I talk with Isaac and Miria for what feels like hours, but it couldn’t have been more than thirty minutes. They are two of the strangest people I’ve ever met, but they know how to tell a story. I’m worried their time stuck in NERV custody has affected their minds though, because they talk of events that happened in the 1930’s like they were there, but they couldn’t be more than 30 years old.

I smile as Isaac busily re-enacts a story, spinning and gesturing wildly as Miria cheers him on.

“… and the time on the train! Oh, Shinji, we had such a grand adventure on a cross country train filled with mobsters and assassins!”
Isaac stops and stares into the distance, his head tilted slightly and his eyes sparkling as a wistful look settles onto his face. Miria stands next to him, mirroring his posture. He turns his gaze to her and smiles. Several moments pass before I speak up.

“I have a question. You’re saying all these things happened over 70 years ago, but you’re telling the stories like you were there. Are you guys okay?”
They look to each other and frown.

“I feel fine. How about you, Miria?”

“I feel great, Isaac!”

They turn to me and hold their hands out, palms up.

“We’re A-okay! We’re telling these stories firsthand because we were there, Shinji. We are, well, this might sound a little crazy but we are in fact im…”

They both clap their hands over their mouths at the same instant and stare at each other, their eyes wide. They huddle together and turn from me, frantically whispering. They stay like this for some time before slowly turning back to me in unison.

“Shinji, can we trust you?”
Of all the questions they could have asked me, that is the one I don’t have a clear answer for, and the two of them can plainly see that. They edge closer to the holding cell bars, their movements syncing together perfectly.

“We need to know if we can let you in. You went up against an Angel and survived. Believe us when we say that creature is only a small part of this.”

I stammer and stutter, but nothing is there.

Come on, idiot. It’s a simple question.

“I..I Uh.. I mean, I just met you guys, and you’re talking about trying to stop my dad from something, but you haven’t even told me what that something is.”

Their eyes drop to the floor and they retreat again and start whispering back and forth. They finally look back up at me with something new in their eyes.

Sadness

“Shinji, I’m afraid we might have already said too much,” Miria says, barely above a whisper, “We can’t stop you from telling your father, but know we will not stop our work. We have friends who have given their lives to help us.”

Isaac look at his right hand for a moment, his expression unreadable, before folding his fingers into a tight fist.

He places his hand on Miria’s shoulder and smiles at her.

“We understand this is a lot to ask of you, Master Ikari, but your father is planning something… Ruinous. I know you just reunited with him, but he is not to be trusted.”

I don’t have a response. Isaac starts to speak when the walls shake slightly, dust and small pieces of plaster falling from the ceiling. His eyes dart around frantically, and he walks to the wall and flips open a small hidden flap. He presses his ear to it and listens for a moment before turning to Miria and nodding. They begin gathering their things and retreating to the rear of the cell.

They turn to me.

“There are people approaching, probably a search and rescue party looking for you. It was a pleasure to meet you, Shinji,” Isaac says as he helps Miria shrug her coat back on, his own jacket draped over his shoulders, “I wish we could speak more, but I think you need some time to think about what we’ve told you. I hope you can come to some sort of understanding.”

Isaac kicks at the floor and a nearly invisible trap door pops open. They’re busily stuffing things into their coats and whispering to themselves, occasionally glancing at me. I’m still leaning against the bars, powerless to do anything except watch them leave.

I just met my father again for the first time in 10 years, and now two complete strangers are telling me that he’s a monster apparently planning some world ending event and I’m a major part of.

You should have stayed far away from here

I genuinely have no words for Isaac and Miria. As much as I want to speak, there’s just nothing coming out. Less than six hours ago I had never even heard of NERV or an Evangelion and now I’ve fought an alien monster and met two people imprisoned by my dad for so long they think they’re a hundred years old.

The two of them are starting their climb down into wherever the trap door goes, and I’m still standing there like an idiot. A picture bubbles to the front of my mind and I push back from the bars. It’s a recent memory. Very recent. I play it over a few times, and it gets clearer with each repetition.

“Wait”

Isaac and Miria stop and turn to me. I look at the floor as I speak.

“When I got here, they practically shoved me into the cockpit of the Evangelion. I almost refused, until my father made that option impossible for me,” I say, fighting to keep my voice steady, “He said there was another pilot.”

The two of them slowly climb back out of the floor and stare at me, their expressions neutral except for a small uptick of their brows. A door slams somewhere in the dark hallways, and I start hearing voices. They hear them too.

