Gendo looked up from his desk when Ritsuko entered the tomb-like office. She had long since ceased to be intimidated by the subtle mechanisms employed by the Supreme Commander of NERV to intimidate his guests. She dropped a sheath of papers off on the desk and dug in her purse for something. He resisted the urge to quirk an eyebrow at her. He had to maintain the persona of an utterly cold tyrant even in private to help ensure he did not slip up when in public.
Finally finding what she was looking for, a small box of darkly lacquered wood, she smiled brightly. She put it down on top of the papers and kissed his forehead impudently. "Happy birthday Commander. I'll see you tomorrow."
He grunted, moving back to reading the reports that took up the majority of his time in the office. He had so little time for actual lab-work these days. Creating Rei pretty much had been the last he had truly done. Even with all the meticulous planning and work he put into crafting his scenario and his files and files of plans and counter plans, most of it was all paperwork and making sure things progressed as he desired. He had very little hands-on work anymore.
"You're going to dinner at Captain Katsuragi's." It was a statement, not a question. If it had been a question, it would have implied he wasn't aware of the intimate goings-on of some of the most vital personages in his myriad plans. He had to keep up to date on almost all aspects of their daily lives just to be sure they would bend how he needed them to and, if needed, break how he needed them to break.
His plan did call for breaking people, after all.
The doctor nodded, knowing while he knew already, he was making conversation. It was a measure of how much he valued her that he would do such a thing. She also knew the cuff-links she had gotten him would be the only birthday gift he would receive. Outside the Sub-Commander, and possibly Rei, she was the only person at NERV who knew the date. The reason the girl didn't get him anything, she suspected, was because she shared the Commander's spartan and ascetic lifestyle. In her opinion, neither of the two were very good at living.
Of course, according to some of the graffiti written on the bathroom walls that wasn't put there by him, he didn't have a birthday because he had been evicted from hell, which is why the Angels were here. They wanted to keep him out of heaven.
"We haven't had a get-together in some time. Since the Third Angel attacked, we've all been too busy." She zipped her purse shut. "The initial reports about the makeup of the Fourth Angel are on top of the other reports. It's a nearly complete specimen. Shin- er.. The Third Child did us a major favor by delivering it to us without it exploding like the First and Third."
"Yes. I will be down at the site tomorrow to inspect the core. I've already made the arrangements; you will not need to bother with playing tour guide to the brass. What of Evangelion Unit-00?"
"Everything is on schedule for the reactivation test in two days. While I'm out at the site, Maya will be leading the Section 1 Technical Team in finishing up the primary preparations. The last of the Bakelite was removed this morning."
"Good. The Magi still have no explanation as to the cause of the incident. It has been over a month. Our own independent tests have shown no reason for the failure of Rei to sync with Unit-00."
She shook her head. "The best they can come up with is mental instability in the pilot, but that doesn't make any sense; Rei is solid. She's dedicated to the Project; more so than the Second Child, and we know how she is."
"Indeed. If there is another issue with this test we will need to try with a new clone. We must have as many Units working as possible if we are to succeed."
"We'll find a way." She glanced at her watch. "Well, I need to be off if I'm to be on time. Good night, Commander." She turned and left, not waiting for the farewell she knew would not be forthcoming. She knew he had already turned back to his files, and he would stay there until the very early hours of the morning, before sleeping on the small bed in the room hidden behind one of the bookcases.
If one was to say she was a workaholic, then he was a work junkie. She knew he took a dangerous mix of sleep aids and alertness aids, in addition to highly caffeinated coffee and alcohol.
Some hours after she left, he took a break from his work and called up the security footage from the Katsuragi residence earlier in the evening. Leaving the sound off, he watched as his son cooked in the kitchen, preparing soup and some sort of stir-fry. The two adult women chatted away most of the night, with his son remaining silent as far as he could tell. He cleaned up the dishes and vanished into his room, where he remained the rest of the night. Gendo fast-forwarded until he saw Misato and Ritsuko hugging before the doctor left the apartment.
His son didn't interact all that much with his guardian at home, at least while a guest was present. Most of the other interaction he had observed from past footage was the Ops Director teasing his son gently. Her exuberant and outgoing personality, however, seemed to only further push his son deeper within himself.
Taking off the amber-tinted glasses, he pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel the beginning of another migraine forming, right at the front of his skull. The fact these old glasses had an older prescription and were slightly bent from a past fist fight and thus had a habit of sliding down his nose didn't help matters. One had to admit, the fact that one of the most powerful men in the world didn't have time to have his eyes checked and new glasses made was pretty funny, if one was the type to laugh at such things.
Gendo didn't laugh very much these days. It was postulated by some that if he ever were to laugh, the universe would stop working.
Switching off the computer screen, he glanced over at where he had set the unopened box from Dr. Akagi when he had moved through his paperwork and had started on her it up, he flipped open the lid and looked at the cuff-links. They were made of silver and had the same esoteric tree design glowing on his ceiling etched in black stone. They certainly were nice, though he knew she knew it wouldn't change the terms of their arrangement. It simply gave her some pleasure to give him little gifts on certain days. Women sometimes made no sense at all to him, despite the fact he prided himself on understanding what made people tick. He had long since accepted that women could be incomprehensible to men.
He pocketed the box and stood, pushing his chair back under the desk. He moved to the bookcase hiding the room in which he most commonly slept in these days, foregoing his larger but still spartan apartment several floors above. Where he slept made no real difference to him; one bed was as good as another. This bed, however, was single, which ensured that when he slept there, he slept alone. The apartment was where he and Dr. Akagi slept together. Some might say the small room that held a bed, a stool, and a dresser was like his soul; empty and barren. Five people knew otherwise, but only two would feel inclined to say anything about it if anyone ever asked.
Despite his small efforts to push his son and Rei together, both still kept their distance from each other. Rei was the only one he could directly prod, but he had to use a delicate touch with her, otherwise she would view it as an order, which he didn't want. Unfortunately, there was little he could use as a tool or leverage with her. She had no hobbies, except perhaps the book club at the school. She thankfully had ceased setting fire to things three years ago, but there was no way he would encourage her to do that as a means of developing a friendship with Shinji. The boy might decide to use arson as a means to obtain his direct attention; and he had no time to deal with the repercussions of that.
He lay down on the bed, above the covers, still fully clothed, only putting his glasses on the small stool next to the head of the bed. He closed his eyes and waited for sleep to claim him.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Ritsuko woke up feeling pleased with the world. She stretched, disturbing her cat who had claimed her feet for his sleeping place at some point during the night. She scratched his head with one hand as the other reached for her glasses. She could remember a time when she didn't need them as part of her full-time dress. Not so anymore. The years of darkened rooms and computer screens had certainly taken their toll.
I wish it might be different, but... I can't change the past. No matter how I wish I could.
She looked at her clock. Plenty of time before she needed to go down to the recovery site. I'll have some of the leftovers for breakfast. Shinji's quite the accomplished cook for such a young man. I wonder if Gendo has any skill in the kitchen. I've heard it said these things run in the family. God knows I won't ever find out, but still.
She got out of bed, moving with a purpose now since she was awake. Whatever her mother might have neglected in her upbringing, she had instilled in her daughter an aversion to laziness. Once she started moving, or working, that was it. She did what she needed to do, working until the task was done. She wasn't one for lying around when she had a timeline to adhere to.
I think I'll take Misato's offer up on coming over again tonight. It's certainly been a while since I've had a good home-cooked meal. It's not fair she practically got a live-in maid and cook when she took Shinji in. She seriously lucked out. I wonder if she knew he could cook before she set up the request. That information wasn't anywhere in any report I ever saw on him.
