Neon Genesis Evangelion
EVA-R Prime Extension
(c) Alex Voutsis
Writer's Notes:
Credit where credit is due to Gainax, etc etc. Evangelion is someone else's property, etc.
Additional Credits to the creators of EVA-R Illustrated Fan Fiction. Find it at http://www.eva-r.com - it is an absolutely brilliant fan fic and essential reading to understand this story. You should have read EVA-R up to episode 53 PRIME before reading this fan fiction.
The other fan fictions that are a part of this storyline are
Light of the Soul/Contact
Light of the Heart/At Last, a Reason
The Runaway
Stand By Me
Another's Touch
Thanks for Caring
House of Cards
In the Shadows
A Wish for Dreamless Sleep
Pandora's Box
Progeny / Second Child
Homeostasis/Transistasis
Faces in the Crowd
Meaningful Gestures
Best Foot Forward
No Answers / I want You to Stay
This fan-fiction is intended to continue the story begun in the above episodes.
Killing Time
The events in this story follow on directly from No Answers / I want You to Stay.
(The feeling is strange, cold, slow, exposing him. It is as if he were lying in bed while his sheets were slowly pulled away.
She is reaching for him, her mind searching, trying to find something to hold onto. It presses against him, carressing, touching without any real purpose - touch for the sake of touching.
Tenkei is terrified. He doesn't know what she's going to do.
The urge to pull away is almost too much. He needs to act, he needs to defend himself, he has to stop the intrusion. She's too close, too dangerous, too likely to hurt him.
And then he hears her voice.)
Rei: Please.
(And he remembers everything that has led to this point, everything that has brought him here, less than a kilometre from where she is.
He exhales, slumping in the back seat of the car, his eyes closed. The action draws neither Seyoko or Benedict's attention - they continue watching the road, unaware of the contact taking place between Tenkei and the object of his search. They cannot feel her presence here.
The sensations of the car's interior - the feel of the upholstry, the sound of the airconditioning, the constant distant rush of the motor and the tires and the road merging into a single sound that is felt as much as heard - fades gradually as Tenkei's mind goes numb to it. The distant touch is all that concerns him.
He lets go. He lets her take control of the contact. Like water flowing around a rock she embraces him, her presence surrounding him, holding him closely.
Abruptly Tenkei is aware of new sensations. A mattress, shifting under him as the girl shifts her weight to give him room to lie beside him. Bedsheets over him, blanketing him completely, covering even his head. Her arms around him, her body curling as she embraces him.
He can feel her naked skin against his. Her breathing is soft against the top of his head. Her hands meet over his chest, shifting slightly, finding a comfortable place to rest, and then she is motionless.
They remain like this for a moment. With his head covered by the blanket Tenkei cannot see the rest of the room. He can feel the slight shift of the girl's body as she breathes, ever so slightly increasing the pressure on his back as she inhales, and easing as she exhales.)
Tenkei: Why are you doing this?
Rei: ..
Tenkei: ..
Rei: ..
Tenkei: Do you know?
(This is not the Rei Ayanami of Tokyo-3. No - Tenkei corrects himself. This is not Rei Ayanami at all. This is someone else.)
Rei: There is no reason.
Tenkei: Then why are you doing this?
Rei: This is what we do.
(This is someone who knows Tenkei and Rei intimately. Someone who has seen their lives from the inside, a moment of psychic contact burning it into her consciousness. In that moment their lives had crossed over to the other. She knows so much - and understands so little.)
Tenkei: But why do we do this?
Rei: We just do.
Tenkei: That's wrong.
(It is all she has, all she knows, all she has experienced. It is all she has to hold on to.
Her grip on him tightens.)
Rei: It's not. This is what we do.
Tenkei: But you must know why.
Rei: ..
Tenkei: ..
Rei: ..
Tenkei: What do you feel?
Rei: ..
Tenkei: How do you feel?
Rei: I am content.
Tenkei: No. You should be happy.
Rei: Then I am happy.
Tenkei: But you're lying.
Rei: But if this is happiness?
Tenkei: ..
Rei: Then holding you is happiness.
Tenkei: Only if it makes you happy.
Rei: ..
Tenkei: But you know it doesn't. Because you aren't Rei Ayanami.
Rei: I am.
Tenkei: You are not.
I am.
(And she is gone. The contact is cut off abruptly, sending Tenkei jarring back in his seat in the car.
This time the adults in the front notice.)
Seyoko: Tenkei?
Tenkei: ..
Seyoko: Are you okay?
Tenkei: ..Yes. I just..
Seyoko: ..
Tenkei: ..Fell asleep.
--------------------------------------------------
(The sounds of the street carry upwards to the balcony. There isn't much at this hour; early morning. Dim skies. The sun is still hidden. The occassional car swooshes down a distant street.)
Lyn: ..
(At times it feels as if the apartment is always empty. Although small by the standards he knew back in Europe, the flat he shares - or used to share - with Seyoko Okazaki seems too big, too vacant. Someone else is meant to be there.)
Lyn: (thinking) She's spent too much time away.. I just want her to come back here for a while.
Lyn: (thinking) I want it to be like how it was before - when she was a part of this place.
(Lyn quietly wonders, in the fashion of boyfriends, if it's alright for him to miss a girl other than the one he's going out with.
The sound of a balcony door sliding open is a loud grind in the quiet morning air. The sound comes from below him. Lyn leans slightly over the edge, trying to catch a glimpse of the apartment below.)
Lyn: (quietly) Shinji?
Lyn: Hello?
Lyn: Is anyone down there? Door open? Hi?
(A quiet, serious discussion with another guy about his minor dillemna would be good. It isn't what he gets.)
Asuka: What?
Lyn: Oh.
Asuka: What?
Lyn: Nothing.
Asuka: A nothing, huh? I'm hearing that a lot these days.
Lyn: Yeah, nothing. Don't worry about it.
Asuka: Oh. (knowingly) This is a guy thing.
Lyn: No.
Asuka: So it's about girls then.
Lyn: No! Geez. I said don't worry about it.
Asuka: Well, it's not like I'm holding you here, forcing you to talk. Walk away if you want to.
(The Sixth Child moves to change the topic.)
Lyn: How's Shinji?
Asuka: Why do you want to know?
(Anouilh feels a surge of irrational anger at the girl's response. He holds himself back from answering immediately, pulling together a more or less sane answer.)
Lyn: He's a nice guy and I care.
(This silences Asuka.)
Lyn: Hey?
Lyn: Are you still down there?
Asuka: Yeah, I'm here. And Shinji seems okay.
Lyn: ..
Asuka: 'Course, it's not like he cries into my shoulder every time he feels down.. so I guess what I just told you is pretty worthless.
Lyn: But you two are.. close, right?
Asuka: Huh? Us? Close?
Lyn: Asuka.. we all saw you and Shinji at the party.
Asuka: Oh. Yeah. That kind of thing sneaks up on you, doesn't it?
Lyn: I wouldn't know. I wasn't kissing Shinji.
Asuka: Huh. Well, what do you want me to say? That we're boyfriend and girlfriend?
Lyn: ..Are you?
Asuka: Why do you want to know?
Lyn: No reason. I just..
Asuka: What? (humor) This isn't some weird crush thing you've kept hidden is it?
Lyn: No. (pause) God no.
Asuka: Hmmph. (idle tone) Now you're gone and hurt my feelings. I don't know if I can answer anything for you.
Lyn: Why is Shinji doing this?
Asuka: ..
Lyn: ..
Asuka: What do you mean?
Lyn: This whole mission thing. It doesn't seem like him.
Asuka: You've been told?
Lyn: Sort of. Apparently I'm going to be on standby in case of a counter-offensive.
Asuka: Huh.
Lyn: But what about Shinji? I mean, is he trying to prove something? Is it because of what happened to the Commander? I've only heard rumors - stuff like he hasn't come out of his room in weeks. Some people say he isn't in Tokyo-3 anymore.
Asuka: It's nothing to do with him. Or maybe it is. I don't know.
(The girl a story down gives a little groan.)
Asuka: The idiot probably decided "Hey, I'm going to turn into someone else!" Or something like that. Snap bang, no more Shinji, only this jerk.
Lyn: ..
Asuka: Well okay, that's not really true. But it's annoying.
Lyn: Why? Is he acting strangely?
Asuka: No.
Lyn: Is he keeping to himself? Is he talking about it?
Asuka: No.
Lyn: If he's no different, why is he annoying?
Asuka: He's not! It just.. seemed like the thing to say.
Lyn: ..
Asuka: Shinji's annoying. You know.
Lyn: ..
Asuka: ..
Lyn: G'night Asuka.
(He briefly glances up at the gradually brightening sky.)
Lyn: Good morning, I mean.
--------------------------------------------------
(Later that morning.
He presses down on the button built into the wrist of the plugsuit. The material contracts around his body with a hiss.)
Kensuke: That was so cool.
(He quickly checks the small manual he had been given to see if there's a way to unseal and reseal it.)
Kensuke: That would be really cool.
(If there is one, he doesn't find it. But there are many other cool things about the plugsuit to keep Kensuke Aida occupied.
He and a number of other teenagers - all boys and all from his class at school - are in the male locker room in the Geo-Front. This is the chamber for pilots to prepare, and it is seeing more duty today that in any day in its short history. The lockers are fitted with numbers or letters; the numbers are for pilots, 3 and 6, while the letters are for trainees.
Kensuke shut his eyes in pure excitement and struggled to control the urge to scream.)
Kensuke: (thinking) I'm going to train for the Evangelions!!
(He knows he has to control himself.)
Kensuke: (thinking) I've got to control myself.
(See?)
Kensuke: (thinking) I can't afford to blow it. I've got to pay attention, obey all instructions, and not screw anything up.
Kensuke: (thinking) I hope I don't screw up..
--------------------------------------------------
Asuka: Is it wrong for me to hope he screws up?
Misato: (disapprovingly) Asuka..
Asuka: What?
Shinji: Let's just see how he does. He could turn out to be a really great Eva pilot.
Asuka: Or he could turn out to be a huge pain in the you-know-what. (inventively) A huge-er pain, I mean.
(The Second Child gestures at the screen, where Aida, among other hopefulls, wait in an adjacent chamber for their synch tests.)
Asuka: He's almost glowing with that icky enthusiasm of his.
Shinji: He has always wanted to do something like this. If you walked in there Misato, he'd probably salute.
Misato: Knowing kids, he'll probably grow out of it. Once he realizes that this isn't one of his robot animes, he'll calm down a bit.
Asuka: I know, I know. I've seen it happen. He becomes gradually more surly and disillusioned, doubts himself and his skills, loses all ability to communicate with others, and spends an abnormal amount of time listening to his headphones. Right Shinji?
Shinji: ..
Misato: Actually, I haven't seen you with your 'phones recently.
Shinji: One of the plugs isn't working right. I'm going to have to get a replacement set. (peers at screen) Is Touji or Goro in there?
Misato: Not today. I'm not sure exactly when.. (to Maya) When are Suzahara and Tezuka scheduled?
(The young woman checks her ever present folder, leafing through half-a-dozen sheets before finding what she is looking for. Katsuragi secretly wonders how she can keep it in order. The Major herself can barely keep two pieces of paper stapled together for more than a day, but Maya seems to glide effortlessly through reports and schedules and data, paper that entire forests were probably felled for. Misato briefly imagines a secret chamber in the bowels of Terminal Dogma, where Maya Ibuki keeps all her old reports and papers in endless rows of unmarked filing cabinets, among secret government reports and Evangelion embryos suspended in vials of LCL..
Or just keeps computer backups and shreds everything else.)
Maya: The day after tomorrow for Tezuka. For the Fourth Child I wanted to set up a smaller private session, for obvious reasons, probably early next week.
Shinji: I'd like to come in that day. He might need a hand, and I'd like to be there to give it.
Misato: We'll see if anything comes up before then.
(Shinji and Asuka both know what she means.
Shinji might be gone by then. The attack is looming, coming closer and closer. Not knowing the exact time or date or even location seems to add a more urgent sense of worry. Almost fear.)
Shinji: Well, I suppose we will..
Asuka: Besides, I've got no plans. I could probably help him out.
Shinji: (looking at her)
--------------------------------------------------
(Not required for today's exercises, the Sixth Child is having lunch with a special someone.
Aoi leans forward over her plate, taking a small bite of her pastry. The holidays are nearly over, and once school resumes Tamashii and Anouilh will have few opportunities like this.)
Aoi: Tell me..
(Lyn draws his attention back from his cup of tea.)
Aoi: Would you rather be going, instead of Shinji?
(Lyn mentioned it a moment before, but Aoi had already known. He didn't really want to know how.)
Lyn: I don't know.
Aoi: Just a little? Testosterone bubbling up? Me big strong, me beat you up?
Lyn: Maybe if I were going. (sips tea) But since I'm not.. I really don't know how I'd be coping unless I was in that situation.
Aoi: Disgustingly easy answer.
(Aoi picks up her pastry again, taking another small bite and setting it back down on its plate very carefully, keeping any crumbs or flakes or grains of sugar off the tablecloth.)
Lyn: We don't even know what he'll be facing. It could be anything.
Aoi: Oh, I can't agree with that. We have an idea of what he'll be facing.
Lyn: What?
Aoi: The kind of people SEELE end up making. Everything they touch, it seems, ends up becoming like them. Ikari - I mean Shinji's dad - ended up that way, not able to trust. I guess you could say he and Shinji are alike - they don't want to take the risk of someone saying no. They just deal with it in different ways. Shinji backs off from danger - or at least he used to, but then Asuka got under his skin. But his dad, well.. now that's someone complicated.
Lyn: ..
Aoi: (looks down) Of course, you wouldn't know anything about that..
Lyn: ..
Aoi: (quietly) I nearly became like that too. I was afraid of trusting you.
Lyn: ..
Aoi: But that's what they do, they turn people into people like them. They can't trust anyone - they probably don't trust each other. Certainly SEELE and these people they're playing with now have probably already tried to backstab each other a couple of times. If we're lucky, one of them will end up killing the other one off, and that's half our problem gone.
Lyn: So they're paranoid. But that doesn't help Shinji.
Aoi: Actually, it does.
(Aoi Tamashii grins quickly, her teeth small and white, her smile playful.)
Aoi: Would you allow me to demonstrate?
Lyn: (pauses) Okay.
Aoi: (smiling) Close your eyes.
(Kissing words. The Sixth Child closes his eyes, a faint smile on his face. But just as he obeys, the girl adds another command.)
Aoi: And move your seat back a little.
(His smile fades a little.)
Lyn: (opening eyes) What?
Aoi: Shift your seat back. You know, shuffle back.
(He does so.)
Aoi: (looking) A little farther.
(He does so again.)
Aoi: That's great, perfect. Now, (leaning forwards) Close your eyes.
Lyn: (closing eyes)
Aoi: And one more thing.
Lyn: (opening eyes) What now?
Aoi: Give me that cup of tea.
Lyn: What?
Aoi: The tea, that piping hot cup of scalding tea. Give it to me.
Lyn: Uh..
Aoi: And when you close your eyes, keep your hands out of your lap.
