Chapter 10: Are There Others?

While there was a planned night of mirth at Misato Katsuragi's apartment, the headquarters that was left in minimal operations had one undisclosed location that was left uninterrupted. Asuka was still in the dolly that kept her restrained but was now placed in a dark room where she was left in the center. A single source of light came from trays of equipment and boxes with a projector shining on her face that maintained her attention.

Asuka was offered a little comfort in that three other occupants were with her in the room with Kaede being one of them. She introduced, "Asuka, we are here to help you. You know me already, Kaede Agano, leading technician for the Balthasar Magi Computer."

A woman with light brown hair added, "Satsuki Ooi. Main technician for the Casper."

The final woman of the three with short black hair and glasses stepped to Kaede's side to introduce, "And I am Aoi Mogami. Main technician for the Melchoir. We are here to ensure that your mental stability is brought back to where you may be prepared for fighting condition once again. As agreed, I will ensure that all protocols are observed. Kaede, please wait for conditions."

Kaede nodded while telling Satsuki, "She will require your assistance, I must ask that you be gentle with her."

Satsuki opened a case in front of her as she accepted, "I will manage the situation and deal with everything accordingly. The subject will cooperate with time."

Asuka hung her head and kept herself from answering. Even the snark that she was usually known for was lost with how difficult her current situation had become. If there was anything she should have felt in that moment however, it was the fear of what sort of words she was being coaxed with by the three women she had minimal prior experience with.

Asuka was not allowed to keep her eyes away from them as Aoi made her way up to her and asked, "You can comprehend that we are here to help you right Asuka? If you are willing to cooperate, you can pilot Unit-02 very soon." Even with the enticement of having her Eva unit again, Asuka showed little interest in what Aoi suggested and held her head down with the shame of where she was right now. The feeling of her uselessness that weighed heavy on her from earlier before and simply remained a constant that kept her from even managing a proper response.

Recognizing that she would not receive any answers on the subject, Aoi announced, "We are now to proceed with the assignment. Subject: The Second Child, Asuka Langley Soryu. Satsuki, please complete preventive measures."

Satsuki took a ball gag out of her case as she agreed, "Right away." She stood in front of Asuka and told her, "Please comply with the procedure."

The request was enough to make Asuka muster, "You can't fix me..."

Satsuki sighed before admitting the necessary provocation and told her, "We will fix your condition."

Asuka raised her head and countered, "You fix me?! You all-" Before she had a chance to continue her rant, Satsuki raised the ball to Asuka's mouth and forced it in. Asuka began to jerk her head back and forth as Satsuki wrapped the strap around her head while making sure the gag remained in place.

With the latch secured, Satsuki told Asuka, "Remain in place. The sooner you cooperate, the sooner you will be released." She turned to the others to announce, "Final measures are complete."

Aoi looked at her computer screen to confirm, "The Baptism Program can now commence."

Kaede watched Satsuki making her way to the equipment and asked, "This is the first opportunity we have to see this through. Can we be sure that this will work?"

Satsuki prepared a box on a table in front of Asuka when she revealed, "My father applied these techniques himself since Upper Volta in 1983. They were thought to have been lost after proxy wars and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He felt that I was the one person who should be left with this knowledge. The one prepared to see his ideals be revived."

The recollection captured Aoi's interest for a while before she observed, "For being the least specialized, you are able to remind us why NERV believed you are an asset."

Satsuki stepped away from the box as she prepared a remote and reminded, "It falls to Kaede to enter her mind and ensure that she is made functional again."

While looking over the list of phrases she was asked to prepare, Kaede hesitated to follow through her duty and told the others, "I am prepared, but some of these commands do not seem to be proper for her."

Aoi kept her face focused on her computer screen to as she remained indifferent to Kaede's concerns, "We have our commands. We cannot deny the commander's orders."

Without a chance to protest the process underway, Kaede realized that she was now committed to her assignment. Satsuki used her remote to activate the box to cause an apparatus to ascend from the top before turning its lens to face her. As soon as it opened, Asuka turned her head away and began to emit a series of muffled screams to voice her protest to what she feared was happening.

