"Unhappy is the land that breeds no heroes."
"No, Andrea. Unhappy is the land that needs a hero."
- Life of Galileo, Scene 12. Written by Bertolt Brecht, 1939.
†
It was time.
The past hour had passed in a blur- the nerve-wracking reentry as the shuttle fell back to earth, the burst of frantic radio chatter she could hear from the cabin as the veil of plasma lifted and allowed contact, the veritable fleet of black vans and jeeps waiting for her at the airport as soon as stepped out. She didn't even remember the race to headquarters or slipping on her plugsuit.
"-the Angel is approaching from the south-southeast, and should surface in about ten minutes. If its land speed is anything like the previous one, it can be in the city within half an hour."
She did remember, however, just how fast Misato could talk.
"Do we have an idea of its body plan?" she asked, taking uncomfortably long strides to keep apace.
"Observation buoys indicate it's big, compared to the last one," Misato replied. "Don't get close unless you absolutely have to. Current combat plan is you will take elevator B-9 and use the maser rifle once you've neutralized the AT-field."
Asuka simply nodded. Normally the older woman's rapid-fire talking was grating, but for combat briefings it had its purpose.
Combat. Which she was finally about to do, after eight years of training, more than half of her life dedicated to this one purpose. Her heart pounded in her ears, but that was clearly from the dash to get ready, and nothing more. Not in the slightest.
Her pulse pounded in her ears as she made it to the Eva cage. Unit-01 waited there for her, up to its shoulders in dark LCL, hunched forward and spine protruding. Something about it felt different from Unit-02, the restrained beast underneath closer to the surface despite having a thicker armor plating. Its eyes were covered in milky yellow protective lenses, yet some silly part of her felt as though it was looking right at her.
Misato came to an abrupt stop and turned to her. "Are you ready for this?"
She looked back, head upturned ever so slightly as her eyes narrowed. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Misato didn't answer, but Asuka could see the patronizing worry in her eyes, like she was some toddler being dropped off for her first day of school.
"Good luck out there, Asuka," was all she finally said.
"I don't need luck." She brushed past Misato, towards the Eva.
The layout of the plug was virtually the same as with Unit-02, and so she waved off the technician trying to give her instructions as she secured herself in the control seat and gripped the yokes. The hatch sealed shut, briefly leaving her in darkness before the interior red lighting activated and the plug began to descend into the innards of the Eva. LCL poured into the plug, and she reflexively exhaled, hardly registering the sudden feeling of a chest-cold as she took in a deep breath of the copper-tasting liquid.
Light filled the dark chamber as a holoscreen flickered to life, showing Misato's face. "Asuka, do you read?"
"I read you," she replied.
Another face appeared on the screen, one she recognized from more than a few papers. "Asuka, this is Dr. Akagi. We are preparing to try and sync you with Unit-01. Just be sure to clear your mind."
Asuka fought the urge to roll her eyes. This was something she'd done a thousand times over.
The expected pressure came, against not the body but another whole aspect of her being, something she could not put into words but understood all the same. The primal mind of the Eva pushed against her, then receded slightly, as if hesitant. For a moment, Asuka almost fancied it was studying her, which was silly. The mind of an Evangelion was no more than autonomic nerve impulses.
The pressure came again, then stayed. Slowly, Asuka became aware of the chill of the LCL in the cage washing over skin that was not hers, the familiar dull ache deep within her new bones. She breathed in, and the Eva moved with her, armor creaking and groaning as she stretched muscles that hadn't been used in years.
"Sync rate is holding," Dr. Akagi said, a twinge of excitement in her voice. "32%. Lower than normal, but that's to be expected."
She looked up from the computer. "Unit-01 has a pilot."
Was there any doubt?
Already the LCL from the cage began to drain, the chill receding as the platform holding her aloft began to move towards one of the launch elevators. Asuka leaned her head back in her seat, and idly realized her heartbeat had calmed from the pounding pulse of before. She remembered accounts she'd read from astronauts, how before launch their hearts would race, then as soon as the massive bomb under them roared to life and began to carry them to the stars, they would become as calm as a monk.
Calm was not the proper word to describe her, however. She was not sedate. She was strong. She was mighty.
And by God, she was going to show the whole world just how strong she was.
"Unit-01, launch!"
†
The city disappeared.
The process was so rapid Shinji hardly had time to register what was happening when the street beneath him shook, and all around the glittering modern metropolis began to sink into the ground. In less than a minute, Tokyo-3 had become naught but a flat plain of armor plates and segmented streets, broken only by a handful of dull gray towers that had to be for military purposes.
He felt exposed, out in the open for prying eyes. There were still public parks and gardens scattered across the retracted city, like tufts of grass erupting from asphalt, and he dashed for the shade of the nearest one.
Tʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ɴᴏ ᴄᴀᴍᴇʀᴀs ɴᴇᴀʀʙʏ. Wᴇ ᴀʀᴇ sᴀғᴇ.
Shinji didn't relax at that, instead crouching under the low branches of a pine tree. His eyes were fixed on the mountains that led to the sea. He swore he could hear the Angel coming, its ponderous footfalls distinct from what he had heard before.
He could hear something else, the groaning of metal and the whine of high-powered hydraulics, and he turned his head just in time to see a section of the city open up in the distance, closer to the mountains. Close by, another gray cache emerged, just as twin rails shot out of the square pit.
A moment later, a monster rose with them
At least, this was a monster he was familiar with. Even from halfway across the city the lanky frame of Unit-01 was unmistakable. He'd already thought it was frighteningly massive back when it was in the cage, and now it truly was a titan, its towering height at odds with the world around it.
Then it moved, and it was as though the laws of nature had been scrunched into a paper ball and tossed into the trash, for its gait was so much more like a human being than the monster it seemed, and Shinji fought a shiver. It strode forward, not a single motion wasted as it made for the gray box and pulled from it a matte black rifle half as long as it was tall.
Hefting the rifle, it moved closer to the lake, to where the Angel would come, and Shinji saw that where it stepped the segmented streets would press down, yielding but not breaking. A long black cable dangled from the Evangelion's back, trailing towards some small station near the now-closed pit from which it'd risen.
Pʜᴇɴᴏᴍᴇɴᴀʟ ᴇɴɢɪɴᴇᴇʀɪɴɢ. His guest sounded awed. Aɴ ᴇɴᴛɪʀᴇ ᴄɪᴛʏ ʙᴜɪʟᴛ ᴀʀᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴀɴ ɪᴍᴘᴏssɪʙʟᴇ ᴡᴇᴀᴘᴏɴ. I ʜᴀᴠᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ sᴇᴇɴ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜɪs ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ.
