The young boy cried. Tears streamed down his reddened cheeks, and his mop of brown hair was a mess from shaking his head. His father’s grip tightened, and he was dragged through a crowd of adults, none of them looking his way. There was no sympathy for a mewling brat to be found amid the busy salarymen and commuters at the train station. He could see them passing by through his tear-soaked eyes, moving out of the way, forming a faceless tunnel that he advanced down. Anytime his feet faltered, his father increased the pressure until it hurt.

They arrived, at last, by a bench. There was no one else in the boy’s world except for his father. His stern visage looked down on the boy, devoid of emotion. There was a palpable frost in his dark brown eyes, and in his carefully controlled body language. The boy recoiled for his father’s touch, and for a moment the man hesitated. There was, for a second, a relaxing of his jaw, a softening of his brow, but it was over in that second. In the next second his father had grabbed him firmly, the grip like iron, and pulled the boy up on the bench. His father looked him squarely in the face, then shook him until the tears cleared.

His father was saying something in the cold, flat voice he had used ever since momma had disappeared. That voice scared the boy. The way his father had treated him made his mommy being absent so much scarier. She just wasn’t around, but maybe she would come back. His father had come back from not being around the day momma had disappeared but he was changed. There was no warmth, no comfort, and no love coming from the man who had replaced his poppa. There was only that frightening tone and a complete unwillingness to acknowledge the boy unless absolutely forced to.

They waited. The boy continued to cry, but he sobbed softly. He knew his father wouldn’t pay him attention. If he got too noisy he’d just upset father. But he didn’t understand what was happening and he wanted his momma back so badly. So he whimpered, and tears continued to soak into his little stripped shirt, but his father kept himself turned away from the boy.

Time passes. The boy settles down into a simper and awaits some kind of acknowledgment from his father. The man stands up, and the boy’s heart freezes. Is this it?

But his father steps away, and another man enters the boy’s world. He’s an adult, but he looks a lot younger than father. Where his father is dressed up in his cold, forbidding uniform, the new man has on a casual shirt button-down shirt and khaki pants. But the shirt isn’t buttoned properly and his hair is styled in a way to suggest the new man, the young man, hasn’t bothered brushing it. His father takes it in with the same absence of reaction that the boy had come to expect.

The younger man offers his father a hand. It is rebuffed. They speak in a strange language, and their conversation is tense, one-sided, and short. Then the younger man looks over at the boy. His face is tensed up, in clear anger, but it softens as his gaze makes his way to the boy’s face. The young man shakes his head, and anger becomes something else. He speaks sharply to the boy’s father and the boy wants to know what is going on but he doesn’t know how to ask. Father just slides his glasses back on his nose and gives a curt reply. Even the boy can recognize the conversation is over.

His father walks off. The boy doesn’t see his father take one, final glimpse at his child in the reflection of a train window. Now both of his parents are gone.

The young man comes over. He is hesitant, but he sits down with the boy. He looks at the boy again, and his face goes blank. It’s as if the young man has no idea what to say. But he sighs and gives the boy a little contact, an arm around his shoulders. A few minutes later he takes the boy aboard a departing train, and he day is the last time the boy will see his father for many years.
***********************************************************************

The boy is older. He lives in a new country and speaks a new language. It is the last day of school, and he and his classmates are having a party. Miss Fitzgerald is handing out styrofoam cups for soda and small plates for them. There are a couple of pizzas waiting on her desk, and the boy and the rest of her students were sitting at their desk ready to take them.

There is music, and after they finish eating and wash up they will watch a movie ahead of some kickball outside on a very rare sunny day. The boy doesn’t really care about being outside as much as many of his classmates, but he has a new book and it will be good to read it in the shade. But first there was greasy cheesy goodness, and the boy ate his slice of pepperoni pizza with the same relish as his peers. Indeed, while he was quiet and bookish but there was nothing to distinguish him from the rest of the students, nothing that stood out. Half the class was Asian like him, and since it was an advanced class he wasn't especially brainy either.

But he would have to stand out, for just a moment. As the class helpers began taking away the emptied plates he looked up to Miss Fitzgerald, and she nodded his way. As he stood up to make his way to the blackboard their teacher clapped her hands for attention.

“Class, Shinji has some news he wants to share with you all.”

The boy, Shinji Ikari, age nine, looked uncomfortable as their eyes shifted to him. But this was important to him and he stood up to the friendly attention.

“I'm moving to Japan this summer,” he blurted. “My dad has a new job in Tokyo-2 and we have to go there for it. I don't want to move--” His voice trailed off into a whine, but he shook it off. “I'll miss all of you, and Miss Fitzgerald.”

There were the usual responses of dismay, and the still mostly innocent gestures of condolence that marked that age just before adolescence. Shinji found himself talking with friends, and acquaintances, and even the bully he'd fought at the beginning of the year. And at the very end of the period his friend Mary came over shyly, blue eyes looking at him oddly, before throwing her arms around him and hugging him for what seemed like forever.

“You better write me, Shinji!”

The boy nods. He will.
***********************************************************************

Shinji is now twelve. He has a guitar, a gift from his dad. And he's presently strumming it outside on the steps of his new apartment. Bypassers look at him oddly. He wears the ubiquitous school uniform, but he's taken off his jacket and pulled his shirt out from his pants. He looks Japanese, but his manners all scream gaijin. And on the steps beside him is a young punk with long-hair and a worn Black Sabbath tee-shirt and scratched up jeans. He is nodding appreciatively as Shinji finishes up a rift from a song famous nearly three decades before Second Impact.

“Alright little guy, sounds like you've learned everything I can teach you.” The punk affectionately rubs the top of Shinji's head, ruffling his still-neat hair. “Keep practicing and you'll be up to touring by the time you're out of high school.” The punk smiled fondly. “You can stay out of college a couple of years and get used to fighting off the girls.”

Shinji nodded. He hadn't quite discovered girls yet but he was close to it. “Where's your new job, sensei?”

All but the title of respect came out in English. Shinji spoke Japanese, but he didn't use it if he didn't have to. His guitar lessons had come as a welcome opportunity to talk with a fellow outcast in his old tongue.

The punk shook his head. “Can't tell you, little guy. I'd have to kill you.”

Shinji stuck out his tongue. “That was old before Second Impact.”

“Yeah, it was.” The punk's face took on a serious look. “But I can't tell you. It's something really big, and for the good of the human race. Important stuff. And with the band broken up I've had to grow up.”

“Like they say my father does?” Shinji's curiosity was piqued. Everyone spoke about his father (he never thought of Gendo Ikari as his dad) as if he was a VIP, involved in some grand project. But Shinji had no idea what it was.

But the punk had heard all about that from his pupil. And, on a whim he couldn't explain later, he nodded. “Yeah, little guy. Your father's in charge of where I'm going. I'll be working with him to keep you safe.”

Shinji, despite himself, smiled a little. ”Take care.”
***********************************************************************

“So, my father wants me to come to Tokyo-3.” Shinji's voice was flat, but underneath it he was seething.

A blacked out note, with a handwritten post-it attached just telling him to “Come.” What kind of invitation was that? He knew Gendo wasn't one to spare words, or even unnecessary glances. The first time they had met in nearly a decade, at the grave of Yui Ikari on the anniversary of her death, he had spoken six times to Shinji before leaving. The arrogance, the expectation that was put behind the command to come and see him again pushed Shinji's buttons perfectly.

“I won't.” He spoke flatly but firmly. “He can go to hell. He abandoned me when I was four!” In spite of himself hot tears started forming in the corners of his eyes. “He can't even say hello or...”

Shinji trailed off as he tried to collect himself. He was in the family kitchen, and had just arrived back from school. His homework had been piled up on the table and his bookbag had been tossed haphazardly underneath it. His real dad was standing behind him, and his stepmom was holding the letter, looking it over and blanched white by the turn of events. She had never seen her son this angry before; he was normally very well behaved. But what kind of father would act the way Gendo had toward his child?

“You've got every right to be angry at him,” David Rokubungi said softly, as he placed a hand on Shinji's shoulder. “Don't think I'm not furious with him. He hasn't so much as sent a birthday card for ten years. I don't understand or know why he acted that way, or why he thought dropping off his son with me was a good idea. He can say he's too wrapped up in whatever the hell NERV does but that can't excuse his actions. If you don't want to go you don't have to.”

“I don't know.” Shinji's voice took on a nasal whine. “He gave me up. He didn't want me. Why? What did I do?”

“Nothing.” His stepmom's voice was sharp. She didn't want him going down that train of thought. “You didn't do anything Shinji.” Jennifer Rokubungi put the letter down on the table and drew the boy and his dad into a hug. “Don't ever think that. You were just a little child then. It wasn't your fault, at all.”

The tears trickled down Shinji's cheek, but he snuffled and brought himself under some emotional control. “It still hurts, mom. Why did he do it to me? I... I hate him. But I don't understand why, and maybe there was a reason.”

David sighed, and thought back to 2004. “I don't know either, Shinji. I think your father was hurting badly inside when he lost your mom. I was young and angry at the time myself so I didn't really pay attention as I should have. I don't know much about my father's side of the family but he always said they were passionate people. He might not have been able to keep you around if you reminded him too much of your mom.”

Shinji nodded. That made a kind of sense. But he picked up on something else. “Did you... did you not want to take me in? Do you resent me messing up your life?”

David pause, then laughed. “I was just out of grad school back then, and this uncle I'd never spoken to before called me up and ordered me to pick up his young son. Yeah, I wasn't happy about it. I was still pretty young and clueless at that age, but once there I saw how you were hurt. I didn't have a choice about taking you in, not if I wanted to be a better man that your father.”

“I'm sorry that's such a low standard,” Jennifer said. She squeezed Shinji a little tighter.

“I'm glad I did,” David replied. “You're a wonderful kid, Shinji. And if I hadn't, I never would have met your mom here.”

Their son relaxed, slowly and cautiously, as the negative emotions fled his body. If he hadn't lashed out at teasing boy and gotten in a fight, he wouldn't have been bloodied enough his stepmom had to look him over. And if she hadn't been concerned by his acting out, she never would have called his dad. So he really had made a difference.

His stepmom brought up a tissue and wiped away the wetness on his cheek. “Listen to your dad. Even if you didn't mean anything to your father, we love you. You're our child and you mean the world to us.”

“Mom!” He was old enough to be self-conscious, and squirmed a bit, but it was reassuring. And it helped him make a real decision. “Okay, I will go. Not because Gendo asked me to. I want answers and this is the first chance I've had to get them. And if he won't give them to me I'm never going to have anything to do with him again.”

“It's your decision, son.” David stood up, and pulled out his keys. “Those tickets are for the afternoon train so we'll have to leave soon. I'll drive you to the station, but if you change your mind you don't have to go.”

Shinji pushed his chair back from the table and took the note from his mom, along with the attached ID. Jennifer also reluctantly handed over the postcard of Misato Katsuragi. He had the grace not to stare at it in front of his mom but he smiled at getting it back. Meeting that woman would at least make the trip worthwhile.

A half-hour later and he was ready to leave with his dad. His stepmom followed them outside, and waved them goodbye from the door. “Be strong, Shinji!”

He promised himself that he would.
************************************************************************

Shinji held the phone up to his ear but there was no tone, only the shrill warning of an impending emergency. He turned around to scan in the wide boulevard and its soaring buildings, looking for this Lieutenant Colonel Katsuragi.

He pulled out the postcard again and studied the picture; she wasn't “attractive” like he found embarrassingly too many of his classmates. No, she was a full-on sex bomb of the type teenage boys (wet-)dreamed of. She was wearing a tight-stretched shirt and daisy-duke jean shorts, and leaned over in a way that showed off her generous cleavage. In case he missed the point she had drawn an arrow to highlight her assets. He briefly wondered where she had gotten that build, given how petite and modestly endowed most Japanese women were, but it had an impact. Oh, did it have an impact.

There was a flutter of birds overhead. He looked up on instinct and saw a girl in school uniform standing in the middle of the road. He started to call out, but his eye processed something... wrong about her. She seemed to shimmer, like a heat-induced illusion, and her hair was a vibrant blue. Shinji looked into her eyes and found himself staring into a pool of crimson. He shook his head, and she disappeared.

“Great. Now I'm seeing things.” The emergency sirens continued on blaring and though he didn't know what kind of emergency it was, it suddenly seemed like a good idea to head for a shelter. Unfortunately he had not the slightest idea where the nearest shelter was, so he had to step back and consult a map tacked on to the outside of the station. And that saved his life.

As he was trying to locate exactly where he was on, a battle raged on the outskirts of Tokyo-3. The Third Angel, a roughly humanoid midnight-black figure towering over the skyscrapers of the city, was engaged with cannon and artillery fire by a desperate JSSDF. It shrugged off volumes of fire that would have wiped out entire armored divisions and waded into the fray, crushing the forces thrown against it. It paused for a moment when confronted with the buzzing gnats of attack VTOLs but soon swatted them from the sky. That was when the UN air forces intervened and dumped four daisy-cutter FAE bombs on top of the seemingly unstoppable giant. The explosions wreathed Sachiel in fire and for a moment there was a pause of hope among those observing deep underground. That hope evaporated once the dust settled and the Angel remained upright where it was, looking not in the slightest inconvenienced.

But Sachiel had apparently had enough of toying around with the Lilin, and used its invincible AT Field to boost itself off the ground. It swatted down one of the annoying VTOLs in mid-leap, sending it crashing into the same block where one Shinji Ikari was waiting for his ride.

The VTOL slammed down into the street, its munitions and fuel exploding and adding to the damage caused by its fall. Shinji flinched and threw himself to the ground before turning around as the wave of heat washed over him. His mouth gaped open as he saw the damage of the battle. “What the hell is going on?”

There was no answer to his question, but moments later the black foot of Sachiel crashed down into the wreckage of the VTOL. Shinji followed that foot up with his eyes, disbelieving everything he saw. That foot was connected to a leg dozens of meters tall, which grew into a midnight black torso through which poked out sets of ribs caging a big red sphere. That looked like something out of a video game and he idly wondered if the boss fight required one to shoot the obvious target.

The torso hunched over into gangly arms and a hump on which was positioned a bone-mask with a beak that was vaguely bird-like. As Shinji looked on, astounded, the giant raised its right arm and sent a beam-lance into an observing VTOL. “This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening!”

Before he could hyperventilate he heard the squeal of brakes protesting against abuse as dark blue sports car turned and slowed along the outside of the station. It halted, and the horn honked, and a woman with jet black hair and a red beret leaned across both seats and out of the passenger side door.

“Shinji! Shinji Ikari! We have to get out of here right away!” She sounded alarmed, and that got the boy moving. He bounded down the steps to the streets and threw himself into the car as Misato got out of the way, slamming the door even as she threw her foot back on the accelerator.

“Uhm, Misato Katsuragi, I presume?” He was nervous, and terrified, and trying hard to not look at her breasts. “What's going on?”

“Tokyo-3 is under attack,” she said, unhelpfully, between gritted teeth as she drove the car through a steadily increasing amount of debris. As an afterthought she reached down into her lap and tossed him a booklet. “This is your briefing on NERV. Your father is the commander, and he is in charge of defending against the Angels.”

That made very little sense to Shinji, and his gut was churning due to a combination of fear of the black giant monster and Misato's driving. With nothing else to do he picked up the booklet and began leafing through it. Colonel Katsuragi did not need him distracting her.

Unfortunately the booklet seemed to be nothing more than a glossy press book, full of photographs explaining nothing. There was a geofront under Tokyo-3 where the UN agency NERV was based, okay. It had the most powerful supercomputer in the world, networked with copies based in other NERV facilities around the world. It had the lead in bioengineering and development of “transitional technology,” whatever that was. There was a photograph of the lead officers, including a much more professional looking Colonel Katsuragi. His father was there, a scowling, menacing looking figure who evidently had not gotten the memo about the need to present a friendly face to the world.

He looked at the pamphlet until his stomach got queasy, then shoved into the side of his seat. Shinji spent the next few minutes trying not to throw up as Misato took the mountain curves leading to the main geofront entrance. The battle had moved away from them, and as they reached the valley leading into the downtown of Tokyo-3 proper Katsuragi began slowing down and finally drew the car to a stop.

She leaned out over Shinji, enormously complicating his own efforts to avoid embarrassment, and stuck her head out his door. She had her binoculars out, and the boy was about to ask her what she saw when he felt her press him down into his seat. “No way! They're using an N2 bomb!”

Shinji thankfully was not looking directly out the door when the advanced five kiloton conventional explosive detonated on the Angel. For a moment the horizon lit up in a massive burst of light that left him reeling and disoriented, and as he groggily lifted his eyes up he saw a mushroom cloud out of the corner of his eye. That was when the shockwave hit, upending the sports car and sending him tumbling while intertwined with Misato.

“Sorry, Katsuragi-san!” He hastily scrambled to open his door, which was now elevated up to the sky. Shinji had to climb out, and helped his escort once he was on the ground.

Misato looked dazed as she stepped around to check out the damage. Her eyes widened as she took in the full extent of the scrapes and damage the Renault had taken. “Damn it, I still had payments on this car!” She kicked a nearby stone.

Shinji had to stifle a laugh. But this was no comedy. “Ah, Katsuragi-san...”

