(Tl;dr version below.)Well, here is yet another plotbunny breeding in my head that I might actually finish. Considering the plot is less word intensive and all. hehe. I think a little background is necessary.
This will not be canon compliant. I repeat, I have changed canon to suit my needs. It does parallel in certain terms, Evas versus the Angels. Lilith made man and Adam made the Angels. However, to get it to fit the world I have envisioned, the Angels come from space. Thus somewhat how the name came about. The differences will be inferred in the fic. The main body will actually take place in the future, as compared in the anime. Mankind had to develop more.
There is a plausible reason the pilots are in the future that does not involve time-travel or some other nonsense. I also added a pilot and took away Kawaru. (Couldn't work him in.) The new pilot is an OC but not a Mary Sue, or shouldn't be; I tried hard with him. This is also going to be kind of sci-fi and definitely character driven.
tl;dr. Not taking place in first Angel War. Will feature Evas in Space with mankind exploring. Canon was changed to fit, will be explained. OC pilot, but not Gary Stu. Sci-fi with character drive.
Without adieu, here is the pro....let me know what ya'll think.
Evas in Space
Prologue: The Truth
From the heavens did he descend. His purpose unknown, his destination Earth. His arrival was known from then on as Second Contact. The result would damn the countries of the world. The impact melted the antarctic continent, making it a sea of blood, a Red Sea. Floods dominated the world, while plagues and famine assaulted the people. War consumed the rest, as populations fought for limited resources. After the initial years, several strong coalitions emerged to restore law and order to the beleaguered world.
It was then that an expedition, lead by Katsuragi, went to the decimated continent to discover what they could from the asteroid. What they found shifted the world’s paradigm. We were not alone in this universe.
Dubbed Adam, the ‘angel’, as it was named to avoid negative public outcry, was brought to Japan, where the seat of technology sat, for study. For years new discoveries poured out of the institute, thoughts of genetics changed as they learned that genes had properties related to both dark matter and wavelengths. A strange phenomenon discovered was something the giant of light could produce that we could not, though we possessed the readings of it. An AT Field.
When discovered no physical material could break through it. A team, led by the brilliant Yui Ikari and Naoko Ritsuki began intensive research to determine the source and cause of it. Among their discoveries was the ability to detect such a field. A pattern blue. When the device was activated, they could detect Adam’s AT Field, which was under the control of Gehirn. There was much celebrating, until the device pick-up a second, active AT Field, coming from under Japan.
Under Japan they found a primitive man-like beast living in darkness with plants of unknown origins. The beasts assaulted the team, but were repulsed. Military might moved in and the expedition found the source of the men. Found the source of mankind. The First Contact had been found. It was dubbed Lilith, and at the time she had been actively producing a new strain of man. This God was silenced the same way Adam had been.
This is when the third age of mankind began, when we realized that two Gods had found our world and they were now our playthings. The rate of discoveries ceased as the technologies were hoarded by a few. Knowledge of the second angel, or First Angel, was classified on all levels. From here Adam and the Gehirn was moved to the geofront, where a base of operations was built. It was the year 2005 when Gehirn was dissolved and Nerv arose to replace it. An arm of the UN that specialized in research and military applications.
At its head were Gendo Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki.
It was also then that a botched experiment awoke Adam, and a beam of light pierced the heavens. Confusion reigned for hours until he was silenced once more, and it would be weeks later when the directors studied the heavens that the light’s purpose was found. On the night the light reached the stars, twenty four other’s flickered in response. The father had called for his children’s help.
The countdown to mankind’s destruction had begun.
Yet, with indomitable human will and ingenuity they would persevere, their helm being piloted by Gendo Ikari. Their faith in the man was unfailing, no matter how many questionable things had transpired. Their hope was misplaced as his darker intentions were drawing mankind to an undesirable conclusion. His hopes would be dashed as his errant child, Shinji Ikari, would seek his doom.
***
It was the end of the war and celebrations were ringing the world, even as their doom drew near. The man responsible for their festivities was soon going to ascend to another plain of existence, at humanities expense.
Gendo was bent over a terminal in a dark room, his secondary office, while the light from the computer danced across his eyes. On it he watched as whole sections of Nerv became dark and revelers were left confused. He noted someone’s absence, no doubt sulking in some corner. The truth hurts, doesn’t it, my son. In the cages, where the Evangelions were being birthed, the first signs of his virus, tucked away in their genetic codes, were taking effect. The techs were scrambling to understand what was happening as they twitched and moved, their pilots not in them.
Manic calls were being sent out and no doubt some of the pilots were scrambling back to base. Save two. Shinji was probably crying in a corner, while the other was on her way here. The sleeper agent now awoken to his whim. He entered a few more commands into the Magi, blocking out the other staff and guaranteeing himself a safe passage to Terminal Dogma, where slept Adam and Lilith.
Footsteps entered the small office. Gendo straightened and saw Kozo Fuyutsuki pointing a gun at him. Gendo’s old companion smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, Gendo, but I think here is where your plans stop.”
The pretense of their partnership was gone. “How long has Seele suspected? From the start?” Gendo asked idly.
Fuutsuki shook his head. “No, not that far back. Just when they realized that every woman close to you ended up dead.”
Gendo’s face became passive, thoughts of Yui, Naoki, and Ritsuki floated through his mind. Each had meant something to him, but each had stumbled into his way. Yui, for she was the only one who could have changed his mind. Naoki, because she had discovered his programs stored within the Magi. Ritsuki, because she had discovered his hidden programs written into the genetics of the Evas and Rei. Her life had been ended after the computer-angel, Iruel, had infiltrated Central Dogma. “God has fallen and someone must pick up the mantle.”
Fuyutsuki shook his head. “What of the other Angels? Adam was far more prolific than the Ancients had designed him to be. The others are still out there, unaware of his status.”
“My children will destroy them, as they tried to destroy us.”
“And of humanity? What will become of us?”
Gendo smiled sadly. “Every god must have a sacrifice.”
Fuyutsuki sighed. “That is what they thought. You’re going to reverse the process. Use an Anti-AT Field to merge everyone together. A stepping stone. Ingenious, if Yui’s theories are right. Was she your inspiration?”
Gendo did not admit it, only kept his face stoic. “She had a hand in my ascension.”
“What about the progeny you’ll create? What will they be like? Angelic of Lilithic?”
Gendo’s eyes became bright. “Neither. I will use both to create the perfect being. The Evas were the experiment, to see if Angelic and Lilithic could be combined, no more and no less. It was convenient they held the tools to defeating the avenging angels.”
“That’s why you infected them, couldn’t have anything rivaling your future progeny?” He sounded disgusted.
“Correct.” The Commander paused. “Any more questions, or are you finally ready to shoot me?”
Fuyutsuki smiled and thumbed his collar, showing a small blinking device. “I just broadcasted our little conversation, Gendo. I didn’t want to be executed for killing humanity’s savior without just cause.”
Gendo nodded in understanding. “It has been good working with you Fuyutsuki.”
A gun shot rang out in the stillness, and Kozo’s body fell to the ground in a heap, blood dripping from a wound in his chest. Some of the blood had spattered onto Gendo’s white gloves. The man smiled and stepped over the corpse, his hand held outward. Rei Ayanami gingerly stepped forward and handed the smoking gun to him. She was naked as the day with a pale complexion, light blue hair, and red eyes. She stood as high as his shoulder, considering her young age.
“Thank-you, Rei. This way.” He marched past her and she followed, a dutiful daughter and doll. Through the innards of the base they walked, ever watchful for teams of security. Gendo held little doubt that Seele was trying to regain control of the situation, ordering his former underlyings to kill him. They would first have to find him. Twice he and Rei stumbled upon a lost technician, much to his misfortune. Gendo had Rei eliminate both of them, he was saving his bullets for an emergency.
They reached the access elevator and descended into Terminal Dogma. He thought whimsically of Yui, remembering her frantic cries as they fought. She had been no saint herself, but in comparison to him she was. He recalled her last words.
“What of our son?” Blood had leaked out of her mouth.
“He will join humanity.” Had been his last words to her, as his tears fell on her gentle face. In the end, his want of godhood had been stronger than his love for her. He glanced to his left, and remembered the reason for Rei’s existence. The Evangelions had been failures to some degree, where they could not think for themselves. Rei was the actual success, and the form his children would take. She was the successful marriage of a lilithic design, strengthened by angelic DNA.
The elevator stopped.
They exited together.
Humanity would die.
As he walked towards the sleeping giants, in the massive chamber, his catalyst behind him, he began to hum Amazing Grace.
He stopped short of the two giants, one a bright white crucified on an orange cross. Opposite her was a dark void crucified on a blue cross. “Today two gods’ long journey to death ends, while another rises from their and their children’s ashes. Rei, are you ready?”
“Yes, sir.” She said in a faint whisper, she walked forward and unfolded her AT Field.
It was then that the sound of rending metal consumed the giant chamber. Gendo looked back, astonished. Then the sight of a demon’s face came crawling out of the side of the wall, eyes bright white with hate and rage. A guttural growl emanated from the giant’s mouth, unbound from the metal of its face. Long strings of thick wires and sheets of metal came out with the behemoth, caught on all parts of it.
A teenager’s voice filled the chamber, emanating from the comm of the purple Evangelion. “Father, you bastard!”
Gendo stood in shock as Unit 01 fully emerged, standing in the dim light and shedding the tons of metal that had followed it in its digging to reach here. His father could not fathom the damage it had wrought in reaching this place. “Son.” He kept his shock from showing. It was then he noticed the beast’s hands shaking and the head ticking to the left. He smiled, the virus was still taking hold. Confidence returned to him. “Having trouble, Shinji?”
“Why?” His son screamed. “Why do this? I thought we were going to be a family again!”
“Proper motivation for you to pilot.”
For a time there was silence. “Was what the sub-Commander said true? About all the women close to you? About mother?” His voice was strained.
Gendo regarded his son, knowing the answer would cause him to become rash. How far along was the virus? The eyes flashed white. Far enough. “Yes, I killed them all.”
Words failed his son where rage dwelt in his heart. The Eva roared and rushed forward, its arms outstretched to crush the father. An AT Field bloomed into existence, Rei Ayanami suddenly in front of the man, casting it. Gendo smiled in satisfaction. Rei’s field should be no where strong enough to stop his son’s Eva, but Unit 01 was weakened. Getting weaker as Rei walked forward, pushing it back.
“Having trouble, Shinji?” He could not help but smirk.
His son’s response was an inarticulate scream of frustration. Unit 01 lashed out with its fists, trying to break the field down. It failed.
Rei walked still forward as Shinji’s rage began to falter and inadequacy took hold. Yet, the Eva was still going wild, slowing slipping from his control. The final stage of the virus. There was a hissing sound from the back of the unit, and a flood of LCL ran onto the steel floor. Next a teenage body hit the ground as its Evangelion rejected him.
A pathetic end to a pathetic child. So much like the mother. Too much like his mother.
Shinji coughed up the liquid from his lungs, pounding the ground with his fist in futility. Above him roaring like an uncaged animal was Unit 01, whose AT Field was now expanding. But, its bright eyes focused on nothing and it turned its animalistic rage against the wall from whence it had come. Deafening sounds filled the chamber as Unit 01 went crawling through the dark. Minutes past slowly until only the distant sounds could be heard.
Gendo approached his son. “It’s a very interesting virus I had developed. A retro-virus tucked away in the DNA, designed to alter the DNA to grant consciousness to the Evangelions. Research I completed while working on Rei.” He gestured to the girl on his right.
Shinji continued to weep.
Gendo continued. “But not sentience. Just a berserker mode where the Eva would metabolize its cells until death followed. As we speak the other four Evas are no doubt rampaging through the city and the base.” He chuckled. He raised the gun and pointed the muzzle at his son. “Did you always want to go out with a bang, Shinji? Or would prefer something more quiet? Since it’s thanks to your tenacity at killing the Angels I am here right now, I’m giving you the choice.”
A long moment past and Shinji’s sobs ceased. Gendo sighed. “Even when faced with death you cower. It makes me wonder if my wife had not cheated on me.” He raised the gun as Shinji raised his head.
Two deep blue eyes were narrowed in hate. “Bastard,” he whispered.
The father pulled the trigger and the son’s eyes flashed. A hexagonal orange field appeared in front of Shinji, blocking the bullet. Gendo took a step back in shock. He turned to Rei, thinking it was her. “Don’t interfere!” He barked.
“I have not.”
He turned back to his son, who was slowly rising from the ground. Gendo fired again and again, each round blocked. This isn’t possible! This wasn’t in the scenario. Wave harmonics carried over from the contact with the Eva’s? Wave-form infection from synchronization? His mind whirled with the possibilities, trying to determine the how and the why. It had to come from the Evas. But, anything before now would have been detected!
Shinji advanced, the clicking of an empty gun a tribute to his new found skill. “Something wrong, father?” Shinji’s voice was deathly quiet.
“Rei!” Gendo cried as he backed into a piece of equipment and fell.
His doll reacted instantly, launching herself against his son. Shinji’e eyes flashed again and two AT Field’s met for a moment. Rei’s pale, clawed hand was inches from Shinji’s face. Then the phase-spaces merged and the fields canceled each other out. Shinji dodged the strike and landed a blow to her gut. She grunted and swung around, her heel knocking him in the nose. Shinji went down, a trail of blood marking his path.
Rei was then on top of him, trying to reach his throat. He wrestled with her and threw her off, but she was not down for long.
