Within the abyss, a prismatic roundtable illuminated the silhouettes of some of the most powerful men on the planet.
"An angel of fire and brimstone," the one in blue said.
"An unexpected development," the one in red said.
"An omen of indescribable magnitude," the one in yellow added, turning towards Keel as he punctuated each word.
"Unforeseen, yes. But manageable," Keel replied, unmoving.
"Ikari... Did he know?" the one in green asked.
"Perhaps," Keel said.
"Then, it may be unwise to tolerate him further."
"Shall we replace him?" Another asked, leaning forward. The one in blue turned to him and replied:
"We shall."
"We must not lose our composure," Keel interjected. "Agenda or not, we only benefit from Ikari lowering his guard."
"And what about the angel?" The one in red asked in a wavering tone.
"Blasphemy," The one in yellow spat.
"Heresy," said another.
"Perhaps apocrypha," the one in blue said, almost as a question.
"But the scrolls... Does that mean–"
"Our interpretations are fallible, but the Dead Sea Scrolls are not," Keel interjected. "Is anyone present bold enough to claim otherwise?"
Silence.
"Unit-02 approaches the fourth branch. Therefore, we will ask for its director's assistance, as SEELE. Do not deviate from the written word," Keel said, and the image of the men around him fizzled out of existence. He sighed and cleared his throat to fix the gravel in his voice. He then made an esoteric hand gesture and the flood lights covered the hall in white–a pristine chamber save for a single piece of spike tape on the floor.
Kaworu stood beside him with shut eyes and a slow, quiet breathing.
"To be in control for so long, they now take it for granted," Keel murmured.
"Yes," Kaworu said as his eyes fluttered open. "The Lilin are quick to acclimate to feast or famine, though the latter weighs more heavily on their mind."
"It's one of many flaws to be excised," Keel said. He leaned on his cane and began walking to the door. Kaworu watched him and his surroundings intently before following.
'She doesn't bother me', Asuka repeated in her mind as she stomped towards her target. Her mood was slightly tempered by a forced detour up and over the pedestrian bridge, but in some ways it only elevated the inevitable confrontation in her mind.
"Asuka, please!" Shinji caught up to her despite already sounding winded. He extended his arm to balance himself as he stopped and unwittingly brushed against her back. That made her stop.
"What is wrong with you? I just wanna talk to her," she said behind her shoulder derisively.
"It really doesn't look that way," Shinji said while leaning on his knees. Asuka scoffed and crossed her arms.
"I will assert my dominance as the elite pilot of the team. I'm sure she'll understand." She boasted facetiously, but her cheekiness degraded into annoyance as the joke did not seem to register. "Do I need your permission to talk to her or something?"
"No, of course not." He lifted his hands in surrender.
"Good." She said and turned, walking forward. Shinji had no choice but to shake his head and follow. Asuka went down the escalator, two steps at a time, while Shinji chose to simply grab on to the moving handrail and wait.
"You must be Rei Ayanami, the pilot of the prototype," Asuka called. Rei glanced up from her book and saw the redhead standing on the edge of a concrete planter, hands on her hips.
"I'm Asuka Langley Soryu, Pilot of Unit-02. Let's be good friends!" She extended her arm figuratively, acknowledging the distance between them.
"Why?" Rei asked evenly.
"Because it'd be convenient, in all sorts of ways!" Asuka flipped her hair with her hand and crossed her arms. Rei looked down for a moment, as if thinking.
"If I'm ordered to, I will," she said before returning to her book.
"You're kinda odd," Asuka said. Having no further comeback she whispered to her side, where Shinji had just arrived: "What's her problem?"
He felt the need to retort, but he also didn't want to come off as taking sides.
"Come on, we're all pilots. We should act like a team, right?" He tried lamely. Rei's mouth became a thin line.
"We're not currently in active duty. It is unnecessary at present," Rei said without stopping her reading. At this, Asuka's eyes narrowed.
"Whatever, I don't need either of you losers to defeat the angels!" She flipped her hair and started walking back.