Shinji for his part found his attention drawn back to the mountains across the lake. The rumbling of colossal footsteps, of breaking trees and crumbling buildings, was so close it almost hurt his ears.
The Angel crested the mountains.
It was not what he imagined it would look like. The first one had been unearthly, yet eerily humanoid, devoid of any of the trappings of even the largest terrestrial animals. This one, however, looked much more like the kaiju of history books as it scrambled down the mountainside on all fours- it was a reptilian thing, like a child's impression of a triceratops sans frill, with bright yellow scales along its back that contrasted with its dull gray underside.
His eyes narrowed. Was it injured? It looked like it had criss-crossing burns across its back, its hide charred and blackened. Maybe the military had managed to wound it this time around?
It dove into the lake and began to swim towards Unit-01, its tiny eyes fixed on the Evangelion as it paddled forward with broad paws tipped with massive talons. Unit-01 for its part merely knelt down and took aim with the rifle, its posture so much like that of a soldier's. The air about it shimmered, and suddenly Shinji could feel his hair sticking up on end. At the end of the rifle, a red light began to blink.
Cʟᴏsᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴇʏᴇs!
He averted his gaze, eyes squeezed shut. A moment later, he could hear the now-familiar sharp cracks of a maser coming to life, followed shortly after by a pained cry that shook the branches above him. He heard the Angel rush forward, feet pounding the earth, and a low hum that was soon followed by the smell of ozone.
Shinji risked a glance just in time to see the Angel's horns crackle, before an arc of lightning blasted from its snout towards the Evangelion. Unit-01 for its part simply stood its ground, and a field of concentric hexagons suddenly blossomed into being right before it, shining like hot steel. The Angel's lightning washed over the barrier harmlessly, spreading out into a jagged spiderweb of blue-white that quickly faded into nothingness.
"My teacher used to tell me that we couldn't fight the kaiju," Shinji murmured, eyes wide as he watched Unit-01 advance. "We could only scare them off or lure them away. He said it was like trying to fight the storm."
Bᴜᴛ ɴᴏᴡ, ɪᴛ sᴇᴇᴍs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ғɪɴᴀʟʟʏ ғɪɢʜᴛ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ʜᴇᴀᴅ-ᴏɴ.
It felt like watching history happen in real-time. The Evangelion grabbed the Angel by one of its horns, then with its free hand slammed an armored fist into its face, the impact like a cannon. The great horn on the Angel's snout snapped from the blow, and with it a half century of the kaiju's dominance over man shattered with it.
The monster flailed, and now Shinji could see its eyes had been burnt out by the discarded maser rifle. A lucky swipe of its claws severed the cable dangling from Unit-01's back, but that did not seem to deter the war machine in the slightest. One of the pylons on the Evangelion's shoulders unfolded, and it grabbed a knife that seemed normal-sized in its hands, yet had to be as long as a bus.
The blade stabbed into the Angel's throat, and it let out a gurgle, its movements becoming feeble. Returning the knife to its holder, Unit-01 then took the Angel by its remaining horns and planted a knee into its throat, pinning it to the ground effortlessly. For a moment, it was like seeing a warrior of myth grappling with the dragon.
Despite the monstrous struggle before him, Shinji felt a weight lift from his shoulders. "I guess we aren't needed after all."
No response.
He frowned. "Is something wrong?"
Tʜᴀᴛ ɪs ɴᴏᴛ ᴛʜᴇ Aɴɢᴇʟ.
"What?"
I ᴡᴀs sᴜsᴘɪᴄɪᴏᴜs ᴀs sᴏᴏɴ ᴀs ᴡᴇ sᴀᴡ ɪᴛ, ʙᴜᴛ ɴᴏᴡ I ᴋɴᴏᴡ ғᴏʀ ᴄᴇʀᴛᴀɪɴ. Tʜɪs ɪs ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴀʟᴍᴏsᴛ ᴋɪʟʟᴇᴅ ʏᴏᴜ. Iᴛ ʟᴀᴄᴋs ᴛʜᴀᴛ sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇ ᴇssᴇɴᴄᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ʜᴀᴅ, sᴏ ᴜɴʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ I ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴇɴᴄᴏᴜɴᴛᴇʀᴇᴅ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ. Yᴇᴛ I sᴛɪʟʟ ғᴇᴇʟ sᴜᴄʜ ᴀɴ ᴇssᴇɴᴄᴇ ᴀᴘᴘʀᴏᴀᴄʜɪɴɢ.
Shinji looked back to the monster that Unit-01 was grappling with. Again his attention was drawn to the burns across its back, to its more natural appearance compared to the otherworldly Angel. His hand found his temple once again as the realization came over him.
It seemed the others had realized as well. Unit-01's head snapped to look at the mountains across the lake. Then, without looking back, it adjusted its grip on the monster's horns and twisted, audibly snapping the thing's neck as though it were an afterthought. Rising once more, it picked up the discarded maser rifle again and marched towards the lake, the corpse of the monster forgotten.
A few moments later, another titanic figure drifted over the mountaintops, gliding down like a kite. This time, as soon as he saw it Shinji could feel a shiver as he recognized what his passenger was talking about.
Soundlessly, the Angel descended upon Tokyo-3.
†
The tide was low this morning.
On days like these, when the tide receded and the sky was clear, one could see the shadows of the world that came before.
The roofs of apartment buildings, some so intact one could almost pretend they were not the decaying bones of a drowned city that stretched down into the deep.
On particularly good days, some said they could still see streets, cars, even fences and garden beds.
The tide lowered further.
For the first time in fifteen years, the sunken city tasted air.
The tide rose.
Then, it became low again.
†
Asuka would've laughed at the absurdity of the situation if it hadn't suddenly reduced her odds of survival.
What were the odds that a kaiju would attack right as the Angel was coming? Maybe it wasn't chance, but she could think about that later, after she'd snagged two kills in one sortie.
The Angel was certainly a far cry from its identity thief. It was taller than her, with a cylindrical body the color of blood and a flared pink head whose shape made the creature look almost indecent. Its core was right where its "throat" was, and she zeroed in on it as she took aim with the maser rifle.
