, to be replaced by... a house? It was definitely a lounge room, somewhat bigger than the one in his own apartment, and he was sitting on a couch in front of a television. Warm sunlight was streaming in through an open window, and the notes of some unknown song were filling the room.
"...Shinji?"
In the blink of an eye he was up off the couch, turning to face the speaker; it could only be one person.
"...Mum..."
Another eyeblink, and he was practically lifted off the ground and crushed into his mother's chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held on like he was drowning.
"Oh... I'm so happy to finally be able to talk to you again, my dear," said Mum. "You don't know how agonising it's been to only be able to watch you on the few rare occasions you've been piloting Unit-01."
"S-sorry," Shinji stammered. "It's just-"
"I know, dear," Mum interrupted. "I know all about how you can't project an AT-Field, and how you mostly co-pilot Unit-02 with Kyoko's daughter. I'd rather you two work together, and not be able to see you as much, rather than have you risk your life piloting Unit-01 without protection. And-" She broke off, looking at the ceiling with a displeased look. "Damnit, I was hoping for more time. If we stay like this much longer, that Akagi woman will know something is going on."
"Next time?" Shinji echoed. "Wait, wouldn't they have already noticed something by now?"
His mother turned a sly grin on him. "You'll see when you get back." She drew him in closer and planted a soft kiss on his forehead. "I love you, Shinji. I'll see you again soon. Hopefully."
Struggling to maintain his composure, Shinji blurted out, "I'll make sure I'm in Unit-01 first for the next test!"
Mum nodded and-
-and he was back in the entry plug. The sheer suddenness of the transition left Shinji feeling rather unnerved. He took several breaths, despite the LCL doing that job for him, to try and calm himself down. A glance at the comm window showed Asuka staring expectantly at him, and he gave her the slightest of nods.
XXX
"And then you sneakily told me how to contact my own mother," Asuka finished.
Shinji nodded. "Yeah. I'd been in my Eva for a while at that point, thinking about how to reach out to Mum, but it was only when I... started thinking at her that I got a response. Luckily you managed to work out what I was trying to say."
Asuka grinned at him, tapping a finger on the side of her head the same way he had done. "I sure did, you clever boy."
Blushing slightly at the praise, Shinji pushed on. "So both our mothers are in our Evas, and they've been watching over us. Which means my mum would also know about you, since when you first came to Japan you were using Unit-01 until your Eva arrived."
"Yes, but she would likely know less about me than Mama knows about you," Asuka rebutted.
Shinji's face fell. "I know, and now I feel really bad for-"
"Stop right there!" Asuka stood up and leaned on the table, looming over him. "Do I even need to get into why you shouldn't feel bad?" Shinji's only response was to blink at her. "Your own mum said she'd rather have you be safe by piloting with me. So none of this self-deprecating shit!"
Leaning away as much as he could while still sitting down, Shinji stared at his suddenly angry housemate. "U-um... okay," he apprehensively replied. "But... now that I know she's in there, I want to at least try to do our next simulation training in Unit-01, so we can catch up if nothing else."
Her ruffled feathers settling back down, Asuka dropped back into her seat and took a sip of her coffee. "That's fine," she said, setting the cup on the table slightly harder than normal. "It won't hurt to get a little solo training every now and then. Anyway!" Shinji jumped slightly at her sudden exclamation. "You met your mother. That means you've finally seen what she looks like, yeah?"
"Of course," Shinji instantly replied. "She looks...uh... her hair is..." He trailed off, trying to remember what he'd seen, then snarled and smacked the side of his head. "Oh come on! I was looking right at her! How can I still not know?!"
The tables now turned, it was Asuka's turn to lean away from Shinji's anger as he grabbed at his head with one hand and slapped the table hard with the other. Recovering quickly, she snatched hold of his wrist just as he raised it again. "Calm down!" she ordered.
Shinji glared at her, about to run off at the mouth, but suddenly they both heard the front door open and a voice call out, "Hey kids, everything alright? I heard shouting."
Two sets of eyes darted towards each other. Asuka quickly let go of his wrist and sat back down, picking up her coffee cup while Shinji rubbed a hand down his face.
"Yeah, we're fine Misato," Asuka replied as their guardian stepped into their kitchen. Before Misato could question further, she asked, "What's up? You getting impatient for dinner?"
