Menace
"It is a pleasure to have you with us, Doctor Akagi."
The sunset cast a gloomy orange hue over the office of billionaire businessman Kenichiro Yashida. A dark mood hanged over one Doctor Naoko Akagi as she shook the hand of the man in front of her.
"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Yashida." Doctor Akagi politely said. "I assume the preparations have all been taken care of."
"Yes yes," Yashida waved it off. "The MAGI system is close to completion. All of the machinery has been constructed according your specifications and designs. The only barriers remaining involve programming the codes that only your brilliant mind would be able to provide."
Naoko smirked. "Yes, well if there's anything I've learned over the years it's that some things are to be kept close to your chest. It's those little things that keep you alive after all."
"Right you are." Yashida looked at the plant on his desk, rubbing the thorns gently with his fingers. "Will you be able to show it off to the public tomorrow?"
"Of course sir, you doubt my skills even after all this time?" Naoko questioned.
Yashida stopped moving his fingers around the thorns. "No… I just wonder if you'll be prepared to handle any… bad publicity you may receive during the presentation?"
a tiny whimper snuffed out
The doctor's smile gave a subtle twitch. "I assure you Mr. Yashida… I will be able to control myself when the time comes for my experiment to be shown."
"I hope so." Yashida said, "You are an amazingly talented woman, Doctor Akagi. Talent should be recognized wherever it may lie. Our mutual benefactor recruited you precisely because of that. It would be a shame if talent was drowned out due to simple human error."
The two stood in silence, staring each other down in a brief yet drawn out moment.
In the end, Naoko stood up from her chair. "I know very well what human error can do. I'll head to the lab for final adjustments on the MAGI."
She turned around and walked out of the room, the clicks of heels reverberating across the room.
When the doctor left, Yashida heard a beeping sound. He pressed a button on his table.
"Report." called out the hologram that formed from a projector above the office.
"Doctor Akagi will be complete the MAGI system." Yashida explained. "By tomorrow, it will be installed into the city mainframe."
"You do not seem too pleased by this piece of information" The hologram stated.
"I would be lying if I said I was." Yashida admitted, rubbing his forehead. "These super computers control elections and politicians are to follow their every command. I own't be able to control the balance of power in this city.."
"Ah yes, your little garden would be spoilt by a machine." The hologram said with a tint of mocking amusement. "Not that it is a concern of mine whether your control remains or slips, but you will be pleased to hear about your latest assignment."
That caused Kenichiro to raise an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"
"The Committee wants Akagi out of the way." The hologram explained. "According to them, she knows too much and her precarious mental state may soon leave her unable to function as NERV's head scientist. Ikari in particular wants Akagi's daughter to replace her. Your task is to kill her off when the time is right."
"I shall see that it is done," Yashida responded in the affirmative. There was one question he had to ask. "Is there any particular manner in which you want me to kill her off?"
The hologram then revealed a rather nasty grin. "Make it public… and make it painful."
Naoko Akagi lit up a cigarette.
She let out an audible cough, covering her mouth with her hand. Readjusting her hat, Naoko walked inside the average crowd in silent contemplation. The doctor wondered about how things had led up to this point.
Akagi pulled out something from her purse. A small magazine, the cover included a picture of a herself. The caption stated in big letters: SCANDAL! NAOKO AKAGI'S PRIVATE AFFAIR!
Where did her life go?
Once upon a time ago, Naoko Akagi was the head scientist of GEHRIN, and one of the most accomplished scientists in the world. It was her biology research into the brainwave patterns of the human mind and her skill in engineering that led to the creation of the MAGI system. A trio of ultra powerful super computers that calculated the likelihood of the outcomes in any situation. Copies of the system had been produced across military facilities around the world, and soon they spilled their way into society, taking over elections in an effort to run cities to their maximum efficiency. Naoko had based the brilliant brain wave patterns that ran the MAGI on herself, building upon the three aspects of her soul: Melchior, representing the scientist, Balthasar being the mother (How Naoko let out a sarcastic chuckle into her cigarette at that thought), and Casper based on the woman. By all accounts she should be respected, even admired for creating such a revolutionary change in the world.
That was not to be. And it could all be traced back to a single man.
"He says that old hag is in the way, the old hag is of no use to me any more."
Gendo Ikari… she had loved the damned bastard ever since their years in college. Not even when he was married to Yui Ikari did her crush on him fade. When Yui had her little accident, Naoko took a chance and made a move on Gendo. They had been intimate… but deep down, Akagi knew his heart wasn't into it. The pleasure only belonged to her; the relationship was entirely one sided.