Lyn: (now alarmed) What?
Aoi: It's like this. You give me the scaldingly hot cup of tea, you keep your lap unprotected, and then you close your eyes so you can't see what I'm about to do.
Lyn: (staring)
Aoi: Come on Lyn, don't you trust me?
Lyn: Well.. with the eyes closed, yes. With the seat back, yes. But the tea is pushing it.
Aoi: So are you going to let me or not?
(Lyn Anouilh looked in Aoi's eyes, his expression a little alarmed, but with a faint resignation.)
Lyn: (sighs) Okay.
(Anouilh hands over the cup of tea and closes his eyes.
Aoi seems to take a moment considering what to do - the boy's expression, the hot cup of tea in her hands, the enormous possibilities of causing discomfort and embarrassment in a public place.
Then Aoi leans forwards and kisses Lyn on the lips.
Ten seconds later, Lyn is breathing again.)
Lyn: (opening eyes) Woah.
Aoi: (sitting back down) See? Oh, here's your tea.
Lyn: (confused and dazed) Yeah. Um. Well. What was that for?
Aoi: (smiling) For trusting me.
Lyn: Oh.
Aoi: (smile fades) These people we're fighting, SEELE? They can't trust. They can't put themselves into someone else's hands.
Lyn: ..
Aoi: They can't trust others to be kind or just or compassionate or fair. And so they miss out on something.
Lyn: They don't get kissed by pretty girls?
Aoi: They just don't get people like Shinji. Or like you, or Asuka, or Rei, or even me. They would never trust a person with an Evangelion, with that much power - not unless they had some sort of backup or contingency.
Lyn: NERV uses contingencies all the time -
Aoi: (interrupts) Please. Explosives in the entry plug, yeah. You're talking about the sword of Damoclese, hanging over your head. I'm talking about one that's already dropped. I'm talking about..
(The girl trails off, trying to find the words.)
Aoi: Imagine.. cutting something out of someone, so that they couldn't argue with you. So they couldn't disobey you. That's what I'm talking about. Well not really, they wouldn't use people in the first place. They'd use a machine, a computer, something that had to obey.
Lyn: (standing) Aoi, I'm not understanding what this has to do with Shinji.
Aoi: Where are you going?
Lyn: I'm going to get one of those pastries. (quietly) It tasted really nice..
(Aoi flashes him a smile. She is briefly annoyed that he doesn't seem willing to listen to her - yet. But it isn't important. Shinji is the one who needs to know right now.
But in a way, she muses, he already does.)
--------------------------------------------------
Kensuke: (stunned) It was all a big con, wasn't it?
(Aida had spent twenty minutes in a test plug. He hadn't come within half a mile of an Evangelion, let alone piloted one. Or even seen one.)
Shinji: That's how most of this goes, Kensuke. It's not all running around in Evas stomping on things, shooting at other things, blowing stuff up.. not at all. Hardly ever, actually.
(Kensuke's expression grows more despairing with every word the Third Child utters.)
Shinji: For the most part, it's just like what you just did - exercises. Exercises, exercises, and more exercises. And tests. Lots of tests. And screening, decontamination. When you do get into the Evas, you usually have to do exactly what Misato tells you, and if you put a foot wrong you get an earful.
(Shinji doesn't look, but quietly predicts that Asuka is wearing an evil smirk.)
Shinji: There are times when you get to go about, do what you want to do, but that's usually in battle when everyone's orders are getting mixed up, and you don't have any fun. For obvious reasons.
Kensuke: Geez..
Asuka: (suddenly) Shinji's exaggerating. It's not all that bad.
Shinji: (surprised) ..
Asuka: Remember the gainload tests, Shinji? You and I raced around the Geo-Front. You can't tell me that wasn't fun.
Shinji: Well.. I suppose, yeah, it was fun.
Asuka: And there's plenty of other things pilots have to do, like..
(Shinji almost hears the bell in Asuka's head ring.)
Asuka: Like firearm training.
Kensuke: Firearm training? Guns? Weapons?
Asuka: (deliberately offhand) Of course. Each entry plug is equipped with an emergency survival kit and rifle, in case of emergencies. And pilots have to be thoroughly trained. At NERV's expense, of course. There's a rifle range and stuff for security personnel. I'm sure you'll be given clearance to access it once you reach that point in your training..
Kensuke: (speechless)
(Shinji knows that this is a half-truth. Asuka is saying it in a way that he's never heard - but exactly the way that Aida needs to hear. But he never expected it from Asuka.
The news revives Kensuke Aida. Reborn, he takes the lead as the three head for the elevator.)
Kensuke: Coming up?
Shinji: Uh, no, we've got some other things to do before we're done.
Kensuke: Sure, Shinji. Bye. Bye Asuka.
(The elevator doors close, leaving Shinji alone with Asuka and a suddenly horrible feeling in his stomach.)
Shinji: You were.. being nice to him.
Asuka: You're exaggerating again Shinji. (nose up) I was merely being informative. It's my duty to a fellow pilot.
Shinji: But - you knew! You know how he is about stuff like that! And you told him!
Asuka: And?
Shinji: ..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: ..
Asuka: You surprise me Shinji. He's your friend. You're the one who should have been concerned about his happiness. Why didn't you tell him?
Shinji: I didn't think of it!
Asuka: Well it's a good thing one of us did. That is to say, me.
(Shinji turns to Asuka and manages - after some effort - to get her to meet his eyes. The girl's slightly-aloof stance softens slightly; her expression reveals that she knows what he is going to say next.)
Shinji: Asuka, I'm being serious. Why were you suddenly being nice to him?
Asuka: Because you were depressing me. I mean, what you're saying is true, and has been true, and will be true, and it makes me sick.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: Made me sick. (quietly) Kensuke's not the only one who dreamed of glory when he was a kid.
Shinji: Oh.
Asuka: Yeah, oh. I felt sorry for him, okay? If the satisfaction he gets from shooting a bunch of stupid metal things through stupid paper things will make this easier for him, then why can't it?
Shinji: ..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: That's.. nice of you.
Asuka: I know. It's sickening. I'm talking to Rei more and more now.
Shinji: (blinks) Is that.. a problem?
Asuka: No, but trying to do it without falling into that sombre silence of hers, or developing that look of worship you have when it comes to her, is. Don't look at me like that, I've seen you.
Shinji: (blank)
Asuka: ..
Shinji: Asuka.. do you want to be friends with Rei?
Asuka: ..
Shinji: ..
Asuka: It's not.. it's weird.
Shinji: .
Asuka: I want to see what you see. I want to see her the way you do.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: You're jealous?
Asuka: Insanely.
Shinji: Well, you really shouldn't be. I mean..
Asuka: Why can't I be?
Shinji: Because you're nothing alike.
Asuka: Neither are we, Shinji.
Shinji: ..
--------------------------------------------------
(Benedict carries the luggage. Seyoko carries Tenkei.)
Tenkei: (eyes closed)
(The man sets down a suitcase to free up one hand, trying to work the key into the lock. Tokyo-3 may be a "modern" city of keycards and electronic identities, but most of the world still depends on the old lock and key. Seyoko turns, looking up and down the line of motel rooms. A few doorknobs have signs reading "Do Not Disturb" or "Ready for Cleaning" hanging from them.
Okazaki remembers the little diner they had passed on the way here, loaded with armed agents. She can only guess that this motel has at least a couple of permanent residents who are working for the enemy.
After setting down the luggage, Benedict takes a casual stroll through the motel, checking out all the rooms as he loosens his tie. He checks his face in the bathroom, rubbing a streak off the mirror. He looks over the cheap paintings on the walls, at the old TV set, at the air vents and at the bookcase of old, ratty-covered novels that are nearly stuck together with the glue of time.
Okazaki and Benedict don't discuss exactly how bugged their room is. They have to wait until they are well outside before that.
Meanwhile, Seyoko carefully lowers Tenkei onto the bed. It's more than warm enough so that he doesn't need blankets. Okazaki settles the boy down, watching his fluttering eyelids.)
--------------------------------------------------
(The man places the objects on the table. A cube. A pyramid. A rectangular prism. A ball - it tries to roll away and he pulls it back into place. Also on the table is a small clock, two glasses and a jug of water.
The girl doesn't even look at them.
With all the objects out, the man - a psychiatrist - brings several large cards out of his folder. On each is a picture of an object - a cube, a pyramid, a rectagular prism, a ball..)
Psychiatrist: This is simple enough.
(He holds up a card, showing it to the girl sitting opposite from him.)
Psychiatrist: Which is it?
Rei: ..
(No response.
The man points at the image on the card - a ball - and then waves his hand over the assembled objects on the table. The girl's crimson eyes follow the movement, but she herself remains motionless.)
Psychiatrist: It's easy. Here.
(He picks up the ball and holds it beside the card, showing both to the silent Ayanami. Then he sets them down again, retrieving another card. He holds it up.
Still the girl shows no sign of recognition.)
Psychiatrist: (shrugs) Okay..
(He takes the jug of water and fills the glasses. He sips from his. Opposite him, the girl lifts hers and empties it. The psychiatrist takes up the jug and refills Ayanami's glass, watching the pale girl with his head tilted at a slight angle.
Rei takes up the water and again downs the entire glass. And once again the psychiatrist refills it, watching with that same curious expression.)
Psychiatrist: ..
Rei: ..
(The girl's crimson eyes fall on the full glass, then lift to take in the man's expression.
Ayanami takes the water and pours its contents out onto the floor. She then places the glass in front of the slightly surprised psychiatrist and waits, her head tilted at an angle.
There is not even a twitch of a smile on her lips. She just watches, waiting to see if he will fill the glass again.
The psychiatrist stands, heading for the door.)
Rei: ..
(Outside, watching the girl through a two-way mirror, are the Suit and the Officer. Inside Rei's eyes flicker.)
Psychiatrist: She has object recognition skills, obviously. She sat down in her chair, she drank the water. She must have dressed herself this morning. But she has no reason to participate in the test. It doesn't work unless she wants to take part.
Suit: Looked like she was testing you. Now she knows what happens when she steps outside the rules.
Psychiatrist. Or she's just being resistant.
Officer: Then what do you suggest?
Psychiatrist: I don't think you dragged me down here just to see how she interacts with cubes and balls and glasses of water, right?
Suit: No.
Psychiatrist: There are a number of medications that can lower inhibitions, but I'd need full access to her medical records before I can recommend anything.
Suit:
Thank you doctor, we'll schedule you for another set of tests soon.
--------------------------------------------------
(She can feel them, watching through the mirror. She can feel their curiosity, not nearly as strong as it used to be. She is no longer as confusing, as alarming as she had once been to them. They have other concerns.
For now the psychiatrist seems to have given up. So she sits at the table.
Finally she lets her eyes drift over to the space beside her, where he is standing, waiting.)
Rei: (softly) Are.. you real?
Tenkei: Yes.
(She almost can't see him. But at the same time she almost can. Her eyes cannot pick up his features, his clothes, his face. But when she looks away, turning her crimson eyes to the objects on the table, all her other senses know that he is there. Her skin tingles at his presence. She can almost hear his breathing, the occassional shuffling of his feet. She can smell him, smell the simple shampoo that she - the other - had bought after Tenkei moved into her home. She almost never used it herself, but Tenkei did.
She knows there is a difference. Somehow, even though she knows all these things about Rei Ayanami, she is not her. He told her that. It was.. hurtful at first.)
Rei: Can they see you?
Tenkei: No.
(They are not speaking aloud. They direct their thoughts to one another. Ayanami keeps her face calm, her posture frozen with her hands on her lap. A mad urge tries to make her reach out and touch the boy, but the fear of her hands finding nothing to feel holds her back. As long as she doesn't try to reach him, he might be there.)
Tenkei: You can be different from her. You don't have to be the same.
Rei: I like you.
Tenkei: ..
Rei: ..
Tenkei: Why?
Rei: I think you're trying to help me. I don't know if they are.
(She feels more than sees the smile on his face.)
Tenkei: You are different. She'd never say that.
--------------------------------------------------
Misato: (softly) Shinji?
(She's shaking him awake. She's never done that before.)
Shinji: (sleepy) Huh?
Misato: (softly) Shinji, wake up.
Shinji: Misato, what are you (yawns) doing here?
Misato: Today's the day.
(Suddenly the Third Child is completely awake.)
Shinji: Today?
Misato: Yeah. We'll be heading in, give you the briefing. Unit 01 will launch shortly afterwards.
Shinji: When do we go?
Misato: I have to go in now, but you've got another hour. You can catch a bus?
Shinji: (rubbing face) Yeah.
(He takes a minute to rise and dress - after all, Asuka probably wouldn't appreciate him going into her room in his underwear.
But when he opens her door, he is met by silence.)
Shinji: Asuka?
(She isn't there.)
--------------------------------------------------
Asuka: Hi.
Rei: ..?
(From Asuka's perspective, Ayanami has a good morning look. She looks just as scruffy upon waking up as she does for the rest of the day.)
Asuka: Good morning.
Rei: Sohryu?
Asuka: You're probably wondering why I'm here.
Rei: ..
Asuka: Maybe you're not.
Rei: Why are you here?
Asuka: I wanted to talk to you about boy problems. I know that sounds weird, but I think you'll understand. (quietly) Now, anyway. (louder) Tenkei and Shinji. You know, similar problems?
Rei: Oh.
Asuka: Yeah.
Rei: ..
Asuka: So..
Rei: ..
Asuka: Can I come in, or should we have this conversation through the doorway?
(Ayanami steps back and allows Sohryu through the door.
There is a small table and chairs in her apartment - yet another new addition to her home, along with every other touch she had added since Tenkei's arrival. The two girls sit.)
Asuka: Okay. If you're just going to humor me, then just tell me now and I'll leave, okay? 'Cause I don't want to sit here and pour my heart out for half an hour only to hear you say "That is irrelevent, you will be assimilated" or some stuff like that, okay?
Rei: ..
Asuka: ..
Rei: You came to talk.
Asuka: For us to talk.
Rei: (nods) Alright.
Asuka: Fine.
Rei: ..
Asuka: ..
Rei: You should start.
Asuka: Yeah.
Rei: ..
Asuka: ..
Rei: ..
Asuka: (looking down) Sorry, this is harder than I expected..
Rei: ..
Asuka: Okay. Shinji's going, and I feel bad. I feel really bad.
Rei: ..
Asuka: Can I start over?
Rei: Yes.
Asuka: Alright. (deep breath)
Rei: ..
Asuka: I don't know why he's going. No, that's not right. I don't know why he wants to go. No, that's wrong again. I know why somone would want to do this - greater good and all that crap. But that just.. isn't Shinji.
Rei: ..
Asuka: I'm not trying to say something bad about him. But I'd have liked it if he and I could just stay here and damn all the rest. I mean only a little while ago I was going to go. Now I'm not, so he is instead. Is this how he felt?
Rei: ..
Asuka: And I don't know why I'm thinking these stupid things. And they are stupid. I've known him for like, ages, and he's done pretty well, usually, as a pilot. It's not like he's going to trip over and knock himself out. And there's always Misato, but I'm still worrying that he might screw it up, and that says something about me and about how I feel about him but I don't know what it is.