Gendo watched the two struggle, reviewing their abilities from watching them train. Shinji was no expert in hand-to-hand combat, but he squirmed like a snake when cornered. The fight should have gone to Rei because of her speed, skill, and stamina being augmented by angelic DNA, but those advantages now seemed equalized for Shinji seemed to possess the same DNA. How? The only variable between the physical scan before that last battle and now was the virus…
Could it affect them? Could it have somehow carried through the synchronization and infected them? Even if it did it wouldn’t matter? It was designed to affect lilithic DNA the same as angelic . As he gained his feet he recalled the AT Field Unit 01 had displayed. Confusion marred his features. It should have continued losing strength, not suddenly found more. The virus was not acting like…
A memory flashed in his mind.
Ritsuki Akagi, her back to a railing. Behind her was a vat of coolant used for the Evagenlions for when they were in deep storage. It stretched for nearly a mile. The only light illuminating it was a single light above her. Her breathing was ragged and she clutched a hand to her chest. “You can’t possibly think they’ll just accept my disappearance.”
“It doesn’t matter. No body, no evidence.” Gendo aimed his gun at her.
“No body!” She gave a laugh. “You were going to shoot me up there! Would you have dragged me here?”
He chuckled. “No, my dear Doctor, I knew this is where you would run. Where you thought you had left your boat. Very sloppy not to check your escape route.”
Fear glazed her eyes and she glanced back to the inviting bloody liquid. “You think you have it all planned out, don’t you? That there won’t be someone to stop you?”
Gendo smirked. “So far, everything has gone smoothly. I’ve managed to make it this far, only seven more angels and the universe will see the birth of a perfect god.”
Now she laughed. “I’ll not die so easily!” She screeched, her sanity finally cracking. He shot her. Her body fell into the dense liquid with a plop. Later the videos would show her running to her death, the same neurological flaw her mother had apparently manifesting in her.
I’ll not die so easily… “You bitch.” He muttered coming back to the present. He recalled the detailed tests and procedures Ritsuki had scheduled for the Evangelions. A schedule he had let Maya adhere to. He did not have the time to review it in depth, since Seele had come snooping. She altered the virus, had it cross the phase space through the waveform synch to infect the children. You hoped they would stop me?
His eyes went back to the fight, which had increased in pitch as the two were blurs against each other, but Gendo noted the large splashes of blood littering the ground. Then the fight suddenly ended with Rei’s head striking the steel floor with a crack. Blood oozed from her skull. Shinji stood above her, his eyes wild, holding his arm close to his body. “What now, father?” His good hand was clenching and unclenching.
Gendo took a fearful step back, realizing then that the women he had grown close to had become his undoing. His wife for siring this child and his last lover for granting him the powers of an Angel. “I only lament for the loss of perfection.”
Shinji snarled and ran forward, a blur to his father. He back handed his father, knocking the man’s head off his neck. Blood squirted from the neck and the body crumpled to the ground, inert. Shinji’s breathing was haggard, and he fell to his knees, weeping.
***
In the end he saved the humanity, but they were indifferent to his tears. To the pain that moment had brought him. The man whose love he wanted more than anything, he had been forced to kill. Something in him broke that day, and it was a wound that would haunt him in his cold slumber.
The five Evangelions, four rampaging across the surface and one beneath, were finally brought to heel by their pilots, who in their desperate attempts to reign them in discovered their talents. In the ensuing weeks the secrets of Nerv were exposed and the origins of the Evangelions became common knowledge. The virus that had transformed the pilots as well was leaked to the media. Soon the masses turned on their heroes, lamenting of them and their uncontrollable monsters becoming Angels and destroying mankind.
Yet, Seele, in their wisdom, used Fuyutsuki’s final words to save their pawns lives.
“What of the other angels? Adam was far more prolific than the Ancients had designed him to be. The others are still out there, unaware of his status.”
Thus, the public was caught between two fears. It was then that a brilliant idea was put forward, originating from Seele itself, who saw the pilots and their Evas as a threat to their own power base.
What if they were put to sleep, a contingency for when, or if, the Angels return. The public rallied behind the idea; out of sight and out of mind.
The pilots were less keen, wondering how long they would sleep. Would they be forgotten? What of their Evas?
“You would sleep no more than you would have to—say fifty years? If there is no threat from space you will be awakened.”
Dusty and Touji showed hesitation, but in the end agreed. Rei, freed from Gendo’s control with his death, was like Shinji and agreed to escape. Asuka was adamantly against the idea; in the end she would have no choice. Once the Evangelions and their pilots were tucked away, mankind moved forward and forgot that terrible and strange war. Forgot about their heroes and the sacrifices they were forced to make. And Seele, their guiding hand, let them.
***
The hallway was musty as the man of medium build walked through the corridors. He was dressed in a smart suit of all white. His pant legs had a red line running down the leg, while his white jacket covered a navy blue shirt with black tie. Across his upper right chest was a simple golden falcon, and atop his head was a white stiff cap with short brim. Behind, walking in step, were ten men armed with M-tech rapid-fire laserguns. Each walked with bladeless hilt at their hip. They were dressed in standard microfiber fatigues, with red glasses covering their eyes.
Trailing them was a girl of small frame and stature, pale blue hair and red eyes. She wore a plain sweat suit. She was there solely as a shadow, not even allowed a side-arm. Though, the men in front were wary of her, they trusted their admiral’s judgment.
The man had brown hair and dark blue eyes.
The party stopped at a pair of doors, where two men gave smart salutes before keying in the commands to open the door. The admiral swept past, ignoring the rank and file.
The men posted here had no idea what they were guarding or why they were guarding it. This had become a place where trouble-makers were shipped and kept. Where old commanders were stored. An easy job. If they only knew.
He himself had once been contained in one, but that was old news. A spectre upon his past. He went through another set of doors, the men looking nervous. None would have expected to see someone of his rank here. It had been the same at the other facilities. He checked the old fashioned watch at his wrist and noted the patient should be undergoing thawing about this time. He quickened his steps.
He passed through the final locks and stepped into a large, white room, devoid of any decoration and brightly lit. At his gesture the men fanned out and raised their weapons to the center of the room. They had done this several times by now and had been specifically trained for this.
Shinji walked forward and waited. The lights turned red and the part of the floor in the center of the room retracted. The lights returned to their normal color as a slab rose up to fill the void left. It stopped, making the floor whole once more. On it rested the thin body of a sixteen year old girl. Wet red hair fanned out around her, while drops of water trailed off her shivering body.
“Vanish.” The man commanded. He gestured with his hand the young girl behind him disappeared from sight.
In a few minutes the body began to stir, its emaciated frame shaking. With feeble attempts the girl rose up, leaning on her elbow. She coughed up blood and water, muttering in German as she did. A final cough before she looked up and winced at the bright lights. In time she sat up and her blue eyes adjusted to the bright lights.
“What a warm welcome.” She drawled, gathering her wits. She carefully scrutinized the ten weapons trained on her skull, uncaring if she bore her nudity to them. Then she regarded the man standing above her, and she smirked. “How lucky for you. So, what’s it feel like having your greatest dream come true?” Her eyes became flinty and her tone angry. “Me naked and at your mercy.”
He smirked. “Dreams change.”
“Fuck you. How long have you been awake? Enough to grow some hair around your balls?”
He chuckled, and he saw some of the men smiling. At his stare they wiped the smirks from their faces.
“I’ve been awake for quite some time.”
“I see.” She let her eyes fall to the floor.
In a conversational voice he spoke. “It really wasn’t that bad for me. I was awakened first as a test and given a few choices. I agreed to enter the service and have since risen through the ranks. The UEF personally wanted me here to oversee everyone’s awakening, especially those that were less than enthusiastic about their sleep in the first place.”
She smiled cruelly. “They needed a bitch.”
His face grew hard. “See it as you will, but right now your fate lies in my hands.”
She began to laugh bitterly. “In the end, just like your father. Control, control, control.”
“I have a vision for humanity, like my father, but unlike him it won’t damn the race.”
“Oh really? Are you sure you’re not going to use us to ascend to godhood?”
The man stiffened. “Humanity has already attained that status, it just needs better direction.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Who’s steering the boat now?”
“Seele. They have been for centuries.”
Her eyes widened. “Centuries?” She spoke faintly.
He nodded, his eyes compassionate. “Yes, they kept asleep for four centuries, far longer than agreed upon. The only reason they began to awaken us is because any longer and we would have died.”
She lowered her head. “Those bastards.”
“They think me their stooge, Asuka. I’m not. I have plans for them as they have plans for me. I agreed to help them, but in turn I need your help. They’ve attained immortality through computers. They’ve grown complacent. They think themselves untouchable. We five helped to change the course of human history once and we can do it again.”
“What if I said screw you and screw them. Paid you both back for how you treated me. If I recall, you were the one who help put me on ice.” Her eyes began to glow.
The man reigned in his passion. “That would be a mistake. You are no match against me or my men. I am fully rested and trained in my angelic manifestations. You are cold, hungry, disorientated, and still a novice.”
“Just like when you beat Rei? She was the better fighter, but you forgot about emotion. Passion.” She gritted her teeth. “Things I have plenty of.”
The men tensed and Shinji smiled. “I’ve learned a very important lesson from my father, Asuka. Never put yourself in a situation where you could lose control. He gestured with his hand and Rei appeared behind him, her red eyes glowing.
Asuka was taken aback and her fury deflated. She gave harsh chuckle which flowed into a prolonged bitter laugh. “So, like the father, she’s your doll now.”
She took a step forward. “I am no man’s doll.”
“Hah! You would forget to breathe if a man didn’t tell you to!”
Shinji stepped between them. “Enough. Will you join me or continue in useless speculation of fighting your way out of here? I’m prepared to kill you if I must.”
Asuka paused before speaking, her voice low. “Who else joined you? Dusty? Touji? What of my baby?”
Shinji frowned. “The Evangelions possess too much power to again be unleashed on the world. They will remain where they have been left. Dusty…” He hesitated. “Chose not to help.” He cast a look to Rei, who looked to the ground. That was a conversation that had not gone well. “Touji has enrolled in the military academy. When he graduates he will be a great asset.”
“So you can’t control the Evangelions, so they stay where they’re at?” She shook her head disgusted. “And Touji always was a good little soldier.” She regarded Rei with a perverse stare. “I can just imagine how you tried to convince Dusty. It was no secret what the idiot thought of you. Did this dumpkoff send you there in a skirt and heels? Did Dusty see you again for the doll you were?”
“Asuka, enough!” Shinji said, drawing a handlaser from his hip. He trained the point on her grinning face. Behind, he knew Rei was holding herself. She had never been the same since being relinquished from his father’s thrall. In time he would help mend her mind.
“I see you’re not like your father after all. Words still faze you. Do you still cry yourself to sleep over the family Daddy never gave you?”
In ten years Shinji had not lost his cool, not let his blood boil. Kept the past where it belonged and moved on with cold precision. That changed in a second. The pistol was shaking in his and all he could hear was the sound of Asuka’s mocking voice, begging him to penetrate her skull with a lance of energy.
“Do it, momma’s boy, I know you’ve wanted to for years.” Her eyes were bright with unshed tears.
It was that show of emotion that helped Shinji rein in his anger. He sighed and holstered the weapon. “I’ll not grant you that gesture. If you’re so keen to die, do it on your own time. I take it this means you’ll not be helping me?”
Her only response was to cradle her head in her hands and weep. Shinji waved his hand and the ten men were at ease. “I see you are not going to aid me. I will give you the same offer I gave Dusty. For services rendered to humanity, the United Earth Fleets, UEF, will pay your way through any university of your choice, helping to introduce you as a productive member of society. For your services in the military, you will be granted Citizen’s Rights, forfeited if you break any of the Cardinal Laws.”
“For your reintroduction into society a UEF military psychologist will be given to you. If the offer of paid schooling is not taken, you will be given a million credits to spend as you see fit. Any questions?” She sobbed quietly. “Very well. When you are ready to compose yourself the Captain of the station will see that you are fed, clothed, and receive medical attention.”
He drew a breath and leaned down close to her. “If you ever change your mind, don’t be afraid to step into any UEF public-building and ask for me. Use the code phrase: into the quiet night. Good-bye.” He turned and left, his cadre of men following. Neither he nor Rei offered a backward glance, though her head was hung.
As Asuka watched them leave through her fingers, tears falling down her cheeks, she whispered, “Bastard.”
[Fic] Evas in Space
Moderators: Derantor, Board Staff
[Fic] Evas in Space
Last edited by Zephros on Wed Apr 28, 2010 3:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
--Insert Witty Statement.
There was a little time jump, seventy odd years for him, between the two scenes. He's changed. As to aging...the virus that granted them angelic manifestations also extended their lifespans.
I'm hoping to make him as adult, kind of like a mix between his mother's rational logic and his father's cold demeanor. A hard balance I assure you.
I'm hoping to make him as adult, kind of like a mix between his mother's rational logic and his father's cold demeanor. A hard balance I assure you.
--Insert Witty Statement.
- BrikHaus
- Dokutah Tenma
- Posts: 6301
- Joined: Feb 11, 2006
- Location: Attending Physician - AKA: Hell
- Contact:
Re: Evas in Space
Zephros wrote:Evas in Space
Prologue: The Trith
So what was the trith?
Awesomely Shitty
-"That purace has more badassu maddafaakas zan supermax spaceland."
