Πάθει μάθος (He learned by suffering) — Aeschylus, 5th Century BCE
The operations center door slid shut behind Asuka as she approached Doctor Akagi's workstation, a mug of coffee clenched in each hand. The pilot had gone straight from filling out paperwork all night with her superior officer to sitting at her workstation and being frustrated by Unit 00's customary glitches and eccentricities. Her morning coffee run had been a welcome reprieve from the scant hours she had spent officially on duty so far that day.
"Take this," Asuka said, extending one of the mugs she was holding to Akagi. She took a sip from her own mug as she waited for her words to break through the doctor's filter; she had her eyes locked on the screen of a portable work terminal she was holding in one hand, while her other hand typed away at the station in front of her.
No doubt Magi related. I can't make out most of what she's got on screen. She only ever lets her little assistant work on that system with her. Asuka deliberately did not smirk, instead clearing her throat forcefully and gently waving the coffee mug closer to Akagi's face. "Fresh coffee, Doctor," she said, louder than she had been before.
"Hm?" The doctor in question intoned, looking up at the mug a few centimeters from her face. "Ah, thanks, Asuka," she said. She stopped typing and used her now-free hand to grab the mug, taking a sip from it before using it to push a mug of cold coffee away from its prime spot next to her keyboard and placing the fresh mug in its stead. Her hand, now unfettered, reached into a pocket of her lab coat, and withdrew a package of cigarettes. As she worked her prey free of the pack one handed, she glanced at Asuka who was standing next to her, taking solace in her own drink.
"Long night?" Akagi asked as she lit her cigarette, still with one hand preoccupied holding her portable system.
"Mm." Asuka replied, rolling out her neck and rotating one shoulder. "And now the prototype is being difficult. Like it knows we're doing an activation today."
"Hmph," the older woman almost laughed. "Well, everything's normal, then. No leads on the feedback error we were getting, I take it?"
"No," she replied with a sigh and cast her gaze back to her own workstation. It was still displaying the results of the program she had finished running before she decided to acquire some caffeine. "I've run every diagnostic program that's relevant, and several that weren't, but they all show that there's no issue on our end." I'm beginning to suspect that whoever NERV stuffed inside the prototype is at fault for the problems we have with it. If my experience with Unit 01 is anything to go by, the personality plays a far bigger role in performance than anything else. Still, it would be stupid to not to at least try as much conventional troubleshooting as we can. "I wanted to go down to the cages next and do some poking around for myself. I'll commandeer a maintenance crew and see if we can get to the bottom of things."
"Well," Akagi said, trailing off as she furrowed her brow in thought. Asuka unsurreptitiously took a long sip from her coffee mug, meeting the woman's gaze and raising an eyebrow. The doctor rolled her eyes and returned her attention to her work, quickly puffing away at her cigarette. "Fine, knock yourself out. Just don't get too eager—the activation is happening today barring any catastrophic problems, so nothing that can't be undone quickly. "
"That poking around is gonna have to wait," announced the tired voice of Misato, accompanied by her hand landing on Asuka's shoulder. The girl jolted slightly and shot the woman a dark look, revealing an operations director still wearing the yellow t-shirt and high-waisted denim shorts she had been sporting when Asuka had left her to shower and change before making her own way to the operations center. She had just thrown on her customary red jacket, evidently not having enough time for anything else. She was also carrying a manila folder stuffed with papers, which she was holding out to Asuka.
"After a meeting I'd rather not recount, I got the Commander to agree to rehousing the First Child." Asuka eyed the folder but made no move to grab it, preferring to take another sip of her coffee. She makes it sound like that's a bad thing. We spent hours working to make this happen, she should be pleased. "He refused to move her into the Geofront; I'll not bore you with the argument we had. Suffice it to say that he believes 'her development' would be 'impeded' if she didn't live as close to a 'normal life' as possible, so he wants her to live in the city." She was now aggressively thrusting the paperwork toward Asuka's free hand.
Asuka took one more wistful look at her coffee mug before snatching the folder from Misato and handing her the mug in return. Misato grinned and raised the mug to her lips, greedily sucking down its contents despite the heat while Asuka opened the folder and processed its contents.