Kaede stepped towards Asuka to find her giving a threatening glare despite her position. Realizing that she would not allow herself to gaze into the light in front of her made Aoi join Kaede on her opposite side and grab her head to hold it in place while sliding a band across the circumference of her head. Asuka continued to force yells from her muffled mouth in a desperate plea to free her even if there seemed to be no plausible way for it to happen.

Stepping away, Kaede looked down at her list while the apparatus focused its attention on Asuka. Asuka stopped struggling but her eyes widened as she saw lights flashing in front of her that commanded her attention despite herself. Her moans of resistance slowly died down before feeling her mind brought to a gradual crawl against her will.

Kaede watched the display as she whispered, "You have been through so much and now we have to put you through even more. You never truly did have a childhood did you? Forgive me for doing this to you Asuka."

As he planned, Shinji set up everything to begin preparing baked tonkatsu for both him and Misato to enjoy along the cleared space on the counter. Going through is assignment to prepare dinner, Shinji realized that Misato was not content to simply sit by and enjoy the sight of him cooking as she went through the apartment building with a trash bag in hand. He dismissed it as a gesture that she would go through for a little bit before going back to whatever work she needed to do or just simply drinking her worries away.

Shinji set the coated pork cutlets into Misato's oven before he turned to see her with a full bag when he asked, "Miss Misato, are you trying to find something?"

Misato recognized the odd behavior she was demonstrating when she told him, "Just doing my part is all. Our whole thing isn't really platonic anymore as you might have noticed."

The meaning of her intentions was lost on him when he pointed out, "Well… what does that have to do with anything?"

Misato smiled when she realized Shinji did not fully comprehend what she was alluding to when she explained, "We're in a relationship. We've got sacrifices to make. I think it's time we just move on from the old schedule now."

Shinji realized the old schedule listing all the chores that was divided between him and Misato was removed from the wall when he recognized how serious she was about her offer. He remembered how it placed so much responsibility on him when he first came into Misato's care as it left him to think a little less of her when he had so much placed upon him. Suddenly he was being offered a heavy relief in the form of Misato offering to clean the apartment layout herself.

He could not tell if he should have been suspicious or curious of Misato's intentions, which made him question, "Well if that's the idea then who's going to do what now?"

Misato revealed her plan when she told him, "From now on it's an even split. You cook breakfast and dinner from now on and I'll do cleaning in return."

The four main tasks of working through the apartment were indeed the things Misato cared about the most when she considered when Shinji first came into her life. Various factors such as Angel attacks and just the stress of dealing with the aftereffects caused them both to slip in their duties recently. Much of it changed however when Shinji realized that possibly working on one of the things Misato was supposed to do left him open to this sort of reconsideration. Misato did tell him before that her effort to reconnect with him would be to make sure that neither of them allowed themselves to be more open with each other and prevent them from doing something they might regret and he found himself believing this was the hope she was referring to.

Deciding to accept the conditions that had been established, Shinji accepted, "Okay."

Misato tied up the trash bag when she pointed out, "Guess it's not so much of a trade off when you just have more time in the kitchen to do isn't it?"

Shinji looked at the oven when he told her, "That's one way to make sure we have a lot less instant ramen."

Misato recognized the observation when she added, "It's going to be like this thing we have going Shinji. We have to be here and help each other. So no skipping out on anything okay?"

There was a more serious implication behind Misato's reminder when Shinji was reminded what he would be getting himself into. He did not have an idea of what an intimate relationship was like before but knew there was going to be a series of commitments demanded from both of them in order to make it work. Out of such a reminder however he did not believe it could have been so simple when he remembered everything demanded of him to end up in this situation.

Such a reminder was also important for him to remember when he considered what was being expected of him. There had to be a motive behind making him focus on one particular set of chores after achieving so much. The reason could have been as simple as the recent loss of Kaji's chip or something even deeper than he could have imagined.

Whatever the reason was, Shinji realized he was in a position with no other choice than to accept, "I'll do my best."

Misato recognized the commitment he was giving her when he gave him a pat on the shoulder and told him, "I know you will. You haven't let me down before."