-On EMF, as a thread becomes longer, the likelihood that fem-Kaworu will be mentioned increases exponentially.
-the only English language novel actually being developed in parallel to its Japanese version involving a pan-human Soviet in a galactic struggle to survive and to export the communist utopia/revolution to all the down trodden alien class and race- one of the premise being that Khrushchev remains and has abandoned Lysenko stupidity
-"That purace has more badassu maddafaakas zan supermax spaceland."
-On EMF, as a thread becomes longer, the likelihood that fem-Kaworu will be mentioned increases exponentially.
-the only English language novel actually being developed in parallel to its Japanese version involving a pan-human Soviet in a galactic struggle to survive and to export the communist utopia/revolution to all the down trodden alien class and race- one of the premise being that Khrushchev remains and has abandoned Lysenko stupidity
Well, I got the next part of her typed and cleaned up. There will be a few hiccups in grammar since it's unbeta'd. I hope to use flashbacks to show how the children became what they are in the future. Slowly reveal what happened in the Angel War. A bit ambitious since I'm not too skilled with flashbacks.
Chapter 1: Where the World Ends
Chapter 1: Where the World Ends
Grand Admiral Shinji Ikari, sole commander of the United Earth Fleets, sat in his office staring at a three dimensional display in front of him. On it were varying orbs of different colors flying about the space of a blue and green sphere, Earth. As was his wont, he watched the ships moving in and out of the Net. The routine helped to clear a troubled mind. All around, in subdued colors and lights was his cabin. Models of dozens of ships in service lined one wall. Opposite that was an aquarium filled with coral reef and teeming with rare fish.
It was from this cabin, nestled within the fleet's flagship Yamato, that the world was changing. The United Nations, a hold over form of democratic rule for centuries, was being dissolved by military means. Each member was now being collected and quietly executed, while their families were being treated to first-class trips off the planet. There was a black-out in the media, the satellites, part of the Net, were controlled by the UEF.
Being broadcast across the globe and to the colonies was that a transition was going forward and that public patience was required. In truth, martial law had been called and millions of soldiers were lining the streets of the largest cities, enforcing curfew. A few riots had erupted, but they had been quelled with brutal efficiency.
The problem with people is they assumed every totalitarian regime was evil. All he wished was for the people to stay in line and keep the peace. Eventually, all civil liberties would be returned to them, once the transition was complete.
The colonies outside Earth: Mars, Venus, Pluto, the many moons, and such he had little to fear from. They still clung to their outdated beliefs of the freedoms of space. They would soon learn the error of that way of thinking. For centuries Seele had been preparing the world for this, while the outlaws and the corporations mandated the rest of the solar system. The era of personal fleets and paid armies out there was soon going to end.
The First Strike Fleet was already in orbit of Mars and delivering its payload.
Of course, it was convenient Seele had paved the way for this already, he had only accelerated their plans. They had used him as he had used them. Today, their use of him was over as was his use for them.
The lights went black, save for a single one illuminating him.
Twelve gray monoliths, numbered appropriately, came to life around him. Twelve voices rose in crescendo in greeting.
He returned the gesture. "Gentleman." It's time to see if they had any other surprises besides the first.
01 spoke. "Everything is going well, Ikari. We are pleased with your status reports and efficiency."
03 chimed in. "Do not think for a moment that your lapses have not gone unnoticed. The representative of Hong Kong managed to escape and incite a million supporters to riot."
Shinji waved his hand. "He has been assassinated and I've sent a strong deterrent there to prevent any other foolish mistakes."
07 chuckled. "Yes, melting a few skyscrapers with a Fleet ship is a good deterrent. How long will it stay above the city?"
"Until the people are secure with the new regime."
12 spoke. "I still think this was far too premature on our parts. A few more decades and the United Nations would have been toothless and none would have noticed its dissolution."
01 interrupted. "We will not have that discussion again. It was tabled and voted on years ago." Several voices spoke in compliance. "Good. There was an important reason for us coming here Ikari. To not only congratulate you, but to see the vision of our future cemented."
04 took up the dialogue. "In recent years you have acquired much rank and importance in the UEF, especially among the Sky Captains and Admirals. Most are impressively loyal to you."
O6 spoke. "This speaks highly of your skills and ambitions to the project. Stellar in all regards."
01 ended the diatribe. "But we feel our mutual relationship is now at a crossroads. Where your vision of the future differs from our own."
Shinji keyed a sequence into his terminal. Voices filled the room, a cacophony of sounds, with only a few blurbs sneaking through the tumult.
"He grows dangerous. Too powerful."
"He has consolidated too much power through the flagship, Yamato."
"His use grows near an end. What next?"
"Any fool can wage war against the colonies."
"He was only needed to balance the many states of earth against one another. That level of intrigue is no longer necessary."
"It is decided. In the end, his blood will be our sacrament."
Silence fell like a curtain as the monoliths recognized each voice. Shinji gave them all a weighted glance. "Right now there is no doubt a signal coming to my flagship telling Admiral Kiel, a relative of yours 01 I presume, to initiate the cabin lockdown. He was then to quietly enter as we talked and shoot me before I used my manifestations."
None dared to speak. He smiled. "The signal was received. I linked it to an airlock panel, where the hapless Admiral, for the past hour, has been frantically beating against the metal door, shouting and screaming. The signal jettisoned him into space."
01 finally broke the silence. "You think we do not have other resources? That there are other ways to bring you to death? We made you as we made your father. You power is linked to us, not the other way around, Ikari. We have lived and ruled humanity for four hundred years, and we will do so for another. Our life is fact, but your own is in question."
As Kiel spoke monolith 09 went dark. Followed by 07 and 02. Like dominoes, they began to fall silent until only three remained lit. Shinji reclined in his chair and smiled. Kiel had grown silent when he realized his comrades signals had died. 04 gave a blood-curdling scream before his winked out. That left 12 and 01.
"I'll give you one guess, Kiel, as to who Judas was."
The man's only answer was to gurgle and cough as the virus took hold in his computer's life-system. The same system that had allowed him to skip death and remain immortal by downloading his consciousness into it, until today. The monolith flickered as he fought for life, but in the end he died.
12 spoke. "His was the most difficult to penetrate." Static came over the audio and the man's voice faltered. "His defenses were very impressive, but nothing that time-time-time could not fix-fix-fix."
Shinji's smile grew. "You're breaking up."
The monolith flickered. "What-what-what is happen-ening?" His voice was panicked. "You-you did thi-is?"
Shinji shook his head. "Nope. I upheld my end of the bargain, but there was a key piece I kept from you." The audio was no longer working and the light was dimmed. "Kiel was a very paranoid man. He knew the only way for him to fall was by a traitor. That is why we randomized the infiltration, so he would not know who to strike at until the end."
"H-h-h-how?"
"He had installed in each of your life-drives a virus subject to his signal. A dead man's switch. He just flipped the switch before he died."
"You-basta-"
The light went out, leaving Shinji alone. He reached over and pressed in a quick command. The lights resumed in his cabin and he leaned forward in his chair, placing a hand to his head. He gave a final sigh of relief, letting the tension fade from his shoulders. Dealing with Seele had been far more worrisome than building a new world order.
It was in that moment of relief that memories came unbound within his mind. Memories stretching back in time to when the saving the world meant following mommy to see a strange lady...
***
Times were much simpler for me back then. No worries of dying, or wondering if a few million quick deaths could prevent hundreds of millions.
In the beginning there were five of us, each chosen for myriad reasons, not the least being our parents worked for Nerv. It was so much easier to break international child-protection laws when your parents worked for the company breaking them. Our parents being scientists of dubious scruples, plus the existence of humanity on the line, meant there were a few questionable things done that got swept under the rug.
I'm not sure what it was like for the other kids, but for me it was heaven. Before then, I spent more time with a babysitter, my uncle and aunt usually, than my parents. I was beginning to wonder if they even loved me. Then one day my mom came home and escorted me to work. They ran a few tests, drew some blood, and gave me a lollipop. All the while my mother was with me, smiling and encouraging. I went home that night and waited a week, breathless for the results.
And I was not disappointed.
"Shinji, I've great news for you. You've been chosen as a pilot! Are you ready to save the world?"
"Yes, mommy, I am!" I was four at the time, and I would learn to regret those words.
The first four years it was wonderful, save for the times the experiments hurt me. There were days where my entire body would burn, and others when my head would ache nonstop. It was not until later I learned what they had been doing to me, and why children had been chosen.
They experimented with growing an Evangelion, but they could never grant it intelligence, so a human pilot was necessary. They felt a cyborg interface would hamper the AT Field's deployment, so a pure organic was necessary. Yet, piloting an organic was near impossible, unless they synchronized both the pilot and Evangelion.
In the initial experiments they used unaltered humans, but in the end they all went insane, unable to cope with the complexities of an AT Field. The solution was to alter the DNA of the human, specifically in the brain, adding another part to it, that let the human control the Eva and its field. Yet, when they used a retro virus to change an adult's DNA, the resulting pilot was either killed or his cells began to breakdown.
In a stroke of genius, they discovered young children could more easily survive the process. The survival rate was one in four. Twenty children were tested and chosen and subjected to the initial virus. Five survived. Myself, Asuka Langley-Soryu, Touji Suzahara, Kenske Aida, and Dusty Desert. We were brought together and told how important teamwork was, and at first, we did work as a group. We became friends, helping each other to survive even the nastiest of the experiments.
We were there for the first class together. We were there for each other's birthdays, and we were there for each other when they first showed us the Evangelions. They were ugly little fetuses at first, with skinny limbs and ugly faces. All of us swore up and down we would never get inside one; it was too disgusting.
Yet our words rang hollow.
It was frightening how attached we became to our instruments, even from the start. Yes, we protested how ugly they were, and I know I'm not the only one, but from start we each felt some affinity with them. They explained to us that each Evangelion was like us and would only work for its pilot. I later learned why. The Evangelions were grown using our own tissues merged with that of Adam's. That was how we were able to synch with them. Our DNA operated on the same wavelength.
In those early years we excelled at our school work, no surprise we were so smart considering how parents were on the cusp of the technology wave riding through the world. The smartest was Asuka and Kenske, always competing with each other. She learned to resent his efforts.
"Oh please, dumpkoff, you can't take the square-root of zero."
"Actually, ice-queen, you can. It's called i. It's an imaginary number."
Asuka's had flew into the air, catching our instructor's attention. "Teacher, teacher, Aida's making up things!"
I recalled his quiet voice. "Actually, Asuka, he's telling the truth. He read ahead in the book."
It was times like that Asuka learned not to like Kenske, but despite that, we were still a solid unit of friends. I remember several experiments going badly for Kenske and him crying on Asuka's shoulder. It was when we reached ten years old, and started learning to pilot, that the first problems appeared. Alongside learning how to pilot they taught us how to fight, something I was never very good at, but something Touji and Asuka were excellent at.
In hindsight, with Kenske's earlier problems, it should not have come as a surprise what happened to him.
It was a quiet day as we went into the routine. The staff were having us, one by one, synch with our Evas, while they monitored the dark matter output of our vitals. Very tame for those early tests (at one point I remember them testing each of the pain receptors of the Evangelions, with us in them to confirm it; that had been a very long week). Kenske was up first. Dressed in his yellow plugsuit, I watched my friend crawl into the entry-plug and be inserted into his Eva. At the time only the chest plate had been applied to his. It was yellow to match his plugsuit; something he insisted on.
The scanners went through their battery of colors and lights filled the entryplug. "I'm all ready, doc!"
They asked him questions and he responded. He flexed his arms and stretched his legs. Then, "I feel sick."
"What's it feel like?" Doctor Naoki Akagi asked.
"Like I'm floating with a tummy ache."
"Scan his epidermis for decay." She sounded worried. I remember her biting her lip whenever she was troubled.
A tech muttered, "Sounds like case 17."
"Shut-up!" She snapped. Then added, "Check his intestines for contamination just to be sure."
"Registering a pattern green in his left arm. It's slowly spreading through his DNA wavelength."
"Stomach readings are in the yellow, but are still within parameters."
More jargon was spouted but it meant little to me. I was just getting worried about my friend. "I-is he going to be alright?"
"Not now, Shinji." She snapped at me and I resumed my vigil against the wall.
More words were traded and they asked him to move his arm and tighten his gut. That was when he said it was getting worse.
"Raise the pressure by the fifty percent, we're losing his cohesion."
"It's not working, the decay is increasing! Contamination has spread to the heart, its being pumped to the rest of his body!"
"Eject the entry-plug, eject the entry-plug!"
His screen went dark as he was jettisoned from his Eva. The techs went crazy comparing charts while the Doctor barked out orders. Me and the other Children rushed to the giant windows to see below. Each of us was scared out of our minds; in the confusion they ignored us. We watched as a flood of men converged on the entry-plug and forced it open. We watched as they pulled my friend from the innards, his skin looking sick and gray.
We watched, horrified, as his skin began to melt off his bones. We cried when we saw the rest of his body turn into a liquid and splash, red, onto the floor. The tech was left holding an empty plugsuit with red liquid pouring out of it. I do not recall who started screaming, I think it was Asuka.
"Get those damn kids out of here!" Dr. Akagi screeched.
The following week ended our happy little paradigm of how saving the world was the best thing to ever happen to us. We all attended the funeral, though the casket was empty considering they were not able to collect his body before it went down the drain. For the longest time Touji refused to speak to anyone, even me. He had been hit the worst by what happened. It was a few days after the botched experiment that they resumed tests. When Touji climbed in there was trouble.
