X-X-X
CHAPTER 2
X-X-X
Eight of the ten camera feeds simultaneously froze, then blinked out of existence.
The two remaining feeds - the views from two far-view drones on the city limits - glitched for a second, then showed a still-glowing mushroom cloud; smaller than that of a true nuke, but still huge. The feeds expanded to fill the free space in the suddenly barren viewscreen, giving the control room a high-resolution view.
It looked like the blast had destroyed the better part of sixteen city blocks around the battle scene. The smoke and ruined buildings obscured the epicenter, but a huge humanoid figure - initially flat on its back - was already standing up.
Well, fuck me. Asuka's eyes were wide. He may be a spineless wimp, but… if she can stand up after that… his unit is a fucking juggernaut.
The drones moved closer, the auxiliary staff already working to restore the best possible view. Unit 01 was just a silhouette in the smoke, but it was obvious that most of her armor was destroyed.
15:23 minutes to shutdown. 45 seconds to red line. WARNING - yellow line exceeded. Reactor is operating at unsafe temperatures. A second later, a light appeared under the power timer - its label read Check for fuel rod failure in tiny text.
"Ishtar is… I've lost a lot of my feeds, but she's… well… she seems to still be alive…" Hyuga said, his voice slightly dazed.
"Shut her down," Misato called out. "Now. Scram and open the emergency vent."
Hyuga turned in his chair, looking at Misato. "C- captain, I have to inform you - venting Ishtar's reactor will release toxic and radioactive metal in an urban zone. The cleanup will -"
"That's an order, Lieutenant." Misato didn't look away from the screen.
15:18 minutes to shutdown. 30 seconds to red line. WARNING -
Hyuga tapped his screen twice, then hit the enter key on the keyboard.
Unit 01 jerked, then slumped forward, crashing to her knees and bending her back. A fiery plume of light sprayed from the center of her spine, the jet reaching almost as high as she was tall; after a second or two, it petered out into glowing orange rivulets running down her body.
"Control rods at maximum… coolant venting, auxiliary aqueous coolant flooding. Ishtar is now offline." Hyuga exhaled. "Estimated only 5% of coolant vented as gaseous LBE. It doesn't look like the contamination zone will be too large."
Misato's shoulders finally lowered. "And Shinji?" She asked, quietly.
"Links are cold. He's not synced anymore… let me see if I can restore telemetry." Maya tapped an extended sequence into her keyboard. The cerebral activity graphs reappeared, along with several other vital signs. "Unconscious. Heartbeat looks… okay, given the circumstances. Cerebral activity is elevated and not normal, but overall nervous shock doesn't seem critical."
"Send out the recovery crews," Misato said. "Make sure they have rad-hazard equipment. I don't want the pilot exposed to radiation, you hear me?"
"Sir, yes sir!"
The battle tension began to trickle away from the atmosphere in the control room, and Asuka exhaled.
Didn't even realize I'd been holding my breath.
X-X-X
The Angel Sachiel had been destroyed at 11:47 PM, Tokyo-3 time.
However, a combination of jet lag, caffeine and lack of anywhere to sleep saw Asuka still awake long into the wee hours of the morning.
She'd seated herself in the nearest cafeteria she could find after leaving the control room - a huge place for a mess hall, with potentially over a hundred tables. It was hardly unwarranted, as NERV Japan employed thousands of people, but it was still intimidating compared to the much smaller facilities of the German branch.
The fact that it's five in the morning and there's not a soul here doesn't exactly help, either. Asuka idly fiddled with her phone, though she'd grown bored with every app she had an hour ago.
Another minute ticked by on the huge digital clock set into the wall. It counts down the seconds. Must be fun to time your breaks here…
"Oh, there you are!"
Asuka looked up at the sound of the captain's voice. "Misato. They finally let you go?" She said, entirely failing to keep a tinge of bored irritation out of her voice.
"Yeah," Misato answered simply. "I couldn't leave Ritsuko to oversee retrieval by herself. God, you should see the Commander… as far as I know he's still awake and overseeing cleanup from the control room. The man already never breaks his composure - now I guess he never sleeps."
"Well, his own son got the tar beaten out of him," Asuka said idly. "I can't say that they seem the closest family pair, but that kind of stress can change a man's outlook." Even if it didn't change my mama's. Or my own father's…
"Say, Asuka…" Misato began again. "Do you have lodgings arranged in Tokyo-3? Since I know you only just got here."