Shinji watched Misato take the trash bag outside while he was left to wait for the completion of his main course. He was not sure how Misato could have made her earlier claim considering all the difficulties he brought her in the past. It was possible that she was giving him the benefit of the doubt with all of the hardships that were pressed upon him to deal with, but such trust only made him feel a sense of guilt from the one of the few instances where he used a lie to keep his shockingly developing relationship from being discovered.

When dinner was served, Shinji tried to keep Misato's praise in mind as he tried to start a conversation to take his mind off the more demanding aspects of life. The discussion they had over dinner was the least demanding conversation they had that day when neither of them felt the need to protect themselves against having secrets discovered. An equally pleasant development for Shinji was the sight of Misato happily enjoying what he prepared for them. The exchange between them both served as a relief that they did not have to endure anything so morose that made their day feel depressing. The choice Misato made for the movie that night however came close to achieving that very feeling.

Shinji could not tell if Misato was trying to make him feel more contemplative through the remainder of the date, but her choice of the movie served as a compelling argument for his suspicion. They both watched an old movie from 1980 called Fukkatsu no hi (Day of Resurrection) by Kinji Fukasaku. It was not a popular movie in its time of release many decades ago but had gained a newfound sense of appreciation from Japanese audiences ever since the Second Impact. There was simply a sense of melancholy from being able to see an apocalyptic event that long ago would have placed them in a state of fear.

The recent events in Shinji's life left him wondering if he could have felt sadness for anything if he was going to force himself to make his way through the rest of his life. Prior to watching the movie, Misato described it as a summary of how much worse the Second Impact could have been compared to what they were living in now. The introduction of the plot seemed to offer a movie of military intrigue but the gradual descent into destruction and struggles for survival made it apparent what sort of tragedy he was watching slowly unfold. Being thrust upon with one tragedy after another made him feel doubts there could have been an ending where it might have had surviving characters, let alone any member of humanity left.

Much to Shinji's surprise there were not only multiple survivors but the main character, Dr. Shuzo Yoshizumi, traversed a great distance into Tierra del Fuego to find the remaining survivors of humanity rush up to him. Greatly tested by the elements and struggling to even make another step, not even the greatest of tragedies he had just witnessed earlier were enough to take away from what the directors believed was his well-earned happy ending. Such a moment was emphasized by the last lines of the film when Dr. Yoshizumi contrasted against the apocalyptic nature of the film by proclaiming in a raspy voice, "Life is wonderful."

The two watched the ending credits when Misato asked, "So did you know the American version's ending implies that everybody just dies?"

Shinji considered the alternate outcome when he told her, "That sounds more realistic. I don't get why they added this scene in."

Misato laughed when she agreed, "Yeah, maybe they thought adding a happy ending would be enough to make people want to see this movie. For all the good it did anyway."

Shinji gave a yawn when he asked, "So we're not doing anything else are we?"

Misato looked over to the nearest clock when she realized how late it had become when she admitted, "I guess that was a pretty long movie wasn't it? And another sick day wouldn't look good for you either would it?"

"Yeah."

Misato placed a kiss on Shinji's cheek when she offered, "Well have some nice dreams about me handsome."

Shinji stood up when he told her, "Good night."

Misato sighed as she watched Shinji make his way to his bedroom. She knew that the sort of relationship she placed herself in would have needed her to be willing to accept the awkwardness that she had come to expect from Shinji but still had some hope that he would have been willing to be more open about himself than he usually was. She believed he should have been willing to after going so far with her but was forced to remember that she was not handling a normal boy who would have killed to be where he was just a little while ago.

She was reminded of just how troubled Shinji really was when she considered what sort of events he had just gone through when she brought her thoughts back to the movie. It was possibly the most bleak and depressing movie she could have suggested to anyone and yet the drama and casual displays of death and destruction did not even phase him. She wanted to be a service to provide context of just how much better off they were than the multitude of apocalyptic scenarios that had been proposed before only to hesitate to provide any opinion about what he had just watched or what he thought about the story.

Misato pressed the rewind button on her VCR when she asked, "I wonder if he can feel anything at this point?"