“You can call me Misato,” she offered, in English. “Alright, we aren't going to let this Angel stop us! I have a duty to get you to NERV, and you have to see your father. Help me get our car back on its wheels!”

Misato counted out as they braced themselves up against the car. A good push brought it back down, with a wince from Misato. “My poor transmission.” She shook her head. “Alright, let's see if it'll start.”

A few frustrated attempts later, Misato and Shinji were leaning over the engine. “It looks like the battery is busted,” the young boy pointed out. There were also quite a few wires and tubes that had been shaken loose. “I'm not sure there's anything we can do.”

Misato skimmed the area and saw a parts store down the road, a block away. “We can requisition supplies. This is a military emergency. Okay, Shinji, I'm going to put the car in neutral and push it over there. I need you to steer and hit the brakes when we get down there. Any questions?”

Shinji smiled. This was as close to a driving lesson as he was going to get for a while. “Can do, Misato!”

He just needed to keep the steering wheel straight, but it was still a thrill to be guiding a sports car. He was so going to have to boast about it to his class once he got back to Tokyo-2. And it was a welcome relief after the stress of finding himself in the middle of a battleground.

It took them a few minutes to reach the store. Once there Shinji helped Misato break into the parts store and take what she needed for repairs; a new battery and several rolls of duct-tape. Liberal application of adhesive managed to get the car in shape enough to drive the rest of the way to the NERV main entrance. They took the car train down.

“This is the geofront? How did they construct this thing? It's incredible!” Shinji squirmed in his seat as he stared out of the window in awe. Below him a pristine valley stretched out, complete with idealized forest and a clear blue lake, all of it contained with a giant underground sphere. It was an awesome feat of engineering to create this and he was suitably impressed by it all. Even if the giant black pyramid that was their destination reminded him of some kind of evil overlord's hideout.

Misato smiled gently. “They didn't say you were this lively,” she commented wryly. “Building Tokyo-3 cost more than some countries are worth, and the cost of NERV headquarters was included. It had to be done to create a fortress city we could lure the Angels into and defeat them.”

“Angels? You mean that giant black... thing?” Shinji squinted. “Why would anyone call those things angels? They're supposed to be white and have wings and halos. That thing looked more like a kaiju to me.”

“Real angels are powerful, alien beings that bring death and destruction,” she responded. “Though I'm not sure why we call them that. Maybe your father or Rits knows. You can ask them when we meet them.”

Shinji couldn't help but scowl as Misato mentioned his father. But he had enough questions to ask the man that adding one more on top of them wouldn't matter. But with Tokyo-3 created to be a fortress and Gendo serving as commandant, it raised a new question in his mind. “Misato, do you know why my father sent for me now? It's been ten years since he gave me up and I've seen him once before now. What does he want?”

Misato looked away from him, out the window. She stayed quiet for several uncomfortable minutes and Shinji began thinking of something to say to apologize. Nothing came to mind so he remained quiet.

Once they arrived inside the NERV pyramid Misato finally stirred. “We're here!” The cheer was loud enough to startle the security personnel that had passed them through. Several bystanders looked on with surprise at the sight of the Operations Director jumping in apparent joy. At Shinji's discrete cough she looked rueful and straightened out her black dress before proceeding in.

“You are needed here,” she said as they entered the sterile labyrinthine passages of Central Dogma proper. “It's something that the whole world needs of you, not just your father. But I should let him tell you about it once we get there.”

“That's a lot of pressure. What could I do that would be that important?” Shinji frowned. What was going on here? And there was, if barely admitted, disappointment. Not that he had ever really thought his father had any intention of making amends or expressing regret. But if he was needed at least it meant he could probably make his father answer his questions. That was oddly encouraging.

Misato noticed the conflicting signs on his face and shook her head. “Shinji, I don't know what happened between you and your father. But he probably had his reasons. And he really is defending all of us as head of NERV. At least give him a chance and hear out what he has to say, please?”

He gave her a wan smile. “Well, since you asked. But I'm not going to pretend to like my father.”

“I didn't like my father either,” she said, leaning in conspiratorially. “Though you never know how things will turn out, or what people truly have in mind when they do things.” She sounded saddened by that, and recoiled back as if she had revealed too much. “The elevator should be around here somewhere,” she finally said softly. “Just past this corner, Shinji-kun.”

That was the first time Misato promised their destination was near.

It should be needless to say that Neon Genesis Evangelion does not belong to me, nor do I make any claims to originality here.

I was tempted to just post it as YAGE; Yet Another Goddamned Evafic. I certainly have been reading a fair bit of really superb NGE fanfics of late, and I make no pretense of being in that company. Most of what I write is in collaboration with others, or for another giant robot franchise which I am theoretically paid for. This is probably the first really straightforward fanfiction I've written and posted here.

The purpose is mostly self-gratification. I needed something to write when I'm not able to work on something else, or when I run into writer's block elsewhere. I hope eventually it will also be valuable experience disciplining myself to better "paint with words" in using detail to establish setting. As such updates are liable to be intermittent at best, and I'm still working out how to get from the original premise to the Third Impact that I have in mind. In any case I'm not trying to compete with crazy awesome and as such it'll be focused on characters and the interesting bonds they can form.

It is an AU, naturally. I'll draw from Rebuild, the Manga, and the other sources as I feel like it. It will not be based on the common idea everything could end happily ever after if Shinji just had a spine. He is different here, with an American background as much for author convenience as anything else. He can still be whiny and depressive, and he has a temper.

Also there are no prizes for guessing which two characters he already knows. I wrote the first parts of the chapter the way I did in a stylized manner, not to obscure anything.

It was Ritsuko who saved him. The bottle-blonde scientist stepped on to their lift with a smug look on her face. Misato stepped back as her friend entered and held up her hands in unspoken supplication. The doctor was not to be denied.

“You're lost again, aren't you?” She brushed off Katsuragi's feeble objections before turning to Shinji. “And this is the boy?”

“Shinji Ikari, I'm here to see my father.” He replied using English as normal. And this pushy woman's rudeness had annoyed him. If she didn't speak the language or had to strain to understand it, so much the better.

The implied rebuke brought him her full attention. She looked him up and down, in a way Shinji suspected she used on lab specimens, but gave him a nod of approval after she finished. “I'm Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, the director of Project E here at NERV. I've worked closely with your father for several years now creating our answer to the Angels. It's nice to meet you, Shinji.”

Shinji took her statement in. It sounded like this Ritsuko was a very important person. “Maybe you know why he finally wants to see me now?”

“I do, and I'll show you in a few minutes.” Akagi selected a new floor, and the elevator began moving again. The ticks of the floor counter came swiftly, one after the other, discouraging small talk. Shinji took the opportunity to check his impressions of Dr. Akagi.

She looked to be about the same age as Misato, who was unbelievably young to be such a high-ranking officer. She carried herself with a lot more poise and maturity, though. Where Misato seemed almost carefree and exuberant Ritsuko was restrained and distant. What that said about their respective roles he was unsure, but he doubted it was promising. Misato didn't seem like the sort of officer that inspired much confidence in her troops, and to judge by her greeting Ritsuko was really bad at dealing with people. And they both answered to his monumental asshole of a father. What was going on at NERV?

The lift stopped after a short, silent ride. Ritsuko stepped out first, leading them into a cavernous, poorly lit room that was festooned with scaffolding above. As the entered the lights flashed on, flooding the room with brightness and forcing Shinji to blink to clear his sight. As his eyes adjusted Shinji made out guardrails by a great pool of something that looked too red and dense to be water. And then his eyes traced up the outline of a giant torso and shoulders, leading up to a monstrous looking head topped with some kind of horn. Shinji jumped back in shock and fear as he realized it was something like the monster that had trashed Tokyo-3.

His startled reaction brought a smirk out of Ritsuko, and she swept her arms out grandly in introduction. “This is our defense against the Angels. The Artificial Human Combat Cyborg, Evangelion!”

Shinji shook his head in disbelief. “Are you telling me you built a giant robot to fight kaiju? And what does that have to do with an artificial human? That would be some kind of clone, wouldn't it?” Whatever that thing before him was, it wasn't a human being.

Ritsuko huffed at the boy's questioning. “That is Unit 01, the test-type of our Evangelion models. It is mankind's best and only defense against the Angels. It is part biological, and we use implants and armor to improve its fighting capabilities.”

He felt something wasn't quite right there, but pressing seemed unlikely to get him any more information. “Alright. So, is that what my father has been working on for the past decade?”

“It is.”

The booming voice came from above, and Shinji turned around to meet it. His father stood above him, on a catwalk outside what looked like some sort of command box. He was wearing the same uniform he had on in the press kit, and looked every bit as menacing and cold as in the brochure photo. His orange-tinted glasses obscured his eyes but Shinji could feel him staring right into his soul.

So Shinji glared right back. “It's been years since we saw each other, father.” He spat out the fact with disgust. “What do you want that was so important to finally call for me?”

His father smiled, but it was a frigid gesture of self-satisfaction, not an approving sign. “I need you to pilot Unit 01 and fight the Angels. Why else would I bring you here?”

The answer still took Shinji aback, and he broke off his contest of wills with Gendo. He turned around, looking at Unit 01 and then to Ritsuko and Misato. The scientist simply nodded, while Misato looked a little shocked.

“We haven't tested Unit 01 yet,” she finally objected. “And it took Rei months to synchronize.”

“We have no choice,” Gendo answered. “Unit 00 is frozen. The Angel has already regenerated from the N2 attack. There is no time for delay.”

Ritsuko bent down to look Shinji in the face. “Shinji, you must pilot. If you don't the Angel will destroy Tokyo-3. If we don't stop them, the Angels will destroy humanity.”

“But--” Shinji stammered. He looked wildly at Katsuragi for support, but she turned her head away. Finally he shook his head and faced his father again. “Why me? I don't know anything about piloting that monster. I'm fourteen! Don't you have adults to do this?”

“Only you can pilot Unit 01,” Gendo said, his voice unwavering. “That is the sole reason for you being here.”

Shinji saw red. “You bastard! You abandoned me and now you want me to pilot your precious robot. Go to hell! If it's so important to stop this Angel you can just nuke it. I'm going home.”

“Shinji, please wait.” Misato put her hand on his shoulder. “I know this is asking a lot of you, and your father isn't a person to put it to you nicely. But there are hundreds of thousands of lives at stake here and only you can save them. We'll give you all the support we can but we need you to do this.”

The boy wavered a bit. It was a lot of pressure. What if they were telling the truth? “I don't know. Don't you have something else you can do? I can't pilot this thing without any training.”

“You will learn,” Gendo said coldly. He turned his glare back on Shinji as the boy looked at him in response. “Now either pilot the Evangelion or get out. I have no use for a coward.”

Shinji gritted his teeth and flipped Gendo the bird. “Fuck you, asshole.”

Gendo appeared unmoved, though Misato had to stifle her reaction, which she wasn't sure was shock or amusement. “Those are very adult words from you,” she whispered under her breath.

Shinji turned his back on his father while he stewed in his own anger. Father had never cared for him, he realized. In spite of his own knowledge he had come here hoping for something. Some kind of explanation for why Gendo had always been so distant, so cold. But there had been no remorse in his father's voice, no hint of regret, only the frigid pragmatism that saw Shinji only as a hindrance or a tool. There was nothing at all paternal about the man.

Gendo walked away from the edge of the catwalk and faded into the blackness. But he spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear in his following conversation with Vice-Commander Fuyutski. “As expected, the pilot is worthless. Prepare the First Child for duty.”

Back on the Eva bay deck, Shinji tensed. He hunched up his shoulders and edged toward the exit. After a pause of a few seconds he heard the pattering of Misato following after him.

“Shinji, don't run away!” She caught up with him and placed a hand on his shoulder, and forced him around to look at her. “Gendo's a jerk, alright? I don't know what went on between you and him, but he's had the weight of the world of his shoulders ever since NERV was established. And now, you've got that weight on your shoulders. Are you just going to walk away from that burden, knowing that people will die because of it? You aren't that weak, are you?”

“Father thinks so,” Shinji replied angrily. “He thought I was weak enough he could just order me around even after he abandoned me. What kind of sick person builds a giant robot only a child can pilot, anyway?”

“It has something to do with being born after Second Impact,” Misato said. “You can ask Ritsuko later. You see--” She paused uncertainly for a moment while she made up her mind. “The Angels were responsible for Second Impact, Shinji. What we told the world, it's a lie. And they are coming here to trigger another Impact that will kill everyone.” She looked directly in his eyes. “Everyone, Shinji. Do you know what that means?”

“Dad and mom,” he whispered. “And all my friends.” He sighed in surrender. If he really was the only pilot, he had no choice. “My father would have to be insane to ask me if there were any other options.”

Misato nodded. “That's right, Shinji. If anyone could pilot them we would have all the volunteers we could need from the JSSDF. I would get in that machine and slaughter the Angels myself if I could.” And there was a grim tone in her voice that convinced Shinji she wanted to do just that.

But his response was cut off by an odd clattering coming from down the corridor, where they had exited the lift. Shinji waited to see what it was, and gasped with shock when a hospital gurney was wheeled in by a pair of medical orderlies. He could see the IV bags attached to a stand on the side, flowing into the arm of a deathly pale, blue haired girl. She was wearing some kind of odd skin-tight outfit, and had her left arm in a sling. A bandage covered her left eye, but the exposed iris was a crimson red. She seemed to be shivering in pain even as she tried to rise her back up.

Shinji stood wide-eyed at the sight. She was the girl he had seen earlier, he knew it. “What's going on?! Why are they bringing her here?”

“That is our other option,” Ritsuko answered as she slinked over by Shinji. “This Rei Ayanami, and she will have to pilot Unit 01 if you do not.”

“She'll die if she does!” Shinji stepped over to the gurney and looked the girl, Rei, over again. It was obvious from the bloodstains on her bandages that she was in very bad shape. As she struggled up again he acted on impulse, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Don't worry. I'll pilot it.” She turned her head toward him, seemingly cognizant of Shinji for the first time. He smiled, trying to reassure her.

That seemed to be enough, and the blue-haired girl laid back down. Shinji squeezed her hand, before shifting around and giving a murderous glare back at where his father had stood. He knew exactly why Gendo had the girl wheeled in, and did not appreciate it one bit. The bastard was going to have some explaining to do when he got back.

“We need to get you prepared right away,” Ritsuko said, hurrying him away from Rei's side. “I'll explain, quickly, how to pilot.” She led him along the bay corridor and turned beside the Evangelion, directing him to a side-door. “You will be inserted into the Eva via a plug-system that slides into the vertebra. The plug will fill with LCL, a special liquid that acts as a shock-absorber and which is oxygenated to allow you to breath. It is also necessary to allow you to synchronize with Eva. Once you have synchronized the Eva's body becomes your body and you can control it directly with your thoughts. Ordinarily we would have a plug-suit for you to wear to cut down on interference but there was no time to have one readied.”

Shinji followed her through the door and up a series of steps. Ritsuko was in a hurry and giving him the very abbreviated course on Eva piloting. He didn't really understand what she was saying as she went on, but it seemed like he was supposed to control it with his mind. How would that work? He doubted Ritsuko had any insights on what it was actually like so he kept quiet.

They exited on a gantry above the Eva's head. A thin, pencil-like canister was laid out before them with a ladder leading inside what he assumed was the plug system. Ritsuko pulled out a pair of white hair clips and put them on his head. “These are A10 nerve clips. They'll help you establish synchronization with the Evangelion. Now, Shinji, climb down into the plug and strap yourself into the pilot harness. Once you're in the plug will fill with the LCL and we'll begin synchronization. If you activate Unit 01 you'll be transferred to a magnetic catapult and--”

There was a sudden violent shaking and Shinji had to grab hold of the gantry railings for dear life. “What was that?”

“The Angel has found its way here,” Ritsuko said, brusquely. “There isn't much time, Shinji. We'll be tracking you from the command center. Misato is the operations director so she'll be commanding you, and I'll be keeping an eye on you. Don't worry, you can do this.”

Shinji nodded, but he was far less confident. Why was everyone so certain he could defeat the Angel? Another shake reiterated Dr. Akagi's point, so Shinji left it at that before climbing down into the plug. It was a big, empty-looking space and stationed up ahead was a sleek looking body harness that included some heavy duty restraints. He climbed in and spent his time strapping the belts across his lap and chest. At least the semi-reclining angle of the seat was very comfortable. And then he waited.

It wasn't long before the door to the plug closed and it began filling with a strange red-orange liquid. It was thick and viscous, and Shinji started to give in to panic as it came ever closer to his face. “It smells like blood!”

“Shinji, calm down.” Ritsuko's voice came from a screen ahead of him. “Just breath naturally as the LCL comes up to your nose. Once it displaces the air in your lungs it will provide you with all the oxygen you need. Remember, fight your gag instinct.”

“Easy for you to say!” That was the last he got out as the stuff came up past his mouth, and then his nose. Trying to listen to Ritsuko's advice he breathed it in short, level breaths. It felt utterly wrong and he started to open his mouth, sucking in the LCL, which only made him want to vomit. He screamed, and a great puff of air left his mouth. But after the initial panic he adjusted and no longer felt like he was drowning, though the subtle funny feeling of no longer breathing was a constant distraction. And then he felt vertigo as the cylinder was screwed inside Unit 01, and just barely held down his stomach.