Indeed, Misato had lucked out with Shinji, as he had almost a pathological aversion towards untidiness. He had almost gone into shock when he had first seen the state of the apartment. It had taken him the better part of two days to get it up to the level of livable according to his standards. He also had a similar, if not so intense, set of standards as to the food one ate on a regular basis. Misato's cornucopia of instant foods definitely did not come up to snuff.
As much as he detested messy living quarters, he refused to clean Misato's room. He wanted nothing to do with that disaster zone. It was bad enough he had to do her laundry, but otherwise, it would pile up everywhere, and he'd end up doing it anyway. She had a habit of deciding to change outfits when she was really smashed and left a trail of clothing everywhere she went. He had even found a shirt and a pair of panties in the refrigerator, behind a mountain of beer.
What boggled his mind was that she had to have seen them when restocking her supply of the cheap malt beer. Why hadn't she taken them out?
Right now he was standing in possibly the only clear area in her room, trying to wake her up before he left for class. She needed to get moving down to the recovery site where NERV techs were working to dissect and study the remains of the tentacled Angel. It was too big and unwieldy shaped for them to move whole into the Geo-Front as it was, so they were forced to work up on the surface. While this made sense to him, it didn't explain the fact there was a naval battleship sitting in the giant lake down there. How had they gotten that in there? He wasn't sure if he wanted to know.
"Miss Misato? You need to get up now if you're going to be at the site on time. Miss Misato?" He looked around for something to poke the slightly moving mass of blankets and limbs with. He stopped his search when she started moving, sitting up, revealing she wasn't wearing a shirt. He spun around to face the door, blushing furiously.
"Mmmm?" She yawned, stretching, and if he hadn't turned around, he would have noticed her breasts moving in the most interesting manner. "Oh Shinji, it's you. Good morning." She blinked the last of the sleep from her eyes and realized she was looking at his back. "What's the matter? Why are you looking at the door?"
Shinji nearly passed out. Doesn't she realize that she's not wearing a shirt or underwear? Once again he wondered how she came to be a Captain working for NERV. "Er, uhh... You're not wearing a shirt." He almost died as he said it, and decided to bolt for the door. She was up now anyway, she should be alright. Stopping only to put on his shoes, he called back to let her know her breakfast was sitting in the microwave. He ran down to the stairwell and stopped only once he had rounded the block and was out of view of the apartment building.
Misato stared at her bedroom's open door. What was that all about? Just 'cause I'm not wearing a shirt? She looked down, cupping her hands to her breasts. Doesn't he like girls? He's all possessive of Ayanami for crying out loud. Even if he's in denial about it. Maybe it's the scar. She frowned. She hated the scar that marred her abdomen. It forced her to wear a one-piece when she went to the pool or beach, and it had scared more boys off than she could count. She felt hurt. Shinji didn't seem like the type of guy who bolted at marred flesh. Ayanami was barely out of her bandages for crying out loud! While the scars were faint against the girl's pale skin, they were there.
However, another glance down showed that the rumpled sheets that had made up her sleep-nest had hidden the scar from view. Besides, the shock of seeing it normally kept people's attention on her, not make them turn all the way around.
She began to laugh. "Oh, Shinji...you're too easy." The boy had been embarrassed to see her in a state of undress. She would have to tease him about it when he came to the recovery site after school. The boy was extremely bashful and hated being teased. He also tried to avoid giving offense to others, apologizing for a thousand imagined slights and offenses, even when someone was remarking on something and making conversation. Somehow, she didn't imagine he had many friends at school. She hadn't seen him talking to anyone on the phone. If he wasn't at NERV or at school, he was here in the apartment, hiding in his room. She'd never seen him sitting in the living room watching television, for example.
I only hope he doesn't regress further and go mute as I did. No matter what I do, it seems like all he does is avoid people. I don't think he's said more than a few words to Ayanami. I don't know why he won't go talk to her; he's like a knight riding to save a princess for crying out loud. He saved her from certain death. Indeed, he had actually pestered her with questions about the girl, and Misato, unable to answer most of them had told him to go ask the girl herself. He had balked at the idea, as she suspected he would. If only those two would get together. It'd be so cute. They'd look so good together. Of course, she knew the dangers of such fraternization on the battlefield. But she was confidant the two introverted and shy children would still be controllable.
She glanced at the clock. She still had time. Plenty of time, and she wouldn't even have to drive all that fast. He must be as neurotic about being on time as he is about cleaning up things. Oh well.
She finally got moving, deciding to forgo dressing fully and eating her food as she was. She missed being able to walk around her apartment in various states of dress. It was a downside of having a roommate again, especially a male one, but she was pretty sure his skill in the kitchen and at cleaning more than made up for it.
Maybe I should do something nice for him today. Gotta show him all the teasing is just in fun. I don't need him drawing further into himself. She brightened, smiling around her toast. I'll make dinner tonight for us! I haven't made it in a while. Especially if Rits is coming over tonight. I'll give him a break. Make him socialize with Ritsuko while I'm in the kitchen. She frowned momentarily. Maybe she won't be the best one to make chit-chat with, but it's something. Confident in her new plan, she went back to her room, still eating her toast, wriggling out of her pajama pants as she went, dropping them absentmindedly in the hallway as she went to get dressed for the day.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Oddly enough, both Gendo and his son had woken up at the same time. Both Ikaris put great stock in punctuality. Gendo, as his days were filled to the brim with work, and Shinji as a means of avoiding notice. When the boys in his cohort discussed what superpowers they wished they had (as all young boys do at some point), Shinji's greatest wish was for invisibility and to be able to go about his day without being noticed.
Putting the glasses back on his head, Gendo stood and left the room and then his office, stalking through the corridors (Gendo Ikari never walked anywhere, he flowed atop a dark cloud of doom, according to one bathroom stall) down to the break room where there were several pots of coffee available, no matter the time of day.
He slipped into the room, ignoring the other people present, claimed an entire pot, and was back out of the room before people noticed he was present.
Back in the office he sat it on a hot plate after pouring some into the commemorative NERV coffee mug he kept in his desk when he had company. The fact that there was a coffee pot but no cups, mugs, coasters, or coffee rings on his desk threw people for a loop. Of course, it never occurred to them he simply had a drawer dedicated to the trappings of hot drinks.
Inside this same drawer were three other coasters, one each for the three other people who were allowed to consume his coffee or, on the rare times he had it, tea. A second mug, slightly chipped from when its owner had dropped it on the floor when she was younger, also sat inside the drawer.
He opened the shades on the windows and stared out at his little kingdom as he drank his coffee. He pulled a bottle out of a pocket, dumped some of the whitish-gray powder into the drink, and stirred the mixture.
Grimacing at the bitter taste of the inordinate amount of caffeine he had added to the already bitter coffee, tapped two pills out from their bottle. Popping them into his mouth, he downed the rest of his coffee. His morning ritual complete, he turned back to his desk to begin his day's work.
There were more tests scheduled for the day, ones he would have to keep an eye on, but other things demanded his presence. He had five meetings with various heads of state and defense ministers, two meetings with the Sub-Commanders overseeing different projects tangentially associated with Project E, and then he had more time scheduled for his own personal attempts to decode the miscellaneous artifacts in his possession.
As things were, he was confident they would ultimately succeed in their power struggle against SEELE. His second in command was less sanguine about their chances, although Kozo's outlook had brightened ever since Shinji's arrival at NERV and the defeat of the Third Angel. It would not do to rest on their laurels though. Forewarned was forearmed, and the more information he could tease out from the collection of ancient prophecies and relics of the past, the better he could tune his scenario to guide the world's path to his desired destination.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Hikari shot Toji a warning look as he and Kensuke passed her in the hallway. When the boy showed up to class last week with split lips and a black eye, she demanded to know what had happened. He had pushed her away, saying it was none of her business, until she threatened to ask his sister. He had turned white and stammered out something about hitting a brick wall after tripping down a flight of stairs.
Hikari wasn't born yesterday and had whirled onto her other friend. Kensuke had wilted almost immediately to Toji's disgust.