"Yui" he moaned into her neck.
It didn't help when she brought that blasted girl.
Rei Ayanami was an enigma. Naoko went through all of the girls records and found nothing. No family, no prior history… it was like the girl never existed. Akagi was sure Gendo had something to do with this matter. Ayanami's resemblance to Yui Ikari was too strong, too much to be an ordinary coincidence. Even her smile was exactly the same as hers. Naoko hated that smile with every fiber of her being. She hated that pale little thing every time she saw it.
Then the girl stopped smiling, and Naoko wasn't sure if it was any better. Ayanami, having been a somewhat sociable girl beforehand, had suddenly shut herself off from other people. Naoko wouldn't lie, it creeped her out.
That was only the beginning. Shortly after the MAGI was completed, Gendo stopped seeing her entirely. Not even an excuse or token explanation, nothing. The affair had simply broken without any words exchanged. The elder Akagi was only slightly disturbed when she saw the man had begun to hang out with Ritsuko. From all indications it seemed like her daughter was quite taken with Ikari.
Naoko didn't ask any questions when Ritsuko stumbled out of the office panting heavily.
Somehow, as she oversaw the installment of the MAGI systems across the country, news came out that detailed an affair between herself and the head of the newly crowned NERV. Since then, she heard countless mocking insults. She heard them all. Bitch… dirty slut… a whore…
She tightly gripped the thing in her hands
"Morons." Naoko muttered to herself. "They'll believe anything that makes them feel better."
She felt something missing from her arm. Naoko turned to see some man in shorts and a wife beater making off with her purse.
"What the- GET BACK HERE THAT'S MINE!"
The thug had the audacity to turn around and respond, "Ha bitch! Why don't you go and hump your hubby?!"
Suddenly the thug was held up in the air by a piece of webbing.
"Whoah whoah WHOAH! Treat the lady with some respect you pervert!"
Spider-Man went out of his way to shoot more webbing to keep the criminal tied up. As the costumed vigilante went about his task, Naoko Akagi's jaw opened as she looked on with surprise and shock on her face. 'The Spider-Man… he is real?'
She had heard the news reports about him before coming to Kokoro. The doctor naturally assumed it was some kind of publicity stunt or at least some exaggerated rumor.
Apparently the universe decided to prove her wrong, as the vigilante got down to the ground and walked towards her with the purse in hand.
"Ta-da! Here you go lady!" Spider-Man said triumphantly as he handed the purse to the doctor. "One stolen purse returned to the rightful- and lovely- owner!"
Unsure of what to even say or do, Doctor Akagi could only nod and take the purse back from his hand, "Th- thank you?"
She didn't mean to phrase it like a question, but the vigilante didn't seem to take it personally. Before any more words could be exchanged between the two, the nearby crowds started to react.
"Holy crap it's the Spider-Man!
"He's trying to attack that lady!"
"Get away from her you freak!"
The aforementioned Spider-Man waved his arms in front of them "No wait you got it all wrong! She was being attacked and I-"
Suddenly he felt a brick hit him.
"You leave her alone, creep!" Spider-Man heard someone shout, the crowd surrounding him starting to yell at him.
A bottle flew at him, cutting into his cheek.
"Why don't you just leave us all alone web swinger? You're just a menace to society!" shouted an old man with a bandana over his head.
"Yeah! FREAK!" Another woman, who had taken the liberty to drag Naoko Akagi away by grabbing her shoulders.
Without seemingly any support, Spider-Man quickly launched a web line, swinging away from the scene before it got any uglier. Naoko pushed the woman off of herself, shaking with anger over being dragged around.
"What the hell was that?" Akagi yelled at the dragger, who looked at her confused.
"We just saved your life from a dangerous man!" The dragger closed her eyes and put her hands over her hips. "Spider-Man is just a low down thug trying to ruin the lives of us normal people."
Naoko would try to argue the point, but frankly she was tired and needed to get back to work. She settled instead for flipping off the person in front of her before going back to walking.
'I guess I'm not the only being unappreciated by stupid, ungrateful masses.' she thought to herself. 'I hope you're safe wherever you are, Spider-Man.'
Akagi realized that she couldn't feel the cigarette in her mouth. She let out a loud groan.
'I must've dropped it when Spider-Man showed up.' Naoko thought to herself. 'God damn it.'
Shinji Ikari arrived tired to school the next morning.