Shinji grimaced in protest, but did not follow.
"Indeed, it's almost time to return." Rei stood up and climbed the steps towards Shinji. He called for her as their eyes met, but the sound of the campus' bells reached them. Rei walked past him back to the classroom. He sighed in frustration and dug his hands in his pockets before walking back on his own.
Asuka's leg felt as if it had been painlessly disconnected from her body in the middle of a cramp. She instinctively tried to clench her hands in an effort to feel her other limbs, but she realized her left arm was slower and weaker.
"This feels weird!" She whined.
"Hang in there, Asuka," Ritsuko said through the comms while taking notes. "This'll take ten to twenty more minutes, so you better get comfortable."
"Yes, I know. I'm just saying," Asuka said. She felt the LCL around her cycle from warm to tepid to cool every so often, making her almost shiver in response. Unable to see the outside world, she focused on her hearing, trying to figure out whether the machine on the outside mimicked her movements whatsoever.
Inside the Pribnow Box, Ritsuko ripped the top sheet of her clipboard and handed it to a technician while instructing him on the reconfiguration of pressure valves underground. The man nodded and left the room. Ritsuko lifted the phone in the station.
"Zero-A Environment Setup complete. How are things over there?"
"Readings are within the expected range. No problems so far." Maya said on her end. She made a thumbs-up gesture at Shinji, who in turn smiled shyly on the screen in front of her. With Asuka deep underground and Unit-00's shoulder pylon adjustments and still to-be-scheduled paint job, the chosen children would seldom interact with each other outside of school during the coming week.
'Maybe it's for the best', Shinji thought, given how confrontational Asuka had turned out to be so far. At least there was still dinner and a hot bath to look forward to.
Shinji pulled the windows open and felt the early morning air rush through the classroom. Today's assignment was simple: create bars of soap by mixing oil and a sodium hydroxide solution. The hard part was actually dealing with how the teams were arranged—in pairs and in seating order.
"These look sooo lame!" Asuka whined while tugging on her lab coat's neck flap
"It's just a lab coat like any other," Shinji said. He placed his notebook on the station and wrote down his name, the date and the name of the experiment.
"Have you ever seen the LMU Munich lab coats? Don't bother, of course you haven't." She repositioned her A10 clips and pulled her hair back, making it into a ponytail and then twisting it into a bun. She knelt down, opened the small doors in front of her, and pulled out some lab equipment, placing it on the station's surface, piece by piece. She stopped at the sight of a packet of pH papers, furrowing her brow as she tried to decipher the instructions.
"Here, you do the reading and I'll get the tools." She placed the packet on the surface toward Shinji's general direction. He sighed and grabbed it, and began reading from his notes.
"Okay so, 'Firstly, as always, put on your lab equipment.'" Shinji began and then stopped to eye Asuka, who was the only one in class yet to put on her gloves or goggles.
"Yeah, yeah. Keep going."
"We need the oil, the solution, the beaker and hotplate, and the stirring rod... Oh, and the pH paper," he read as he pointed in turn to each. "Then, gently–Wait, what are you doing?"
"What does it look like, Third? I'm turning the hotplate on."
"We have to write down each step as we do it," He protested, then he whispered loudly, "And you haven't even put on the goggles yet!"
"I'm not doing that." She replied without stopping.
"Huh? Why not?" He asked.
"There's no need. Same with the gloves; this is a kiddy experiment, why bother?" Asuka asked.
"It's the rules!"
"For making soap? Don't be such a worrywart, these aren't exactly carcinogens."
"I don't know what that is, but we're gonna get in trouble."
"Oh, so that's all you care about."
"What do you mean? Why would I want to get into trouble?" Shinji asked, incredulous.
"Whatever." Asuka mumbled under her breath and kept working. She mixed the oil and the solution and heated it to a gentle boil, stirring constantly and carefully. When ready, she nodded at Shinji, who removed it from the beaker and used the pH paper to get a reading, comparing it to a color table in the included manual. It'd be a cycle of five times of stirring, adding more ingredients, taking a sample, and writing down their observations about the color, odor, and texture of the product. Finally, they'd do a single cycle individually, to compare their results.