“He said If I didn’t pilot then she would go instead,” I continue, a little louder than before, “Then he wheels a girl out on a hospital bed. She was my age, maybe younger. She was barely alive. He dangled her in front of me like she was a wounded animal he was threatening to shoot.”

I look up at them. They meet my gaze and move towards me until they’re pressed right up against the bars, looking down at me. Our eyes meet and I get a good look at them for the first time. In them is a light and a fire you would not believe, but there was something else. Something around the edges. I was too young to understand then, but now I know. I was looking into eyes far too old for their owners, eyes far too full of things better left forgotten. Eyes that were….

Tired

The voices in the halls are louder now, and closer. I hear a man’s voice barking orders, the words still unintelligible.

“The entire time, he had this smirk on his face. Like he knew I was going to say yes” I whisper, tears welling up and threatening to run down my cheeks, “He may be my father, but loyalty is not a word I can associate with him. Not after that.”

My strange new friends look at each other and smile. They both place an arm on my shoulders through the bars and squeeze gently.

“We know this is incredibly difficult, Shinji my boy. We promise we are your friends. There is so much good you can help us achieve. Oh! Before we go…”

Isaac reaches into a coat pocket and pulls out a cellphone.

“A friend of ours set this up for us to communicate securely. It’s a ‘cell phone.’ They said it’s ‘encrypted,’ whatever that means. This is an extra one we had him whip up in case we needed it.”

He hands me the phone.

“I’d say this qualifies as a need.”

I take the phone and power it on. It’s a few years old and a little worn, but it seems to work just fine. I slip it into my pocket as I hear doors opening and closing, voices calling out for me.

“We have to go now, Shinji. But we’ll be in touch! It has been a pleasure, Master Ikari. Until next time!”

With that, they scurry to the trap door and drop through, Miria sticking her head out one last time and blowing me a kiss. She grabs the door and pulls it shut behind her with a soft click. The cover slides into the floor so smoothly that I wouldn’t have been able to tell it was there unless I already knew, which I guess is the point.

The light in the cell clicks off and I’m alone.

That’s nothing new

“Shut up”

I shake my head as my eyes slowly adjust to the darkness. I turn towards the sound of voices and I can hear footsteps as well. I turn the corner I came around earlier and Misato is there, her flashlight blinding me for a moment.

“Shinji! There you are!”

I put a hand up to my eyes and she lowers her light. The group of black suited agents and a few medical staff do the same.
She walks to me and grabs me by the chin, turning my head this way and that as she looks me over. Satisfied, she lets me go and folds her arms over her chest.
“You scared the shit out of me, Shinji! Why did you get out of the Eva? Why did you leave the crash site?”

She glances at my bare chest.

“Why did you take your shirt off?”

I look down and back up.

“It was soaked in LCL. It was cold and gross.”

Misato shakes her head and looks around.

“How in the hell did you wind up in here?” she asks, “This part of the facility hasn’t been used for years, not since construction finished on the Geofront. I’m amazed there are even still lights working.”

I shrug.

“I don’t remember most of the fight. I must have blacked out. After I woke up all I wanted was to get as far away from the Eva as possible. I found the entrance to here and figured why not?”

Misato’s eyes go wide.

“What do you mean you don’t remember the fight? You got the Eva to get up after it was out of power. No one has ever done that before and you’re saying you were unconscious?”

I nod.

“Yep. I had a weird dream, though. I was with my m….”

Misato’s phone begins buzzing and she holds up a finger to silence me. She digs the device out of her jacket pocket, looks at the screen and sighs before flipping it open.

“Hello Ritsuko,” she answers, “Yes, he’s alive. Yes, we found him. We’re in…”

She looks around for a minute before turning to one of the technicians.

“Where are we, exactly?”

The man pulls out a tablet and loads a map of the Geofront and begins flipping through it. After a few moments he looks up at Misato and shakes his head and shrugs.

“No idea. I don’t see any of these section markers on the map. It’s possible this is an old version, but I doubt it.”

Misato repeats this into the phone.

“Ok, hang on. I’ll send you our current coordinates.”

She lowers her phone and presses a few buttons, and the device emits a short high-pitched beep. She brings it back to her ear.

“Yeah, you got that? So, where the hell are we? What section is this?”

As Misato waits, she motions to one of the other technicians and they hand her a small bundle. She hands it to me and I unfurl the emergency blanket. I’m not really cold, but I guess it’ll make them feel better, so I wrap it around my shoulders.