Not that he was ever really "fine" to begin with, but not even his healing factor could quite take the stings out of yesterday's little fiasco. Shinji knew people hated Spider-Man, but to throw things at him and chase him off? That hurt.
"Hey look over there!" Shinji heard someone say. The boy looked up to see the news playing on the TV screen.
"The Spider-Man sightings continue! Just yesterday the masked vigilante had assaulted a man and was threatening another civilian until a crowd gathered around him and chase him off."
"Hey that can't be what happened!" Tsuyoshi Kotei yelled at the TV screen. "Spider-Man's a goddamn hero, you guys are just cowards!"
Shinji tuned him out as he continued hearing the report.
"As more and more incidents have piled up since his appearance, people have started questioning the vigilante's motives from attacking harmless civilians delivering their baseball gear back to the store, to the rather sudden appearances of the powerful Rhino, the deadly Sandman and the elusive electric man suggest a pattern of creating the villains he fights."
Shinji cringed at that piece of information. While the Rhino came completely out of nowhere, he did mistake those people for thugs. While he didn't create "Sandman" and the electric man, the Shirashis were experimented on by the Yashida Company. He couldn't help but feel responsible for what happened to them, especially since the had to leave the city Shinji still regretted chasing Rai down without letting him explain. That it was someone who was nice to him that he attacked that night made it worse.
"All this information paint the city's infamous web swinger in a negative light. Without any word from the vigilante himself, all we have is guess work on any potential motivation. Who is the Spider-Man? Is he just a menace after all? Stay tuned to find out, live from-"
It was then that Shinji heard whispers among the students around him. They all had reacted to the news in their own ways, but a commonality was found among them.
Is Spider-Man really a bad guy?
Seems like, it does seem weird all those guys show up while he's around to stop them.
I never trust anyone wearing a mask!
Yeah he's just a bully with bright Sentai clothes!
"Hello Ikari."
Shaken from the negativity that surrounded him, Shinji turned to see Mayumi Yamagishi's smiling yet flushed face looking upon him. He had to admit, despite the bad things piling up. it was good to see he had at least one he could count as a friend.
Shinji smiled and replied, "Yamagishi, hello! How are you?" Mayumi nodded, "W-well, I have been, um, fairly good I guess?"
As she let out a small giggle, Shinji felt something tugging at his chest. He tried to push down that feeling as he saw Mayumi recomposing herself.
"I um… I wanted to ask you about something, if you don't mind that is!"
Shinji wondered what sort of question she was going to ask. Really hoping it wasn't anything related to Spider-Man (or something worse, he thought in the back of his mind), he answered with "R-really? Um, sure, what do you want to say Yamagishi?"
The girl's face flushed, before looking away unable to look at Shinji's face. "My father… he has an obligation to attend an important event. I think it's some kind of technology presentation that is happening tonight. I'm supposed to come as well, but-"
Then Mayumi turned back to face the boy. "I asked him if I could invite someone along t-to join us. So…"
Shinji Ikari was not a genius, but even he picked up the lines she was going with "Are… you asking me to come with you?"
The girl nodded quickly, "Yes! I mean, erm of course! But you're probably very busy and don't have to come so if you can't come I completely understa-"
"I want to!"
The girl looked up surprised. Shinji continued, "I mean… it would be good. To go! With… you? I can go."
At that Mayumi showed him a smile, "Thank you so much! I was so nervous about this, I hope I didn't cause any problems!"
"N-no not at all!" Shinji waved it off. "I don't have much else to do anyway."
The girl grimaced a bit, but the smile remained. "Good, good."
The two stood there somewhat awkwardly. Suddenly the bell rang.
"Alright you animals, time to head back to class!" Kotei shouted over everyone, gathering the class in a neat line.
The two dorks looked at Kotei with a measure of surprise. "He's changed… Kotei is acting like a representative should." Mayumi mentioned in passing.
Shinji scratched the back of his head. "Yeah… it feels like things are changing so quickly. I'm not sure if that's a good thing."
Mayumi didn't say anything. The two walked together to join the line, thinking about what will happen tonight.
'It's probably going to be a small party anyway, nothing to worry about…' Shinji thought to himself.
"This is going to be one of the biggest nights of my life and I will be DAMNED to see it ruined!"
Naoko Akagi was had many things attached to her name during her time on Earth. Among all of them, no could deny "determined" being one of the more fitting ones for her.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead as a glass of water was placed in front of her.