Meanwhile, the command center began counting down to the synchronization process. Shinji squeezed the handles of his seat as ordered, and tried to clear his mind fully. To his surprise a feeling of displacement took over his consciousness. He was in the plug suit, but he felt himself in the body of the Eva too. The screen at the front began giving him a view feed out of the Evangelion's own eyes, with a communications window displaying the bridge crew open in the corner.

“The pilot's synch ratio is at 43.8%, sempai!” Shinji drew his eyes to the window, and saw a collection of three people seated around a bank of computers in front of a giant monitor, with Ritsuko and Misato standing in the middle of the room. It was the short-haired brunette in the middle who had squealed, evidently to the scientist.

Akagi seemed to look at Shinji. “The higher your synch ratio, the better you have identified with the Evangelion. That means you can control the Eva with greater precision but will feel sympathetic pain in combat. If you do, keep your calm and remember that it is not your body being hurt.”

“I'll do my best,” Shinji replied. “Uhm, does the Eva have any weapons? It didn't look like the VTOLs were doing much to the monster.”

“Angel,” Misato corrected, and Shinji blushed. “There's a progressive knife in the left shoulder pylon on the Eva's armor. It's a vibrating blade sharp enough to cut through anything. We haven't had time to train you on ranged weapons so you'll have to close with the Angel and neutralize its AT Field to attack it.”

“AT Field?” Shinji shook his head in confusion.

Misato looked abashed, and then turned to Ritsuko. “Dummy, did you forget to tell him about the AT Field? That's the most important part of the Eva!”

Ritsuko furrowed her brow and gave her friend a cross look before sighing. “The Angels are able to generate a field that prevents all movement into their space. It is the ultimate expression of the individual ego. Humans cannot generate an AT Field, but the Eva can. You have to supply the ego boundary for the Evangelion, and it will handle the rest.”

“What does that mean?” Shinji struggled against his restraints in manic concern. “I don't know how to supply an ego boundary! That sounds like crazy talk!”

“Shinji, you're inside a giant cyborg about to go fight a kaiju monster to save the world. Everything about this is crazy.” But despite her calm words Misato had a mischievous gleam in her eyes, and blew him a kiss. “Now go out there and kick ass and win the heart of the beautiful heroine!”

Ritsuko rolled her eyes as the brunette operator and the man with glasses to her right gasped. On the other end a long-haired man snorted and looked up from his console. Shinji recognized him and waved. “Shigeru-sensei, you work at NERV! Are you still rocking?”

Lieutenant Aoba swiveled in his chair and started on the air-guitar, startling Ritsuko, who was standing nearby. “As long as I'm breathing, little guy. And I want to see if you've been practicing, so you have to come back in one piece.”

“Are the introductions over?” Ritsuko tapped her shoe on the floor in irritation, and Aoba took the hint to swivel back around and hunch over his station. “Maya, finish the synaptic checks and prepare the catapult for launch.

Shinji mentally tuned out the technical banter between the operators as they completed the checklist to go. As the synaptic barriers were released Shinji felt a visceral sense of connection to Eva, even stronger than the displacement of before. He knew now that he could stretch out the Eva's arm as an extension of his own- if the restraints of the cage hadn't intervened. Control seemed indescribably intuitive now that he was synchronized, and perhaps for the first time he began to understand how his father could possibly be confident. Unfortunately the AT Field remained a mystery, but perhaps once he was on the surface he could figure it out.

Shinji felt it as the Eva was moved into place on the catapult system. Misato shouted out a warning, and then he felt as if his gut was trying to climb up where his head was. It was like a roller-coaster in reverse and he had to fight off the nausea as well as the mortal fear that was beginning to grip him. At least the fast, violent ride flooded his system with adrenaline.

Eva 01 popped out in the deserted streets of Tokyo-3. Shinji felt his sense of balance as the momentum of the catapult was spent and the Eva was suddenly held fast. Outside it was nighttime, but the Eva seemed to have no trouble seeing. Which was well, because the inky-black Angel was advancing down his road and only a few blocks separated them.

“Shinji, are you ready?” Misato's voice cut through his immediate panic reaction. The Eva was still attached to the restraint harness used by the catapult. He had a final series of checks to clear.

“I'm as ready as I can be,” he replied ambiguously. No training, no experience. He felt a lump in his throat and had trouble swallowing. He knew he had to calm down, and he began focusing on his positive memories. There was leaving for Tokyo-3, the pride his real parents had in him. “I have to be strong. I have to be strong.”

“You will be.” Misato's response rattled Shinji, who hadn't been aware he was speaking. Fortunately she continued without noticing that the pilot was talking to himself. “Release the final restraints! Shinji, just concentrate on walking.”

The Eva stepped forward, its feet shaking the road itself and blowing out the windows of cars parked nearby. Shinji felt it but it move but the sensation was odd, as if he was just slightly out of phase with time. The deliberateness of his movements had to be exaggerated, he realized, as he made yet another step forward. “This is going to complicate fighting,” he muttered.

That went unheard among the general cheers in the command center. “You're doing great, Shinji!” Misato was continuing to level praise on him. Shinji wasn't sure how much of it was genuine and how much of it was calculated to keep him from freaking out. “Keep advancing and I'll release your prog knife. Remember to attack the Angel's core to kill it.”

“The red thing?” Shinji shook his head. Just when things couldn't get any more surreal, he was now in a boss fight.

Sachiel had paused as Unit 01 made its halting way forward. As Shinji pulled out his melee weapon it evidently decided he represented a threat, and began charging up the eye-beams of its new face. Shinji saw the buildup of light in the eye-sockets peering out from underneath the Angel's original mask and braced himself. He didn't know the full capabilities of the enemy but that was not a good sign...

An enormous beam of purplish light blasted out along the road, washing over the Evangelion and pouring forth into the side-streets. Shinji felt his skin burning and cried out in pain. It was like being scalded all over. He fought to stay up even as the pain overwhelmed him, but it was too much. The Eva collapsed down into the street as his concentration broke, and Shinji felt the sensation of displacement again as his synch ratio collapsed.

“Shnji, you have to get up!” Misato was shouting at him in alarm. He heard, and tried to get the Eva to push itself up. But his movements were clumsy and he fell back down after getting his torso only a few feet off the ground. The impact jarred him and he let go of the knife, which slammed into a nearby building and was covered by rubble.

The Angel seized the opportunity and advanced on the fallen Eva with a loping gait. It extended a lanky arm and grabbed Unit 01 by the head. The beam lance charged, ready to batter in the brains of the Evangelion.

Shinji's terror spiked and he lashed out wildly, grabbing Sachiel's spindly leg and pulling. The move took the Angel by surprise, and threw it off balance. It collapsed into the street, still holding on to the Eva. The abrupt reversal gave Shinji a chance to break the hold and get his Evangelion standing into a fighting stance. The prog knife wasn't at hand so he stepped back, trying to think of a new plan.

Misato was saying something to him but he couldn't hear it. His heart felt like it was ready to burst out of his chest. In fights he'd make use of his anger, lashing out with as much force as his scrawny body could provide, with no heed to the damage he took. And backed into a corner, with nothing else coming to mind, those instincts took over. He broke into a charge and tackled the Angel as it began getting back up.

The momentum tossed Sachiel back, and Shinji began flailing toward the Angel's core. Unit 01 slammed one hand into the center of the beast, which was intercepted by some kind of insubstantial but powerful barrier. He could see a shimmer of a golden-yellow hexagonal shield as he pulled his hand back in agony. “The AT Field?”

Sachiel shoved him back, using the AT Field as a battering ram. Shinji felt it as the most brutal gut-punch ever, which left him floored as the Angel followed by grabbing his right arm. He felt the pressure building up as Sachiel tried to snap it in half. He cried in agony as the Eva's bone finally cracked from the stress and the arm went limp.

Again Sachiel went for his head, and he felt the impact of the beam-lance slam into him. The pounding made it impossible for him to think. Shinji fled from it, trying to curl up and make the pain stop. He whimpered as he realized he was being killed. “I don't want to die,” he said, piteously weak. “I'm not strong. Save me! Save me!”

The lance pounded him again. It seemed like it was drilling straight into his brain. In unthinking desperation, he called out as all men would. “Mother!”

The Eva's right arm spontaneously regenerated itself. Without any direction from the distressed pilot it grabbed Sachiel's arm and snapped it in half. Red ichor spewed out of the stump the Angel now had instead of a limb, flowing into the street. The dismembered hand was casually tossed aside in the street, clearing the Eva's vision.

Inside the plug Shinji had a sudden respite. The pressure against his head had stopped. He smelled perfume, as absurd as that seemed. He had the impression of a shining eyes and soft brown hair and a gentle smile. A sense of tranquility suffused him. There was something there, dancing at the back of his mind, but he didn't have time. He had something to do.

Shinji imposed himself on the space around him. He felt his consciousness expand outward, emanating from the center of Unit 01 into the area around him. Sachiel was tossed away, recoiled by the force of Shinji's soul. The Angel built up for another blast, swallowing the Evangelion in purple light, but this time Shinji had his AT Field out as a shield. As the blast cleared, Unit 01 stood tall in the streets.

“Alright you bastard, it's time to finish this.” Shinji planted his feet firmly in the street and used it as a launching board, slamming straight into Sachiel and bowling the Angel over. He dropped over the fallen monster and began slamming his fist into the red core, over and over again. When the Angel tried to push him off he smashed a fist into the bone-mask face, which put Sachiel out long enough for Shinji to break into its core.

As the red crystalline sphere shattered the Angel came to life again with a bone-chilling howl and swelled horribly, wrapping a suddenly flexible body around Unit 01. Shinji extended his AT Field to cover the area just around his Evangelion as the Angel puffed out and suddenly exploded. The bright purple cross that marked the death of Sachiel extended for thousands of meters into the atmosphere. Much of the area around the detonation was consumed in a firestorm that was extinguished as the life-blood of the Angel poured out in a rain of sticky red fluid.

But Eva 01 stepped out of the destruction intact and unhindered. It gave forth a primal bellow and then, suddenly, halted. Its dark form framed against the flames burning in the background made it look like a demon escaped from hell. In the command center it inspired more dread than the form of Sachiel ever did.

“Is this the true nature of the Evangelion?” Maya wondered, quietly and with fear evident in her voice.

Misato stood, stunned, before her instincts took over. “Begin recovery operations right away,” she ordered. “And what is the status of the pilot?”

The mousy brunette turned back to consult her monitors. “There are signs of elevated stress, physical trauma. Heartbeat and respiration are within acceptable parameters, but he's unconscious.”

“That is to be expected,” Ritsuko confirmed. “We'll keep him in the hospital for observation and to make sure there was no contamination. He'll be fine, Misato.” She turned to observe the silhouetted Evangelion. “And mankind now has a weapon that can destroy the Angels.”

He was on a train. It was empty, but he could hear voices. A strangely familiar woman was asking if “he” had decided on a name.

“If it's boy, Shinji. If it's a girl, Rei.”

Gendo?

“Shinji. Rei. Shinji... Shinji Ayanami. Rei... Rei Ikari. No, Ayanami.”

Who was that?

Shinji opened his eyes. The ceiling was the sterile white tile he associated with the hospital. He smelt astringent cleaner covering up more unpleasant odors, and felt the too-firm mattress of a hospital bed. He rose groggily and tossed off the covers of the bed. To his annoyance he was wearing on of those paper-thin, open-backed hospital gowns. He looked around and saw a pile of clothes on the chair beside him, and no one else in the room. There was no IV or monitoring equipment, so Shinji tucked out of the bed, grabbed his clothes, and walked over to the bathroom to put them on.

“Why do they have to make a hospital stay as embarrassing as possible?” But with his old clothes on he felt more comfortable and so sat back in the chair until someone came to release him.

He didn't have to wait long. A nurse stepped in on her rounds and noted he was up. She checked her chart before speaking. “Shinji Ikari. This is NERV medical wing. You were transferred here after the battle with the Angel. You've been unconscious for twelve hours,” she informed him. “Exams did not turn up anything so you will be free to go once I contact your guardian. Is there anything you need?”

His throat felt parched, and his stomach grumbled. “Is there anything to eat? I'm starving.”

“I can have something brought to you, but if you feel like walking the cafeteria is down the hall on the right. It may do you some good to get exercise,” she suggested. Nothing on the patient's chart indicated that he needed to subject to close surveillance or was in danger of any kind of sudden relapse.

“That sounds good.” Though he shuddered at the thought of hospital cuisine. He'd visited sick friends and spent some time hospitalized when younger and it was his least favorite part of the experience. Something occurred to him as he reviewed what the nurse had told him. “But hold on. Who's my guardian? Are my parents here?”

“Your contact is listed as Colonel Katsuragi,” she said after consulting the chart again. “Travel into Tokyo-3 has been halted due to the state of emergency, so your parents have authorized NERV to act as a proxy.”

“Uh, thanks. I'll be going to the cafeteria then.” Shinji rubbed a dull spot on the back of his head with his right hand. “Where should I wait for her once I'm done eating? Just come back to the room?”

“There's a patient waiting room in front of the cafeteria,” she noted. “I'll tell the colonel to look for you there.”

Shinji bowed politely, then followed the nurse out. The cafeteria was a short walk through halls bustling with orderlies moving patients around, nurses moving from room to room, and the odd doctor in classic medical coat walking with purposeful strides. There didn't seem to be many visitors and the patient waiting room, an open array of tacky blue-plush benches seemingly stolen from an airport terminal somewhere, was practically empty. He guessed NERV was helping treat people injured during the battle but they certainly weren't being generous about letting relatives in.

The cafeteria itself was fully modern, expansive, and offered a diverse array of Japanese and international dishes. The press booklet had claimed that NERV was a multinational agency, and Shinji supposed it was true despite the way the top positions seemed to be dominated by Japanese citizens. He took the opportunity to get a freshly grilled hamburger and some fries, and made a trip to the open soda fountain before sitting his tray down in the dining area. He was famished enough to demolish the meal in a quarter-hour, despite his own attempts to relax and enjoy it. He drained his glass and went back for a refill while looking over the debris of lunch with some satisfaction. It was almost enough to make him forget he had just spent the better part of a day asleep after a night of mortal combat with a giant monster.

He saw Misato entering from the service area, wearing the same black dress from yesterday under the heavy red coat that seemed to come from some other uniform. Shinji waved over at her. As she turned he caught sight of a small white cross necklace. He wondered what was up with it; Misato didn't strike him as a Christian and she certainly wasn't making a gothic fashion statement.

She took the seat in front of his. “Ah, you're quite the growing boy Shinji,” she teased. “It looks like you're doing fine. Are you ready to go?”

He nodded. “I don't like hospitals, and I feel fine.” He drained the rest of his soda in a gulp. “So, uhm, have my parents called?”

Misato nodded. “NERV contacted them this morning and let them know about what happened. They were pretty upset about it, actually. Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki had to spend an hour talking them into letting you stay here and pilot. They had a few conditions.”

Shinji frowned. “Like what?”

“Well, for one, you're the best paid fourteen year old who isn't a Disney idol.” She ticked off the condition on her right hand. “But don't be too excited. Most of that goes into a trust fund for when you've graduated college. And of course you have to go to school,” she said as she raised another finger, “and finally, they insisted you have adult supervision. That means you're going to be living with me for a while.”

Shinji tried to keep his eyes bulging out of his head, and mostly succeeded. “Uh... Misato, I think they didn't exactly approve of that picture you sent me.” He coughed. Their teenage son, suffused with hormones, definitely appreciated it.

Misato waved off the concern. “I promised Ritsuko and the old man I wouldn't make any passes at you. At least, not serious ones.”

He smiled a lopsided smile and shook his head. Misato was certainly an interesting person. “I'd like to talk with my mom and dad soon. Just to let them know that I'm okay, and tell them why I decided to pilot the Eva.”

“Once we leave NERV headquarters you should be able to get decent reception on my cellphone,” Misato mused. “We'll leave early to get you settled in to the apartment. And we need supplies too.”

“Supplies?” Shinji paused for a moment. “Oh, yeah, I need to pick up a toothbrush and some other stuff if I'm living with you.”

“Oh, we'll do that too,” Misato replied offhandedly. “But the important stuff is for the party!” She stood up and leaned over the table to look at him. Shinji tried and failed not to look at her cleavage. “We need to have a housewarming celebration! I've just moved in myself, too, so this is a great opportunity to have some fun!”

“Sounds great, Misato,” he replied, nodding his head. Yes, this was going to be interesting.

They left the cafeteria after a little more small talk. As they walked through the visitor lobby they were passed by four white-coated orderlies escorting a medical gurney. Shinji saw blue hair spread out on the pillow, and took a second look. He recognized the girl from last night, still heavily bandaged and with an IV feeding fluid into her good arm. As he took her in she opened her good eye and their glances met. The gurney continued down the hall without stopping and the tenuous link of awareness was quickly lost.

Misato took note of Shinji's pause and halted alongside him. “Something wrong?”

He shook his head. For some reason he didn't feel like saying that he thought he had had a vision of the girl before everything had gone to hell yesterday. “But... that was the other pilot. What was her name? I think Dr. Akagi mentioned it in the Eva bay.”

“Oh, yes, Rei Ayanami. The First Child identified as a pilot candidate by the Marduk Institution.” Misato leaned over to whisper playfully in his ear. “Is this a crush? It was so romantic of you to step in and pilot so she didn't have to. She's a little... distant, though.”