Misato is standing with her hip slightly cocked while she waits for Ritsuko to reply. She suddenly stands straighter, her eyes narrowing.
“What the hell does that mean? Why are we in dan.. Okay, okay!”

She looks around at us.

“Alright people we gotta go. Ritsuko says this section was sealed off because of an untraced radiation leak, so we’ve got to get the hell out.”

The suited agents and technicians all start heading back the way they came, and Misato takes my hand and pulls me along.

We come to the small office I came in through and exit out into the Geofront proper. I shield my eyes while they adjust to the light and look around.
Multiple vehicles are parked around the small building, ranging from regular cargo vans to twenty wheeled behemoths. Technicians and black-suited agents are milling around, orders and questions being shouted every which way. In the distance I can see much larger construction vehicles surrounding Unit 01, the Evangelion slowly being rolled to prepare it for transport. As the crews work, a large chunk of armor plate breaks free and slides to the ground.

I freeze.

Under the mask there’s an eye. A large, green eye surrounded by strange colored flesh. Even though the mech is several hundred meters away, I swear the eye moves.

And looks directly at me.

Oh. Oh no.

The workers pull a large tarp over the head of the Eva and the eye is gone. I shake my head and stare into the distance, trying hard to look anywhere but at the now draped form of Eva Unit 01.

“Okay, Ritsy. We’re back out. I’ve got some techs re-sealing the door into the hallways. I’m going to get Section 2 to install some cameras and motion trackers once we’re done.”

I feel a tug on my arm and look down. Misato’s hand is still wrapped around mine.

This isn’t too bad, I guess.

“Umm, Misato?”

She glances at me.

I shake my arm and she turns to me before looking at her left hand. Her eyes widen and she lets go of my hand, mouthing “sorry” while still listening to Ritsuko and waving down a Humvee.

“Yes, Shinji is fine. I’m getting a transport now. Of course, I’m bringing him straight to you. I know how these things work. What? No, we didn’t come across anyone else down there. Why would we?”

Misato folds her arm under her chest and rolls her eyes.

“Ritusko. There was no one else down there. The section has been sealed for close to a decade. No, why would I ask Shinji? We f…”

She sighs and looks at me.

“Shinji, Ritsuko wants to know if you ran into anybody while you were in there.”

You most certainly did.

“Nope. Just a few rats and some cockroaches.”

Misato puts the phone back to her ear.

“You hear that, Ritsy? No one was in there. Why are you so insis… Okay, okay! I’ll get him to you as soon as possible.”

She flips the phone closed and pinches the bridge of her nose. She turns to me and forces a smile.

“Sorry about that, Shinji. I’ve known Ritsuko for years, but she can be…. Difficult. She wants to examine you and run some tests.”

I narrow my eyes.

“What kind of tests?”

Misato shrugs.

“The kinds with needles and such.”

Great

I lower my head and follow her over to the Humvee she commandeered. She gets in first, her skirt pulling tight over her thighs as she climbs into the back.

Well, that helps a little.
() () () ()
I deposit my ruined clothes into a red plastic bag and seal it before dropping it into a chute built into the wall of the locker room. I step into the shower stall and let the hot water run over me for several minutes. In the steam, I try to picture my mother’s face. It’s still fuzzy, but if I concentrate, I can make out the general shape of it, the way her hair hangs around the sides like curtains. The small smile she used to give me.

I shut the water off and towel myself dry. I grab the small bag they gave me for personal items and make sure the phone Isaac gave me is hidden as well as it can be. Somehow my personal phone survived the LCL and I slip it into the pocket of the gray gym shorts provided by NERV. I finish dressing and seal the bag and tuck it in a locker before walking into the exam room. Ritsuko and Maya are waiting for me, the former having changed out of her swimsuit and lab coat and into a regular suit and lab coat. They look up as I enter the room.

“Hello Shinji. How are you feeling?”

I shrug.

“Well, I’m alive, the angel is dead, I don’t remember killing it with my giant mech, apparently there are more angels coming and yesterday I didn’t know any of this existed.”

They stare at me.

“On top of that, I’m still sore from getting tossed around in the entry plug.”

Not as sore as you probably should be, though.

“I’d say I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.”

Ritsuko nods and closes the folder in her lap. She motions to Maya and the woman turns and leaves the room, patting me on the shoulder on the way out.

“I understand, Shinji. You’ve been through a lot in these past few hours. For now, things are calm. I’m here to make sure you’re okay and, hopefully answer any questions you might have.”

She motions to a chair and I sit. The doctor sets a small metal rack on the table beside us and begins prepping various test tubes.