Asuka blinked. "Verdammt," she muttered, scratching the back of her head. "Um… I don't mind bunking in the NERV barracks, at least for now."
"Don't be silly!" Misato said sharply. "A warrant officer is over rank to be bunking with the grunts - and I'm not having a fourteen-year-old child sleeping in a barracks with adults."
"You just mentioned my rank in the same sentence, so don't treat me like a fucking kid, Misato." Asuka folded her arms, glaring at the captain. "Am I a teenager, or a soldier?"
"When there isn't an Angel out there, you're a teenager." Misato's voice was soft. "I was going to offer to let you stay with me, if you like."
"Why would I want that?" Asuka snapped back. "And you're never going to convince me your cleaning skills have improved any!"
"Don't you want to get to know the new kid?" Misato countered, a sly smile on her face.
"Scheisse, you've got him living with you?" Asuka sneered. "After that battle I'd have thought you'd want to spare him further trauma."
"Very funny." Misato didn't seem fazed. "How's this for convincing: as of an hour ago, you are enrolled in school here, and yes, that's under order of the Lieutenant Commander. My house is walking distance from your school. NERV barracks are decidedly not."
Asuka opened her mouth. Then she closed it. Then she opened it again. "That's a compelling argument," she grudgingly admitted.
"I thought so." Misato looked down at her phone. "I have to go… I'll be heading home at about 6:15. You know where I parked my car."
"Yeah." Asuka looked back up at the clock as Misato strode away.
5:08:36 AM
"Scheisse." She fiddled with her phone. No, I'm not gonna… I'm not that much of a child. Separation anxiety, Asuka? Really?
5:09:42 AM
It's because I'm bored. Not because I'm lonely. I'm the great gottverdammt Asuka Langley Soryu, I don't get lonely.
Asuka opened her phone's contacts list. Her finger hovered above a familiar name, then pressed it.
Calling "Four Eyes." Sound only.
"Heyyy, princess! What's up?" The answer was quick and unmistakable; Asuka knew multiple people who would answer her in German or Japanese, but only one in English. "Isn't it like five in the bloody morning over there in Japan?"
"Hey, Mari," Asuka answered tiredly. "I… yeah. I'm too jet lagged to sleep, though, and the ride to my lodgings is tied up for another hour anyway." Well, I just admitted I'm staying with Misato… nothing for it, I guess…
"Oh? Doing what?" Mari's voice was suddenly inquisitive. "You sound tired, princess. And you never call me Mari. What's up?"
"I…" Asuka hesitated. "Is this line secure?"
The phone beeped, and the sound only morphed into an image - an image containing a bespectacled British girl in a green and khaki skin-tight suit, complete with custom A10 headband and seated in a familiar looking chair. "Secure as it gets, princess."
Asuka's jaw dropped. "You did not link your personal phone to Baal's comms. Oh my god, four eyes. They'll be so mad if they catch you using an Eva radiocom suite for social calls."
"I totally did! I'm amazed you didn't beat me to it, really. I'll show you how when I get the time." Mari leaned forward over the control yokes, resting her chin on her hand. "So what's up?"
"Are you talking to me while on deployment?" Asuka deflected again. "What kind of a soldier are you?!"
"Hey, don't talk to your big sister like that! And you're stalling."
Asuka frowned. "You're not really my sister."
"The LCL of the entry plug is thicker than the water of the womb. If we are not sisters by blood born, surely we are sisters by blood shed!" Mari waved her hand dramatically. "I'm shadowing the UN fleet in Baal, aquatic combat equipment and all, because someone didn't feel a need to meet the requirements of green standby. Now. No more deflecting."
Asuka flushed at the mention of her negligence, but knew it would only annoy the older pilot to talk about it further. She took a deep breath, releasing it slowly.
"There was an angel attack," she whispered.
Mari's cat-mouth smile vanished. "Oh, hell. Are you okay, sis?"
"I… yeah," Asuka managed. "I didn't get to sortie anyway. The Third Child swooped in out of nowhere and his old man - the fucking Commander of NERV, talk about nepotism - sent him out in Unit One. The dummkopf got his ass kicked, and his unit had to berserk to finish the fight."
"Unit One…" Mari tapped her chin. "What's her name? Asherah? Azazel?"
"Ishtar," Asuka corrected. "And she was a fucking mess post battle. Worse off than her own pilot."
"Oh, yeah. The purple one!" Mari grinned. "Pretty, as units go. Sorry, sis, but red ain't really my thing."