No one associated with NERV has a normal life. Especially not the pilots. What's the Commander's point? Is this more twisted favoritism? If that's the case, he's got a shit way of playing favorites. This place is just as far away from everything as her last apartment was!
"Misato, look at this," she said, shrugging off the woman's hand from her shoulder and pointing at the address at the top of the first page that indicated the planned home for the First Child. "This building is in the middle of nowhere. Just like her last apartment." They were both ignoring the head of Project E, who was once again engrossed in her work and returning the favor.
"I know, Asuka," Misato griped into her coffee mug.
"The whole point of moving the First into the Geofront was to make sure she wasn't rotting away in some shithole!"
"I know, Asuka," reverberated from within the ceramic as Misato angled her mug down to meet Asuka's eyes.
"If NERV just stuffs her in some closet in the middle of nowhere, again, it'll be a pain in the ass to keep tabs on her!" Asuka snapped the folder closed as harshly as the flimsy paper holder would allow and fiercely returned the older woman's stare. Come on, Misato, did you even try on this one? Or do you just not care about any pilots besides your precious Shin-chan? "How long do you think it'll take before she's living the same way she did in her old place? And that's assuming this one isn't already as bad! There'd have to be constant trips out to the edge of the city to check on her, instead of just being able to walk down a corridor and knock on her door!" Who the hell has time for that?! This is stupid. Am I the only one who thinks of these things?
"That's enough, Pilot Soryu," Captain Katsuragi ordered as she placed her empty mug next to Ritsuko's growing collection. Asuka bit back a retort and narrowed her eyes. "There's a reason I gave you that paperwork, and it wasn't for you to get snippy with me.
"You'll be doing an inspection of the proposed quarters with Ayanami. If she doesn't like them ("As if she'd say even if she didn't," Asuka muttered) or you find a fault with them, then I can present the Commander with our proposed alternatives. But I can't reject his plan without making at least a token effort at seeing it through." Misato softened her gaze and leaned against her friend's workstation by her hip. "Like I said last night, Asuka: these things take time. Time and paperwork." She gestured at the folder Asuka was still angrily clutching.
Fine. That's better than nothing, I guess. But if this falls through and the First isn't up to standard by the time I need her to be, I swear I will crush your car with my Unit 02.
Asuka sighed and shook her head. "And when I come back here after rejecting this place? Where will the First stay until we find her somewhere suitable?"
"She'll continue staying at my apartment on a preliminary basis," Misato assured her. "I'm sure Shinji won't mind the company for a few extra days or so," she continued with a grin. "Pen Pen's great, don't get me wrong, but he's not the best for conversation."
"As if Ayanami is any better," Asuka hmphed.
"I really never should have gotten all those magazine and newspaper subscriptions for him," Misato carried on, tapping her chin in thought. "All he cares about are stock prices and venture opportunities. He doesn't even have a bank account! At lease I don't think he does," she broke off with a furrowed brow.
Ok. Not touching that one, Asuka thought, filing the information away to never be examined.
"Well, anyway," Misato recovered, "Ayanami is on her way to that address now. You've got a ride waiting for you on the surface. Both of you be back in time for the activation this afternoon, ok?"
"Right," Asuka resigned. Not like I was going to find anything picking away at Unit 00 anyway. Might as well go hang out with its pilot. She made her way out of the operations center, giving Misato one last barely concealed contemptuous glance while the woman helped herself to Akagi's unattended coffee.
Ω
Asuka stepped out of the Section Two vehicle that had delivered her to the building the First Child was meant to be living in. She did not bother closing the door behind her, instead walking up to the blue-haired girl wearing a school uniform and carrying a school bag who was standing in front of the entrance. Asuka had spotted her from a few blocks away as the security forces drove up to the small parking lot (empty, like most of the buildings they had passed on their way), and the First Child had stared down the car until the pilot had exited it. The stare shifted to follow Asuka as she approached.