“I need to measure your vitals and take some blood. Is that alright?”

I nod as I roll up my sleeve and Ritsuko wraps a cuff around my bicep. She takes my blood pressure and pulse and places a stethoscope against my chest and back, the cold metal making me twitch a little with each touch. She wraps a rubber strap around my arm, pulling it tight as she preps the needle. She thumps the vein a few times before sticking the needle in. She fills five or six small vials with blood and sets them aside before sticking a bandage over the site of the needle stick.
“Alright, that’s done. So, Shinji. I guess you have some questions for me.”

Oh yeah.

I nod.

“Okay. Well, I’ll answer what I can,” Ritsuko says as she moves the rack with the vials of my blood to another table, the glass tubes tinkling against each other, “Where would you like to start?”

I lean back in my chair and fold my arms across my chest, looking nowhere in particular as I search for the right questions.

What the hell is my father planning?

“What exactly is an angel, and why are they attacking us?” I ask after a few moments.

“Cutting right to the heart of the matter, huh?” Ritsuko chuckles.

She pulls a cigarette out of a pack in her breast pocket and sticks it in her mouth. She looks around, seems to realize where she is and sheepishly puts it down on the table.

“Put simply, the angels are creatures from beyond this world that wish to destroy humanity. We, meaning NERV and the Evangelions, are the only means of preventing that.”

I stare at her, perhaps a little longer than I should have.

“Yeah, I kind of picked that up from, you know, everything from the last 8 hours.”

Ritsuko holds her hands up in a sign of contrition. I close my eyes for a moment and lean back in the chair. I let out a deep breath before looking up at her and shaking my head.

“Sorry, Dr. Akagi. I’m just… It’s a lot to take in. This morning the biggest worry I had was about seeing my father again. And now, well….”

Ritsuko nods and picks the cigarette up again. She sticks it in her mouth and seems content to leave it unlit.

“I am sorry about putting you through all this, Shinji. But you are one of only three people in the world ever selected to pilot an Evangelion. The fact that you killed an angel in your first sortie is nothing short of astounding. Coupled with the fact that you managed push the Eva past its operational limits and that you did all of that while unconscious makes you incredibly special.”

She opens the folder she sat down earlier and begins flipping through it.

“Your synch score was higher than any other pilot for their first time in the entry plug. Our best pilot only hit 20% her first time in an entry plug, and Rei has never hit above 45%”

Rei

I look up at the mention of the blue haired girl.

“Speaking of Rei, how is she?” I ask, “Can I see her?”

Ritsuko’s breath catches for a moment and I see her wince ever so slightly. She blinks and smiles at me.

“She’s fine, Shinji. She’s in the medical ward. You can see her after we’re done here.”

She continues flipping through the folder and even though it’s at a weird angle to me, I catch glimpses of its contents. Charts and graphs accompanied by actual photos of Evangelion Unit 01, and possibly another Eva, this one orange and white with a strange head. Ritsuko finishes fanning through the pages, and before she closes the folder I see one more photo. It’s only visible for a brief second, but it sticks in my head. It’s of a red-haired girl in a yellow t-shirt and shorts. She’s posing in front of a building with her arms wrapped around the waist of a man. I can’t see his face, but I can see hers.

Wow.

Ritsuko flips the folder closed and tucks it under her arm. The metal rack with the vials of my blood makes a small tinkling sound and she glances at it before looking around the exam room and sighing.

“I thought Misato would have barged in by now,” she chuckles, “She seemed pretty adamant about letting you rest.”

I shrug.

“I am pretty tired, but I don’t think I could sleep right now even if I wanted to” I reply, stretching my hands over my head, “I want to go see Rei first, though. I need to see that she’s alright.”

The image of Rei writhing in pain in my arms flashes through my head and I take a deep breath. I see my father, that smirk on his face after I finally agreed to pilot. I feel a burning in my chest, like an ember left over from a fire, most of its heat having faded during the night. Only now someone has taken that nearly dead cinder and is stoking it, making it red hot once more.

He was content to let that girl die in the Eva’s cockpit, just to prove a point.

A hand gently grabs my shoulder and I jump. Ritsuko is looking at me, her face a mask of concern.

“Shinji, are you okay? You went quiet there and you had a weird look on your face. Is everything alright?”

I shake my head and try to smile, but from the look on Ritsuko’s face, I’m not very successful.

“Yeah, I just…”

You should say something, anything.

“Would my father really have made Rei pilot if I had refused? She was nearly dead. Sending her up to fight the angel would have killed her. Why parade her in front of me like that?”