During the last reading, Hikari was on the way back to her seat from the restroom, but as soon as she locked eyes with Asuka, she wasted no time in walking towards them.
"Asuka, why aren't you wearing your safety goggles?" She asked with concern. Shinji instinctively raised his notebook to his face.
"Ugh! Why does everybody care so much? Fine, I'll put the damn goggles on!" She said and picked them from the station.
"And the gloves, please." Hikari added. "You're lucky the teacher hasn't caught you yet."
"I mean, the experiment is basically done. We didn't even need them," Asuka said.
"You could still get some of that stuff on your hands and eyes," Hikari said while pointing at the simmering mixture.
Shinji lowered his notebook and added: "You never know when things might go wrong, Asuka."
The redhead rolled her eyes and finished putting the safety equipment on, pulling on her right glove and letting go with a snap.
As soon as the bell rang to signal the end of the day, Asuka took her stuff and got out of the classroom with Shinji close behind. They both knew of each other's presence, but that didn't make Asuka slow down or Shinji call out to her. Eventually, a red pedestrian light allowed him to catch up. She lifted her arms and joined her hands behind her head disinterestedly.
"Hey, Asuka."
"What?"
"What would you like for dinner tonight?"
"Acting nice won't stop me from calling you out on your bullshit, you know?" She turned over her shoulder to face him.
"Sorry, I just—" He stammered, but she rolled her eyes and turned forward. The light had turned blue so she started walking.
"Hey! I said I'm sorry."
"Oh I heard you, Third. Twice now."
He made his hand into a fist and walked behind her. He searched for a comeback but quickly realized that not only was he coming empty handed, he'd begun apologizing too much again. She was right; he was just stupid.
"Miso is fine." Asuka said without turning to him.
"Fine?"
"Fine. Adequate. Edible. That ought to be good enough coming from me!" She said and quickened her pace. Not wanting to bother her further, he let her get ahead and got back home at his own pace.
"So... how's school?" Misato asked. They were seated at the table waiting for Shinji—who was presently in the kitchen—to serve dinner. Asuka raised an arm over the back of the chair while her other hand played with the pull tab she'd just removed from her soda can.
"The same as usual: everyone's dumb, I shouldn't be going there, I have—"
"A degree, yes, yes I know. Sheesh." Misato drank from her beer and then continued, "I was going to ask if you liked any subjects but never mind. Have you made any friends yet?"
They didn't notice how Shinji stopped what he was doing when he heard the question.
"Nah," Asuka said. He frowned. "Hmm, maybe Horaki, the class representative. It seems like she actually has a brain."
"Is that so?" She asked conspiratorially, "Well, if that's your metric, isn't Ayanami basically top of the class?"
"That weirdo? No, she's a complete truant. We even had a test today and she didn't show up!" She complained confidently while internally rejoicing. After all, it was her absence that shifted the order of pairings for the lab experiment. Before she could question such intrusive feelings, Misato replied:
"Well, you better not call her that in front of Shinji," she cautioned while pointing the bottom of the can in her direction. Shinji had had the misfortune of appearing through the threshold at that very moment. He held a steaming bowl in each hand.
"What's it to him, anyway?" Asuka said turned toward him. She flicked the pull tab with her middle finger and it hit him on the apron harmlessly.
Shinji glanced between Asuka and then at Misato, struggling to remain calm.
"Ayanami is... She's my friend." Shinji said before looking at the bowls as he served them. Misato hid her face with a sip from her can and awaited Asuka's reaction. The girl's shoulders tensed immediately.
"Well, I bet she doesn't have to deal with your bullshit," Asuka said while taking the chopsticks from the top of her plate. "And when are you buying me some real cutlery? Eating with these is so annoying!" She struggled to get a grip on the noodles and spun the utensil as if to trying to roll up a ball of spaghetti.
"That's not how you–ah, never mind" He stopped himself at her immediate glare.