Shinji blushed red enough to set Misato off laughing. “No, no,” he said, denying her evident conclusion. “I was just... curious about her. We're going to be working together, aren't we? I should probably know something about her.”

Misato was unconvinced, but she stopped giggling and straightened herself up. “There's not much to tell about her. She's fourteen like you, and she's been part of the Eva program for years. Your father exercises guardianship over her but she doesn't live with him. I don't think I've ever seen her interested in anything except piloting and schoolwork.”

Shinji grunted. It figured that jerk of a father wouldn't have a qualm using a severely injured girl as blackmail, or as cannon fodder. Even if she was technically his responsibility. If Gendo had raised the girl, he felt sorry for her. And then there was the weirdness around her appearance, and the sense of deja vu as he heard the name Rei Ayanami.

He reached a snap decision. “Can she have visitors? I guess we should visit her while we're here, if she's well enough.”

“I don't know,” Misato admitted. It hadn't really occurred to her to look into the First Child. “Only Ritsuko and the commander have anything to do with her, normally. I'll check with reception.”

Shinji tried to make sense of the situation while Misato went to check on Rei's status. His father had taken in Rei years ago, at the least. The same time he was studiously ignoring the existence of Shinji. He felt a brief surge of resentment but stifled it. It was obvious Gendo was no better of a father to Rei, and she obviously didn't have a family of her own. No real parent would have given their child up to a man like his father.

“She can take visitors during the usual hours,” Misato said as she returned from the reception desk. The receptionist had seemed very confused that anyone had asked about that particular patient, but she kept that tidbit to herself. “We don't have anywhere to be right away so I can take you over to her if you really want.”

Shinji nodded, and followed as Misato began walking back toward the room he had spent the night. Rei was right across the hall. Misato spoke with one of the orderlies leaving the room, who confirmed that the First Child was awake. She stood aside as Shinji knocked softly on the door and, receiving no answer, pushed it open.

The heavily bandaged girl was sitting up right in the bed, staring into the space in front of her. As Shinji stepped in she turned to look at him. The completely vacant look on her face left him for a loss. He thought she was disappointed but it was impossible to say. She made no other acknowledgment as he stepped inside. The creepiness of her utter lack of reaction and the subtly “off” body language she was presenting made him wonder if he had made a mistake.

Regardless, he was in the room and just turning around and leaving would be even more embarrassing. “I'm Shinji Ikari,” he said, offering his name. “I'm the new pilot for Unit 01. We sort of met last night, if you remember...”

“You are the Third Child, commander Ikari's son.” Her monotone made it hard to figure out what sort of reaction that was. “I am Ayanami Rei. You chose to pilot the Eva in my place. I am told you defeated the Angel efficiently.”

“I guess I did,” he said diffidently. “I volunteered to fight the Angels, so we're teammates now.”

“That is so.” She paused. “Why are you here?”

“I was just released and thought I should stop in while I was here,” he said, feeling foolish and nervous. For all his prior intent to find answers and confront his dad he felt his will draining away with embarrassment. “I wanted to introduce myself and see how you were doing.”

She nodded. “You are initiating a personal-professional relationship with conventional social forms,” Rei remarked, seemingly as much to herself as Shinji. “I am recovering at an acceptable rate, Pilot Ikari. Your concern for my well-being is noted.”

“Ah, okay.” Shinji thought her voice was just perceptibly softer, but he wasn't quite sure how to respond to he oddly detached girl. It gave him a little more confidence to press on. “How were you injured? It looked like you were really beaten up when I saw you.”

“I was injured during a synchronization trial with the prototype Eva,” she replied carefully, with the same disinterested tone she had used throughout their meeting. “The extent of my injuries have severely impaired my ability to pilot. This is why Commander Ikari called for you. If you had not come I would have been required to face the Angel in Unit 01.”

“Required?” Shinji spat out the word. “You were injured and barely conscious. It would have been a death sentence to send you out. Which I guess isn't surprising coming from my father.”

The bitterness in Shinji's voice caused her to blink her one open eye in perhaps the first tiny expression of emotion Rei had evidenced. “You do not trust your father's work? It is a necessity.”

“He sacrificed me to that work a long time ago. And he would do the same to you, I'm certain.” Shinji shook his head. He could see from the tilt in her head, the narrowing of her eye, that Ayanami was not taking his outburst well. “I'm sorry,” he said in placation. “I didn't mean to talk about such things. I uh, meant to say, that I hope you get well soon.”

“I am scheduled for release in four days,” she responded, the previous tangent seemingly forgotten. “My pilot training will resume once Dr. Akagi clears me.”

“I guess I'll see you around, then.” Shinji glanced around at the empty room. “Do you want me to tell the nurses to bring you in some magazines, or get a TV? It looks kind of boring in here.”

Rei shook her head. “That is not necessary.”

And with that she turned back around and laid down on the bed. He supposed that was a signal for him to leave, and in truth he had nothing else to say. “Goodbye, Rei.”

Shinji walked out of the room troubled. Rei was creepy, and her utter detachment seemed almost inhuman. It was certainly not like the teenage girls he knew at all. Her focus seemed to be piloting the Eva and nothing else. If she had been in his father's care for years it seemed like a safe bet Gendo was either responsible or had done nothing to help the situation.

Misato was standing by the door waiting for him. “So, how'd it go? You weren't in there for long.”

He shrugged. “Rei seems really weird,” he finally said as they walked out to the waiting room. “She didn't respond very well to me. Almost like I wasn't worth her notice, but she didn't seem arrogant. I'm not sure how to describe it.”

“Rei is weird, Shinji.” Misato looked thoughtful for a moment after the concession. “I've seen her with people before. I think she doesn't know how to react to them. She lives by herself and isn't close to anyone but the Commander. I did hear you two talking for a bit, which is honestly more than I've seen her to do with anyone she's just met before.” She smiled slyly. “Maybe she likes you,” Misato teased.

“Gah, Misato. Stop kidding around,” Shinji complained. Even so, he admitted that there had been something about her that had touched him last night. Seeing the helpless young girl in danger had infuriated him, but it had hardened his resolve to pilot. He really had wanted to spare Rei, even if it meant putting himself in danger. Shinji told himself any decent person would have had the same reaction.

They had to go up to the higher levels of the headquarters to reach the exits. Misato led him to an elevator, with Shinji silently praying that this time she wouldn't get them lost. It was several minutes before the lift they called finally reached their level and opened.

Shinji almost stepped back as the doors revealed a frowning Gendo Ikari, standing as rigidly as he did in every memory the boy had of his father. Their eyes met for a moment. Shinji could tell the man expected him to flinch away, so he made it a point to stare as long as he could. His father was more pragmatic; before the scene could become absurd he pushed by Shinji and Misato without saying a word, in a stride that seemed to emphasize that he was a busy man who had to be elsewhere. Which was oh so appropriate for him, Shinji thought savagely.

“Not even a word for his son.” Misato shook her head, then darted in the lift to keep the doors open. “Well, come on Shinji! We've got a party to get ready for.”

Misato managed to find her way to the parking lot without going around in circles. The battered Renault had been replaced with a NERV company car, a decidedly unsporty Toyota Auris. The colonel complained about the handling of the hatchbacked compact, but once they were out of the geofront and back on the streets of Tokyo-3 she gave no evidence of recognizing that it was not a sports car. Shinji prayed for dear life as she took one turn after another without the use of the brakes and played chicken with stoplights, pedestrians, and other cars.

Shinji was visibly sweating and felt queasy by the time she pulled into the parking lot of a small grocery store. It was with no small amount of relief that he set foot on the asphalt and breathed in fresh air. The woman was a maniac!

Misato seemed oblivious to his distress as she stepped out. “Alright! We need ramen, and microwave meals, and lots of chili sauce. And some snacks. And beer, but you're too young for that. Do you want to call your parents while I go in and get the stuff?”

Shinji nodded. “Thanks, Misato. Just remember to grab a toothbrush for me, please.”

His temporary guardian fished around in her jacket pocket, and then tossed him a flip-phone. “I'll be right out,” she promised, as she ran inside.

The flip-phone was a bit old-fashioned, but it looked like NERV property. He supposed a government agency wasn't exactly going to splurge for web connectivity and free text messaging. Shinji typed in his phone number and waited while the phone rang.

On the third ring his stepmother picked up the phone and answered in Japanese. “Hello, this is the Rokubungi residence.”

“Hi mom, it's Shinji. They let me out of the hospital earlier. I was just calling to, uh...”

“Oh, Shinji, it's such a relief to hear from you!” He could hear her call his father. “We hadn't heard anything after the state of emergency was declared until we got the phone call from the Fuyutsuki guy. We couldn't believe it. Did you really choose to pilot the giant robot?”

He gulped. “Well, yes ma'am, I did. I had to! If I didn't, people were going to die.” For some reason he felt an odd reluctance to get into the specifics. If his parents realized what a bastard Gendo was they probably wouldn't let him pilot the Eva, and he wanted to defend them. Even if it was terrifying to fight the Angels.

“That's what he said.” He could hear a soft sigh. “You did a courageous thing, Shinji. You were very brave to do that, but you don't have to if you don't want to. NERV twisted our arms to let your agreement stand, but if you change your mind we'll come and get you. We could move back to America if we have to.”

“I know, mom.” But it was nice hearing it. “I won't change my mind. I'll be strong.”

“Of course you will, dear.” There was a pause. “Okay, your dad wants on the line.”

Shinji could hear the phone being passed off. “Hi, son. I'm proud of you.”

The boy looked embarrassed even though no on else was overhearing. “It was nothing, really...”

David Rokubungi laughed. “Getting a little old to be told well done by your dad, eh? Well, you're doing a man's job now so I guess that's how it goes. So, how did things go? NERV wasn't too generous with the details.”

Shinji told him about being picked up by Colonel Katsuragi and the trip down to the Eva bay. He left out some details, like how hot Misato looked and how she tended to flaunt it. He also neglected to tell his dad about Rei and Gendo's abortive blackmail attempt with the girl. But there was still plenty of bitterness in his voice as he talked about how detached and completely dismissive his father had been.

“I can't say I expected any better of him,” David said, though he sounded disappointed.

The boy continued, going into a brief account of his fight with the Angel. Shinji was vague about the nature of the Eva and did not mention that he was scared to death most of the time. “Anyway, after I fell asleep they took me to the hospital, and now I'm waiting around while Colonel Katsuragi finishes shopping. Are you and mom coming down soon?”

“I'm looking into moving to Tokyo-3 as soon as I can, but I was just dumped a major project in my lap by our new partners at JHCI. If I put it together with what you've said about the Angels, it may be something that will help you out so I'll give it my best. That Vice-Commander guy promised NERV would help us with the residency permits and other paperwork so I hope it won't take long to move once we're ready. I promise that we'll come to visit next month, at the least.”

“That's fine, dad. Anyway I see Misato coming so I need to help her with the groceries. I'll talk to you and mom later, okay?”

“Sure. Remember, we love you Shinji.” The phone clicked as the line was disconnected.

Shinji placed the flipup in his pocket as he helped Misato load up the paper bags in the hatchback trunk of the car. It looked like everything she had gotten was junk food or instant meals, save for the toothbrush he had requested. Shinji shook his head. His dad had been like that when he had taken him in, and the process of learning how to provide a nutritious diet had taken years. It had also turned Shinji into a decent cook. It looked like he was going to have repeat it with his latest guardian.

“Here, Misato.” He tossed back her phone as she finished loading. “Now to the party, right?”

Katsuragi grinned as she started the engine. “To the party! Hang on, Shinji!”

It was a playful warning but well-taken as Misato slammed out of the parking lot and into oncoming traffic without a second look. She must have some kind of second-sense, Shinji thought as he tried and failed not to be queasy. As she flew by a police cruiser he figured she also had some kind of special NERV dispensation from normal traffic laws. He idly wondered if he could get one when it came time to get a license for himself.

Misato's apartment was right on the outskirts of the Tokyo-3 core fortress. That kept the rent reasonable while allowing for easy access to the geofront emergency shelters. The tight rein on immigration maintained by NERV meant that the building was almost half-empty, and the emergency was already beginning to spark an exodus from the city. Shinji noticed Misato seemed to have no neighbors around and thought it odd, and even odder still when he realized how luxurious an apartment the colonel actually had.

But as he entered, following in Misato and carrying several bags of groceries, it looked relatively small and crowded. Boxes were piled up all over the living room and in the kitchen. Misato saw his surprise and smiled. “I only just moved in and haven't finished unpacking. But there are two empty rooms and you can choose which one you want. NERV will bring your stuff over soon.”

“Okay Misato.” While she finished putting up the groceries Shinji scoped out the rest of the apartment. The living room had a couch and large-screen TV, and a coffee table littered with crushed beer cans that flowed out onto the floor. Misato's bedroom was clearly marked with more empty cans, and a quick check of the empty rooms showed that both were clean and furnished with futon, chest of drawers, a small desk with overhead shelf and a tiny closet. One was slightly larger than the other and Shinji decided to take that one for himself.

He went over to discuss his choice with Misato as she finished putting up the last of the groceries. The kitchen itself was just as much of a mess as the rest of the apartment. Shinji groaned in frustration as he realized how much work would have to go into cleaning up. His guardian was a slob.

“I'm going to change and get comfortable,” Misato announced as she walked away. “Be good, Shinji.”

He sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. Curious about what was being reported on the fight, he turned to the news channel. Evidently the battle with the Angel was being passed off to the world at large as some kind of huge gas leak. A press aid for the Prime Minister was being interviewed and strenuously denied the presence of any kaiju in Japan. Given how many people lived in Tokyo-3, how many JSSDF troops were on call to help fight the Angels, and how many people worked for NERV it was probably only a matter of time before the truth was out. He supposed it didn't matter, though some recognition for his role would have been nice.

It wasn't long before he was flipping through channels to find something interesting. He got caught up in a rerun of a sci-fi movie franchise that had been popular before Second Impact when Misato slid on to the couch. She was wearing the tight shirt and cut-off jeans from the photo, and invading Shinji's personal space. His mind went blank for a moment as his hormones warred with his sense of propriety.

The woman seemed oblivious to the effect she was having. She snapped open a can of her beer and chugged it down in several strong gulps, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and gave out a prolonged cheer. “That's the good stuff,” she said to no one in particular as she crushed the can. Only then did she seem to notice Shinji and the movie on the screen. “So, you're into this sort of thing?”

“Well, there was nothing else on,” he answered lamely. As the droid army advanced on the shield put up by the CGI creatures, Shinji wiggled. It was just as well the rest of the prequel trilogy had been averted by the death of half the world's population.

Misato giggled but sat there and watched the end with him. As the credits came on she leaned over and ruffled his hair. “You seem like a good kid, Shinji. Well-behaved.” There was an odd, almost maudlin tone in her voice that disappeared immediately afterward. “Now, the important part of the evening!”

They played rock-paper-scissors to divide up household chores. Shinji frowned and then fumed as a run of rotten luck landed him with most of them. When he complained, Misato only smirked. She did however relent and let him fix most of the food. Judging by the zeal with which she seasoned her ramen he was grateful for insisting. Years of incredible feats of alcohol consumption and poisonous cooking had clearly destroyed her taste buds.

They were halfway through the meal when the small secondary fridge popped open. Shinji stood up to go close it when a odd-looking bird wearing a fancy harness waddled out. His eyes widened like saucers at the sight of a penguin in the apartment. The bird looked at him, apparently equally surprised. “Wark?”

“Ah, this is our other roommate, Pen-Pen.” Misato seemed to consider that explanation enough and went back to shoveling ramen into her mouth.

“Uhm, Misato, why is a penguin living with you?” He shook his head, trying to clear away the vision of the strange bird. It didn't work. In fact it had waddled up to the table and somehow scooted out a chair, which it was trying to jump up on. “This... is this even legal?”

“He was held in an illegal genetic experimentation lab I helped raid,” Misato said, putting down the bowl of instant noodles. “Pen-Pen would have been terminated but I volunteered to look after him. He's a warm-springs penguin so he's adapted to live in Japan, and he mostly looks after himself.” Misato grabbed an empty plate and dumped some of her nuclear-seasoned ramen on it, and slid it over by the penguin's place. “Don't you, Pen-Pen?”

“Wark.” The penguin leaned over from his seat and used prehensile appendages on its flipper to push the noodles into his beak. “Wark!”

“I think they're supposed to eat fish,” Shinji commented nervously as Pen-Pen leaped down from the chair and waddled back to his fridge.

“Probably.” Misato shrugged. “He's pretty temperamental. I don't think he;'s had his beer today.”

With that absurd observation the dinner went on. Once they finished off the food Shinji cleared the table, grumbling under his breath about the imbalance in chores. Misato razzed him on that and sent him off to the bath.

Shinji soaked in the relative luxury of the tub for a few minutes. He had to scrub himself almost raw to get all of the LCL out of his hair and skin. After that was done he laid back and considered the last couple of days. Misato Katsuragi seemed like a good person, if disturbingly lacking in maturity. His father was a total bastard, but he had expected that. And Rei Ayanami was... a mystery to be solved, he decided. He still didn't have answers as to why his father had abandoned him after the death of his mother but he felt confident those would come in time. And it was kind of cool to be an elite pilot of a giant robot; the memory of utter terror for his life was slowly being pushed aside in favor of a more flattering perspective about his performance.