Ritsuko removes her hand from my shoulder and places it in her lap. She looks up at me and I see a flash of… something… cross her features. Looking back, I know what it was, even if I didn’t in that moment.

It was sadness.

“Shinji if no one had piloted the Eva, we would all be dead. Every. Single. Person on this planet is still alive because of what you did. If it meant sacrificing Rei to stop the angel, then I think your father would say that it was an acceptable cost.”

I look at her.

“Would you say it was acceptable?” I ask.

Ritsuko’s mouth opens and closes a few times as she looks for an answer. Before she can give me one, though, a couple of things happen simultaneously. First, the metal rack of test tubes with my blood in them falls off of the table, shattering on the tile floor and splashing crimson liquid across the ground. Second, Misato flings open the door to the room and walks in, a manila folder tucked under her arm. Ritsuko swears and stands up, leaning down to examine the mess.

“Shit! How the hell did that even fall? It was nowhere near the edge of the table! And why are we still using glass vials??”

Misato lets out a giggle and walks over to me. She hands the folder to me and winks before joining Ritsuko.

“Sorry about that, Ritsy” she says, “Did I cause that? I did throw the door open pretty hard.”

Ritsuko shakes her head.

“No, I’m pretty sure it fell right before you came in. I can’t blame you for this. Not officially, at least.”

Misato sticks her tongue out at her old friend and turns to me.

“Well Shinji, I’ve got your accommodations taken care of. You ready to see your new home for the foreseeable future? Your father wanted you to stay in the barracks on base, but I worked a little magic and got him to agree to something else.”

“So where am I going to be staying?” I ask with some trepidation.

Misato grins.

Ohhh no.

“You’re rooming with me! I’ve got a huge apartment with two extra bedrooms, so there’s plenty of space.”

Ohhh yes.

Ritsuko pops her head out from behind a cabinet of cleaning supplies and stares at Misato but says nothing.

“Oh. Okay, I guess. Are you sure you don’t mind?” I ask.

“Not at all, Shinji. I figured you’d like to stay somewhere with people you know, and since I’m really the only person you know right now, that means you’re staying with me.”

Before I can respond, Ritsuko swears behind us and we both turn.

“This damn cabinet is locked and I don’t have a key for some reason,” she says, rubbing the bridge of her nose, “I’ll have to get a custodian to come in and clean up. Shinji, I’m afraid I’ll need to take some more blood from you, but I can’t do it right now. I’ve got a meeting with the Commander and then about 20 people’s worth of paperwork to get through. Misato will just have to bring you back here later.”

She pulls out her phone and dials a number, relaying her instructions to the custodial staff on the other end. She hangs up, sighs, and starts gathering her things.

“I’ll see you later Shinji,” She speaks as she walks past me, “And again, thank you for getting in the Eva. We, meaning humanity, appreciate you.”

She walks out of the room and Misato turns to me and smiles.

“Lets’s go home!”

I stand up and arch my back, several pops greeting me. I notice a pressure in my bladder, and I look around. I frown and Misato catches the look.

“You okay, Shinji?”

“Yeah, I just need to use the restroom. Is there one in here?”

Misato points to the back of the room and an unmarked white door.

“It’s right there. I’ll be outside when you get done.”

She turns on her heel and steps out into the hallway. I walk over to the door, glancing at the small puddle of my blood on the floor from the shattered vials. The contrast between it and the floor is striking, the white of the tiles thoroughly clashing with the crimson of the blood.

Your blood

I open the door to the restroom and there’s a small sound, like the tinkling of glass. I turn and glance down just as the glob of blood slides over my shoe and I completely lose my mind. I fling the door open the rest of the way and slip into the small bathroom, hands flailing at my leg and thigh as the liquid makes its way up my leg. I yank my shorts down and slap at it, the fluid splashing onto my fingers before rolling off and rejoining the primary mass.

“Ohshitohshitohshit” I whisper frantically as the blood continues its way up my body, flowing over my stomach and up my chest. It’s cold from its time in the vials, and I shiver as it glides across my collar bone and down my arm. It reaches the bandage over the spot where Ritsuko inserted the needle and easily slides under it, the adhesive giving way as several milliliters of blood flow smoothly and quickly back into my arm. The bandage falls away and there is no mark, no indication that there was ever a puncture.

All of this is over in a matter of seconds and I’m left standing in a small bathroom with my pants around my ankles and my arm outstretched, staring at the crook of my elbow.

Okay. That’s…. New