Well, this is how I think that would go.
This is the current state of the story, which will be a one-shot. I have nowhere near enough energy to make this into a full fledged, multi chapter affair.
“How are we looking?”
“Power levels approaching nominal levels, Captain Katsuragi,” the orange suited technician responded from behind his laptop screen, almost shouting as the electric hum surrounding them steadily increased in pitch, “Another 60 seconds and we’ll be ready for extraction.”
Misato nodded and pulled out her phone. She pressed send and put the phone to her ear.
“Ritusko. We’re almost ready up here. How are things on your end?”
A short pause, the sound of keys clicking the only reply.
“We’re good down here. Everything looks normal, no spikes in activity from the occupant or the container. There’s barely any activity at all. It’s as though there’s nothing in the core.”
A pause.
“But we know that’s not right.”
Misato sighed.
“Okay, Ritsuko. We’re about to start the extraction process. Stay on the line until it’s over in case anything goes wrong.”
“Roger that.”
Misato lowered her phone and looked around at the gathered crowd of technicians, almost a dozen people all wearing identical orange jumpsuits all tending to some task or another. The click clack of keyboards was almost drowned out by the sound of the various machines surrounding the platform where the extraction would occur. Two techs were checking readings on a screen and comparing them to the displays on the laptops. Whatever the machine did, it was important. Misato didn’t pretend to know what purpose every piece of equipment served or how they worked. Ritsuko knew, and that was good enough for Misato.
Her eyes scanned the room and settled on the one person other than herself not wearing a jumpsuit. Misato watched as the girl hung her legs off a railing, the red of the plugsuit catching in the light. It was the only splash of color in a small sea of orange. The girl looked over and caught Misato’s eye. She nodded slightly at the older woman and turned her gaze back to the platform, seeming to stare through the dull gray metal more than look at it. Misato couldn’t see her face well enough in the dim light to really see her expression, but she was fairly sure she saw a flash of something cross the redhead’s features.
Something like worry.
“Captain, we’re ready. On your order.”
Misato shook her head and pressed her phone to her ear again.
“Ritsuko, you ready to go?”
“Yep. Give the word and we’re on it.”
Misato lowered her phone and looked at her lead technician.
“Do it.”
The woman returned the nod and keyed in a command on her laptop. She looked back. Misato nodded. The woman hit “Enter” on her keyboard and stepped back from the platform, a small timer counting down from 20 seconds on the laptop screen.
Misato had experienced a lot in the last 14 years, battles and fights too numerous to list. Scavenging materials in the aftermath of Unit 01’s near-ascension to try and establish some sort of infrastructure. Stealing the Wunder had been the hardest thing she had ever done, at least until now. Whatever they hoped to get out of the core in front of them, no scenario she could imagine ended happily. At least not for him. Even if they dragged him out alive, the only thing he had to look forward to was quarantine before long term confinement.
Still, better out here than in there.
Out here, they could keep him under constant surveillance, monitor his movements and keep him safe. In there, well…. Everyone had seen what that could lead to.
You can do it, Shinji!!
Misato blinked and rubbed at her eyes, the memory coming unbidden. She clamped down on the railing in front of her, knuckles slowly turning white. She stared at the monitor below her as it counted down from 5
4
3
2
1
…….
For a moment, nothing happened.
And then, everything happened.
It was far less impressive or showy than she had expected and, in some small way she hated to acknowledge, slightly hoped it would be. The machinery around her was some of the most advanced pieces of technology humanity had ever conjured up. They could take a human soul and yank it out of a core like it was nothing, but their designers obviously preferred a subdued approach. As it was, all that happened was a dimming of the lights accompanied by the computers and various onyx black towers coming to life as fans spun up, drawing cool air over sensitive components as they worked out the near incomprehensible equations needed for the operation.
The core in front of them began to glow, a dim luminescence steadily growing in the center and spreading outward, the purple and green armor plates surrounding the red orb bathed in the strange light.
The machines ran at full tilt for what seemed like hours but couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. Suddenly the light in the core vanished, and a small slit appeared on the surface.
Misato smirked.