"You wouldn't know fashion if it slapped you in the face, you four-eyed dork. Moloch's armor is unquestionably the hottest shit in the NERV arsenal." Asuka straightened her back with pride. "Besides, that purple armor is completely fucked up. They'll have to rebuild from scratch, if I'm any judge."
Mari's eyes widened. "Christ, princess! Is the pilot okay?"
Asuka rolled her eyes. "He can't be worse off than the First. I think they're both in the hospital wing right now."
"You think?"
"I haven't checked, if that's what you mean."
"Asuka! For shame!" Mari frowned, wagging her finger at the video feed. "These are your fellow pilots. Battles will come where your life will be in their hands! You'd check on me if I were the one hospitalized, right?"
"Of course, dummkopf! But it's not the same thing," Asuka whined. "You're my… my big sister, dammit. But I don't even know those two, and they're fucking rookies - I'm aiming to be their squad leader, and I'll need to be unfazed by shit like that, right?"
"Asuka, Asuka, Asuka…" The British pilot repeated, putting a hand over her eyes. "A leader has to be strong, yeah, but the last thing you want to do is act like you don't give a shit. Nobody can feel loyalty for someone who shows them none in return."
Asuka opened her mouth, but found no words. "I - well -" she stuttered. "I mean -"
"It doesn't take long to stop and say hello. You said your ride was leaving in an hour, right? You'll even have an excuse to cut your visits short. But trust me, princess: if you want them to look to you - and I know you do - at least give them an inch now, before you ask miles of them in combat."
Asuka looked over to one of the cafeteria doors, the sign above it marked D Wing: Medical.
"… anyway, there are all sorts of… princess? Hey, Asuka!"
Asuka turned back to the phone, startled. "Oh, sorry. I… can't really hear out of my left ear," she murmured apologetically.
"What? Why not?! What happened?"
The German pilot scratched the back of her head. "The UN didn't release authorization to deploy Eva immediately, and, well…" she trailed off. "The long and short is that I ended up uncomfortably close to the fireball of an N2 air burst bomb."
"Jesus, princess! If you're determined not to visit the other pilots, get your ass to medical to get yourself checked out! Did you get dosed?"
"Probably, yeah, but -"
"No buts! Do it." There was a beep from Mari's end of the line. "Oh, shit. Admiral's pinging me. Gotta sign off, princess! Tootles!"
The phone screen went blank. Asuka slumped.
I don't have time to get my ear checked out right now… but she had a point about visiting the other pilots. Scheisse.
Asuka pocketed her phone and stood up, kicking her chair back and ignoring the crash as it fell over.
X-X-X
The Third Child - Shinji Ikari - was unconscious, lying on his back with a remarkably peaceful expression. If Asuka didn't know better, she'd have said he was merely sleeping. In this light, the boy's puppy-dog features were actually kind of cute.
No bruises on his wrist, and his eye looks okay… that's good. That level of damage to an Eva was uncharted territory. Asuka wouldn't have been surprised if Shinji had manifested some sort of sympathetic injury, even at just 40 percent synchronicity. Given that recovery situation, he's lucky he's not dealing with radiation dosage and toxic metal contact too.
"He was comatose when they brought him in, and showing usual brain activity." The nurse was incredibly calm, given the circumstances. "His EEGs have been levelling off steadily, though - the doctors expect he'll be sleeping normally within an hour or two, and he should wake sometime this afternoon."
Get a lot of patients in for sync-shock, huh? Wait, of course they do. Their regular pilot here has a death wish.
"I… I guess there's not much more for me to see here." Asuka turned. "Where's the other one?"
"The other pilot?" The nurse looked… uneasy? What? "Perhaps it'd be better if you came back later -"
"What?! I don't fucking think so!" Asuka snapped. It's not yet six in the morning and I've had a long, stressful day. This bitch can fucking deal. "I'm an Evangelion pilot too - you're talking to the Second Child here! These are my fucking teammates. I've got a gottverdammt right to check on how they're doing!"
Ugh, did I really call the spineless wimp a teammate? Disgusting. At least the Mean Ultramarine Piloting Machine has some potential. Here I'd thought she was just some kind of part-time hardware tester, and then she's all "my legs won't work, so fucking carry me into the entry plug…"
"I… okay, okay. Right this way, Miss."
"That's Miss Pilot to you," Asuka muttered, but she followed the nurse.
The First Child turned out to be further into the hospital wing, in a small private room surrounded by empty wards. In fact, the wards weren't just empty - they were practically abandoned, bare of any medical equipment and suspiciously dusty in some places.
