Welcome to Tokyo-3
"Circuits reconnected."
"Systems restored, graphs back to normal."
"Pilot life signs confirmed!"
"Preserving the pilot's life is top priority."
"Send out the recovery team hurry!"
Shinji heard all of these things as he felt his senses returning to him. A searing pain was felt all over his face and body, even as he recovered. He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
The Angel… the thing he was fighting!
The last thing he remembered was anger. Rage. A instinctive hatred for the creature and a need to destroy it! He was smashing and smashing and smashing away at the red orb and then-
Here he is, back in the entry plug. The hate was gone… only confusion remained.
The screens around him blared back to life, Shinji could finally see the outside again. A ruined streets, charred buildings… it seemed like an explosion went off somehow.
Before he could ask any more questions, he heard it. A loud clang. Something had fallen to the floor.
He looked to his right. One building had not been destroyed, one with glass that acted as a mirror. He could see the Evangelion as it was, tall large, it's gangly body barely scratched by the battle beforehand.
All except for the head.
The face he had seen earlier… it wasn't there anymore. A strange brown living flesh had replaced the demonic visage. It looked sickly, as if it was on some kind of life support. A creature born in pain.
It's eyes were dark.
Shinji gasped.
His eyes darted from side to side. He found himself inside a white room. Shinji looked down and saw he had apparently been put in a hospital gown.
"The ceiling mustn't be very familiar to you."
Eyes widened.
"I mean, you hardly ever went to hospitals when you were younger. Given your healing factor I suspect you may never have to enter one as a patient ever again. Lucky you."
No… she couldn't…
He turned his face up and found that unfortunately… Naoko Akagi was standing there smirking. The tentacles behind her moving on their own, ready to pounce at any given moment.
"We have some things we need to discuss… arachnid."
Shinji was about to shoot a web at her but a tentacle wrapped around his hand. The others sprung out quickly trapped his hands and feet to the bed.
"Nonono, we're not here to fight like savage brutes," Naoko chided. "This is a business meeting among equals."
"Could have fooled me!" Shinji tried moving his hands, but they were firmly in place. "Just what the heck are you doing here?!"
"I came to kiss you awake," Naoko let out a chuckle. "Just kidding, you're too much of a twink for me and faaaar too young. I'm not that kind of monster. There is so much we have to go through, but you probably have questions of your own my little spider. Stay still and then you could ask me anything!"
He struggled against the arms, but he wasn't getting anywhere. Shinji thought carefully. He might able to find a way to break out of these tentacles and break her nose again, but that would be a terrible idea for a lot of reasons. Too many people outside who would notice, being in an unfamiliar location, the very real threat of Naoko sharing his secret… he didn't like it, but there wasn't much else he could do.
"… ok… I won't fight."
"Splendid!"
The arms came off immediately. They retreated back to their master, while Shinji got his bearings. He placed his wrists over each other, rubbing them.
"… well?" Akagi asked. "Ask away my darling!"
Shinji decided to go with the first thought on his mind.
"…How come you're not in prison? Did… did those SEELE people have something to do with it?"
"You know about them? Oh good, saves me a lot of trouble!" Naoko said. "Yes it has to do with them. Believe it or not I was lying in prison, waiting to be carted off to God knows where when all of a sudden I was blacked out. When I woke up, I had been stripped naked was placed on trial for those lecherous old fuckers. They wanted to see figure out if I should live or not, due to my rampage as Doctor Octopus probably drawing some negative attention to NERV probably."
"Yeah I can't see how a government organization working with a murderous psychopath might cause some problems."
"Indeed! In the end I was able to convince them that due to my seniority as the head scientist of NERV and the creator of the MAGI I should be kept on board… especially after I revealed that there were back up systems within the MAGI that not even Ritsuko knew about. A magician never reveals all their secrets after all. However they had placed some conditions for my return. I can't reveal my involvement to the public and also…"
She hesitated.
"What? What was the other thing?"
Naoko looked nervous. Shinji had never seen her like this before, which already raised some red flags.
She took off the glasses she had, showing dark circles around her eyes. She turned around and slid off the lab coat partway.
Horrifying scars covered her back. Exposed to the air, Naoko flinched from the pain. There was a red chip in the place of the harness where the mechanical tentacles came from.
"They tortured me for hours on end, leaving these… reminders of my place. They also placed an inhibitor chip to keep me from going rogue."
Shinji placed a hand over his mouth. "Oh God… that's horrible…"
"If I wanted pity I would find it in the back of a bottle. I don't need some brat to comfort me." She placed the glasses back on while putting the jacket back in place. "Anyway I'm curious as to how you came across SEELE to begin with. What do you know?"
Shinji took a breath.
"SEELE created NERV… they also made HERZ. HERZ was experimenting with DNA from an Angel named Lilith… they turned people into their test subjects…"
He clutched his wrist.
"…Yamagishi… he called me the Third Child. Did you know?"
"Ah Yamagishi. You seemed to be familiar with that worm of a daughter when I saw you at the party, how did-"
"DID YOU KNOW?!"
Anger. Shinji clutched the sheet.
"A violent reaction! Struck a nerve I see." Naoko smiled. "As for your question… Yes. Yes I did. In fact, you had been selected to be Unit 01's pilot ever since you were a wee young boy and were kept under HERZ's watchful eye during your stay in Kokoro."
"Why didn't they bring me in earlier?" Shinji asked. "Why wait until now?"