Rei: ..
Asuka: And on top of that I can't talk to him about it, so I go and talk to you. Which is weird. No offense Rei but you don't contribute much to discussions.
Rei: ..
Asuka: ..
Rei: ..
Asuka: Are you going to say something now?
(Ayanami considers.)
Rei: You said that you and I have had the same problem, with Tenkei and Shinji.
Asuka: Well, I'm kinda guessing that we do, since they both have to go off like this..
Rei: So you think that I have thought the same things.
Asuka: (wry) Sorry, I guess it was a bit of a stretch-
Rei: (interrupting) I have.
Asuka: ..
Rei: ..
Asuka: Oh.
Rei: ..
Asuka: Well then.. how did you deal with it?
Rei: (thinking)
Asuka: ..
Rei: (slowly) There wasn't much I could do. (pauses) I did hug him more than usual before he left.
Asuka: Oh.
Rei: ..
Asuka: Good idea.
--------------------------------------------------
(Shinji Ikari begins his journey to the Geo-Front - and is stopped abruptly.)
Shinji: How did you.. no, don't tell me.
(The Third Child, faced with the grinning Touji Suzahara, Kensuke Aida and Goro Tezuka, gives in to the inevitable.
They had set up their little ambush right outside his front door, catching him on his way to work on this most important of days.)
Kensuke: Misato rang me to tell us about it.
Touji: He means, she called him to tell us.
Kensuke: She rang me Touji. She thought I would be the most responsible. I've gotta be at the top of the candidate list.
Goro: She probably only called you because your name is the earlier in the phone book.
Touji: Anyway, we're here.
Shinji: (smiling) Thanks. Thanks guys.
Touji: No problem.
Goro: It's important, so we're here.
Kensuke: I've got to say this is so cool. Historically speaking.
Shinji: Huh?
Kensuke: Well this is just what I think, but I think that you're going to do something very cool, like attack the bad guys somewhere else, at their base, right?
Shinji: ..
Kensuke: Because if it was another attack on us then we'd be evacuating, and if it was like an attack in another country we'd have heard about it on the news, but we haven't!
Goro: It isn't really important what you're doing, Shinji. All we know is that it's dangerous.
Touji: So we came to wish you luck.
Kensuke: It's got to be an attack. We're attacking for once!
Shinji: Um, can we keep this down a bit? It's sort of sensitive.
Kensuke: My lips are sealed.
Shinji: Well, guys, I was hoping I could talk to you about something.
Goro: What about, Shinji?
Shinji: About Asuka.
Kensuke: Oh.
Goro: Oh.
Touji: What did she do?
Kensuke: I bet that whole kissing thing just backfired.
Shinji: It's not like that. It's..
(Shinji hesitates.)
Shinji: I know you guys.. see Asuka in a certain way.
Kensuke: (innocent) What way?
Goro: (completely innocent) We see Asuka?
Touji: (presumed guilty) As if we'd do that.
Shinji: Seriously guys, I know all about it. You know, Asuka the demon, Asuka the.. (trails off)
(He can't call Asuka that, no way, because he doesn't honestly believe it. So he says something else.)
Shinji: The not-a-nice-person. Annoying, pushy, always taking offense at things she shouldn't take offense at..
Touji: (thoughtfully) Come to think of it..
Goro: (carefully admitting) Well..
Kensuke: (looking skywards) Now that you mention it..
Shinji: And I just want to clear this up. (deep breath)
(This has been building for years.
Ever since he had first met the Second Child, Shinji Ikari has tried to make sense of Asuka Langley Sorhy. It has been a long and difficult road, but Ikari now believes he has something that, if not actually the truth, is close enough to work.)
Shinji: You think she's a bad person. But when you get to know her..
(They listen.)
Shinji: ..she's actually a whole lot worse.
(From the expressions on their faces, Shinji knows they were expecting something else.)
Shinji: She has to have things her way. If it doesn't turn up her way then she'll hold it against you, even if it wasn't your fault. That's because she thinks you think you're somehow better than her and she hates that, even if you aren't. Thinking that, I mean.
Shinji: (takes a breath) She's got this image in her head of who and what she is, all worked out in all the little details and things. I don't know exactly what it is, but I know she doesn't live up to it. And then she ends up hating herself for not being who she thinks she should be, and then she ends up hating you, in this case me, because I was close enough to see it.
Shinji: And if it ever seems like you're getting close to her, and I don't mean close by close but by getting to know what she's like, maybe even starting to like her, then she's just as likely to turn on you for that. She thinks that people would be stupid to like her or that she would be stupid to like people, because people hurt.
Shinji: But you can't work that out until later, but by then she's gotten back to hating you because you didn't understand it when you should have, because she was hiding it. And if you do see it and try to help, she turns on you like it's your fault or that you're trying to take advantage of the situation or taking something away from her.
Shinji: And then, after all that, when you finally think you've got her worked out and maybe you can survive a day without stepping on her toes, you find out that there was something else in her, ticking away in her head until she says or does something completely unexpected and you realize that you had her wrong the whole time. And that happens.. (thinks) nearly every day.
(Touji, Kensuke and Goro have missed at least two thirds of that.)
Shinji: I guess what I'm trying to say is that you guys don't like her now, but if you ever get to know her better then you'll realize she's actually a whole lot worse.
(He takes another deep breath.)
Shinji: But..
(They listen.)
Shinji: ..I love her.
(From the expressions on their faces, Shinji knows they were expecting something else.
The Third Child gets the feeling that he hasn't actually gotten anywhere in his explanation, that despite his lengthy story about how Asuka works, which none of his friends are going to understand any time this decade, he still has the hardest part of his explanation ahead.)
Shinji: She's worth it. She's worth everything.
Shinji: I love Asuka.
Shinji: And that's the way it is.
Shinji: ..
Shinji: Okay?
Shinji: ..
Shinji: ..
Shinji: Um.. guys?
Shinji: Hello?
Shinji: Kensuke, are you alive?
Kensuke: Um. Sort of.
Touji: It's just a bit of a shock, Shinji. I mean, this just came out of the blue.
Shinji: (incredulous) But you guys saw us kissing just the other night!!
Goro: Yeah, but that seemed like a freaky thing. You know.
Kensuke: Like a dare or something. Or she was bored. You know, killing time.
Shinji: What makes you guys think that she might kiss me to kill..
(He trails off.)
Touji: Just a bit of a shock.
Shinji: (annoyed) You already said that.
Goro: That's just how shocked he is.
Kensuke: And that is very shocked.
Touji: I'm shocked, Shinji.
Goro: (shaking head) You have weird tastes, buddy.
Kensuke: (nodding) Very weird.
Touji: Shocked.
--------------------------------------------------
(The sun is merciless, beating down on the pavement, reflecting from the city's towers, blazing in the windshields of parked cars. Beneath the bus stop's shelter it is only a little cooler. It is almost deserted.
Almost, but not quite.)
Shinji: Hikari?
Hikari: Mr Ikari. Touji and the others are really bad at this, waiting outside your door like that. At least we can sit down.
Shinji: Uh.
(The Third Child takes a seat beside the class representative.)
Shinji: Did Asuka tell you, or did Touji?
Hikari: Asuka, then Touji.
Shinji: Right.
Hikari: I know this is unfair of me, but I have to talk to you.
Shinji: Unfair?
Hikari: I'm sure you'll have a lot else to worry about without this, but then.. so will Asuka.
Shinji: Hikari? What are you talking about?
Hikari: You're going, and she's going to worry about you. I'm sure that if this happened a year ago she'd still have worried about you, but she's going to worry more now. And you know why.
Shinji: ..
Hikari: Someone is going on between you two. I'm not going to ask how far you and she have gone, that wouldn't be right. And I don't want you to tell me stuff like that behind Asuka's back either.
Shinji: ..
Hikari: (warningly) But even if all you and Asuka have done is that kiss we saw at the party, then you've got to watch your step mister.
Shinji: (eyes widening)
Hikari: Asuka's been hurt a lot. I don't know how much you know about this, but she had the biggest crush on Kaji when he was still here. And there are a lot of other things that have happened to her in the past that she hasn't told me about.. and I'm pretty sure that you're to blame for some of them.
Shinji: What do you mean? I don't know what you're-
Hikari: Of course you don't, you're a boy. It's not all your fault.
(This isn't Hikari. This is Hikari after knowing Asuka for too long.)
Hikari: But basically, Shinji.. Asuka is my friend, and I will not stand for you screwing this up.
Shinji: (staring)
Hikari: (resolute)
Shinji: (staring)
Hikari: Well? Anything to say?
(Shinji has about a million things to say.
Hikari exists in a different world from Shinji Ikari, looking in on Asuka's life through a different window, seeing a different - but similar - set of events. So much is the same. The same pains, the same longings. But a lot seems, to Shinji at this moment, to be completely off the mark.
He wants to tell her that she's being stupid, over-protective, that he'd never do anything like that to hurt Asuka. He wants to tell her that he knows about what she's been through, and the last thing he wants in the world is to bring her any more pain. He wants to scream about everything he's seen Asuka go through and how little Hikari knows.
But at the same time he's sharply aware that Hikari has seen so much about Asuka that he knows nothing about. In all the things he experienced during the Contact, all the memories he and Asuka had shared, Shinji learnt nothing about Hikari Horaki. Nothing about her family or her habits or her secrets. Not a single thing. Asuka's relationship with the class representative had been hidden from him, despite everything.
And maybe, just maybe, there were other things Asuka kept hidden. Other boys at school she had gone on dates with, maybe gone further with. Shinji remembers back when she had first started at the school, the center of attention, the stunning foreign girl who was so pretty, so smart. Everyone had wanted to go out with her. And Shinji remembers that some did.)
-(flashback)-Asuka: My date turned out to be even more boring than you. So while he was standing in line for the rollercoaster I took a train back here.
(Nothing else. During the Contact, Shinji had learned nothing about that guy; his name, about the date they went on, or about the others.
Maybe Hikari is right. Maybe there is even more about Asuka that he doesn't know, doesn't suspect, something even deeper that he will only uncover after it has inadverdently hurt her..
And at the same time, Hikari's words strike at his heart. She cares about Asuka, her friend. That is something that, whatever the girl says, Shinji can understand.)
Shinji: Hikari..
Hikari: ..
Shinji: Thanks. I'll be careful.
--------------------------------------------------
(It is a quiet ride. For the most part the bus is empty, coasting past bus stops without needing to pick up or drop off passengers. There isn't much to break the comfortable monotony of the journey.
Shinji Ikari gazes out a window. Street corners, footpaths, the occasional pedestrian. Tokyo-3 glides past slowly, quietly.
The bus door opens and Ikari steps out, right into the next one. He is almost expecting it.)
Aoi: Well if it isn't the modest hero of the hour.
(A car passes - NERV security, watching the Third Child as he heads for the Geo-front on this very important day.)
Aoi: I figured you and I might chat.. it seemed the right thing to do, given the occassion.
Shinji: (walking) I guess everyone knows already, huh?
Aoi: (keeping pace) One way or another. But I suppose a little part of you wanted them to find out, didn't you? To make it easier to say goodbyes.
Shinji: Who said anything about saying goodbyes?
Aoi: You know what I mean.
Shinji: ..
Aoi: ..
Shinji: Yeah. I do. I suppose you're right.
(Aoi scuffs her feet a little as she walks, her steps slightly lazy.)
Shinji: Aoi?
Aoi: Yes Mister Ikari?
Shinji: Um, I was wondering about something you said a while ago. A long time ago, actually.
Aoi: Hmm?
Shinji: About my cello playing. You said you had, well, fallen in love with me because of it.
(The Seventh Child suddenly feels oddly uncomfortable.)
Aoi: You must realize of course that I was joking. It's not like I really did-
Shinji: I know that, I was just wondering.. why did you say it?
Aoi: ..?
Shinji: Or maybe.. how did you know to say it?
Aoi: (raising eyebrows)
Shinji: It's just when I was little, when I first started playing, I used to daydream that.. oh, you know the sort of dream I'm talking about. You play, you put your heart into it, you're really good and..
Aoi: Someone understands your song?
Shinji: ..
Aoi: ..
Shinji: Yeah. That's a good way to put it.
(Tamashii takes a breath and speaks quickly.)
Aoi: Well it's not that unusual. Fantasies about success among your peers, involving some sort of special skill, are pretty commonplace. They're everywhere really, on TV and in comics and stuff, I was just playing the odds.
Shinji: (small supporting noise)
Aoi: Yeah. It seemed, likely, you know.
Shinji: Did you ever have a daydream like that?
Aoi: ..
Shinji: Doing something only you could do, impressing a special somebody..?
Aoi: Yeah.
Shinji: ..
Aoi: Of course I did. But I guess when I finally realized that I could do it, I didn't really want to. I didn't want to be seen like that, you understand?
Shinji: ..
Aoi: I guess not.
Shinji: No - no, I understand.
Aoi: Really? Say, did you ever want to save your buddies in that big bad Evangelion of yours?
Shinji: (nods) Once. And I did. It wasn't all it was made up to be, though.
Aoi: Oh. (short pause) Well, I suppose things turn out that way.
Shinji: ..
Aoi: That was back during the first attacks, wasn't it? I remember Kensuke saying something about it once..
Shinji: Yeah. He and Kensuke had gotten into a bit of trouble..
Aoi: Did you want to save them? Sorry, that sounded weird. Did you want something to happen that would need you to save them?
Shinji: What do you mean?
Aoi: Daydreams and stuff. You wanted to be able to, just as an example, impress a girl with your cello playing. Did to want to save someone with your Eva? Did you want to show off? Did you, somewhere inside, want something to happen that you could play hero for?
Shinji: Well, um..
(He casts his mind back to that time, back to the way things were. No Asuka. Rei a mystery - more of a mystery than she is now. It had been before Lyn arrived, before Touji was hurt, before Kaworu, before Aoi.
Misato had been.. so strange. Saying such strange things.)
-(flashback)-Misato: (shouting) We don't need a pilot with THAT attitude!
Shinji: I suppose, a little part of me, maybe, wanted something like that to happen.
Aoi: ..
Shinji: (forced laugh) It's not like I thought about it all the time..
Aoi: But it's interesting, isn't it?
Shinji: ..
Aoi: What you want is part of who you are. Something you wanted.. no, something you thought should happen.. and it happened.
Shinji: ..
Aoi: It's something to think about, Third Child.
--------------------------------------------------
(This time Shinji is expecting it. Everyone has chosen a little spot on his route to see him, to talk to him. Everyone is making this out to be so important. It's comforting, while at the same time frightening. He doesn't want to be saying goodbyes.)
Lyn: Hi.
Shinji: Hi.
(He finds the Sixth Child at the entrance of the Geo-Front.)
Shinji: I talked to Aoi.
Lyn: Oh? What about?
Shinji: Stuff. Wanting things to happen.
Lyn: Hmm?
Shinji: Confusing things, really.
Lyn: (nodding) Yeah.
Shinji: ..
Lyn: ..
Shinji: ..