The nurse had led her down a flight of stairs to get here. Is… is this a whole unused floor of the hospital? Why would they stick the first here, of all places?
"She's in there," the nurse said, glancing at the clock on the wall. "She… might not be awake, but it's hard to tell with her. If you want to go in, I'll need to accompany -"
"No way. This is between pilots. Get lost." Asuka didn't have much height, but she drew it up anyway, fixing the nurse with a totally unyielding glare.
"But, I'm under orders from Section Two -"
"I'm authorized by Section Two. I'm the squad leader of the pilots," Asuka bluffed, deftly yanking the door open and sliding around it. "Now scram! It's classified. Et cetera."
The nurse turned white at the word classified, and hurried away from the door. Odd, I didn't think it would work that well… is there a lot of shady scheisse going down here in Japan? Filed under 'things to think on later…'
"Who are you?" Came a soft voice behind her.
Asuka turned towards the bed. Oh. Azure, really, not ultramarine. Oh well… I guess I can claim poetic licence.
"Asuka Langley Soryu… Second Child," she replied, automatically. "You're the First Child, right? Rei something? Sorry, we didn't really get a proper introduction in the Eva cage."
"Ayanami Rei. That is correct." The other child's single visible eye gazed back at her with utter indifference. "Why are you here?"
"Uh." Good question. Why am I here? Asuka's eyes scanned the room. "Well, we're both pilots, right? I gotta make sure my teammate's going to pull through."
"You need not have worried," came the flat, soft reply.
There was an IV drip stand beside Rei's bed, leading into her right arm - she'd had the same attached to her gurney, too, but in the cage it had been filled with something nondescript and clear. The bag was now full of a transparent, pale orange liquid. To Asuka, it was a familiar sight, but in a medical context it was the furthest thing from normal.
"Bullshit. You don't look okay to me," Asuka shot back. What is with this girl's robotic droning? And god forbid she say a word more than absolutely necessary. "You were gurgling blood back there, and shaking like a leaf. Scheisse, look at you right now! A mean look would put you down!"
"My death is not likely, and would be of little consequence regardless," Rei replied, still completely calm.
Asuka's gaze settled on a large glass bottle on a table on the other side of the room - also filled with the orange fluid. Unlike the IV bag, the bottle was labelled.
LIFE CATALYSIS LIQUID
[Lilithian . Unprocessed]
Batch #7793487
I thought the stuff was called Link Circuit Liquid… but if it's orange, transparent, and abbreviated as L.C.L… a rose by any other name is just as thorned, right?
"Little consequence?" Asuka finally said, turning back to the blue-haired pilot. "Are you… are you fucking serious?! You're one of four active pilots in the goddamn world."
"I can be replaced." Rei didn't blink. That eye… I never thought I'd see a shade of red I didn't like. Gives me the fucking chills.
"You… wait. What did you just say?" Asuka's voice took on an angry growl, and she advanced to the edge of Rei's bed. "Don't you ever - even if you weren't a pilot - don't you dare call yourself replaceable, you fucking hear me?"
"Why not?"
"Because it's not true, you red-eyed freak!" Asuka was snarling now. "You had the nerve to try and pilot an Eva with two broken limbs! You can't just replace that kind of bravery, even in the regular army -"
"I did not volunteer," Rei murmured. "The Commander asked me to. It was necessary."
Asuka recoiled as if slapped.
"You… you just went along with…" her voice was quiet. "You just do what you're told, is that it?"
"Yes."
Like a fucking doll…
"Well." All of a sudden, Asuka's voice was almost as even as Rei's. "I came here to check on a wounded teammate! But what do you know, there doesn't seem to be any teammate of mine here."
Rei's expression changed for the first time since Asuka had entered the room - her brow, or what was visible beneath the bandages, furrowed slightly. "I do not understand."
"Of course you fucking don't," Asuka muttered, half to herself. She pulled her phone out of her pocket.
5:52 AM. Better start walking if I want to make it back to Misato's car - this place is huge, and I don't exactly know it well.
She didn't bother saying goodbye as she left the room, and Rei said nothing after her - only watched her leave, with as neutral an expression as ever.
X-X-X
After the high-energy mayhem of the battle with Sachiel, the days after were something of a blur of normalcy for Asuka.