"Honestly… I don't know."
Shinji's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean you don't know?"
"I was kept in the dark about a lot of things. If I had to guess, your miserable waste of a father had a plan in mind that needed you to come here without being trained, but I was never told what it was nor I can figure out what practical purpose it would serve. I know a lot, but not enough. And that's where you come in."
The tentacles behind her slithered.
"As much as I want to snap your neck like a tooth pick and finish you off once and for all, I'm going to need your help. We're going up against a common foe. SEELE wants to convert mankind into orange goop so we could live on in instrumentality, which can only happen when the Angels are dead. I need you alive to kill Angels, you need me to get you information regarding NERV secrets. How about we work together to achieve our goals? You get to stop the villain, save the world… yada yada yada."
Shinji looked down. He admitted, Akagi made a good point. SEELE had plans that could ruin humanity and it wasn't like he had any allies here. Maybe…
He stared at her. "No. No I don't think I'll join you… it would be a terrible idea."
Naoko shrugged. "Suit yourself kid. Anyway, I have some tests to take care of."
She turned right and opened the door. Just before she could leave, Shinji raised a hand.
"Wait just one more thing!" Shinji said. "How come you never told anyone my secret?"
Naoko looked back. She looked contemplative, as if debating her answer. In the end, she grinned.
"You see Shinji… I am a very jealous woman. I don't want anyone laying their hands on you. Only I get to have the satisfaction of killing Spider-Man."
With that, she leaves.
The battle that took place the other night left a rather large crater on the street.
Almost immediately, NERV had sent various teams to analyze for any potential radiation or properties that might have been left behind. The recovery team had pulled out wreckage of Unit 01's mask from the floor, while making sure to close the area off to civilians who might have tried to take a peek.
In the middle of the crater was a tent. The team on the site had just finished their samplings for the day, and had taken off their hazmat masks.
Misato Katsuragi changed the channel several times, and was dismayed to see that all the channels showed the same news report over and over.
"Sigh, public scenario B22, just like we thought." Misato sighed. "So we're covering up the truth again."
"At least the PR people are happy. They FINALLY got something to do." Ritsuko shrugged off, looking over the notes she had on the table.
"We're being pretty casual about it." Misato brought the fan to her face and waved it. "I mean, give 'em credit they managed to spin this in a good way even with people linking the Angel to the Kokoro incident. As if NERV actually committed that… no way. Even so I can't help but feel like there's a dam waiting to burst. How is everyone so calm about these things?
"I don't think they're calm." Ritsuko said. "Actually I think we're all pretty scared."
"Of course we are…" Misato trailed off, thinking.
She had been worried since the other night. Shinji pulled himself well, too well even. The way he adjusted to the Eva quickly without training is a miracle in it of itself, and she had to admit using the horn as a knife was clever. It was gonna be trouble if he's gonna take orders but that's not what concerned her.
At the end of the fight, Shinji had started attacking the Angel's core with a fierce rage she didn't think he'd have. The explosion of course distracted her from thinking about it at the time. With time however, she looked into the logs to see if they held anything.
Unit 01 was being held at Cage Six, the inspection being said to take place today at ten hundred hours. The mission recorder had nothing, but the readings showed behavior that indicated the Evangelion had gone through a sort of berserker stage not too dissimilar from the incident with Unit 00 some time ago. The behavior of Unit 00 seemed to line up with the weird attitude at the end of the fight.
However, with no data and even less evidence, there is no root cause that can be determined or if her suspicions could even be confirmed. It might happen again, and that worried Misato.
"Still, the Evas can beat the Angels." She whispered underneath her breath. "The fact that we're even here to see this means that mankind has a sliver of hope."
A chuckle. "You're such an optimist."
"Hey sometimes you need a little wishful thinkin' just to keep on livin' Ritsuko." Misato smiled. Her friend turned to her, pushing the glasses she had on.
"I see your point… it's nice to hear a positive attitude."
At that, a short haired brunette came in. Lieutenant Maya Ibuki handed out a report to Ritsuko before turning to Misato.
"Captain Katsuragi, Pilot Ikari had finally woken up and and is waiting for pick up at the hospital."
"That's good thank you Maya." Misato said. "And… how is he?"
"From all reports, it seems his memory is foggy. He couldn't recall much of the fight in detail"
"I see…" Misato scratched her chin in worry. "Could it be some kind of mental contamination? What if the explosion damaged his skull? Dammit…"
"I don't think we should worry." Ritsuko stepped back from the notes. "We did have a pretty hectic day that time. I'm sure he'll come around eventually."
Even so, Misato wasn't entirely convinced.
"I hope you're right Ritsuko…"
Everything seemed to be wrapped in a blinding white light.
Rationally, Shinji knew that this was just what hospitals were like. White structures only livened by the lights on the ceiling and the humans in green dresses that worked in them. It was clinical and professional, patients coming and going.
He decided he hated hospitals.
Shinji was thankful that he could just sit away from the smell of medicines and the moans of the comatose. Instead, he found himself fortunate to be sitting in a room where he had a clear view of trees and the outside world. He found it calming.
Especially after the encounter with Doctor Akagi. Not a normal day you wake up to a mad super villain outright stating she was going to kill you. Then again, nothing about his life had been normal for months now.
He went from a quiet kid in the corner with no future plans, to some kind of vigilante superhero. What a turn.
'I don't feel different though,' Shinji thought. 'If anything, I feel… the same.'
