Creation began on 02-11-16
Creation ended on 04-10-16
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Potential Paradise: Mortal Torment
NERV had been reduced to a skeleton crew. With the majority of the Tokyo-3 population and the whole of Japan's population on the space station and those left either being those that were evaluated but didn't want to leave the planet…and those that were evaluated and deemed unfit to live on the station, the paramilitary agency had lost the bulk of its personnel.
"I'm starting to wonder why you didn't go up there, Kaji," went Misato, who suspected that her old flame had gotten an evaluation response from Shinji through his phone or tablet.
"That's a funny story," he responded to her. "I didn't check my phone or tablet for any messages."
"So then, you have no idea if you were eligible or not to go live up there. I checked my phone, and I could go up there if I chose to."
As they were up on the bridge in Central Dogma, their conversation wasn't much to gossip on, as there were very few personnel left.
"And yet, you're still here," Kaji told her. "Why is that?"
"There are still Angels out there."
"But there's hardly anyone left to protect. Tokyo-3 has been emptied of its good people and the people left operate the city's red-light district, and now they're thinking of leaving because there's no way for them to make their living, anymore. Unless NERV's protecting of mankind is just protecting the criminals and corrupt governments, then I wouldn't count of there being much acceptance from anyone when it comes to facing the Angels. Maybe relocating to the space station was the better choice. I mean, it is the lesser of two choices when it comes to those that view this as a war. You can either fight an enemy you barely understand…or you can get away and relocate to some place the enemy may be unable to go."
"But that's no different from admitting defeat, Kaji."
"Not many people see it that way. Look at the Earth today. Before the space station showed up and we discovered that it was part of an inheritance Shinji was to receive from a deceased relative, the planet isn't as it was over a decade ago. Most of the planet's underwater, and some of the landmasses left are either decimated or unlivable for people, and most of the necessary animal and plant species we need to survive are gone. It was bad enough before the Second Impact, but after it, things just got worse. Suddenly, a colossal space station made from a colossal planet not so different from Earth, except for being clean of any radiation poisoning and immense devastation."
"You make it sound as though living up there is the best way to get away from any thoughts of war and crime, you goof."
"Crime, war, plague, famine. If you live up there, the only thing you probably need to fear…is just dying from natural causes, such as old age. Who knows? Some people up there are probably getting married right now."
As the former couple from college continued to conversed, Ritsuko was trying to get the MAGI to work on trying to hack the supercomputers on the space station, but her attempts to get them to stop trying to hack one another was taking longer than expected. In addition, the faux-blond discovered that ships from the space station had departed third world areas with people less fortunate than those from developed areas with medical resources and were being relocated to the station. She couldn't believe how the Third Child was convincing himself that he was actually saving people, even if the place was larger than any other planet in the solar system.
There's no guarantee that the Angels won't attack that place if they want to, she thought.
-x-
It was the first time that Rei ever felt like she could do anything she wanted…but had no reason to do anything…besides soak in the water of her hot bath. The bathroom of Shinji's home was probably the size of her former residence (based on the fact that the tub itself was about the size of her bedroom), and adorned with marbled angels and a waterfall, filling the room up with steam. It was so peaceful, something that the albino girl didn't understand quite well because of her past as an Eva pilot. Ever since she could remember, it was always piloting the Eva and facing the Angels, but now she was somewhere the Angels weren't around…and there were no Evas needed to protect anyone from harm.
Ikari-Kun is helping the people, she thought, deciding to get out of the bath now. Here, there's no reason to fight. There's no need for the Evas. No need…for anything I ever knew.
Drying off and putting on a blue dress with a yellow ribbon (Shinji had been surprised when she found the dress at a clothing store close by in the urban area they lived in), the girl left the bathroom and found Shinji asleep at his ancestress' desk, a holographic projection of the space station near the Earth and moon; apparently, the boy was monitoring for any external assaults.
When she approached his desk, she found several folders on the large, touchscreen portion of it with several designations. One such folder read, "Guard Legion", while another read, "No Casualties".
Is he trying to find a way to ensure the people here aren't harmed? She wondered, but that meant that Commander Ikari…was deliberately, purposely, trying to cause his son trouble because he wouldn't transfer his inheritance over to NERV…and because he was deemed unfit to live on the space station. Commander Ikari should be informed…but I don't want to upset Ikari-Kun.