Creepy as always, First. All right, Asuka. Let's be civil—the Idiot can manage to ignore her attitude, so I can too. "Ayanami," she said by way of greeting when she was standing a few meters in front of her.
"Soryu," the girl replied, offering nothing else and preserving her stare.
Asuka repressed a sigh and held up the folder she was carrying, pulling out one of the sheets of paper and glancing at the information on it. "Apartment 903. You ready to check it out?" She gestured to the building behind her fellow pilot with a nod of her head, taking a closer look at it for herself as she did so. Well, the building doesn't look like it requires a round of vaccines before entry. That's a start.
The building in question was nondescript, like its neighbors: a depressing construction of concrete ten levels high, with open-air walkways on each level studded with doorways into individual residences. There were no signs of habitation apart from some lights that Asuka could see shining from inside the entry on the bottom floor.
"Yes." Rei abruptly turned and opened the door to the building. Asuka followed her as she stepped inside. Slow down, First, I can barely get a word in, she snarked to herself as they entered the lobby and made their way to a row of elevators. The large, open room contained a front desk, a wall of mailboxes, and an assortment of benches and chairs along the walls; it was devoid of people besides the pilots themselves and a solitary Section Two man standing near the entrance who ignored them as they passed by.
An elevator opened in response to Rei's call and the pair stepped into it. Asuka leaned against a back corner while her compatriot settled directly in front of the elevator doors as they closed mere centimeters from her face.
Here we go. Just what we both needed. Let's not have a repeat of last time, Asuka. She mentally braced herself, then fired her opening salvo. "Did you have any issues settling into Misato's apartment?"
"No." The First Child did not turn to face her conversation partner.
Asuka let the reply stand between them for a few moments—not expecting, nor receiving, anything further from Rei, but taking the brief moment to suppress the urge to scream at her. You've got to make this work, Asuka. Effective teamwork is vital to the plan. Strangling the First Child is not conducive to effective teamwork. "The spare room was fine?"
"Yes," Rei informed the doors in front of her.
Asuka glared at the floor indicator as it slowly ticked over levels between the ground and their destination. Doesn't this thing go any faster? Argh! I should have taken the stairs. No, focus. I can get a whole school groveling at my feet with my social skills par excellence—I can get the First to stop being so obstinate. Let's try humor or something. "Did you catch the Third trying to sneak a peek at you last night?"
"No."
"So, you didn't catch him then? That's a shame. You should be more careful," she said, a sage imparting wisdom to the unenlightened. Not that he would have the guts to do something like that anyway. He probably just hid in his room and jerked off to some fantasy.
"I don't understand," she answered as the doors opened and she stepped out. Asuka pushed past her to lead the way. "Why would Ikari-kun wish to see me without my knowledge? And why should I be on guard against such action?"
Asuka's stride faltered. You cannot expect me to believe that you're that oblivious, First. Come on! "Seriously?! What are you, stu—it was a joke, Ayanami. If you really don't get it, I can explain later. Let's focus on checking this apartment out right now." You're not making me give you the sex talk!
The pilots stopped in front of a door marked 903. Asuka fished inside the folder she was carrying for the card key paperclipped to one of the leaves of paper within and swiped it through the reader next to the door. It whooshed open in response, revealing a studio apartment that was just as dismal looking as the rest of the building.
"Well, this is it," Asuka muttered as she stepped in, Rei following immediately behind her. She cast her skeptical gaze around the cramped quarters, taking in the impressively miserable appearance: unfurnished, with bare cinderblock walls, a door leading to a tiny bathroom, and a kitchenette whose only improvement over Ayanami's previous cooking space was the lack of mold and discarded remains of convenience store meals.
Asuka tossed the folder onto the countertop in the kitchenette. "Thoughts?" She prompted to the girl who had stopped next to her without so much as a glance at anything besides the far wall.
"These quarters are sufficient for my needs," Rei answered her.
Asuka did not wrap her hands around the girl's neck and shake her—rather, she grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Sufficient for your needs?!" She yelled. "Ayanami, there's not even a bed!"