The smirk faded just as quickly as it had formed. The floor began to shake under them, only a slight vibration to start with, but quickly rising to a crescendo that threatened to tear the ship apart. A flash of red caught Misato’s eye and she looked down at the monitor beneath her as it flashed a warning. A technician was frantically typing, strange commands stringing together in a vain attempt to stop whatever was happening.
“Don’t do this. Not now…” Misato whispered, her voice cracking more than she would like.
“Misato! We have a problem!” Ritsuko’s panicked voice came over Misato’s phone, “Brainwaves are spiking. Something is awake in there and it’s pissed. We have to stop!”
Misato swore and started shouting orders.
“What the hell is going on??” Misato bellowed, several technicians looking at her and shaking their heads.
“No idea, Captain! There was no activity in the core and then there was. And a lot of it!”
The girl across the room jumped up and grabbed the railing, shouting something that Misato couldn’t make out over the chaos. The older woman ran around to a set of stairs descending to the platform below. The armor plates around the core began to creak and groan as whatever force inside began to press outwards. She made it to a small control panel and pressed her hand on the biometric scanner. It beeped in recognition and a small panel slid out of the way.
A red button rose from within the case and Misato slammed her hand down on it and waited.
Nothing happened. She slammed her hand down again and again, swearing loudly. She pressed her phone back to her ear.
“Ritsuko! The emergency disconnect isn’t working! We can’t abort!”
“Shit! I’ll see what I can do down here. Worst case scenario, we can start ripping out power cables and hope for the best.”
That wasn’t what Misato wanted to hear, but she was used to that. She moved from behind the panel and walked up to the core. The armor surrounding it was beginning to bend and tear, the mounts beginning to deform as the core expanded.
“Misato! Get away from there!!” Asuka screamed. Misato turned to look at her and froze. The expression on the younger girl’s face was tough to parse. It was a combination of shock, confusion and something else Misato couldn’t place. She started to yell something back when everything and everyone around her suddenly went silent.
Do it for yourself!
Misato turned around and came face to face with Shinji Ikari. Her mouth worked open and closed for a few moments, but words refused to come. He was wearing his school uniform, the white shirt stained with whatever fluid was contained in the core. He looked at Misato with the purest expression of shock she had ever seen on a person’s face. She barely noticed as four armed guards surrounded the boy, rifles at the ready.
Shinji reached out towards Misato and one of the guards placed himself between her and the boy. He looked confused, and tired. He blinked.
Do it because this is what you want!
Misato fought every urge to reach out to the boy. She missed him, but after what he’d done, an emotional reunion wasn’t in the cards. Not anymore.
But still, the urge was still there. She could deal with that later.
Shinji staggered to the side, whatever strength he held onto rapidly fading. He fell to the floor in a heap and looked up at Misato. He passed out then, but not before getting out three words. Misato’s blood ran cold, her stomach twisting itself into knots. They weren’t the words she was expecting from the boy, she honestly wasn’t expecting any words at all, but there they were.
Misato, I’m sorry.
She bit down on a sob, turning from the boy and calling for a stretcher and a medic.
As Shinji slowly faded into unconsciousness, he thought he saw the feet of a red plugsuit step up beside Misato. He reached his hand out, or at least tried, before he was grabbed and flipped upside down onto a stretcher. He saw a flash of red hair, and then….
Nothing.
() () () ()
Shinji Ikari, former pilot of Evangelion Unit 01, former member of NERV, former roommate and friend of Misato Katsuragi, and former classmate of Asuka Langley Shikinami, opened his eyes and screamed.
It was a short burst of sound, the boy’s vocal cords unable to sustain more than a second or two. He sat up in the small bed, his chest rising and falling rapidly, his breathing forced and panicky. He held his hands up to his face and stared at them, turning them this way and that. He patted himself on the chest before making his way up to his head and face, fingers probing every nook, every dimple.
“This… This isn’t real,” he whispered, his voice echoing in the chamber more than he would have liked.
“Oh, it’s real alright. You idiot.”
Shinji’s head whipped around, his eyes wide, his breath catching as recognition flooded his mind. The redheaded pilot was standing on the other side of the room, a low wall separating him from her. She wore her plugsuit underneath a black hoodie, her hands tucked in the pocket on her stomach.