Lyn: About the range tomorrow.. I guess you won't be able to come.
Shinji: No.
Lyn: Yeah. Well, everyone's still coming along. You'll still be gone, right?
(It is a guess. Shinji doesn't know where the attack was going to be. Neither does Lyn. Neither knows how long the Third Child and his Evangelion will be gone.)
Shinji: Maybe.
Lyn: Everyone's coming. Even got Sorhyu - Asuka, I mean - to agree to turn up. And Ayanami.
Shinji: And Kensuke?
Lyn: (wry) He was bugging you too, huh?
Shinji: Someone must have told him, because he was telling me he wanted to come too. You'll keep him out of trouble, right?
Lyn: I'll do my best.
Shinji: ..
Lyn: ..
Shinji: You really convinced Ayanami to go?
Lyn: Well, I won't know for sure until tomorrow, if she turns up or doesn't..
Shinji: ..
Lyn: ..
Shinji: ..
Lyn: You really should be coming though. If we had some time this morning I'd get you down to the firing range, let off a couple of hundred rounds. I mean, you're the one going out there. You could need to do this.
Shinji: I know. But I'll be able to look it over on the trip, read the manual and stuff. I'll have it in hand by the time the operation starts.
Lyn: It's not the same.
Shinji: ..
Lyn: Shinji?
Shinji: Yeah?
Lyn: If things go wrong on the mission, if something goes bad and you have to eject, then.. well, you'll be in more danger than you ever have before in your life.
Shinji: ..
Lyn: If you have to shoot, then (shakes head) just don't think about it. Just shoot. Put your sights on the target and keep firing until he goes down, and come back. Just don't think about it.
Shinji: ..
--------------------------------------------------
(The briefing is short and to the point.)
Misato: Unit One will launch in in seventy minutes, surfacing at entry point fourteen for pick-up by delta wing. All other information will be provided during the flight.
(Looking around the Central Dogma control room - it is uncommon for him to be briefed here - he is almost disappointed not to see his father.
Misato's expression shows that she has her own things to say to the Third Child - but they too, it seems, will be saved for the trip. From what Shinji has gathered Katsuragi will be with him for the mission, but so many others will not. The voices of Rei, Lyn, and Asuka will not be heard during the operation. Neither will Fuyutsuki's, or his father's. Neither will Ibuki or Shigeru, remaining at their posts in Tokyo-03. Hyuga is the exception, taking a flight-crew role for the mission, as he has ocassionally in the past.
Likewise, there will not be support from the ground. Tokyo-03's defenses will not open fire upon the enemy, nor will the city supply him with spare weapons or escape routes. If he has to eject, there will be no recovery team, no reinforcements. The electronic eyes and ears of the city will not assist Ikari in locating his enemy. The situation is reversed - he will be in enemy territory, and the enemy will have every advantage that comes with it.
He heads to the male locker room to suit up. Normally in a combat situation he would be running this route. This time it feels more like a test or excercise; he is in no rush. But in a test there would be Lyn Anouilh heading in beside him, or Asuka and Rei stopping earlier down the corridor as they reach the girl's locker room. Walking this route alone feels unusual, reminding him of stranger times when he had been the only functioning pilot. One had been when he had first arrived, while Rei had been unable to pilot. The other had been near Kaworu's death, before Lyn arrived, and when Asuka and Rei..
..he doesn't want to think about it. He wants to think about something else - the mission ahead. But he knows so little. He doesn't even know what country they will be flying to. They might be in the air for hours, or only for a few minutes. They might travel across the globe for their target, or they might stop in a country geographically next door.
All these thoughts are driven from his head as the locker room door opens before him, revealing the waiting Asuka Langley Sohryu.)
Asuka: I hear you have an hour to kill.
--------------------------------------------------
(Tenkei holds out his hands.)
Rei: No.
Tenkei: Please.
Rei: No.
Tenkei: I have to show you how to do this.
Rei: No.
Tenkei: Please. I have to.
Rei: Why?
(He hesitates.
The girl sits on her bed, her hands on her lap. Her eyes are on the boy - or on the space were he would be. Sustaining his presence here, even only an image in her mind, is becoming more and more difficult by the second.
He realizes that she is blocking him, pushing him out of her mind.)
Tenkei: You might die. This will protect you.
(Still the pressure continues. Her red eyes are calm as she slowly but surely drives him away.)
Tenkei: You're.. forcing me to tell you.
Rei: Yes.
Tenkei: Something's going to happen.
Rei: What?
Tenkei: ..
Rei: ..
Tenkei: ..
Rei: Why won't you tell me? I only want to know.
(Tenkei doesn't know when the attack is scheduled to happen. But he knows it is to be a surprise.)
Tenkei: Because I don't know what you'll do if I tell you.
(She might tell them. And then..)
Rei: You are afraid?
Tenkei: ..yes.
Rei: So am I.
Tenkei: You shouldn't be.
Rei: Then explain it to me. Tell me why I have to learn this.
--------------------------------------------------
Asuka: (turns her head a little) Not really what I expected.
Shinji: What do you mean?
Asuka: The boy's locker room.
Shinji: What were you expecting?
(The Second and Third Children are making use of a bench built against the locker-room wall. It doesn't make a comfortable bed, so they half-sit, half lean against the corner. Shinji shifts his arms just a little, settling them around Asuka's waist. As he does so, he is surprised by how thin the girl is - he often is. At this moment she seems so much smaller than the angry red thing that he is used to.
He isn't letting go.)
Asuka: I'm not sure.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: Are you scared?
Shinji: A little.
Asuka: Of what?
Shinji: Of what I don't know.
Asuka: What about death? If there's something to be scared of, that's it.
Shinji: Well.. I hadn't really thought of it. I guess I'm more afraid or just something we didn't expect, then afraid of anything specific.
Asuka: You're weird.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: Or something, anyway.
(She sighs. Shinji feels the girl’s body shift.
Her breathing fills his mind; he feels oddly calm, hearing that soft sound, an echo of her familiar voice. A feeling wells up inside the Third Child - to hold, to embrace, to cherish. He moves his head slightly and touches his lips to Asuka’s cheek. Just once, and lightly. Carefully.
It isn't because she's suddenly fragile, suddenly not-Asuka. It's because Asuka is so many things to him.
He remembers a time when Asuka had seemed indestructable. He remembers when she had seemed as fragile as glass. He remembers when all he had ever wanted was to ignore her, to push her annoyances and her pointless, stupid whims out of his head. He remembers when all he had ever wanted was to see life return to her motionless body, bringing all those pointless, stupid, annoying things back into his world.
It is suddenly so clear.)
Shinji: I love you.
(He sees her face - he has a view of her cheek from this angle - form a smile. She turns, one blue eye meeting his. Her lips blow a teasing kiss.)
Asuka: Cute, Shinji. Keep that up and I won’t be able to let you leave.
(The smile fades from her face after a moment, her eyes growing distant.)
Asuka: I know what I’m afraid of.
Asuka: I’m not afraid of you dying. No, that sounds stupid. I am afraid of you dying, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. I’m afraid of you changing.
Asuka: You’re my Shinji Ikari, Shinji Ikari. I don’t want you to go around changing into someone else.
(She pauses.)
Asuka: That sounded pouty, didn’t it?
Shinji: ..?
Asuka: It sounded possessive, right? Unfair? Nasty? I mean, if you were a girl and I was a guy, then the whole “You’re mine” deal would be pretty sexist.
Shinji: I don't mind
Asuka: It still doesn't feel right.
Shinji: Well, I like it. (tightens hug momentarily) If it's being wanted by you, then..
Asuka: (uncertain) Well.. (smiles suddenly) Okay, Shinji.
(Again, that smile fades.)
Asuka: But these people, the ones who did those things in France and Germany.. geez, they’re assholes. They’re monsters. They’re murderers. They do things because it’s efficient, not because it’s right. You get it?
Shinji: Yeah.
Asuka: And the only way to beat an enemy like this - and I’m talking war here Shinji - is to be even worse. Shoot first. All that stuff you hear about in the movies. And.. I don’t think you can do that. No, that’s wrong - I don’t want you to do that.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: You’ve got this softness. No, that’s wrong again, I’m being stupid. You’ve got this kindness. You just.. don’t seem like that type, and I like that. I love that. I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want this to turn you into someone else. I don’t want to get up one morning and realize that you’ve become some hard, mean type. I want you to stay Shinji.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: Is any of this getting through, or am I talking to the wall?
Shinji: Asuka?
Asuka: ..
Shinji: I am going to change.
Asuka: ..
Shinji: You’re going to change too.
Asuka: ..
Shinji: But I’m not going to change that way. Never. I’m not going to become like that. I’ve seen people who become like that.
Asuka: ..
Shinji: Like my Dad. I know what happened to him, and what happened to Mom. I’m not going to do that to myself..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: ..or to you.
(The Second Child makes a peculiar sound, half sigh, half moan, stretching slightly in Shinji’s embrace and resting her head to one side. Her hair drapes aside, revealing the paleness of her neck, leading up to the curve of her jaw, the shell of her ear, and the red of her hair.)
Asuka: Sometimes you surprise me, Shinji Ikari.
Shinji: (quietly) Anyway, we might be able to talk them out of it. The enemy, I mean.
(Asuka laughs at the thought.)
Asuka: Geez, that would be something to see. The Great Shinji Ikari saying "Please, just stop dropping nukes on people."
Shinji: It might work.
Asuka: Maybe it would. But you couldn't say it like that, anyway.
(Asuka carefully removes one arm from the comfortable hold she and Shinji are sharing and checks her watch.)
Asuka: Fifteen minutes. So, while you've got the chance is there anything else you want to tell me?
Shinji: Huh?
Asuka: Have you got anything to say? Any questions? Anything vital you've always wanted to know?
Shinji: (thinking)
(He looks at her. She has turned her face slightly, directing it towards the boy. The smell of her fills Shinji’s mind.)
Shinji: Yeah. There is something.
Asuka: Really?
Shinji: It's something.. probably something personal.
Asuka: (oo sound) I like personal. Well, not really. Not too personal, if you get my meaning.
Shinji: And it's something I've wondered about for a long, long time. Since I first met you actually.
Asuka: Hmm, a long-standing question.
Shinji: I've sort of wanted to ask you about it, but.. you know.
Asuka: Shinji, you're stalling.
Shinji: I'm not stalling. It's really something I haven't been able to ask.
Asuka: You're still stalling.
Shinji: I'm not! This just isn't the sort of thing guys are good at asking girls about.
Asuka: You don't actually have a question, do you Shinji?
Shinji: I've got a question!
Asuka: Prove it.
(Silence.)
Shinji: Asuka?
Asuka: Yes Shinji?
Shinji: (tapping with finger) Just what are these little red things in your hair? Are they just clips or something, or are they like our synch headsets?
(For
a long, long moment, the girl is absolutely silent.
Then, with the slow, dangerous grace of a snake swallowing an egg three times the size of its head, Asuka carefully rolls over in Shinji's embrace. Her eyes lock onto his.)
Asuka: They're hair clips.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: That's all they are.
(She rolls back over, her expression showing sheer, overwhelming disbelief. Unlike her previous movement this one is clumsy, awkward, and manages to both knee and elbow Shinji in the process. She ignores his faint oomphs of discomfort.)
Asuka: I cannot believe it.
Asuka: I offer you a question - any question - to anything, everything! I offer you my truths, my secrets. I practically bare my soul to anything you want to ask me. About me, and what I do, what I think.. my mother, my fears, my dreams, my fantasies, and you ask about hair clips!?!
Asuka: It could have been about love, sex, stuff like that, stuff that I wouldn't be willing to talk to anyone about, but you choose to ask about "those little red things that have been bothering you for so long." Geez!
Shinji: But Asuka, you wouldn't have answered questions about any of those other things.
Asuka: (pauses) Maybe so, but that's hardly the point.
(As Asuka proceeds to explain what the point is, and her guesses at why Shinji didn't get the point when he clearly should have, the Third Child sinks back slightly, a small smile on his face as he enjoys what time he has left here, with the pilot of Unit 02.)
--------------------------------------------------
Suit: Well?
(The display flickers from profile to profile. Reports on each appear alongside - surveillance reports, detailed routines, security levels..)
Officer: He's our only problem.
Suit: And the others?
Officer: The others we have locked down, their positions confirmed. We've also traced their contacts to a number of lawyers, journalists..
Suit: Safety deposit boxes full of incriminating evidence?
Officer: Not deposit boxes, but you get the idea. You have settled things with the neccessary authories?
Suit: We should be able to contain any fallout - in a world full of Angels and Evangelions it's hard to find the imagination to believe in government conspiracies. But if one of them gets involved themselves.. I can't guarantee anything. Which leads us back to this one.
Officer: One out of twelve.
Suit: That's unnacceptable.
Officer: (calmly) Kimio's getting on your nerves.
Suit: It's all or nothing. If so much as one of them survives..
Officer: I know. But we're close.
--------------------------------------------------
(Dressed in his plugsuit, Shinji Ikari stands opposite Asuka Langley Sohryu.)
Shinji: Well..
Asuka: That's it. No time left.
Shinji: Yeah. (pauses) I suppose I ought to get going.
Asuka: Probably.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: ..
Asuka: We did a lot better than I expected. I mean, this could have turned into a sobbing match. "Oh, don't leave me!" and all that stuff.
Shinji: I guess. (frowning) Why didn't it?
Asuka: No idea.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: ..
(The two meters of distance between them vanishes in a blur as suddenly they are hugging.
And laughing. Shinji and Asuka break into laughter as they embrace, hugging fiercely with their faces alight.
Whatever happens on the mission, the Second and Third Child have won something here today. They haven't let sadness win. They didn't let themselves turn this into something to cry about. In a moment when both of them might have been crying, they celebrate. They celebrate what they feel. They celebrate the stupidity, the pointlessness, the idiotic complexity of it.)
Asuka: (into shoulder) You're such an idiot.
Shinji: (into hair) Well, I'm an idiot who'll be coming back soon. This’ll probably be pretty easy.
Asuka: (looking up) Now you're sounding like me.
Shinji: It will.
(Asuka's hands find Shinji's spine, pressing up the middle of his back as she hugs him.)
Asuka: When you get back, I'm going to teach you how to swim.
Shinji: (surprised) What?
Asuka: Swimming. You can't do it, remember?
Shinji: Where did that come from?
(Shinji doesn't remember ever admitting to Asuka that he can't swim. The only way she could know it through the Contact - but then, she knows so much else through it.)
Asuka: (smirking) I've always wanted to get you into some skimpy swimwear..
--------------------------------------------------
(It is to be a brief activation, with two objectives. First is to check Unit 01's systems. The second is for the Evangelion to load itself into the modified delta wing that will carry it.
Shinji feels his arms and legs tingle as sensations flow through the neural link. Almost involuntarily he flexes his fingers, the massive gloved hands of his Evangelion shifting ever so slightly. He checks his internal displays, knowing that every piece of data here and more he cannot see has already been checked by the MAGI, and is being double-checked by the crew in Central Dogma.