"A sleeping configuration that is satisfactory to you can be easily arranged. In the meantime, this space is adequate." She had narrowed her eyes slightly at the other girl's violent outburst and assault on her person but made no move to free herself.
"Satis—that's not the point, First!" Asuka let go of Rei and shifted her target to the nearby counter. She stomped towards it and pounded on it with one hand and angrily threw her other arm out in a short gesture to sweep across the entire apartment. "Look at this place and honestly tell me that you want to live here!"
Rei looked at the place. "It is sufficient for my needs," she honestly told her. She returned her gaze to the fuming redhead.
How quickly can the Marduk Institute locate another pilot candidate? I'm going to kill this one myself. Asuka closed her eyes and took a deep breath, releasing it slowly after holding it for a few seconds. Not yet, Asuka. Don't let her mind games get to you.
"I didn't ask if you thought it was sufficient. I asked if you want to live here."
Ayanami raised an eyebrow the slightest bit and turned her lips down in a tiny frown. "My wants are irrelevant. The Commander has ordered me to live here."
Asuka's eyes opened and she shot Rei a glare that would have stopped the Third Child's heart on the spot. "And you just do exactly what the Commander tells you to, all the time? Even if it's stupid?"
"I follow the Commander's orders. He is not required to justify them to me." Rei easily met the other pilot's lethal stare.
"So, you're his doll, doing whatever shitty thing he says, living in whatever shitty dollhouse he assigns you in whatever shitty neighborhood in whatever shitty middle of nowhere?" Asuka pushed away from the counter and closed in on Rei, placing her hands on her hips and glaring down at her from her minute height advantage.
Rei's frown deepened into her version of a full-blown scowl. "I am not a doll."
"Then prove it!" Asuka roared into her face. "I want to hear your opinion about living here! Not the Commander's!" You can't play the good little girl Commander's Pet your whole life, First, come down and slum it with the rest of us mortals you can't bring yourself to interact with!
Her scowl smoothed out into her normal neutral expression, though her brows remained drawn. "I—I am unsure."
Finally! It's a start. Asuka nodded and backed up slightly from the other girl while crossing her arms. "Tell me what you're unsure of."
The pair stood in silence for a moment, maintaining eye contact with each other while Rei seemingly pondered the question.
"I do not know if the isolation that living here would enforce would be beneficial," she finally answered. The faintest trace of doubt marred her face.
I've made a breach! Time to press the advantage. "So, you don't want to live in the middle of nowhere all alone?"
"I am capable of living independently," Rei told Asuka flatly, "but—"
"But your nearest neighbor being twenty minutes away by car fucking sucks? Not to mention the lack of shops around here." Asuka shook her head. "You'd need to transfer trains at least four times to get to your school, and the Geofront is even further away. That's not even taking into consideration the distance to the closest train station."
"Yes," Rei agreed. "In the event of an emergency, it would take a considerable amount of time to arrive at the Geofront. The last sortie against an Angel was completed in less time."
That's at least a good official reason to not want to live here, but you're missing the point, First. "I think you mean to say that my victory was swift and decisive." If Unit 01 wants to share the credit, it can damn well come out here and say so itself. "Anyway. How was it staying at Misato's last night?"
Rei looked at her with what would have been, on anyone else, a blank expression, but Asuka was now barely able to identify as a questioning face. "I already informed you that I encountered no issues in Captain Katsuragi's apartment."
"Once again, First, that wasn't what I asked," Asuka growled. "Did you like it? Was it beneficial? And not to NERV, I mean to you."
Rei once more took a moment to ponder the question, leaving Asuka to radiate tension into the cramped, gloomy space. "I found it to be a pleasant experience," she confirmed.
"Do go on, First," Asuka said dryly. When she again received a questioning look, her eyes hardened in exasperation. "Agh! Give me details, Ayanami! Tell me what you did, what happened, what you liked. That kind of stuff." I can logic her into convincing herself that she wants to live nearby people she's familiar with. Combine that with her concerns about an emergency, and she'll tell the Commander for herself that she wants an apartment in the Geofront.
"Ikari-kun helped me to arrange my personal effects while Inspector Kaji cleared the waste from Captain Katsuragi's spare room. Ikari-kun and I conversed."