Once he had finished, and brushed his teeth, he took over the couch again and began watching the rest of the movie marathon. Misato teased him for being a nerd in a good-natured, almost sisterly fashion, and as it got late finally hustled him off to bed. He slept very well.

Shinji woke early. Misato's snoring convinced him to take a chance, and he threw his clothes into the dryer to fluff while he showered. The warm spray helped wake him up, though he still had to wash his hair twice to get the rest of the LCL out of his hair. He dried off, brushed his teeth, and threw on a towel before darting back in the room to reclaim his outfit. Among other things Misato had promised to take him out to pick out some clothes with her NERV account credit card, but for today he was stuck with the same outfit he'd had one since arriving in Tokyo-3.

At least NERV seemed to have some kind of industrial washer/dryer that could get the damned LCL out.

He checked a cabinet in the kitchen and pulled out a tin of sardines, rolling it open and placing Pen-Pen's breakfast out. As he was scrambling an egg in Misato's much-underused wok the penguin wandered out of his fridge and scooped up the fish greedily. The bird gave him a “Wark,” seemingly by way of thanks, and wandered over to the door to pick up the newly delivered newspaper. Shinji watched incredulously as Pen-Pen wandered back to his fridge, sat down in a miniature recliner, and folded out the paper like he was reading it. Shinji closed the door for the penguin and wondered if he was getting high off the permanent haze of alcohol fumes in Misato's apartment.

Breakfast was completed with a bit of toast and a glass of orange juice. He had been surprised to find any liquid that healthy, but then Shinji remembered it could also be used to make screwdrivers. In any case it was a welcome touch, completing a reassuring morning ritual.

Misato stumbled out from her bedroom as he began eating, looking disheveled and with her eyes barely opened. She walked by the table without acknowledging Shinji, and pulled open the fridge to take one of the many cans of beer arrayed on the beverage rack. She snapped the can open, chugged it down in a matter of seconds, and pulled it away as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and gave a startlingly loud cheer. “That's how you start the day!” she exclaimed, suddenly and disturbingly perky.

Shinji looked at her, shocked at the transformation. Misato crunched the can as usual and added it to a small pile on the kitchen counter. “Up and showered and eating breakfast already? It looks like I've got a morning person as a roommate. Are you bright and eager to begin your first day of training?”

“Sure,” he replied between bites of egg-soaked toast. “If I'm going to pilot the Eva I need to know how to use it. And I guess weapons training should be fun.”

“That's the spirit,” she said, encouragingly. “We'll stop by the mall and grab you some clothes, then hit NERV. You've got a full day of tests and training ahead of you. Tomorrow it'll be the same, except we have to leave early to get you registered for classes. Then more drills for the rest of the week, with school starting on Monday. Got that?”

“No problem,” he replied, albeit with less enthusiasm. He knew full well what being the new kid in school was going to be like. His parents had insisted, though, something about providing some kind of normal socialization. Given how much his trust fund was supposed to accumulate he didn't exactly see why he was going to need a college education.

“Alright, I'm going to shower.” Misato stood up, and wagged a finger. “No peeking!”

Shinji almost choked on his toast. The wheezing was bad enough until he downed his glass of juice to get the food out of his throat. Katsuragi was just too much! Though his eyes were drawn to her very shapely figure as she sauntered off...

He cleaned up while she was in the bath, and reluctantly took the trash out to the garbage cans behind the apartment. When he returned Misato was waiting in the kitchen, dressed in her not-quite uniform and downing another can of beer. “You're so well trained,” she cooed. “Now that the chores are done, are you ready to go?”

He gulped. “Yes, Misato-san.” As if he could ever be ready for a drive with her.

The ride was just as traumatic as he feared. Misato did not just fail to drive defensively. She used the little Auric compact as a potentially lethal weapon, dodging and weaving in and out of traffic with what was either reckless abandon or sociopathic nonchalance. Staying in the same lane for too long seemed to be some kind of cardinal sin for her. The brief trip into the mall to pick up a change of clothes and school uniforms was only a tiny respite to the terror. Shinji felt himself safe only once Misato's car was safely stowed aboard the car-train taking them down into the geofront.

And then he felt panic again as she slammed through the parking lot at three times the listed speed limit.

Thankfully they were met at the entrance by Dr. Akagi. The scientist was wearing her customary white lab coat over a blue blouse and tan skirt. She greeted Shinji, and took the opportunity to tease her old friend. “You know Misato, if you got up earlier you wouldn't have to set new speed records to get to work on time.”

“Hey, Tokyo-3 doesn't have much traffic for a city it's size,” Misato replied. “And it's easy to talk about being in on time when you spend all your nights sleeping in your office. You need to get out more often, Rits.”

Akagi shook her head. “The commander keeps me very busy.” And there was just the slightest hint of self-satisfaction in her voice. But it disappeared as she addressed Shinji. “Today you have a battery of synch tests, and then marksmanship training lined up. But first there are some papers that NERV needs you to sign. I'll take you to the Vice-Commander's office first to get that out of the way. It shouldn't take long since I won't get lost like Misato.”

Misato's face turned red. “I'm new here! I'm still getting used to the layout of the place. I'll find my way around, eventually.”

“You couldn't even find your way around campus without Kaji leading you about,” Ritsuko snarked. Misato shot her friend an angry glance that told her to drop the subject.

“Ah heh,” Shinji laughed nervously. “I guess we should get started, then.”

Ritsuko led them through the front offices and deeper into the headquarters. She resumed the banter with Misato after a few minutes, which was oddly reassuring to the young boy. It seemed like it was normal for them and helped humanize the originally frosty doctor. Their destination was in Central Dogma, and true to her word Akagi took them by the most efficient path, down a series of unremarkable corridors to a normal-looking elevator. The obscure codes marked every so often on the walls seemed to be the only cues as to where they were, and Shinji vaguely wondered if that was deliberate. It had him quite confused and probably would do the same to anyone else who was not where they were supposed to be.

Kozo Fuyutsuki had his office on a floor below the command center, and was humble enough to use the standard model other NERV managers had been allotted. It was so average that Ritsuko had to hold out a hand to stop him from walking right past it. The only distinguishing feature of the space from outside was that Fuyutsuki rated a small wood and brass nameplate on the front of his door. Ritsuko knocked softly below it.

A moment later the deputy-commander of NERV opened his door. Shinji saw a looking, white-haired, rather wiry old man in a brown uniform. Fuyutsuki's rigidly correct posture was softened by a vaguely inquisitive face that made him seem distant, but not in the aggressive and threatening manner of his father. Ritsuko had mentioned that he had been a professor, and Shinji was reminded of every stuffy academic he had ever seen on film.

“Vice-Commander, this is the Third Child,” the bottle-blonde introduced.

To Shinji's surprise the old man offered him a handshake. “I am pleased to meet you, Shinji Ikari,” he said as the boy gave him a firm grip. “Dr. Akgai has already told you about me, but I am Kozo Fuyutsuki, the deputy commander here at NERV. There are a few things we need to go over now before you formally join the organization.”

Shinji nodded. “This is going to be really boring, isn't it?”

“I'm afraid so.” He nodded to Ritsuko. “Thank you, Dr. Akagi. Colonel Katsuragi, if you'd join us inside?”

Ritsuko took the opportunity to bounce while Misato and Shinji sat themselves down in front of Fuyutsuki's tasteful wooden desk. The former professor had filled his office with bookshelves and installed softer light bulbs to make it seem more cozy. It was clear Kozo was playing the velvet glove to Gendo's iron fist.

“Shinji, when you agreed to pilot the Evangelion you volunteered yourself into United Nations service,” the vice-commander noted, as he pulled out several forms from a pile of paperwork. “International law regarding the use of child combatants collapsed in the wake of Second Impact, but NERV is and remains a civilian agency so you are being classified as a test pilot. There are liability issues that need to be dealt with first.”

“Well, okay,” Shinji said uncertainly. “But don't my parents need to be involved with this? I can't legally sign for anything since they're still alive.” The age of legal responsibility had been reduced to twelve in the wake of social breakdown, but only for children without any surviving parents. It was sixteen for children who still had a legal guardian.

“That is why Colonel Katsuragi is here,” Fuyutsuki responded. “She has been authorized by your parents to represent their interests. They will still have to co-sign the forms we have for you, but her authorization will allow us to file them provisionally. I understand you want to get started with your training, so I will try to make this brief.

“Brief” still took a couple of hours to get through. The Vice-Commander patiently explained each form in turn, which all dealt with some hideously complex legal issues. First Shinji had to sign away his right to sue NERV for damages incurred as part of his piloting duties. Then there were a series of forms dealing with Shinji's receipt of classified information, a non-disclosure agreement, and acknowledgment of the consequences of violating the terms thereof. There was some financial stuff related to his trust fun, and a host of other administrative details that made his eyes bleed as he read along the papers. Having a professor in charge of administration was a real down-side, Shinji and Misato both thought, as the Vice-Commander continued on another hair-splitting explanation of why Shinji could be ordered around by the JSSDF only in circumstances where NERV had ceded authority.

The performance insured that Shinji just signed whatever was put in front of him and asked no questions. Misato did interrupt from time to time, asking what seemed like insightful questions that prompted further windy explanations from the former professor. Shinji took it as a positive sign that his guardian actually could behave like an adult and had his interests in mind, even as he wished he were elsewhere.

The torture finally came to an end as Shinji signed and dated a final form that evidently promised he would be drawn and quartered for talking to the press without the prior written approval of the Secretary-General and the Prime Minister of Japan. Fuyutsuki thanked Shinji for his time as he took the form, and offered a final opportunity for questions. There was one thing the Vice-Commander had mentioned, in passing, that really drew his attention, but he was nervous about raising it. Still, he had come here for answers...

“Uhm,” he began hesitantly, “you said you've been working with my father here for over a decade. There's something I want to ask about that.”

“From 2003,” Fuyutsuki answered absently. He sighed. The old man could guess what was coming and decided to spare the boy the embarrassment. “I can't offer you any insight on why your father decided to send you away.” Which was a very delicate way of phrasing things to avoid saying a lie. “It is something only the Commander can answer, and I doubt he will be disposed to do so.”

“No,” Shinji said. “I was just... did you know my mother?” He blurted it out abruptly. “I was so young, I can't even remember her face. I know she worked with my father when she died. If there's anything you could tell me about her...”

That took Fuyutsuki aback. He nodded and spoke very deliberately, as if he had to be cautious about what he revealed. “Yui Ikari was a student of mine before Second Impact. She was one of the brightest lights of her generation. Your mother was responsible for most of the technological and theoretical advances that made the Evangelion project possible. She introduced me to your father and helped him recruit me into GEHIRN. Her death was a tragedy.”

That all seemed very important to the professor, and he didn't disagree, but it really wasn't what he wanted to know. “What was she like?”

Kozo tilted his head at an angle, considering how to answer. When he finally spoke there was a wistfulness in his voice which Shinji only partially understood. “Yui was a truly remarkable woman. She was driven in her work but it was always clear that she valued her family above all things in the world. I remember the times when she would bring you around the lab to show you what she was doing. Her pride in you was unmistakeable. More than that, she treated everyone she met with an understanding and compassion that was unique. I've never known anyone else like her.”

Shinji nodded in appreciation. “Thank you, sir. I know this wasn't the best time or place to ask, but there's so much I don't know about her.”

The former professor smiled indulgently. “It's only that you should want to know about your mother. I'm sorry I can't tell you more, but I do know she cared deeply for you.” The Vice-Commander paused, checking the clock on his desk. “Right now, though, Dr. Akagi is waiting for you.”

Shinji was quiet as Misato led him out and started her quest to find the elevator again. He was pondering what Fuyutsuki had said about his mother. His mother was only a vague impression of a generous smile and soft skin and warmth. The old man had made her sound almost saint-like as well as a brilliant scientist. Why would someone like her ever be interested in an unfeeling jerk like his father?

Eventually they found their way further down in Central Dogma, below the Eva cages, in the pilot support rooms. Ritsuko was waiting in the simulation control room and was visibly annoyed with Misato as they entered. She handed the operations director a map-brochure as soon as she was within arm's reach. “Study and memorize,” Ritsuko said tersely.

The control room was a smaller-scale copy of the central command platform several floors above. There were three operator terminals arrayed around a long window viewing out on the three full-scale Eva mockups used for training and routine pilot synch tests. Those were a particularly unsettling sight, a disembodied cybernetic spine attached to a partially visible brain encased in a giant high-tech helmet, with various probes sticking out through the casing. Not for the first time Shinji found himself wondering if NERV was supposed to be the good guys.

The bridge bunnies had swiveled in their at their entrance, so after berating her friend Ritsuko introduced them to Shinji. “This is our primary Eva operational support team,” she began.

Akagi started with the mousy brunette, who was at the closest station. “Lieutenant Maya Ibuki monitors the status of our pilots and Evas, and serves as my personal assistant.”

Maya stood up and bowed politely. “It's nice to meet you, Shinji. You fought really bravely the other day.” Her smile was gentle enough, and unaffected. She seemed nice, and was girlishly cute rather than attractive. She had called Ritsuko sempai, he remembered, so she had some sort of attachment to the bottle-blonde.

“And then we have Lieutenant Makoto Hyuga,” Akagi continued. She was indicating the nerdy-looking guy with combed-back hair and thick frame glasses. “He monitors our external sensors, including the detection arrays for AT-Fields.”

Hyuga waved at Shinji and Misato. “Hi Shinji, Colonel Katsuragi. We're here to support the pilots, and won't let you down.” Shinji waved in response. Hyuga was a grown-up version of a familiar enough type from school, unaggressive and probably dependable, but clearly not as stiff as most Japanese men tended to be.

“And I believe you already know Lieutenant Aoba,” Ritsuko commented. “And how is that, Shigeru?”

“I was in college, the band was falling apart, and I needed beer money.” The long-haired operator shrugged his shoulders. “Shinji was one of the kids I gave guitar lessons to. Ikari's one of a few with any real talent.”

“Oh, so you're a musician?” Misato took the opportunity to poke Shinji. “Girls love the sensitive artist types. And the guitar is sexy...”

Shinji blushed red and looked away. “My parents wanted me to learn an instrument and the guitar seemed pretty cool.”

“It is, though the colonel is right.” Aoba gave the boy a thumb's up. “I've never had any problems with the ladies, and I'm sure you won't either.”

Misato slapped the boy on the back. “See! You'll have to show us all how good you are, and get those school girls chasing after you.”

“Save the corruption of the youth for your own time,” Ritsuko groaned. “Lieutenant Aoba monitors communications and tactical coordination with fortress defenses and JSSDF units.”

“Hello,” Shinji said, and bowed politely in the Japanese fashion as the introductions concluded. There was no reason to be rude and with his father not present he was in a much better mood. “Thank you for helping me the other night.”

“Since we're running late we need to get started now,” Ritsuko said impatiently. “We have your plug-suit ready for you to try out, Shinji.” She reached over behind her own terminal and pulled out a large if unassuming looking white box, which she handed over to the boy. It was deceptively heavy.

“The plug suit is specially designed to facilitate synchronization between the wearer and their Eva,” Akagi explained. “There are also integrated sensors that will allow us to monitor your physical condition once inside the entry plug. It also has a wrist communication and digital time display that will keep you appraised of your Eva's internal power supply if you are disconnected from external sources.”

Unfortunately Ritsuko had neglected to tell him how to get the damn thing on. It was a one-piece, blue colored puffy bit of material that vaguely resembled spandex or plastic and which looked incredibly dorky, while lacking a zipper or velcro or other obvious method to get it on. Shinji struggled to find some sort of seam for several minutes before accidentally pushing the clasp hidden in the reinforcement band around the chest. That let him slip his body into the suit, but he felt like he was wearing a bag until he noticed the other button on his wrist. With a vacuum sucking sound the suit constricted very, very tightly around him.

He exhaled painfully and walked around stiffly in the uncomfortable outfit. That helped out, but he still winced at the sight of himself in a sink mirror. “It's like some kind of bad superhero costume,” he said to himself. “Does Dr. Akagi have some kind of weird fetish? I guess they don't expect any fat pilots...”

Shinji certainly felt self-conscious as he walked back across the hall from the locker room. Fortunately Ritsuko hustled him over to the simulation room before Misato could tease him about it. The entry-plug lined up to screw inside the body was identical to the one he had fought inside.

Shinji paused outside the entrance to the plug. “Ah, Dr. Akagi, I think pilot Ayanami said she was injured in a synch test. Can something go wrong that I need to know about?”

“Oh, that.” Ritsuko frowned at the memory. “No, she was synching with the original prototype Eva, Unit 00. It went out of control and had to be shut down early. The plug system was forcibly ejected into the ceiling of the testing stage, and that led to the injuries you saw. Your father was the first to respond to the accident and even burned his hands opening the entry plug to check on her.”

“Why would he do that?” It seemed out of character for his father to be excessively concerned about anyone.

“Why indeed?” Ritsuko's voice was ice-cold. “In any case the flawed systems of the prototype were corrected in Unit 01. You don't have to worry about that happening with your Eva, and the simulation bodies can't move. Now, would you please get in so we can start the testing?”