-x-
"…Ikari, this has gone too far," said SEELE 05 to Gendo in the next meeting with the council.
"With the majority of the planet's population having been relocated to the space station, all that's left are those with criminal records or people that were ordered not to relocate!" SEELE 11 added. "Even those from third world countries have been relocated, leaving those territories without a single person!"
"Word got out yesterday that even the President of the United States was evaluated to live on the space station," went SEELE 03, "and he packed the White House and left!"
"With the loss of the bulk of the population, we have lost the bulk of our manpower," SEELE 08 expressed, "and this is your fault, Ikari. Yours and the Third Child's!"
"This was an unexpected occurrence," Gendo responded.
"That's your excuse, Ikari," went SEELE 01. "The space station was said to not interfere with our scenario, which required the population to be sacrificed for the Instrumentality Project! With the loss of more than half the population, our scenario has become compromised! What of the Dummy System, Ikari? Has that been met with any progress?"
Gendo merely told the council that the Dummy System was still in development; he couldn't tell them that the system was at a standstill because the First Child had been relocated to the space station.
"Attempt a reasonable negotiation with the Third Child, Ikari," SEELE 01 ordered Gendo. "Either he relinquishes his space station and sends the people back to the planet…or we will take it from him through force, even if it means destroying it, regardless of its value."
Gendo obliged that he would do this.
-x-
Ring! Shinji awoke to the sounds of a phone ringing, and recalled that he still had his NERV-issued cell phone; why he chose to take it back with him, he was unsure.
"Ugh…who's calling me?" He wondered, taking out his phone and seeing that it was Misato. "Why'd she be calling at a time like this?"
He accepted the call and uttered, "Hello?"
"Shinji…" He heard Misato say, but was cut off by something.
"Listen to me, Third Child," he heard his father say over the phone. "This has gone far enough, what you're doing."
"Of all the people," he sighed. "What exactly is it that I'm doing? I'm not running drugs or weapons. I'm not pimping anyone. So what is it that I'm doing?"
"You've been relocating people off the planet without any authorization," Gendo told him. "These are serious offenses that add up to human trafficking."
"Human trafficking? I'm not profiting off bringing people to live up here. I haven't asked for any money from anyone that now resides here. How exactly is what I'm doing constitute as human trafficking? I don't put a price tag on anyone's lives."
"Enough with your childish antics. You are to relinquish your space station and return everyone to their countries immediately."
"I'm not holding anyone prisoner up here. They can return to Earth anytime they wish. They're good people. I'd be surprised if they chose not to return to Earth because of how nice it is here. There's no pollution, no crime, no war, no population problems. It's like, for the first time in a long time, the people can be happy. Why would I want to take this away from any of them?"
"You will do as you're ordered to, Third Child."
Shinji frowned at this form of disrespect to his sense of reason, and decided to say what had just come to mind.
"What should happen if I refuse to listen to you? I'm up here…and you're down there. Exactly what should happen if I refuse to listen to you?"
"If you refuse, then your space station will be taken by force, even if that means destroying it."
And here it was that he found another reason to not want to return to Earth. His own father, who wasn't even being a father, who probably didn't even know how to be one, was threatening him.
"Are you threatening me…Gendo?" He asked him, letting his tone show that he was not being social.
"I am warning you," Gendo told him. "Relinquish your space station to NERV, return those people to their countries…or there will be dire consequences. For you and them."
"Well, returning the people to their countries isn't up to me," Shinji sighed. "I mean, it is, but I'd rather hear from them if they want to return to Earth. A woman from one of the third world countries recently had a baby girl up here. Eh-heh-heh. She actually said something I didn't expect to hear at all. She called her daughter a Shinjian. I didn't understand what that meant until Kensuke told me. Shinjian means a person that lives up here on the space station. I'll spread the word that you threatened to cause problems for me if I didn't oblige, but whether they decide to return to Earth or not will be up to them. I won't force them to leave like how you forced me to pilot the Eva the day I met you after so many years of neglect."
He nearly hung up when Misato spoke up again.
"Shinji?" She asked him.
"Misato?" He responded.
"I am sorry about this?"
"Don't be. You didn't threaten me."
He then hung up, and put his head in his hands.