"See? You don't like anything! Such a negative Nancy." Shinji went stiff and returned to the kitchen for his own bowl.
'At least he's not apologizing', Misato thought.
They ate in tense silence for a while. It was starting to dawn on Misato that she'd probably bitten more than she could chew in letting Asuka move in. She really hoped this was just the girl's way to cope with being without her Evangelion unit; otherwise, coming home from work to this every day would just be the biggest pain in the ass.
"What?" Asuka asked, and Misato realized she'd been staring. She looked down for a moment and realized her bowl was empty. Then, she looked back up with a determined look.
"You know what? I just got an idea," She pointed dramatically at Asuka. "Tomorrow, after I'm off from NERV, you and I are going out."
"Huh? Why?" Asuka whined.
"You're too wound up!" Misato hit her shoulder in a mock fashion, "Come on, think of it like a girls night!"
"Oh please," Asuka scoffed, "you wanna talk about make-up and boys?" She asked, and then both froze for a second. Both women thought of the same unshaven rogue and realized that the other had done the same. Tension returned to the air immediately. Shinji's nascent smile faded.
"I'll pass, Misato. We have more upcoming exams anyway, right, Shinji?" Asuka said and turned to Shinji.
"Yeah," He said truthfully, but his heart didn't seem in it.
"Asuka, you were telling me how much you didn't care about school like ten minutes ago. Come on now, don't make me order you."
"Ugh, fine. You win," Asuka said while standing up to leave. "But it better not be something lame or embarrassing."
The next day came and went much like the previous one, with Shinji being an intolerable square as far as Asuka was concerned, and with Hikari and the teachers treating him like he was the best thing since sliced bread. While initially reluctant to join Misato in whatever she was planning, the endless moping that followed during the afternoon made her escape the apartment at the earliest opportunity. It was now almost dusk, and Misato had taken her for some ice cream near a park south from her apartment. Asuka complained about Shinji at the earliest opportunity.
"That's just the way he is, Asuka" Misato said with an apologetic smile after listening to the latest rant.
"You defend him too much!" Asuka said before returning to her ice cream. The setting sun cast long shadows across the park. Waves of birds came and went as they congregated on the nearby trees and power lines. The soft hum of cicadas filled the background.
After a while, Misato stole a glance at Asuka, whose brows were still slightly furrowed. Despite her typical defiant nature, there was a hint of relaxation on her face. Asuka took the last remnants of her ice cream cone and swallowed them before she scrunched up the wrapper. She made a happy sound at the crunch of hard chocolate within that last bite.
"That was great! though it's kinda weird to be eating ice cream at this time of day, don't you think?"
Misato smiled slyly. "Well, this was only the first part of our evening."
"Oh?"
Misato stood up and pointed to a nearby structure, it was reinforced skyscraper with no windows that looked more like a giant metal briefcase on its side. The NERV logo could be seen on top of the entrance. "Come on," she beckoned as she started walking.
Her curiosity piqued, Asuka immediately followed. They showed their IDs to a guard and continued down a hallway before entering an industrial elevator. Misato grabbed on to the handrail and turned to Asuka.
"Trust me, you better grab it."
Asuka nodded and was barely able to grasp the cold tube before her knees felt the strain of them going down at great speed. She instinctively looked down and was slightly unnerved by the seemingly endless shaft they were now traversing.
"As you might've guessed, this is one of the weapon depot buildings used during Eva sorties. But during the day, this facility has other uses. Section 2 training, mostly."
"Section 2? Does that mean–"
The platform abruptly stopped and a red light blinked before the plated doors in front of them opened. The cacophony of various caliber weapons being fired could be heard down the hallway.
"Yep," Misato said confidently as she walked forward. Asuka followed, and her eyes lit up at the shooting range.
"I know you've done VR training with the Eva arsenal, but I bet this feels way cooler!" Misato shouted over the noise.
"Well, only one way to find out!" Asuka shouted as she ran a few paces ahead before turning over her shoulder, "Wait, aren't you gonna get in trouble for this?"