"I'll bet you did," Asuka muttered. More like Shinji stammered a few half-formed sentences while tripping over himself trying to dote on you and you offered one-word responses. Talking with either of you is like pulling teeth! I swear, you two could be siblings. "Anything else?"
"Ikari-kun gave me blankets and pillows for the night, then we retired to bed while Inspector Kaji spent the remainder of the evening with Captain Katsuragi's other roommate. He left early in the morning while Ikari-kun served breakfast before packing lunches for us."
"Sounds like a blast. You had fun, then?" Asuka asked her, certainly not imagining a conversation between Pen Pen and Kaji the previous evening. He can't talk. He's a bird. Maybe, maybe, he can read, but he can't talk!
"Yes," Rei answered after taking some time to consider the issue. "While I do not trust Inspector Kaji, his presence did not detract from the experience."
Ok, First, we'll get into why you don't like Kaji some other time. "So, between spending the night at your old place, just you, the mold spores, and the garbage, and spending the night at Misato's, where you got a conversation with Ikari-kun and a homemade breakfast with bonus packed lunch, which would you rather do again?"
Rei did what was unthinkable to Asuka: she offered the tiniest smile the angry pilot had ever seen. "I would prefer to stay in Captain Katsuragi's residence again. Ikari-kun's company is more gratifying than seclusion."
Asuka stomped on the anger she felt rising in her and swallowed down the vitriol that she instinctually wanted to throw at Rei. Get ahold of yourself, Asuka! It doesn't matter what she and the Idiot do together, as long as it doesn't mess with the plan. In fact, right now, this is only helping the plan. This is what you want to happen.
"Then there's your answer," she snapped, turning around quickly and grabbing the folder she had left on the counter. "You're not moving here. We'll find you someplace closer to the Geofront—a place that doesn't look like a prison cell." She began to head for the door. "Just for the record," she added, as she exited, "I was the approving authority on the move, and I rejected this place before I even got here."
Rei did not offer her thoughts on the matter as they made their way down the hall.
"Let's get back to the Geofront," Asuka muttered, heading for the stairs.
Ω
Asuka once again found herself entering the operations center with a mug of coffee, this time with the First Child in tow. Rei was holding another mug of coffee with her free hand not occupied with her school bag. The Second Child scanned the room for her target, her gaze sliding over Doctor Akagi, huddled over a workstation with her assistant hanging on her every word and gesture, homing in on the operations director seated at a powered down terminal and resting her chin in her hand.
She proceeded to her target, wordlessly trusting Ayanami to continue to follow her as she had since leaving the rejected apartment.
"We finished our recon, Misato," Asuka told the woman's back. Misato excitedly spun her chair around and jumped up from it, stretching her arms above her head.
"Ah, my weary pilots return from their mission! What news from the front?" Asuka watched her eyes focus on the folder she still carried in one hand before quickly bouncing to the mug in her other one. I've got to stop giving her material. I keep walking into her shitty attempts at levity.
"We brought you coffee, Ma'am." Rei surprised Asuka by stepping up next to her and extending her gift to the officer, who smiled brightly as she accepted it.
"Secondary objective complete, then. Thanks, you two. The primary objective?" She queried, taking a conservative swallow.
"The First Child didn't approve the move," Asuka answered with a smirk, taking out one of the forms from her folder, careful not to spill her drink. "She noted some security concerns with being quartered so far from the Geofront—and would prefer to live in closer proximity to both her place of duty and her fellow NERV personnel. I concurred with her assessment and filled out the denial form." She held out the form for Misato to inspect.
She ignored the paper and raised an eyebrow at Rei. "Really? I'd like to hear your thoughts, Ayanami." Asuka's eyebrow twitched, but she shielded her anger at the question from view by raising her mug up to her face.
"The Second Child's account is not strictly true," Rei answered. Bitch! "I expressed unease with being so far from Headquarters, which could be disastrous in the event of an Angel attack. But to be more specific, I did not say that I wish to live closer to NERV personnel. I informed her that I enjoy the company of Ikari-kun."