-x-
"Don't be," Shinji's voice was heard in other inhabited parts of the space station. "You didn't threaten me."
And the worst part of it all…was that the people living in homes and apartments had access to the phone call that had been recorded without Shinji's knowledge.
-x-
"…So your old man threatened you?" Toji asked Shinji the next day when he showed up at his apartment. "How bad is this?"
"If I don't send everyone back to Earth and hand my space station over to him, there would be dire consequences for everyone here. I told him that nobody's a prisoner up here and that they can leave if they want. So…I gotta ask you this, Toji. Do you and your family want to return to Earth? And I won't force you if you say 'no'. I offered you this opportunity to live up here, and I won't take it back from you, no matter what."
"No way, man," Toji answered him. "It's so great up here. And I never got to thank you for that medical bed that treated my sister better than the hospital did. She's able to run around with the other kids like she never got hurt. Thanks again, Shinji. You're a really nice guy."
"Yeah, I've brushed up about those cradles. They're centuries ahead of anything the Earth currently has. And they cure today's incurable illnesses, too. They're allover the space station, even in the hospitals if the ones at your homes are too far away. I've actually considered sending some to Earth for the purpose of eliminating diseases. I just don't believe my father would ever accept that anything I do is something I want to do with my life."
As they were on the patio of Toji's home, Toji's father stepped out of the apartment and revealed that he had overheard their conversation.
"Personally, Mr. Ikari, I think your father's a complete prick," he told them. "How you two are related, I may never want to know. But you're a good man. You give the people a choice. And…it's so quiet here. So peaceful and beautiful. Tokyo-3 might've paled in comparison, but why return to a place like that where there's…all these attacks from these creatures that the media refuses to talk about? Being up here allows my kids to have a better chance at a better life."
"Thank you, sir," Shinji responded.
"Also, it's pretty much because of you, my son here has finally manned up and spoken to that girl from his class."
"Huh? You mean, the Class Rep?"
-x-
It had been three days since the threat was made against Shinji, and so far there had been no change in the population loss the Earth had experienced. The people had yet to be returned.
And then Misato's phone rang and she answered it.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Misato, it's Shinji," Shinji had called. "I need to ask you something before I ask to speak with that man. It's a serious question."
"Go ahead and ask me."
"It sickens me a little, but do you and Asuka want to live up here? You don't have to decide right now, but at least think about it."
"I'll ask her about it when I see her. What is it that you're going to say to your father?"
"Nothing he's gonna like?"
"That serious?"
"More or less."
Misato, who was in the hall of NERV when her phone rang, walked over to Commander Ikari's office and handed him the phone so that he could converse with his son.
"Have you decided to surrender, Third Child?" He asked Shinji.
"The name is Shinji Ikari, Gendo," Shinji responded, "and the answer's that the people up here don't want to leave…and I won't force them to go back to Earth against their will, either. And I'm not going to hand over my inheritance to you or NERV. The people are happy, and I will not take their happiness from them. I'm happy, and I will not let you take my happiness from me."
"You imbecile! We have no time for your selfishness!"
"That's because you don't have a clue about how to find happiness. I bet you never once took a vacation where all you should do is relax and think about nothing. All you seem to think about is work, which I can understand to a degree, but someone who puts his work before his family, that's a disgrace and disappointment there. You say that people do nothing but hurt each other, but I've seen nobody up here try to hurt anyone else. Your belief is just that, it's your belief, and one I can't help but feel is because you're not a joyful person to be around. I actually did a background check on you yesterday…you give me a reason to be disgusted rather than disappointed with you. You were known for causing problems with others, and you push people away. That's depressing, even for you."
"Enough! You don't know what you're talking about! Now bring those people back down here or else!"
"I can't force them, and I won't force them. You want them to return, you have to speak with them yourself and explain why you want them to give up their happier lives. In the meantime, I have my priorities I must tend to. This might be the last time I ever speak with you. Good riddance."
Shinji hung up, and Gendo lost it.
"Aaaurgh!" He yelled out, throwing Misato's phone away.
She quickly grabbed her tossed phone and ran out of the office. Whatever Shinji had said to him was enough to enrage him.