"That's up to you, Asuka. Can you show me that you can follow the safety rules? Go on, we only have a bit over an hour before your Sim tests," Misato said before handing her ear protectors and pointing at a nearby rifle. For the following hour, the NERV agents in the facility wondered if the little redhead really needed any protecting.
Asuka sat up on her bed with a vice grip on the bedsheets. The last thing she remembered was being too anxious to fall asleep at the expectation of Unit-02's arrival. And then, a nightmare. It was the nightmare. The one that would make her scared to even look into the dark corners of the room.
It'd been four days since the last time. It had gotten worse than in Germany, but she decided to blame it on her lack of real Eva training—her Eva couldn't arrive soon enough. Pieces of the horrid dream came back to her disjointed, with no clear order, merely ghosts of images in front of her eyes, the darkness combined with her half asleep brain eager to remind her that she'd be back in that cursed hallway as soon as she fell asleep again.
She took stock of the situation. There she was, submerged in pitch black in an apartment so silent she could only hear her own breathing and the thumping of her heart. It felt like ages before she was able to calm down, but she could still feel the possibility of hallucinations appearing in the darkness. She got up, walked over to the entrance of the room and turned on the light switch. After a sigh of relief, she dragged herself to the kitchen for a glass of water.
She sat down in the bean bag in front of the television, glass in hand, and drank. She wasn't really thirsty, but she didn't want to fall back asleep just yet. The flush of the toilet made her turn, she hadn't noticed the light from under the door, that someone was in there. A very drowsy Shinji emerged from the bathroom, covering a yawn with one hand and tugging on his sleeveless shirt with the other.
Asuka felt a pang of annoyance, but it wasn't directed at Shinji specifically, she just didn't feel like interacting with anyone. She winced slightly when he called her.
"Trouble sleeping?" He asked.
"What do you think?" She said sarcastically.
"Nightmare?" Shinji said. Asuka paused and drank from the glass.
"That's none of your business, Third!"
"I just wanted to help," Shinji said, furrowing his brows.
"It's just a dumb dream, I don't need help."
It was probably a bad idea to insist, but he noticed the bags under her eyes.
"Well, if you ever want to talk about it—"
"There's nothing to talk about!" She stood up and some of the water dripped from the rim of the glass down to the floor. She walked towards Shinji, who by now was slightly shrinking in place, and hissed, "Just leave me alone," before continuing past him and back into her room.
He flexed his right hand open and closed. It would be foolish to knock on her door at this point. He was too tired, anyway, and so he went back to bed.
It was Thursday afternoon and Shinji found himself half-heartedly kicking an empty can of beans. It had still been there after all those days, and that felt like a personal insult for some reason. He felt a familiar cold sweat creeping down his temple and looked up. In front of him, the run down apartment block that his brain had come to associate with very mixed feelings. The ever-present sound of machinery was now a soothing thing, a way of saying 'welcome back' or, depending on his mood, 'ready to try again?'. It'd been a terrible week for Shinji so far, all things considered. There were school tests and then NERV tests, and then Asuka constantly looking at him like he was trash and Rei not being around half the time, so he'd been brave or foolish enough to return. He had needed to, to be quite honest. The drop of sweat fell off his chin.
He reached the front of apartment 402 and knocked on the door. The sound of approaching footsteps helped him relax—finally something normal.
"Ikari."
"Hey, Ayanami. Do you have a minute?" He forced a smile.
"Does Captain Katsuragi not have my phone number?" Rei asked, and Shinji froze.
'Is she angry? No, this is Ayanami. It's probably literal,' he thought.
"Yeah, uh, yes. But somethings are better spoken about in person. May I come in?" He asked. She thought for a moment and then walked out of his sight, leaving the door half opened. Shinji swallowed and walked in. She was (thankfully) wearing her school uniform, and he noticed that she'd kept her shoes on inside the apartment, so he decided to do the same as to not expose his socks to the grimy floor.
"Is your door never locked?" Shinji asked.