Misato's inquiring look began to quickly form into a mischievous leer; Asuka hurried to forestall any of her games. "Which means she should be assigned to living quarters inside the Geofront, which offers closer access to the Evas and her school. Which she attends with the Third." Asuka glared side-eyed at the girl beside her. If you gave her that opening on purpose, I'll make your life a living hell in Pilot Academy. Which is not what it's called!
"I suppose we'll see what it means," Misato said, stroking her cheek with the fingers of her free hand—not even attempting to hide her smile. "All right." She placed her mug down and held out her hand for the folder. Asuka relinquished it to her.
"I'll come up with some alternatives for the Commander." Her eyes flicked to a clock on the wall. "We'll reconvene later today so you both can provide some input. Meanwhile, there's still some time before your activation test, Ayanami. You two grab some lunch. When you're finished eating, Asuka, head back up here to help oversee the test. While Ayanami's doing the activation, Shinji will be standing by in Unit 01—just in case. He should be on his way here from the school right now."
Great. She'll take that as an order, and now I get to have lunch with the First. Exactly what my day needed. "When do you want to meet to go over the paperwork? We've got—"
Misato waved a hand in front of her face in dismissal. "It'll be before Soryu's Training Camp. Don't worry, Asuka, I have it all under control."
That's what I'm worried about most of the time these days. And you know it isn't called Soryu's Training Camp! "Fine," Asuka said with exasperation. She turned to leave the operations center, Misato returning to her seat and Rei following the pilot out.
As the door closed behind them and Asuka made for the elevators, Rei defied expectations by veering off towards the break room they had just gotten coffee from. Asuka chose to not question what she saw as a blessing, but her expectations were defied once more when Rei called out to her.
"Second. Where are you going?"
Asuka reluctantly turned to face the other girl. "I'm going to the dining facility, First. To eat what they call food before I spend the next several hours staring at a computer screen and developing a migraine while the prototype acts up."
"I am going to the nearby break room to eat the lunch Ikari-kun prepared," Rei informed her.
"Great. Fantastic. Good for you." Asuka shook her head and turned back to her path.
"Second."
"What?" Asuka growled, once again stopping and turning to face Rei. "Just because Misato told us to get lunch while we were standing next to each other doesn't mean we have to eat together."
"You do not understand. Ikari-kun prepared lunch."
"I know, you've sai—" Oh. "You mean he packed lunch for both of us. Why didn't you just say that, First?" Effective communication. That's going to be a long road, apparently.
"I did," Rei said flatly. "I told you earlier today: 'Ikari-kun served breakfast before packing lunches for us.'"
Asuka shot her a look and started towards the break room, brushing past Rei who fell in to follow behind her. "Do you not know what the word 'ambiguous' means, First?"
"I do," Rei answered without further comment.
Asuka suppressed a scream as the pilots entered the break room with its vending machines, coffee and tea stations, and small eating area. She chose the table nearest the door and dropped heavily into a seat. The long hours, coupled with her dealings with the First Child, were beginning to make themselves felt.
Asuka drank deeply from her coffee mug while Rei retrieved two bento boxes from within her bag. She placed one decorated with blue markings in front of herself and handed a red adorned one to Asuka, who accepted it with a quirked eyebrow. Points for style, Third. You just happened to have these lying around?
Rei had already opened hers and begun eating mechanically while Asuka inspected the contents of her lunch. A small smile broke across her face, unnoticed. Leftovers from the party last night. Better than the slop NERV serves, that's for sure.
As the contented redhead started in on her own meal, the girl across from her looked up. "Second."
A bite of food suspended halfway to her lips, Asuka met Rei's stare. "What now, First?" She quickly stuffed the food into her mouth and began chewing before she was expected to answer and further delay the first enjoyable thing she'd done all day.
"Ikari-kun wished me to offer you his apologies if the food was not to your liking."
Great. He's apologizing by proxy, now. And I don't know what's worse: that, or the fact that an apology sounds so natural coming from her. We seriously need to do a DNA test on those two, there's no way they aren't related. "The food is fine. No apology needed," she muttered, returning to her meal.