To say she was furious was an understatement. Ikari, beat up Toji? Laughable, at best. Completely absurd. What on earth could possess him to do such a thing?
Unfortunately, it seemed fate had a sense of schadenfreude, for Rei happened to come around the corner when she had asked this. Rei, apparently thinking the boys were bringing the class representative into the know, elaborated on the fact Ikari had been defending her honor.
Predictably, this opened up a whole new set of problems.
So now, the boys had to explain why Ikari felt he needed to defend a wounded girl's honor from them.
Rei, seemingly confused as to why she was asking such an obvious question. It was because they were asking her to remain silent about the beating that had been administered the day prior.
Rei, of course, had known all along the boys had been trying to hide the truth, and then when that failed, tried to weasel out of telling Hikari everything while maintaining damage control over the situation.
Fate might have a sense of schadenfreude, but Rei possessed an entire organ dedicated to it, at least as far as the two boys responsible for Ikari's beating were concerned. Pilot Ikari may have let the matter go, but the situation had not sat well with her. NERV would not take further action beyond stern warnings if Ikari did not press it, so it was left to her to ensure a more satisfactory chastening for the two.
Setting the Class Representative upon them seemed appropriate enough.
Despite all three of the other student's assurances that everything had been a massive misunderstanding, it had taken Hikari a while to calm down about the whole thing.
This, of course, meant that Rei "accidentally" brought up the fact the two had left the shelter's safety, had almost been crushed in the Angel Battle, and had to be rescued by the withdrawn boy.
Rei was having a field day with this. She felt warmth bubbling up inside of her, and she had to focus hard to keep from laughing inappropriately. It would ruin the careful image of obliviousness to the damage she was causing.
This warmth ended when Ikari showed up, limping into the classroom. He weakly waved at them all and sat in his usual seat. Hikari stood, in mid-wave, staring in shock at the terrible state the pilot was in. She wheeled on the boy in the tracksuit, but anger turned into horror on her face when Ayanami stepped in and explained that most of it apparently was the result of the battle, and not caused by Suzahara.
Throughout the rest of the week that followed, Shinji continued to eat alone, only moving to eat under the tree he had taken a liking to if it was otherwise unoccupied. Rei tried to eat there too, but to arrive just before Ikari, in order to allow for an uncontaminated collection of data from eating lunch with him, but whenever she arrived there first he seemed to desire to eat in the class. It was all very frustrating to her.
Toji and Kensuke, for their part, had 'adopted' Shinji into their little group, but he wasn't very keen on eating on top of the roof with them. He would wave them on if they wanted to eat there, remaining in the class.
Toji, while thick-headed at times, was true to his word. Making a note of the fact that the pilot was extremely uncomfortable with dealing with other student's questions about the Evangelion, he kept them at bay.
Today Hikari was eating lunch with the boys in the classroom. It was raining outside, and no one felt like going up to the roof. Most of the class was down in the cafeteria, getting a break from the confines of the classroom. Ayanami was absently staring out at the rain, eating a sandwich. Shinji kept sneaking glances at her, which prompted Toji to lightheartedly tease him.
"So what's going on between you and Ayanami anyway, Shin-man?" He started in on a second biscuit sandwich, wolfing down his food. "You keep watching her."
Hikari raised her eyebrows at this news, while Shinji turned red and started choking on his tea. "It's... nothing. I was just thinking that I never see her hanging out with anyone. Doesn't she have any friends?"
Ken pulled his attention away from his computer, looking up. "Dude, you're like the only person that she's talked to outside of regular class activities." He paused, glancing at the albino. "And even then she doesn't say much."
Hikari spoke up now. "Why the interest, Ikari? I mean, it's noble of you to have defended her honor from these idiots-" She looked at the two other boys before continuing on, "but she was okay, and she's all better now. She had been caught up in a nasty car wreck two weeks before you got here. No one knew about it until a few days later."
Shinji stared at the girl. "She just seems so... so sad, I guess."
"That's just how she is though," Toji said, taking another bite of his rice ball.
"Yeah, Ayanami's always been an odd one, never really been one for friends or anything." Hikari offered, looking at Shinji and then Rei. "She barely participates in class."
"She's in the book club, though." Kensuke wasn't eating anything but instead had a few cans of energy drinks in front of him. "I don't think she participates in it a lot either though."
"Huh. We're a lot alike, I guess." Shinji said, stealing another glance at the girl. "We don't have a lot of friends." He turned red and started to stammer out an apology to the others. "Sorry, Sorry, I didn't mean it like that..."
Toji laughed, slapping the stuttering boy. "It's okay man, we know what you meant. We can't really be called friends just yet, based on how we met. That reminds me- when do you want to meet my sister? She wants to meet you." He looked down at his half-eaten food and then back at the pilot. "Annnd she wants to apologize for me. She thinks you let me off too easy." He stuffed the last of the sandwich in his mouth as Ken laughed.
"Yeah, when she demanded to know why he showed up all beat up, and then found out everything, I thought she was going to hop down and beat him to death." Kensuke obviously thought it was amusing. "She's been bugging us to bring you along one of these days."
Shinji winced. I know they say she's doing a lot better, and she doesn't blame me for anything... but I did that to her. How many others have suffered because of me?
"I... I can't today. I have to go down to the site today." He looked at the bespectacled boy. "And no, I'm sorry but I can't get you in. It's the same thing as the range down inside the base." When the military nut had found out Shinji not only piloted the Evangelion but also was getting weapons training from NERV personnel, he had begged to be allowed to come, if only to watch and not shoot. Shinji had asked, but it was deemed the security risk was too great to allow someone who had already been in trouble for seeing things he shouldn't have to be able to tag along on Shinji's little outings with 1LT Aoba.
Hikari rolled her eyes. While Shinji had taken to shooting, he didn't get the same intense pleasure her other friend had when dealing with military armaments. It was all very surreal to her sometimes. "Isn't it dangerous though? Shooting the guns, I mean."
Shinji waved his hand a little. "No, the first thing you learn is weapons safety. You learn how to check to see if it's on safe, if it's loaded, and how to unload. Then they have you take it apart and put it back together. The first time you're at the lanes, you don't get ammo; you're learning and practicing how to get a good sight picture."
She shook her head. "From what you've all been able to tell me, I would have thought that you would have wanted nothing to do with human weapons after the fights."
He only nodded in agreement. "I thought that too, but 1LT Aoba made it a lot of fun. Plus, to shoot accurately, you have to calm yourself down and control your breathing. It's kinda like meditating, I think."
Hikari found herself having to constantly adjust how she viewed the shy boy. Now he sounded more like a warrior monk, talking about meditating while shooting something that was meant to main and kill. This added a bit of mystique to him that it didn't to Ken.
Ayanami was paying much more attention to them than it appeared, taking careful mental notes on Pilot Ikari's interactions with their peers. From everything she had observed, she was almost convinced he wasn't running social experiments on the class at all and was someone caught up in the river of the Commander's Scenario. She wasn't sure how she felt about this news.
If he is not running anything counter to the Commander's Plan, then I may proceed along with my own experiments on him as soon as an opportunity presents itself. However, I must keep escape avenues open in the event that he is playing a deeper level experiment than I. He has already shown evidence of being able to operate on the Commander's level, if only momentarily. I am not that easy to manipulate in conversations.
Of course, this was a glaring fallacy in her reasoning. While she imagined herself to be capable of obfuscating her true nature and pulling people's strings like the Commander, if to a slightly lesser degree, the reason she enjoyed the success she had was because she almost never talked to people. Thus they often reacted in the way she wanted because they were shocked she was even talking.