The boy had thoughts about his current predicament. He had previously vowed not to run away again, to take responsibility and fight if necessary. He found himself doing things he never thought he could do, like stopping a train, crash an inhuman monster through a statue and even fight in a giant robot up against an alien.
(Of course it wasn't a robot was it?)
That last part especially seemed strange. Even in the context of his life, these bizarre turn of events felt bizarrely out of left field. And yet…
And yet Shinji walked on as if nothing happened. No that's not right. He walked as if this was normal.
Shinji wondered if that was the nature of change. The initial wonder or terror of a thing only for it to become routine. Maybe. There was no way to tell if he had changed unless someone pointed it out to his face.
"Shinji?"
He had heard the footsteps previously, but it was only now the boy turned to find Misato Katsuragi had been the one making them.
"You ready to go?" She asked.
A quiet nod, Shinji got up and joined her.
The pair walked a short distance, quiet. The elevator was not too far away, just by the receptionist's desk. Shinji waited as Misato pressed the button.
The doors opened. Gendo Ikari stood there, positioned in the center of the elevator.
A stare off. No words were spoken between father and son, only questioning gazes could be found.
Shinji tried to glare, tried anything to stand his ground. He had not seen this man in 3 years, by all accounts he should not care that much. What has he done for him? He should not allow himself to be cowed by this man.
The boy turned his face turned away.
The doors closed, Shinji feeling a sense of humiliation over it.
A frowning Misato watched the scene transpired, and something started dwelling up inside of her.
"Alone? Seriously?"
The man, a Section-2 security agent, nodded.
"That's right. His room will be on block 6 just up ahead. I trust you have no problem with that."
Shinji was torn. On the one hand, him being alone would allow him some privacy and ways to practice his powers without anyone noticing. Maybe grant him access to NERV' and make uncovering secrets better. He wouldn't need Naoko's help at all!
But with it being directly at NERV HQ, it's also possible there might be tighter security and cameras spying his every move. That would be a huge pain, and he doesn't want anyone (least of all his father) to know he's Spider-Man. Speaking of that, being at NERV HQ might mean traveling as Spider-Man to fight crime might be harder. Decisions, decisions…
"Well… is there a way I can negotiate a room out of here?" Shinji asked. "Maybe in the city? I don't"
"You want to live alone?" Misato looked at him surprised.
The boy tried to think of something to say. Anything."Yeah, I've been living by myself for the past few months, so I'm used to it."
He shrugged it off. It was the truth after all, but that didn't seem to be the right thing to say. Misato didn't seem all that happy. Not one bit.
"What did you say?!"
Ritsuko was ballistic! Misato pulled the phone back into her face.
"You heard me! I said I decided to let Shinji stay at my place, what's the big deal? I cleared it with the higher ups. You don't have to worry about a thing," Misato smirked. "I promise I won't put the moves on him."
At that Ritsuko went even more ballistic!
"I SHOULD HOPE NOT! Why would you even say something like that? Honestly what the fuck-"
Whatever else Ritsuko said was drowned out as Misato placed the phone back into the booth.
"Oh yeah, she never did have a sense of humor." Misato turned to her ward. "Looks we're gonna be livin' together Shinji!"
"I guess we are." Shinji couldn't help but smile. "Although… I'd probably panic if you did put the moves on me."
"I think I'd do it just to see how'd you react." Misato said.
"Uh… please no?"
Shinji was dismayed when he saw her chuckling.
"Heh heh, I think we're gonna have a lot of fun oh roomie of mine…"
It had been sunset when they reached the supermarket.
Misato said they needed to get some supplies for a welcome party, which is why they're there. They had just gotten the stuff they needed, and now they were passing it through the cash register.
"Do you think we should be moving?"
"We sure are! I never dreamed this place would turn into a war zone. It's just too dangerous!"
Shinji stared. The couple passed him by.
"I know what you mean… my husband is telling me the children and I should evacuate too."
"There were over a hundred relocations filed this morning alone."
"It doesn't surprise me. First Kokoro now this? I don't care how much they fortify this city when it comes down to it you can't count on NERV for anything."
"Just thinking about yesterday how close we came?"
"Think about those other people who couldn't get into the shelters, all killed during the battle…"
Misato looked at the boy, who seemed to be shaking just the slightest nudge.
As the pair drove in the car, she decided.
"Hope you don't mind, but we need to make a tiny little side step."
Shinji's eyes turned to her, surprised. "Where are we going?"
"Somewhere nice you'll see." She said with a smile.
From here… the city looks so lonely.
Shinji observed this while staring at the metropolis below the mountain. The orange glow of the sky made the buildings indistinguishable from each other, the breeze increasing the effect of isolation he feels.
There were no lights on display. The shadows cast from the sun made it appear lifeless, without a soul.
"It's time."
Shinji looked confused. They were waiting for something?
Then… he saw it.
"The buildings… they're growing!"
Indeed, structures rose from nothing. Tall spires and skyscrapers that reached the clouds appear, and the darkness created from the sunset gave away to lights that popped all around the skyline. The city of tomorrow, build on the works of yesterday, Tokyo-3 breathed with life he hadn't seen when he came in first.
"This whole city is a fortress built to intercept Angels. Its our city Tokyo-3. Take a good look down there."
Shinji could see. Compared to the smog of his hometown, this was felt like a utopian marvel. A city that had breathed and shined in glory.
"You see? that's the city you protected."