Focusing, she extended her AT-field, and this time she could feel it clash with that of the Angel's, the two barriers corroding each other in an invisible struggle. Doing so made the timer on her reserve power drop faster, skipping seconds, but she still had enough time to kill this thing if she played her cards right.
Squeezing the trigger, she opened fire. At the same moment, the Angel lowered its flat head over its core, and she got an impression of large white eyes like those on a moth's wings. The maser barked in short pulses, circular discolorations pockmarking the chitinous flesh of the Angel as she fired. It wasn't enough- she'd run out of power before she punched through.
The stubby limbs on each side of the Angel flexed, and twin whips that shined like the wire in an old lightbulb lashed out at her, pulling the rifle from her hands. The weapon hit the ground in thirds, glowing a dull orange where the tentacles had burned through. Without delay she drew her knife and charged, weaving between the burning tendrils as she shoulder-checked her opponent and sent it floating back.
"Asuka, pull back and retrieve a replacement umbilical!" Misato ordered, her voice echoing through the plug.
She glanced behind her, then turned back to the Angel. "I'll run out before I can reach the nearest station, even assuming it'd let me turn my back. I need to kill this thing."
The Angel advanced again, lashing out with one of its whips, and she caught it in her hand. It burned, but through the sync of the Eva it was dulled, manageable. Gripping the tendril tightly, she pulled with all of her weight, bringing the Angel right to her, and she drove her knife right into its gullet, just below the core. Gritting her teeth, she pushed forward, knocking the Angel on its back.
Pinning it with her knees, she drew the knife back and aimed for the core, but this time the Angel's free tendril wrapped about her wrist, trying to twist her arm. Phantom pain burned into her skin, but she muscled through it, slowly bringing the blade closer and closer. She was not going to let this thing beat her. She would not let it make her entire life's purpose all for nothing.
The tip of the knife pressed against the hard crystal of the core, just as there was a dying hum within the Evangelion and her arms unexpectedly became lax.
†
Shinji's eyes widened as the Evangelion's eyes dimmed, and the great machine unexpectedly slumped forward, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
"What just happened?"
Iᴛ ᴍᴜsᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʀᴜɴ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏғ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ, ᴀғᴛᴇʀ ʟᴏsɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴀʙʟᴇ.
The Angel let go of Unit-01's arms, instead wrapping its tendrils about the Evangelion's throat and pulling it off its body like a child's toy. Rising, the creature tightened the burning cords around the machine's neck, and Shinji could see greasy smoke rising where the whips made contact.
"It's going to kill her." His hand found his temple. "It's going to kill the pilot, and then-"
Iᴛ ᴡɪʟʟ ɴᴏᴛ.
Shinji's throat tightened. "You're not saying... I can't. I, I..."
Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ. Shinji felt a warmth enveloping him, resolute, just like when the first Angel attacked. Oɴʟʏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ.
He closed his eyes. "I mustn't run away. I mustn't run away."
Then he opened them, and saw the burning flesh of the Eva, saw the monster only he could stop.
"I mustn't run away."
There was a sudden weight in his hand, and when he looked down, he saw he was holding his guest's strange capsule, the otherworldly thing of his dreams. Just like in his dreams, there was now a red button on its side, showing him what it really was. Not a key, or a weapon.
A choice.
"My choice."
Standing straight, he held his hand high, and pressed the button.
And then there was light, and it was good.
†
No.
It was not going to win.
Asuka tugged on the yokes, trying to will the Eva into action. No matter how many times she did, however, the great machine remained inert, with only enough power for her to see through its eyes as Death tried to burn through its neck and get to her plug. She stared at the Angel with wild eyes, a cry escaping her as she pulled the yokes.
"It can't end like this! It won't!"
For a moment, the Eva finally seemed to respond. A heartbeat, twin thump-thumps like someone beating the world's largest drum. Then it was inert once more, yet the Angel abruptly pulled away all the same, the whips laxing their death-grip about her throat. It turned to face something else, and Asuka realized the city was aglow with a warm red light.
Twisting in the plug, she looked out the corner of the Eva's eye, and a gasp escaped her.
A red sun had risen from the ground, emerging from the street and bathing the city in its light, trees bending from the sudden wind that billowed outwards. No, not a sun- a man, or at least something in the shape of one, one arm stretched to the sky as it grew in height, becoming taller than the Angel itself. Then the light died, and Asuka's jaw hung open as she saw it clearly.
"What-"
†
"the hell-" said Kensuke, lowering the camera.
†
"-is that?" Misato murmured.
The entire bridge had fallen silent, all eyes fixated on the viewscreen. A giant of silver and red now stood in the heart of the city, facing the Angel. Not a kaiju, not an Eva or an Angel- none of those terms could possibly fit the thing she was seeing. It was far too humanlike, more than even the Evangelions themselves, with a thin yet muscular build she dared to call athletic.
It felt wrong, using such a human term for the thing, but its very semblance to humanity made it wrong. Even its face -or mask, she couldn't tell which- with its large almond-shaped eyes and frozen half-smile screamed human. It was not a beast or an alien invader, but a giant of myth and fairy tales, reborn for an age of space travel and atomic weapons.
Her hand gripped her cross. She'd seen a giant before, in the long night at the bottom of the world.
"Captain?" Hyuuga asked.
She shook her head, redoubling her focus. "Focus all available firepower on the Angel."
"What about the... the giant man?" blurted out Maya.
Misato let the question pause for a half-moment, studying the screen as said giant man got into a crouch, hands held defensively like a judoka ready to grapple as it slowly circled around the Angel. The Angel followed suit, seemingly waiting for a moment to strike. At the very least, it seemed the new arrival's aggression wasn't focused on the Evangelion.
The giant stopped, and Misato's eyes widened when she saw that it'd deliberately placed itself between the Angel and the prone Unit-01. The entire scene after Maya's question couldn't have been more than few seconds, but in those scant moments her mind had been made on the matter.
"Do not engage the unknown," she said, voice firm.
"Captain?" Aoba turned in his seat, a rare look of worry on his face.
"I agree with Captain Katsuragi's decision," a new voice said, and Misato turned around and looked up to see Commander Ikari staring down at the bridge. "I am issuing a provisional DNP on this new entity."
DNP. Do Not Provoke. Technically meant for any and all kaiju operations, Misato knew there was only one other being who had actually ever received that designation in all the decades it'd been in use. She looked back to the screen, gripping her cross tightly.
She hoped they knew what they were doing, all of them.