Rei had her brows drawn together ever so slightly, eyes narrowed as she studied the other pilot's face for a few moments, watching her eat. "Second," she said again.
"What now, First?" Asuka huffed, not looking up from her food.
"Will you explain now?"
Asuka returned her confused look, though much less muted, and took a break from her meal to give her full attention to Rei. "Explain what?"
"Ikari-kun's clandestine viewing activities, and why I must take care concerning them."
Asuka spluttered and blushed, glad that she had momentarily stopped eating to address Rei's chosen topic. No, this isn't happening. She's not tricking me into humiliating myself by explaining horny teenage boys to her.
"Don't pretend you don't get it, First," she said harshly once she had recovered. She returned to her meal, angrily stabbing at the food with the fork the Third had thoughtfully provided for her instead of chopsticks (Not that I can't use your primitive eating utensils, Idiot).
Rei took another bite of her own food, looking down at her meal thoughtfully as the two spent the next several minutes eating in silence. After taking the time to seemingly consider Asuka's remark, Rei gave her the same questioning look.
"There is no pretense. I do not understand your meaning."
"Uh," Asuka answered her, uncharacteristically at a loss. Ok, so she doesn't get it. Still not doing this. She scooped up the remains of her meal onto her fork and quickly shoved them into her mouth, chewing quickly while gesturing to a clock on a wall. "That'll have to wait, First, Unit 00's activation is in twenty minutes." The flustered girl packed up her bento and slid it across the table to Rei, who dutifully began packing away the remains of her own lunch. "See you later."
"Yes, we will see each other during the activation test," Rei offered to Asuka's retreating form, the embarrassed girl not even registering what she would normally perceive to be condescension from her fellow pilot.
Ω
Maybe she really is that clueless, Asuka thought as she glanced over the screen in front of her. It mostly displayed the normal pilot and system data that she was used to but included a few anomalies whose cause had been eluding her and the technicians for several days now. Nothing that would cause NERV to delay a test, however, especially considering their history of workplace safety. Should I reassess my approach with her?
She mulled over her interactions with Rei that day, which amounted to significantly more time than she had ever spent with the girl in her "previous" go around. I'm trying not to hate her, she reassured herself. I don't have to like her, but the plan won't work if we can't stand each other again.
The technicians and crew around the operations center began their normal chatter associated with inserting an entry plug and activating an Eva, which Asuka had long ago learned to filter for only what she needed to hear. Could it all not just be some stupid act? After all, Shinji is pretty clueless too. Maybe I'm the only pilot who can act like a normal human being. She recalled the times she'd been variously disappointed, aghast, pissed off, and otherwise surprised by the Third Child's actions—or lack thereof.
A penetrable wall left unassaulted, a tease unnoticed, a compliment undone, a kiss unreturned; so many interactions with the boy she had spent so much time with had always seemed to end in confusion and grief. Her eyes flicked over to one of the large screens displaying Shinji's face from inside Unit 01's entry plug, where he exhibited nervousness and concern. No doubt worried that his doll might get damaged. No! Asuka rebuked herself.
I can't think like that anymore. Whether or not it's true doesn't matter. She angrily shifted her eyes back to her screen as someone in the background announced that the activation was successful. I spent most of the day alone with Ayanami, and I only wanted to kill her a few times. The Idiot is improving, too, even if he still apologizes too much. If I want to make this work, I have to force myself to think differently—not just go through the motions.
Asuka's face scrunched up in distaste. Which means more conversations with the Fir—with Ayanami. Conversations that occur under the assumption that she is not deliberately acting like a stuck-up entitled bitch who thinks she's better than me. Even if I'm not necessarily convinced that isn't the case. She sighed quietly to herself as Misato happily informed Rei that she needed to sit tight for a little while but otherwise they'd wrap things up in a few hours. Who would have thought that my plan would require so much sacrifice?
"Pattern Blue detected—it's an Angel!" Hyuga called out from his station a few seats to Asuka's left. Her eyes snapped to the tactical display as Misato called out orders behind her.