Yes… that was right.
Nighttime came, and the pair had arrived at an apartment complex. They walked across several rooms to get to theirs.
"Oh good, It looks like they delivered your stuff already! I just moved in here the other day myself so I still have some unpacking to do myself."
They stopped. Misato turned to the door, and it opened by itself. She took steps inside, and then looked at Shinji expectantly.
"Well come in!"
Shinji stared at her, then at the door.
"Uh… okay. Thanks for having me."
She frowned.
"Shinji, this is your home now. Just… come in."
Home. He had lived in a house for years, but it had only been home when Yamashiro was there. The months that passed since then he had spent most of his time as Spider-Man away, Shinji only coming back to sleep or eat. He hadn't been in a home for a while.
With that in mind, he took a step inside.
"Well… home sweet home."
He smiled while saying that. Misato smiled back.
"Home sweet home."
"Oh sorry it's a little messy. Like I said I'm just settling in."
If you pay attention, one could hear the sound of two drum beats and a clang of the cymbal. Beer cans lied in almost every inch, boxes stacked on top of each other unopened, trash bags that smelled, and all sorts of things were lying around the living room. Nowhere was safe from the onslaught of chaos that was the apartment of Misato Katsuragi.
"This is… a little messy?"
Shinji could only let out those words. What could he say? Should he tell his host that her place is a dumpster fire of madness that can only be cleansed by the holy spirit of God?
That would be all too rude. Maybe he should say that the room was the result of a science experiment gone horribly wrong and he could see some of the leftovers crawling on the floor?
Or perhaps-
No no no, he's just gonna leave it as is. Deep breaths.
"Hey while you're out there would you put the food away in the fridge?"
"Uh, yeah sure." Shinji said. He opened up the cabinets in the fridge. One by one, he could tell this was going to be an experience.
"Ice, snacks, nothing but beer… what did I get myself into?"
Misato came in, having already changed her clothes. She wore a yellow yank top and jean shorts, with her hair wrapped in a ponytail with two strings over her ears. She set the food onto the table after pushing some of the trash away.
"Alright let's dig in!"
"Uh okay…" Shinji mumbled.
The dinner had been pretty good. Shinji found himself relaxing, even with the smell that poured into his nose. Misato took a swig of her beer and yelled out in excitement.
"Ah! Yeah heheheh… I tell ya Shinji it's moments like these that make it all worthwhile don't you think?" She blinked. "You're not eating. I know it's all microwaved food but it's good trust me."
Shinji could feel his spider-sense tingling. Wait no, that was just his regular anxiety kicking in. Okay how to dodge this…
"Well it's just… I don't usually eat stuff like this so…"
"Are you…" Misato slammed her hands onto the table, leaning forward in front of Shinji's face. "… being PICKY?!"
"No I uh I just meant that…" Shinji nervously said, trying to appease the visage of death in front of him. "It looks good! Yes!"
It seemed to work. She closed her eyes and smiled, returning to her seating position.
"Hmhm kinda nice right? Two roomies sitting down to a nice home cooked meal…"
"Right."
"Good! 'Cause from now on this is your place as well as mine, so kick back and make yourself comfortable okay?"
"Uh… alright…"
"Ah… right right right right is that all you know how to say?" She reached over and grabbed his head. "Snap out of it! You can't just agree on what everyone tells you!"
No please, anything to stop this madness!
"R-right…" he let out weakly.
Seemingly satisfied, she stopped her assault and sat down.
"Heh heh… I know just the thing you need! A nice hot bath to clear your head! Wash all those worries down the drain!"
Oh good, an escape!
"Alright Misato, I'll take care of that right now. Thank you so much!"
He rushed into the bathroom without a moment's thought. Misato briefly searched around the room, wondering if she had forgotten something. Something she should have mentioned earlier…
A high pitched scream and Shinji came out naked.
"M-m-m-isato! There's a thing!"
"A what?"
Shinji rambled incoherently. A penguin flopped around out of it. Ah, now Misato remembered.
"Ohhhh that thing. He's a bird actually, a warm water penguin."
Shinji's eyes bulged. "Since when did birds like that even exist?!"
"Since always I guess, though they are rare these days." Misato grabbed the beer from the counter. "His name is Pen Pen. I should have mentioned he lives with me. Just think of him as another roomie. And uh now that you met, heh, why don't you go cover up?"
Shinji finally looked down. He blushed fiercely, covering his junk up with his hands while stepping back inside.
As she drunk from the beer, she had to chuckle slightly.
Maybe I was acting just a little too cheery… oh but it was all I could do to keep a straight face.
Gendo Ikari watched over the wreckage of Unit 00.
Several teams were working over the hour to free it from the bakelite. They needed to, especially with the Angels coming very soon. Unit 01 needed a partner, and Unit 02 in Germany is weeks away getting from official clearance to be brought in. There can be no time to waste.
The sound of a door opening was heard in the ruined control room.
"I checked over Ayanami today. Her vitals are stable and will be released soon so long as she is careful."
Gendo gritted his teeth.
"She'll be fine, Doctor… she'll be ready when its time to reactivate Unit 00."
The scientist grinned. "Right, right. Also I took the liberty of visiting your son as well. His psychological make up is better than expected, given we threw him into a ring of fire with no safety net."
"You stay away from him." Gendo growled. "He doesn't need you of all people to be his advocate."