"Here you go ma'am." said a woman in a suit with her hair tied in a bun. Naoko took the glass and drank it whole.
"Thank you very much… leave me be. I still have important work to do." The doctor said while motioning her hand to shoo the assistant out.
"If i may, Doctor Akagi, shouldn't you be resting?" The assistant dared to ask with some concern, "The event is tonight, surely you could take a break and let someone else handle the MAGI?"
At that, Akagi gave the assistant a look. A fierce glare delivered with an aura that promised pain and fear for all who gazed upon it.
"No I won't… I've gone too far to stop now." The doctor answered in an evenly matched tone, yet one tinged with the subtle fragrance of barely hidden rage. "This HAS to be perfect. I'll never escape HIS shadow if I don't do this… now why don't you bother someone else already or go jump off a cliff like the lemming you are?!"
An eep came out of the assistant's mouth, as she only barely let out a mumbled "yes ma'am" before running away like a mouse.
"Fucking idiots… all of them." Naoko Akagi muttered to herself. She noticed there were four more power modules that needed insertion.
"Hmhm, good thing I have just the thing." The scientist grinned. She took out the suitcase next to herself, opening up to find the invention she needed. It was a small project, something she worked on in between moving around the country. If she could build three super A.I.s based on her own brainwave patterns…
"Why not a smaller one for a mundane utility?" She finished out loud. The harness was carefully strapped around her stomach. Once it was safely secured she pressed a button to activate it.
Shinji Ikari was very quickly overwhelmed the moment he arrived to the party.
'This is really huge!' were his thoughts as he saw a parade of faces with fancy clothes talking to one another, having conversations he couldn't begin to understand or follow. The boy looked down to his own clothes, feeling rather out of place with his hand me down suit and tie that he didn't properly adjust. He was so used to Yamashiro doing it for him-
'Don't think about that!' Shinji cursed in his mind. 'Just find Mayumi… maybe things won't be so awkward then.'
Shinji did not notice how he used Yamagishi's name.
It was going to be hard to find her, due to how many people there were. He couldn't just go up to someone and ask them, they might not even know who he was talking about! He suddenly felt a headache coming around. The boy felt very self conscious. He always had some headaches when in crowds. He wondered what if he showed up at the wrong place or she played a prank or-
Shinji then felt a finger tapping on his shoulder. He had a moment of mild panic as he quickly turned around to find Mayumi staring back at him.
"Oh there you are, I've been looking all over for you!" The girl stated. "I hope you didn't get too lost… it's kind of overwhelming isn't it?"
The boy rubbed the back of his head, "Well… it kind of is? I'm not used to being around… so many people…"
The girl chuckled, "Me neither… I only go to places like these because my father goes to them."
Familial obligation… Shinji somehow got the sense he'll understand that soon enough. He was confused when he saw a frown form on Mayumi's face. Her hands found their way to Shinji's tie, beginning to fiddle with it.
"Oh, your tie is messed up. Can I fix that?" Mayumi asked politely, her face flushing.
The boy also blushed as he quickly said, "S-sure!"
And that's how Mayumi ended up fixing Shinji's tie into something vaguely resembling proper attire. Somehow her presence made it easier for Shinji to ignore the presence of the crowds that surrounded the two. Only then did the boy get a good look at Mayumi. Her glasses, which she had the entire time they've known together in school, were nowhere there to be seen as her red eyes were able to be seen in all of their glory. Mayumi was dressed in a rather dark shade of violet, and there was a bit of lipstick applied to her lips. Looking at her determined expression Shinji couldn't help but think she was pretty.
"There we go, all done." She said sweetly pulling the boy out of his reverie. "My father should be this way, come on!"
With only a mumbled yes Shinji suddenly felt himself being dragged by Mayumi past the crowds. Even though his headache was getting worse, the boy wasn't truly worried. Mayumi was guiding him, and he felt somewhat happy knowing that.
Shinji spotted a man conversing with someone; a woman with a lab coat. The man had a dark green attire, a purple undershirt and black tie, standing out among the crowd in his gaudy get up. As Shinji got closer, the boy noticed this man did share a strong resemblance to Mayumi. He had a similar humble and unassuming demeanor, black hair and somewhat pale complexion. The biggest difference was in the eyes; in contrast to Mayumi's ruby red eyes, this man's eyes were blue like the sky. Those very same eyes found their way from the woman he was conversing with towards the boy, and soon this man turned to meet him and Mayumi.