“Asuka!” he yelled, throwing his legs off the bed and standing uneasily, “Oh, thank God. I…”
“He has nothing to do with this,” came another voice, cutting him off. One that he also recognized instantly. Misato stepped into the room, slightly behind and to the side of Asuka. She woman leaned against the wall, her arms folded, her head angled towards the floor. She wore a pair of dark goggles and even though Shinji couldn’t see her eyes, he could feel the weight of her glare.
“Misato! I thought I’d never see you again!” Shinji exclaimed, moving towards them, “Asuka! You look the same as….”
He trailed off as he neared the middle of the room. He squinted and realized that the low wall in the middle of the room was supporting a solid piece of glass, stretching from wall to wall and up, all the way to the ceiling. He walked up and placed his hand on it, and for the first time in 14 years, he saw his reflection.
He looked the same as he remembered looking the last time he was in an Eva. He hadn’t aged at all. He glanced at Asuka. Some part of his exhausted brain had already realized the same was true for her. As to how, he had no idea. He could deal with that later. He stared at the redhead for a moment before poking at his face again, as if to convince himself he was real. His eyes slid down and he froze.
There was a solid black collar wrapped around his neck, the rectangular section directly over his Adam’s apple coated a deep crimson. He stared at it for a moment, his hands slowly making their way towards his throat.
“Wha….” he started.
“Don’t even think about touching that, Shinji,” came yet another voice. He looked up as a blond woman entered the room. She carried a folder under her arm that she laid on a small table and turned to look at the boy, “It’s there for a reason.”
His fingers stopped just shy of the collar and he lowered his arms.
“What is this thing?” he asked shakily, his eyes flitting from his reflection the blond woman he now recognized as Ritsuko Akagi. Her hair was shorter than he remembered her wearing it, her face thinner, harder somehow, “I wasn’t wearing this when I got in Unit 01.”
Asuka’s brow rose ever so slightly.
Misato pulled something out of her jacket and held it out in front of her. It was a green controller of some kind, shaped similarly to the grip of a revolver. A small red wheel was built into the top and he watched her run her thumb over it, a small holographic display springing to life under her hand. She thumbed through the options on the device until she found what she wanted. She pressed in on the scroll wheel and the orange text flashed red. Shinji felt the collar vibrate slightly, accompanied by a small beep. He reached up to pull at it.
“Don’t touch that, Shinji,” Misato barked, the weird device still held in front of her, “That thing is for our protection.”
“Protection? From what?” Shinji stammered.
“From you, you idiot,” Asuka replied, venom dripping from her words.
“From me? What…”
Ritsuko cleared her throat.
“It’s called a DSS Choker. It’s sole purpose is to prevent you from ever getting in an Evangelion again.”
She looked at Shinji.
“If you ever step foot inside an Eva, or attempt to remove the collar, it will be detonated. You will be stopped at the cost of your own life.”
Shinji started to reach towards the collar, thought better of it, and lowered his hand.
“You… You would kill me?” he whispered, his voice shaking.
“If you ever attempt to get in an Eva, yes” Misato answered, far colder than he could ever remember her being.
Shinji blinked. He lowered his head. Memories of his last time in an Eva rushed, unbidden, to the front of his mind.
“Is this because of 14 years ago?” he whispered.
Ritsuko’s eyes widened, her mouth dropping open. She turned to Misato and Asuka, similar expressions on their faces.
“Shinji. How do you…?” Ritsuko asked, “You’ve been trapped inside Unit 01. How cou…”
“Did you think I was asleep?”
Ritsuko stopped, her mouth clicking shut. He glanced up at them.
“Because I wasn’t.”
The silence in the room stretched out for several moments, the only sound the air circulating through the vents overhead. Misato walked over to Ritsuko, Asuka joining them. They huddled together, the red haired pilot occasionally glancing up at the boy behind the glass.
Ritsuko flipped open the folder she had brought in with her and began flipping through pages.
“That’s not possible,” she said to no one in particular, “Not once did we ever get a reading of any kind that would indicate you were alive, much less awake.”