"Ah, so you at last acknowledge me Ikari." Naoko said. "We haven't even spoken since the day I was brought here. Always through proxies. How does it feel for your mistake to show up in front of you"
Gendo turned around. He glared at Naoko.
"If you don't hold your tongue, Naoko, I will make sure the leash you're kept on is made tighter."
Naoko shrugged. "Whatever floats your boat. If you wanted an obedient pup, you should have asked for Ritsuko."
A pause.
Gendo turned back to the outside of the control room, where Unit 00 is being unearthed.
"You are neither owed my time nor my attention. What we had was nothing. You mean nothing. Now go."
The doctor turned around, scoffing.
"Oh I knew that already, especially when you threw me to the wolves when you told everyone what we did. While I was being humiliated and mocked by everyone you sat on your chair with your hands under your nose. You're a spineless little worm, Ikari, and my daughter is even more spineless for submitting to you."
The doors closed, and Gendo only stared at the distance pretending this never happened.
"Yeah after all the horrible stuff he went through… I don't think he'll pilot again."
Misato sat in the bath tub. Her fears and worried weren't washed down the drain just yet, which was why she called Ritsuko. Her friend seemed all too cheery at her woes however, which grated on her nerves just a nudge.
"Maintaining him is part of your joooob…" She said, Misato just hearing the grin from the phone.
"I'm just scared. I don't know how to deal with him."
"Grumbling already? But it was your idea to make him in you know."
"Oh shut up!" Misato hung up. Nope, not dealing with this shit. Not now.
She sighed as she got up from the bath. Nothing had been assuaged. Her thoughts turned to the events that transpired over the past few days.
The Third Child, suddenly selected without a preliminary report. And the timing of the Angel attack the same day he was scheduled to arrive. Not only that but the fact that he's Commander Ikari's son… the coincidences just keep stacking up. There had to be some kind of plan going on, especially with the way Naoko seemed to all too happy to provide him advice and let him do his thing during the encounter. He was quick to adapt and fight it off. He was too good. Where did he get those moves? Did he have to fight other people? With Kokoro's damage there had bound to have been some crazy thugs that tried to rob him…
Yet they did defeat the Angel, that has to count for something. But…
"I don't feel happy."
She dried her hair as she walked down the hall with a green towel over her.
The whole time she had just been thinking of the kid as just a tool… she felt as shameless as Ritsuko today. Misato looked towards Shinji's door.
"Shinji… I'm opening the door, okay?"
Misato slid it open. She found Shinji lying to the side away from the door and from her.
"Listen I forgot to tell you something." She swallowed a lump. "What you did the other day was a good thing, an admirable thing. You should feel proud, okay Shinji?"
No movement.
"Hang in there."
She closed the door. Shinji rustled, pushing the sheets off of himself.
I'll try Misato… now, it's time to get to work.
He reached out to grab the suit from the bag he had in the room.
Three weeks had passed.
Shinji had managed to adjust to life in Tokyo-3 fairly easily. By this point, he had the general layout of city down pat, knowing good places to change and what times Section-2 agents will be paying attention and not.
It's a bit of a pain, but nothing he can't handle.
After taking out the garbage for Misato earlier, he managed to zip to school on time. It is a godsend to Shinji that he had been given an unlimited supply of webbing at his beck and call. He go anywhere, any time very quickly, in a manner that was always exhilarating to him he might add. He couldn't imagine running out of fluid while in the middle of the air. That would be most painful.
It sort of made up for how boring school was.
Not that his old school was much better, but at least he felt like progress was happening over a week or a month. It's been three weeks but the teacher has been stuck on the same story about the beginnings of Second Impact and the effects it had on the world.
It was the same story over and over, as if he had been caught in some kind of time loop. It annoyed him to no end, made Shinji wish he was swinging outside or get called in to synch tests for the Evangelion.
As he read a book on the table, he heard someone making noises. It was some kid playing with a toy VTOL, shaking it around while recording it on his camera. A freckled girl with brown hair wrapped in pigtails walked across the class, checking the tables. She stood in front of the boy with the camera, another freckled kid with brown hair, only he had big dorky glasses to go along with it.
The boy put down the camera. "What's up class rep?"
"Did you deliver the print out I gave you yesterday?" She said, looking seriously.
The boy gulped, trying to use some papers inside the desk. "What? Oh um.. well um uh… well there wasn't anyone home at Touji's place."
"Mr. Aida, aren't you Suzuhara's friend?" The class representative asked. "Aren't you even just a little worried about him?"
"You don't suppose he was injured do you?"
"What, you mean in that robot incident? The news reports all said nobody was injured!"
"No way. You saw how the explosion was didn't you? There were fighters scrambled from Iruma and Komatsu, and there were troops from Misawa and Kyushu. I'll bet at least 20 people were injured, and there had to be a few fatalities too, especially with the overflow of people from Kokoro that couldn't get into the shelters."
The doors slid open. Another student came in. This one was slightly tanner than everyone else. Instead of the regular school uniform, he had a black exercise jacket and pants, with some white straps over parts of the clothes. This student scowled as he entered. The two students who had been talking earlier recognized him.
"TOUJI!"
"Suzahara…"
The jock placed a bag over his desk, then sat down on top of it. He craned his neck to look at the two.
"Kensuke, Hikari… where is everyone? Has our entire class disappeared or what?"
"They've all either evacuated or they transferred to others schools." Kensuke said. "No one wants to stay here after that last battle inside the city."