"There's no need. No one lives here," Rei said. She walked to the kitchen and retrieved the kettle from one of the cabinets. This caught his attention.
"You know, I was surprised last time," Shinji started as he sat on the folding chair, "I didn't know you liked your tea that strong."
"Strong?" Rei asked. Shinji frowned nervously. 'Does she really want me to spell it out?' he thought while looking down. He felt another drop of sweat emanate from his face somewhere.
"You know, the amount of tea leaves you put in it." He looked at her while scratching his cheek. "It was very bitter," he finished, each word quieter than the last.
"So I prepared it incorrectly, is that what you're saying?" Rei asked, her voice as even as ever.
Shinji started to panic. "W-Well—"
"I am relieved," Ayanami said with a small smile and, did she just giggle?
She continued, "It was repugnant, but thought it impolite to voice it; you were drinking it so eagerly and so often. I now realize you were merely being polite yourself."
"Really? Oh, wow," Shinji laughed and his posture improved. "I guess I'm glad I mentioned it, then. Could I maybe help you this time?"
"Yes, you may." Rei said. He got up and walked beside her.
He measured the tea leaves while she searched for spoons, plates and cups. As they worked, Shinji felt enough confidence to speak up once more:
"You say no one lives here, but why do you? Do you not feel lonely?"
"I was assigned this apartment by Commander Ikari." Rei replied.
Shinji frowned, but knew better than to badmouth his Father in front of the First Child. He chuckled at the irony.
"Did he tell you why?"
"Why what?"
"Why you're living here."
"I don't understand."
"It's filthy and noisy. Does it not bother you?"
"No."
He leaned on the counter beside the range, silent. That was as far as he was willing to push on that topic, and he hated himself for it. Misato's apartment was not luxurious by any means, but compared to Rei's, it just made no sense for her to be here.
"Ikari."
"Yes?"
"The water." She pointed to the kettle, which was now boiling.
"Ah, sorry," he finished, and then his mouth became a thin line. 'Fuck.'
They served the tea and returned to sit down on the bed and folding chair. Rei sipped from her cup and then looked Shinji in the eye.
"Do you enjoy living with the Second Child?"
Shinji went stiff. "Uh, I guess?" He said and started drinking, partly to hide his face.
"She is abrasive and physically abusive. Does it not bother you?" He heard her cup clink on the ceramic plate.
"No, I—" He started, but then realized. "I see what you did there. Well, she's not like that all of the time. And I can be pretty annoying, all things considered. I uh, actually, kinda, feel a bit bad for her. But please don't tell her!"
"You are... different, Ikari. It's hard for me to understand." Rei said while looking down at her cup. He turned away and felt his face turn red but was not completely sure why.
"Well, she's very popular, but doesn't let anyone near her. And she's always angry or uncomfortable. At first I thought it was just me doing things wrong, but she also complains about the way Misato runs the apartment, about school, about NERV... I don't think she cares about anyone but herself. What do you think I should do?" Shinji asked and sipped on his tea.
"Why should you do anything?" Rei asked before drinking once more.
"Well, we're roommates, and also Eva pilots. We should improve our teamwork and stuff, right?"
"I suppose," Rei said, lifting a hand to her chin thoughtfully. "Why don't you ask her why she's angry?"
Shinji laughed politely, "I don't think it's that simple. She'll probably say it's because I'm so stupid or something like that."
"I see." She said and sipped on her tea. "I am inexperienced in such matters." She broke eye contact in a way that Shinji had recently identified as her thinking before continuing, so he waited for her to organize her thoughts. "I can only suggest that you observe her behavior and take note when she is angry and when she's not. Perhaps you can capitalize when the latter happens."
"That sounds like a good start." He smiled. "Thank you for listening, Ayanami."
Rei nodded.
"There it is!" Asuka shouted and waved with both arms. Her shouts were momentarily drowned by the droning horn of the approaching carrier.
"Alright, please wait until the gangway is completely secured before boarding," Misato ordered in full NERV uniform.