"No!"
"Damn it, kid, what's the matter?"
"I don't want you using my sister."
"What?" Dr. Akagi asked perplexed.
"Don't play dumb! I heard ya'll talking 'bout her. I don't want you using her!"
"What the hell, Touji? That decision is not yours to make."
"Then I won't pilot."
Dr. Akagi drew a deep breath, but before she could respond, my father, the Commander, spoke. "Don't worry, pilot Suzuhara. Another alternative is being explored." I remember that odd smile on his face. I remember he wore one similar when the new pilot was introduced.
"Thanks, sir!"
"Carry-on, doctor."
For months things went well, tests and procedures, while we learned to use an AT Field. There was a lot of excitement about it; there had been some doubt whether these Evangelions would be able to use one, let alone a child able to manipulate it. It was in this midst that my mother died. They found her body one late night with one too many prescription medicines in her system. The cause was ruled an overdose, and my father confessed to being aware of her problem. The matter was settled and life went on; except for me.
On a raining day at the funeral, he informed me that I would no longer be living with him, but with Dusty's parents. He needed time to grieve by himself. After a month of me asking him when I could move back in, he finally snapped at me. "You will not be moving back in. It's not necessary." Those words would haunt me the rest of my life.
Eventually the fifth pilot, Kenske's replacement, arrived. A strange girl with pale blue hair and expressionless red eyes. They called her Rei Ayanami. She was quiet and reserved, and I hated her. She was Kenske's replacement, but she could never replace him. She was also my replacement. I saw the way my father doted upon her, showered her with affection and praise, all while ignoring me. He brought her presents and asked her how she was doing, always ignoring me, even while the specter of my mother's death hovered between us.
The greatest sacrilege they made to my friend's memory was giving his Eva to her. At the first activation test, we lined up at the window, breathless with anticipation. We wanted her to fail miserably. We wanted her to cry in dismay. After all, they told us the Evangelions could only work for the original pilot. Much to our disappointment, she was successful. I remember looking over at my father with hatred and seeing that same odd smile again.
It was then I swore to show him and that phony girl what a real pilot could do. Then my father would notice me and we could be a family again.
From then on I threw myself into becoming a better pilot. I studied everything they put in front of me, ever watchful to see if my father noticed. I worked on my reflexes and my synchronization ratio, constantly bugging Dr. Akagi about how to become better. She took a liking to me after that and praised me constantly. "Great-job, Shinji, at this rate you'll be the best."
Words Asuka could never deal with. My attempts spurned her on, but she could not compete with my desire to impress my father. And as my synch ratio surpassed hers, the greater the rift between us grew, but it was never enough for my father. Always, he would only encourage Rei, and in time my enthusiasm tapered off. If had not been for Dr. Akagi's kind words, I would never have made it through that depressing year.
At the close of it, the small tight-knit group we had become was no more. Touji and I were friends still, but he had grown solemn with his best friend's death. Rei was a distant enigma who I no longer harbored hate for; we eventually learned her movements were more robotic than human. Asuka, in scorn, dubbed her robot-girl.
Asuka herself rarely hung out with us, saying we were too immature for her, choosing to shadow her brilliant mother instead. It was quite a blow for her two years later when Dr. Langely shot herself. As to Dusty, he had always been introspective, but with all the problems circulating through Nerv, he grew even more isolated within himself.
By then, our moods were affecting our piloting skills, something they could not let happen. So a solution was reached, a compromise that on some level helped to heal the wounds of an isolated childhood. We were enrolled in school and forced to relearn subjects we had passed years prior. At first it was a bore. Old teachers, who smelled like mothballs, lectured us all day. When they focused more of our studies on the arts our interests piqued anew. I even learned to play the cello fairly well.
"We have to what?" I recalled Asuka's dismay well when the second form of the plan went through. We were all lined up in my father's tomb-like office.
"Is that a problem, pilot Soryu?"
She grumbled. "No, sir."
"Good. Your mother has already signed the necessary paper work and has given this project her full backing. As of tomorrow morning, your residences will change. You'll be living together and learning to cope as a unit. Any other objections?"
None spoke. "Good." He directed his gaze to Rei and his tone softened. "Rei, I am ordering you to socialize for your own good."
"Yes, sir."
He nodded, pleased. His demeanor changed to cold once more. "Your new guardian and care-taker will be Captain Misato Katsuragi." He gestured with his hand and woman walked out of the shadows from behind him. She had dark hair, hazel eyes, and wore a fashionable outfit of red and black. I always wondered why she was never required to wear a uniform.
"Hello everyone." Her voice was cheery as she walked around my father's desk to shake our hands. The way she approached each of us told me she had studied our files extensively. To Asuka she waited for her to extend her hand first. For Touji, she gave him a smile and a wink, which caused him to blush. For Dusty, she spoke softly and offered him a word of encouragement. She approached Rei, gently took her slim hand, and showed her how to shake. Me? She took my hand, put her other hand over it and smiled. I almost cried.
The following dawn we met at headquarters, were loaded into a minivan, and driven to our new home. For the next four years we lived as a family, supportive and helping. We learned a lot about Rei and went to great lengths to bring her out of her shell. Dusty began to smile again and I found myself truly happy with the world. Even Asuka stopped being 'too mature for us.' Those were the happiest years of our lives, where our wounds were allowed to heal.
Until the third Angel descended from the stars and the wounds reopened. Where, for the next two years, my life would become hell...
Shinji stood, his reflection on the polished oak desk following him. With careful steps on the thin red carpet he made his way to the aquarium-wall, staring at the abundant fish, each a colorful collection of hues. Their lives were simple. Only waiting for the mysterious Giver to bestow food upon them.
Shinji rested his hands against the aquarium glass, smudging it, and hung his head. He wished that his life were that easy; yet, he could not accept an easy life. Humanity needed a hand to guide them, a hand unblemished by selfish desires and cruel pasts. None were more qualified than he. He was long-lived thanks to Ristuki's altering of his father's doomsday virus; he had been awake now for more than seventy years and barely looked thirty. He had the intelligence, but most importantly, he had will power.
The burden, though, never lessoned. Doubts plagued his mind, and he worried his plans were falling apart. He had already lost the support of the two pilots that said they would follow him. Touji, because he wished for a peaceful life, and Rei, who had to find her own purpose in life. Her loss had hit him the worst; she had been his ally till only a few months back. Their parting exchange had been brief, for he knew it had been coming.
"Ikari?"
"Yes, Rei?"
"I'm leaving." She had then turned and left, leaving a silence that affected him more than he wished.
Now, he was alone. His coconspirators murdered and his once friends and companions scattered to their own whims.
"Father..." he muttered. "Was it this hard for you?" Never did he see his father sway or stumble. Always would he face each challenge with supreme confidence, even when the pilots, the keys to mankind's survival back then, faltered. It would be so much easier if I were like the others. Just pass the gauntlet and run away. Let humanity march to its own destruction, while I cowered in an out-of-the-way colony. I've runaway before, I could do it again...
That final thought floated for a moment in his mind. He tasted the temptation of it. Movement caught his eye. A fish had swum by briefly before again finding its way back to the plants. It was pale blue with red gills, and as it wondered along the green stalks it looked lost, the plant's heavy leaves pushing it this way and that.
Shinji narrowed his eyes. I'd rather have a purpose in life, than wonder aimlessly, looking for purpose, lost to the wills of others.
He clenched his hands against the glass. I have my mission. I have my purpose, and God help any who wish to stop me.
Chapter 1: Where the World Ends
Chapter 1: Where the World Ends
Grand Admiral Shinji Ikari, sole commander of the United Earth Fleets, sat in his office staring at a three dimensional display in front of him. On it were varying orbs of different colors flying about the space of a blue and green sphere, Earth. As was his wont, he watched the ships moving in and out of the Net. The routine helped to clear a troubled mind. All around, in subdued colors and lights was his cabin. Models of dozens of ships in service lined one wall. Opposite that was an aquarium filled with coral reef and teeming with rare fish.
It was from this cabin, nestled within the fleet's flagship Yamato, that the world was changing. The United Nations, a hold over form of democratic rule for centuries, was being dissolved by military means. Each member was now being collected and quietly executed, while their families were being treated to first-class trips off the planet. There was a black-out in the media, the satellites, part of the Net, were controlled by the UEF.
Being broadcast across the globe and to the colonies was that a transition was going forward and that public patience was required. In truth, martial law had been called and millions of soldiers were lining the streets of the largest cities, enforcing curfew. A few riots had erupted, but they had been quelled with brutal efficiency.
The problem with people is they assumed every totalitarian regime was evil. All he wished was for the people to stay in line and keep the peace. Eventually, all civil liberties would be returned to them, once the transition was complete.
The colonies outside Earth: Mars, Venus, Pluto, the many moons, and such he had little to fear from. They still clung to their outdated beliefs of the freedoms of space. They would soon learn the error of that way of thinking. For centuries Seele had been preparing the world for this, while the outlaws and the corporations mandated the rest of the solar system. The era of personal fleets and paid armies out there was soon going to end.
The First Strike Fleet was already in orbit of Mars and delivering its payload.
Of course, it was convenient Seele had paved the way for this already, he had only accelerated their plans. They had used him as he had used them. Today, their use of him was over as was his use for them.
The lights went black, save for a single one illuminating him.
Twelve gray monoliths, numbered appropriately, came to life around him. Twelve voices rose in crescendo in greeting.
He returned the gesture. "Gentleman." It's time to see if they had any other surprises besides the first.
01 spoke. "Everything is going well, Ikari. We are pleased with your status reports and efficiency."
03 chimed in. "Do not think for a moment that your lapses have not gone unnoticed. The representative of Hong Kong managed to escape and incite a million supporters to riot."
Shinji waved his hand. "He has been assassinated and I've sent a strong deterrent there to prevent any other foolish mistakes."
07 chuckled. "Yes, melting a few skyscrapers with a Fleet ship is a good deterrent. How long will it stay above the city?"
"Until the people are secure with the new regime."
12 spoke. "I still think this was far too premature on our parts. A few more decades and the United Nations would have been toothless and none would have noticed its dissolution."
01 interrupted. "We will not have that discussion again. It was tabled and voted on years ago." Several voices spoke in compliance. "Good. There was an important reason for us coming here Ikari. To not only congratulate you, but to see the vision of our future cemented."
04 took up the dialogue. "In recent years you have acquired much rank and importance in the UEF, especially among the Sky Captains and Admirals. Most are impressively loyal to you."
O6 spoke. "This speaks highly of your skills and ambitions to the project. Stellar in all regards."
01 ended the diatribe. "But we feel our mutual relationship is now at a crossroads. Where your vision of the future differs from our own."
Shinji keyed a sequence into his terminal. Voices filled the room, a cacophony of sounds, with only a few blurbs sneaking through the tumult.
"He grows dangerous. Too powerful."
"He has consolidated too much power through the flagship, Yamato."
"His use grows near an end. What next?"
"Any fool can wage war against the colonies."
"He was only needed to balance the many states of earth against one another. That level of intrigue is no longer necessary."
"It is decided. In the end, his blood will be our sacrament."
Silence fell like a curtain as the monoliths recognized each voice. Shinji gave them all a weighted glance. "Right now there is no doubt a signal coming to my flagship telling Admiral Kiel, a relative of yours 01 I presume, to initiate the cabin lockdown. He was then to quietly enter as we talked and shoot me before I used my manifestations."
None dared to speak. He smiled. "The signal was received. I linked it to an airlock panel, where the hapless Admiral, for the past hour, has been frantically beating against the metal door, shouting and screaming. The signal jettisoned him into space."
01 finally broke the silence. "You think we do not have other resources? That there are other ways to bring you to death? We made you as we made your father. You power is linked to us, not the other way around, Ikari. We have lived and ruled humanity for four hundred years, and we will do so for another. Our life is fact, but your own is in question."
As Kiel spoke monolith 09 went dark. Followed by 07 and 02. Like dominoes, they began to fall silent until only three remained lit. Shinji reclined in his chair and smiled. Kiel had grown silent when he realized his comrades signals had died. 04 gave a blood-curdling scream before his winked out. That left 12 and 01.
"I'll give you one guess, Kiel, as to who Judas was."
The man's only answer was to gurgle and cough as the virus took hold in his computer's life-system. The same system that had allowed him to skip death and remain immortal by downloading his consciousness into it, until today. The monolith flickered as he fought for life, but in the end he died.
12 spoke. "His was the most difficult to penetrate." Static came over the audio and the man's voice faltered. "His defenses were very impressive, but nothing that time-time-time could not fix-fix-fix."
Shinji's smile grew. "You're breaking up."
The monolith flickered. "What-what-what is happen-ening?" His voice was panicked. "You-you did thi-is?"
Shinji shook his head. "Nope. I upheld my end of the bargain, but there was a key piece I kept from you." The audio was no longer working and the light was dimmed. "Kiel was a very paranoid man. He knew the only way for him to fall was by a traitor. That is why we randomized the infiltration, so he would not know who to strike at until the end."
"H-h-h-how?"
"He had installed in each of your life-drives a virus subject to his signal. A dead man's switch. He just flipped the switch before he died."
"You-basta-"
The light went out, leaving Shinji alone. He reached over and pressed in a quick command. The lights resumed in his cabin and he leaned forward in his chair, placing a hand to his head. He gave a final sigh of relief, letting the tension fade from his shoulders. Dealing with Seele had been far more worrisome than building a new world order.