Misato sighed heavily. "No. Well, I mean, yeah I am hungry, but I just got a sudden call to return to NERV. Something's going on and my presence has been... requested."
Shinji and Asuka glanced at each other again, their anger faded to be replaced by confusion. "That sounds... ominous," Asuka remarked. "And I take it this doesn't concern us?"
"No, just the higher ups. Afraid I can't say more than that." Misato turned around to head back out. "Don't bother making anything for me. I can't even say for sure when I'll be getting back home."
Out of the corner of his eye, Shinji saw a suspicious look on Asuka's face. "...Alright," he tentatively said. "Well... um... have a good night?"
Misato's only response was an amused snort and a muttered, "Yeah, right," before the front door closed.
Tense silence filled the kitchen for a few moments, eventually broken by Asuka's grim tone. "Whatever's happening at NERV, it's pretty freaking big."
Shinji turned his head to look at her. "What could it be though, if not an Angel?"
"Even an organisation dedicated to protecting humanity from giant aliens can suffer from internal issues, Shinji," Asuka replied. "People need paying, supplies need procuring... and problems can happen with its employees." She tapped a finger against her chin. "My guess is that our guardian has been called in for questioning."
"What?!" Shinji exclaimed. "They think Misato did something bad?"
"Not necessarily. Could be that they hope she can shed some light on whatever happened. Like maybe she saw a certain person around the time of whatever happened, you know?"
Shinji took a deep breath, exhaling it softly and releasing some tension along with it. "Oh, I see."
"Now then. As I was about to say before Misato came in, don't stress yourself out about your mother." Asuka tapped the side of her head. "Remember what happened last time?"
Guiltily ducking his head, Shinji sighed. "Yeah, a massive headache and nothing to show for it," he glumly recalled.
"Exactly. Whatever trauma is blocking off those memories had to have been pretty damn serious. It's not going to go away just like that." She punctuated her words with a snap of her fingers. "Now that you can talk to your mum, you can work at this slowly and steadily. After all... I..."
Shinji noticed her trail off, looking away with a strange, somewhat sad look on her face. "...Asuka?"
"I did... see her after she died," Asuka quietly finished. "This is all so... most of me is just so goddamn happy that she's still alive, but there's still a little part that's like 'you saw her ha-... her body!'"
Though she very quickly corrected herself, Shinji still caught that slip of the tongue. While it did confirm that something happened with Asuka's mother's death, he wasn't about to poke that wasp nest until he was sure they were both ready.
"Well...I guess all we can do is just... keep talking to them," he finally said. "We do kinda need to... reconnect with them in a sense. And if you and I are in different Evas we'll also have a bit of privacy for any... sensitive topics."
Asuka stared at Shinji for a moment before giving him a weak smile. "Clever boy," she remarked. "I hadn't even really thought of that yet." She shook her head and stood up, finishing the last of her coffee and rinsing the cup out in the sink. "Well anyway, enough of all... this. Let's get started on dinner before Rei comes over to complain."
Shinji quirked an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure Rei wouldn't complain about that."
"Complain about what?"
"Gah!"
Twin shouts of surprise erupted from Shinji and Asuka's mouths, and Shinji almost jumped out of his chair. "R-Rei?" he stammered. "Um... hi. When did you come in?"
"Just now," Rei replied. "It seems you somehow did not hear me enter." She glanced at the kitchen bench and her tone of voice might have turned slightly reproachful. "It also seems that you have yet to start dinner. Would you care for some assistance?"
"...Yeah, sure," Asuka lamely replied. "Anything you're in the mood for tonight?"
"Whatever you-"
"-choose to make is fine, I get it," Asuka interrupted with a bemused sigh. As she turned around to head to the fridge, she shot Shinji the barest hint of a smirk.
Synchronisation was absolutely not needed to detect the aura of 'I told you so' emanating from the smug redhead.
XXX
"Thank you for complying, Major Katsuragi," the security officer said as he unlocked the door and opened it, beckoning for her to step through. "We hope to resolve this matter as swiftly as possible."
Misato huffed and strode past the man into the cell. "Can you at least give me an idea how long this will take? I am the guardian of our pilots after all."
"I'm afraid I do not have that information, ma'am. I can say that Section Two surveillance of the pilots has been stepped up for the duration of this... situation."