He obviously is interested in me, but has not yet approached me as other males do to females they hold an interest in. If he is so bold and caring to do battle on my behalf against both an Angel and a perceived human threat, even if he is wounded, he should have no difficulty in approaching me. He hasn't even done so to discuss the Commander. Is he not interested in his father? He surely knows he and I discuss things on a regular basis. Perhaps he needs a way to approach me in a manner that does not skew any data he is collecting.
Perhaps she should acquire a lab coat for him to wear as well, she thought to herself, focused on his reflection in the rain-streaked glass, if only to see what he looked like while wearing one. There were plenty more in the storerooms at NERV. She sighed quietly, sipping her tea. She was working with insufficient data and there seemed no way for her to obtain the data she needed.
I wonder why he is going down to the recovery site today. If he does not have an appropriately high scientific background, the experiments would be senseless to him. He wouldn't understand what was going on.
It had never occurred to her that Misato didn't want him hanging out at the apartment alone any more than he already did.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Shinji sat in the control room, wearing a jumpsuit and hard hat, and sipping on a cup of coffee. Dr. Akagi and Miss Misato had been talking about things he had no hope of understanding, something about protein chains and GATC sequences and Hex Structures. His attempts at fading into the background had gotten him almost run over by one of the work trucks, so they insisted that he dress up in the high-visibility gear while on site.
This is boring. I'm just sitting here, not doing anything. I can do that at home.
Spinning his chair around in a lazy circle, he almost missed seeing his father walk by the door out of the corner of his eye. Poking his head out the door, he watched as his father's entourage approached the area where they were cutting bits and pieces from the Angel's body. His eyes widened as he saw horrific scars all over his father's palms, which were clasped behind him. For whatever reason, the white gloves the man usually wore were tucked into one of his jacket pockets. His father's hands were pink and glossy with scar tissue, the injury obviously relatively new.
"Whatcha looking at, Shinji?" Misato joined him at the door, her own cup of the bitter brew in hand.
"Noth...nothing." He stuttered and flushed as both Misato and Dr. Akagi rolled their eyes.
"You know, Shinji, when you say that it's nothing in that manner, it's like a flag to the rest of the world that something is wrong." Dr. Akagi smiled at him, switching off the monitor.
Misato chimed in with her two cents. "Yeah, out with it mister." She flashed her grin at him, poking him gently on the shoulder.
He swallowed, trying to find the answer in his cup. "I was wondering how my father's hands got scarred up like that?"
Misato cocked her head. She had heard the story firsthand from Ritsuko after she had been assigned to the slot of Operations Director. She looked at her friend expectantly. "Well, Rits, you know it better than me."
The blond doctor shook her head with a sigh. "Well, when Pilot Ayanami was participating in her activation and synchronization test, the Evangelion went out of control. It was an absolute mess, and we had to trigger the emergency ejection of the Entry Plug. Mind you; this is all down in the Activation Cages, so the retro rockets were slamming it all around the room until the fuel was expended, and it fell down to the surface." She paused to sip her drink. "The Commander ran down to the cage floor and opened the emergency exit by hand. Now, the sides of the plug generate intense heat during activation and normal use of the Evangelion, let alone from the escape rockets and the friction. The metal was super hot, and he was badly burned, but he managed to ensure Rei's survival."
Shinji, shocked, had only one thing to say to this.
"Bullshit."
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
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Commander Gendo Ikari Facts!
1. Gendo Ikari's tears are cold enough to fix Antarctica, thus restoring the environment to its pre-Second Impact state. Too bad Gendo Ikari has never cried.
2. The only reason there is a door in Gendo Ikari's office is so other people can walk in and out. Gendo Ikari walks through the walls.
3. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but if Gendo Ikari stares at you for five minutes, your heart will stop.
4. Gendo Ikari had a staring contest with the sun. Gendo Ikari won.
"What are you working on, Aoba?" Maya's voice startled the long-haired technician, who jumped a little in his seat.
"Oh, nothing much. I thought that I'd compile all of the things people have written about the Commander in the bathroom stalls on the NERVnet." He glanced up at the other tech, as she leaned over him to glance at his terminal's screen. Once more he silently bemoaned her 'no dating coworkers' policy.
The mousy tech raised her eyebrows as she read down the list of over a hundred little "facts" about the imposing Commander of NERV. "Hey, people write things about him in the guy's restrooms too? I thought it was only in the women's rooms."
"I didn't think the ladies were much inclined to write amusing graffiti about the commander on bathroom stalls, Ibuki."
"Neither did I until I saw them. Wait, this one I've seen before!" She pointed to fact #57- Gendo Ikari will never have a heart attack, because Gendo Ikari doesn't have a heart. "That's written in the locker room down at the pool!"
Aoba frowned. "I got that one from the guy's bathroom in the Pribnow Box." The two stared at each other for a moment. "Do think there are other duplicates?"
Maya sounded unsure when she finally replied. "There could be, but how? Is someone sneaking into both men's and women's areas just to write graffiti?"
"Someone could have overheard someone else talking about it and decided to write it down too." Aoba pointed out. "It doesn't have to be the same person."
"That's true.. but the wording is exactly the same."
"It's a short sentence, Maya. There's not a lot to change."
"Maybe you're right. Well, we need to finish up preparations for tomorrow's test. Besides, do you think it's a smart idea to put this stuff on the NERVnet? He is our boss, you know."
"Maya, if he didn't people writing these things, don't you think the bathrooms would be covered with fresh paint?"
"Graffiti is one thing, but putting it on the Magi is something else altogether. Come on, let's get to work."
"Okay, but let me add this new one I found first."
Maya sighed good-naturedly. "What is it?"
"Gendo Ikari does not get burned when he touches super hot metal; the metal gets burned."
"That's not funny! That doesn't even make sense."
"Then why are you trying not to laugh?"
"Shut up!"
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Shinji and Ritsuko sat at the table in silence. Ritsuko watched as Shinji stared at the floor, avoiding her eyes. He's probably still trying to wrap his head around the idea of his father doing something so heroic. The poor boy hasn't seen that side of his father before. It's too strange for him to comprehend. Dr. Akagi, for her part, was trying hard to ignore the sounds of Misato 'cooking' in the kitchen. When she had found out Misato planned on making the meal tonight, instead of Shinji preparing another tasty homemade meal, well, she had been less than enthusiastic. That woman can make instant food even less palatable than it already was.
"So, Shinji, how's school? Are you keeping up with your studies?" She sipped the tea Shinji had made before Misato had booted him out of the kitchen, along with instructions to not vanish into his room. It was probably going to be the only thing that tasted like it should this evening, knowing her friend's pretensions at culinary expertise.
Shinji started suddenly, not expecting the somewhat distant doctor's question. She had been a little put out with him the rest of the afternoon following his rather undiplomatic assessment of his father.
"Well, I'm staying caught up with the work that's being handed out, even with the tests I have to do for NERV." Even if they take up a ton of time and I barely get any sleep trying to keep up. "A lot of the stuff I was taught before, by my teacher."
"Oh, yes, you were privately tutored, correct?" She took another sip. "I know we take up a lot of your time, but it's still important to keep up with your studies." Because it'll be so useful later on. Ha. "Are you still going to the range with Lieutenant Aoba? Your marksmanship skills in the sims have gone up." She refilled her cup, watching him shift around in his seat.
"Yes, we're still going when we can schedule it. Since it was helping me with my shooting in the sims, he also wanted to do some knife fighting, but I'm not so sure I want to try that out."
Ritsuko raised an eyebrow at the mental image. She knew Gendo had done quite a bit of bar brawling in his younger days, and she wouldn't put it past him to be handy with a knife, either, but the idea of his son, this frightened little boy, getting into a fist fight, was laughable, let alone a knife fight.
"Well, keep the possibility in mind. Defeating the Angels is the purpose of NERV, after all. It's our responsibility to do all we can to accomplish that goal." Sip. "Have you made any friends at school? I'm sure a handsome young man like yourself must be beating the girls off with a stick." Yeah right. Damn it Misato... What can I talk to him about? It's not like I can make small talk about the real reasons behind him going to school, or NERV activities like I can with you. And I can't talk to him at all about what's really going on.