†
Shinji had no idea what the hell he was doing.
He'd never been so disoriented before in his entire life. One moment, he'd been on the ground, looking up at the Angel, and in the next the world had become so small, as though he'd stepped into a model set, yet it didn't look like a model set, it still looked like a city, but also not like he was just on a really tall building, maybe because his eyes were five meters apart and he was suddenly in a body-hugging suit that-
Bʀᴇᴀᴛʜᴇ, Sʜɪɴᴊɪ.
He sucked in a breath that echoed in his mask, and pushed aside the fact he was wearing a mask, or the sudden weight that pulled at every fiber of his body. Flexing his hands experimentally, he stared straight ahead at the Angel, muscles tensed.
It moved first, whips lashing out towards his face, but the movement felt slower than before, sluggish. Without thinking he reached his hands out and caught the burning tendrils, gripping them tightly just as the Evangelion had. He could see sparks and smoke rising where the glowing violet coils made contact with the silver 'skin' of his suit, but the sensation itself was about as painful as holding a cup of hot tea.
How am I doing this?
Mʏ ʟᴀsᴛ ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ ʜᴏsᴛ ᴋɴᴇᴡ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ғɪɢʜᴛ, Sʜɪɴᴊɪ. Hᴇʀ ᴍᴜsᴄʟᴇ ᴍᴇᴍᴏʀʏ, ʜᴇʀ ᴛʀᴀɪɴɪɴɢ, ʜᴇʀ ʙᴀᴛᴛʟᴇ ɪɴsᴛɪɴᴄᴛ... ɪᴛ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴍᴇ ᴍɪɴᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴏᴡ ɪᴛ ɪs ʏᴏᴜʀs.
Well, he still needed to actually figure out how he was going to use it. The Angel pulled its whips back, and Shinji was nearly yanked off his feet before he righted himself, heels digging furrows in the street. The searing hot coils were strong, enough to lift something as big as the Evangelion into the air, yet Shinji numbly realized he was holding firm, matching its strength almost casually.
The power to fight the storm.
Arms flexing, he pulled back as hard as he could, and it was the Angel's turn to be yanked forward, rushing towards him. Leaning forward, he braced against the ground with one foot, then raised the other high in a kick aimed at the creature's midsection.
For a moment, a field of orange hexagons just like the one the Evangelion had made flared to life, then folded in and flickered away as his kick powered through it. The impact sent a jolt through his teeth as his heel smashed into the Angel, cold chitinous flesh breaking and tearing as the blow folded the thing in half and sent it flying back towards the lake.
Shinji gaped, then looked down at his hands. The material of the suit over his palms merely had a tarnished look to it, like metal that had been exposed to a flame.
I just karate kicked a kaiju.
Fᴏᴄᴜs. Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ʟᴇᴛ ʏᴏᴜʀsᴇʟғ ɢᴇᴛ ᴅɪsᴛʀᴀᴄᴛᴇᴅ ɪɴ ʙᴀᴛᴛʟᴇ.
The Angel righted itself near the shore, hovering above the water. Its symmetry was broken, the upper half of its body tilted to the side. Shinji ran to it, long loping strides that felt slower than what he was used to, yet the air screaming past his face told him just how fast he was actually moving. The whips came for him again, but this time he simply let them coil around his arms as he smashed his shoulder into the Angel and sent it sprawling into the water.
Wading forward, he planted a foot onto its core, then gripped the burning filament-like cords near the 'shoulders' and began to pull, ignoring the heat that now began to sear into his palms. The whips snapped, like guitar string pulled too taut, and Shinji fell back from the sudden jerk. The water actually felt solid for a moment as his back slapped against it, the waves violent and sluggish as they rushed to swallow him up.
Sitting up, he looked at the whips in his hands, and saw the light had already died in them, the coils curling and cracking from the uneven change in temperature. Then a shriek directed his attention back up, and he saw the Angel was backing away, blood spurting from the stumps of its shoulders. Already the torn flesh was warping, new whips slowly forming.
Shinji rose to his feet, hands held defensively as he went into the crouch that his new muscle memory told him was right. He became aware of a beeping sound, a deceptively gentle chime that seemed to be coming from something on his chest.
That can't be good.
Tʜᴀᴛ ɪs ᴀ ᴄᴏʟᴏʀ ᴛɪᴍᴇʀ. Yᴏᴜʀ ʙᴏᴅʏ ɪs sᴛɪʟʟ ᴀᴅᴊᴜsᴛɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏɴᴅ- ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ ᴏɴʟʏ sᴛᴀʏ ᴛʜɪs ᴡᴀʏ ғᴏʀ ᴀ ғᴇᴡ ᴍɪɴᴜᴛᴇs ᴀᴛ ᴀ ᴛɪᴍᴇ.
And what happens if the timer runs out?
Tʜᴇɴ ᴡᴇ sʜᴀʟʟ ғᴀʟʟ, ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʀɪsᴇ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ.
Shinji swallowed. Great. No pressure whatsoever.
We need to finish this fast.
Aɢʀᴇᴇᴅ. His guest had a knowing tone. I ʙᴇʟɪᴇᴠᴇ ɪᴛ ɪs ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ʙʀɪɴɢ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛᴇʀ ғᴏʀᴄᴇ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇᴀʀ. Cʀᴏss ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀʀᴍs.
†
Asuka watched as the silver giant abruptly folded its right arm so that its fingers pointed to the sky. Then, after a half-moment of what she swore was hesitation, it crossed its left arm over the other at the wrists, forming a '+' shape with its hands. The Angel seemed to notice something was off, and promptly folded its head protectively over its core.
"What the hell are you-"
Her answer came in a flash of light that seared an afterimage in not her eyes, but that of the Eva's. From the edge of the giant's upright hand shot out a blinding beam, a hail of blue-white sparks that punched cleanly through the Angel's AT-field. The armored head of the Angel erupted in a explosion that rattled the plug, chunks of blackened flesh blasting out in all directions as the creature soundlessly fell back.
For a few moments, there was only silence as smoke rolled out over the lake, obscuring the corpse from sight. Then, suddenly, the cloud parted as the Angel rushed forward, body horizontal with the ground. Its head had been obliterated, along with a fair chunk of its upper body, but the core was still intact, shining brilliantly. To resume the assault, or to self-destruct and take its killer with it, Asuka didn't know.