Taking the tape to her bedroom, Misato looked around to find herself surprised at first but remembered what she had committed herself to accomplishing from now on. Her room was cleaner than it had been in years and seemed to be another place entirely before she turned her attention to her computer. Realizing it was still on, Misato remembered a very important detail that she had to prepare herself for.

Misato sat in front of her computer when she clicked on her email folder to search for the response she had been hoping to find. Her eyes widened when she saw an email addressed from the national government and clicked on it to dive into its contents. The small message made her stomach sink when she believed it could not have been a significant response but held on to the hope when she read it over.

The message read, "Ms. Katsuragi. We thank you for your cooperation in sharing these details with us. Given their current nature however, we will require time to determine its validity in comparison to recent online conspiracies that have offered similar reports. Please await further contact."

Misato sighed when she realized that her government was likely caught up in bureaucracy that prevented them from being able to give an immediate answer to her warnings. When she considered the original report of the number of Angels there were for humanity to face, the fact that they were so close to achieving a final victory made her realize that NERV was close to achieving the purpose she discovered it would have. The recent discovery of there being even more Angels to be prepared for only provided a little comfort since the undetermined number made her wonder how much time she would have to prepare for what was coming.

Her fear of being left to go to bed on a sour note was briefly struck when she saw a new message appear in her inbox. In her desperate hopes for an update, she clicked on it to see an even smaller message than before but read a line of digits at the end as well. Misato felt initial disappointment that she might have been sent a junk email from someone trying to sell something but a brief glimpse over the contents of the message proved to be something else entirely.

The new message read, "I'm a friend. I'm here to help. Please call this number. 0423-125362."

Misato looked at the number unable to remove the feeling that she was possibly being lured into a trick of some sort, but the "no subject" line and the blocked address caused her curiosity to wander about what she was being offered. Even more mysterious was the assurance that she was being contacted by a friend who was unwilling to identify themselves. The possibilities seemed to be endless but the fact that she was being offered a chance to hear from someone who offered to be of assistance was an offer she decided to take advantage of.

Misato picked up her phone before entering the number and heard a ring on the other end before a modulated voice asked, "Misato Katsuragi?"

Misato hesitated to answer before she asked, "Am I supposed to know how this is?"

The voice on the other end accepted Misato's question as confirmation when it told her, "I know everything you have discovered. I am here to confirm everything, but I will require your cooperation."

The ominous nature behind the voice's introduction made Misato point out, "I really think you need to tell me who you are now."

The voice emphasized his previous point when he told her, "I understand you are confused. I cannot reveal this over the line. Wait for me and I will offer you further instructions."

Misato shook her head when she tried to contain her irritation and asked, "I don't get it, how am I supposed to know about that?"

The voice concluded the confirmation, "We will speak again. Please wait for me."

Before Misato could demand anything of the voice, she found herself cut off as the other side of the line hung up on her. She realized that she no longer had any contact and groaned when she realized she was left with nothing but the instruction to wait for another message from whoever had a chance to wait for him. She was not willing to wait however as she quickly hung up the phone and picked it up to redial the number.

To her disappointment, her attempt to contact the mysterious voice on the other line was met without even a busy tone but just a confirmation that the number she just called was not in service. Misato slammed her phone down when she let out a groan after being faced with the confusion of whoever she had just talked to. It was not the ideal way for her to close a meeting with someone who apparently hoped to help in some way but came to accept that she was not going to get any further with whoever she had just spoken to.

Without another email to contact or read, Misato shut down her computer and threw herself onto her bed as she let out a sigh from one of several disappointments she had to deal with that day. Even what little she could have congratulated herself on accomplishing she could not bring herself to be proud of what she was able to change. Asuka was no longer with her, Ritsuko had the defenses she needed to protect herself from being confronted, Shinji was nowhere near close enough to relieving himself of his current grief, and the apparent benefactor she had just spoken to was not going to let her have a chance to have any sense of accomplishment.