It was in that moment of relief that memories came unbound within his mind. Memories stretching back in time to when the saving the world meant following mommy to see a strange lady...
***
Times were much simpler for me back then. No worries of dying, or wondering if a few million quick deaths could prevent hundreds of millions.
In the beginning there were five of us, each chosen for myriad reasons, not the least being our parents worked for Nerv. It was so much easier to break international child-protection laws when your parents worked for the company breaking them. Our parents being scientists of dubious scruples, plus the existence of humanity on the line, meant there were a few questionable things done that got swept under the rug.
I'm not sure what it was like for the other kids, but for me it was heaven. Before then, I spent more time with a babysitter, my uncle and aunt usually, than my parents. I was beginning to wonder if they even loved me. Then one day my mom came home and escorted me to work. They ran a few tests, drew some blood, and gave me a lollipop. All the while my mother was with me, smiling and encouraging. I went home that night and waited a week, breathless for the results.
And I was not disappointed.
"Shinji, I've great news for you. You've been chosen as a pilot! Are you ready to save the world?"
"Yes, mommy, I am!" I was four at the time, and I would learn to regret those words.
The first four years it was wonderful, save for the times the experiments hurt me. There were days where my entire body would burn, and others when my head would ache nonstop. It was not until later I learned what they had been doing to me, and why children had been chosen.
They experimented with growing an Evangelion, but they could never grant it intelligence, so a human pilot was necessary. They felt a cyborg interface would hamper the AT Field's deployment, so a pure organic was necessary. Yet, piloting an organic was near impossible, unless they synchronized both the pilot and Evangelion.
In the initial experiments they used unaltered humans, but in the end they all went insane, unable to cope with the complexities of an AT Field. The solution was to alter the DNA of the human, specifically in the brain, adding another part to it, that let the human control the Eva and its field. Yet, when they used a retro virus to change an adult's DNA, the resulting pilot was either killed or his cells began to breakdown.
In a stroke of genius, they discovered young children could more easily survive the process. The survival rate was one in four. Twenty children were tested and chosen and subjected to the initial virus. Five survived. Myself, Asuka Langley-Soryu, Touji Suzahara, Kenske Aida, and Dusty Desert. We were brought together and told how important teamwork was, and at first, we did work as a group. We became friends, helping each other to survive even the nastiest of the experiments.
We were there for the first class together. We were there for each other's birthdays, and we were there for each other when they first showed us the Evangelions. They were ugly little fetuses at first, with skinny limbs and ugly faces. All of us swore up and down we would never get inside one; it was too disgusting.
Yet our words rang hollow.
It was frightening how attached we became to our instruments, even from the start. Yes, we protested how ugly they were, and I know I'm not the only one, but from start we each felt some affinity with them. They explained to us that each Evangelion was like us and would only work for its pilot. I later learned why. The Evangelions were grown using our own tissues merged with that of Adam's. That was how we were able to synch with them. Our DNA operated on the same wavelength.
In those early years we excelled at our school work, no surprise we were so smart considering how parents were on the cusp of the technology wave riding through the world. The smartest was Asuka and Kenske, always competing with each other. She learned to resent his efforts.
"Oh please, dumpkoff, you can't take the square-root of zero."
"Actually, ice-queen, you can. It's called i. It's an imaginary number."
Asuka's had flew into the air, catching our instructor's attention. "Teacher, teacher, Aida's making up things!"
I recalled his quiet voice. "Actually, Asuka, he's telling the truth. He read ahead in the book."
It was times like that Asuka learned not to like Kenske, but despite that, we were still a solid unit of friends. I remember several experiments going badly for Kenske and him crying on Asuka's shoulder. It was when we reached ten years old, and started learning to pilot, that the first problems appeared. Alongside learning how to pilot they taught us how to fight, something I was never very good at, but something Touji and Asuka were excellent at.
In hindsight, with Kenske's earlier problems, it should not have come as a surprise what happened to him.
It was a quiet day as we went into the routine. The staff were having us, one by one, synch with our Evas, while they monitored the dark matter output of our vitals. Very tame for those early tests (at one point I remember them testing each of the pain receptors of the Evangelions, with us in them to confirm it; that had been a very long week). Kenske was up first. Dressed in his yellow plugsuit, I watched my friend crawl into the entry-plug and be inserted into his Eva. At the time only the chest plate had been applied to his. It was yellow to match his plugsuit; something he insisted on.
The scanners went through their battery of colors and lights filled the entryplug. "I'm all ready, doc!"
They asked him questions and he responded. He flexed his arms and stretched his legs. Then, "I feel sick."
"What's it feel like?" Doctor Naoki Akagi asked.
"Like I'm floating with a tummy ache."
"Scan his epidermis for decay." She sounded worried. I remember her biting her lip whenever she was troubled.
A tech muttered, "Sounds like case 17."
"Shut-up!" She snapped. Then added, "Check his intestines for contamination just to be sure."
"Registering a pattern green in his left arm. It's slowly spreading through his DNA wavelength."
"Stomach readings are in the yellow, but are still within parameters."
More jargon was spouted but it meant little to me. I was just getting worried about my friend. "I-is he going to be alright?"
"Not now, Shinji." She snapped at me and I resumed my vigil against the wall.
More words were traded and they asked him to move his arm and tighten his gut. That was when he said it was getting worse.
"Raise the pressure by the fifty percent, we're losing his cohesion."
"It's not working, the decay is increasing! Contamination has spread to the heart, its being pumped to the rest of his body!"
"Eject the entry-plug, eject the entry-plug!"
His screen went dark as he was jettisoned from his Eva. The techs went crazy comparing charts while the Doctor barked out orders. Me and the other Children rushed to the giant windows to see below. Each of us was scared out of our minds; in the confusion they ignored us. We watched as a flood of men converged on the entry-plug and forced it open. We watched as they pulled my friend from the innards, his skin looking sick and gray.
We watched, horrified, as his skin began to melt off his bones. We cried when we saw the rest of his body turn into a liquid and splash, red, onto the floor. The tech was left holding an empty plugsuit with red liquid pouring out of it. I do not recall who started screaming, I think it was Asuka.
"Get those damn kids out of here!" Dr. Akagi screeched.
The following week ended our happy little paradigm of how saving the world was the best thing to ever happen to us. We all attended the funeral, though the casket was empty considering they were not able to collect his body before it went down the drain. For the longest time Touji refused to speak to anyone, even me. He had been hit the worst by what happened. It was a few days after the botched experiment that they resumed tests. When Touji climbed in there was trouble.
"No!"
"Damn it, kid, what's the matter?"
"I don't want you using my sister."
"What?" Dr. Akagi asked perplexed.
"Don't play dumb! I heard ya'll talking 'bout her. I don't want you using her!"
"What the hell, Touji? That decision is not yours to make."
"Then I won't pilot."
Dr. Akagi drew a deep breath, but before she could respond, my father, the Commander, spoke. "Don't worry, pilot Suzuhara. Another alternative is being explored." I remember that odd smile on his face. I remember he wore one similar when the new pilot was introduced.
"Thanks, sir!"
"Carry-on, doctor."
For months things went well, tests and procedures, while we learned to use an AT Field. There was a lot of excitement about it; there had been some doubt whether these Evangelions would be able to use one, let alone a child able to manipulate it. It was in this midst that my mother died. They found her body one late night with one too many prescription medicines in her system. The cause was ruled an overdose, and my father confessed to being aware of her problem. The matter was settled and life went on; except for me.
On a raining day at the funeral, he informed me that I would no longer be living with him, but with Dusty's parents. He needed time to grieve by himself. After a month of me asking him when I could move back in, he finally snapped at me. "You will not be moving back in. It's not necessary." Those words would haunt me the rest of my life.
Eventually the fifth pilot, Kenske's replacement, arrived. A strange girl with pale blue hair and expressionless red eyes. They called her Rei Ayanami. She was quiet and reserved, and I hated her. She was Kenske's replacement, but she could never replace him. She was also my replacement. I saw the way my father doted upon her, showered her with affection and praise, all while ignoring me. He brought her presents and asked her how she was doing, always ignoring me, even while the specter of my mother's death hovered between us.
The greatest sacrilege they made to my friend's memory was giving his Eva to her. At the first activation test, we lined up at the window, breathless with anticipation. We wanted her to fail miserably. We wanted her to cry in dismay. After all, they told us the Evangelions could only work for the original pilot. Much to our disappointment, she was successful. I remember looking over at my father with hatred and seeing that same odd smile again.
It was then I swore to show him and that phony girl what a real pilot could do. Then my father would notice me and we could be a family again.
From then on I threw myself into becoming a better pilot. I studied everything they put in front of me, ever watchful to see if my father noticed. I worked on my reflexes and my synchronization ratio, constantly bugging Dr. Akagi about how to become better. She took a liking to me after that and praised me constantly. "Great-job, Shinji, at this rate you'll be the best."
Words Asuka could never deal with. My attempts spurned her on, but she could not compete with my desire to impress my father. And as my synch ratio surpassed hers, the greater the rift between us grew, but it was never enough for my father. Always, he would only encourage Rei, and in time my enthusiasm tapered off. If had not been for Dr. Akagi's kind words, I would never have made it through that depressing year.
At the close of it, the small tight-knit group we had become was no more. Touji and I were friends still, but he had grown solemn with his best friend's death. Rei was a distant enigma who I no longer harbored hate for; we eventually learned her movements were more robotic than human. Asuka, in scorn, dubbed her robot-girl.
Asuka herself rarely hung out with us, saying we were too immature for her, choosing to shadow her brilliant mother instead. It was quite a blow for her two years later when Dr. Langely shot herself. As to Dusty, he had always been introspective, but with all the problems circulating through Nerv, he grew even more isolated within himself.
By then, our moods were affecting our piloting skills, something they could not let happen. So a solution was reached, a compromise that on some level helped to heal the wounds of an isolated childhood. We were enrolled in school and forced to relearn subjects we had passed years prior. At first it was a bore. Old teachers, who smelled like mothballs, lectured us all day. When they focused more of our studies on the arts our interests piqued anew. I even learned to play the cello fairly well.
"We have to what?" I recalled Asuka's dismay well when the second form of the plan went through. We were all lined up in my father's tomb-like office.
"Is that a problem, pilot Soryu?"
She grumbled. "No, sir."
"Good. Your mother has already signed the necessary paper work and has given this project her full backing. As of tomorrow morning, your residences will change. You'll be living together and learning to cope as a unit. Any other objections?"
None spoke. "Good." He directed his gaze to Rei and his tone softened. "Rei, I am ordering you to socialize for your own good."
"Yes, sir."
He nodded, pleased. His demeanor changed to cold once more. "Your new guardian and care-taker will be Captain Misato Katsuragi." He gestured with his hand and woman walked out of the shadows from behind him. She had dark hair, hazel eyes, and wore a fashionable outfit of red and black. I always wondered why she was never required to wear a uniform.
"Hello everyone." Her voice was cheery as she walked around my father's desk to shake our hands. The way she approached each of us told me she had studied our files extensively. To Asuka she waited for her to extend her hand first. For Touji, she gave him a smile and a wink, which caused him to blush. For Dusty, she spoke softly and offered him a word of encouragement. She approached Rei, gently took her slim hand, and showed her how to shake. Me? She took my hand, put her other hand over it and smiled. I almost cried.
The following dawn we met at headquarters, were loaded into a minivan, and driven to our new home. For the next four years we lived as a family, supportive and helping. We learned a lot about Rei and went to great lengths to bring her out of her shell. Dusty began to smile again and I found myself truly happy with the world. Even Asuka stopped being 'too mature for us.' Those were the happiest years of our lives, where our wounds were allowed to heal.
Until the third Angel descended from the stars and the wounds reopened. Where, for the next two years, my life would become hell...
Shinji stood, his reflection on the polished oak desk following him. With careful steps on the thin red carpet he made his way to the aquarium-wall, staring at the abundant fish, each a colorful collection of hues. Their lives were simple. Only waiting for the mysterious Giver to bestow food upon them.
Shinji rested his hands against the aquarium glass, smudging it, and hung his head. He wished that his life were that easy; yet, he could not accept an easy life. Humanity needed a hand to guide them, a hand unblemished by selfish desires and cruel pasts. None were more qualified than he. He was long-lived thanks to Ristuki's altering of his father's doomsday virus; he had been awake now for more than seventy years and barely looked thirty. He had the intelligence, but most importantly, he had will power.
The burden, though, never lessoned. Doubts plagued his mind, and he worried his plans were falling apart. He had already lost the support of the two pilots that said they would follow him. Touji, because he wished for a peaceful life, and Rei, who had to find her own purpose in life. Her loss had hit him the worst; she had been his ally till only a few months back. Their parting exchange had been brief, for he knew it had been coming.
"Ikari?"
"Yes, Rei?"
"I'm leaving." She had then turned and left, leaving a silence that affected him more than he wished.
Now, he was alone. His coconspirators murdered and his once friends and companions scattered to their own whims.
"Father..." he muttered. "Was it this hard for you?" Never did he see his father sway or stumble. Always would he face each challenge with supreme confidence, even when the pilots, the keys to mankind's survival back then, faltered. It would be so much easier if I were like the others. Just pass the gauntlet and run away. Let humanity march to its own destruction, while I cowered in an out-of-the-way colony. I've runaway before, I could do it again...