The giant would not let the answer be known. Jumping back, it held a hand above its head, and a glowing disc of the same blinding blue-white of its beam formed. Then, as though it were flinging a javelin, it flung the disc right at the Angel, and Asuka's eyes widened as the creature was neatly sliced in two. The twin halves of the Angel spread apart as airflow did its work, before hitting the water and sliding to a stop right at the giant's feet.
And just like that, it was over. The giant straightened its posture, seemingly relaxed, then turned back to look at Unit-01, at her. It walked towards her, feet scarcely pushing down the segmented street blocks, then came to a stop. Asuka hated how she shrank back in her seat as the giant looked down at her- no, locked eyes with her, through the Eva's own.
Up close, she could see just how eerily humanlike it was. The proportions, the way the muscles flexed under its silver skin with red markings, it was all so earthly. If she didn't know any better, she would've thought it a man in a mask, not some... whatever it was.
The glowing yellow eyes stared into hers. Studying her? Judging? Had it come to decide if she was a threat worthy of its wrath, or had it merely come to silently gloat, to remind her just who had killed the Angel instead of her? She could feel the Evangelion shaking from some tremor in the ground- perhaps the giant was preparing to obliterate her.
The holoscreen in the plug flickered to life, and Misato's concerned face blocked that of the giant's. "Asuka, are you alright? We've been suffering from some interfer- sks - due to the - kch - need to evacuate the plug - zz - approaching."
"I can see the thing right in front of me," she replied.
"Not that," Misato said. "Just eje-"
The giant's head whipped to the side, and Asuka saw it slowly back away, arms held at its side in what looked like fear. The shaking in the plug got more pronounced, and she twisted in her seat to follow the silver man's line of sight.
He must have approached from the southwest, over the mountains in hopes of intercepting the Angel as it arrived. He probably would have, if the giant hadn't stepped in. Seawater was still dripping from his charcoal scales, darkening his massive frame even further as he marched towards her, towards the giant. Wherever he stepped onto the street segments, there would be a whine of hydraulics, and the block would not rise again.
For all of her reading, she had never understood just how huge the monster approaching her was, until now. Even the Angel seemed small compared to him, the false eyes of its carapace a paltry rival of the burning orange glare that was fixed on Unit-01, on her.
Godzilla snarled.
"Oh," Asuka said.
†
The chime of the color timer was drowned out by roar of his blood rushing through his ears. His heart beat glacial in his chest still, slowed by whatever had to happen for his metamorphosis to be possible, yet he could feel it hammer against his ribcage.
It was matched by another low sound. Great ponderous footsteps, distant from his new height yet no less deafening than when he'd heard them before. Their maker approached, head held high. Eyes like hot coals surveyed the fortress city, sweeping over the pillboxes and artillery, over the bisected Angel and dead kaiju, before finally locking with Shinji's.
Godzilla stared into his eyes, and it was all Shinji could do to not tremble, to run or scream or whatever the animal part of his brain wanted him to do.
twin suns on the water, twin suns in the sky, blood and smoke and
Godzilla closed his eyes for a half-moment, then opened them again and looked away, a low chuff finding its way past his jaws. Shinji stared as the old king continued to march towards the Evangelion, and found that he could breathe again.
What just happened?
Hᴇ ʀᴇᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀs ᴍᴇ.
Despite everything, Shinji suddenly found himself rolling his eyes. Of course you met him. Why shouldn't I be surprised?
Mʏ ᴘʀᴇᴠɪᴏᴜs ʜᴏsᴛ ᴏɴ ᴛʜɪs ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ғᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴀʟᴏɴɢsɪᴅᴇ ʜɪᴍ. Hᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡs ʜɪs ᴀʟʟɪᴇs.
Godzilla paused a half-dozen of his massive strides away from Unit-01. His tail slapped against the ground, ceasing its swinging, and he studied the inert war machine with narrowed eyes. His nostrils flared as he snorted in deeply, and Shinji could see his ears twitch, as though harassed by some invisible gnat.
Then his lips pulled back, baring his fangs as he let out a snarl.
†
"Oh no," Misato said.
†
Godzilla's tail lifted from the ground again, and the lenses over Shinji's eyes suddenly dimmed as a blue glow began to creep up the kaiju's spine, hidden patterns revealing themselves on his dorsal plates as they became suffused with that dread light. A low groan made itself known, the revving up of some hellish atomic engine, and Shinji felt his blood turn to ice in his veins.
We can't let him kill her.
Wᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ɴᴏᴛ. The voice sounded almost hesitant. Sʜɪɴᴊɪ, sᴛᴇᴘ ʙᴇᴛᴡᴇᴇɴ ᴛʜᴇᴍ.
Shinji opened his mouth, as if to protest, to call his guest insane. Then he saw Godzilla open his jaws wide, chest puffed out and eyes alight with the same glow as his spines, and suddenly he was moving, putting himself in front of Unit-01.
The light died immediately, and Shinji found himself more in awe of the strength required to snuff the flame than that of the flame itself. Godzilla snarled again, glaring down at him. Even now, he was so much taller than Shinji, enough that the boy had to crane his neck up to look at his face. His clawed hands clenched into fists, and he took a single step forward, looming over him just as he had before. Their eyes locked.
For a moment, the only sound was the chime of the color timer.
Then, the king of the monsters breathed in deeply, and roared.
It was different from the challenge he'd screamed to the Angel- this one was lower, a primal bellow older than the human race, a hearkening to a time when Man was not the so-called master of his world but a hooting ape that hid in trees from the predators in the dark. A jagged maw filled Shinji's vision, his lenses briefly coated in fog as his helmet rattled from the force of the roar.
Yet he stayed where he was.
Godzilla snapped his jaws shut and glared with narrowed eyes. Shinji half-expected for him to charge his blast again, or to bat him out of the way like a child. He did none of those things, however.
Instead, he nodded.
Shinji sucked in a greedy gasp of air as Godzilla abruptly turned away. It took every ounce of will to not drop to his knees and scream as whatever had compelled him to stay in place left him. Bravery? Madness? Paralyzing fear? He didn't know.
I can't believe I did that.
Yᴇᴛ ʏᴏᴜ sᴛɪʟʟ ᴅɪᴅ ɪᴛ.
Did you know he wouldn't fight an ally?
Nᴏ. Iғ ʜᴇ ʜᴀᴅ ɴᴏᴛ sᴛᴏᴘᴘᴇᴅ, I ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛᴏʟᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴏ ʀᴜɴ.