Shinji blankly stared at the doctor for a minute. What? What is she talking about? "Um... not really. I mean, I've got some friends, I guess. I talk to a couple of the other students some anyways." If only because they feel like they need too because I saved them. But they know I won't say anything to anyone, so I guess they are my friends. "We hang out after class when we can too."
Having read Misato's reports on his somewhat unlikely befriending of the two idiots that had been capering about on the surface during the last battle, Ritsuko was expecting such a reply. She also had read enough psychoanalysis reports on the boy to know he was extremely unlikely to go out of his way to make others. Still, at least he had some, unlike Rei.
"I'm sure being in the same class as Rei helps things too. I know her cover hasn't been blown yet", she paused to sip her tea, inwardly chuckling as he blushed, "but having her there to help get you eased into the class must have been handy." Let's see what he says to that nonsense. Rei couldn't help ease a rock into a geologist's collection.
Shinji was saved from having to think up an answer to this by Misato's timely appearance, walking out of the kitchen with a tray of what could loosely be considered food. "Shin-chan, can you go get the curry sauce I made? It's sitting on the stove."
"Yes!" He scrambled to his feet with enthusiasm, not for the prospect of eating her 'curry' but for avoiding the awkward question from the doctor.
Misato handed Ritsuko a beer and opened her own. "How'd the small talk go? Did you guys gossip about me?" She grinned at her friend before draining half the can in one go.
Sighing, Ritsuko took a fortifying chug from her beer; it was one the best ways to deal with Misato's cooking. "No, whatever it was we did, it certainly didn't qualify as small talk. Getting him to socialize is like pulling teeth. He's almost as bad as Rei." She quickly took another drink as Shinji returned, bearing a pot of spicy sludge.
Grabbing her bowl of instant curry-flavored noodles, Misato motioned for Shinji to heap some of the goop onto her food. "How are things for tomorrow's test, anyway? Is everything ready?"
After poking her noodles with one of her chopsticks, Ritsuko looked back at her hostess, who was already shoveling the unholy conglomeration into her mouth, not showing any sign her food was bothering her taste buds at all. "Yes, everything's set up for tomorrow. We'll have Shinji standing by in case Unit-00 goes berserk again to help contain it." She tentatively tested a small portion of her food, and while it certainly wasn't the worst she had ever had from Misato, it still made her wince.
Misato grinned at Shinji. "Maybe you'll get to come to her rescue again, Shinji", she said with a wink and a smirk.
Shinji shifted in surprise at her remark, but both adults put it down to the spiciness of the food. Ritsuko did, at least. Misato put it down to embarrassment. How does she know about that? The Section 2 guy said they wouldn't say anything to anyone! "Umm.. what?"
"You know, coming in to save her from being sent off to fight the Third Angel. You can't tell me that's not straight out of a story." Misato sighed. "You can't tell me that didn't run through your mind when you agreed to pilot."
Shinji, relieved to hear her train of thought, breathed a soft sigh of relief. "Not exactly. I mean, she was so hurt... I couldn't let her go out to die."
Unfortunately for him, this was just the thing Misato had been waiting for ammunition with which to tease him. "You're such a hero, Shinji; I'm surprised you two haven't been hanging out together if ya know what I mean." She let out a laugh as her ward began blushing and stuttering incoherently. "Oh Shinji, you're too easy. You go ballistic when someone teases you."
Ritsuko calmly came in with her own targeted comment. "Yes, he's just like you, Misato." Hiding her smile behind her beer, she watched Misato's face turn as red as Shinji's. "You know, you might want to think about moving out, Shinji. You shouldn't let one bad roommate ruin your life." She smiled again as Misato choked on her second beer.
"Very funny Ritsuko," Misato said, sticking her tongue out at her. "It'd be more of a pain for him to go and do that; he got his permanent security card yesterday. It'd mean a lot of paperwork and red tape to go and move now.
"Argh... that reminds me; I forgot to give Rei her new security pass." Ritsuko turned from the table and dug around in her purse. She pulled out the pass and handed it to Shinji. I don't know why the Commander wants these two pushed together, but whatever. "Shinji, can you give this to her tomorrow? You won't be going to class because of the activation test, but you can swing by her place in the morning and come in together."
"I was going to bring him in with me in the morning, Rits. I can go pick up Rei too." Misato offered, before shoveling the last of her bowl into her mouth.
Damn it, that's not what he wants. They won't talk to each other if they're traumatized by your driving. "No need for them to be in as early as you Misato. They don't need to show up until eleven. They might as well get to enjoy some time off." She winked at Misato, hoping she'd get the message.
Misato, completely oblivious to the wink, watched Shinji staring at Rei's picture. More ammunition! "You're staring at her picture, aren't you?" He began sputtering again, his face matching Rei's eyes.
"Well, now you've got a reason to go over to Rei's place." She threw a wink to Shinji, and then one to Ritsuko, who barely resisted the urge to palm her forehead.
Trust her to state the cheesiest, most obvious thing, and go along with it. Not for the first time, she wondered how it was that everything seemed to fall into place, in one way or another, for the Commander.
Shinji, not able to come up with anything to say in his defense, decided that discretion was the better part of valor and fled the table and ran to his room. Misato laughed, calling to him. "Aww, comeback Shinji..." She smiled in the direction he had gone before finishing her beer. "Oh, poor boy. Still, though, I wonder what he'll say about the place she lives in?"
"You mean that dilapidated building? Well, if he asks, just tell him about her old place."
"Like he'll believe Rei burned down a building in the Geo-Front. I didn't believe it until I saw the video." Misato cracked open another beer and opened the bag of prawn crackers. "What was her excuse for that, again? I have a hard time seeing her as an arsonist, you know."
Ritsuko sighed. "Her explanation to the Commander was that she was testing the flash points of different materials, after reading about them in a book. This was when we decided she needed significantly more socialization with kids her own age and set her up in the school above. Her room is completely serviceable, despite the rest of the building.. being what it is. If she decides to burn it to the ground too, well, nobody will notice. "
"Section 2 does keep a good eye on right? I still don't feel too comfortable with the idea of her living on her own out there."
"They have people there all day to keep the squatters out. It's perfectly safe."
"Still... a fifteen-year-old girl living by herself in a place like that could raise a few red flags."
Ritsuko shook her head. "Misato, using fifteen-year-old children as pilots of giant bio-mechanical cyborg war machines could raise a lot more red flags. Her living on her own is a small drop in the ocean of secrets we have to keep."
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Gendo Ikari allowed himself the pleasure of a grin as he read over the Gendo Ikari Facts! page on the internal NERVnet. This is outstanding! It will be much easier to post new bits on here, rather than sneaking into different restrooms and writing on the walls. It's too bad I can't give Lieutenant Aoba formal recognition for this, but that's just the way things are. Why didn't I think of this? No one except Dr. Akagi, would have been able to figure out it was me behind the whole thing. Deciding to chalk it up to another of his social experiments bearing unexpected fruit, he perused the rest of the list. Almost all of the ones he had written were already up, as well as some of the ones other people had written. There were some completely new ones too, submitted via the anonymous posting form.
Today had been a good day for him. The teams were making good headway with the remains of the Angel. Though the size of the viable core samples was small, it was better than nothing. The Third Child had been nothing but through when destroying the Enemy. Idly, he wondered if Rei had obtained videos of the fight was well to study. I will have to be sure to talk to her before the activation test tomorrow. She won't be afraid, but it will do her good to get a pep talk beforehand.