"Father," Mayumi addressed him formally. She gave a slight bow, "Pardon me for interrupting, but this is my friend from school, Ikari Shinji."
The man- who Shinji now knew was Mayumi's father- gave him a look over. "I see…" He then gave a toothy smile. "Pardon me, I am Yamagishi Tachiagaru. It is indeed a pleasure to meet a friend of my daughter's."
The elder Yamagishi offered Shinji his hand, which the boy returned with a timid reply, "Um, nice to meet you as well."
Tachiagaru let out a laugh. "Don't be so nervous. You'll never meet people if you keep hiding like a hedgehog. Pardon me, allow me to introduce you two children to the guest of honor. Meet the famous Doctor Naoko Akagi!"
Shinji looked over to Naoko Akagi, who had a look of shock on her face she proceeded to shake his hand. "Um, pleased to meet you as well, Doctor Akagi."
The doctor quirked an eyebrow at that, "You've never seen me before?"
Shinji wondered what she meant by that. He thought something about her was familiar, where he could have heard of her before… "Wait, I think I read about you in a magazine. I think it was about a Geo Front."
Naoko let a smirk appear on her face. "Yes… that was a few years ago. GEHRIN found it lying underneath the ruins of Hakone during excavation efforts in Second Impact. I was already working there as it's head scientist. You seem to know a bit young man."
Shinji wouldn't really say he knew that much about what she actually did. He only had that particular magazine because his father happened to be mentioned in it. Still he didn't want to disrespect the doctor at her own party so he merely politely asked, "So this event is about your experiment?"
The doctor nodded, "An experiment would imply it was incomplete? No, what's presented here has already been installed this system multiple parts of Japan, only now the time is right to properly show it off to the public."
"I hope it goes well." Shinji said, smiling just a bit. "You seem very proud."
A smile that was returned in kind, if a bit strained. "I hope so too…"
Just then Akagi brought her fingers to her ear. With a frown, she said "That my dears means that I'll have to depart. I will see you all soon and maybe we can all have a nice discussion about my work."
She then walked away from the three, disappearing into the crowds. At the silence of the two men Mayumi finally spoke, "I hope things go well for her. Her reputation was messed up some time ago so I hope nothing bad happens."
Shinji raised an eyebrow, "What happened?"
Mayumi answered, "From what I heard she slept with the head of NERV, someone named Gendo Ikari."
When she didn't hear a response, Mayumi turned to find Shinji with a look of complete shock… with a hint of disgust to go along with it.
"… what?" was all the boy could muster.
Naoko Akagi wondered what sort of luck she had to run into the spawn of that man on the very night she was supposed to finally break away from the controversy that lead the entire fiasco to begin with. Was she cursed by the universe to be thrown off a bridge or some other accursed fate? Was this a punishment from God?
'No, I can't let this throw me off balance.' She shook her head to distract herself. 'You have a crowd to impress.'
"Gather around ladies and gentlemen, for it is time for Doctor Akagi to take the stage!"
Naoko was slightly dismayed when her arrival got only a token round of applause. 'No matter' she clenched her hands. 'They'll all see.'
Once she finally stood in front of the microphone, Akagi cleared her throat… and prepared to speak.
"Hello everyone in the crowd, I'm so painfully sorry to interrupt what must be a wonderful conversation with strangers about the weather or your marriages, neither of which will be looking too good tomorrow I'm afraid to say (that drew some laughs from the crowd, with Naoko found promising). Right, well tonight you're about to witness years of planning and perfecting on display. Roll the curtains!"
The curtains rolled back to reveal a gigantic metal box, to which the crowd expressed their awe at.
"This is the future of technology… highly advanced A.I.s. designed to predict the possibilities and outcomes of any given decision to their most pin point accurate and logical conclusions. They have already been adopted in every other city in Japan, and now Kokoro, the crowning jewel of Japanese technology, shall receive this wonderful piece of machinery for them to wield! No more possibility of governmental corruption, no chance of Yakuza or corporate interests ruining things for the common man, all governments will be streamlined using the MAGI system!"
This drew a large amount of applause from the crowd who were all eager and excited for this development. Akagi found herself very pleased at this reaction. 'The first step to clean my reputation.'
"All that it needs now is to properly activate it… and luckily I'll be able to do so!"
She took off her lab coat… revealing four long mechanical arms come out from the back of her back, stretching out for the public to see. The arms moved to pull the switches allowing the MAGI to start up.
The crowd continued applauding wildly. The loud clapping was music to Naoko's ears, who loved every moment of this adoration. One reporter was finally came out to raise a microphone up.