Shinji laid a hand over the color timer, its chime more urgent. Not like we would've had much of a choice.
Eᴠᴇɴ ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ᴀᴛ ғᴜʟʟ sᴛʀᴇɴɢᴛʜ I ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛᴏʟᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴏ ʀᴜɴ. His guest seemed subdued. Tʜᴀᴛ ɪs ᴀ ʙᴀᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴡᴇ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ɴᴏᴛ ᴡɪɴ.
Shinji looked back to the receding form of Godzilla. He fought the urge to touch his temple.
I believe you.
†
Thank god the emergency plug release was mechanical and not reliant on the Eva's power reserves.
The elastic ladder to the street below had been only slightly less nerve-wracking than the prospect of being helpless in the plug as Godzilla stomped it to bits. The soles of her plugsuit booties were non-slick, but she still nearly slipped a few times as she had frantically clambered down and ran towards the emergency station. The segments of the city streets moved up and down with each booming footstep Godzilla took, like ripples in water.
She didn't look back, not even when she heard the low rumbling of his atomic ray charging. It was only when she didn't hear Unit-01 get vaporized that she had dared to look back and saw the silver giant standing in Godzilla's way. Her ears were still ringing from the roar that had followed, so much louder than what the documentaries made it out to be.
Yet now Godzilla was walking away, and the silver giant had not been reduced to a charbroiled stick figure along with Unit-01. She stopped running, and turned fully to look as the old kaiju marched with his back to her. Even as he moved away each step made her bones jump in her skin.
The giant seemed to relax, fists unclenching. It turned back towards Unit-01, then its head seemed to snap towards her. Once again she locked eyes with the strange being for a few moments that seemed to stretch on and on.
Then it was gone, vanishing into the same red light that had heralded its arrival.
"Miss?"
She turned and saw the recovery team approaching, guards in full tactical gear and medics with enough equipment to do an open-heart surgery right then and there in the street.
"Miss Sohryu, are you alright?" one of the guards asked again.
She glanced back to where the giant had been, as if expecting to still see its strange half-smile and luminous eyes looking at her.
"I'm fine," she said, slowly.
†
"Pilot is secured," Hyuuga announced. "She's being escorted to the infirmary for checkup as we speak."
Misato relaxed the grip on her cross. Oh thank the goddess. "Have them prepare a CT-scan and radiation detection. I don't want any problems slipping past us."
"Yes, captain."
"Belay retrieval for Unit-01 until after Godzilla has cleared the city limits. We do not want to give him the impression that it's moving."
"Giving the order now," Aoba said.
She fought the urge to let out a bitter laugh. The most powerful and advanced organization on the planet, scampering around in the shadows like rats to avoid drawing Godzilla's attention.
"Captain, we should also dispatch to the Angel's corpse as soon as it's safe," Ritsuko said, looking up from her computer. She gestured for Misato to come over, then pointed at one of the camera feeds on the computer screen. "The Angel's core was cut neatly in half by... well, the S2 organ should be almost completely intact."
"Something tells me the research project in Nevada would be happy with that," Misato murmured. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Speaking of that, do you think Godzilla's reaction is related?"
Ritsuko took a puff of her cigarette. "If you mean he smelled Unit-01's genetic donor, then yes, I think he connected the dots."
"Shit. Now we have to deal with our only weapon triggering hostility from the most powerful thing on the planet." Misato rubbed her eyes with a hand. "Goddess, we would've lost an entire Evangelion if it weren't for..."
"For an outside context problem?" Ritsuko finished with mock cheer. "I'm certainly looking forward to the briefings on that."
"It wasn't outside of Godzilla's context, apparently," Misato muttered.
"Captain," Maya called. "Godzilla is approaching the Angel's corpse."
"Speak of the devil," Ritsuko said.
Misato straightened and watched on the vidscreen as Godzilla stomped towards the bisected halves of the Angel, which were already slowly decaying into LCL as their waveforms collapsed. He paused, studying the corpse, then reached down. Misato's eyes widened as she realized he was grabbing the two hemispheres of the neatly halved core.
Godzilla seemed to weigh the crystalline chunks in his hands, peering at the interior with what Misato would call a knowing look, if she knew better than to anthropomorphize him. He looked back to Unit-01, then his gaze swept the city before returning to the twin halves of the core in his hands. His lips pulled back in a snarl.
His hands tensed for a moment, then the hemispheres pulverized in his grip, crystalline material strong enough to withstand artillery without a scratch promptly reduced to glittering red dust. Like they were trash, Godzilla dropped the shattered halves of the core, then shook the fine powder off his hands in a manner that was oddly humanlike.
"So much for an intact S2 organ, huh?" Misato said.
"Hmm."
Godzilla now focused his attention on the yellow and grey kaiju Asuka had slain. This time, he bent down and took its neck into his jaws, the movement surprisingly gentle. Standing back up, he reminded Misato of a leopard casually carrying a hundred kilo antelope in its jaws as he began to walk back the way he'd come, the kaiju dangling from his mouth like a ragdoll.
It wasn't long before he disappeared over the mountains. As soon as his head vanished from sight, Misato gave the order for the retrieval crews to finally bring Unit-01 back down.
"This could have gone a lot better," Ritsuko commented.
"Look on the bright side- we just proved Evangelion is a viable anti-kaiju weapon, leaps and bounds above any other. We still have our Evangelion and the pilot. And..."
She thought to the silver giant. Its inexplicable nature. The ease with which it'd killed the Angel. And how it had put itself between Unit-01 and an aggressor not once, but twice.
"Things could have gone a lot worse."
†
Godzilla sank out of sight behind the mountains, and Kensuke slowly lowered the camera. Looking down, he realized his hands were shaking now that they didn't have to keep a steady picture. Likewise, it seemed that now that he wasn't focused on filming, the magnitude of what he'd witnessed could truly sink in.
"Holy fuck. Holy fuck holy fuck. Hooooooly fuck." He paused. "Holy fuck!"
There was a thump to his side, and he looked to see Toji had fainted, crumpling onto the grass by the trail. Kensuke immediately knelt down by his friend, shaking him by the shoulder.
"Dude, you alright?"
Toji's eyes fluttered open. "Eh? Ken?"
"You fainted," Kensuke said.
"Oh." Toji sat up, then slowly got back to his feet, waving away a helping hand. "Did all of that happen?"