Sipping his tea, he pulled another stack of reports from his 'IN' tray. The old men grow impatient in regard to the Dummy Plug system. A fleet of mass-produced Evangelions would be useless without the system unless they have been training a group of pilots completely subservient to them. That would be hard for them to hide from me, if they felt so inclined. They may not trust me completely, but I do not think they suspect my true aims. He looked up as the Sub-Commander entered his office.
"Fuyutsuki."
"Ikari."
Such was the greeting the two had shared for over ten years. The two conspirators were party to one of the greatest crimes against humanity and planning another one as a coup against the shadowy Illuminati, who had worked towards a single goal for the last hundred or so years. Instrumentality. An artifact or system of artifacts instrumental in accomplishing some end. The Instrumentality of Mankind, the great system of artifacts instrumental in accomplishing the end of Mankind. The sheer arrogance of the name appealed to SEELE, and so they formed the Human Instrumentality Committee on the UN, with the supposed aim of helping shape human behavior and habits to have less of an impact on the stressed environment.
"Everything is in place for tomorrow's test. Final preparations are complete. Activation will commence at one in the afternoon." Gendo moved back to his reports as Kozo pulled a chair from a closet, hidden behind another movable bookcase.
"Will you be bringing heat-resistant gloves to this test?" Kozo smirked as he carefully eased into the chair, before settling back. "The MAGI never did come up with a certain answer for the incident."
"The Third Child will be on standby in Unit-01. If any issues come up, he will be able to deal with them." Gendo ignored the old man's quip at his expense.
"So I take it you don't buy the idea of mental instability in Rei?"
"No more than I would suspect mental instability in you or I. She is dedicated to the scenario as she understands it. It comprises the entirety of her life."
"What then could have caused the incident? You seem fairly calm and cavalier about something with the potential to ruin the plan."
"You forget that I'm not a micro-manager. Besides, if anything happens, we can always decant another clone. Any memory loss will be put down to traumatic head injuries."
Kozo smirked again. "Then why did you rush to the girl's rescue the first time?" He stretched his legs out, wincing as his knees popped.
Gendo, still going over his reports, merely shook his head gently. "She's still a little girl Kozo. Are you trying to see if I'm still human based on how I respond to your questions? I think I spent the last of my rage a long time ago after I found out about this mess."
"I don't know about that. After Yui went through... with the test... when you brought me in on the whole thing... your plan mind you, not SEELE's... you still seemed fairly upset."
"I had begged her not to go through with it. Or at the very least... not to entomb herself in that thing right before his eyes... He was just a kid, Kozo. He was three. He didn't understand what happened, and if I have my way he never will. A brighter and better future? As part of some collective hivemind? Don't be ridiculous."
"She probably was upset when you had her core removed from the Evangelion."
"I'm not going to risk her sucking my son up into it on a whim, even with all the safeties in place. We'll swap the cores right before we trigger our Impact, and not a moment sooner." He snapped the folder shut and leaned back in his chair, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes. "The scrolls say the next Angel will be one of the strongest. It should be here within a fortnight."
"Is that why you've pushed Unit-00 through repairs so fast? So Shinji can have Rei for support?"
"Yes. We're throwing him to the wolves, and he's done admirably well so far, but there's no need for him to stand alone between us and the end of the world. I don't need him to break just yet."
"What of Sohryu's girl and Unit-02? When will SEELE release them to us? She must incensed that the war has kicked off and she's stuck on the western front."
"While everything checks out with the unit and the girl, they keep scheduling more tests. As for her, well... she'll get her share of battle soon enough. Besides, the longer they push off sending them to us, the better. My agent in Berlin is poised to take control of Adam, and will smuggle him to us along on the trip."
"Can he be trusted? He is working for SEELE and the JSSDF."
"That's exactly why he can be trusted; because we know he can't be. Besides, you forgot he's working for someone else as well; himself. Above all other things in life, he wants to know the truth."
"The truth? The truth about what? Just saying 'the truth' is a rather ambiguous statement." Kozo replied, trying to puzzle out some deeper meaning behind his friend's words.
"He wants to know the real reason behind Second Impact, behind the Katsuragi Expedition, and who was behind it all. If he were more technically minded, he'd be working for us as a researcher or scientist already. But he's the type of person who likes to find out secrets."
"I don't know if you sound like you're fond of him or not."
"I find him rather distasteful if you must know. He likes to find out things about people and holds onto that knowledge. He smirks at others because he knows the deep, dark things they hold in their souls, the things they think nobody else knows. He laughs at them from behind a smile; he prides himself on knowing. Just knowing. The only redeeming factors I can say he has is he doesn't blackmail people with the things he knows, he's diligent in his work, and that he's predictable. If only he could turn that burning need to know to something useful, like science, or history, and not people. But as it is, he's one of the best spies out there. That's why he works for three different, opposing agencies at the same time."
"So he'll be a nuisance, with only a few ways with which to be a real irritant, but ultimately not a danger." Kozo sounded doubtful about this analysis. "It seems to me we're dismissing him out of hand. He's like a bell on a cat's collar, made to warn of our approach."
"Once we have Adam, his major use to us is over. Afterwards, it'll only be a matter of time before we or SEELE kill him. His habit of not sharing what he knows will mean he'll get caught up in the enormity of the secrets we hold here. Once he delivers Adam, I'll give him enough of a hint to keep him too busy with finding out our deep, dark, soul-kept secrets to be a bell that rings. Eventually, either SEELE will kill him for not doing his job, or we will in retaliation for a rather obvious 'job' SEELE will have him pull. He doesn't know it yet, but he's a dead man once he gets here." Gendo paused to pour another cup of tea and silently offered his friend some. "At any rate, the only way I can see him being a real danger is if he does something to disrupt operations during an Angel attack."
Kozo sat in silence for a few minutes as Gendo drank his tea. "You know, the way you carry on sometimes I forget you're not actually clairvoyant."
"Clairvoyance would be a boon and a curse. Knowing too much can drive men mad. Look at the council. Mad with power, with the knowledge that there is a way to become a god. If they didn't know what they did, they would merely be corrupt men in places of power."
"But what of us? We know all that, and we know the true horror of what we're doing in order to stop it. Manipulating the entire lives of children, creating one from scratch, and ultimately planning on destroying their minds, bodies, and souls in order to save the rest of mankind, who won't even know what happened."
"They are our offering, our burnt sacrifice. As much as we might wish otherwise, that is the cost of mankind. SEELE's plans are too far along to disrupt with mere executions and assassinations now. Some of them won't be able to be gotten to anyway if we're right about who we think they are. I definitely know we can't get to Kiel right now, and as long as he's alive, so is SEELE. Removing them without triggering our own impact will only delay theirs."
Shaking his head sadly, Kozo stood. "Well, I, for one, will be trying to get some sleep tonight. I would suggest you do too, but I know that you won't."
Gendo looked up, a puzzled expression on his face. "What?"
Kozo smiled. "Gendo Ikari Fact Number 87- Gendo Ikari doesn't sleep- he waits."
Gendo was still laughing when Kozo left the office.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Shinji looked up at the apartment building. While this was in the direction of the school he had seen Ayanami walking to and from, and while the building number matched her ID, he had trouble accepting this was where she lived. This place is a dump! A real dump! It's worse than Miss Misato's place was! Are people even allowed to live here? He looked around for a 'Condemned' sign hanging up in front of the doors, but his search was in vain, for there was no such sign. Maybe father doesn't care as much about her as I thought... Wait a minute... was I going to be living here? I need to remember to thank Miss Misato later... His thoughts were derailed when a door on the ground floor slid open, and a man wearing the black suit and sunglasses of the now familiar Section 2 strolled out.
"Hey, kid, either you got business here, or you don't. So go on up and see your girlfriend, or scram, okay? We don't need people hanging around and gawking at the place, it's not that interesting." While his words were harsh, his tone was amused, taking some of the bite out of his scolding.
Shinji quickly nodded, managing not to stammer as he darted for the elevator.