That final thought floated for a moment in his mind. He tasted the temptation of it. Movement caught his eye. A fish had swum by briefly before again finding its way back to the plants. It was pale blue with red gills, and as it wondered along the green stalks it looked lost, the plant's heavy leaves pushing it this way and that.
Shinji narrowed his eyes. I'd rather have a purpose in life, than wonder aimlessly, looking for purpose, lost to the wills of others.
He clenched his hands against the glass. I have my mission. I have my purpose, and God help any who wish to stop me.
--Insert Witty Statement.
Chapter 2: Lethal Beauty
She was walking through a warzone. Her destination was a tall building with the letters RFC written on it. Overhead the vastness of space loomed, revealing a bright sun too far to heat the colony. Bioelectric-fungus growing in large spires, all twelve taller than the building, gave off enough light and heat for the city. To protect it from the elements a thick shield clear shield was in place. It was supported by an electro-magnetic field.
Below this masterpiece of colonial survival were the sounds of rockets, lasers, and bullets going off. Small armed squads, dressed in dark crimson, were surrounding the building as men dressed in black and gray armor launched an assault against them. However, what they were doing was useless. She was sure they were unaware that the enemy’s reserves had been decimated. She had led that assault herself as her forces had secured the building.
Random strafe fire came her way, but it was deflected by the sudden appearance of a hexagonal field. The men walking with her, ten in all(though, she hardly needed an escort), did not flinch. They were used to the field’s existence while in her presence. One of the reasons they followed her; her almost superhuman abilities.
Two gorilla like men were guarding the front doors, each wielding a gun the size of her. They gave salutes with the barrels of their guns before stepping aside and let her in. A shout from the left was ignored by her, but not the two massive guards.
A contingent of ten men were rusheed forward, lasers slicing away at the energy-resilient building. The two men pointed their guns and blew the advancing party away with explosive rounds.
The red-haired woman smirked as she entered the skyscraper. The doors closed behind her, silencing the noise from outside. Her feet made clicking noise on the reflective marble, polished to a shine. She glanced down and admired her apparel and appearance.
She was tall at six foot, with a thick mane of red hair above two crystal blue eyes. A red skin-tight uniform, a modified plugsuit from her days as a pilot, covered her body, accentuating her generous curves. One addition to it, vain as it was, was the raised heels. She was fully aware what the sight of them did to men, even though it had taken her months to get used to them. Covering the red suit was a brown trench coat, plastic-polymer by nature. It was designed to repel most bullets and absorb the shock waves of explosives.
A black belt hung around her trim waist, with two sword like handles hanging from it; two light swords for close combat. Next to them were two large bulletguns, followed by two laserguns. Hanging from the inside of her coat was another arsenal of weapons. One high powered sniper rifle, several energy-grenades, a few more laserguns of varying intensity, and a rapidfire machinegun.
She wore it all with pride.
As they walked the halls of the building, residual fire could be heard, followed by screams. She frowned. She had wanted the building completely cleared when she arrived. The Board of Directors needed to be completely without hope of rescue. She keyed something on her wrist and spoke into it. “Rossier!” She barked.
“Ma’am!” Came a strained response, followed by laser-fire.
“What’s the hold up?”
“There was a passage they blew open a few minutes ago and they came pouring in. We’ve got the main group cornered, but a few slipped out. Give me ten minutes and they’ll be nothing more than a smear, Ma’am!”
She growled. “Make it five, or I’m mounting your head at the front of the Steinback.” She killed the comm before he could respond. She debated waiting a few more minutes, but she doubted the men unwillingly waiting for her would know of the incursion.
Soon they approached a pair of silver doors being guarded by men touting a large lasercannon. One of the men had half his body replaced by cybernetics. I wonder if he was one of Dusty’s fools? They opened the doors for her.
She nodded her head and the doors closed, heralding the elevator to the top of the building in seconds via magnetic rails. The doors parted and she entered a hall lined with her men. They all saluted and muttered, “Ma’am.”
She walked by them, a queen among her subjects. The final barrier was before her, and a man with artificial red shining eyes in a suit and tie opened it for her. She paused to inspect his blonde hair and small frame. “Were any killed, Manson?”
He gave her an unnatural smile. “None. One tried to escape out the window, but we dissuaded him.”
“Good.”
“Ma’am.” He gestured with his arm and she swept past him, the ten men herding after her.
She walked into a room lined with tall windows, giving it a cathedral air. Expensive sculptures and paintings lined the walls, while the intricate patterns woven into the plastic carpet spoke of money. In the center of the room, seated around a long table, were men dressed in similar excess as the room. Each wore what they thought was something fashionable, ranging from the classic suit and tie, to lavish colorful robes.
There were twenty in all. Each had by their side a man of unsavory tastes casually pointing a gun to their heads. The woman stopped at the head of the table and spoke. “All rise.” A nudge to their heads prompted them to their feet. “All greet.” Another nudge reminded them of their lines.
They spoke. “Ma’am.”
She smiled. “All sit.” They resumed their seats.
In one motion she mounted their table and began to walk its length. “Hello gentleman. I use that term with loose meaning, considering the slave ring you have operating in the mines below. Most probably have a good idea who I am by now.” She gestured to the various men wearing any combination of red and black, and each sporting an ancient symbol. A white skull and crossbones. “But, for those that don’t. My name is Asuka Langley-Soryu. Ma’am, to you.” By then she had reached the end of the table. She turned and walked its length again, her raised heels clicking on the glass.
Asuka gestured to one of her men. He placed a small device on the table, pressing a button to activate it. A three dimensional object came to life, showing a red landscape filled with smoking ruins and bombed out buildings. It switched to another scene of similar landscape, save there was a hole in a giant metal dome with green, acrid smoke pouring from it. Another switch showed a mountain with unnatural crevices and canyons, with bodies littered around it.
“This is Mars as of a week ago. Those images I am showing you are what’s left of the ones who once controlled Mars, mighty corporations like this one who hired armies to protect them from people like me.” She smiled at the last. “As of eight days ago, Grand Admiral Ikari launched a coup upon Earth, eliminating any vestiges of the UN council. After nearly two thousand years, democracy has died on Earth. Replaced by a totalitarian regime that spouts rhetoric twenty-four seven. How citizens are guaranteed their liberties, so long as they remain peaceful.” She snorted.
“Prior to the takeover Shi—Admiral Ikari sent a fleet into Mars’ orbit, with simple instructions. Destroy any place of potential uprisings. As you can see,” she gestured to the images coming from the projector, “they were brutally efficient. Of the three dozen corporations and trade alliances on Mars, only Sect X managed to repel the initial bombardment. They still fell three days later to the invasion force that followed. Every port has been secured and every major city is now under martial law, subject until the new administration is in place.”
“Still, us spacers are stubborn pioneers and don’t like when earthers crowd us. Revolts and riots have erupted all across the Martian frontier as workers became guerillas. The result is a disruption in production. The exports coming out of Mars have dropped to nearly zero. Which explains why Ikari can’t go flinging bombs at every colony at once. Earth has been mined dry and relies on us for materials. They give us money and we give’em supplies. Ikari knows so as long as we remain divided he can take us out one at a time. So he’ll conquer Mars, get things calmed down and running again and move on to the next target. One by one we’ll all fall.”
By then several of the Directors were realizing where this was going. They listened to her speech and watched as she walked, appreciating the curves of her body, while being made wary of the arsenal hanging from it. It made her appear a lethal beauty in their eyes.
“There is one thing we can do to stop him. Fight back!”
A man bravely cleared his throat. She turned to him. He nervously eyed the man beside him, holding the gun to the director’s head, before speaking. “We’ll be fighting under your leadership I presume?”
She nodded with a pleasant smile. “Who else? All I want from you is your support. You guys run business as usual, just supplying me with men, materials, ships—things like that. Sure it’ll cut into your profits, but letting Ikari have his way means you lose everything.” She again gestured to the projector. “He’s already shown he doesn’t intend to negotiate. So who’s with me?”
The corporate leaders eyed the guns her men held to their heads. They swallowed their reservations and agreed to her proposal.
“I thought you would see it my way.” She leaped from the table and snapped her fingers. The men in the room quickly filed out, save for a handful. One, a tall man with broad shoulders and guns at
his hips took up position at the head of the table. Asuka spoke. “Himen here is my liaison with you gentlemen. He represents my interests. I suggest you not piss him off. And in the name of cooperation I’m leaving a little contingent of men behind. ‘Bye now.”
She exited the room, trailed by her men. The man from earlier, with shining red eyes, struck up a pace beside her. At times she wondered if there was any humanity left in his cybernetic brain. His expressions were sometimes exaggerated. Definitely was never one of Dusty’s. However questionable his human-side, his computational efficiency was unmatched. “Have the men begin pulling out. We’ve gotten the agreement I wanted.”
“There was little doubt. Your men’s swiftness took them by surprise.”
She waved her hand. “No, my men were sloppy, forgetting to check hastily built blockades, letting the fighting encompass ten city blocks.” She sneered. “I’m tempted to have Rossier killed, but he shaped up in the end.”
“You are not taking into account that the RFC’s men were some of the best.”
She scoffed. “There hasn’t been a corp. war in twenty years, longer than that for the Lunar War. These men should have been rollovers.”
He tsked. “Not so. Many here have been on the frontlines of the trading routes, where the most frequent pirate assaults occur. They have a policy to rotate their men every six months. So they were fairly competent force, which speaks of their intelligence in being the largest corporation among the Jupiter moons. The reason you struck at them first. A domino effect if you will, hoping the rest of them—“
“Manson.”
“Yes?”
“Shut-up.” She growled and hastened her steps, out pacing him. She heard him sigh, but hang back. Few were allowed to talk to her like that, but he, most times, was her sounding board. He needed freedom with his tongue. He had pointed out very good points, ones she had not been aware of. He was right in her choice of RFC. They were the largest and held the most sway here. If she could swoop down and take their corporate base with ease, she could do it with the rest of them. Word would spread and soon the traders would be flocking to her banner.
Some would still hold out, like the Plutonian Consortium, but she would use words for them. They were too military minded for her to use aggression with, and too far out to even care about the politics of ‘your solar system.’ But, they understood money, and that she could give them if she had the support of the corporations. Everything was going well and soon she would the resources to match Ikari ship to ship. He would not take away her freedom!
As she walked, shouldered with the responsibilities of the colonies upon her shoulders, she began to think of a simpler time. When saving humanity was as easy as learning physics…
Her Daddy was never home and her Mommy did her best to stay around. She learned to take care herself. She would go to the bathroom by herself and learned to wash by herself. Her mother even began to teach her how to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She was such a good daughter then. “I love you with all my heart, honey, but Mommy has to stay away. I have important things to do in order for the world to survive.”
Asuka was always proud of her Mommy. Then she went to work with her and they ran blood tests. The following week she learned she was to be a pilot. “Mommy’s so proud of you. You get to help me save the world!” But Asuka was blinded by the unshed tears in her mother’s eyes.
She met other children her age, chosen like her to be pilots. Touji was tall but stupid. Dusty was too shy. Shinji was too timid. And Kenske was a know-it-all. When they taught her and the others in class Kenske was always trying to prove to everyone how smart he was. It was extremely irritating the way he kept trying to steal the teacher’s attention. It was not like she was not smart, too!
Through those first four years she learned lots, her favorite was physics. She loved to say ohm. The experiments were parts she could go without. They made her hurt all over and gave her blinding headaches. One time she lost sight in her eyes and panicked. It was her Mommy’s voice that eventually calmed her. “I’m so sorry, honey. I’m so sorry. I promise nothing like that will happen again. We just miscalculated is all. You do still love me, don’t you?”
Asuka’s reply was always the same. “Of course, Mommy. I could [i]never hate you.”
Asuka’s reassurance always lightened the guilt upon her mother’s shoulder.
The one boy who she resented was also the one that had it the worst. Kenske always came back from his experiments hurting or cold or shivering. He was a frail boy. Why he came to her shoulder to cry on she would never understand, but she let him and it soothed him as her own mother had soothed her. She wondered what had happened to his Mommy; every child should have one.
When she first saw the Evangelions, she thought they were the ugliest things she had ever seen. Looked more like a rotten vegetable than an instrument to save mankind. Yet, there was something about them, especially hers, drawing her in. Something she would not understand for years to come.
When she turned ten they began teaching her how to pilot. It was hard work at first, and it strained her mind, more than it did the other children. She persevered, and in time her synch ratio stabilized. Again, her mother was by her side asking her if she still loved her. “I could never stop loving you, Mommy.”
Then she witnessed Kenske’s death. His body melting into some blood-colored liquid, while the tech was left holding his plugsuit. She did not understand why they had a funeral, since it was not his body they buried, but she still attended with the rest of the pilots. People got over his death as best they could, choosing to work harder to forget the traumatic incident. Asuka had nightmares and slept for a week with her mother. Shinji once spoke to her of someone screaming, saying he felt sad, too. She refused to believe it was her that had screamed. It did not sound like something she would do.
Soon afterwards Shinji’s mother died of a drug overdose, and he was depressed for the longest time. When everyone was still mourning her loss they introduced Kenske’s replacement. A willowy young girl called Rei Ayanami. Asuka did not like her at first, it was not right for her to steal Kenske’s Evangelion like she did. She did not even care what she had taken! Yet, Asuka could not hate her, for she learned the girl had no drive of her own, just what the Commander dictated to her.