Kensuke began to grin like an idiot. "You mean, did we get to see Godzilla? Because we totally did. We got to see Godzilla."
He began to cackle, tears in his eyes, and pointed the camera in his face. "We got to see Godzilla!"
Toji let out a nervous chuckle. "Dude, I thought it was bad enough we were going to try and see the giant robot fight the thing."
"I know! We were looking for gold and found-" Kensuke fumbled for words. "Something even better than gold!"
"Ever the poet, man."
"I don't need to be a poet when I got it on tape!" Kensuke waved his arms in the air. "We got to see the Eva kill a kaiju, and then the real Angel showed up, and then that... uh..."
"Ken, you know what that thing was?" Toji scratched the back of his head. "Is that just some kaiju or whatever people don't normally talk about? Please tell me that's the case."
"Toji, I know more about kaiju than I do the back of my hand," Kensuke said proudly. "I have no fucking clue what we just saw."
"Great." A sigh. "Just great. Definitely something I wanted to see."
"I know, right?"
Toji gave a concerned look. "Uh huh."
"I wonder what that thing was," Kensuke continued. "Maybe it's a competitor to Evangelion? Or some order of kaiju! Maybe it's even from outer space!"
"Dude, that thing just looked like a giant... man. No other way to really describe it. Giant man." Toji rubbed his eyes. "That was ultra crazy, Ken."
"Ultra crazy," Kensuke repeated, still grinning. Then, he paused. "Ultra..."
He slapped Toji on the back. "Genius!"
"?" grunted the taller boy.
Kensuke looked into the camera again. "I know what to call him!"
†
Sʜɪɴᴊɪ?
"Hurk."
Iғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴇsɪʀᴇ, I ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴇʟᴘ ᴀʟʟᴇᴠɪᴀᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴀᴜsᴇᴀ-
"I'm fine," Shinji croaked out, wiping his mouth. Then, he retched again.
The iron hand that gripped his belly relaxed its grip, or perhaps a certain someone pried the fingers off, so to speak. Unsteadily, he rose to his feet and flushed the toilet. Small blessing that Tokyo-3 kept its emergency street shelters clean. He washed his hands, then looked into the mirror, gripping the sides of the sink tightly as he studied himself.
Same mop of black hair. Same blue eyes, even when he spread his eyelids open with a finger and thumb to study the red flesh underneath. No new body parts, or some silver hue to his skin that hadn't been there before. He was still Shinji Ikari.
Yet, he wasn't the Shinji Ikari that had woken up this morning. Shinji Ikari couldn't turn a hundred meters tall, or throw a punch like he'd been training for it all of his life, or cut an Angel in half like he was cleaning out a fish. And above all, Shinji Ikari wouldn't get in the way of a furious Godzilla and stand his ground.
He looked down at his hands, turning them over back and forth, tracing up his forearms. He couldn't see any sign of the Angel's whips trying to burn into his skin, no cuts or bruises. It was all so easy to pretend it didn't happen, that he hadn't grappled with a nightmarish kaiju and won, that he was still just a normal boy.
At least, it should've been easy.
Flexing his hands, he crossed his arms just as he had before and watched himself in the mirror. It felt silly now, like something a kid would do while fighting the monsters of his imagination, but the glittering beam he'd fired only a few minutes ago had been far too real to be the work of a childish fantasy.
Neither had been the sight of Godzilla's eyes boring into his own, as the old king's face contorted with anger.
twin suns on the water
The trembling started again, and he pressed his fingers into his temple, teeth gritted.
Sʜɪɴᴊɪ?
"I don't think I can do that again," he managed to choke out. "I can't. I... I won't."
He braced with closed eyes, expecting- what, exactly? Disappointment? Anger? Something to shame him, or an grave demand-
Tʜᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴏɴ'ᴛ.
Shinji opened his eyes.
Iᴛ ᴡᴀs ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴄᴄᴇᴘᴛ ᴍʏ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ, ᴀɴᴅ sᴏ ɪᴛ sʜᴀʟʟ ʙᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴛᴜʀɴ ɪᴛ. Wʜᴇɴ ᴡᴇ ᴄᴀɴ sᴇᴘᴀʀᴀᴛᴇ sᴀғᴇʟʏ, I sʜᴀʟʟ ғɪɴᴅ ᴀ ɴᴇᴡ ʜᴏsᴛ.
"I'm sorry."
Fᴏʀ ᴡʜᴀᴛ?
The question itself gave a better answer than anything Shinji could think of. He looked himself in the mirror, at eyes that were his, but also someone else's.
"Thank you."
Rᴇɢᴀʀᴅʟᴇss ᴏғ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴs ɴᴇxᴛ, ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ I ᴀᴍ ᴘʀᴏᴜᴅ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜ, Sʜɪɴᴊɪ. Yᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ sᴀᴠᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ᴛᴏᴅᴀʏ, ᴀɴᴅ ɢᴏɴᴇ ғᴀʀ ʙᴇʏᴏɴᴅ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ᴇxᴘᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜ. Wʜᴇᴛʜᴇʀ ᴡᴇ ᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴛᴏᴍᴏʀʀᴏᴡ, ᴏʀ ᴀ ʏᴇᴀʀ ғʀᴏᴍ ɴᴏᴡ, I ᴀᴍ ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ ᴛᴏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡɴ ʏᴏᴜ.
He smiled. "Everything else has been awful, but... it's been nice, having someone to talk to."
His phone buzzed, and he saw that Misato had shot him a text, telling him to come to HQ. Idly, that made him wonder just where on Earth the phone went when he had turned giant. Or his clothes, for that matter.
Tʜᴀᴛ ᴇxᴘʟᴀɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʀᴇᴏ̨ᴜɪʀᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ʟᴇᴄᴛᴜʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴏɴ ᴏ̨ᴜᴀɴᴛᴜᴍ ᴍᴇᴄʜᴀɴɪᴄs ᴀɴᴅ sᴇᴀs ᴏғ Dɪʀᴀᴄ.
"Oh." He shoved the phone back in his pocket. "Well, maybe later. Right now we have to go. Or, um, technically just me, but you know."
Iᴛ ᴀᴘᴘᴇᴀʀs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇ sʜᴀʟʟ ғɪɴᴀʟʟʏ ᴍᴇᴇᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴇᴡ ᴘɪʟᴏᴛ.