She looked at the boy.
“We didn’t even know if we could get you out of the core, and you’re saying you’ve been awake this entire time?”
Shinji lowered his head and leaned it against the glass. It was cool on his skin, but he thought he would probably have appreciated it even if it was red hot. Because that meant he was free, and that meant he could feel again. He took a deep breath, thankful for the sensation of his lungs filling and deflating.
“I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t feel anything, not physically at least,” he started, still staring at the floor, “I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t even breathe, but, then again, I guess I didn’t really need to.”
He raised a hand to the glass, letting it rest slightly above his head, his palm pressed flat against the surface.
“But I could hear.”
He looked up. The three women stared at him.
“And I could see.”
He stepped back from the mirror, and something changed. He drew himself up as he made deliberate, prolonged eye contact with his three visitors, his eyes somehow hardening, his gaze suddenly gaining weight.
“I could see everything. I watched the world crumble after what I did that day. I watched the governments of the world scramble to make sure I was swiftly removed from the planet. I remember being launched into space, being entombed in whatever that thing was you pulled Unit 01 out of.”
Misato glanced at her comrades.
“Shinji, that’s not possible,” she said after a moment, “For all intents and purposes, you were dead. We had a small ceremony for you. Ritsuko said there was almost no chance you survived whatever it was you did to make Unit 01 awaken. You…”
“And yet here I am,” Shinji interrupted, louder than before, holding his arms out to his sides, “In the flesh. I don’t know what else I can tell you, Misato, Ritsuko. Unit 01 kept me alive somehow, if what I was could really be considered ‘alive.’
“That’s enough.”
Asuka stepped from behind Misato and started towards Shinji. The older woman grabbed at the girl’s arm. The redhead shook herself free without slowing down. She stomped across the room, placed her foot on the small ledge underneath the window, reared back her fist, and punched the glass. Shinji saw it ripple outward from the impact, cracks spreading from where her fist now pressed against the pane. His eyes widened.
“You’re lying” she whispered, her voice dripping with venom, “You don’t know what you’re talking about, you idiot. If you were awake this entire time we would have known. You can’t just expect us to believe that crap. Maybe back then, but not now.”
She met Shinji’s eyes.
“Not after what you’ve done.”
She stepped down from the table and put her hands back in the pocket of her hoodie. She turned to her companions.
“You two don’t actually believe him, do you? If this is even really the same stupid Shinji from years ago, he should have no idea how long he’s been out. You said so yourself, Dr. Akagi.”
She turned back to the boy.
“I think yo…” she started and then trailed off. Shinji was standing at the glass, running his hands over the cracks left by Asuka’s strike. He looked from the glass to his hands and back.
“How did you do that to the glass, Asuka?” he asked.
His eyes widened at some revelation, his entire body seeming to stiffen for a moment. He looked at Asuka.
“Can I do that?”
Before anyone could answer, or even begin to think about answering, Shinji balled his right hand into a fist, reared back and punched the glass. He struck it almost exactly where Asuka’s own fist had landed.
The glass didn’t crack. Instead, a chunk of the window a half meter wide and almost as tall dislodged itself and flew outwards. It landed a meter or so from the wall and broke in two on impact.
Three sets of eyes locked onto Shinji. Mouths moved up and down silently for a few moments, brains struggling to comprehend what they had just seen.
Shinji stared at his fist, his jaw hanging open. He turned the hand over and inspected the knuckles. They were a little sore, but there were no marks on his skin, and no blood. He looked at the hole in the window, barely noticing Misato screaming at him.
The hole was big enough to stick his head through.
So, he did.
He braced himself with his hands on either side of the hole, his shoulders slightly too wide to fit through. He lifted his head up and looked at the three women, his face as much a mask of shock as theirs.
“I… I didn’t think that would work….” he stammered, looking around before settling his gaze on Asuka, “What the hell happened to us?”
The redhead wanted to reply. She wanted to yell and scream at Shinji for being an idiot. But, for what she realized was the first time in possibly her entire life, she was speechless.
I'm still working on it, and I don't know when I'll actually publish it, other than "when it's done."
I'd love to know what you guys think of it so far.