Shinji, in response to his replacement, Rei, tried to steal everyone’s attention by becoming the best pilot. She tried to keep pace with him, she really did. She tried her hardest and worked constantly to stay ahead of him, but it was so easy for him. He just applied himself effortlessly and passed her by. It was so unfair! And everyone praised him for it, not because of how hard he worked, but by how good he was!
When she turned to the other pilots all she met was a wall. Dusty had sunken into himself, a depression even his parents could not help him with. And ace Shinji did not even seem to notice. Touji was quiet most times, barely responding to her. He did throw a fit when he learned they were going to use his sister in Kenske’s place, before Rei joined the team.
Rejected on all sides Asuka found the only solace she could, in the shadow of her mother. Her mommy never seemed to mind, though a guilt was etched into her features whenever they tried something new with her and her Evangelion. Despite the pain, she was constantly told her mommy that it was okay, that she could mind the pain. That she was willing to sacrifice for the sake of humanity. After she said that her mother fell to her knees and embraced her in a hug.
“I know…” she sobbed, “…I know it’s worth it for humanity, but it shouldn’t have to be you. A little girl shouldn’t be made to do these things…I’m sorry.”
Asuka stamped her foot. “Mommy, I’m not a little anymore! I’m a big girl now!”
This only made her mother cry harder. “But, you shouldn’t have to, honey…” her voice lowered. “…you shouldn’t have to.”
“But I want to be!”
Her mother pulled away and gave her watery smile. “And I’m proud of you for it. I really am.” Then muttered. “My sweet lost baby, my conscious wouldn’t let me not include you. I’m so sorry.”
Asuka patted her mom’s shoulder as she gripped her child. “It’s okay, Mommy, I still love you. I always will.”
A year later, as Asuka turned eleven, she was ripped away from her mother to live in a strange house with a smiling woman with dark hair named Misato Katsuragi. Captain Katsuragi was a nice woman who allowed Asuka room to explore and have fun. She was always interested in what she said and helped her become close once more to her peers. Each Children helped the others to paint their rooms whatever color they wanted. They got to choose their furniture and designed the living room together, though Misato had a heavy influence on their final picks.
For the first time, since they were all learning together, Asuka was happy again. She still missed her mommy terribly, but she had close companions to help share their problems with, because no matter how much the scienctists and techs helped, learning to pilot eva was difficult for the children. As Asuka’s confidence grew, so did her pride, for piloting was coming easier for her, and in her enthusiasm she was blinded to her mother’s growing depression. On a cloudy night she stole away down stairs to get a glass of water and heard her mother talking with Misato. They were seated on a table sharing a beer.
“What are the projections looking like?” Misato was asking. “We’ve still got a ways to go before these kids are battle ready. The only one who can actually run and gun is Asuka.”
Her mother sighed and brought a hand to her head. “It’s not looking good. The most promising projection is in five years, when they’re sixteen. That’s if we stretch the numbers, as I know my team did. The most abysmal is in two years.” She took a long drought of her beer.
“Has it been hard from the beginning? I notice a lot of people seem tired, and the war hasn’t even started.”
Mrs. Soryu shrugged. “We’ve had some pretty bad things happen. We lost one pilot to a botched retro virus. Akagi wouldn’t own up to it, though. Even when she was in charge of their growth. Kept saying his anatomy wasn’t compatible.”
Misato looked sympathetic. “I’m sorry, I heard it was a rather traumatic thing to see.”
“It was. Have you been careful about the subject with the kids, they all witnessed it.” Both women shared a glance and shuddered.
“I have. I’ve made sure they shouldn’t forget their friend and remember what he was like as he lived. Not as he died.” She took a drink of her own beer.
Asuka saw her mother struggle for a moment before speaking. “How’s Asuka doing?”
Misato smiled encouragingly. “She’s doing great! She really is. She’s the best pilot we have and I’m proud of her confidence. She boasts sometimes, but I think she has reason to.”
“I see.” Mrs. Soryu took on a lost quality to her eyes. “You’ve been a better mother to her than me. All I ever did was cry and beg her to keep loving me, even when I kept doing horrible things to her.” Tears leaked from her eyes. “I don’t deserve a daughter like her. I don’t deserve her forgiveness or love.”
Misato frowned. “You shouldn’t say things like that. You’ve been under tremendous stress these past few years. The fate of the world hangs on your shoulders and you’ve had to watch them do experiments on your own daughter. Heck! You’ve had to do them! In your shoes I think I would have broke a long time ago.”
The red-haired woman smiled sadly. “That’s why they brought you in, some fresh blood. We’re all beginning to feel the strain. Did you know they’re bringing in Akagi’s daughter? They say she’s brilliant with quantum biotics. Her research has helped to patch up some problems we’ve had with the Evangelions.”
Misato smiled fondly. “Yeah, I knew they were bringing her in. She told me herself. We were roomies back in college. Bit of a dry humor, though.”
Asuka’s mother laughed, the first time the small child had heard the sound in a long time.
“Thank-you, Misato, for your time. It’s good to hear a pleasant voice every now and then, besides the critical one in my own mind.”
Misato covered the woman’s hand in her and spoke softly. “If you ever need anything, just ask.”
The conversation left Asuka worried about her mommy, but in the end things seemed to calm down. In the coming months she made sure to spend more time with her, encouraging her and telling her how much she loved her. That she was so lucky to have a wonderful mommy like her. As the months stretched to a year Asuka became a better and better pilot. There were accidents, but she learned from them and moved on. She was going to make her mommy not regret choosing her for this.
The end of the year brought Asuka to a third funeral, and at this one she cried like a baby. “It wasn’t enough for you, mommy, was it? My love wasn’t enough.”
They had found Zepplin Langley-Soryu dead at her desk, a bullet hole in her head. The love and reassurance that Asuka gave her mother, did nothing to dispel the guilt weighing on her heart. It only added to the burden. As Asuka became the best pilot among the children, talk spread of her being the point-man in engagements, taking on the unknown Angels first, shouldering the greatest burden. Her mother could take no more, and ended the guilt and pain the only way she knew how.
There was a note found on her desk, written to Asuka with splotches of blood on it. Misato made sure Asuka got it, blood and all. A final reminder of a great woman.
Dearest Asuka,
Ever since you were chosen to pilot Eva, I have regretted my decision from the start. No child should be burdened the way you were, and no mother should have watch their child be tortured for the sake of humanity. Yes, Asuka, that is what we put you Children, through. Hell. We sugar-coated it to ourselves and to you, but we were deceiving everyone. From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry I ruined your innocence. I wish I was as strong as you, able to keep moving and forgiving me for what I had done. For never stop loving me as I stopped loving myself.
It was you that helped me stand-up straight every morning. It was you who showed what real strength was and helped me endure these horrible years. It was you that was so much stronger than me, because in the end I can’t take it any longer. I can’t sit idle and continue to watch them hurt and endanger you. I can’t keep doing it to you. I’m sorry I won’t be there to see the end of the struggle. Please know I could never be more proud of you and that I love you with all my heart.
I know you’ll be able to survive Nerv and the war, because you are the strongest girl in the world.
--Love, Mommy.
She was walking through a warzone. Her destination was a tall building with the letters RFC written on it. Overhead the vastness of space loomed, revealing a bright sun too far to heat the colony. Bioelectric-fungus growing in large spires, all twelve taller than the building, gave off enough light and heat for the city. To protect it from the elements a thick shield clear shield was in place. It was supported by an electro-magnetic field.
Below this masterpiece of colonial survival were the sounds of rockets, lasers, and bullets going off. Small armed squads, dressed in dark crimson, were surrounding the building as men dressed in black and gray armor launched an assault against them. However, what they were doing was useless. She was sure they were unaware that the enemy’s reserves had been decimated. She had led that assault herself as her forces had secured the building.
Random strafe fire came her way, but it was deflected by the sudden appearance of a hexagonal field. The men walking with her, ten in all(though, she hardly needed an escort), did not flinch. They were used to the field’s existence while in her presence. One of the reasons they followed her; her almost superhuman abilities.
Two gorilla like men were guarding the front doors, each wielding a gun the size of her. They gave salutes with the barrels of their guns before stepping aside and let her in. A shout from the left was ignored by her, but not the two massive guards.
A contingent of ten men were rusheed forward, lasers slicing away at the energy-resilient building. The two men pointed their guns and blew the advancing party away with explosive rounds.
The red-haired woman smirked as she entered the skyscraper. The doors closed behind her, silencing the noise from outside. Her feet made clicking noise on the reflective marble, polished to a shine. She glanced down and admired her apparel and appearance.
She was tall at six foot, with a thick mane of red hair above two crystal blue eyes. A red skin-tight uniform, a modified plugsuit from her days as a pilot, covered her body, accentuating her generous curves. One addition to it, vain as it was, was the raised heels. She was fully aware what the sight of them did to men, even though it had taken her months to get used to them. Covering the red suit was a brown trench coat, plastic-polymer by nature. It was designed to repel most bullets and absorb the shock waves of explosives.
A black belt hung around her trim waist, with two sword like handles hanging from it; two light swords for close combat. Next to them were two large bulletguns, followed by two laserguns. Hanging from the inside of her coat was another arsenal of weapons. One high powered sniper rifle, several energy-grenades, a few more laserguns of varying intensity, and a rapidfire machinegun.
She wore it all with pride.
As they walked the halls of the building, residual fire could be heard, followed by screams. She frowned. She had wanted the building completely cleared when she arrived. The Board of Directors needed to be completely without hope of rescue. She keyed something on her wrist and spoke into it. “Rossier!” She barked.
“Ma’am!” Came a strained response, followed by laser-fire.
“What’s the hold up?”
“There was a passage they blew open a few minutes ago and they came pouring in. We’ve got the main group cornered, but a few slipped out. Give me ten minutes and they’ll be nothing more than a smear, Ma’am!”
She growled. “Make it five, or I’m mounting your head at the front of the Steinback.” She killed the comm before he could respond. She debated waiting a few more minutes, but she doubted the men unwillingly waiting for her would know of the incursion.
Soon they approached a pair of silver doors being guarded by men touting a large lasercannon. One of the men had half his body replaced by cybernetics. I wonder if he was one of Dusty’s fools? They opened the doors for her.
She nodded her head and the doors closed, heralding the elevator to the top of the building in seconds via magnetic rails. The doors parted and she entered a hall lined with her men. They all saluted and muttered, “Ma’am.”
She walked by them, a queen among her subjects. The final barrier was before her, and a man with artificial red shining eyes in a suit and tie opened it for her. She paused to inspect his blonde hair and small frame. “Were any killed, Manson?”
He gave her an unnatural smile. “None. One tried to escape out the window, but we dissuaded him.”
“Good.”
“Ma’am.” He gestured with his arm and she swept past him, the ten men herding after her.
She walked into a room lined with tall windows, giving it a cathedral air. Expensive sculptures and paintings lined the walls, while the intricate patterns woven into the plastic carpet spoke of money. In the center of the room, seated around a long table, were men dressed in similar excess as the room. Each wore what they thought was something fashionable, ranging from the classic suit and tie, to lavish colorful robes.
There were twenty in all. Each had by their side a man of unsavory tastes casually pointing a gun to their heads. The woman stopped at the head of the table and spoke. “All rise.” A nudge to their heads prompted them to their feet. “All greet.” Another nudge reminded them of their lines.
They spoke. “Ma’am.”
She smiled. “All sit.” They resumed their seats.
In one motion she mounted their table and began to walk its length. “Hello gentleman. I use that term with loose meaning, considering the slave ring you have operating in the mines below. Most probably have a good idea who I am by now.” She gestured to the various men wearing any combination of red and black, and each sporting an ancient symbol. A white skull and crossbones. “But, for those that don’t. My name is Asuka Langley-Soryu. Ma’am, to you.” By then she had reached the end of the table. She turned and walked its length again, her raised heels clicking on the glass.
Asuka gestured to one of her men. He placed a small device on the table, pressing a button to activate it. A three dimensional object came to life, showing a red landscape filled with smoking ruins and bombed out buildings. It switched to another scene of similar landscape, save there was a hole in a giant metal dome with green, acrid smoke pouring from it. Another switch showed a mountain with unnatural crevices and canyons, with bodies littered around it.
“This is Mars as of a week ago. Those images I am showing you are what’s left of the ones who once controlled Mars, mighty corporations like this one who hired armies to protect them from people like me.” She smiled at the last. “As of eight days ago, Grand Admiral Ikari launched a coup upon Earth, eliminating any vestiges of the UN council. After nearly two thousand years, democracy has died on Earth. Replaced by a totalitarian regime that spouts rhetoric twenty-four seven. How citizens are guaranteed their liberties, so long as they remain peaceful.” She snorted.
“Prior to the takeover Shi—Admiral Ikari sent a fleet into Mars’ orbit, with simple instructions. Destroy any place of potential uprisings. As you can see,” she gestured to the images coming from the projector, “they were brutally efficient. Of the three dozen corporations and trade alliances on Mars, only Sect X managed to repel the initial bombardment. They still fell three days later to the invasion force that followed. Every port has been secured and every major city is now under martial law, subject until the new administration is in place.”
“Still, us spacers are stubborn pioneers and don’t like when earthers crowd us. Revolts and riots have erupted all across the Martian frontier as workers became guerillas. The result is a disruption in production. The exports coming out of Mars have dropped to nearly zero. Which explains why Ikari can’t go flinging bombs at every colony at once. Earth has been mined dry and relies on us for materials. They give us money and we give’em supplies. Ikari knows so as long as we remain divided he can take us out one at a time. So he’ll conquer Mars, get things calmed down and running again and move on to the next target. One by one we’ll all fall.”