"And don't bother with the elevators, they're broken!" The not-so-secret agent called after the fleeing teenager.
"Yes Sir!"
Laughing, the man walked back indoors, flipping his sunglasses up onto his head. Another three men were lounging in the room, one eating a pizza, the other sitting at mobile field MAGI terminal, monitoring the various security cameras showing the outside of the building and the other security stations. There was one in the basement, one on the roof, and one on the same floor as Rei's apartment. The last man had been waiting just inside the door, holding a slung MP5 in the unlikely event someone was going to be making a move on the building.
The man eating pizza looked up. "Was that Ikari's kid?"
"Yeah, Dr. Akagi said he was going to be coming over today with Ayanami's new security card."
"Why didn't they give it to one of us to hand off to her like normal?"
The man with the MP5 laughed. "Because someone high up wants the two to get together."
"Are you serious? The two of them? I mean, yeah it'd be convenient, but she's creepy, dude. And from what I hear, he's too shy to say boo to a mouse."
"That's not what I heard from Mobile 4's leader. The boy attacked the two interlopers from the last battle, despite getting the shit kicked out of him by the bigger kid the day prior and having been banged up in the actual fight. All over 'protecting' her, if you buy that."
"What? If she were in any danger, Mobile 4 would have moved in."
"The funny thing is, Mobile 4 and Mobile 10 did move in... to pull him off the other kid."
"Are you serious? He lets the guy beat him up, not a peep, but he attacks them over nothing, out of concern for her? Kid's a nutter."
The agent watching the displays chimed in, tossing a glance toward the others. "Why didn't Mobile 10 stop the first fight anyway? We all got told if anything happened to Ayanami, for every out-of-place hair on her head, we'd get a bone broken. We got told that by Ikari himself. Seems to me that Mobile 10 should all be sitting in full body traction right about now. Am I wrong, or am I right?"
The leader of Base 4 shrugged. "I gotta buddy in 6 Group, and he said they were told to let him deal with minimal stuff, like fist fights with other kids, on his own unless he called for help, or if it got out of hand. Otherwise, the same rules as us: minimal intrusion, low profile. Mobile 6 was moving in once it started to look ugly, but backed off once Ayanami defused the situation."
"Still... if we let someone break the girl's nose... heads would roll."
"Hey, nobody ever said that the boss's paternal instincts made any sense."
"Nobody ever said the boss made sense at all. Mobile 1 says sometimes he never leaves the office. At all. For days at a time."
"Yeah, at least we don't have to hang out near to Mausoleum. I mean, this detail gets boring, but hey, it's not 1 Group, right?"
The others could only agree. The men of 4 Group, while having a sort of attachment for the "creepy little girl", as they affectionately called her, could not deny that while not the cushiest of assignments, it was a lot better than being assigned to 1 Group, watching over the Supreme Commander. Of course, they all dreaded the day the girl would discover boys or girls and either got into a fight or was reduced to tears.
Because them busting in and breaking people in half wasn't going to help her out at all, and then they would have to face the music as to why the Commander's little girl was acting out again.
So hey, maybe if the two shy pilots of the massive death machines got together, things might not be so bad. It's not like they could go and beat the kids up, could they? They'd be completely blameless.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Even with the Section 2 man down on the ground floor, Shinji still was having a hard time accepting this place was Ayanami's home. The elevators were broken, there was trash in the stairwells and hallway, including used needles, and parts smelled like old urine. Not for the first time, he wondered about his father's sanity. He finally found room 402, which, while having a nameplate of Ayanami R., had a mail slot overflowing with correspondence marked as 'For Resident' and 'Akio Hideaki', whoever that was.
Deciding to trust the nameplate and the ID card, he worked up the courage to push the door buzzer, only to be rewarded with no response whatsoever, as it was broken. Sighing, he knocked on the door, calling her name, only to find the door swung open under his hand. Trying the door's lock, he found it was broken. Is this some sort of elaborate joke? Why do I get the feeling that someone is laughing at me?
Of course, at that moment, sixteen men were all laughing at him, watching him on the video feed as he looked in bewilderment at the open door and up and down the hall. When he finally gave in and walked in, closing the door behind him, the men of Base 4 all cheered.
Meanwhile, a man sitting in the passenger seat of an armored sedan grinned and lowered his binoculars. Turning to the driver, he punched him in the shoulder. "You owe drinks when we get off shift. He went in."
"Damn it."
Back inside the apartment, Shinji stared around, looking at the dust, grime, and dirt that covered almost every surface. Tip-toeing through the place, still calling out Ayanami's name, he was struck by the lack of items in the small apartment. It was almost as if no one lived there, and most of the evidence of habitation was trash. Food wrappers, pharmacy envelopes, discarded bandages were scattered about.
Bloody bandages... she's been out of them for a few days now! Why are they still here? Trash... and the floor... This place is horrible! How can she live like this? Shock turned to angry confusion, as he thought about the man downstairs. How can they let her live like this?
As he moved deeper into the main room of the apartment, his gaze was caught by a pair of broken glasses on the dresser. She doesn't wear glasses, does she? I've never seen her wear them for anything. He picked them up, inspecting the warped metal frames, and the lenses with spiderweb cracks. Just barely readable was G. Ikari imprinted on the inside of one arm. These are my father's?
Impulsively, he put the glasses on, as if to see the world as his father had.
Unknown to him, Rei had been standing behind him for almost a minute, in quiet shock.
IKARI! Why is he here? His body language is consistent with anger and disapproval. What is he upset about? After watching him tentatively rub his finger along the grimy surface of her kitchen counter, her eyes widened. Perhaps he does not approve of the state of cleanliness. Captain Katsuragi did mention he was somewhat of a 'neat freak'. Why do I feel... embarrassed? Why do I feel embarrassed about this? It's not as if the utility of the apartment is hindered by its current state. As he moved deeper into her home, she was struck with a new idea, and if the subject of her attention had happened to turn around, he would have seen something seldom seen... her smile.
Ducking back into the bathroom, she quietly shut the door, and stripped off her clothing, kicking it into a corner. Quietly, she filled an empty beaker with water from the sink and dumped it over her head. She hurriedly repeated this process twice more. I need to move before he leaves. This is perfect! A perfect opportunity for SCIENCE!
Grabbing her towel and slipping back into her slippers, she opened the bathroom door again, making sure to make more noise this time. Drying her hair with the towel, being sure to show off her body, and willing herself not to ruin it by blushing, she walked into the room that made up most of the apartment. She stopped as Shinji turned around, wearing the Commander's glasses and an expression of shock, horror, and embarrassment.
Shinji, faced with the nude and glistening form of the girl who had troubled his thoughts for weeks, could only stand there stuttering as he blushed. Wow! She's blue all over... oh god she's going to kill me!... why did they let me come up here oh god... oh god...
He's wearing the Commander's glasses! Those are MINE! They don't belong to him! He can't take those from me! Frowning, her other plans suddenly and momentarily forgotten, she dropped the towel and strode forth on the retreating boy, intent on reclaiming her property.
Unfortunately for Shinji, his escape route ended with the same dresser he had taken the glasses from. As she grabbed his shirt with one hand, the other going for the glasses, he reflexively took a step forward when his back hit the dresser. The strap of his bag caught on one of the open drawer's pull knobs, pulling him back as she pulled on him. This, when added to the fact that having an attractive naked girl pulling on him caused him to lose all motor control, made him slip and fall over. Knocking Rei over as he fell, grunting as the drawer pulled free out to fall on his head, spilling its contents over both teenagers who lay in a mass of tangled limbs on the floor in stunned silence.
The Commander's glasses were forgotten for the moment in her hand, and her thoughts ran wild despite her staying carefully still. He's touching me! Oh warmth and fuzziness abound indeed! It's as observed conversations suggested. He is very warm. He doesn't smell like smoke, however this is to be expected. I doubt he has been near any N2 munition detonations today. I would have noticed if one went off. How different would this be if he was also naked? Is he also filled with warmth and fuzziness?