Misato hadn't obliged her to go to school that day, a fact for which Asuka thanked every god she knew. Unfortunately, she had still been dragged out of bed after only four hours of sleep: she'd been booked for an appointment at the NERV hospital wing for a radiation exposure check-up. She'd left with a single dose of DTPA and the information that her radiation exposure hadn't been heavy enough to warrant any substantial concern, but she should check in if she started showing symptoms of further toxicity.
After that, she'd had a day where nothing at all was required of her, which she spent loafing and working to shift her internal timezone from Germany to Japan. Shinji had arrived at Misato's grimy apartment at some point that day, but Asuka hadn't paid a great deal of attention.
Then she went to school, and found it exactly as disappointing as she had expected. The classes were all material she knew by heart - except Kanji, which she kind of needed to learn, but was pure torture - and were consequently infinitely boring. After going through college, the last thing she was interested in was revisiting high school courses.
But the worst aspect of school was undoubtedly the students.
As a white girl in east Asia, Asuka had expected to stand out. She fit all the standards of beautiful, and she was very visibly European - she was taller than all of the girls and the majority of the boys, she was fair-skinned and had sharply germanic features, and she had blue eyes and red hair. In many ways she literally resembled a beacon fire.
And I like receiving all the praise due someone as stunning and talented as I am. I really do. Asuka ground her teeth. But pricks selling goddamn candid photos of me behind the school? That's a bridge too far.
So it was that Asuka found herself standing over a sprawled boy with glasses, shaggy hair, and an impressive bruise forming on his cheekbone. Some meters behind her, Shinji cringed.
"Next time it'll be a kick. And I'll aim lower," Asuka ground out. "Now hand over that camera so I can feed it to my Eva."
"What?! No!" The boy shrieked in response, scrambling backwards and standing up. "You have no idea how much this thing cost!"
"Not more than you've already made selling your creepy pictures, I'll bet!"
"Ah… Soryu," Shinji said nervously. "Perhaps we ought to let it go at that…"
"Fick dich ins knie, Shinji! I didn't fucking ask you."
"Hey," the photographer's companion said. "Brawl if ya want, but Aida's got a point. Let's not trash people's stuff, yeah?"
Asuka fixed her gaze on the other boy, not the least bit intimidated - despite the fact that he was the tallest person in their entire class, and had a solidly mesomorphic build to back his height. "And who are you, hmm? A Tweedledee for Tweedledum here?"
"Suzuhara Toji," the tall teenager replied. "Hey, you two are the ones who piloted that giant purple robot, right?"
"That's All Purpose Humanoid Biomech: Evangelion, not 'giant purple robot,'" Asuka hissed back at him. "And no - Shinji here was in charge of that embarrassing display. He got picked over me for deployment, out of what I can only assume was nepotism."
"Soryu -" Shinji muttered. "Misato said we weren't supposed to talk about NERV things in front of civilians -"
"Civilians, huh? Is that what we are to you?" Toji shouldered past Asuka to loom over Shinji. "Collateral damage, maybe?"
Shinji leaned back, although he didn't step back. "I'm… sorry?"
"Sorry ain't good enough!" Toji exploded. "While you were stompin' around in that overgrown action figure, us little people were getting hurt!"
Shinji visibly recoiled, and Asuka tensed. Oh, this isn't good.
"His little sister got hurt in the big monster battle the other day," the photographer - Aida - supplied helpfully. "She's in the hospital right now. Critical condition."
Shinji's eyes went wide at the implied accusation, but he didn't respond beyond fixing his gaze on the flagstones of the courtyard. Seriously? Is this wimp really not going to defend himself or his work at all?
"Sorry about your sister, but you're goddamn right it was collateral damage," Asuka spat at the back of the boy's head. "It was U.N. High Command that stopped us from deploying until the Angel was right on top of the city. Bitch at them, not us!"
"Shut up, you," Toji replied bluntly, without turning. "This is between this kid and me. Hey, kid, you got a name?"
"… Ikari Shinji." Nothing more seemed forthcoming, and the Third Child continued staring at the ground.
"Alright, Ikari. Here's what I think of your piloting skills." Toji punched Shinji in the face.
It was a solid strike - hard, neat and swift, with virtually no posture warning. Shinji was knocked flat on his back without so much as a stagger.
A split second later, Asuka kicked Toji's knee out from behind him and launched herself forward - curling an arm around his neck and slamming her knee into his backbone, landing in a kneeling pose on top of him. The boy let out a pained grunt as the air was driven from his lungs.
Asuka leaned forward. "You just assaulted a warrant officer of the UN armed forces, arschloch," she growled into his ear. "And you're lucky I was nice enough to kick you down myself, because if it looked like I didn't have this under control, you'd be getting beat by Section Two agents right now."