By then several of the Directors were realizing where this was going. They listened to her speech and watched as she walked, appreciating the curves of her body, while being made wary of the arsenal hanging from it. It made her appear a lethal beauty in their eyes.
“There is one thing we can do to stop him. Fight back!”
A man bravely cleared his throat. She turned to him. He nervously eyed the man beside him, holding the gun to the director’s head, before speaking. “We’ll be fighting under your leadership I presume?”
She nodded with a pleasant smile. “Who else? All I want from you is your support. You guys run business as usual, just supplying me with men, materials, ships—things like that. Sure it’ll cut into your profits, but letting Ikari have his way means you lose everything.” She again gestured to the projector. “He’s already shown he doesn’t intend to negotiate. So who’s with me?”
The corporate leaders eyed the guns her men held to their heads. They swallowed their reservations and agreed to her proposal.
“I thought you would see it my way.” She leaped from the table and snapped her fingers. The men in the room quickly filed out, save for a handful. One, a tall man with broad shoulders and guns at
his hips took up position at the head of the table. Asuka spoke. “Himen here is my liaison with you gentlemen. He represents my interests. I suggest you not piss him off. And in the name of cooperation I’m leaving a little contingent of men behind. ‘Bye now.”
She exited the room, trailed by her men. The man from earlier, with shining red eyes, struck up a pace beside her. At times she wondered if there was any humanity left in his cybernetic brain. His expressions were sometimes exaggerated. Definitely was never one of Dusty’s. However questionable his human-side, his computational efficiency was unmatched. “Have the men begin pulling out. We’ve gotten the agreement I wanted.”
“There was little doubt. Your men’s swiftness took them by surprise.”
She waved her hand. “No, my men were sloppy, forgetting to check hastily built blockades, letting the fighting encompass ten city blocks.” She sneered. “I’m tempted to have Rossier killed, but he shaped up in the end.”
“You are not taking into account that the RFC’s men were some of the best.”
She scoffed. “There hasn’t been a corp. war in twenty years, longer than that for the Lunar War. These men should have been rollovers.”
He tsked. “Not so. Many here have been on the frontlines of the trading routes, where the most frequent pirate assaults occur. They have a policy to rotate their men every six months. So they were fairly competent force, which speaks of their intelligence in being the largest corporation among the Jupiter moons. The reason you struck at them first. A domino effect if you will, hoping the rest of them—“
“Manson.”
“Yes?”
“Shut-up.” She growled and hastened her steps, out pacing him. She heard him sigh, but hang back. Few were allowed to talk to her like that, but he, most times, was her sounding board. He needed freedom with his tongue. He had pointed out very good points, ones she had not been aware of. He was right in her choice of RFC. They were the largest and held the most sway here. If she could swoop down and take their corporate base with ease, she could do it with the rest of them. Word would spread and soon the traders would be flocking to her banner.
Some would still hold out, like the Plutonian Consortium, but she would use words for them. They were too military minded for her to use aggression with, and too far out to even care about the politics of ‘your solar system.’ But, they understood money, and that she could give them if she had the support of the corporations. Everything was going well and soon she would the resources to match Ikari ship to ship. He would not take away her freedom!
As she walked, shouldered with the responsibilities of the colonies upon her shoulders, she began to think of a simpler time. When saving humanity was as easy as learning physics…
Her Daddy was never home and her Mommy did her best to stay around. She learned to take care herself. She would go to the bathroom by herself and learned to wash by herself. Her mother even began to teach her how to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She was such a good daughter then. “I love you with all my heart, honey, but Mommy has to stay away. I have important things to do in order for the world to survive.”
Asuka was always proud of her Mommy. Then she went to work with her and they ran blood tests. The following week she learned she was to be a pilot. “Mommy’s so proud of you. You get to help me save the world!” But Asuka was blinded by the unshed tears in her mother’s eyes.
She met other children her age, chosen like her to be pilots. Touji was tall but stupid. Dusty was too shy. Shinji was too timid. And Kenske was a know-it-all. When they taught her and the others in class Kenske was always trying to prove to everyone how smart he was. It was extremely irritating the way he kept trying to steal the teacher’s attention. It was not like she was not smart, too!
Through those first four years she learned lots, her favorite was physics. She loved to say ohm. The experiments were parts she could go without. They made her hurt all over and gave her blinding headaches. One time she lost sight in her eyes and panicked. It was her Mommy’s voice that eventually calmed her. “I’m so sorry, honey. I’m so sorry. I promise nothing like that will happen again. We just miscalculated is all. You do still love me, don’t you?”
Asuka’s reply was always the same. “Of course, Mommy. I could [i]never hate you.”
Asuka’s reassurance always lightened the guilt upon her mother’s shoulder.
The one boy who she resented was also the one that had it the worst. Kenske always came back from his experiments hurting or cold or shivering. He was a frail boy. Why he came to her shoulder to cry on she would never understand, but she let him and it soothed him as her own mother had soothed her. She wondered what had happened to his Mommy; every child should have one.
When she first saw the Evangelions, she thought they were the ugliest things she had ever seen. Looked more like a rotten vegetable than an instrument to save mankind. Yet, there was something about them, especially hers, drawing her in. Something she would not understand for years to come.
When she turned ten they began teaching her how to pilot. It was hard work at first, and it strained her mind, more than it did the other children. She persevered, and in time her synch ratio stabilized. Again, her mother was by her side asking her if she still loved her. “I could never stop loving you, Mommy.”
Then she witnessed Kenske’s death. His body melting into some blood-colored liquid, while the tech was left holding his plugsuit. She did not understand why they had a funeral, since it was not his body they buried, but she still attended with the rest of the pilots. People got over his death as best they could, choosing to work harder to forget the traumatic incident. Asuka had nightmares and slept for a week with her mother. Shinji once spoke to her of someone screaming, saying he felt sad, too. She refused to believe it was her that had screamed. It did not sound like something she would do.
Soon afterwards Shinji’s mother died of a drug overdose, and he was depressed for the longest time. When everyone was still mourning her loss they introduced Kenske’s replacement. A willowy young girl called Rei Ayanami. Asuka did not like her at first, it was not right for her to steal Kenske’s Evangelion like she did. She did not even care what she had taken! Yet, Asuka could not hate her, for she learned the girl had no drive of her own, just what the Commander dictated to her.
Shinji, in response to his replacement, Rei, tried to steal everyone’s attention by becoming the best pilot. She tried to keep pace with him, she really did. She tried her hardest and worked constantly to stay ahead of him, but it was so easy for him. He just applied himself effortlessly and passed her by. It was so unfair! And everyone praised him for it, not because of how hard he worked, but by how good he was!
When she turned to the other pilots all she met was a wall. Dusty had sunken into himself, a depression even his parents could not help him with. And ace Shinji did not even seem to notice. Touji was quiet most times, barely responding to her. He did throw a fit when he learned they were going to use his sister in Kenske’s place, before Rei joined the team.
Rejected on all sides Asuka found the only solace she could, in the shadow of her mother. Her mommy never seemed to mind, though a guilt was etched into her features whenever they tried something new with her and her Evangelion. Despite the pain, she was constantly told her mommy that it was okay, that she could mind the pain. That she was willing to sacrifice for the sake of humanity. After she said that her mother fell to her knees and embraced her in a hug.
“I know…” she sobbed, “…I know it’s worth it for humanity, but it shouldn’t have to be you. A little girl shouldn’t be made to do these things…I’m sorry.”
Asuka stamped her foot. “Mommy, I’m not a little anymore! I’m a big girl now!”
This only made her mother cry harder. “But, you shouldn’t have to, honey…” her voice lowered. “…you shouldn’t have to.”
“But I want to be!”
Her mother pulled away and gave her watery smile. “And I’m proud of you for it. I really am.” Then muttered. “My sweet lost baby, my conscious wouldn’t let me not include you. I’m so sorry.”
Asuka patted her mom’s shoulder as she gripped her child. “It’s okay, Mommy, I still love you. I always will.”
A year later, as Asuka turned eleven, she was ripped away from her mother to live in a strange house with a smiling woman with dark hair named Misato Katsuragi. Captain Katsuragi was a nice woman who allowed Asuka room to explore and have fun. She was always interested in what she said and helped her become close once more to her peers. Each Children helped the others to paint their rooms whatever color they wanted. They got to choose their furniture and designed the living room together, though Misato had a heavy influence on their final picks.
For the first time, since they were all learning together, Asuka was happy again. She still missed her mommy terribly, but she had close companions to help share their problems with, because no matter how much the scienctists and techs helped, learning to pilot eva was difficult for the children. As Asuka’s confidence grew, so did her pride, for piloting was coming easier for her, and in her enthusiasm she was blinded to her mother’s growing depression. On a cloudy night she stole away down stairs to get a glass of water and heard her mother talking with Misato. They were seated on a table sharing a beer.
“What are the projections looking like?” Misato was asking. “We’ve still got a ways to go before these kids are battle ready. The only one who can actually run and gun is Asuka.”
Her mother sighed and brought a hand to her head. “It’s not looking good. The most promising projection is in five years, when they’re sixteen. That’s if we stretch the numbers, as I know my team did. The most abysmal is in two years.” She took a long drought of her beer.
“Has it been hard from the beginning? I notice a lot of people seem tired, and the war hasn’t even started.”
Mrs. Soryu shrugged. “We’ve had some pretty bad things happen. We lost one pilot to a botched retro virus. Akagi wouldn’t own up to it, though. Even when she was in charge of their growth. Kept saying his anatomy wasn’t compatible.”
Misato looked sympathetic. “I’m sorry, I heard it was a rather traumatic thing to see.”
“It was. Have you been careful about the subject with the kids, they all witnessed it.” Both women shared a glance and shuddered.
“I have. I’ve made sure they shouldn’t forget their friend and remember what he was like as he lived. Not as he died.” She took a drink of her own beer.
Asuka saw her mother struggle for a moment before speaking. “How’s Asuka doing?”
Misato smiled encouragingly. “She’s doing great! She really is. She’s the best pilot we have and I’m proud of her confidence. She boasts sometimes, but I think she has reason to.”
“I see.” Mrs. Soryu took on a lost quality to her eyes. “You’ve been a better mother to her than me. All I ever did was cry and beg her to keep loving me, even when I kept doing horrible things to her.” Tears leaked from her eyes. “I don’t deserve a daughter like her. I don’t deserve her forgiveness or love.”
Misato frowned. “You shouldn’t say things like that. You’ve been under tremendous stress these past few years. The fate of the world hangs on your shoulders and you’ve had to watch them do experiments on your own daughter. Heck! You’ve had to do them! In your shoes I think I would have broke a long time ago.”
The red-haired woman smiled sadly. “That’s why they brought you in, some fresh blood. We’re all beginning to feel the strain. Did you know they’re bringing in Akagi’s daughter? They say she’s brilliant with quantum biotics. Her research has helped to patch up some problems we’ve had with the Evangelions.”
Misato smiled fondly. “Yeah, I knew they were bringing her in. She told me herself. We were roomies back in college. Bit of a dry humor, though.”
Asuka’s mother laughed, the first time the small child had heard the sound in a long time.
“Thank-you, Misato, for your time. It’s good to hear a pleasant voice every now and then, besides the critical one in my own mind.”
Misato covered the woman’s hand in her and spoke softly. “If you ever need anything, just ask.”
The conversation left Asuka worried about her mommy, but in the end things seemed to calm down. In the coming months she made sure to spend more time with her, encouraging her and telling her how much she loved her. That she was so lucky to have a wonderful mommy like her. As the months stretched to a year Asuka became a better and better pilot. There were accidents, but she learned from them and moved on. She was going to make her mommy not regret choosing her for this.
The end of the year brought Asuka to a third funeral, and at this one she cried like a baby. “It wasn’t enough for you, mommy, was it? My love wasn’t enough.”
They had found Zepplin Langley-Soryu dead at her desk, a bullet hole in her head. The love and reassurance that Asuka gave her mother, did nothing to dispel the guilt weighing on her heart. It only added to the burden. As Asuka became the best pilot among the children, talk spread of her being the point-man in engagements, taking on the unknown Angels first, shouldering the greatest burden. Her mother could take no more, and ended the guilt and pain the only way she knew how.
There was a note found on her desk, written to Asuka with splotches of blood on it. Misato made sure Asuka got it, blood and all. A final reminder of a great woman.
Dearest Asuka,
Ever since you were chosen to pilot Eva, I have regretted my decision from the start. No child should be burdened the way you were, and no mother should have watch their child be tortured for the sake of humanity. Yes, Asuka, that is what we put you Children, through. Hell. We sugar-coated it to ourselves and to you, but we were deceiving everyone. From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry I ruined your innocence. I wish I was as strong as you, able to keep moving and forgiving me for what I had done. For never stop loving me as I stopped loving myself.
It was you that helped me stand-up straight every morning. It was you who showed what real strength was and helped me endure these horrible years. It was you that was so much stronger than me, because in the end I can’t take it any longer. I can’t sit idle and continue to watch them hurt and endanger you. I can’t keep doing it to you. I’m sorry I won’t be there to see the end of the struggle. Please know I could never be more proud of you and that I love you with all my heart.
I know you’ll be able to survive Nerv and the war, because you are the strongest girl in the world.
--Love, Mommy.
--Insert Witty Statement.
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