It took a while to strap in, and even longer before the plug closed and the activation cycle began. The worst part of it was the feeling of LCL flooding his lungs, which still felt like drowning and provoked a barely-restrained panic instinct. He hoped the routine of training would help him get used to it. The rest of the start-up procedure followed, just like in the Evangelion. Shinji felt the double-sense as Maya reported the synchronization process underway, but it was different from before. His consciousness seemed rather limited, like there was some parts of his body that just refused to answer to his brain. He said as much to Ritsuko, who had activated the communication screen inside the plug to monitor him.

“That's because you are synching with the incomplete simulation body, not your Unit 01.” She said it as though that should have been obvious to Shinji. He admitted she had a point. But her features softened as she checked readout data. “Preliminary results show you have a 41.3% synch rate. It's reassuring that your performance the other day wasn't a fluke. Now, we're going to cut the synchronization and this time I want you to try and relax as much as you can. Try not to think at all as the synch procedure begins and see if that helps your score.”

“Alright.” He reclined back in the pilot harness and tried to clear his mind. Not thinking of anything just concentrated his attention on the sensations he was being afflicted with. The tightness of the plug suit, the wrongness of not breathing air, the viscous clingy quality that made LCL different from water, all of it intruded on his consciousness as Maya began counting down. He made a deliberate effort to dismiss it, and nearly gagged as he took in more of the LCL down his nostrils in a misguided attempt to breath deeply.

Shinji closed his eye as he felt the synch process begin again. He shoved out all the external input threatening to flood his mind and allowed the feeling of displacement to wash over him. The numb sense remained but it bothered him less.

“It reached 44.7% this time, sempai!” Maya called out the news with some excitement. “That's almost ten points higher than Rei, and even better than his first record in Unit 01!”

Ritsuko walked over to check the data on her protege's monitor. Shinji thought he saw the young operator shiver just slightly as the blonde leaned over her shoulder. “That is real progress,” she said absently. “Let's get ready to try it again. Shinji, we're going to keep doing this until the synchronization process is second-nature to you. Just keep trying not to be distracted.”

“Can't we get to the training soon?” This was probably going to get really boring really fast.

“Basics first, Shinji,” Misato reminded. “We have to be sure you won't have any trouble controlling your Eva before we can let you play with weapons of mass destruction. This is the vegetables before you can have ice cream.”

He grumbled thought the battery of tests. Ultimately Ritsuko had him run through nearly two-dozen synchronizations in a variety of conditions. After reaching a consistent high of around 46% she began adjusting environmental conditions to see how they impacted his rate. Shinji was subjected to cold and heat, neither of which really seemed to matter unless he was deliberately fighting the synch process, which he found could lower his ratio by ten points or more. The lengthy series of tests did have one more advantage, in that the sense of displacement began to fade as he grew more and more used to the synchronization process. At the end he felt almost like he was melding into the simulation body, his consciousness simply folding into the meld rather than being displaced on top of the foreign body.

“That's enough for today,” Ritsuko finally said, after the twenty-fifth synch test reached the previously established plateau. “Lieutenant Hyuga, activate the training systems in the simulation plug. Load the marksmanship module and set the controls for a 46% synch ratio.”

A virtual reality interface took over the visual systems of the simulation body and displayed a 3D cityscape for Shinji. He had the sensation of being able to move himself in the Eva within the artificial territory that had been generated. It wasn't precisely the same as what he had felt while fighting the Angel but it was close. As he tried out the simulation, stretching the virtual Eva's arms, he felt the same delicate lag that had impeded his movement. That was probably the imperfection implied by a synch ratio under 100%.

A gatling rifle appeared in his hands and a simple bulls-eye target materialized several blocks away. Misato told him to fire at it. Shinji brought the gun up, aimed, and spread dozens of depleted uranium shells all over the simulated landscape as the recoil bucked the gun up into the air.

“Ay ya,” Misato groaned. “It's a good thing we didn't send you out with the assault rifle against that Angel.”

Ritsuko took the performance in stride. “Shinji, you have to brace yourself before firing to deal with the recoil of the heavy support gun. You can also make use of the automated targeting systems that are integrated into the neural implant of Unit 01. In the Eva you can do that with a thought, but here you have to bring it up by looking in the upper-right corner of your viewscreen and blinking to select the mode.”

“Okay, Dr. Akagi.” He did as told, and to his surprise the screen responded to the movements of his eyes. A reticule came up in the center of his vision, moving as he adjusted the gatling weapon into position. He soon discovered that any fine gestures were an exercise in frustration due to the synchronization effect, and that made getting the reticule to line up with the target a serious pain. Eventually he decided that wobbling roughly on the center was good enough, and braced himself before opening fire again.

The gatling gun bucked in his hands but he was able to keep it roughly level as it sprayed the target with hundreds of shells. Once the smoke kicked up by the gun cleared away he get a view of the target, which had been riddled into tattered portions by the sheer power of the support weapon. “Awesome.”

He could hear Misato cheering, and Ritsuko complimented him. “Much better, Shinji. Now we're going to replace the target with a computer generated version of the Angel. Just take the same approach, but remember to generate your AT Field before opening fire. If you don't you won't be able to hurt it.”

Sachiel came into being in the place of the old target. The loping, vaguely humanoid figure threw up an AT Field, represented within the simulation as an orange hexagon shield. Shinji calmed himself and tried to do what he had done during the combat, which was to extend his synchronized awareness beyond the Eva itself.

“AT Field detected coming from simulation body Alpha!” Makoto announced excitedly. “Magi confirms Pattern Blue! He did it!”

Ritsuko nodded in approval. “Excellent, Shinji. Lieutenant Hyuga, notify the command center. They should know we're testing down here but I would rather not have an oversight start a panic.”

“Way to go Shinji!” Misato congratulated him. “Now engage the Angel. Remember that you have to destroy the core to deal with them. Center on that target, and pull the trigger.”

Shinji did as he was told. It was a task just to keep the simulated Eva level as he was pushed back by the recoil of the heavy gun. The storm of virtual projectiles slammed into the Angel, though, shredding the core and knocking it back on its feet, resulting in a most pleasing explosion.

They continued for several more tries. By the time Shinji was allowed out of the simulation body he was tired and sick of the training. He took a quick shower in the locker room to get the LCL gunk out of his hair and off his body, but he knew he needed more of a soak to do the trick. He looked forward to getting home, vegging out in front of the TV, and taking a long soak in the bath before heading to bed. He knew he was ready to go when he realized the prospect of Misato's driving no longer terrified him.

And speaking of which, she met him outside the lockers with an approving smile. “Good job, Shinji. You're doing well with the heavy weapons. I think we'll start you on the rifle tomorrow. It's easier to handle but needs to be used with more accuracy.”

The boy nodded. “Sounds fine, Misato. But right now I'm pretty sick of all the training.”

Katsuragi rubbed his head, mussing up his hair. “Okay, we're done here today. And since you did so well, I'll handle dinner tonight. You can just relax.”

Shinji paused as he processed the offer. And then he shrugged. “Thanks, Misato.” The last thing he wanted was to have to spend any time working in the kitchen. How bad could she really be?

In the past week, Shinji Ikari had learned a few important things. He had discovered, through simulation trial and error, that close combat with a synch rate under 50% was just a bad idea. He had learned how to handle a variety of ranged weapons and not wipe out more than a block or two of simulated cityscape in doing so. He had found out that there were no gods who would intervene to spare him the terror of Misato's driving, and thus had a new appreciation for walking everywhere he could. And from painful, painful experience, he now knew that he could never allow Katsuragi to fix anything he ate.

Among other things that meant getting up in the morning to preempt her attempts to make breakfast. He rotated between simple Western and Japanese dishes, exercising culinary muscles that had been resting since his dad had ceased being a bachelor. Misato seemed content to eat whatever was put in front of her, as long as she had something alcoholic to down it with. Today he was rushed, which meant a bowl of cereal as he finished making a bento lunch to take to his first day of school.

Despite having to rise early he was excited. A week of relentless training under Dr. Akagi and Colonel Katsuragi had given him a new appreciation for schoolday. And it would be good to be around people his own age, and and deal with the sorts of concerns a guy his age was supposed to. Trying to work up the nerve to ask a girl out was a vacation compared to having the safety of the entire human race on his shoulders. Not that he didn't plan on leveraging his pilot status for a little popularity...

Misato emerged from her room as he finished putting the box in order. As usual she was wearing a skimpy tank-top and shorts that were just long enough to be called such. Shinji waited, amused, as she grabbed her can of Yebisu and gave her morning beer cheer. Only then was she truly awake.

“I'm heading out to school shortly,” Shinji announced, once he was sure the alcohol was flowing in her veins. “There's no need to drive me there. I'll just walk.”

“Are you sure?” There was a dangerous gleam in her eye as she looked at him. “I'd be glad to drop you off.”

“No no, that's fine,” he insisted, waving his hands to make sure the point was made. “Uh, I can get to know the other students better if I walk with them.”

“I guess that's true,” she said, shrugging. “I'll pick you up after school, though. Rits wants you to start synch-testing in Unit 01, and we need to keep at your marksmanship training. Hopefully we can make you an expert and get in some more close combat exercises before the next Angel shows up.”

The boy groaned. “But Misato, we've been doing synch tests for the whole week in the simulation bodies. And I'll have homework...”

“And no slacking on it!” His guardian slammed a hand down on the counter. “Your parents won't like it if I let you flunk out of school, even if you do save the world.”

Shinji flinched and stepped away from the kitchen. “Uh, okay.”

“Of course you will!” Katsuragi beamed him an indulgent smile, completely at odds with the sudden violence of the moment before. “Shinji-kun hasn't disappointed yet, and won't start now.”

“I won't” he promised. Eying the clock he realize he had to get moving, so he stopped to pick up his bookbag and grabbed the bento box off the counter. “And I'm off to school! See you later, Misato!”

He waved her goodbye as he jogged out of the apartment. Behind him, Misato shook her head and poured out a beer for Pen-Pen. Shinji could hear the penguin's appreciative “Wark” as he shut the door. It was, he hoped, the last surreal touch to a day that would finally let him start getting back to normal.

Shinji couldn't help but smile as he exited the apartment, and began his daily walk with a languid stride. It was a pleasant morning in Tokyo-3, with a cool breeze moderating the warm temperature that Japan boasted year round thanks to Second Impact. There was little auto traffic out on the streets and as he passed down the blocks he saw kids of all ages streaming out in their school uniforms. There seemed to be a lot of younger kids running around, getting underfoot, but far fewer children of his own age. It had been the same in Tokyo-2, and even back in Seattle; birth rates had collapsed with the world population after Second Impact and both were only beginning to recover.

His new school was only a couple of years old, and had been built with the no expenses spared philosophy that had guided the rest of Tokyo-3. It was located on the edge of a city park, which gave it an enviable set of green spaces and facilities for physical education. The main school building itself was a rather conventional block-like edifice, the surface whitewashed and marked with rows of windows, with two large annexes. One was the indoor gym, the other was an assembly hall for various ceremonies and performances. Despite the rather humdrum appearance it was fully wired for multimedia and made used of student laptop computers as an integral part of the learning process.

Rather than use the time before classes began to get acquainted with his classmates he had to visit the office to pick up his schedule. The secretary in charge of retrieving it took her time doing so, which meant he had to run to make it to class on time. The eight grade classes were all at the top floor, leaving a breathless Shinji just a moment to visit his locker before bolting to classroom 2-A.

There was no flood of students coming in through the door to deal with, at least. The seats were already filled in and students were going about morning chores or chatting quietly. Shinji noticed the blue-haired First Child seat in a desk by the window, her arm still in a splint, staring outside in apparent disinterest with the class and projecting an undefinable but profound sense of isolation. She was the only familiar face in the class and it it seemed certain she wasn't going to be particularly good company. He'd have to work on that.

As he entered he was intercepted by a stern-looking young girl holding a clipboard and pen in a very officious looking manner, and glaring at him. That she had her hair up in juvenile ponytails and boasted a light dusting of freckles on her face made her display seem absurd, but Shinji did no doubt the earnestness behind it.

“Hikari Horaki, class rep,” she announced, before peering down on the clipboard. “And you must be transfer student Shinji Ikari.” As she spoke, the bell rang. “You need to get to class more quickly in the future.”

“Ah, yeah, they were kind of slow about setting things up in the office,” he replied. “So I guess you've got the list of assignments and such?

“Right.” Hikari nodded in approval at Shinji acting proactively. Too many transfer students tried to weasel out of doing their makeup work. “Meet me after class and I'll give them to you. Today we should just be doing another review of Second Impact so there's nothing you need right now. We can also discuss your place on the chore roster then.”

“Great. I'll see you then,” he said, with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. “So where's my seat?”

She pointed over to an empty desk toward the window, a couple of rows away from Ayanami. “Your login ID is your first and last name and the password is your birthday, day-month-year, eight digits. You'll be prompted to change that when you log in. And, welcome to class 2A Shinji.” She dropped the stern face and gave him an encouraging smile. “It's good to see someone transferring in for a change.”

He nodded, leaving it at that, and made his way through the rows of students to his desk. Most of them seemed caught up in their own affairs but as the new student he drew a lot of attention still. In particular the one really nerdy looking kid across from his desk seemed to be spending a lot of time peering at him through his thick glasses. Shinji vaguely wondered what the point of that was but he had other things to deal with. Booting up the laptop took a bit of time, and he had to consider the password.

The nerd evidently decided this was a good time to act on impulse. “Psst, new kid, are you the pilot of the giant robot?”

“Huh?” How the hell would this guy know about the Evangelion? Aside from living in the city that he had just defended by trashing a kaiju with a giant robot. “I'm Shinji Ikari. And you are?”

“Kensuke Aida,” he enthusiastically offered. “I didn't get any footage of that great robot fight last week, but everyone in Tokyo-3 knows what happened. Gas leak, hunh. And the weird girl shows up injured and you transfer in right when most people are leaving, and after I heard NERV had a new pilot. So, are you the robot pilot? That would be awesome.”

“Uh, whatever,” Shinji said, trying to blow him off. He had a delicate choice to make, namely which band was the greatest of all time. He shrugged after a moment of indecision, and decided to just rotate through his favorite bands so no-one could guess at a given time. He considered starting out with Black Sabbath just for “Iron Man” but that seemed a little too obvious. Going back a little further to the roots of progressive rock he decided on The Who.

The nerdy kid interrupted him again as he typed in his new password. “Oh, there's Toji. He hasn't been in for two weeks, not since the battle.”

Shinji drew his head up and saw a lanky, athletic boy who stood out in his blue track-suit and had a very aggressive scowl in place. He brushed off Hikari, who was asking about his absence, and ignored queries from other students as he made his way to a desk in the back. Shinji glanced away, back to his computer as it finished booting up, and thus escaped making eye contact with Toji. He didn't have much interest in the jocks and they learned the hard way he couldn't be bullied if they tried anything.

“Rise!” Hikari's voice cut through the chatter and compelled unquestioning obedience. Their teacher was entering and heading to his desk. He was a stooped-over old man in a wrinkled dress-shirt and khakis who looked like he would rather be somewhere else. Despite that the class rep seemed determined that the proper forms be obeyed. “Bow!” she demanded.

The class did so, and then sat back down as their teacher collected himself. “We have a new student today,” he said, sounding more than a little feeble and confused. “Mr. Ikari, please introduce yourself to the class.”

Shinji dutifully stood and bowed. “Shinji Ikari, pleased to meet you all. I moved here from Tokyo-3 a couple of weeks ago.” He wasn't sure what else to add, so he sat down once the teacher nodded.

Attendance followed, and then a lecture on Second Impact began. It was nothing he hadn't heard dozens of times in the past, and now knew to be a lie. Hearing the tired old account of the meteor that had almost destroyed civilization he did begin thinking about what Misato had said. Why were they hiding the existence of the Angels and their responsibility for Second Impact? Maybe they didn't want to panic people but it would make more sense to him to use the threat to rally support for NERV's efforts to defeat the Angels. Misato grumbled from time to time about the budget, but if everyone knew their lives were at stake they would be pretty generous about paying more taxes, he figured. Of course, Misato hadn't said how the Angels had caused Second Impact, so maybe he needed to get more of the story out of her.

The class chatroom was much more interesting. Someone had long ago defeated the monitoring software installed by the school, giving Class 2A at least free reign to do whatever they wanted. As soon as they noticed he had logged in, they decided to conduct a more thorough interrogation of the transferee. Shinji played along, answering questions that asked about his birthday, his favorite color/food/music/etc, where he had lived, and what he did with his free time. That he had lived overseas and played the guitar made him stand out from his peers and attracted no small amount of comment and cemented his status as “cool.”

Unfortunately the questioning didn't remain so facile. After a pause in the conventional questions someone again asked whether or not he was the pilot of the giant robot. He glanced back over at Aida, who unsurprisingly was looking intently at him. Shinji considered just denying it, which would be the end of the speculation. He could realize it was the smartest thing to do. But his pride intervened. He had, after all, thrashed that black kaiju. Everyone in Tokyo-3 already knew about the Evangelions and Angels, so there was no point to upholding the masquerade that NERV and the Japanese government seemed intent on. And while he had been warned stridently against speaking to the press the Vice-Commander had said nothing about his classmates.