"What?" Toji rasped, his voice constricted by Asuka's arm. "You're bluffing!"
"Do you really want to bet on that?" Asuka countered, squeezing tighter.
"What on earth is going on here?"
All eyes turned to the newcomer - a diminutive girl with twin pigtails in her hair. Her small stature and tidy appearance made it difficult to believe she could have produced such a yell, and yet evidently she had.
"They started it!" Asuka and the photographer yelled, in almost perfect stereo. Asuka let go of Toji's neck and stood up, brushing herself off.
I don't know who this little girl is, but the other two seem afraid of her. She might be kind of important.
"Aida Kensuke." The girl's expression darkened. "You may begin."
"Gladly!" Kensuke shoved his camera into his pocket. "Me and Suzuhara were minding our own business back here, when this red-haired devil attacked us totally out of the blue-"
"Bullshit!" Asuka cut in. "This creep was selling photos of me, and his hulking partner just attacked Shinji without provocation!"
Kensuke turned to glare at Asuka. "Hey, I'm the one who's telling this!"
"And lying through your teeth!" Asuka shot back.
"I think I have heard enough," the girl interjected. "Aida, you've been warned multiple times about how you use that camera - I'm going to have to report you to the school principal. I presume you - Soryu, was it? - threw the first punch?"
"You're damn right I did!"
"Then you can be let off the hook for being provoked. Unfortunately, Suzuhara was involved in the same brawl…"
"Huh?" Asuka's brow furrowed. "No he wasn't. His problem with Shinji was a completely different argument."
"I can't verify that, unfortunately," the brunette said, her voice shifting from authoritative to apologetic. "All I know is that a fight happened here and two students suffered bruises."
Asuka looked over to Shinji… who was still lying flat on his back. His eyes were open, but he was staring at the sky with a disinterested expression.
He didn't make a noise when he got punched, he just took it. Is this even the same kid who was bawling his eyes out over having to get into Unit One? But then again, he just carried on like nothing was wrong after he woke up in the hospital… maybe he has grit after all.
"Hey, thanks, class rep," Toji said. "You're the best."
The other girl actually blushed.
"Oho! I see how it is," Asuka said, smirking. "Well, no comment. But keep your pet gorilla on a leash! His habit of punching Eva Pilots might land him in a bit of trouble if he keeps it up."
The brunette's blush deepened, and she covered her face with her hands. "Get out of here, Suzuhara," she mumbled. "I'm not going out of my way to defend you next time you're caught fighting."
Toji took the hint, and hightailed for the school building as fast as he could walk without actually running.
"Sorry about that," the girl said, bowing to Asuka. Eugh, that's one Japanese mannerism I'm never going to get used to. "My name is Horaki Hikari. I'm the class representative of 2-A… clearly not an effective one, though, since Aida seems to be up to his old game. Once again, sorry."
"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Asuka mimicked. "You sound like Shinji with all that. I'm Langley-Soryu- err- ahem. Soryu, Asuka Langley. Pleased to meet'cha."
"You too." Hikari scratched the back of her head, a slightly embarrassed expression once more gracing her features. "Err… I have to get back to the classroom, actually… perhaps you should check on your friend, there?"
"My what? Shinji's not my -" Asuka cut herself off, Mari's advice echoing in her memory. Give them an inch now, before you ask miles of them in combat… "Yeah, okay. I'll deal with the useless lump."
"I'll see you later!" Hikari yelled as she dashed away.
Asuka didn't bother calling after her. She walked over to where Shinji lay, her movements deliberately unhurried, until she was leaning directly over his face.
Took it without a squeak, but now he's doing a dead man impression… gottverdammt, is he tough or is he a weakling? I can't figure him out. Why can't he make up his mind?!
"Hey. Hey, Third. Ace pilot to conscript. You in there?" The boy might have been comatose for all the response he gave. "Oh come on, dummkopf. You bounced back from having your skull split open and your wrist snapped like a twig. Don't tell me a bruise from a jock is half as bad."
That got Shinji to actually focus on her - as opposed to staring straight up through her as if he could still see the sky - but he said nothing.
"You're only proving my point, you know. The First may be a bottle-blue dolly, but at least she doesn't shut down silent over a scrape." Asuka arched an eyebrow. "Or multiple massive traumas, as the case may be."
Shinji still didn't respond, and Asuka frowned, putting her hands on her hips. "Really? You know what, fine. Screw you." She straightened. "Lie there all fucking day, see if I care."