"Very impressive work Doctor Akagi, this demonstration proves you are indeed a brilliant scientist." the reporter said. Naoko was not sure if the reporter was being facetious with her tone of voice, "Tell me, how does the MAGI work? What are those things on your back?"
Naoko anticipated this line of questioning, "Very good question, the MAGI is controlled by three super computers based on my very own brainwave patterns. Using the biological components the computers make accurate calculations based not only on the cold logic of machines but also the intuition only humans could come up with. These mechanical arms are similar, though the harness is connected directly to the brain like so-" Naoko turned around to let people see the harness connecting up her scalp. "-the brain controls the arms do whatever I please. This is really a side project, though I'm considering perfecting it for mass production sooner or later."
Various oohs and aahhhs were heard. The reporter seemed somewhat impressed as well, "I see. You said something about the MAGI and the arms deriving their tech from your brainwave patterns?" Akagi nodded, "Yes! Only someone of my genius is capable of producing such marvelous pieces of machinery!" "Wow… I didn't think a woman like you would have ego!" The room suddenly went quiet. A man in a trench coat stood out from the crowd and raised a finger at Akagi in the podium. "You seem fine with talking about your perfect brainwave patterns… tell us, did that brilliant mind also tell you to you fuck your boss too?
Naoko glared at the heckler in the ground. "Who the hell is this man? Somebody get him out of here."
Even as she gave that order more people started jeering from the crowd.
"She fucks her boss and talks about how perfect she is? What does she think she is?!"
"Bet she thinks we're low down sheeple who'll accept anything huh? Well guess what bitch you're just a stupid bitch!"
"Akagi you suck!"
Each passing jeer and yelling made Akagi's ire grow more and more fiercely. 'I came all this way to help these mindless slaves and THIS is how they repay ME!?' Naoko's thoughts soured more and more. 'How dare they? How dare they insult her genius in her own conference?!'
"The world doesn't belong to you old hag, go away!"
Old hag… old hag old hag oldhagoldhagoldhagoldhagoldhagoldhag- those two words triggered something in the darkest part of her mind. Her eyes snapped to attention and her face contorted to complete and utter RAGE!
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP ALL OF YOU! YOU DISGUSTING WORTHLESS PIECES OF TRASH COULDN'T COMPREHEND THE MAGNITUDE OF WHAT I HAD TO DO, WHAT I HAD TO SUFFER TO GET MY WORK TO YOU! YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND EVEN IF MONKEYS STARTED BEATING YOU WITH STICKS THAT HAVE MY NOTES PRINTED ON THEM!"
The man in the trench coat chuckled, "So finally revealing yourself for who you are huh? Well then-" He raised his hands. "-Hope you won't regret it by the end."
BOOM!
All the guests gasped when they heard the explosion. They all immediately started running out the exit to escape whatever disaster struck.
"What's going on?" Mayumi asked as she was being pushed out of the way. "Shinji? SHINJI? Where are you?"
"Mayumi!" She heard him yell, but Mayumi before could reach out she froze at her shoulder being grabbed. Tachiagaru Yamagishi had a stern look on his face. "Don't worry about him, Mayumi." He said. "We have to get out of here ourselves."
The girl shook her head, "No father! We can't just leave him behind!"
She felt pain as the grip on her shoulder tightened. Her father only responded, "I have a funny feeling he's going to be fine. But we won't be unless we move."
Mayumi frowned, but nodded. She couldn't disobey her father, not here. She only prayed that Shinji turned up alright.
"Target in my sights. I'm gonna finish the job."
Shun Oshiro, alias Shocker, stood before an unconscious Naoko Akagi. He prepared his gauntlets once again.
"Nothin personal, Doc." he said with a smirk. "Just business."
Just as the gauntlets were about ti fire, a familiar string of web covered them.
"Nothing personal?" Shocker looked up to find Spider-Man crawling up the wall. "I'm pretty sure trying to murder someone can be considered pretty darn personal in my book."
Oshiro only smirked, "Yes indeed, our plan went quite well. I sabotage the experiment and you come in to save the day. You truly are a genius."
Spider-Man looked at him confused. Then he heard people speaking, "Hey this was all a set up?"
The costumed vigilante realized Oshiro's plan, but by then it was too late. People started pointing up at him.
"He really IS a menace!"
"Attempted murder so he could show off? How low!"
"Somebody stop him!"