As always, every piece of data from the mission will be recorded by the Eva's black box recorder and later extracted for analysis. Despite this mission's differences from any other he has undertaken, some things remain the same.
The same feel of the Eva. The same clank and grind as machinery unlocks the restraints around the giant. Misato's voice over the radio, going through the procedure by the numbers.
But there is no urgency. Units 00, 02 and 06 are all present in the cage chamber, but none are to be activated. This is just one step towards the battle, a fight that is still a long way away.)
Misato: (radio) Send Unit 01 to the launch site. Shinji, you'll be there in a few minutes.
(He knows Asuka is there. He thinks Asuka is there. He hopes Asuka is there. But if she's in the control room with Misato then she doesn't say anything. That would be too difficult. Everything ended so much better the way it did. Shinji doesn't want to get choked up, hearing her voice.
He has something else to turn his mind to.)
Hyuga: (radio) Delta wing is fueled and ready. We just need Unit 01.
(Kilometers of tunnel move past quickly. The rail system sends the Evangelion towards the surface at a shallow angle, heading for a launch site outside the city limits at a secure location. Effort has been made to keep this operation discreet. Whether it will be enough is another story.
Shinji feels the mass of his Evangelion slowing as he reaches the end of the rail. The outer doors open, sunlight blazing into the darkness of the tunnel, and Unit 01 emerges.
The day has become ghastly. The sun is pitiless, pounding at the concrete with all its strength. The ground shimmers, mirages forming and unforming, briefly reflecting the sky. Shinji unconsciously squints as he looks out over the baking terrain.
He sees Rei Ayanami for only a second, a ghost among the distortions and the heat. Then she is gone.)
--------------------------------------------------
(The launch is over.
It is an hour later, and the Third Child is gone. Misato won't be there when she gets home. So Asuka doesn't have anyone to talk to about this.)
Asuka: ..
(The escalator continues its crawl upwards, bringing the Second Child closer and closer to the surface. It leaves her feeling a bit.. odd. Despite the departure, there is a strange, mysteriously happy feeling welling up inside her. A little part of her simply has to tell someone. Getting it out there, explaining it to someone else, if only to get it in order inside her own head.
She's not sad about it. She isn't unhappy. Against all of her expectations, she feels good.
Of course, who else is going to understand? And how can she even start to explain?)
Asuka: ..
(A small consolation is that if she doesn't know who to talk to about it, then Shinji, poor quiet Shinji, hasn't got a soul in the world to spill his guts to. I mean, Shinji has enough trouble just talking, let alone talking about something so private.
Right?)
Asuka: (stopping)
(Standing outside the entrace to the Geo-Front is Rei.)
Rei: ..
Asuka: What are you doing here, First?
Rei: The others will be waiting for you at your home.
Asuka: Others?
Rei: Tamashii. Anouilh. Horaki, Suzahara, Aida, Tezuka.
Asuka: Oh them. So, what's the occassion?
Rei: ..
Asuka: Oh. I guess they know then?
Rei: (nodding)
Asuka: (sighs) Thanks for the warning.
Rei: Did he..
Asuka: ..?
Rei: ..
Asuka: ..
Rei: How was it?
(A small smile creeps across Asuka's face as she regards the First Child.)
Asuka: It? It? What is this it you're talking about? What exactly is this it that you thought he and I did?
(She had hoped for at least a little embarrassment on Ayanami's part, a tiny pink blush perhaps, something marring that annoyingly perfect face. There is none.)
Rei: You spoke with him before he left?
Asuka: Yeah.
Rei: How was it?
Asuka: I don't know. Sort of weird. But not distant-weird, but not-distant-weird. You know?
Rei: (blank)
Asuka: I was expecting something.. more Shinji. More me. I thought that I wouldn't be able to say anything. Thinking about it a few nights ago, I couldn't even pretend to say it. I tried to think of what I might say but I just started..
Rei: ..
Asuka: ..you know. Crying. A bit.
Rei: ..
Asuka: I thought that we'd stay far away from each other, not say a thing, because if we did then one of us would start, and the other one two, and then the tissues come out and all that crap. But today it wasn't anything like that.
Rei: ..
Asuka: So that's why I think it was weird. Better than what I thought it would be, but still weird. Weird because it was better than I thought it would be.
Rei: I..
Asuka: ..?
Rei: I had wanted to say something to Shinji before he left.
Asuka: What?
(The First Child's eyes are oddly downcast - neither meeting Asuka or staring off blankly as Sohryu has seen her do so many times before, to her annoyance. She almost looks ashamed.)
Rei: Nothing. I just felt I had to say something.
Asuka: Oh.
Rei: ..
Asuka: Well, that's normal. I guess.
Rei: Something like that could make a difference. Something small might bring him back.
Asuka: ..
Rei: I felt that.. what I might say to him was that thing. That small thing that he had to hear. I felt.. afraid that if I didn't..
Asuka: Oh come on, First, don't start with fate and stuff with me. Shinji and I can produce more than enough melancholy for most of this city without help.
Rei: ..
Asuka: But.. why are you telling me this?
Rei: ..
Asuka: This isn't like you.
Rei: Because you are the one most affected. Because you'd understand.
Asuka: Okay, this is definitely not you. I'm beginning to miss that detached, cold-blooded Ayanami I used to know.
Rei: (blank)
Asuka: All this concern and feeling is weird. Weirder than what I was talking about.
Rei: ..
(Asuka takes a deep breath.)
Asuka: Well, while you're so out-of-yourself, how about you come home with me? From what you said everyone will be there, except Misato. I'm guessing she'll be away for at least a day, and that'll be long enough for you and me to go through all her beer. Well, maybe half. A third. One tenth. Well, we'll make a dent in it that she'll definitely notice. Maybe.
Rei: I don't think so.
(Abruptly Ayanami has turned away, heading down another street - towards her home. She will not be joining the others at the Katsuragi apartment.)
Asuka: (calling) Rei?
Rei: (slowing)
Asuka: It's been.. good. Talking to you.
Rei: ..
Asuka: And.. whatever happens, I think we should keep talking.
Rei: ..
Asuka: ..
Rei: I agree.
--------------------------------------------------
(Hours pass, and the world remains unchanged. A flight wing of aircraft make their way across the globe. A teenaged girl sits alone in her home, while a floor above her a teenaged boy does the same. And a woman slips into a room to check on someone.)
Seyoko: Are you okay?
Tenkei: (eyes closed)
Seyoko: (louder) Tenkei. (touches his shoulder)
Tenkei: (eyes open)
Seyoko: Are you okay?
Tenkei: ..yes.
Seyoko: You were saying things. Were you having a nightmare?
Tenkei: No. I was just..
(He looks up at the woman's face, illuminated by light from the hallway. Tenkei guesses that it is late, or maybe early morning.)
Tenkei: (quietly) Maybe I was.
(They had taken him outside and carefully explained to him that people were listening to what they said. They had told him that when they were inside, they couldn't speak about certain things. He hadn't needed to be told. He can feel their presence, their intent, their interest in what happened in the motel rooms. They are not focused on them - it is only an idle interest.)
Seyoko: Do you want to stay up for a bit? Come inside with us? I'm sure we can make some room..
(Seyoko and Benedict are maintaining the illusion of a defacto couple, sleeping in the same bed. They would sleep in shifts, but it would be too suspicious.
Offering him to sleep in her bed, though - Tenkei isn't sure how to take that. The strange.. kindness strikes him. Concern. A willingness to do something more than the absolute minimum to ensure his comfort.)
Tenkei: I think.. I should be able to go back to sleep.
(He closes his eyes. He can feel Seyoko stay for a moment, her body blocking out the light from the hallway. Then she is moving away, her footsteps softer. Then the light is shut off.
By then, Tenkei is already making contact with Rei again.)
--------------------------------------------------
(Activation.
The LCL shimmers and vanishes. Instead of the warm, comforting closeness of the fluid Shinji can feel the icy high-altitude wind tearing at his body. It can't hurt him - Unit 01. He ignores it and the sensation fades.)
Misato: (radio) Shinji, systems check is coming through fine. How is it from your end?
(He checks the internal displays. As before, he knows that Misato already has seen the data; this is only a final check-up.
The final check up. Then the operation will begin.)
Shinji: (reading) ..internal power, backup weapons, tactical systems, outer plating.. everything seems okay Misato.
(Beneath the modified delta-wing the giant form of Evangelion Unit 01 is sheathed in a radar-absorbing sleeve, made of the same material as the craft carrying it. Flying escort are a wing of stealth fighters. Shinji knows that behind them is another flight wing, this one of bombers, with enough ordinance to finish the job - if it becomes neccessary to use N2 mines.)
Misato: How do you feel?
(The question comes as a surprise.
Once they had recieved confirmation from Seyoko Okazaki, NERV intelligence had done a little digging. At the location she had specified there had been an underground facility in use by the United States government back in the 1970's - a laboratory for the containment, identification and development of biological weapons. As far as the official line goes, the facility was shut down just before the Second Impact.
It is likely - according to the information available - that this former laboratory has been converted to serve as a base of operations for MARI. Satelite data and covert reconnaisance filled in the other blanks. There are several entry points, heavily concealed, and probably a few more ways to access the base that they haven't located yet. There also appears to be a defensive battery system - possibly an anti-air missile system. There are little details of the specifics, but it isn't worrying Shinji.
He has gone over the data, the schematics, the blueprints. It feels oddly strange, facing off against a human adversary. Thoughts conflict in the Third Child's mind.)
Shinji: (thinking) Most of those people in there are just like Hyuga and Shigeru and Maya. They don't deserve to die for doing their jobs.
Shinji: (thinking) But Unit 01 can shrug off anything they can throw at me. (pause) It's never been that way before. It was always us fighting off the monsters..
Shinji: (thinking) Have I become the monster? I never understood why the Angels did what they did. Did the Angels have a cause worth fighting for? Do I?
Shinji: (thinking) What will we do if we lose? What will we do if we win?
Misato: Shinji?
Shinji: I'll have to manage, Misato. Let's do this.
Misato: Okay. (to Hyuga) Approach from the west at thirty thousand, directly over the central complex. (to Shinji) We'll release you on a drop trajectory. You ready?
(So many worries, so many concerns. So much confusion. But the operation ahead, what he has to do, suddenly seems so simple.
He remembers the cool blankness of Rei as she rose to her feet, looking out across the dark field. It was time for the operation to begin, Unit 01 kneeling beside Unit 00; the prototype had been orange back then.
He remembers the disturbing confidence of Asuka as she stood, throwing one arm wide towards "her" Unit 02, looking down at Shinji as if he were some sort of bug.
He remembers Touji's limp body being lifted from the crushed entry plug of Unit 03, the strange calm that had surrounded Kaworu Nagisa during the single synch test that he had undergone, the expression on Lyn's face as he watched his fellow pilots try his tea.
All that.. and now this.)
Shinji: (thinking) Whatever happens, I'll have to deal with it as it comes.
(The thought is comforting.
All the preparations have been made, and there is nothing left to to be done except what is ahead of him.
The Third Child is certain.)
Shinji: Yes.
--------------------------------------------------
(Evangelion Unit 01 is visible on their radar screens the moment it falls free of the delta wing's radar-cloaked body. Alarms scream within the facility. Personnel are alerted to their stations.
Automatic systems are assessing the threat before the personnel are aware of the intrusion into their airspace. Target recognition computers compare the falling giant to target profiles stored in their data bases. Within seconds there is a match: an Evangelion. The system immediately responds.
Sand and dirt is forced aside, falling in a heavy shower as the weapon battery opens its protective jaws. Within, peeking out from its armored station, is a anti-air missile launcher. Nearly a kilometer away another system activates, pointing its muzzle upwards towards the falling threat. Further away is another, likewise rising from the earth. All together there are four missile batteries, each capable of unloading dozens of warheads in seconds.
They fire.
Missiles streak upwards, trailing white vapour as they rise towards the falling target. Converging from the four corners of the base they strike the Evangelion. Warheads burst, bright light flaring for an instant before all that remains is smoke and debris, already high above the still-descending Unit 01.
The Evangelion is unaffected.
Missile after missile strikes, momentarily covering the armored giant with light and flame. And each time the blast clears, revealing Unit 01's plating to be completely unscarred. Then another missiles hits, and another, each exploding with a sharp crack. The hits mark a line of fire in the sky, blazing downwards, trailing smoke as the pilot of Unit 01 closes in on his own target.
The Evangelion smashes down into the eastmost missile system, its weight and speed sending it tearing through the launcher and down into its foundations. Metal is shredded in its path, the unfired missiles detonating in their launch tubes. What little is left of the missile battery is blasted apart, pieces of flaming debris raining down over the sand and the rock.
The other missiles batteries fall silent, denied their target - for a moment. Then the dark form of Unit 01 leaps clear of the still-burning wreckage and lands in a cloud of dust.)
Shinji: I'm on the ground, going after the second launcher! Misato, get clear!
Misato: Don't worry Shinji, we've got countermeasures if they fire on us!
(But that doesn't seem likely as the personnel in the base beneath take manual control of the missile batteries. The systems are not suited to firing without a guidance system - radar and thermal guidance will not work this close to the ground, with the burning wreck of a launcher so near. But they can still aim visually. Firing without locks the missile batteries open up yet again, sending streaking white trails towards the sprinting Evangelion.
Flame, smoke and sand are blasted up into the sky. Clods of dry earth are blasted in all directions. But Unit 01 runs on, dirt and debris pattering to the desert floor all around the giant as it sprints for the nearest missile battery.
Shinji leaps, bringing his Evangelion up in an enormous arc. The Test Type's flight is too short and vicious for the radar-locking systems to kick in soon enough, and the giant smashes down into the second missile battery, reducing it to wreckage.)
Shinji: Two down, going after the third!
--------------------------------------------------
Console Operator: The target is moving towards the west missile battery!
Technician: The north missile battery is depleted! Sir, we have no more fire on the surface!
Officer: (growling) As if it would do anything anyway.
(He turns to look over his shoulder, half-expecting the Suit to be there. But he isn't; his partner in crime is meeting with Kiel, the master of SEELE. A proper audience could not be assembled on such short notice - no dark rooms or holograms, just a phone call on a secure line. The Officer doesn't expect that the old man will have anything significant to say. He and his accomplices know when the cut their losses, to let the compromised parts of their plan to fall away, lost to the enemy.
They can expect no help.)
Officer: Prepare the test plugs for activation. Double check all combat programs and protocols, but they must be operational as soon as possible.
Operator: Yes sir!
Officer: Get the technical branch. I want an estimate on when we can get the Units up and fighting on the surface.
Technician: Sir? We haven't recieved the S2 units yet. Without the engines installed, they'll be relying on onboard power reserves only and we don't have any sort of power grid.
Officer: I know.
(He looks up at the main screen of the chamber, where a tactical map shows the third of the four missile batteries flashing red - destroyed. The target, an orange marker, moves towards the only remaining defense system.)
Officer: They'll have five minutes of power. Hopefully that will be all that we need.
(The Officer doesn't know what the Suit will tell him when he finally does return from conversing with Kiel, but he can guess the gist of it.)