Shinji had resumed staring at the clouds. It took close examination to even be sure he was still breathing.
In the distance, the schoolbell rang. Asuka turned to look at the school building as students began coalescing towards it.
Shinji's eyes flickered in the same direction. After a second, he tensed, then shifted his arms and pushed himself into a sitting position.
Well, at least he seems to grasp impersonal social expectation, if not outright demands. As long as I'm not dealing with a total catalepsy case.
Asuka reached out her hand. Shinji blinked at it, as if the gesture had startled him. It might have, actually. He's timid enough.
"Well?" Asuka said, her voice flat.
Shinji gripped her hand and let himself be hauled to his feet - and gave Asuka a downright shocked look when she did so without shifting her stance at all, as if he weighed almost nothing. Heh, boys always seem to freak out when they see a girl with muscle. Ace pilot, arschgesicht: it means more than just a sync score.
"Why the sudden kindness?" Shinji asked abruptly. "You were just insulting me."
"You may not have courage or ambition, Third," she replied in a clipped tone. "But you at least seem to have a sense of duty. So that's something we can work with."
X-X-X
"So. How are they doing?"
Misato leaned her head against the edge of the tub. "Alright, I guess. They only just started school."
"Come on. You've got to give me more than that."
"What can I say? Shinji has 'nondescript' down to an art form," Misato replied. "I even got him a phone, you know? But he never uses it. No calls, no texts. Practically the only thing that demonstrates his existence is that he's a damn good cook."
"Is he? How odd. His father barely eats, and when he does he doesn't seem to notice what he's eating."
"Pay a lot of attention to the commander, do you?" Misato tried to keep her voice cool, but she suspected she didn't succeed. It had always bothered her, to a greater or lesser extent, that Commander Ikari viewed Ritsuko as one of his closer confidants.
"I've known the man a long time, and the number of times I've seen him eat can be counted on one hand. Not even an intact hand, necessarily." Ritsuko paused. "What about the red devil?"
Misato groaned. "Uuuugh. Don't remind me."
"That bad, eh?" Ritsuko chuckled. "Her mother was a pain in the ass, too."
"She's… I'll grudgingly admit that she's not as bad as she was when I first met her," Misato managed. "That was back when she was just nine years old. But she's not a lot better. Outside of military contexts, which I make an effort not to take home from work, she's still the same pissy princess who thinks she's the world champion at everything - and even more galling, she actually is! A least, with regards to anything she can be convinced to focus on!"
"Hah. Yes. Though I've no personal experience with the second child, I've been told she's… quite a handful."
Misato straightened, preventing herself from sinking completely into the bathwater. "Yeah, she is." Though Ritsuko couldn't see it, she furrowed her brow. "Now tell me why you give a crap, because you hate children, and normally avoid seeing them or hearing anything about them."
There was a brief silence on the other end of the line. Somewhere in Ritsuko's office, a machine beeped.
"Ritsuko…"
"I… okay. I'm really, really not supposed to tell you this." Ritsuko took a deep breath. "The Commander asked me to unofficially - and yeah, he said 'unofficially' - keep tabs on you and both kids."
Misato bolted upright. "What?!"
"I'm sorry, Misato. I didn't - I didn't want to, but he'd have found another way if I'd said no. I wouldn't put it past him to bug your house and wiretap your phones."
"He… the Commander wouldn't do that." Even as she said it, she didn't believe it.
"Yours wouldn't be the first house he's had bugged. Mine has been for months; I had to work a little magic to secure this line before calling you." Ritsuko sighed. "I'm sorry, Misato."
"You… he…" Misato stuttered, trying to collect her thoughts. "He asked you. You. To keep tabs on me."
"Yes…?"
"Does he…" Misato pinched the bridge of her nose. "Does he know about us?"
Silence again. Then - "I don't think he… knows-knows; we've been pretty careful at work… but he probably has some suspicions. He knows we're closer than just friends and ex-roommates. But I think he still believes you're infatuated with Kaji."
Misato let out a short, sharp laugh at that. "He would, wouldn't he." Her voice softened. "Thanks for being honest with me, Rits."
"Don't thank me. Not for that… there are still too many things I haven't told you yet." Ritsuko was almost whispering. "Please trust me when I say it's for your own safety."
Misato's eyes narrowed, and she took a deep breath. "I do trust you, Ritsuko," she replied. "But that doesn't make this easy."