"Yes ma'am!" The three boys said in a chorus. As soon as Kensuke learned that Shinji was coming, he was basically clinging to him for dear life until he agreed to bring him along. Toji was not nearly as interested, but he'd take any excuse to skip class.
"The sea smell" Shinji said with wonder, drawing Misato's attention. "You can really smell how salty it is!"
"Is this your first time near the coast, Shinji?"
He nodded, watching a flock of seagulls soar in a vague formation. "Back when I lived with my tutor, there was a pond and some rivers, but no ocean."
"Well, enjoy! Just, be careful," She leaned forward and winked. It reminded Shinji of the photo she had once sent him. "You can get a nasty sunburn if you stay above board for too long."
"Hey, Third!" Asuka's voice echoed from the gangway "Come on, what are you waiting for?!"
Misato turned to her and adjusted her red beret. "My, my. She's energetic today."
"At least she seems happy for once." Shinji said before raising his palms to his face to yell, "One Second!" The redhead crossed her arms and started tapping with her right foot. Misato wiggled her left forearm to expose a worn tactical watch and started setting up an alarm.
"I'm gonna deal with the boring adult stuff and then we can rendezvous in around half an hour in the mess for a quick lunch, alright?"
The kids agreed once more in unison and boarded ahead of her in pairs: Asuka was eager to show Shinji her Evangelion unit, while Toji followed Kensuke as he filmed all around the ship.
'Okay then, you can do this,' She hyped herself up and walked confidently towards the Navigation Bridge. On the ship's side, the embossed 'CVN 075 Over the Rainbow' drew her eye, but especially the huge dent on the letter `w` at the end.
'You'd think they would keep their ships in top shape.' She thought. Up ahead, one of the navigation dishes was slightly asymmetrical. She regarded this with some curiosity but decided to focus on the matter at hand.
"Everything seems to be in order." The Captain of the U.N. Pacific Fleet mumbled as he shuffled through the forms. "My boys should have everything ready by the time lunch break is over, and then all I'll need is one last release signature." He handed them back and smiled a polite yet somewhat anxious smile.
'Huh.' Misato nodded and smiled back. She expected the Captain to be much more critical of the whole operation. During briefing, Ritsuko had told her in confidence that the Pacific Fleet felt threatened by NERV conducting any kind of seaside operations, and yet this mustached fellow was all smiles.
"Right. Well, thank you sir. Don't let me take more of your time."
"Well? What do you think?" She gestured at the titan like it was a prize in a game show.
"It's... red?" Shinji asked. He wasn't sure what to ask, but the color was legitimately striking.
"What are you, stupid? That's obvious!" She went into her usual power stance. "It's not just a paint job, though. Units 00 and 01 are really just the prototype and test type. I mean, you could sync with yours first try, right?" She barely waited for him to nod before continuing, "Unit 02 here is different! It's only for me. Built for real combat operations." She raised her arms dramatically. "The worlds first real Evangelion Unit!"
Shinji could not empathize with her enthusiasm. Every time he'd boarded the damn Eva it was nothing but bad news and anxiety. But he remembered Rei's advice.
"That's really cool, Asuka," he said and smiled as best as he could.
"You're such a shit liar, Third Child," she folded her arms. "If you're just gonna pretend to be interested, the least you can do is try."
"No, wait!" He raised his hands defensively and swallowed, partially to prevent a 'sorry' from rearing its ugly head. "Okay, you got me. But I do think it's cool that you can be so... eager to pilot. You have the training and mindset I lack, and I'm sure Unit-02 and you will be of great help when the next angel arrives. I mean it"
She relaxed slightly. "Hmm, nice save. I'll allow it" She said with a smirk. At this success, Shinji relaxed as well and laughed in relief, and for a split second, Asuka thought he looked cute. This did not sit well with her at all.
"Anyway!" She clapped in front of her to drag his attention away from a developing blush. "I'm hungry. Let's go find those idiot friends of yours before we go to Misato, I don't wanna have to wait for them."
Shinji sighed but refrained from commenting. He'd chose to quit while he was ahead.