Clearly deciding there was no more to be said, the officer closed the door. Misato heard the rattle of the key in the lock followed by two sets of footsteps fading into the distance. She let out a long-held sigh and sank heavily onto the cell's bed.
'Kaji, just what the hell have you gotten yourself into now?' she angrily thought.
She wasn't stupid; her I-can't-tell-if-he's-my-boyfriend had been coming and going ever since he arrived in Japan with Asuka and Unit-02, and it wasn't to see some other woman on the side. He was determined to find 'the truth', no matter what happened to him as a result. One hand dropped to her side and fidgeted with the lump the flash drive Kaji had given her made in her jacket's outer lining. She had yet to see what was actually on the device, as her plan had been to look over its contents and discuss them with him.
Her gut churned at the possibility that that was soon going to be rather difficult to do.
XXX
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"Hey Shinji!" Asuka called out from the comfort of the couch in front of the television. "Why are Japanese commercials so freaking weird?"
"Weird?" Shinji poked his head in from the kitchen, where he had been washing up after dinner as he had lost at Janken. He glanced at the television, which was now showing a commercial depicting a man eating a long, long piece of gum. "Uh, they seem pretty normal to me. Then again I have grown up here."
Asuka gave a half-shrug as the man stared seductively at the screen while still feeding the gum into his mouth. "Yeah, I suppose so. If you were watching German television there would likely be something you'd consider crazy. I don't think we have anything that compares to the game shows here though."
"...Okay I have to give you that one," Shinji bemusedly replied with a slight shake of his head. "Even I think some of them are a bit weird. Like that one where the contestants have to bend in weird ways to fit through walls sliding towards them."
"Don't think I've seen that one."
The ringing of the phone in the kitchen interrupted their conversation. Shinji went back to the kitchen to answer it while Asuka returned her attention to the television, turning the volume down a bit so she could try and hear him.
"Hello? ... Ah... Hallo. Ist deutsch besser?"
She raised one eyebrow as he suddenly started speaking German, trying to figure out who would be calling this late in the day that would be speaking her native tongue. Then he continued speaking and her other eyebrow shot up.
"Asuka? Ja, sie ist hier. Wen soll ich melden? ...Oh... Okay."
The television completely forgotten, Asuka was already turned to face the doorway when Shinji passed through it, giving her the phone and a puzzled look. "It's apparently your... stepmother?" he said, the question evident in his tone of voice, but Asuka didn't have time to talk about it.
She took the phone and stared at it for a few seconds, before hesitantly holding it to her ear and warily saying, "...Hallo?"
"...Hallo Asuka..."
Even over the phone, there was no mistaking that voice. "...Katharina."
XXX
Curiosity compelled Shinji to delay his return to the kitchen. He could not recall Asuka ever mentioning having a stepmother, and she had not exactly reacted happily upon hearing about who the call was from. He could only hear Asuka's side of the conversation, and at the moment it seemed to be the standard 'how have you been?' questions and answers of a typical social call. After a minute or so Asuka seemed to unwind, relaxing into the couch, and her voice gradually stopped sounding so... formal. He returned to the kitchen, pausing only for a moment when he heard Asuka say, "Him? Oh, he's my friend and roommate."
And right as Shinji picked up a cup to dry it, he almost dropped it on his foot when she started sputtering and said, in a not-nearly-quiet-enough voice, "K-Katharina! I... yeah, alright, I find his accent cute too..."
At that point he decided he should hurry up and finish drying the dishes, so he could make a tactical retreat. It wouldn't take long now that his face was radiating so much heat he wouldn't need a towel.
Shinji busied himself in his room tidying up things that were already clean and neat, and even changing his bedsheets three days earlier than normal. With nothing else to do, and Asuka still on the phone, he picked up his SDAT, blew a layer of dust off of it, and laid down on his bed to listen to some music.
Ten minutes later he had to pause the SDAT as his phone began ringing. And as he reached for it, Shinji realised he could hear a second phone in the apartment also ringing. With a sigh, he dropped the SDAT on his bed and quickly headed out to the kitchen, where Asuka was already standing.
"-don't worry, Katharina, I'll be fine," Asuka said into the house phone. "I've done this plenty of times before and I've got Shinji with me... Yeah, I l-... bye." She set the phone down on the kitchen table and brushed past Shinji, who thought he saw a flash of red on her face. Shrugging it off, he put his shoes on and followed her out the door.