-x-
Setting his phone down, Shinji couldn't believe that he had stood up to his father again. In front of him was Ayanami, who had heard the entire conversation at his request; he wanted to hear from her what her choice would be afterward because while everyone else gave their choice on not returning to the planet, he didn't have her choice yet.
"I am sorry, Ayanami," he apologized to her.
"Don't be," she responded. "You gave the people a choice…and they chose…just like I've chosen. Nobody wants to leave…and I don't want to be reduced to piloting the Eva again and nothing else."
Shinji gave her a slight smile. Now, he just wanted to protect the people without risking their safety.
-x-
"…So the baka told his father that he wouldn't send the people back here?" Asuka asked Misato. "Does he not realize that he's gonna get them killed?"
"The people up there don't want to return," Misato told her. "He's even offered us the opportunity to live up there. I don't know about you, but I'm considering relocating."
"You, too, Misato?! Geez, why not just raise the white flag and tell the Angels we're giving up? I'm not walking away from dealing with them."
Before Misato could say anything there being no shame in turning away from conflict, the alarms went off, indicating that an Angel was approaching.
Dammit, she thought.
"About time," went Asuka.
They parted ways as the girl went to change into her plugsuit and get to Unit-02.
-x-
The holographic representation of the new Angel approaching Tokyo-3 didn't ease Shinji's spirits. While the majority of the planet's population had been relocated to the station, there were still some people that had been evaluated and were deemed fit to be relocated still on the planet.
"Asuka's not going to be able to beat this Angel," he thought, able to get an idea on how powerful this new Angel was.
It was bigger than an Eva, but not as big as the last Angel, roughly humanoid, with what looked rolled-up toilet paper for arms. Its core was exposed right on its front, but the holographics showed that its core's external form was protected by a membrane that could protect from extreme trauma. And he was certain that like some of the previous Angels, this one was capable of energy projection.
"Ikari-Kun," went Ayanami to him, reminding him that sh was in the room with him, "should we return and pilot the Eva?"
Shinji quickly regained his composure and responded, "No, Ayanami. I'll go back. I'll… It's gotta be me that goes back."
Beep! A message popped up on the desk, and the two noticed it was addressed to Shinji…from Senkensha Ikari.
"What?" Shinji questioned, seeing this as impossible.
He tapped on the message icon and it opened up into a voice message.
"There is a way for you to face the threat without feeling any pain, Shinji," the voice, exactly like that of Shinji's ancestress', spoke. "It's in the center of the space station, its core. Do what you have to do."
Along with the voice message was the exact location of what was supposed to be a way to deal with the Angel without feeling any pain.
He went with Rei down to the living room and put in the address of where he wanted to go on his space station and stood in the circle.
"Care to come with me, Ayanami?" He offered her.
"Yes," she answered him, and stepped into the circle beside him.
They were teleported to where they were looking to go, and found themselves in a part of the station that was more like an expansive, industrial warehouse, only cleaner and decorated with small trees and shrubs, as if to give the place a sense of harmony between the technological and the organic.
"Wow," Shinji expressed.
"It does look more welcoming than NERV does, doesn't it?" They heard a female voice, and Shinji recognized it from earlier.
Turning around, the two saw a woman that Shinji recognized as Senkensha, dressed in a green yukata.
"Are you…Senkensha Ikari?" He asked her.
"I am…and am not," she responded. "I'm a digital representation of your ancestress, right down to her emotions and final moments of life. You would refer to me as an AI or artificial intelligence, but derived from an actual person, not a computer program. Another way of describing me would be to say that I'm a series of DNA computers, a bit more superior to the MAGI supercomputers you've seen."
Shinji slowly raised his left hand up, bringing it to Senkensha…and feeling as though he were touching a person that simply wasn't supposed to be there, but was in a strange way.
"Advanced holographics," she told him, raising her right hand up to grasp his. "It was still in development at the time this space station was being built out of a salvaged planet, but the scientists managed to get their prototype holograms to include mass."
"Interactive holograms."
"That's right."
It felt like he was touching another person, but they were less than solid. Like water or silk, something that was tangible, but not like a person.
"This way," she told them, and led them down the large hall. "There are some things you need to know about that need to be resolved."
To be continued…
A/N: If you were given a choice to relinquish a life that gave you peace and happiness and return to a joyless existence, which would you choose?
But the Angel wasn't affected by the pallets or even the rockets fired at it.