Neon Genesis Evangelion
EVA-R Prime Extension
(c) Alex Voutsis
Writer's Notes:
Credit where credit is due to Gainax, etc etc. Evangelion is someone else's property, etc.
Additional Credits to the creators of EVA-R Illustrated Fan Fiction. Find it at http://www.eva-r.com - it is an absolutely brilliant fan fic and essential reading to understand this story. You should have read EVA-R up to episode 53 PRIME before reading this fan fiction.
The other fan fictions that are a part of this storyline are
Light of the Soul/Contact
Light of the Heart/At Last, a Reason
The Runaway
Stand By Me
Another's Touch
Thanks for Caring
House of Cards
In the Shadows
A Wish for Dreamless Sleep
Pandora's Box
Progeny / Second Child
Homeostasis/Transistasis
Faces in the Crowd
Meaningful Gestures
Best Foot Forward
This fan-fiction is intended to continue the story begun in the above episodes.
No Answers / I want You to Stay
The events in this story follow on directly from Best Foot Forward.
(Her hair tied back in a simple ponytail, Asuka Langley Sohryu jogs around the corner and down the final stretch towards home.
The Second Child usually picks either the early morning or twilight evenings to go on her jogs through the streets. The darker, cooler hours are not the safest times to be on the streets of any city, but Asuka isn't really alone - not as long as the NERV security team shadowing her is there.
In the pocket of her sports pants she carries her NERV ID card and just enough change to buy a drink from the vending machine in the apartment block foyer when she gets back. Usually she empties the can before the elevator has taken her up to her floor - but that drink is still far away. Asuka leans forward, picking up her pace, her jogging shoes hitting the pavement in a faster rhythm. This route no longer tires her out; she had planned to extend the run, take a few more turns, but changing it now seems pointless; she'll be leaving soon.
Every street and store is familiar. She knows the faces of the NERV security team well enough to spot them at regular intervals along her route - and they seem to know her habits well enough to be in position well before she reaches them.
When she had started out half an hour before, Asuka had expected this run to be a little bit different. She is leaving - she knows exactly how many times she is going to run this circuit again before she leaves for Germany. She knows exactly how many drinks she's going to buy from the vending machine, which means she can calculate how much money she's going to drop into it before she leaves the country. Working it out, it isn't much money at all.
But this run isn't any different. There isn't any magic in what she sees. Familiar pavement, familiar asphalt, familiar faces on the side of the street - familiar everything.
Asuka checks her watch - nearly time for dinner. This rings a bell in her mind - Shinji had said he wouldn't be able to make it.)
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(Shinji Ikari and his father meet for dinner.
They had not arranged it between themselves, not really. Shinji had asked Commander Fuyutsuki to ask his father; a quiet question after a synch test, the Third Child's eyes down. It had been the first time in the old professor's memory that the young man had ever asked him for anything, or even addressed him except in response to an direct order.
Fuyutsuki had gone to the father and told him of what his son wanted. The former head of NERV had no objections.
When Gendo Ikari joins Shinji at a small table in the NERV-catered restaurant within the Geo-Front, he and his son are no closer for having agreed to meet. It took no contact between them. Shinji had not looked into his father's eyes and asked him to meet. It was all agreed on from a distance, and that distance is still there between them.
Neither eat much, for their own reasons.
The father had broken away from his role as Commander of NERV. After his attempt to join his lost wife Yui - a consuming passion that had directed and fueled him for many years - had revealed itself to be a futile hope, the senior Ikari had felt no reason to continue his tenure. He had felt no reason to continue much of anything.
When Shinji and Asuka had returned from Instrumentality they had talked about what they had shared, almost as if questioning if it was real. Both had been frightened of what they had seen in each other's minds, and both had wanted to see more. That need to question is not there between Shinji and his father. They don't ask each other what they remember from that brief time.)
Gendo: (suddenly) Thank you for this.
Shinji: ..
Gendo: You have no reason to reach out. I understand that Sohryu will be leaving soon; you've no need to complicate your life further by.. involving me in it.
Shinji: ..
Gendo: Then..
Shinji: ..
Gendo: Why? There's nothing I can offer you. Trying to be a father to you would be pointless.
(Both push morsels of food around their plate.)
Shinji: I know.
(Glasses glint suddenly, reflecting the resturaunt lights overhead; a trace of the lost commander, the stern figure that greeted Shinji's arrival in Tokyo-3 returns for an instant.)