"No, he's lying! I didn't-" Spider-Man raised a hand, but suddenly his spider sense alerted him to bullets.
"Get down here! You're under arrest!"
Shinji bitterly realized his words wouldn't matter. Defeated, he swung away to avoid getting arrested.
Meanwhile, Akagi was picked up by the ambulance. A doctor checked her for a pulse.
"Good news everyone… she's alive. Barely managing, but she'll live."
"Just last night, Spider-Man and Shocker were reported to be working together to sabotage the presentation of the MAGI system, which lead to Doctor Naoko Akagi being taken to a hospital. As more reports come in…"
"Damn it!" Shinji punched the table while turned away from the TV in progress. "As if things weren't bad enough…"
Why do they always confuse him for being a villain? Why do they always ready to show him as a villain? He was only trying to help, yet so many people are ready to believe the word of a criminal rather than himself.
It was honestly maddening to the boy. What was he doing that was so wrong?
"Ikari!"
Shinji found Mayumi pulling a seat to rest on it. The girl had a look of concern in her eyes.
"I was so worried!" She asked, "Where were you, what happened?"
The boy had a downcast expression. "I, uh… I wasn't able to get away in time, so I watched the fight."
God that sounded silly even to his own ears. Luckily for him, Mayumi nodded in understanding, "Y-yeah, it was pretty crazy what happened… thank God Spider-Man was there." Shinji grimaced. "Yeah… too bad about him…"
"… back at the party… you were so surprised when I mentioned Akagi had slept with Gendo Ikari." Shinji asked. The girl nodded. "The thing is… that man… is my father."
This surprised the girl greatly. Her mouth was covered by her hands as she gasped. "Oh my God… I didn't know, I'm so sorry!"
"No no no I'm sorry!" Shinji said. "I wasn't- I mean I didn't-" he sighs as he slumps his shoulders, "My father doesn't really call or talk to me about anything… I didn't know either."
Mayumi adjusts her glasses, "So that explains it…"
Shinji raised an eyebrow, "Explain what?"
At that the girl flushed a little, "I'm sorry, I just kind of thought Yamashiro was your father somehow."
The boy blushed. "N-no… he wasn't…" He said with a slight whimper.
Mayumi detected a tone of longing on it. She decided not to press further on this front, instead wondering how she could help out. Then something came to her.
"My father… knows the hospital where she's staying at." Mayumi reluctantly said. "Maybe, if you want… I could tell you the location so you could visit Doctor Akagi? To see what she knows about your father?"
Shinji was incredibly surprised upon hearing. "R-really? You don't have to do that, why would you?"
"Because…" Mayumi paused for a bit. She took a breath and continued, "I can sort of understand. My mother… I often wondered about her and what she was like. Any time I asked my father he'd change the subject or say nothing. So I want to help."
"Mayumi…" He breathed out. Then his lips curled into a smile. "Thank you."
Naoko heard small footsteps behind her. She turned around and spotted a pale young girl with blue hair and red eyes staring back at her.
"Eh, did you need me for something Rei?" Naoko asked with a strained smile. Honestly, that girl's existence creeped the hell out of her.
"I lost my way down here." The little girl responded in an emotionless tone.
"Is that so…?" Naoko turned to face Ayanami fully. "Would you like to come with me then?"
"No." Rei said plainly. "It's not your business. I can find my way home by myself old hag."
Old hag… those two words made Naoko's spine shiver. Bad enough Ikari hadn't been talking to her for over a month, but now this girl dares to insult her?
"You shouldn't call someone an old hag, Rei." She said with a growl, slowly standing up from the chair.
"But that's what you are aren't you?" The little girl said. Her eyes narrowed as a cruel smile appeared on her lips. "The Commander is the one who calls you that."
Naoko Akagi's eyes widened at that. The girl continued, "He says that old hag is in the way, the old hag is of no use to me any more."
Those words danced around in Akagi's mind, reverberating and repeating over and over… For a moment, the face of Rei Ayanami shifted and turned into the one she hated most of all.
Flashes of the affair with Gendo flared up as Yui Ikari's lips spelled out old hag.
Suddenly her hands were grabbing Rei's neck, crushing it as hard as she could with every fiber of her body.
"You little bitch!" She screamed as the room turned red. "You're just an alternative you hear that?! You're just as replaceable as me!"
Then, the livid anger she felt quickly dissipated and the room returned to normal… as Akagi held the corpse of a little girl in her hands.