Shinji's brain was currently trying to reboot itself, having gone into what Rei would call a 'Fatal Recursive Loop'. …Boob!... Hand!...Rei!...Naked!...OH GOD!...
After a minute of Shinji not taking advantage and doing anything but lie there with his hand on her breast, Rei began to grow frustrated. Why does he do nothing? If he likes this, if he feels as I do, why does he do nothing? And if he doesn't like it, why does he prolong contact? As her mind began to run through possible reasons for his stillness, her hand closed around the glasses, and her former irritation returned, and multiplied when added to the current unsatisfactory state of things.
"Will you get off?" She forced her voice to be curt and bored sounding.
As he sputtered, her voice jarring him back into reality, he got up, backing off. Getting to her feet, she dropped the glasses into her bag. Ignoring him as he tried to talk, she got dressed. He's not making any sense. Who sent him over here? What did they send him with? Why doesn't he like me? He said no one could hurt me! What is WRONG with him? Still ignoring the nonsense issuing forth from his mouth, she grabbed her bag and left, being sure to slam the door behind her.
A few seconds later, Shinji followed, still unsure as to what the hell just happened.
The men of Mobile 4 and Mobile 10, briefed by radio on Shinji's entrance into Rei's home, were trying to puzzle out what had transpired between the two pilots.
"I'm telling you, he asked her out, and she shot him down. That's why he's following behind her a few feet."
"No, man, if she shot him down, he'd be all weepy. If the girl you went all Conan the Barbarian over on a kid she knew who had beat you up before shot you down, you'd be a wreck."
"Then why aren't they sucking face then? Something had to have happened."
When the two eventually got to NERV Central's main entrance, Rei took out her card and ran it through the reader. Noting the error code on the display, she reversed the card, and ran it again, getting a message to reverse her card and try again. Reversing the card again, she got the error code again. Frowning, she began to inspect her card, when Shinji stepped up and ran another card, this time causing the door to open.
"I tried to explain earlier, but they issued you a new card and gave it to me to-"
Still not speaking to him, she snatched it from his hands, noting a small pleasure in the shock on his face as she moved away. Why do I gain pleasure from this? It is smaller than the pleasure when we touched. Are these things linked?
Shinji, following through the gate, caught up to her on the escalator. I've got to try and salvage this... but how? What can I talk to her about?
"So... um..." Oh god, I am such an idiot. "Your activation test is today." Moron.
"Yes." Why is he stating the obvious? He has been briefed on this as he will be on standby in the event of another episode.
"Aren't you scared?"
Why should I be scared? This is my purpose. Besides, I can always be replaced. "You're Commander Ikari's son, aren't you?"
"Umm.. yeah?" What does that mean?
Well, he claims to be his son, she thought, frustration still bubbling just below her cool exterior. "Don't you have faith in your father's work?"
Shinji recoiled, stunned. How can she ask that? Doesn't she know anything about what he's done to me? How he's treated me? "Of course not! How could I? He's no father to me!"
Rei, scowling, spun around, staring the younger Ikari in the face. Shinji, surprised at the unexpected intensity of her glare, only stood there as she raised her hand and smacked him across the face before spinning around and marching down the rest of the escalator.
Shinji only stood there in silent shock on his face, his hand going to where hers had connected with his face.
Bwah?
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Shinji sat in Unit-01, already connected and in sync with the mighty war machine, waiting for the test to get started. He was watching Rei as she moved about the open plug of Unit-00, making her final preparations. The Evangelion, responding to the nerve pulses between his brain and eyes focused in on the girl. He watched in growing envy and anger as he watched his father approach Rei on the catwalk, and begin talking to her as she skipped down and chatted with him, all smiles.
What the hell? Why does he talk to her and not to me? What's so special about her and not me? Shinji didn't notice the temperature in the LCL rising in tune with his mounting anger. He tried to listen in on their conversation but found that no matter how hard he tried, it was drowned out by the other noises inside the cages. Dejected, he slumped back into his seat in the Throne of the Soul. This is so unfair. I don't understand any of this.
His thoughts were interrupted by box that popped up, showing Lieutenant Ibuki. "Hi Shinji! Your sync score just dropped a little, is everything OK?"
Remembering Dr. Akagi's words about responding to questions, he forced his voice to remain level and calm. "Everything's fine. Just a little bored."
Maya winked at him. "The test will get started in a little bit, don't worry. If you want, I'll push some music into a secondary comm line for you. It'll be like your own private radio station. You like European Classical stuff, right?"
"You don't have to do that, Lieutenant!"
She winked again, grinning. "It's okay." Her box disappeared, but soon the sounds of Beethoven's 5th Symphony began piping into the Entry Plug.
Turning to the other techs, she pointed to Shinji's score. "Hey, Aoba, can you keep an eye on his score? It dropped five points all of a sudden a minute ago."
Aoba looked up, surprised. "Really? He's been really steady lately."
Maya shook her head. "I think Rei and him had an argument. I saw her slap him on the escalator from the main entrance down to level BB04."
"Really? That's odd. Never would have thought she'd slap anyone, let alone him."
"Yeah, so keep an eye on his score, OK? I'll be busy with Rei and Unit-00. I've got him listening to some of that music he likes, I guess you can leave it on during the test unless something happens."
"Sure thing."
The audio for the test was being broadcast to both Evangelion Units and the Control Room. Shinji listened in as Dr. Akagi's voice battled for supremacy over Beethoven.
"Initial connections made. No issues detected, all systems read normal. LCL is charged and ionized."
"Primary systems stand ready." Rei's voice was as calm and quiet as normal.
"Proceed." Gendo gave the order, sounding disinterested, barely audible over the audio pickups in the main command room.
"Lowing Plug depth. Secondary connections made. Pulses are flowing normally. Primary hookups are reading as green."
"We have green light from sectors four through nine. Tertiary connections complete."
"Lowering Plug to normal operational depth. Final connections made. We have green lights across the board. Synchronization is reading at 29%"
"Sir, Unit-00 is activated, with no issues. Shall we continue to primary tests?"
"Yes, you may-" Gendo's voice was cut off by an alarm klaxon. Suddenly, Beethoven disappeared.
"We have a Pattern Blue! Matsushiro confirms Pattern Blue! It's an Angel!"
"Will we use Unit-00?"
"No. Prepare Unit-01. Bring Unit-00 down to standby mode."
The general comm line was cut as the normal battle lines went active.
"Shinji, it's Aoba. There's been a Pattern Blue Confirmed, and-"
"Right. Send me up."
Aoba and the rest of the bridge bunnies blinked in unison.
"Right, you'll be going up out of Gate 43. It's an open street gate."
"Roger. Disconnect from the last restraints, and get a cord from Power Station 43b."
"Right again!" Aoba turned and nodded to Makato, who flipped open the control to launch the catapult. The bespectacled tech flashed a thumbs up to Misato, who shot a final glance to Commander Ikari, who merely nodded.
"Eva Launch!"
Maya's eyes widened as her displays showed something troubling. "There's a high-energy reading inside the Angel!" Shouting, she pulled up one of the camera feeds to display the Angel, a vast, shining blue diamond, whose shape shifted and distorted, crystalline planes warping and revolving impossibly around its center point, where a bright red sphere could be seen, glowing malevolently.
Misato screamed out to Unit-01 as it rocketed to the surface. "SHINJI! LOOK OUT!"
Shinji did not have time to react as the Evangelion cleared the surface, and his world turned to bright, blinding pink and then searing heat and pain. As he screamed in terrible, gut-wrenching agony into the audio pickups in the Entry Plug, Rei's eyes widened in fear and horror.
Underneath his gloves, Gendo Ikari frowned.