Misato rolled onto her side when she cursed, "God. I am such a shitty human being…"

Misato stretched herself awake in the morning after what she would have complained was too short a time for her to sleep but knew that she could not skip going to work or risk making herself a possible choice of being fired. Turning off her alarm, she got dressed and opened her door before finding a pleasant smell placing itself on her nose. Entering the dining room, she saw Shinji setting up plates for both him and her before heading back to the stove where the food he prepared was just recently completed.

Shinji turned to recognize her making her way in and greeted, "Miss Misato. Good morning."

Misato smiled when she greeted, "Well good morning Shinji. You had time to grill some fish huh?"

Shinji prepared a pair of rice bowls when he told her, "I had to wake up a little early but it's not so bad."

Misato found herself reminded of the deal she had just given when she thought back to the reason to his preparation, "Oh right, our deal last night. Not gonna lie, you could have let it slip by and I probably would have forgot about it."

Shinji dismissed the offer when he told her, "It's not so bad. I got to feel useful."

Misato brought herself over to the table to watch the remainder of breakfast being served and thanked, "Well that's one way to make me feel like I didn't screw up with you."

"I guess I never thought you would have that sort of trouble."

Misato sat down when she admitted, "Here I am still trying to be the big strong guardian around here and I still don't seem to have an idea how to handle stuff like this."

Shinji sat across from her when the two of them began to eat and told her, "I don't think so. You're stronger than I am."

The compliment earned a giggle from Misato when she chewed some of her rice and told him, "If you're so keen about our next date, you sure know how to make it sound appealing."

Shinji looked up in confusion when he realized what sort of attention he had made for himself and asked, "Is… that teasing?"

"It should be shouldn't it?" Realizing she hit another wall with trying to make him laugh, Misato kept herself from laughing before she proposed, "Well look, last night probably wasn't the best we could have done but we'll have a chance to make up for it tomorrow night. We'll have all the freedom to go out into town and have some real fun."

"You don't think people will find us being out together weird?"

"They'll think it's like a mom taking her son out for some weekend fun. Nobody is going to think we're in anything that serious."

"You're right. We might be okay."

"It'll be worth it Shinji. Even if you don't realize it, you'll be feeling ready to take on Angels by yourself before you know it."

Shinji looked down as he tried to keep himself from feeling embarrassed but accepted, "I'll believe you on that."

As breakfast ended, Shinji made his walk to school without interruption or an announcement of what was headed his way. He accepted the routine of a normal day as he sat across from his teacher and absentmindedly take notes on another history lesson about the world prior to the second impact. The further on his lesson went, the more he came to realize how much more interesting the movie he watched last night was than sitting through another lesson that required him to imagine what the world he inherited might have been like.

His note taking was brief however when he noticed a message signal its arrival on his laptop. He clicked it open to find that it was a message from Kensuke telling him, Need your help. Talk after class please? Y/N.

Now in a mood to talk, Shinji decided that he would accept the offer and see what he was getting himself into. He pressed 'Y' as a response before he returned his attention to the lecture at hand. It was only a short while before he read another message from Kensuke tell him, Thanks man. It's really important stuff. Honest.

Making his way to the rooftop, Shinji looked around before he found Kensuke sitting on bench eating his lunch. He made his way over to him when he greeted, "Hey Kensuke."

Kensuke turned around when he greeted, "Nice to see you Shinji. So… you must have heard what happened at NERV right?"

Unsure of what Kensuke was calling back to, Shinji told him, "There was a lot of stuff that happened yesterday. Can you tell me what?"

Kensuke acknowledged the point when he told Shinji, "It's Asuka. You see how she's being handled?"

Shinji nodded now that he had a clear idea of what Kensuke had recently discovered when he told him, "Yeah. She's being treated like she can't handle herself anymore. I never thought she would end up like this."

Hopeful that he would be given a lead on where his fellow pilot was taken, he watched Shinji sit next to him as he asked, "Did you get to see where she was taken though?"

Shinji shook his head when he recalled Asuka's capture, "I didn't get to see. She was just tied up and taken somewhere."

Kensuke's eyes widened when he heard the description and "She's tied up now? Damn NERV has a weird idea of helping people."

"It does feel that way."