Officer: Begin evacuation of non-essential personnel. Keep the launch crews in place until we get the MARI squad out.
Operator: Understood sir.
Officer: Get a special weapons crew to the armory, and give them full access. There are warheads in the twenty megaton range in the high security section. I want one in the launch chamber to be carried up by a Unit inside of six minutes.
Technician: Sir?
Officer: You heard me.
Suit: (approaching) So did I.
(He turns at the man's entrance. The Suit wears an ugly expression.)
Suit: The old man didn't say anything I didn't expect. He's denying any involvement, refusing to help.
Officer: We're on our own.
Suit: It seems that way.
Officer: Let's make it that way.
(A small, odd smile comes to the Suit's face at those words.)
Suit: The go code?
Officer: Issue it. I want them dead.
--------------------------------------------------
(And it begins - the end.
Tinted windows seperate the dust and heat of the town from the cool airconditioned interior of the car. The sounds of the street, markets and motor cars, a babble of languages, are not heard within. Instead there is a faint hum as a laptop computer boots up.
Inside and out are vastly different things. Inside it is luxurious, pampered, pristine and perfect. But from the outside it is old, rusted, dented and scratched. Brown paint peels off in places, and the windows are dusty. A sleek black limosene would attract unwanted attention for the man inside, and he most certainly does not want attention.
An internet news site can be read on the laptop computer's screen. From webpage to webpage the man searches, going through his favourites list, looking through dozens of addresses, scores of news sites in several languages. This is how he starts his day, keeping up with the world.
And this is how his life ends.
Nearly a week before a device had been planted to the underside of his car. It had been specifically designed to overcome armor such as the the type concealed in the car's apparently neglected and rusty chassis. A shaped explosive charge, compact and powerful, with its own battery to insure that it would be functional for at least three months, activates.
It was designed to be ready at any moment for the detonation signal. The signal was given.
The blast tears up through the passenger compartment, shearing the vehicle into front and back halves with only flaming death between. All traffic in the street stops as the fireball rises into the air, leaving low flames and black smoke beneath it.)
--------------------------------------------------
Shinji: (panting) Got all of them!
(He turns, shifting the armored bulk of his Evangelion as he scans the desert scape.)
Shinji: Misato, I can't see any activity. No vehicles, no people..
Misato: (radio) Broadcast the message. They'll be listening.
(The Third Child activates a sub-system built in his entry plug - a system set up for this mission.
From Unit 01's loudspeaker systems a vocal message is sounded; a voice, speaking in English.)
Recording: (loudspeakers) We know the location of your base. Surrender and you will not be harmed. Begin moving your personnel out onto the surface for arrest. Do not attempt resistence or escape. The area is being monitored and anyone leaving will be intercepted.
Shinji: (to himself) I hope they listen..
(The response is almost immediate.
Sand and dirt is pushed aside as the hanger doors open. Concealed with a false coating of rock and earth, the massive alloy platforms are shifted aside by powerful hydraulic systems and reveal the hanger hidden beneath.
There is no electromagnetic launch system as there is in Tokyo-3. The blue-black Evangelion simply steps up into the sunlight, a stark shadow against the shimmering hot sands. The marks on its body are small and white, but starkly identifying.)
MARI 01
Misato: (radio) Shit! Shinji, you know what to do!
(So does the MARI Unit.
It lunges forwards in a tackle. Shinji is ready, setting his Evangelion's weight against MARI's. The two giants collide with a tremendous sound, hands locking as they grapple. Their feet shift, kicking up clouds of dust as each opponent seeks better footing.
An ebony fist draws back and slams up into Unit 01's side. Shinji grunts, jerking in the entry plug. The MARI Unit punches again, and again, forcing the purple Evangelion back, forcing Shinji to surrender ground and lose his footing.
Suddenly MARI twists free and spins, bringing one hand around in a tremendous backfist that sends Ikari reeling back. The blue-black Eva steps out of the movement with trained grace, and quickly moves after its opponent.
MARI's advance ends abruptly on the end of Unit 01's fist.
Doubled over by the incredible blow, the giant is hurled backwards. Dark armor is obscured by a cloud of sand as MARI 01 rolls with the fall, coming back up to its feet. Shinji is already there, pressing his attack.
The two giants trade blows, ducking and weaving, two forty-meter high boxers that pound on each other's armor. Ikari is pushed back by a flurry of punches, only to step aside one and land a heavy strike to MARI's side, denting the armor plating covering its ribcage. Unit 01 advances, keeping up its attacks, forcing the blue-black Evangelion to retreat. But MARI changes tactics, dropping to the ground and swinging a leg out, knocking down the Test-Type.
The two wrestle on the sand, struggling for leverage and grip, swinging their fists into each other whenever one gets the upper hand. Shinji heaves and struggles, finally tossing the blue-black Eva off his, and clambers to his feet only to catch a fist to the jaw. He stumbles back, managing to catch the next blow on his raised forearms. MARI's next blow comes slow and heavy, a massive swing that Unit 01 just manages to slip under.
Shinji clenches his fist and rams it up into his opponent's jawplate. As the enemy Eva jerks back from the blow the Test Type swings again, this time sending its balled fist around in a giant arc and ends on MARI's armored chest. The plating cracks as the Evangelion falls backwards.
The Third Child grunts, but his satisfaction is cut short as he spots movement to his side - another giant is emerging from the underground base, marked with the designation MARI 03.)
Shinji: Misato! There's another one!
--------------------------------------------------
(Two vans trap the limosene at an intersection.
One is behind the limo, stopping bumper-to-bumper to prevent the car from reversing away. The other breaks the red light and screeches to a halt in front.
The car is locked in place. There is no escape for those within.
If the driver has any thoughts of ramming the van in front they die with him. The sliding door on the side of the van open and the men inside open fire. Assault rifles spit armor-piercing ammunition, designed to defeat bullet-resistant glass. The windshield fractures, spider-web patterns rippling across it as more than sixty rounds of ammunition punch through it in less than three seconds.
Then both vans are deploying, men with armored vests and rifles pouring out, almost too many to believe that they had come in only two vehicles. A door on the limo opens, and the bodyguard that tries to climb out catches half a dozen bullets before he can even raise his pistol. Without pause the soldiers circle the car - only on one side, to prevent themselves from hitting their comrades.
They open fire, ignoring the cries of unbelieving pedestrians and the honking horns of other cars on the road.)
--------------------------------------------------
Shinji: (screaming)
(Unit 01 collides with the blue-black Eva. While his opponent is off-balance from the blow, Shinji grabs the giant and hurls him back into the still-opened hanger doors that MARI emerged from.
The metal plate tears free from its hydraulics, bending and warping around the Eva that just smashed into it. Unit 01 skids to a halt, turning back to the other MARI Unit - just in time. Shinji ducks under a whistling blow, and weaves back to avoid the second, and raises his hands to catch the third. Gripping MARI 01's arm he kicks up, hard, again and again, shattering the overlapping armor plates that cover the Eva's abdomen. Finally he settles both feet on the ground and swings his fist, cracking the blue-black giant's face-plate and sending it tumbling to the sand.
The Unit 01 stumbles fowards, grabbed from behind. The MARI 02 locks its arms around the Test Type's neck, straining and squeezing, seeking to break the vital connections between the body and the brain. Shinji clutches upwards, staggering back. He leaps rearward onto his back, letting his Evangelion's weight slam down on the MARI Unit clinging to him. The impact is deafening, armor crashing, the desert shaking as the two titans fell. The blue-black Evangelion's grip loosens and Unit 01 moves, escaping from the hold.
Both come to their feet but Shinji swings first, a hooking fist into MARI's face. He follows up the attack quickly, feeling Unit 01 move into a terrible rhythm of motion. His weight flows forwards, focused into his punches, driving the battered blue-black Eva back, blow after blow. MARI staggers back only to be struck again, and again, and finally falls.
Shinji turns, knowing the other MARI Unit would likley be up again - and sees two more Evangelions emerge from the hanger doors. More reinforcements.)
Shinji: (disbelief) How many do they have?
--------------------------------------------------
(The man rocks back in his chair.
Floor-to-ceiling windows provide a beautiful view - green on green, stretching out over the privately-owned hillside. For a man who values his privacy - and secrecy - this seems a bit extravagant. Of course the hillside is not just privately owned, but tightly guarded day and night. Remotely operated cameras and security teams monitor the area and keep it secure.
The man rocks back in his chair - upholstered, comfortable, expensive. Before him is a terminal, keyboard and mouse, seeming very bland and simple for a state-of-the-art computer system. Most of it is hidden in the desk, connected to the home network and through it to the internet.
The man rocks back in his chair, looking in faint surprise at the small hole in the floor-to-ceiling window directly in front of him. A few slivers of broken polymer drift down from the hole, set at chest-height for a sitting man. By then, the bullet has completed its journey through his chest, out the back of his seat and into the wall behind him.
The bullet was super-sonic; the sound of the gunshot arrives nearly two seconds later. It occurs to the man that the floor-to-ceiling windows is bullet resistent, and that the countryside around his home is secure. Was secure. Something in his chest hurts - he doesn't both to look down and see the blood. It occurs to him that he pays too much for his security.
Then it occurs to him, as he sees the flash of the second shot, that with enough planning and resources any obstacle can be overcome.
A second hole appears in the glass. The shot hits him in the face.)
--------------------------------------------------
(MARI Units 04 and 02 emerge with rifles. They open fire.
Unit 01 leaps skywards, his arcing course traced with streaking slugs. Shinji lands in an explosion of dust and sand only to leap aside, using the cloud of debris as cover as even more shots seek him out.
Bullets bite into the dirt, throwing up clods of soil. They zip past as Unit 01 weaves and dodges and leaps, the pilot making himself as difficult a target as he can. He briefly takes shelter behind the smoking ruins of a devastated missile battery, hearing a few shots crunch into the warped alloy before the two MARI Units cease fire.)
Shinji: (to himself) They'll run out of ammo sooner or later..
(Unit 01 peeks its armored head around the corner and pulls in back just in time to not get it shot off. Slugs tear meter-wide gouges in the side of what had used to be a missile launcher.)
Shinji: Sooner, I hope.
(But the brief glance was enough. He knows where they are.
Evangelion Unit 01 clears the smoking missile battery with a giant leap. Before Shinji can even reach the peak of his jump he can hear and see gunfire, tracers burning towards him, left and right and above and below, as he guides his Eva's fall onto on of the MARI Units.
Both feet smash down on MARI 03's rifle, shattering it. Landing in a crouch, Shinji swipes his fist into the Eva's head and smashes it to the ground - only to be shot.
A burst of fully-automatic fire tears through Unit 01's chest plate and into tissue and bone beneath. Shinji stumbles backwards, gasping and choking as for a moment his lungs refuse to work. He slumps back, his Evangelion sinking to the ground. It is a small consolation that MARI 04's assault rifle clicks empty.
The four MARI Units converge.
MARI 04 swings its rifle like a club, the weapon stopping abruptly in the grip of Unit 01. Shinji screams as he pulls his opponent from its feet and swings him bodily into the ground.
Another MARI Unit - they never seemed to stay down - leaps forward and struck, a kick that knocks Unit 01 to the desert floor. Red escapes in spurts through his armor. Shinji rolls to his feet and catches the next kick, locking his hands around his adversary's ankle and hurling him away. The dark-armored Eva sails a full two hundred meters before crashing down in a cloud of dust.
Then Ikari finds himself trying to hold off a dozen blows at once as the other two MARI Units attack from two angles. Arms lock around his shoulders as MARI 01 grabs him from behind. The other drives his fists into his stomach, punching him again and again. It adjusts its aim, cracking Unit 01's faceplate with powerful blows.
Shinji jerks and gasps in the entry plug, his eyes clenching shut as his vision blurs. He wrestles against the Eva holding him, straining and grunting. The MARI Unit in front of him is a shadowy shape, blurring and flickering as it hits him again and again. Two more dark shapes approach from either side, the other two Evangelions.
He can vaguely hear Misato through the stunning blows.)
Misato: (radio) Shinji! Shinji, you've got to move!
--------------------------------------------------
(His mobile phone rings.
The teams aren't meant to contact each other like this. It's too dangerous. A call could be monitored. Both groups could be compromised. The man takes a breath, ignoring the synthesized ringing sound, and looks across the room.
The man at the computer is looking back at him. The monitor shows a number of camera views - a car parked in the street, another car, another.. the target's vehicle, an escort car, and the car that gave away the other team.
They're too close to each other. The two targets are too close. The teams are almost on top of each other.
He pulls out his mobile and answers.)
Man: Yes?
Voice: Secure?
Man: Yes.
Voice: (phone) Our team is in position.
Man: Our target is in there.
Voice: So is ours.
(The target's car is parked outside a news agent. He had stopped off for something - newspaper, ciggerettes, gum, instant lottery tickets, pornography, it didn't matter. He will be dead before he can pay at the register. He should be dead. He should be dead already. The signal was given. They should have moved in, but the other team was there.
Too many men in one room, not knowing who was who. A fellow agent mistaken for one of the target's bodyguards, a wounded man escaping in the wrong car.. it's a recipe for disaster.)
Man: What do you mean by "in position"? You've got a car out front?
(He could see the car on the computer screen, driver waiting, engine running. He could have been just a guy waiting for a friend to go in and pick up the paper.)
Voice: I mean we have a man in the room. He'll do it.
Man: Does he know what our man looks like?
Voice: (surprised) You have an agent inside too?
(He shuts his eyes. All it would take was one little mistake.)
Man: No. Does your agent know what our target looks like?
Voice: Affirmative. Our team reviewed his profile when you contacted us last week-
Man: (interrupting) When he came into town, I know. Your man can do it? What's the status?
Voice: One guard inside. Pistol, suppressed. Only one possible witness, the cashier. The targets are in the back of the store.
(A moment's hesitation.)
Man: We'll withdraw our men to the north end of the street. If you need an escape route, we'll cover you in that direction.
Voice: Right. (pauses) Thanks.
(The screen doesn't show the deaths of the two SEELE members. It only shows a man leaving the store, bobbing his head to a tune only he can hear through his headphones, his hands deep in his pockets. He walks off one of the computer displays-
-and into another, opening a car door and climbing in. The car pulls out of its parking space and heads down the street, leaving two corpses in the newsagency behind.)
--------------------------------------------------
(Shattered armor. Blood oozing between broken plating. Fractured bone. Vision blurring, ears ringing. Blows pounding away, beating at him, bloodying him further, wearing him down into the darkness. Hands working at his armor, trying to open him up, to find his vitals. I don't want to die.
The pain and helplessness fades in a wash of background noise, bringing relief and calm. Fear subsides. He no longer feels that twinge at the tone in Misato's voice as she calls out to him, urging him to do something, anything, please.
The gleaming eyes of his opponents no longer hold any concern for him.)
Shinji: ..
(The feeling that had passed over him before the battle returns again - a sense of calm. The world simplifies, away from the complex notions of pain and humiliation and the fear of death, down to the very basics of battle. He must win. They are too many, they are too strong, they are too fast.