He answered yes, and the classroom exploded into a sudden uproar. Shinji found himself swarmed by his fellow students, who ignored the startled demands of the teacher to return to their seats. The class demanded to know all about the fight with the Angel, the operations of NERV, how he had become a pilot, and so on. Shinji was only too happy to tell them about how he had beaten Sachiel, but omitted a lot of detail about other issues using the handy excuse of security concerns. In particular he had no intention of airing his dirty laundry, though since most of the class had parents employed by NERV the connection between himself and his father was made with annoying swiftness. Unfortunately that led to the impression his being the commander's son had led to his selection as a pilot, and Shinji was at a loss as to how to correct that.

On the other hand the exercise did net him a substantial class following and automatically put him on the radar of all the girls in class. By lunch he had no doubt that would expand to the entire school. It was very much worth the disapproving looks he got from Hikari as she busted up the gathering around his desk. He didn't even notice Toji glaring at him with murderous intent.

After the class settled down the lecture on Second Impact droned on. Shinji got bored of taking questions in the chatroom so he logged out and spent a couple of hours watching the clock. The bell release to phys ed came as a salvation. He waited the decent interval of a few seconds before joining the press out through the door, and then headed to his locker to grab the gym clothes he had stashed.

He certainly didn't expect to be intercepted by the tracksuit wearing goon as he made his out along the walkway to the gym. Toji barred the way in, pounding his right fist into his palm and wearing a decidedly satisfied look on his face. “Sorry new guy, but I'm just not going to feel right without smacking ya around.”

“Look, I don't know what your problem is, but...” Before he could finish the peaceful appeal Toji had reared back and slammed his right fist into his chin. Shinji recoiled back at the solid blow, flinching at the pain and the taste of blood in his mouth.

Toji pressed the advantage, coming up at Shinji and lashing out in a wild blow. But the boy was alert now and ducked the powerful but uncoordinated punch. “Youse just making it harder on yaself. Stand still an' we can get this over wid.”

“You son of a bitch!” Shinji felt rage boiling up and embraced it. He tossed his clothes up at Toji's face, which distracted the other boy long enough for Shinji to slam a left punch right into his gut. There was no room of thought or strategy in following up; Shinji just kept slamming his fists into Toji until the other boy slammed in a haymaker that physically pushed Shinji back and left his vision reeling. He took several steps back to get distance from his attacker. Toji had reach and strength on him, which meant he was going to have to wait for another opening to dash in and pummel the boy as much as he could.

“No, no, both of you two, stop it!” An insistent voice pushed through the red haze in Shinji's mind. He finally noticed the nerdy kid, Kensuke, standing around on the steps by the building. “You'll get caught if it goes on any longer, and be suspended or worse.”

That seemed to shake Toji's resolve, and he relaxed his stance a bit to signal his decision to end the fight. “Dat's enough, fer now. But maybes later I come back an' finish what we started. Someone needs ta thrash some sense into youse.”

Shinji spat on the ground. There was red in the spittle from where he had bit himself when Toji jumped him. “Next time I'll be ready,” he growled.

Toji grunted and turned his back to walk away. Shinji considered rushing him anyway, but he was already in bad enough shape. There was going to be a bruise on his forehead from where the other boy had hit him, and explaining it would be problematic enough. But if Toji fucked with him again he was going to have make the boy eat grass. That was the way one had to deal with with all bullies.

Kensuke meanwhile had stepped forward and gathered up Shinji's gym clothes. “That's Toji Suzuhara,” he explained as he handed back the clothes to Shinji. “His sister was injured in the big fight when a building collapsed on her. He was out for much of the last couple of weeks helping to take care of her. I guess he blames you for that.”

“Oh.” Shinji paused and considered that. He shifted guiltily. It was certainly possible that he or the Angel had hurt people during that struggle. A lot of buildings had gone down. Given that he had been given no training whatsoever before being sent out in Unit 01, he realized it was a near-certainty that he had caused some casualties. “Bastards.”

“Hmm?” Aida was still hanging around for some reason. “Who? Toji?”

Shinji shook his head. “No. I was picked to pilot that evening. NERV sent me up to that battle completely unprepared. I guess I hadn't thought about what that meant before now.”

Aida's eyes seemed to bulge out of his sockets. “That's crazy. But does that mean anyone can be selected as a pilot?”

“I don't know how they select people,” Shinji replied. He shrugged. “Dr. Akagi said something about having to be born after Second Impact but I can't see why that's the case.”

“So I could...” Kensuke trailed off and he clearly seemed ready to slip into his own private dreamland before shaking it off with a forceful effort. “Uh, we're kind of late for gym, new kid. Sorry about Suzuhara, anyway.”

“I guess I can see why he's pissed,” Ikari conceded. “But if he jumps me again I'm not holding back. One of us will go to the ground and stay there.” And from the way the battle had gone he was willing to admit it would probably be him, but Toji would pay for it.

Kensuke nodded and, unsure of what else to say, started for the gym. Shinji followed after bushing himself off. He decided to claim that he had been smacked in the face by the door. It was vaguely plausible since they did swing pretty wide out, and if one were taken unaware it would put you down on your ass. It would probably work given how out of it most of the teachers in the school seemed to be.

And in fact it did work, though his gym teacher sent him to the nurse to get checked out. The rest of the day passed with a mind-numbing lack of stimulation. Their teacher was still going on about Second Impact, and from comments in the class chat had been doing so since the beginning of the school year. And as promised, Hikari had his list of assignments and his chart for class chores waiting for him at the end of the day. The extensive list of back-reading and essays to be completed killed what little enthusiasm for the day he had left after Toji had clocked him.

Misato was waiting for him the parking lot as he stepped out, and she was frowning. Shinji braced himself as he approached. “Hi, Misato,” he said weakly and waved.

“Why were you in a fight today?” She was looking down at him in a way that told him trying to bullshit his way out would have dire consequences. “NERV does keep surveillance on you, in case you forget.”

“This other kid jumped me,” Shinji explained. “Toji Suzu-something. One of the other guys in the class said he his sister had been hurt in that fight with the Angel. I fought back and we ran late for gym, so...”

Misato nodded, satisfied. “Okay Shinji. You're telling the truth.” She smiled wryly. “Of course Section 2 looked into the details before letting me know. As long as it remains a school matter they're not going to step in, but you need to be careful. We can't afford to have a pilot out for being beaten up by the school bully.”

Shinji dutifully nodded. “I'll be careful,” he promised. “Now, any word from my parents?”

“The last of your stuff arrived today,” Misato said. “And your Dad called to say they'll be coming in next week for a few days. I think they're going to be looking at apartments then.” She reached over to muss up Shinji's hair. “I'm going to miss you, Shinji. And the half of the rent your salary covers.”

“Ha ha.” But it was cheering news, especially after how the day had gone. Even if he was going to miss getting a daily eyeful of the beautiful older woman parading around in skimpy clothing. “I guess I'll be around anyway until the Angels go away, whenever that is.”

“Yeah. And speaking of which, we've got training so you can make them go away.” She pointed her thumb back at the passenger entrance of the car. “All aboard for NERV!” Shinji gulped, made yet another ineffectual series of prayers to every deity he could think of, and strapped himself in.
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The week passed by in a blur. Partly that was due to the sheer mountain of homework he had to catch up on. Every night he was writing another essay or doing more sheets of problems, just barely keeping up with the class while making progress on the background work. And with the realization that he could screw up and hurt innocent people he had asked Misato to accelerate his training in close combat. That had meant spending the past seven evenings being tossed around by Section 2 self-defense instructors as a prelude to much frustration learning the very basic knife-fighting skills he could use with a synch-ratio under 50%. He was exhausted mentally and physically and only retained some balance because Misato had insisted he put aside a half-hour each evening to practice his guitar out on the balcony.

But as he relaxed in the shade of a tree out in the park, the remains of his meal packed back away in his bento box, he felt it was all worthwhile. He was learning how to use his progressive knife to good effect following up the heavy firepower he could now lay down with reasonable accuracy. The virtual Sachiel, as he had heard from Ritsuko that the Third Angel was being called in official reports, usually went down in the first minute of their matches. And if Toji decided to pick another fight he had picked up a couple of pretty useful moves to deal with that, too. None sporting, granted; Section 2 relied on its own syncretic martial arts style that drew from Russian and Israeli commando styles that aimed to cripple or kill an attacker as quickly as possible.

And he would get to see his parents after school. Not that he would admit it to Misato or dad and his stepmom, but he had missed them a good deal. And he had finally turned in the last of the makeup work Hikari had demanded of him, so that meant he had the weekend free. Misato had even relented a bit and given him a break from the training. Things were definitely looking up.

Someone stood over him, blocking out the sun. Shinji looked up, squinting, into the odd crimson eyes of Rei Ayanami. “Headquarters has detected an Angel approaching Tokyo-3. We are being summoned to NERV headquarters. I will go ahead.”

For all the enthusiasm in her voice she may as well have been narrating a chess match. Shinji shook his head. “No, I'll leave with you. They have arrangements to take us back to the geofront?”

She nodded. “Section 2 is waiting with a black Humvee in the parking lot. Follow me.” With that she took off in a run that he could only describe as oddly graceful. It was almost as thought she were putting no effort into it. Shinji on the other hand could feel the burn as he followed, over a hill and back onto the school grounds, and then on to the black top of the parking lot. There was indeed a giant black Humvee waiting for them, with a pair of agents in black suits and sunglasses prominently wielding Glock 17 pistols in a wary stance. They hustled the children into the car and the driver took off at high speed down streets that were eerily empty.

They were dropped off at the main foot entrance to the geofront, a long shaft in the middle of downtown that led directly to the monorail servicing NERV headquarters. Shinji had tried and failed to engage Rei in small talk about the class as they took the five-minute jaunt, and she diverted to a personnel bunker as soon as they reached the pyramid. Shinji walked forward and was grabbed and all but dragged by Misato to the Eva bays.

“Good thing you've learned the way,” he said flippantly as they descended on the elevator into Central Dogma. Colonel Katsuragi had what Shinji had recognized as her “game-face” on and so did not bother to respond. Which was a shame because he really would have liked a bit of relief from what was a gnawing anxiety in his gut about having to fight another Angel to the death. And there was another fear. “Where are my parents? Are they safe?”

“Their train made it into the station before we picked up the Angel,” Misato replied grimly. “Section 2 is on their way to find them but the state of emergency has everyone rushing to the nearest shelter. They should be safe. We have the streets clear.”

He nodded, but then he thought of Toji's sister. “I thought the streets were supposed to be cleared before I went up the first time. People still got hurt.”

Misato stared down at him, and then shook her head. “That's always a possibility, Shinji. The Angels have already killed three billion people. But you can't think about what can happen while you're out there. You just have to focus on fighting. The best thing you can do for your parents is to kill this Angel quickly.”

“I guess that's true.” Shinji sighed, trying to expel some of the tension he felt. “I'm so going to kick this thing's ass for interrupting my weekend.”

Misato slapped him on the back. “That's the spirit, Shinji.”

As they reached the bay Shinji saw the ground crews scrambling to finish prepping Eva 01 for launch. The purple and green armored giant was shedding cables and support gantries even as he jogged over to the locker room to change into his plug suit. Misato had left for the command room shortly after that, so he was left to make his way to the entry plug alone. He had done it often enough for the synch tests that he knew the way, and the procedures, intimately.

The plug filling with LCL is almost reassuring. He can hear the release procedures being counted down over the radio but pays little attention until Ritsuko tells him to prepare for synching. He tries, as hard as he can, to clear his mind. But his gut is clenched up and he can't stop thinking about Toji's sister, and his own mom and dad. The anxiety begins to invade his conscious mind as he feels the now-familiar sensation of displacement onto the Eva. It isn't the smooth melding he had thought he was used.

He feels warm. Something tells him that everything will be alright. He smiles in anticipation. Misato is asking him if he's ready. “Ready and then some,” he responds with confidence. “What's the game plan?”

“This Angel is larger than one you first fought, and not humanoid at all. We don't know what it could be capable of,” Misato admitted. “We're launching you out of access point 6G. We'll have the heavy support cannon ready for you at the arms cache beside the catapult harness. Just neutralize the Angel's AT-Field and blow it to pieces.”

“Sounds good to me. Now let's get this show underway.” This time the bravado remains even as his Eva is shot out into the middle of Tokyo-3 by the electronic catapult.

Unit 01 was released in the middle of downtown Tokyo-3. The heavily armored “skyscrapers” that made up the geofront shelter system had mostly retracted to protect themselves from the upcoming battle. Some of those buildings had other uses, however. Once Shinji had plugged his Eva into the NERV power supply he followed Misato’s directions to an otherwise ordinary-looking building that shed a false exterior, exposing a massive gatling cannon and attached ammo drum.

The boy smiled in anticipation as he picked up the gun and secured it in place around the Eva’s back. “Let’s rock and roll. I don’t want to spend all afternoon out here.”

“The Angel is making its way to your position from the eastern outskirts of the city,” Ritsuko informed him, evidently unamused. “The AT-Field it projects is stronger than that of the Third Angel. Unit 01 will take longer to erode it than you’re used to from the
simulators, so be sure the field is down before opening fire. If you don’t you’ll just be wasting time and ammunition like the SSDF.”

Shinji oriented himself to oncoming monster. He saw the thing rising up, taller than Sachiel and the cityscape of Tokyo-3, a flash of orange-red amid the gray of the fixed skyscrapers. It smashed its way through several smaller shops lining the broad avenue running through his position, giving Shinji a better view. It had an almost serpentine body that morphed into an open thorax lined by five pairs of chattering, moving rib-bones underneath a floppy, arrow-shaped head. There were pairs of coruscating purple flagella on either side of the body, and a red-glowing core shielded by the odd exposed ribcage.

“What is that? It looks like some sort of… demented squid monster.” He shook his head in disbelief. “It’s nothing like the Angel I fought earlier.”

“The Angels are not fixed to a single form,” Akagi explained. “The power of their AT-Field is such that they can assume structures that are impossible under conventional physics. And it makes them impossible to predict.”

“Wonderful. So there’s no telling what this one can do, or what future ones can do.” Regardless, he advanced down the boulevard to close the range on the Angel. “Let’s see what this baby can do…”

He halted astride the road and extended his sense of being outward. Immediately he felt a powerful invisible barrier between him and the Angel. He pushed attempted to push through, and could feel his own field becoming less and less tangible even as he felt it extend through the Angel’s. After a standoff of a few seconds he could no longer feel beyond his Eva and he knew the Angel had lost its protection.

The monster responded by surging forward toward Unit 01. Shinji quickly lined the barrel of the heavy support gun up and pressed down on the trigger. A storm of 120mm depleted uranium shells was unleashed in the middle of a Tokyo-3 road. Rounds slammed into the body of the beast, plowing through flesh and causing spectacular
eruptions of red ichor flowing out into the street. But to the boy’s astonishment and horror the holes punched into the Angel’s body closed up as soon as he ceased fire.

He stepped back along the street as the Angel continued to close. A purple tentacle flashed through the space his Eva’s head had occupied only seconds ago, slicing cleanly through one of the armored buildings instead. A piece of the structure sloped down to the road, smashing into debris right in front of Unit 01.

“Damn.” Shinji had to throw himself backward to dodge the other tentacle as it slashed toward his torso. That one slashed down to the road, carving an ugly gash into the asphalt as it reeled back to the Angel. Shamshel brought its head up just a bit, and Shinji decided it wasn’t a squid. No, it was a cobra.

He pressed down the trigger on the heavy support gun again. It cycled through thousands of shells in a minute, slamming spent cartridges onto the road in a rain of super-hot steel casings. The depleted uranium slugs shredded the Angel’s body as Shinji worked the barrel upward, trying to direct stream of destruction into the thorax. He had to destroy the core…

The purple whip lashed out again, through the storm of metal, and Shinji was just too astonished to react. It sliced apart the barrel and only a last minute jerk away kept it from lashing into the Eva’s chest. Half the gun fell down into the street as Shinji swore up a
storm.

“Shinji! Get control of yourself!” Misato was shouting, urgently. “Ditch the support gun. I’ll send up a reserve assault rifle, but hold it together.”

The boy fell back as he tried to unstrap the harness of the now mostly empty ammunition drum. Once it was loose he tossed it at the Angel, which lashed it into pieces as it surged after him. Freed of the weight Shinji began jinxing and leaping back unpredictably as the energy tentacles slashed at him. The toll on the surrounding buildings was enormous as he kept up the slow retreat, and Shinji could see where the Angel was trying to herd him out of the city and against the foothills to the west, around Mount Kami and the historic
Hakone Shrine.

Regretting the necessity he dodged around a corner and barely avoided having a piece of building smash down on his head as the Angel lashed at him. The cache Misato mentioned was in another false facade skyscraper a block away. “I’m going to have to jettison the plug,” he announced, a mere second before he did just that and sprinted down the street to the now opened cache.

“Shinji, you’ve only got five minutes of operational time with the plug released,” Ritsuko reminded him insistently. “You have to take down the Angel quickly or you’ll run out of power.”

“I know,” he said through gritted teeth. He pulled out the Eva-scale assault rifle and immediately hosed down the Angel lumbering after him. The assault rifle was far more accurate than the support gun but it lacked the same kick and he simply couldn’t stop long enough to aim properly. He had to run south along the central block to avoid being sliced apart by those deadly energy tentacle, spraying the Angel with rounds and hoping he got lucky enough to hit something important that would slow it down.  That wasn’t going to work.