"Properly, anyway." Shinji thought back to the way he'd locked eyes with the tiny figure. Even from that distance, he could see the blue of her eyes, a sharp contrast with her red hair that seemed akin to flame. "I wonder what she's like?"
†
The bunched-up hospital gown hit the far wall with a soft thump, and she began to throw on her clothes, teeth gritted. If another nurse came in with yet another bullshit medical test, she was going to pull their head off and punt it like a football down the hallway.
There was a knock at the door, and a familiar voice said, "Can I come in?"
"Fine," she said.
The door slid open just enough for Misato to sidle in. The older woman made sure to shut it, then leaned against the wall, arms folded across her chest. She looked older than Asuka remembered, though the harsh lighting of the infirmary definitely was not flattering. She imagined she would've looked like a zombie in the mirror herself, if the room had any.
"How are you?" Misato asked.
"I'm fine," she snapped. "Just sick and tired of all these tests. Radiation screening? Blood tests? Seriously?"
"It's just a precaution," Misato said. "Same with all the others. We have no idea what you might've been exposed to, either with Godzilla or..."
Asuka paused as she pulled on her sundress. "Or that silver thing."
"Whose existence has already been classified," Misato said, rolling her eyes. "Truth be told, we're just as clueless about him... it, as you are."
Asuka thought about telling her about her encounter. How the giant had looked at her, not like how one would study an ant, but had looked her in the eyes, the action so human it made her shiver. Instead, she finished pulling on her dress and started adjusting it, smoothing out some errant wrinkles.
Misato seemed to study her with a knowing look on her face. Asuka hated that.
"Are you sure you're alright, Asuka?" she finally asked. "It's okay to not be okay."
"I told you, I'm fine." She grabbed her hair clips and began to slip them on. "I want to hit the simulator today."
A frown. "Asuka, if this is about you-"
"I had that situation under control." Asuka glared at Misato. "I was operating an inferior model, and then that silver... thing disrupted the operation."
"It saved your life, Asuka. Godzilla was about to vaporize Unit-01 before that giant got in the way and somehow made him back down."
"And if I still had power, you'd be cleaning up giant lizard from the streets," Asuka snarled. "And if I was working with Unit-02 instead of that buggy test type, I could've throw in that giant's head as the cherry on top."
Misato seemed like she was about to say something, then sighed. "You can use the simulator all day tomorrow. Today, we have a lot on our hands. We need to get you settled in, and then I'm off to briefings and mop-up to clean up after that... well, that thing."
It was Asuka's turn to sigh. "Okay."
"You did good work today." The older woman's expression softened. "You just validated the past fifteen years of work on the Evangelions, and scored the easiest defeat of a kaiju in human history. No nukes, no lucky shots, no armies... just you."
Asuka straightened, a small grin tugging at her lips. "Just me."
And just the kaiju, too. The Angel had been stolen from her, by something that shouldn't have existed. The grin faded.
Misato pointed a thumb behind her. "C'mon, let's get out of here."
Asuka slipped on her shoes, and followed Misato out of the infirmary. It was then she realized there was a boy sitting across the hall, looking small in the creaking plastic seat hanging from the wall. He had been listening to music on some outdated tape player, but hurriedly pulled the earbuds out and jumped to his feet when he saw her.
He was slight of frame, the white shirt of his uniform hanging off him, and despite being a few months older than her according to his file, he was a good two centimeters shorter. Even for a teen he had a soft, delicate face, in a way that was oddly cute. In an objective manner, of course.
What caught her attention most, however, were his eyes, as blue as her own. She hadn't known Japanese could even have blue eyes. They locked with hers, and for a moment their gazes held. Something about it felt off- not in the normal way when someone stared at her. The way he looked at her, his stance; something about it felt uncomfortably familiar for someone she'd just met.
The boy broke first, bowing his head stiffly. "Um, hello, Miss Sohryu. I'm Shinji. Shinji Ikari."
She blinked, the spell broken, then tilted her head up ever so slightly. "So you're the washout."
"Shinji's still a pilot," Misato interjected. She stepped between them and planted a hand on each one's shoulder, pulling them a little closer. "Buggy model, remember? We'll get that worked out, and in the meantime, you two will be training together as pilots."
Shinji blushed. "I look forward to working with you, Miss Sohryu."
"Hmm." Asuka glanced at Misato. "So, did the moving crews bring my stuff over already?"
"I got a call saying your luggage is at my apartment."
"I guess you guys actually do work fast after a kaiju attack."
"Wait, she's moving in?" Shinji asked, eyes widening.
Asuka snorted. "Living under the same roof as a boy is perverted. You're getting moved out."
Misato gave an awkward smile. Asuka's brow furrowed in concern.
"He's getting moved out, right?"
"Okay, so hear me out," Misato began, and already Asuka felt a pit of dread forming in her gut. "I figured it would help improve training if you guys were... roomies."
This time, she and the Third Child were of the same mind.
"WHAT?"
†
"This footage was intercepted by MAGI auto-censors as soon as the boy tried to upload it to the internet," Fuyutsuki said, standing across the desk. "Section II has already given the standard warning."
"Rumors will spread," Gendo said. "Between this and the old man's visit, leaks are inevitable. We will need to prepare our story for the news cycle when the public becomes too agitated."
"Naturally. Of course, the public is one of the smallest issues we have at the moment."
"I will confer with the committee regarding this new arrival. The rest of the operations I trust to the captain and Dr. Akagi." He leaned back in his seat. "That's all for now."
Fuyutsuki nodded, then turned about face and left, his heels clacking on the polished floor and echoing through the empty office. When the door shut, Gendo leaned forward and replayed the footage.
Most of it had simply captured the battle between Unit-01 and the unidentified kaiju, as well as the Angel's arrival and subsequent defeat by the silver giant. It offered no new angles or vantage points that the other automated cameras scattered across the city hadn't already offered, and the swears and screams grated his ears. He fast forwarded through much of it.
"That was ultra crazy, Ken."
"Ultra crazy." A pause. "Ultra..."
The MAGI identified the two boys in the footage as classmates of Shinji- Toji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida. That information in and of itself wasn't particularly useful, aside from the fact his son was near the epicenter of any potential leaks. Not that the boy wouldn't already know what was happening
The bespectacled boy's face filled the screen at an angle that allowed Gendo to see far more of his nose hairs than he'd ever want to see.
"I know what to call him! He is... Ultraman!"
†
You have been reading:
シン・Leviathan, Chapter Four: Giant