Touji rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you're probably the only one who's actually enjoying the chance to see a real war."
"That's true, and speaking of which, where have you been Touji? Why were you absent so long? Did you get involved in the war?"
Touji twitched.
"No… but my little sister did. She was crushed under a pile of debris. She survived but… she's been in the hospital ever since. Both my dad and grandad are working at the lab and there's no way they can leave their post so… if i'm not with her she's all alone."
"Touji…" Hikari said, putting a hand over his shoulder. Touji violently shook it off.
"That robot pilot's really dumb! It made me so angry! How could he wreck our own city! What'd that stupid idiot think he was doing?! If I could get my hands on him I'd pound him! I'd clobber him to kingdom come!"
"You can't just say those things Touji," Hikari said. "You're disturbing the other classmates calm down!"
At that the boy stopped. He took a breath and sighed. "You're right… sorry…"
"Speaking of the pilot, have you heard about the rumor of the transfer student?" Kensuke asked.
Touji raised an eyebrow. "What transfer student?"
"Him over there!"
He pointed towards Shinji, who was looking at the book he was reading.
"He transferred in while you were absent, right after the giant robot incident. Don't you think that was a bit of an odd coincidence?"
"C'mon Ken that's just your conspiracy hat speaking." Touji said. He narrowed his eyes slightly, contemplative… but he just turned back to the two.
Shinji for his part was horrified over what he just heard.
People died in the fight? Why did no one tell him this? What else happened?! He tried to move the fight away to avoid damage but it still happened! It was all his fault…
Anger.
Someone's sister had gotten hurt because of his actions. He gripped the book harder.
Anger.
He had to get better. He had to be stronger…
Finally, the teacher stepped into the classroom. Everyone sat as the old man rambled on about the aftermath of Second Impact yet again.
Shinji looked around. Some talked to each other, some taking notes, most everyone else was on their school provided laptops. He pulled up his own just to see if anything interesting was happening.
Luckily the school laptops happen to be networked, so the students could text each other if they wanted to. Shinji observed the chatter going on from different students, and decided to make that his entertainment.
BLEEP
A message? He looked at what he received.
Are you the pilot?
Here it is. Someone was bound to ask eventually. That boy, Kensuke, he pointed out the coincidence in his arrival and the Evangelion's match with the Angel. Shinji could confirm it. He thought about it…
No.
He heard groans and disappointed sighs behind him. After months of maintaining a secret identity, Shinji learned better than to just blurt out he was a pilot to any random group of people. That would cause way too much trouble than it is worth.
The bell rings, class ends.
Shinji looked at his watch, waiting for the clock to tick down. Break was coming and he just wanted a chance to swing around the city again. There wasn't too many interesting things going on at the moment, and he had to shake off the guilt that was slowly building up in his mind.
"Pilot Ikari."
The boy turned around, panicked. Someone knew?! Who?
It was a girl. She seemed to be a student, wearing the standard uniform. What was unusual was the very pale white skin she had on her, that seemed to glow in the sunlight. Her blue hair served to distinguish her from everyone else. It did not seemed to be dyed, it was almost natural. She had a cast over her arm, and bandages wrapped around her head, that covered one of her eyes.
The other eye was visible. It was red.
"There is an emergency. I'll report in first."
She turned around and ran off.
Shinji was bewildered. Was this the other pilot who was injured? Ayanami was it? She seemed familiar somehow…
Wait… an emergency! Right.
He ran towards Ayanami's direction.
Misato watched as several hundred tanks and military weaponry were unleashed upon the monster on the viewscreen, and scoffed.
None of them were having any effect on the Fourth Angel, Shamshel, who kept it's advance upon Tokyo-3 at a steady pace. Shamshel had the appearance of an insect, a cephalopod-like creature around the size of the Evangelion and it's "brother", Sachiel, before it. It's shell was a purple red, with two seeming yellow eyes with green pupils where the head was. It was a scary sight, even less human compared to the Third Angel.
"A waste of the tax payer's money." Naoko said. "They'd be better off shooting themselves, then the bodies might at least serve as meals for the birds."
Misato tried to ignore the doctor, even as she agreed with the analogy. "I guess these military types just won't be satisfied until they fired all their bullets."
A long haired technician, Shigeru Aoba, put down the phone.
"Japanese government. They're requesting Eva mobilization."
"They just don't get it do they…" Misato said. "We'll mobilize whether they request it or not."
An image of Shinji appeared on the view screen.
"Shinji it's time to mobilize. Are you ready?"
"Yeah. Ready."
"Listen closely." Ritsuko said. "As you neutralize the enemy's AT Field, fire a volley with the gatling gun. Do it just like we practiced and you'll be fine."
"Right." Shinji grabbed the controls.
Over the three weeks he had grown more comfortable inside the entry plug. The synch tests had significantly lowered his trepidation and placed him at ease even as he breathed the LCL into his lungs. The plug suit felt comfortable and neat, Naoko had explained that the material for the suit was made of Unstable Molecules (didn't THAT name send him into a panic the first he heard it), discovered by Dr. Richards in the American Division of NERV. It is infinitely expandable according to the pilot's needs, and is highly resistant to most things. A slash from a knife wouldn't leave a scratch, although bullets would still be able to penetrate it.
This along with the small interface headsets helped him connect better to the Eva. He sat comfortably, ready for the fight.
Misato gave the order.
"Move out!"