But-
But-
But-)
-(flashback)- Missiles streak in, harmlessly impacting on the body of the 3rd Angel.
-(flashback)- Kaworu: Because the heart feels pain so easily, it's easy to think that life is pain.
-(flashback)- His hand comes down in a claw, tearing four gashes across the 14th Angel's chest - despite never coming close enough to strike.
-(flashback)- Kaji: But have you found what brings you pleasure? Then it isn't so bad.
-(flashback)- He pulls the trigger, wanting, hoping, knowing with all his heart and mind that he must strike the target. Ayanami fills his mind, her Evangelion shimmering with heat as it burns under the blazing eye of the distant Angel.
-(flashback)- Aoi: Something you thought should happen.. and it happened.
(And it happened.
Reality - physical law, the immutable truth of Shinji's world - wasn't. He had seen it again and again.
An N2 mine, a weapon powerful enough to level a city, was not enough to destroy an Angel - or an Evangelion. The powerful rendered impotent, worthless, because its target didn't exist in the same way. The weapons of man, from N2 mines to tanks and artillery and missiles and torpedos, all made so utterly pointless; unless guided by an Evangelion, unless an Eva took the weapon into their hands and used it, wanted it.
Unless the Evangelion wanted something to die. Unless the Eva knew it should die.)
-(flashback)- Misato: We don't need a pilot with that attitude!
(And the rules of Shinji's world - not physical rules, but simple facts of life that, until recently, had been just as solid and immutable as any rule based on science - had been broken so many times, and so recently.)
-(flashback)- Asuka Langley Sorhyu holds him, grinning.
(Two years ago it would have been impossible. A year ago it would have been impossible. He just wasn't the sort of person anyone could love - it was a truth he had accepted. He hadn't liked it, but he had understood. But now...)
Shinji: (weakly) I..
(As an Evangelion, the thing that made those things possible was Unit 01's AT field.
As a boy, the thing that made those things possible was his heart.
He had changed. Shinji Ikari, vulnurable son of an uncaring father, had become Shinji Ikari, Evangelion pilot - someone who was able to tell Asuka that he loved her.
And suddenly Shinji has something else that he wants to be. He wants to be someone who will return to Japan - not to run away, but to return. He wants to come back after a victory, and be there in the future to watch Asuka win her battles, and come to him smirking and satisfied and smug. He wants so very badly to see those expressions on her face again.
He wants to watch Tenkei grow up, watch him fill out beside Rei. He wants to watch her reactions to the boy, to see they become together. He wants to see Asuka and Rei speaking like they have been recently, he wants to see them as friends. He wants to see Kensuke piloting an Eva, touching his dream. He wants to see Touji pilot like anyone else, despite his arm and his leg, to somehow unmake what has been done to him.
He wants to be the person who will be there to see it all. He wants to be Shinji Ikari.
And for a brief time, Shinji Ikari ceases to exist. He doesn't vanish. He isn't consumed by Unit 01. He simply stops being the person we know.
Shinji Ikari, a boy beset by complicated relationships and unanswerable problems and stressful school and unreachable parents and unsolvable mysteries stops existing. Instead, there is Shinji Ikari - the boy that, for a moment at least, he wants to be.
Shinji achieves something he never realized he wanted - to change himself.)
--------------------------------------------------
(They feel the moment.
Both look up at the ceiling of the girl's small room. Outside the threadbare home there is silence - most of the personnel have already evacuated. The boy and the girl are alone, and are the first to sense the subtle change.)
Rei: When?
Tenkei: Soon. (staring upwards) Very soon.
--------------------------------------------------
(Unaware of what has just happened, men on the other side of the world struggle to carry out their orders.)
Voice: (radio) He's coming out!
Agent: Shit! What exit?
Voice: (radio) Level three, far north, by the escalator!
(The two men run, soles of their shoes banging on the concrete as they head down the parking lot ramp. A car turns towards them and they split up to avoid it. They reach the floor below and turn.)
Agent: (pointing) That way! (to radio) How long do we have?
(The voice he hears through his earpiece is urgent.)
Voice: (radio) He's twenty meters from the exit, but he's going slow.
(The two men are running for an entrance to the shopping mall. It is suprisingly hot in the underground parking lot, smelling of cars and hot concrete. The occassional breeze of air-conditioning that escapes the automatic doors of the mall is eaten up by the heat.)
Voice: (radio) If you don't get him, I'm moving in.
Agent: (panting) Don't! We're nearly there!
(They run between rows of parked cars, crossing narrow aisles where slow-moving cars patrol in search of free spaces. The exit is in sight - doors open, a woman walks out.
She's not the target.)
Voice: Five meters, where are you??!
(They pause to one side of the entrance, checking their weapons. The agent grunts a little - the strap that holds his submachinegun concealed beneath his coat has dug into him uncomfortably.)
Agent: In position.
(In position as best as they can, anyway. He'd prefer to have one on either side of the door, catching the target and his bodyguards in the crossfire. But it's too late for that now.
The man comes out, shouldered by his two guards. They don't even see the two killers until after they open fire.
The range is short - they fire fully-automatic. Red erupts across backs and shoulders. Hands lift to defend against the pain. They shatter, bone and flesh and blood.
They don't stop firing until the three men are down and have stopped moving. Blood begins to seek the small gutters in the parking lot, dark and heavy and slow.)
Agent: (to radio) We got him. Move back-
(His partner is already firing on the car that has stopped at the entrance - the target's chaffuer. Half a dozen bullets punch through the driver's side windshield, white circles against the tinted glass. The car's horn begins to blow as the man inside slumps against the wheel.
The agent is reloading his weapon, pocketing the half-empty magazine, when he sees the girl staring at him and his partner - the girl who they had passed a moment earlier. Frozen in mid back-step, trying to move away from the blood and violence that had erupted and ended so suddenly, the girl's eyes are locked on him as he looks up at her.
It takes him a moment to decide not to kill her. It doesn't matter that she's seen them - they'll be out of the country in under an hour.)
--------------------------------------------------
(With a slow, sickening sound, Unit 01 frees its arms from the grip of the MARI Unit behind it.
Blood erupts from the rent shoulders of the blue-black Evangelion, spraying upwards for a bare second like unholy wings before fading, falling. MARI 01 still weakly clings to Unit 01, black shoulder plates ruptured and open to revealing torn flesh and bone beneath. Only a moment before it had been holding the Test Type in a seemingly unbreakable grip. That grip was broken by an impossible, unstoppable motion.
The battered Unit 01 straightened, letting the shattered form of MARI 01 sink to the ground, limp and lifeless.)
Console Operator: I'm receiving a triple-failure from MARI One!
Officer: Isolate the failing systems and reactivate with backup systems!
Technician: Sir there's no data feedback coming from any of the Units!
Suit:
What?
Technician: We're recieving operational update data, but they're not acknowledging any commands or responding to signals!
Operator: The system isn't recognizing the activation command! MARI One is unresponsive!
Officer: Something's blocking our transmissions, preventing the Units from recieving orders?
Suit: An AT field? Unit One? Another Eva?
--------------------------------------------------
Bodyguard: Stay down!
(A hand shoves his head down, forcing him to stay behind cover. The man cowers as he feels the table shake from bullet impacts. Something falls onto his head, a powdery shower, probably plaster from the ceiling. He's not sure - the lights were the first thing that they hit, leaving them nearly blind.
He can't hear the shots from outside; the attackers are using suppressed weapons, inaudible over the ripping, splintering sound of slugs thumping into the overturned table that he and the bodyguard have taken cover behind.
The man beside him returns fire, emptying the magazine of his pistol and quickly reloading.)
Bodyguard: (to mikeset) Report status! Report! Anyone?
Man: ..
Bodyguard: Shit! (fires)
(A black-clad man falls in the doorway, red erupting from his chest. It takes another three shots before he finally collapses. As if in response, more bullets zip through the open door and the broken window, forcing the bodyguard back down behind cover.)
Bodyguard: There must be at least a dozen of them. We've got to move to the garage, get the car.
Man: (silent)
Bodyguard: Listen to me! We're going to move!
(His employer slumps to one side, staring. As he slides to the floor, his suddenly bloody jacket peels away from the table to reveal bullet holes.
The bodyguard stares down at the corpse, knowing that it is only a matter of seconds before they get him too.)
--------------------------------------------------
Officer: (staring) This.. is impossible.
(He has seen men fighting - from clueless scuffles on the streets, where opponents lunge and swing and kick and bite without balance or leverage and the first man who falls loses in a hail of kicks, to the close-quarter combat training given to special forces, where no blow is wasted and each fighter is at the peak of physical performance.
The dummy-plug programming that controls the movements of the MARI Units is practical, direct - a professional form of hand-to-hand combat. Only a moment before it had been extremely effective, trapping Unit 01 and its pilot. But now...
The Officer is not the first to see an Evangelion do the impossible. This is just a different kind of impossibile.
NERV's Test Type Evangelion isn't moving like a fighter. It hasn't got the right stance, the right rhythm. Its guard is too low one second, too high the next. In all, it is exactly what they had expected - a human pilot far more accustomed to engaging non-human adversaries.
And yet no one can touch him. Unit 01 blocks or parries or evades everything that the three MARI Units can throw at it. No punch or kick or tackle or swipe connects. And everything that Shinji Ikari does works.
With inhuman grace and speed, MARI 03 leaps into the air and comes down foot first on Unit 01, almost too fast for the Officer to watch on the screen. And yet the human pilot inside that beast is ready, grabbing the incoming foot and twisting, throwing the blue-black Evangelion into the desert floor with a tremendous eruption of dust and dirt. The other MARI Units close in, for a moment enciricling the Evangelion, but the purple armored giant slips out of their grasp and strikes again.)
Officer: (shaking head) The way he's moving.. this isn't right.
Suit: Where is MARI Five?
Technician: Active and approaching the launch bay. It'll be on the surface in-
Suit: (interrupting) Delay the launch until we can get the weapon into its hands.
Technician: Sir - the warhead?
Suit: Yes.
(The man in uniform shuts his eyes for a moment.)
Officer: Send the orders and then evacuate with the others, son. We'll run the rest.
(There is genuine gratitude on the younger man's face.)
Technician: Yes sir.
--------------------------------------------------
(The limosene circles the roundabout and straightens up, heading at a slow pace towards its destination. Ahead of it drives a plain car, and another behind - security detail.
There isn't much traffic on the streets at this hour - maybe 2 pm - making the three cars the only movement on the roads. The limo glides down the street, taking a corner.
It pulls up by the curb - the two shadowing cars stop ahead and behind - and the passenger door opens. A man climbs out, straightening his suit, and falls as the bullet shatters his skull.)
--------------------------------------------------
Misato: (to radio) Shinji! Shinji!
(Escorted by stealth fighters, the delta wing transport slowly circles high above the battle. Sophisticated sensors scan the surface, trying in vain to glean information from the battling Unit 01.)
Hyuga: (from cockpit) He can't hear you Major, nothing is getting through into that field! I can't get recognition signals from any of the subsystems!
Misato: What about the standard data flow? What's going on inside that entry plug?
Hyuga: We'll need to encrypt and transmit the data back to the MAGI to be sure-
Misato: What can we know now? What's his life signs, synch ratio?
Hyuga: Unit One is still transmitting status reports.. I'm putting them on your screen Major!
(The tactical display which shows the positions of Unit 01 and its opponents - who are slowly but surely being beaten back by the Test Type and its unresponsive pilot - shrinks as another display takes its place. Misato stares at the vital signals of the Third Child, heart rate, harmonics, synch ratio...
Her eyes freeze on the last.)
Misato: (breathes) ..what..?
(It is one. Not eighty percent, not one hundred percent, not four hundred percent. Just one. Two as one.)
--------------------------------------------------
(He is waiting for the elevator, straightening his green coat idly. When a middle-aged man enters the elevator lobby through the front entrance, flanked by a pair of strangely bulky men in suits and earpieace microphones, he barely even turns.
They escort their employer to the bank of elevators, watching the room cautiously. Their boss checks his watch. The man in the green coat lifts his eyebrows at the sight of the two bodyguards, but doesn't say anything. Instead he looks upwards, towards the level indicators.
The express lift is coming down.
The man in the green coat whistles, mostly tuneless, and gives up after a bar or two. The pair of bodyguards just off his shoulder would put anyone off-key.
Not long now. Nearly here.
Other security men have already gone upstairs, checking the meeting room, making sure their employer will be safe.
A tone sounds out, and the elevator doors open. Immediately the bodyguards and their boss board the lift. One of the suited security men turns, raising his hand to the man in the green coat as he tries to follow. The message is clear. Back off.)
Man: (hesitating) Uh. Well, I guess I'll, uh, take the next one?
(The bodyguard doesn't even bother to nod. The man in the green coat steps back, his expression glum.
The other listens to his earpiece before pressing the level button. For security reasons the specific floor the meeting is being held on has been kept secret until the last moment.
And at the last moment, the man in the green coat extends his hand towards the closing elevator doors. From his outstretched fingers, tumbling slowly, is a primed grenade.
It slips in the elevator and the doors shut behind it. The man covers his ears and carefully steps to one side of the elevator-
The explosion tears the doors from their housings and sends them bouncing into the lobby. A plume of smoke and flame belches out as the elevator jerks and screeches, its emergency brakes locking into place. Almost immediately the fire alarm goes off, but any response will be far too late to save this member of SEELE.)
--------------------------------------------------
(Everything is over.
It seems so simple, so painless when he thinks about it that way. The Suit doesn't even bother to check the readouts feeding in from the Mass Production Evanelion series. If he had, he would have seen critical failures, systems shutting down, subsystems refusing to activate..
Unit 01 is killing them, one at a time. Without effort, without struggle. He shouldn't be able to. Shinji Ikari shouldn't be able to do this.
A
blur of expert blows dart at the Evangelion as a MARI Unit closes in.
Every one of them - every last one - is blocked, parried or evaded.
A single blow from Unit 01 shatters the blue-black Evangelion's face
plate and sends it spinning to the ground in a clatter of broken
armor and a cloud of dust.
The Officer's doubts had been correct - the MARI Units are, or perhaps it should be were - lacking something. The very thing that made them so perfect and dangerous and disciplined, their programming, was limiting in itself. Whatever else the dummy plugs are, they are operated by computers running programs, not by humans.
What makes Unit 01 special is not its soul. It is not the soul of the pilot, or that of the Eva, if such a thing exists. It is not some mystical melding of the two. It is not even the fact that Unit 01 is operated by a conscious human while the MARI Units are controlled by computers.
What MARI lacks is what SEELE lacks. It is what Gendo Ikari lacked as he yearned to be melded with Unit 01, forcing himself and his lost wife into union. It is what the Officer and the Suit lacked when they forged their pact with Kiel Lorenze.
It is trust.
Misato Katsuragi trusts her pilots. She is willing to trust Shinji, Asuka, Rei and Lyn with the incredible power of an Evangelion. Yes, she has doubts. She knows her pilots - her friends - are not without their flaws. But she gives them their own room, gives them a degree of freedom.