"Well, Maya says NERV corporate policy is that no one ends the day without a headache. I'm beginning to think she may have a point with that." There was another beep in the background. "Ahh, I have to go soon… duty calls."
"You've worked seventy hours already this week, Rits. Don't kill yourself."
"I've had to, trust me. I never realized how extensive and arcane Section Three's systems really were, until I was told to generate new calibrations for practically everything I've ever built." Ritsuko allowed a note of fatigue to enter her voice. "I can't believe we didn't have a procedure in place for adding optimization sets for new pilots. Clearly, I'm going to have to change some things."
"Heh. You do that, Rits." Misato smiled. "Bye now. I… I love you."
"Love you too, Misato."
X-X-X
This body is 10.49 years old and its heart has beat 441,512,203 times
This body is 10.49 years old and its heart has beat 441,512,204 times
This body is 10.49 years old and its heart has beat 441,512,205 times
Occasionally, Rei recalled that surely her body's heart had beat before, too - when it was just a soulless shell floating in the Chamber of Guf with hundreds of others.
But it was inactive. And as my nature dictates, I can only observe it from the point of activation - from the moment it bore a soul.
This body is 10.49 years old and its heart has beat 441,512,210 times -
"Rei."
Rei's attention instantly snapped away from her introspective idle-mind process, surfacing once more in the perception she called reality.
"Commander," she said softly, the corners of her mouth turning up. Humans smile when they are pleased. I am pleased to see Commander Ikari. Therefore I should smile.
"Are you functional?" The man asked.
"I can walk. My left leg is under-exercised but sufficient. My cardiovascular and respiratory functions have returned to within acceptable parameters," Rei replied, sitting up from the hospital bed. "My left eye remains suboptimal, and may need recalibration. The bones of my left hand and wrist are incompletely set and require continued immobilization at this time."
"I see." Gendo's voice remained cold and impassive, and he turned to leave. "You are being discharged as we speak. You will not return to school yet, however. You are needed on standby. The other two pilots are travelling to New Yokosuka in two days."
Rei didn't question why this might need the case. I have no need of that knowledge. I will simply wait in Holding Cage Zero until I am deployed or released from standby.
Cage Zero…
"Unit Zero is still in stasis?" One would have had to strain their ears to hear the questioning inflection in Rei's soft monotone.
"It will be out of cryostasis by 3:00 PM on saturday." The Commander paused at the threshold, and turned to look over his shoulder. "However, it cannot be launched without performing reactivation tests. You will be on yellow standby for deployment in Unit One."
Very well. I shall wait in Holding Cage One. "Yes, sir."
Gendo left without another word. Rei stood up from the bed, peeled the hospital gown off and walked over to where her school uniform lay draped across a chair.
Should I have told him about Pilot Soryu's visit?
No, she said she was authorized. I would not wish to annoy him with unimportant or redundant information.
This body is 10.49 years old and its heart has beat 441,512,692 times…
X-X-X
[Four Eyes]: Landing time has been confirmed. The carrier will be in New Yokosuka harbor by noon on Saturday. Don't be late, princess!
[Princess]: Pff, as if I'd even think of being late to welcome my one true love to Japan.
[Princess]: See ya soon, four eyes!
[Soryu Asuka Langley]: Hey, are you free Saturday? And if yes, would your dad mind if you made a trip out to New Yokosuka?
[Horaki Hikari]: Yes to the first, probably not to the second. Why?
[Soryu Asuka Langley]: It's a surprise.
[Aida Kensuke]: I guess we didn't really meet under the best of circumstances, did we? But, I'm not one to hold grudges if you're not!
[Ikari Shinji]: … how did you get this number?
[Aida Kensuke]: I have my ways! Anyway, as I was saying, no hard feelings about the other day, yeah? Toji is a bonehead; try not to take what he says to heart. You're a hero for saving the city, no matter what he says.
[Ikari Shinji]: Look, I have no real quarrel with you, but… this is not a conversation I'm having over text.
[Ikari Shinji]: Is that all you wanted?
[Aida Kensuke]: Well, I'll be completely honest: there was a small favor I've been meaning to ask you. You know, what with you being a pilot and all.
[Aida Kensuke]: There's something big going on in New Yokosuka on Saturday. NERV is involved, therefore, you're involved. And, if you didn't know this already, I am Japan's biggest military tech nerd.
[Ikari Shinji]: I'll… see what I can do, I guess.
[Aida Kensuke]: Woah, really? You're the man, Ikari!
X-X-X