The turbulence wasn't as bad this time. The previous occasion, he had been caught off guard from the suddenness of the act, but this time he was ready. He only shook slightly as the Eva reached the ground level.
"The Angel is standing upright Shinji, he's behind the building you're in. Wait for it to pass and shoot."
Shinji nodded. He closed his eyes, allowing his other senses to activate.
Being in the Eva was strange. Once he got the hang of it all he learned that he could create an image of the surrounding area in his mind. He was hyperaware of the people on the street, the Angel behind him…
"Position target in the center…"
He turned the gun towards Shamshel.
"… pull the switch!"
He fired the gatling gun right at the Angel. He emptied the clip on the damn thing, creating a smoke cloud that covered Shamshel. Shinji felt some of the bullets land on the cars below. Not sure if insurance covers that.
"Check your fire," Misato yelled. "You'll lose your target in the blast cloud!"
Shinji did as he was told. Sure enough, the blast cloud made the Angel invisible to his eyes. However, his senses weren't affected.
He crouched to the whips that came right at him. The whips slashed through the buildings, cutting them in half.
Shinji stood up and was about to fire, but the whips slashed the gun and his hand, causing him to back off!
"We're sending out the spare rifle! Take it!"
Shinji knew where it was. He made a move to grab for it, but the whips slashed in front of him.
The whips came at him fast and hard. Shinji could barely dodge them in time to avoid getting hurt. He was backing away as the streets were being destroyed from the struggled.
"I can't find an opening…" Shinji let out. "It's too quick!"
He searched for anything he could use to attack it. The gun was too far, and the Angel was slashing everything in sight. Maybe…
Shinji immediately grabbed a car from below and tossed it right at Shamshel! The whips slashed at it, but that was enough.
Unit 01 jumped forward, ready to throw a punch directly into the Angel's face. It was close-
"SHINJI WAIT!"
"Huh?"
Shinji felt his neck being strangled and his abdomen being crushed.
Apparently Shamshel's whips were faster than he thought. They circled around the Eva so quick he didn't even notice. This was bad…
The whip on the abdomen briefly released itself, slicing the Unit's umbilical cord in half.
All lights in the control room blared red alert, the countdown beginning.
"Umbilical cord is shattered! Eva has switched to internal power."
"Operational time now at four minutes and fifty three seconds!"
Misato was shocked at this. She knew things wouldn't be smooth sailing but for it to go wrong like this? Inconceivable!
Shinji felt a whip wrap around his leg. The strangling becoming harsher, he tried to fight on.
Shamshel lifted up the Eva. Sachiel had looked at the thing with curiosity. This Angel…
It slammed Unit 01 down on the ground. Picked it back up, and slammed it down again. The Eva was a toy to the Angel, and there is no care to be found.
When it was done wreaking it's righteous vengeance, Shamshel did what most children do when they are done playing. It tossed the toy aside.
The Eva flew in the air. It crashed into the mountain with a heavy thud, the surrounding area being covered in a gust of wind created from the impact.
"Shini are you alright? SHINJI?"
Shinji breathed in and out, trying to keep calm.
"What's the damage?"
"None, all combat systems operational."
He ignored the voices on the comm system, feeling two presences next to him. He turned to his left, seeing two students on the ground. They were on the ground, shocked and amazed as they watched the Eva. One of them held a camera.
'Wait…' Shinji thought. 'It's those two! Kensuke and Touji if I remember. What are they doing here?'
There was no time for answers. Shinji grabbed the whip that was about to crash on them.
It burned. Oh it burned.
"GRRRRRRRRR-" Shinji grunted, trying to push the pain down his throat. It was either that or death for them.
Keep going… keep going…
"Unit 01 has three minutes and twenty eight seconds of operational time remaining!"
Turn that pain down. Turn it to-
"Contact surface melting! Damage is 58%!"
Anger.
The Angel was going to kill everyone if he let it free. He had to keep it at bay. For survival.
"What the- two of Shinji's classmates?"
Anger.
The boy violently tossed the whip away from the pair below, the Angel being tossed away in the air in the process. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"Shinji!" He heard Misato call out. "Let those two in the cockpit! Once you have them secure we will retreat and regroup, go, now!"
Shinji nodded, despite the pain he had previously felt. pressed the button, everything going dark.
He felt their presences enter the cockpit. There was splashing as they came in.
"What the hell, there's water in here?"
"My camera!"
"Wait, is that the new kid?"
"I knew it! I knew he was "
"Shut up Ken! Hey I got some questions!"
Shinji ignored them. He commanded the Eva to get up, ignoring the pain on his hand as he did so.
"Use extraction route #34, fall back!" Misato ordered. "We'll figure out a plan."
Anger.
"Hey new kid," Touji said. "I think they're telling you to run, maybe you should listen to that instead of… whatever it is you're doing!"
Anger.
"I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away…"
The Angel was going to kill everyone if he let it remain free. He had to keep it at bay. For survival.
"Progressive knife equipped!"
He had to kill it. He had to kill it now. He had to save everyone.
"Shinji I gave you an order, retreat!"
Anger.
"Shinji?"
Countdown to one minute.
"SHINJI!"
Rage.
"AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
He ran as fast as he could towards the beast. He had to kill it, he needed to! There was no other way except this!
Ignoring the screams and cries of the two others in the entry plug, Shinji swung the knife and stabbed at the core.
"Time until Unit failure 30 seconds!"
The stabbing resulted in sparks coming from the orb. Shinji didn't stop.