Once the three pilots were in the Section Two car and on their way to NERV, Shinji awkwardly cleared his throat and said, "So... a stepmother, huh?"
Asuka, slouched in her seat with arms folded, muttered, "Yeah. That bastard father of mine married a nurse." A scowl erupted on her face for a brief moment before she swiftly blanked it again.
Shinji tilted his head, somewhat puzzled by her emotions. "You seem angry, but you talked for a while on the phone with her."
Asuka blinked, stared at him for a moment and then shook her head. "Oh no, she's fine. I... don't really have any problems with her, I suppose. It's him. He..." She waved a hand in dismissal. "Never mind for now. I'll tell you when we get home. Let's focus on what's in front of us."
Shinji nodded. Turning to the driver, he asked, "Does NERV know much about this Angel yet?"
"Not much," the bald man replied. "It's sitting in orbit right above Tokyo-3, just outside our defensive envelope. Hasn't done anything else yet."
Asuka cursed. "Are we going to have a repeat of Sahaquiel or something?"
"We would not be able to defeat it the same way if that is the case," Rei replied. "With Pilot Aida incapacitated, there would only be two Evangelions. Major Katsuragi's idea would not work."
"That's not likely to happen anyway," Shinji interjected. "None of the Angels have attacked the same way as a previous one. Whatever this one's plan is, we'll need to think of something new."
Asuka conceded the point with a nod of her head. "In the end it won't matter what it does. We've kicked the shit out of every other Angel, and we'll keep going until they're all gone. "
XXX
"Major Katsuragi?"
Misato stood up from the bench she'd been sitting on for several hours and walked over to the door to her little cell. "What is it?"
"An Angel has been detected in low orbit directly above Tokyo-3," the man on the other side said as a key rattled in the lock. "In light of the situation you have been granted a release to oversee the situation until it is resolved."
She sighed heavily. "Of course. It's always a damn Angel. I'd somehow forgotten for one brief moment where we work. I suppose I'll be asked to return here when it's over?"
"Most likely, yes."
The door opened, and Misato strode out as if it had been entirely her decision to stay in that cell. "Fine," she muttered. "Let's just get this damn thing over with."
XXX
When the pilots reached the command centre, the image on the giant screen that greeted them was, as expected, baffling.
"I... really have no idea what to make of this one," Asuka admitted after a moment of staring at the Angel. "Some sort of... glowing bird skeleton?"
"Appropriately enough, the MAGI have given it the codename Arael," replied Doctor Akagi. "Also known as the Angel of Birds."
"How are we going to defeat it though?" asked Shinji. "There's no way we can get up there, and none of our weapons will reach either." He paused for a second. "Wait, what about the Positron Cannon? Would that have enough power?"
"That was my first thought," said Misato, with a sigh and a shake of her head. "But we don't have the time to set up the infrastructure again, and even with all the power of Japan there's no guarantee the beam will maintain cohesion over such a long distance, let alone punch through an AT-Field."
"So... what?" Asuka waved a hand at the screen. "We can't punch it in the face, we can't shoot it in the face... you want us to go out there, flip it the bird and throw harsh language at it or something?"
Shinji stifled a snort of amusement at the mental image of the Evangelions standing in a row outside the city, both arms extended, middle fingers raised, pointing skyward. Misato, the person standing closest to him, caught his eye and gave a tiny grin.
Doctor Akagi, on the other hand, rolled her eyes. "While I'm certainly intrigued in testing the effects of an acid tongue against an Angel, that'll have to wait for another time. We'll be sending you three out in the hope that the Angel will detect you and move in closer so that we can engage. Speaking of the Positron Rifle, we actually have a scaled down version for you to use. It requires its own power cable, and it only has eight shots, but it is at least portable."
Asuka's eyebrows slowly rose upwards. "Not bad. We'll take it. Finally we have something to replace those anaemic Pallet Rifles."
"In defense of those rifles, they were designed and manufactured before the Third Angel arrived," Misato remarked. "And short of stripping a bunch of cannons from several battleships, slapping them together, and finding a way to make that portable, we didn't have a lot of options for armaments."
"We don't have time to be sitting around chatting about guns," Doctor Akagi admonished. "Head to your Evas. Shinji, Asuka, you'll be deploying in Unit-01 this ti-"
"Belay that."