“Misato, I need help now!” His heart was pounding out through his ribcage, and panic was overtaking his mind. He was reacting purely on instinct and a few well-honed drills to the Angels now. Shinji couldn’t slow down, couldn’t take a moment to collect himself, because if he did the Angel was going to kill him. He clung only to a desperate hope that somehow Misato would find a solution.

A lengthy silence followed. Just as Shinji was beginning to believe he was on his own the radio finally crackled to life again. “Fall back along Route Five toward Mount Kami! We’re bringing an auxiliary plug out by Lake Ashino and you can head toward it once you’re in the outskirts of the city. That should give you a clearer range of fire and some room to maneuver but you’re going to have to close in to kill it.”

“And how do I do that?” There was a rising tone of desperation in his voice as timer continued counting down. The whips kept lashing at him and the rifle was doing nothing. But he did finally have an idea, and since the rifle was worthless he tossed it aside to pull out the progressive knife. “I hope this armor is good,” he whispered. But if he could deal with the energy whips everything would be fine.

When the next tentacle lashed out Shinji stepped aside rather than dodge back. He grabbed the tentacle in his left hand. That immediately sent out tendrils of agony up his central nervous system. But the tentacle was solid enough and even as felt like he
had seized hold of a live coal he brought the progressive knife slashing down into the writhing purple whip. It cleaved right through, separating that part of the tentacle from the rest of the Angel and immediately relieving the agony he had endured. He looked over, and in his hands was a piece of metallic looking cable that he casually discarded.

Shinji had to duck quickly as the other tentacle whipped at his head. He threw himself into a roll backward and took the corner onto Route Five. Directly ahead were the pleasantly green foothills that led up into the mountains surrounding Tokyo-3. And over to his right were the routes leading by Lake Ashino. He just had to get to the next power cable before his juice ran out and he could kill the Angel.

That confidence died when he looked back. Shamshel was following him. And both tentacles were the same length again. “God damn it! He can grow the tentacles back!” His howl of frustration, rage, and primal fear sent chills through the command crew back in NERV.
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David Rokubungi panted as he stopped, exhausted, on the steps of a barbershop at the end of Route Three. His wife clutched his hand tightly. Someone was after them. They had been separated from the rest of the passengers at the station after debarking and only the
sudden emergency had put the man in the black suit off long enough to let David clobber him from behind. And that had left them sprinting through an unfamiliar city, trying to find the nearest shelter and some kind of police presence to save them from their pursuers.

That didn’t mean they couldn’t look up. As David lifted his eyes he saw a giant humanoid robot in neon-reflective purple and green armor dominating the skyline and performing acrobatics that seemed impossible. It was being chased by a giant squid-slash-dildo lashing out with what looked like deadly lightsaber whips that cut deeply into
anything they touched. As the humanoid giant grabbed one of the tentacles and sliced it off he cheered.

“Is that our Shinji?” Jennifer spoke quietly. Her heart was leaping up into her chest. She wasn’t athletic, she was in mortal terror, and her son was in a giant robot pilot fighting some sort of monster.

“So that is Shinji Ikari.” The voice came from behind them, soft, calming, but oddly detached in its monotone. “The light of his soul engulfs this city. It is magnificent.”

David spun around, alarmed, ready to confront whoever had found them. He was faced on the sidewalk by a young teen wearing a disheveled and wrinkled dress shirt shoved haphazardly into a pair of black denims. The boy (though David had to take a second glance to be sure) had ash-white hair and exotic crimson eyes. The most disconcerting thing was that he was smiling broadly and had his hands shoved into his pockets as though he was without a care in the world.

The boy bowed lightly. “My apologies for startling you, Mr. and Mrs. Rokubungi. I am… connected with the fate of your son. I wished to meet those who had such an impact on him.”

David remained on edge and eyed the strange boy warily. “Shinji hasn’t talked much about any friends of his, and anyway we should all be getting to a shelter.”

“Ah, yes. He hasn’t met me yet.” The boy cocked his head and then turned to face the battle. Shamshel was regenerating the energy whip that Ikari had sliced off. “She tries valiantly. I feel regret for her. Yes, regret is the correct word. Shinji will defeat her.”

He spoke with whispered certainty that freaked the Rokubungis out. The kid was clearly a mental patient, but even though he looked like a twig there was something about him that radiated great power. And menace. Jennifer stepped back behind her husband before responding. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“Introductions, yes,” the boy mumbled to himself. “I am called Kaworu Nagisa by the Lilin. That is me, and yet not me. But it will suffice. And I am here because I have been ordered to kill you both.” He announced the fact nonchalantly, and turned to smile broadly at them. “I do not wish to follow those orders, so I will not.”

“Uh, that’s a relief,” David said, and surprisingly enough meant. “Why are people looking to kill us? What did we do?”

Kaworu shook his head. “You produced that Shinji Ikari,” he said sadly. “And there are those who wish to unmake him. They are fools, but it is not my place to question.”

“Who would want to hurt Shinji?” David found his eyes tracing upwards again. They were the only enemies he knew of. “The Angels? Are you… but you’re human.”

“That would be telling.” Kaworu’s smile grew wider still. “But it is not they who wish to hurt your son. No, they would not even understand how it could be done this way. The Angels, as you Lilin call them, are the ultimate freedom of the body. They possess the Tree of Life and are perfect, utterly sufficient, in their own souls. To harm another being by attacking some other thing could not occur to them, and they would be revolted if it did. And perhaps they too would know pity for the Lilin if they realized how it was possible.”

David sighed. The weird kid was spouting nonsense. What a surprise. “Okay, so who is after us? And can you please help us get to the police or a shelter or something if you’re not going to kill us?”

The boy shook his head. “Other Lilin, of course. They wish Shinji to be emotionally crippled, and malleable to their desires. They seek to free humanity of pain and loneliness and yet wield them as weapons to destroy others. It is strange, is it not?”

“So, the shelter?” David was insistent. The battle was moving away, but that would free up those people hunting them to move openly. If they could just find a shelter they could fade into the crowd and find help.

Kaworu pointed down the street. “It is three blocks away, on the right-hand corner.” He closed his eyes. “I do not know where the others are. You must be careful.”

“Thanks.” David took his wife by the hand and took off by the steps. Maybe they could make it. If the enemy, the Lilin or whatever, could watch all the shelter entrances in Tokyo-3 they would be dead anyway. If not, they could certainly get in touch with NERV once they reached the shelter. And they could let Shinji know all about the hidden
enemies that he had acquired.

Behind them Nagisa recited a few lines in a lyrical tone. “Unserm Todfeind sei verziehn, keine Traene soll ihn pressen, keine Reue nage ihn.” The old men of SEELE would plot, and so would Gendo Ikari. “Let them,” he whispered. Tabris was the angel of free will.
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Shinji grabbed the plug in a flying leap and shoved it none too gingerly into the socket on the back of his Eva. The power supply meter was reset as Unit 01 was suddenly connected to NERV’s electricity grid again. Shinji turned abruptly on the banks of the
placid Lake Ashino to face the approaching Angel, his prog-knife drawn and at the ready. He was cornered and knew it, so he took the initiative with a charge.

The Angel’s glowing purple tentacles swiped out at him. He leaned out of the way of the whip that just barely missed grazing his head, but that distracted him from the other tendril. That one went low, and wrapped around his right leg. The Angel pulled him forward, and Shinji slammed into the ground on his back.

He cried out in pain. Shinji had felt the impact through his Eva’s synchronization, and the tendril burned even through the Unit’s armor. And he was disoriented as Shamshel whipped him around by the ankle, scraping him along the ground and then physically flinging him out into the hills. He felt weightless in the seconds he flew through the air, and then a brutal blunt pain as he slammed into a hillside, one that made him see black for several crucial seconds.

He shook himself groggily. He was feeling punch-drunk and oddly very numb. Misato was shouting at him to get. Unfortunately he had to admit the Angel was kicking his ass. The Eva rolled itself over and Shinji propped it up with his left arm. He still had the prog knife, he realized with some relief. But Shamshel had taken to the air and was coming at him like a squid of doom. It was a good thing he was too beaten around to panic anymore.

Things got worse. The bushes around him moved. When he looked over the Eva’s computer enhancements flashed a pair of ID cards at him. “Aida Kensuke and Suzuhara Toji,” he read reflexively. He knew them both, the nerdy boy and the tracksuited goon from class.

“What are they doing out there?” Misato asked the obvious question, and from her tone was not happy about it.

Shinji wasn’t pleased either, especially since the Angel was coming for him and not squishing those two would be a challenge. At least the camera that Kensuke was flashing at him and toward Shamshel closing in answered the question about what they were doing. The nerd was utterly obsessed with finding out everything he could about the Evangelions, and the kaiju they fought. Shinji activated his speakers to yell at them. “Idiots! Get the hell out of here!”

The Angel didn’t halt to let them work out the problem. It came within striking distance and lashed out with both whips. Shinji hastily tossed his prog knife aside and reached out with both hands to grab the tentacles. The burning sensation was excruciating. He could
even feel the armor melting on his hands.

“There's no time to get them away,” Misato shouted, obviously pissed. “Release your entry plug and let them inside. We don't have any other choice.”

“Letting them inside the plug will introduce interference and lower Shinji's synch ratio,” Ritsuko objected. “Our priority is to kill the Angel, not save everyone too stupid to get to a shelter in time.”

“No! I'm not going to risk hurting people like that.” Shinji pulled the release lever that would bring his entry plug out. As the synch ratio collapsed he felt a sudden end to the pain that had coursed through him. If nothing else the diversion helped clear his head for a precious moment.

His two classmates were ordered in by Misato over the Eva loudspeakers. They plunged into the LCL amid cursing by Toji. “It's oxygenated, just let it fill in your lungs,” Shinji explained. “And don't throw up!”
He closed the plug was they settled down behind his pilot harness. Kensuke was, of course, leaning over his shoulders as he handled the plug controls. “This is awesome! Thanks for letting us aboard, Shinji!”

And for that Shinji didn't warn the nerd when the entry plug began screwing back into place inside the Evangelion. He gritted his teeth was the synch rate climbed back up and he feel the pain of contact with the Angel's energy whips burn through him again.

“Dat... really hoits, doesn it?” Toji seemed astonished to see him ashen-faced and barely holding on in the face of the feedback from the Eva.

“Like a bitch,” the boy gasped out. And he had enough. Shinji tugged on the tentacles, drawing Shamshel closer to him before taking the tentacles over his shoulders and shoving them away. The squid floated back to the base of the hill and settled back on the ground. It seemed to tense as if expecting what was to come.

Shinji bent down to pick up the prog knife, hefting it between his hands to test his coordination. The presence of the two classmates, thankfully, didn't seem to make much difference. “Okay Toji, Kensuke, I really need to concentrate, so please don't bother me. If I screw this up I'm probably going to kill us all.”

He didn't see the two boys nodding vigorously. He put all his focus in the sudden run down the hill. He was closing straight in on the Angel, which had reared back it's energy whips in anticipation. Shinji held his breath as the whips swept forward at him, and then pushed off the hill as he brought Unit 01 into a headlong leap into the Angel. The whips passed under him as the bulk of the Evangelion crashed into Shamshel, with the progressive knife tearing into the Angel's flattered head. The momentum of the Eva bowled both Angel and Shinji over, but Shinji had expected it.

Unit 01 pinned the Angel down with its knees as it tried to writhe away. The energy whips flailed Shinji on his back, but the boy was not to be denied. He grabbed the progressive knife with both hands and shoved it into the blood-red core above the thorax. It chipped through the crystalline sphere, plunging deeper into the seat of the Angel's core as he pressed down. Shamshel thrashed from side to side and bucked up to shake Shinji off but it was already too late. The core cracked and then shattered. The Angel's wail resonated in the mind of everyone in Tokyo-3.

Shinji stood up over the felled monster and looked around. Much of the nearby district had been trashed by the Angel's flailing whips. But Misato had assured him the streets were clear, so he tried to push away the guilt from his mind. “Well, I guess it learned its lesson.”

“Magi confirms the Angel's Pattern Blue signature has ceased,” Lieutenant Makoto reported. “Good job, Shinji!”

The congratulations of the rest of the bridge crew followed. Even Ritsuko had some praise for the way he had taken out the Angel and left it mostly intact. It helped him calm down as the sustained terror and excitement of combat faded away. As the adrenaline flushed out of his system he just felt very, very tired. He trundled back to the Lake Ashino recovery station without any further one-liners or banter.

“Hey, Ikari, I uh, I guess I shouldn't ah belted youse back da udder week.” Toji sounded rather reluctant to say anything, but he was forcing out the words. “I think I felt somthin' when youse was fighting dat thing. Youse really got beaten up goin' out dere, didn't cha?”

“Yeah, I did.” Shinji shook his head. “Look, Toji, I'm sorry about your sister. They just pushed me out here in the Eva and told me to fight. I didn't really know what I was doing, but they said if I didn't the world would end.”

“I hears ya, new kid,” Toji responded. “Youse got a pretty good piece a' me, so I guess we're evan.”

“Eva?” Kensuke pipped up behind them. “Is that what the robot is called?”

“Evangelion,” Shinji replied quietly. “I don't know what it means. They call those things Angels, and I don't know why either.” Which reminded him. “Hey, Dr. Akagi, why do they call the kaiju Angels?”

Ritsuko sighed. “It's a... reporting name the UN chose. And they are mysterious and powerful while possessing alien geometries. The seraphim and other angelic beings of the Christian bible fit that description.”

“So, it's like the NATO code names for Soviet equipment during the Cold War,” Kensuke extrapolated. “And I guess it sounds kind of cool.”

“They called the first one Sachiel,” Ikari added. “Although I'd think that would piss off Christians. They do tend to be serious about these kinds of things. Which is maybe why NERV isn't talking about them.”

Kensuke, happy to be riding in a giant robot and getting some answers, lost whatever little sense of discretion he had already possessed. “So where do they come from? Are the Angels space aliens? And how'd you build the Evas?”

There were groans audible over the radio channel. Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki intruded to nip his enthusiasm in the bud. “Mr. Aida, you are already in serious trouble for leaving a shelter during a state of emergency. Now we are going to have to have a long talk with you about the UN Classified Secrets Protocol and what happens if you violate it.”

“That was kind of dumb,” Shinji observed. “What were you two thinking?”

“Eh, I couldn' let dis ere runt out on 'is own,” Toji said. “He wanned to get some pics a the giant robot an' the kaiju. Told 'em it was a bad idea, but he wouldn't lissen. So I hads to go out wid 'em.”

“A creditable, if misplaced sense of loyalty, Mr. Suzuhara,” Fuyutsuki commented over the radio. “You are also going to have to attend that talk with Mr. Aida.”

The presence of two black-suited Section 2 agents in the Eva bay showed the Vice-Commander was not joking. Toji and Kensuke were barely allowed to shake off the LCL coating them before they were dragged away to detention. Shinji looked on with an exhausted bemusement. Misato was on hand to assure him there wouldn't be any serious consequences for the boys, but he waved that away.

“Have you heard from my parents?” The buildings crashing down into the streets flashed before him. “I'm just a bit concerned.”

She shook her head. “Not yet. Their train arrived earlier than was reported and they may have gone to their hotel. If they were caught up in the alert and in a shelter it may be a while before we can find them. But don't worry about it, Shinji. They'll be fine. Now go take a shower and clean off. Try to relax.” Misato smiled at him. “I promise I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything.”

“Yeah, guess you're right.” LCL dripped down onto the catwalk around him. “I do really need the shower. See you in a bit.”
************************************************************************

Kozo Fuyutsuki entered into Gendo's sanctum with the studied nonchalance that came from years of close, if not altogether willing, collaboration. The cavernous, unlit office was dominated by the giant silver kabbalistic Tree of Life etched on the ceiling. Esoteric particle trails shadowed the Sephirot on the floor, only hinting at the relationship between science and the divine NERV had pioneered. Privately Fuyutsuki thought it was an arrogant and unwise hint to things that should not be revealed, but his “pupil” enjoyed the air of mystery and uncertainty it promoted in those summoned to face him.

It was a sensation compounded by the spareness of the office itself. There was a single bare desk in the center of the room where Gendo waited like a spider in his web. It was, the old professor reflected, a perfect analogy.

“I have informed Colonel Katsuragi about the Third Child's parents,” the Vice-Commander announced. He could see the gleam from Gendo's tinted sunglasses as the NERV commander looked up at him. “She will break the news to him shortly.”

“Good.” Ikari remained slouched over his desk, fingers steepled together in front of his mouth. “The psychological state of the Third Child is an important consideration at this juncture. He must destroy the Angels if he is to fulfill his role in the scenario. It is best that he be presented with no outside distractions.”

Kozo nodded absently. “I saw the original report filed by the responding officers.” He paused, and his jaw seized up in a rare display of emotion. “Were you responsible, Gendo?”

There was an ominous silence in the office. “You would not believe me if I said I was not,” Ikari finally responded. “It is irrelevant. All that matters is the scenario.”

I wouldn't, Fuyutsuki thought. And I wonder if she will ever forgive us. “It is as you say” he replied aloud. “If there is nothing more, I must look to the debriefing of those two classmates Shinji dragged in.”

Gendo waved him away. As the Vice-Commander left he pulled a photograph out of a drawer in his desk. It was a blow-up of a ashen-haired boy with red eyes. “What are the old men playing at?”