"28, 29, 27, 26…"
The whips stabbed through his chest and he didn't stop. He kept at it.
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6…"
Alarms blared red and bubbles started appearing in the plug, boiling from the contact. His eyes were red. He kept at it.
"5, 4, 3, 2-"
The core started visibly cracking. Shinji felt elated, he could see his enemy being destroyed soon! Victory close at hand!
"That stupid boy…"
The core burst.
"1!"
Every system shut down. The lights have vanished and no one could see a thing. The Evangelion stood at the mountain posed over the carcass of it's enemy.
It's eyes were dark.
Author's Notes:
The Stations of Canon is a double edged sword. On one hand, you have a clear outline to follow but on the other hand it's also very limiting in what possibilities you can do. This is especially true with Eva, which had a very particular pattern of Angel attacks to follow and events that have to happen. The most you can do with what you're given is to figure out how to make the fanfic your own.
Both this and the last chapter stuck fairly closely to the original episodes, but I hope that at least I was able to make it interesting to read through. The next one will change things up a little, I promise. Next time, some exciting Spider-Shinji action versus a new foe!
Time for responses:
Huagh: I love the idea of the pilots having a stronger bond as well. I'll see what I can do.
Keybladeoflight: Sadly no, not in the cards. A Spider-Verse arc is a big enough idea it deserves to be it's own fic rather than be relegated to a small story arc in this one.
G3N3R: Fair enough, just don't expect him to come back later.
RealRemainder: Lovely to hear you again as always! Fixed the chapter, but the Rei thing has a reason I promise!
StraightedgeEpyon: Request denied. Even leaving aside the fact that Shinji being alone is the exact opposite of what I want, do you really think Misato is just going to leave a teenager by himself, especially when she thinks he might have some issues? Besides, who wouldn't want some wacky Shinji trying to hide his secrets with lame excuses comedy?
D72: I understand, thank your the kind words and have a nice day.
One last thing, I'm going to repeat this from chapter 4: No getting together Rei or Asuka, no Black Cat or Venom. Or even Agent Venom for that matter. I'm going to start deleting reviews that ask for Harry or Ned in the story as well.
Next Chapter: Prey
Now a short story from a friend:
Flipped Perspective by Johnny Freeman:
Our journey was a long one.
With each step we take, the lilim continue their efforts to delay me. We don't worry about their attempts at harming us, for the light of our soul shields us from their projectiles and flying machines. But even in the face of their betters, it does not dissuaded them. They threw more and more of their things, even sending a bright flash towards us. That last one nearly breached our light, causing our flesh to dissolve and melt from within it. This was the closest the Lilims had done to halting our progress. Even so, this was only a temporary setback.
After a long stretch of time, We finally continue our journey. It seems the Lilim have given up, our arrival to their fortress was met with no resistance. This was almost too easy. What could they be hiding? Another bright flash? We did not know. We could sense our mother beneath us. Ignoring any concerns, we travelled forwards
That's when we felt it, a presence similar to our own.
'Could one of ours?' we thought, 'No. It cannot be. Lilth called for me first. Why would she call another?'
The floor in front of is opened, presenting a rectangular cube from bellow and within that rectangle… We couldn't tell what it was.
It felt like us… but it wasn't one of us. It was in some kind of violet visage, and from its head stuck out a horn. Just what was this creature exactly?
It proceeded to take a first step… dropping face first into the ground.
Clearly, this creature didn't seemed ready to be out into the world. We walked over to pick it up, maybe get a feel for what this being was. We sensed it.
A soul, a lilim soul deep inside of it. They tried to throw a punch, we grabbed it and pulled it away, hoping to maybe disable it.
It kicked at the heart. Thankfully, it did not shatter but now we had the being refocus itself up. We shifted the mass into our arms, hoping that with the display of strength it would retreat back to the ground it arose from.
It did not work, it went ahead and tried to throw another punch. We enacted the AT Field, blocking the hit before it could connect. Maybe this time it would give up.
Not the case. He began to push the AT-Field like a wall, pushing its way to me. I have had enough of this, If this creature wanted me to fight, then we shall not deny it.
The light of our soul disappears, we throw the first punch. Then the second punch missed, and it was there where I began to feel the punches instead. It moved with such a speed that I almost couldn't register them. I tried to grab on to it, but it grabbed my hands instead, squeezing it tightly. It was a fools move. I used the energy from within to pierce this lilim made monstrosity through the hands, kicking it back into the city. It got up and tried to go for another punch, it only hit the field.
Then the creature did something unthinkable; It pulled out its own horn and used it as a makeshift tool, managing to slice through the AT-Field.
Before it could even regenerate, it pulled the cut apart and caused it to dissipate. I threw one more punch, but the creature dodged it, punching my face. This was enough of a distraction for the abomination to grab my hands, and BREAK Them before we could enact any defensive measure. I was beginning to feel again. WE were beginning to feel it again, that unpleasant feeling from the bright flash.
We began to feel PAIN.
It pushed us down to the ground, with each fist striking my heart. As the pain grew more and more, We realized our inability to defeat this creature. I will not reach mother, I will not become part of the whole again. Despite our failure to make it, I knew that we could at least remove this obstacle for the others,
We knew what needed to be done. We embraced this abomination of lilim, directing all of our power into our hearts. I will gladly destroy myself, just so that others can reach to our mother. My last thought before I could release was as followed:
Forgive me, Mother.