"No… no this can't be!" She said to herself. "This didn't happen… this… never… happened…"
The doctor remembered this. At first she thought it was a dream she had, an awful dream born out of her jealous feelings and her deepest insecurities. Now though, she knew this was real.
The Commander told Rei she was an old hag… the Commander released her affair to the public. Gendo Ikari was responsible for all her pain.
No… everyone was at fault. They all laughed at her, mocked her, were so quick to turn against her. Not anymore.
They'll be sorry… she'll make them PAY.
As the darkness became clearer and clearer, she heard whispers all around her.
"… is it possible to remove the harness?" "No, the explosion fused it into her body. If we tried we would kill her."
"Poor old hag, I can't believe she'd be down here like this."
Doctor Akagi's eyes opened.
"So this is the place..." Shinji said to himself as the doors closed behind him.
He walked down the hospital hallway. There were things about his father he wanted to know. He couldn't ask him… not since that day. But maybe if he was lucky he could ask her and see whether she had a perspective on him that he did not possess.
Hopefully she could leave out the part about having sex with him. Shinji did not need to know THAT much.
As he continued walking, he felt a headache coming over him. This could only mean one thing.
"Spider-Sense… great what now?" He whispered to himself. He place himself against the wall and sneaked further down. When he heard screams coming from a room, Shinji went over to investigate.
Looking into the room, he was not prepared to find the the utter horror lying in wait.
At least three dead bodies lied on the floor with holes in their chests as a nurse was being chocked to death by a mechanical arm, and another was violently shoved into some equipment, murdering them on impact.
"Help! Heeeeellll- AAUGGHH!" The nurse's cries were being smothered by the second.
"Old hag was it? OLD HAG?" The crazed doctor yelled into the nurse's face. "I hope the pain you feel a thousand times more than my own!
A web line stuck to the arm, a pull causing it to drop the nurse. Naoko turned around to see a red and blue hero standing in defiance.
"So do you always casually murder people at random or is this just for special occasions?" Spider-Man mockingly asked. The nurse scurried away and managed to escape. This left the hero and villain alone.
"Oh no, murder is pretty much how I solve all my problems." Akagi sardonically said. "You're not that special sorry to say."
It took all of Shinji's will not to immediately break down at the sight of a murderous Doctor Akagi. Her fierce glare nearly petrified him to the spot, her rage seemingly forming a dark aura around her. It took a second for him to dodge a tentacle as it grazed his shoulder.
"Okay clearly you've got all kinds of crazy on you, gonna have to put you back to sleep!" Spider-Man said. He shot a web at Naoko, but her tentacle ripped it apart while the rest smashed the wall trying to kill Spider-Man.
The fight went on, with the wall crawler dodging and dodging, but the tentacles not letting up. They were strong and fast. He pushed his legs forward and lunged at Akagi, but a tentacle punched his face out. Soon all four tentacles started beating the poor boy, hitting so hard and so fast he couldn't get out of the way. His healing factor wasn't able to heal him fast enough, and Shinji was starting to lose consciousness. The arms of Doctor Akagi struck with such ferocity it's almost unreal!
The Spider-Man found himself on his knees, blood spouting from his lips and various parts of the body. Doctor Akagi only smiled at this sight.
"Give up yet?"
At that, Spider-Man jumped and thew one last punch. The fist was meant to hit Naoko's face, however a tentacle intercepted it.
A stand off occurred…
…
…
…
CRRRRRRRACK!
"AAUGGGHH!"
Shinji Ikari clutched his arm writhing in agony. The tentacle broke the bones, it's adamantium covering being powerful enough to bypass his super strength.
Before he could even react, the helpless boy was struck into unconsciousness.
A gentle breeze was the first thing Shinji felt on his face.
"Ugh… what happened?" He said while raising a hand to clutch his head, writhing from a painful headache. When his eyesight returned he realized three things. One: that it was night time. Two: that he can feel skin on his face. He wasn't wearing his mask even though he had the costume on.
"You seem very confused right about now. Maybe I can help jog your memory?" The third thing was that Naoko Akagi, with her four mechanical arms and an devilish smirk, was standing right above him. She was holding his mask.
"Why don't you start Spider-Man… or should I say, Shinji Ikari?"
TO BE CONTINUED
Sorry for taking a while to update. I had stuff in college but I also wanted to get this chapter and the next one right.
I've seen some questions about whether this will tie into Spider-Verse in some fashion. I might consider a one shot or something, but no plans for the main story sorry to say. I already have a plan for how this all goes. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Next Chapter: Hero