Fuck! They're both already in their Evas, there's no chance I can get them to launch me in Unit 01. Regardless of that, Asuka jumped from her seat and ran towards the exit, making her way to the pilot locker rooms as fast as she could while Misato continued to issue commands.
Which one was this? The giant floating diamond, right? She skidded to a stop in front of the bank of elevators, stabbing her finger into an override button that would immediately call a car to her level. As she barged into the first elevator that opened for her and repeatedly mashed the button for the right floor, Misato's voice came over the intercom in the enclosed space.
"Asuka, once you get changed, get back up here. Unit 01 is launching in thirty seconds, Unit 00 is disconnecting now to join him, and I want you on tactical net." Asuka felt her stomach plummet along with the elevator as it descended much more quickly than normal.
"Right," the pilot said, depressing the transmission button so her reply would make it to the operations center. She bit back the frustration at not being able to sortie immediately against the Angel, using the emotion to fuel her sprint to the locker rooms as the elevator doors opened.
She burst through the doors of her destination and barely avoided colliding into her locker, the frenetic sounds of the operations center directing a battle accompanying her through an intercom. Shinji just launched, she confirmed from the chatter while she haphazardly tossed her clothes into her locker and pulled on her plugsuit.
As she pressed the button on her cuff to pressurize her suit, the faint hiss of air was drowned out by the sound of a boy screaming and technicians bellowing to each other. Shinji! What's going on?! Asuka heard Captain Katsuragi order the bolts on the launch platform be released, but the rest of the battle was lost to her as she raced out of the locker room; she nearly hesitated at the door, torn between rushing to the Eva cages or rejoining Misato, but dashed back to the elevators, once again hitting the emergency override call button.
Come on, come on, come on, come on! Asuka resisted the urge to activate the intercom and demand an update on the fight—unlike the cages, the locker rooms, and a few other areas, the elevators did not receive an audio feed from the operations center, even during alerts. Regardless, the car swiftly carried her back up to her destination, and it was a short moment before she was loping down the hallway and through the doors of the operations center.
What greeted her was a room in barely contained chaos. The large displays showed the pointed, eight sided, crystalline, blue polygon floating menacingly in the middle of the city that Asuka had expected; it also had a long channel extending into the earth from its downward facing point, marked with teeth and grooves that made it appear like a drill bit.
What she did not see was Unit 01, which she expected based off of what she had heard of the battle. But neither did she see Unit 00, which she did not expect. She jogged over to Misato, who was staring at the Angel on screen, labelled "Ramiel" by the Magi. She had one arm wrapped over her midsection and the other angled up, chin grasped in her hand.
"Misato?" Asuka asked her, sounding more harried than she had intended.
"Asuka," she replied as she turned to face her. "The Angel opened fire on Unit 01 as soon as he launched. Some kind of beam—I don't know the details, ask Rits, but it tore right through Shinji's AT field. Like it wasn't even there." She placed a reassuring hand on Asuka's shoulder when the girl's eyes widened involuntarily as the news. "He's injured but stable. He'll be fine, and Unit 01 will be ready to redeploy soon. But we aren't launching again until we have a plan."
The plan last time was a positron rifle. I remember reading that in the reports. "Do we have any ideas to start with?" She brushed Misato's hand off of her shoulder.
The older woman shook her head. "I appreciate your help Asuka, really, but I want you with the other pilots. Link up with Rei, try to get some rest or something during this downtime." Asuka made to interrupt with her own opinion on that proposal but was cut off. "This is more important than having one more person brainstorming up here. Remember what we talked about last night?"
She's not wrong, Asuka agreed reluctantly, her angry retort dying in her throat. And if she found a way to beat it once, she can do it again. "We'll be on standby in the pilot ready room outside the cages. Or in the medical wing with the Third."
Misato offered her a weary smile and a brief nod. "Thanks, Asuka. Don't worry—we'll beat this thing, no problem!"
Asuka nodded and turned to leave. I've got even more time to spend with Ayanami now. Lucky me. Maybe I can convince her that we need to take a nap or something.