Kensuke raised one of his eyes when he asked, "Do I really have to pull everything out of you Shinji?"

Shinji turned to Kensuke when he asked, "What for?"

"Come on, you can't keep that secret around me."

The way Kensuke worded his statement forced Shinji to consider how he was supposed to answer that question. He believed he was past discussing such a secret but "Why do you care about what's happening to Misato?"

Shinji looked down at the ground when he tried to keep himself from being intimidated and asked, "Well why do you care about what's happening between us?"

Kensuke clarified his worry when he asked, "Does she know what's happening behind NERV?"

"I don't know. It doesn't seem like she wants to talk about it yet."

"So, it's all boring right now. Not even a date yet?"

The segue caught Shinji off guard at first but realized how in line it was with Kensuke's intention to discover everything that was occurring within NERV. He could not tell how pathetic he must have looked when he seemed to be intent on revealing as little information about his experiences as possible but could tell from Kensuke's voice it was leaving him impatient.

Shinji finally revealed what happened last night when he simply told Kensuke, "Alright we did."

"Nice to see you made progress that way. You had some real fun last night I bet?"

Shinji crossed his arms as he tried to contain his irritation with the questions and asked, "Why do you care about what me and Misato are doing?"

"If things get worse between you two, we're all going to be paying for it. At least there's that and it'd be messed up to see you end up like Asuka."

Shinji turned back to Kensuke when he reminded him, "Just don't tell anybody about me and Misato. That's all I need."

"That much is gonna stay secret. But the truth still needs to make its way out."

Hopeful that he was not being threatened again, Shinji asked, "You mean your website right?"

Kensuke relieved Shinji's concern when he confirmed, "Yeah, ATURE has a public forum going on right now but not enough to make everybody know about it."

Despite Kensuke's intentions, Shinji found himself being relieved with one concern only to find another was placing itself on him. The truth of what he had done with Misato was one thing to worry about but the seeming danger of being caught by NERV was another matter that left him worried about his friend's wellbeing in another way. Even more alarming was the fact that no matter which way he would have preferred, he was still being faced with the dangers of forces he could not have found any easy way to face himself.

Trying to comprehend his still progressing mission to follow through with his earlier leak, Shinji asked, "You're still thinking about this and you aren't worried about getting caught?"

Kensuke dismissed the concern when he reminded him, "I'm not getting caught. Don't sell me out, I won't sell you out."

Shinji looked ahead when he admitted, "Okay. I'm just worried about you is all."

"Worry about yourself Shinji. We have to fight the remaining Angels ourselves and we don't even know how many of them are left."

Shinji sighed when he agreed, "That's right. We don't have any idea."

Kensuke clutched his right hand when he prepared to offer a significant reveal and told Shinji, "Well if you need some good news, I've done a little reading on the chip and I found out we're going to be back up to three pilots pretty soon."

"How do you know? Did NERV say anything about it?"

"Nothing official but I bet they're going to tell us pretty soon."

"So what's the good news supposed to be?"

"It's about Rei…"

A/N: I know that part about the Magi techs getting Asuka ready seems like a random way to start, but I found a way to integrate Asuka's situation an integral part of the story. It has to start somewhere, and I decided for this chapter I would leave it as a hook for down the line. So, what happens down the line? That much is soon to be discovered.

Fukkatsu no hi (Day of Resurrection) is a real movie I recommend seeing by the way if you liked Eva's approach to grand cataclysms. I've always wondered how it would have been evaluated in a world similar to Eva's and I imagine it would have been viewed in a posthumously positive way. On top of that, the reaction between the two is what I like to think of it as not necessarily foreshadowing but rather a setup for further down the line.

That's pretty much all of the important stuff I have for this chapter, and I can guarantee there will be more of a developed hardship later on in the story. I just think it's important to have a lot of good times established before getting to it, relationships are built on an exchange of both good and bad times, and it does take time to get a lot of it out there. It also helps that I have a lot of conspiring going on here you might have picked up on and I guarantee it will all serve as crucial to future developments.

Thanks again for everyone reading up to this point, I can guarantee you there will be some compelling updates later on. I hope to see you then.