SEELE, however, could never trust a human pilot with an Evangelion. From the very beginning the dummy plug systems were their goal - to decieve the Evas into synchronization, to create gods that would obey their every command without fail. And there lies the flaw.
A computer cannot be allowed to change itself - it cannot alter its own programming. To allow such a thing would give it the ability to change its own rules, to disobey orders, and that is something SEELE could never allow. And so what Shinji Ikari has just done is something forever beyond their capability.
Only one MARI Unit remains, the last of its internal power supply trickling away as Unit 01 turns to face it.)
Officer: Your key.
(And now everything has been for nothing - every struggle, every battle, every moment they spent bringing MARI about has come to nothing, because of something they had not been told; something that, even at the last moment, they could not have understood.)
Suit: Alright.
(They unlock the final safety protocols for the warhead. In the launch chamber hundreds of meters away, the last battle-ready MARI Evangelion lifts the weapon from its protective case and clutches it in both hands.)
--------------------------------------------------
Agent: (urgent) Where's the street?
Driver: It's just ahead on the right-
Agent: Hurry up! The show ended two minutes ago. He's on the move.
(The driver squints through the snow.)
Driver: I know, I know.
Agent: Step on it, dammit!
(The car coasts along the icy road, slow despite the agent's urging. They can't risk a crash.
The driver reads the street name, translating the sign from Russian.)
Driver: (turning wheel) Here.
Agent: I'm seeing people moving.. (rummages around in the back seat) must be coming out of the show.
Driver: What are you doing? What are you doing?
Agent: (rummaging)
Driver: Shit, no, you're not.
(The agent finally frees the shotgun from the bag in the back seat. He chambers a shell.)
Driver: Not this. We need a plan.
Agent: (thumbing in another shell) No time.
Driver: (shaking head) This is bad.
Agent: We're here. Stop the car.
Driver: This is bad, we can't do it like this.
Agent: Stop the car. Stop the car.
Driver: There must be a dozen people on the street! We can't do it this way!
Agent: We've got to move now! Stop the car!
(They stop. A row of parked cars separate them from their target: an old man walking with the assitance of a cane, flanked by a pair of plainclothes security agents. Three men, among a crowd of people leaving the theatre. Breath steams in the cold night air.
There is no skill or grace involved. There is no plan. The agent simply climbs out of his side of the car, levels the shotgun and starts firing.
One man shoves his boss to the snow-covered pavement and catches a chest full of tungsten buckshot for his trouble. The other guard drops to the ground, one hand slipping out of his coat pocket with a pistol. As he hits the snow he fires, and fires again. The shotgun roars in response, smoking cases spinning through the air. The windows of the car between them crack and shatter. People are screaming.
The agent falls, dropping the shotgun as he presses one hand to the red spreading across his stomach. He crawls to one side, keeping the parked car between him and the second bodyguard. The road is freezing. His free hand digs into his pocket. He finds his sidearm, a short-barreled compact pistol, and twists on the ground to aim beneath the car. The only targets he has are feet and ankles. Wait, someone kneeling, being pulled up.)
Bodyguard: (shouting) Move!
(The man's order becomes a scream of pain as a bullet shatters the bones of his right foot. He falls, clutching the wound, as the killer rises up from the other side of the car and fires. It takes another four shots to silence the bodyguard, the last in the head. A wounded man can still shoot to kill.
But his employer, the real target, is on the run.
His cane dropped behind, he moves with in a half-run, half-stagger, limping heavily every time he places weight on his left leg. But still he is moving fast, and the wounded agent has a bullet in his stomach. He aims and fires, the compact pistol jumping in his hand. He misses. Half hunching over the wound in his belly, he takes another shot. Square in the back.
The old man throws his arms up and staggers, his feet failing him. He half-slumps across the bonnet of a parked car, leaving a bloodied streak as he slides off. But still he is moving, his hands clawing at the snow as he tries to haul himself to his feet. His movements speed up as a bullet strikes the snow beside him, throwing up a tiny pillar of white. He claws to his feet, the simple drive to live pushing his bleeding body on. He shuffles between two parked cars, using them for cover as he heads out into the street. A bullet strikes the windshield of the car before him.
The agent curses at the locked slide of his pistol - empty. He staggers down the pavement, trying to keep the SEELE man in view. With a grunt of pain he removes his bloodied hand from his stomach wound and reaches into his coat pocket, searching for a spare magazine. He looks up, catching sight of the target as he stumbles across the road-
A car slams into him, flipping him over the hood and onto the icy asphalt. He bounces and slides to a halt, half-rolling, his limbs twisted. Ahead, the car stops and honks its horn. The agent grimaces. The driver, his partner, had decided to take matters into his own hands.
The agent awkwardly drops the empty mag out of his pistol and begins to reload. He heads out between the parked vehicles, into the main street, and lurches towards the car. In his path in the still-breathing form of his target.
He stops, standing above the old man, and sights down his pistol. He fires twice, turning his face an unrecognizable red. Only then does he stagger to the waiting car.)
Driver: You're hit!
Agent: (slamming door shut) Drive, now!
--------------------------------------------------
(Broken pieces of armor litter the field.
The final MARI Unit gouges a ditch twenty meters wide and nearly a kilometer long, lifting a line of sand and dust high into the air. Unit 01 relaxes from the final blow, straightening.
Shinji Ikari doesn't look for any more opponents. He sits in the entry plug, his hands limp against the butterfly handles, his eyes staring, unfocused. His entire experience within the plug - the plugseat, his suit, the tactical displays in the interior of the entry plug - are being blanketed out by the experience flowing through the neural link from Unit 01.
The mechanical intent of the MARI Units is gone. In the final moments of the fight, as the entry plug faded completely from his perception, Shinji had felt their will, their thoughts, their intent to hurt him. It had been.. rigid, unchanging, direct. Limited. It had felt unnatural. Compared to the flicker of emotion, the shift and sway of feeling, the change he has seen in his friends, the MARI Units were a dull monotone of must do.
He doesn't know exactly what he has done. Shinji isn't aware that he has done anything. But now he believes that he can win. Now he knows that he can win. And if all his experiences as an Evangelion pilot should teach him anything at all, it is that this belief is all that matters.
That and a high synch ratio.)
Misato: (radio, faint) Shinji! Shinji, respond! Can you hear me?
(Very slowly the voice impinges on his consciousness, breaking into the tiny world created by his AT field. As long as he fought, as long as the strike and dodge and lunge and retreat of combat occupied him, all else had been blocked out. But without opponents, he finds himself searching for something else - and Misato's voice intrudes.)
Shinji: (soft) ..Misato?
Misato: (radio) We can't get any commands through! You have to cap your synch ratio now before something happens!!
Shinji: My.. synch ratio?
Misato: Use the manual systems on the right of the handles! Set yourself to eighty-five! Shinji, do it!
Shinji: Handles.. I can't see them..
(All he can see the is the battlefield. His vision is filled only with what Unit 01 sees. The interior of the entry plug, essentially a sensory-deprivation tank to assist synchronization, is beyond his perception. All Shinji has is what the neural link feeds to him from the Evangelion.
A new enemy is coming. He can feel it, the same mechanical purpose and intention that he had felt in the other MARI Units. Coming from the hanger bay doors. He turns to the new threat.
This Evangelion - the last of the armored monsters that the men below could muster to throw at Unit 01 - does not attack. It does not fall into the same combat stance as the others. It does not bring ranged weapons to fire upon the invader.
It carries, cradled in its arms, a nuclear weapon.
There is no warning, no countdown. The device simply explodes, turning everything into white and shock and pain.)
--------------------------------------------------
(The girl looks up at Tenkei.)
Rei: Now?
(And the room is destroyed.)
--------------------------------------------------
(Only a few final thumps of suppressed weapons fire sound out. Fleeing men fall, shot in the back as they run through the brush and foliage.
The attack was swift and well planned. The attackers' casualties were light. The defenders' were not. Security agents lie here and there, hands clutched at weapons. Blood congeals on grass outside, and on carpets and hardwood floors inside. Here and there is the black-clad form of a special forces soldier, lying among the dead.
The soldiers move in, black shapes advancing room to room, remaining tightly co-ordinated with observers outside. They know their target is still in the building. One by the one the rooms are silently breached and checked. Through their radio links each team knows what to do, where to go, and who they are looking for. Eyes assisted by nightvision optics scour each chamber.
The search narrows. Some soldiers are left behind at doors and corners, covering corridors with their weapons, ensuring that the target doesn't double back behind them. Others advance, closing in.)
Kiel: (softly) Where are they..?
(He is seated at his terminal, his eyes on the small screen before him. Numbers should be flashing there - 02, 04, 10 - showing that they are responding to his call. Voices should sound out as they use their phones, or for more serious meetings, holograms should manifest in this dark chamber.
The room is enclosed, soundproof, shut off from the world outside. The communication systems he has at his disposal are state of the art, heavily encrypted, and utterly silent. Communication and power have been cut. The assault was planned with incredible detail. Even the backup generator and the satelite connection have been shut down. The only light in the room is from a small pocket torch, set down on the table. The screen before Kiel is dark, dead.
He hears the door open. He raises his eyes to see the soldier move into the room, a black shape against a black background. The weapon trains on him.
For a moment he stares at the weapon, down the sights at the soldier about to shoot him.)
Kiel: That won't kill me.
(The moment ends with a suppressed gunshot. In the dim light, the blood that bursts from the old man's chest is black. He twitches, his wheeled chair rolling back slightly. More bullets bite into his chest, his stomach, his head. Finally he stops moving, just on the edge of the circle of light created by the torch on the table.
The soldier advances, while more men come into the room. They spread out, following the walls, securing the chamber. A man kneels at the terminal, quickly unplugging the computer system. Soon it will be torn open, the hard drive recovered for later decryption.)
Soldier: (to radio) Got him, working on the computer. Five minutes and we'll be on our way out.
--------------------------------------------------
(The delta-wing lurches in mid air, systems failing. A massive charge of electrical energy blasts out through the air, radiating up from the explosion. The transport craft and its escorts have been hardened and shielded against EMP, but such defenses only go so far.)
Misato: (shouting) What the hell?!? That was nuclear?
(Dust is lifted from the desert floor in a rapidly expanding circle. The shockwave tears outward, the missile batteries obliterated in an instant.
Beneath the storm thrown up by the blast, the desert is sinking. The base beneath the sand collapses under the force of the explosion, a massive depression slowly pressing down into the desert. But above, all is fire and force and light and burning sand.
The fireball rises, white turning to yellow, yellow to red, and red to grey-black as flame transforms into smoke. What is left of the base is buried beneath hundreds of tons of sand, turned to glass under the blaze of the nuclear inferno. What little of the compound had been above the surface - the missile turrets, the open hanger doors - are nowhere to be seen. They had been shattered by the blast, pulled up by nuclear winds, melted and vapourized and scattered in the rising mushroom cloud. MARI Units 01 through 05 are gone. There is nothing, not a scrap of armor or chunk of flesh, not so much as a footprint in the sand to mark their existence. The ground glows red hot.)
Misato: (radio) Shinji.
(The sensors come back online, screens lighting up one after another. Readouts come up - but none from Unit 01.)
Misato: Shinji.
(There is no sillouhetted figure against the blaze. There is no Evangelion triumphantly striding out of the inferno.)
Misato: Shinji, answer me.
(Her eyes scan through the readouts, zooming in on Unit 01's last known position, looking for something, anything. The battered form of an Evangelion. A flare from an ejected entry plug.)
Misato: Shinji, respond now!
Hyuga: Major, NERV is communicating with the US military, trying to keep an incident from developing. They're not having much luck, they've gotten news of the blast.
Misato: (to radio) Come on, Shinji, call back..
Hyuga: They want us to pick up our equipment and leave their airspace. Major?
Misato: Damnit Shinji, respond!
--------------------------------------------------
(Hours later. A world away.
It doesn't really matter what time it is. It might be morning. It might be midday. It might be midnight. The news would have kept her awake.
Misato hasn't gotten home yet - but word of the mission has.
The television is on, left on the same channel, at the same volume, as when she had abandoned it to answer the phone. She had stayed near it, waiting. She hadn't meant to - that would have been pathetic and she wasn't going to do that. But it wasn't as if she was going anywhere, so..
So she had picked it up on the first ring and asked. For a few seconds there had been silence on the other end - Misato hadn't been able to speak.
Now it is quiet in the apartment of Misato Katsuragi.
Pen Pen moves from fridge to living room, his short, waddling journey cut short when he is picked up.)
Pen Pen: Quaaa?
Asuka: Shut up.
(The Second Child retreats back into her bedroom, penguin in hand. The plump bird struggles and squawks, but Sohryu's voice quietens him.)
Asuka: Just.. be quiet for a second, okay?
(Something in her tone of voice tells the penguin that he won't escape that way. He ceases his struggles.
Asuka slumps down into her bed, pulling the blankets around her body, curling up with the penguin in her arms.)
Asuka: I want to tell you a story.
(Her bedroom seems to be the safest, most comforting place now. The living room just reminds her of Shinji and the times they spent there.)
Asuka: Once upon a time, there was a girl who didn't want to need anyone.
(The Second Child pauses for a moment, as if thinking about what she will say next.)
Asuka: She thought that if she needed anyone, she'd end up getting hurt. She didn't want to get hurt so she didn't allow anyone close to her.
(Then her voice shifts, a faint warmth coming into her tone.)
Asuka: Then she met a boy who was stupid and worse than she was. He wanted people to like him, but he was afraid people would hurt him instead. He didn't like who he was. He felt that he was worthless, so worthless that it didn't matter who he liked. He was stupid.
(The girl's voice becomes sing-song, reciting a short history of confusion and self-deception and discovery and annoyances and-)
Asuka: The boy and the girl hated each other. Then they liked each other. Then they didn't care. Then they were afraid of getting hurt by each other. It got really complicated and for a long time it was easier for both of them to just avoid the whole thing.
Asuka: The boy learnt things from the girl. I think he learnt that he was worth something. I think he began to feel better about himself. He learnt how to be who he wanted to be - someone who could say I love you and it would be worth something.
(There is more warmth in her voice as she says it, remembering, smiling.)
Asuka: The girl learnt things from the boy, too. She learnt that she wasn't wrong; depending on people can, and even will get you hurt. But she also learnt that it could be really nice at the same time. She learnt that it was worth the risk.
(She slows, her voice strained from holding it all back. She takes a breath and strives on.)
Asuka: Even if you lost. She didn't regret any of it.. except the parts when she should have been doing something. That's another thing the girl learnt - most of what we do is kill time. Doing nothing. But doing nothing can be good, if you do it right..
(The hardest part is still ahead - and yet, it is the easiest.)
Asuka: The girl loved the boy. The boy loved the girl. It took them a long time to get to the point where they could admit it, but.. it was worth it.
(If only that could be where she ends. If it was, she would take it. It would be perfect.
But it isn't.)
Asuka: Then the boy had to go away and do something. It was important to him, because of who he was becoming - who he wanted to be. So he went away and now it.. doesn't look like he's coming back.
(Don't say it. Don't think it. Don't, and maybe it won't hurt.)
Asuka: And that's the end of the story.
To Be Continued..