After a quick lunch, things really started to get moving. As the midday sun scorched the salty air, a caravan of heavy trucks and mobile cranes hauled a portable power supply for the carefully beached titan. At this scale, "portable" meant something the size of a house. Asuka whooped as her Eva unit came to life and was able to pilot it just long enough to drag it through the rocky beach and meticulously align it horizontally on top of three parallel freight trains. It was in these types of situations where the pre-planned nature of Tokyo-3 really bore fruit, and Kensuke marveled to no end at such feats of modern engineering.
Asuka felt at ease. After a couple of hours and a few recalibration tests, she'd finally be able to return to her combat training.
'It's good to be back.' she thought.
"Synchronization stabilizing at 43%" Maya announced.
"Good job, Asuka!" Misato gave her a thumbs up through the console.
"Well of course! What else would you expect from your most elite pilot?"
"And the most humble, too!" Misato added.
"Hey, if you got it, flaunt it!" She stuck out her tongue at the captain.
"Asuka, did you know that Pilot Ikari reached 41.3% synchronization during his first sortie?" Ritsuko asked without looking up from her clipboard.
"What? How!" Asuka jumped on her seat.
Misato turned and looked at Ritsuko incredulously. "What are you doing?'' She whispered.
"I have my theories, but they mostly revolve around 'the heat of battle'. I guess we'll see how you deal with the next Angel," the doctor said as she looked over her glasses.
"Okay ladies, we're all team NERV here. This isn't a competition," Misato interjected.
"Oh, but it absolutely is, Misato" She grinned darkly. "But as Doctor Akagi says, we'll have to see."
The synchronization test ended and Asuka wasted no time getting out of the unit and down to the showers. Her love for piloting did not extend to being submerged in smelly orange liquid for hours at a time. She showered efficiently and got dressed in the girl's locker room. She was tying her running shoes when the First Child entered the room.
"Now that I have my Eva, you chumps will have no choice but to recognize Asuka Langley Soryu as your senior!" Asuka teased bombastically. Rei looked at her for a few seconds before continuing to the showers as if there was no one around.
"Oh, my bad. No one has ordered you to reply yet, is that it? Answer me!" She shouted as the bluenette walked past her. Rei stopped.
"Pilot Soryu, I am far too close for you to be this loud."
"I'm not being loud. I'm being lively, energetic, confident." She flipped her hair with her right hand, a few drops of cold water landed on Rei's face. "You Japanese need to lighten up, everything's so dour and square."
"Is there something you needed to tell me?" Rei asked with her usual impassiveness.
"Pfft, whatever." She exited the room and closed the door behind her with a decisive thud. 'If she thinks she can stop me, she's gonna have another thing coming.'
Asuka spent the next few days showing everyone why she was the best: A true social butterfly at school, and the best average high score in all combat tests. Who cares if the blue-haired weirdo can outperform her long-range accuracy, a true warrior fought up close and personal.
"Huge submerged object detected off Ki'i peninsula. Sending data."
"The data has been collated and examined."
A converging array of wave forms aligned with a preset template, transitioning into a deep blue screen.
"Wavelength pattern Blue. Confirmed to be an Angel." Hyuga announced from his station.
"All personnel, go to first stage alert!" Fuyutsuki ordered.
"Only twelve percent of our defense capability is available, and our operational capability for actual combat is virtually nil," Misato announced from the mobile command center. She held on to a handrail for support. "We're going to have to intercept the target, are you ready?"
"Yes." Both children declared through the twin screens.
Asuka looked down through Unit-02's visual system. She glanced at Unit-01 being carried beside her and then back to the ground. A strange, long-armed creature loomed over the shoreline. Her eyes lit up with righteous fury.
Author's Notes: After much deliberation, I've decided to change the name of Chapter 6, as well as Asuka's reaction to Shinji and Rei. Unless dealing with grammatical fixes, I will refrain from further unannounced rewrites.
While I have a clear direction I want to take Asuka as a character in, I'm having trouble with her characterization. Feedback in this regard would be especially helpful. Thanks for reading.