All eyes were drawn to the raised platform in the middle of the room, where Commander Ikari sat at his desk. "The Second and Third Children will deploy in Unit-02," he ordered, his gaze fixed upon the screen and the Angel it displayed.
"...Sir?" said Doctor Akagi. "The Committee said-"
"The Committee is not here," Commander Ikari interrupted. "I, however, am. Deploy Unit-02; I will deal with the Committee when this is over."
Doctor Akagi looked like she wanted to press the point for a moment, but then shrugged and turned back to the teenagers. "Well, you heard him. Unit-02 as usual, you two."
Shinji and Asuka shared a puzzled look. Asuka shook her head and took off for the Evangelion cages, and the other two teenagers were hot on her heels.
XXX
As the elevator took off towards the surface, Shinji felt something gently probing at the edges of his mind. He glanced back at Asuka, giving her a puzzled look. She simply grinned and tapped her chest in response. As understanding dawned, he hesitantly reached out with his mind.
"...Hello, Ms Soryu?" he thought. In German, of course.
He had to stop himself from visibly reacting at the response. "Good day, young man," an amused-sounding voice responded. "I won't stay long; you two do have a mission to focus on and we don't need NERV getting suspicious. But it is nice to see you face to face, in a manner of speaking."
"And you as well, ma'am. It's... um, a little surprising to... hear you reach out like this."
The voice didn't respond for a moment, perhaps working out how best to explain. "A... a locked door has been opened.Now that you and Asuka have found the keys, communication will be much easier. I must go now. Good luck, and look after my daughter, Shinji Ikari."
"...I'll... um, do my best."
The presence faded as the elevator slammed into position. Unit-02 disengaged from the locks and the red behemoth strode through the fortress city to its designated location. Five streets away, Unit-00 was doing the same. The two swiftly reached their destinations, a pair of armoury buildings, and retrieved the weapons within. Unit-00, sniper rifle in hand, moved back a ways down the street and then laid down on its back, propping the rifle's barrel up against a heavily reinforced building and aiming into the sky.
Unit-02, downscaled Positron Rifle in hand, stepped away from the armoury building to let it close, then proceeded further down the street. The weapon was now a partially shoulder mounted design, moving a lot of the weapon's weight off the arm itself for better stability. Unit-02 hefted it and checked it over as the two pilots familiarised themselves with the new weapon.
"Quite a bit heavier than the Pallet Rifles," Asuka remarked as Unit-02 swept the weapon back and forth. Both pilots now had a head-mounted aiming system covering their faces, connecting them to the rifle's optics. "Not sure about the recoil though, I can't remember what firing its big brother was like. Besides loud and deadly."
Shinji looked skyward, at where the MAGI were projecting Arael to be, and the barrel of the Positron Rifle followed suit. With such a great distance between them, the Angel looked like little more than another star in the night sky. "Any reaction from the Angel yet?" he asked of the command centre.
"Nothing yet," Lieutenant Hyuga reported. "The target is maintaining its position over Tokyo-3."
"Damnit," Asuka muttered. "Come on down here so we can kick your ass already!"
The targeting system's crosshair was jittering back and forth, not designed for target acquisition at such an extreme range, but the two halves were gradually coming together in the centre of the screen.
And then a brilliant light appeared.
"What the-" both pilots uttered at the same time, followed quickly by, "AT-Field, full power!"
As a beam of energy began to light up the night, focused directly on Unit-02, the Evangelion thrust one hand out in front of it as it summoned its barrier.
"A particle beam weapon?!"
Shinji's head felt... strange. Like something had managed to sneak into his skull and was now running fingers along his brain.
"-psychograph! Mental contamination-"
Whatever was happening in the command centre, Shinji couldn't focus on it. "A...Asuka...?"
Through gritted teeth, Asuka replied, "Y-yeah, I feel it t-too. It's... att-ttacking our m-minds..."
"C-can't have t-that now, c-can we?"
"Hah." Asuka grinned widely. "C-come on then, y-you spiky bas-"
The beam intensified, turning night into pure white and searing Shinji's eyeballs to the back of his skull.
"S-Shinji...!" Asuka's voice had suddenly picked up an echo.
"I'm... still... here!" Getting the words out was like trying to push a building over. Shinji's eyes were closed, he was sure of it because he'd felt them close, and yet the light was still somehow reaching them just as clearly.
The last thing he heard before losing consciousness was two people crying out in pain with one voice.