Gendo: So why are you here?
(He could be at home. He could be with Asuka, spending what time they have left together in some pointless way that she might think up. In the past few days Shinji has subtly surrendered to nearly every whim of his fellow pilot. He remembered having his arms around her. He'd much rather be there with her than here, with his "father.")
Shinji: I think.. that I'm trying to understand the things you've done.
(Things that Ikari has done to him, his own son. Things he has done to his school friends, like Touji. The dangers that Lyn endured in the hybrid Unit 06, built on his father's orders. Shinji, immobilized by his father's orders during the attack of the 15th Angel while Asuka fought herself on the city surface, trapped in the creature's gaze. And then, in a small section of the Third Child's memory rose the things that were done to Rei. Things that were separate from the other things because they were too.. wrong. Much too wrong to think about here.)
Shinji: I have a.. an image, I suppose you can call it. It's you, doing all these things because of mother, because of how much you loved her.
Gendo: (closing eyes)
Shinji: But the things you've done.. the things you've made me and the others do.. (shakes head) I can't.. fit that into the picture. I know it's just a fantasy, a.. romanticized image, I guess.
(It would be an easy way out. "He did it all for love." It would be understandable, almost admirable. But at some point - Shinji doesn't remember exactly where, just when the pain was too much - his father had stepped over a boundary that turned the admirable goal into an inexcusable obsession. He can't forgive. The best he can hope for at this point is understanding - somehow.
They are silent for a moment.)
Gendo: So Shinji.. you want me to admit that what I did was wrong?
Shinji: No, I..
Gendo: ..
Shinji: .. I'm not sure ..
(Shinji falls silent, clearly thinking, trying to form an answer to give to his father. Gone is the cowed boy, the stuttering embarrasment in the face of sure certainty. This time he does his thinking without staring at his feet.
Gendo Ikari watches his son, taking off his glasses and letting them drop to the table. With neither the glasses nor the beard, Gendo appears many years younger - almost an image of Shinji, who now wears an expression of thoughtfulness far beyond his age.
This switch is further reinforced as, without concious thought, Shinji absently folds his hands in front of his chin and continues to ponder his answer.)
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Woman: You're late.
Man: I hit a snag.
Woman: Trouble?
Man: You know I wouldn't be here if I thought someone could be on my tail. Relax, it was just a problem with security on the way out. Slowed me down a little.
(The woman returns her attention to the telescope. It resembles a typical star-gazer scope, mounted on a tripod. The main giveaway is the angle - this telescope is being used to watch the ground, not the sky. And from this small apartment on the twenty-second floor she has a very good view. Seeing the other giveaway needs a peek through the lens. Light amplification, a digital camera and a host of other enhancements reveal that this device was made for something more serious than amateur stargazing.
The man slings his coat over a chair and walks over to the woman - his partner. Beside her is the observation log - notes of what she has seen through the prying eye of the scope. As his eyebrows furrow to decode the shorthand the woman fills in the blanks.)
Woman: Lorenz got back at around quarter past seven this morning. Chauffeured. No visible alert or alarm; no sign that anyone clued in that you were sneaking around in his front room last night.
(The man rubs his nose and sniffles. The woman continues to gaze through the scope.)
Woman: Speaking of which, the team leader contacted me. They want a floor plan from you ASAP - with the works.
Man: Yeah. (to himself) I need a coffee..
Woman: Did you find him?
Man: (checking cupboards) No. He must stuff his mystery man into his briefcase when he goes out or something.
Woman: The whole point of last night's break-in was to find him-
Man: You think I was out strolling last night? He wasn't there.
Woman: Did you get a good look around?
Man: I didn't pry up the floorboards if that's what you're asking. And I didn't risk getting into his computer either. But I saw enough. He lives there alone - lives like a king, but alone.
(The woman shrugs and adjusts the lens of the telescope.
Out, away from small flat, away from the apartment block, over the low buildings of the suburbs, is the subject of the telescope's gaze. Over the river, where development has not reached and sun-baked rocks compete against lush green foliage for control of the Italian countryside, is what these two US operatives - two among a dozen at different locations and vantage points - have been assigned to covertly watch.
The home of Kiel Lorenz, leader of the Instrumentality Committee and an organization known only as SEELE.)
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(A concerned parent might reach out and touch the child's hand, but Rei Ayanami has no need to do so. The First Child just sits beside Tenkei, her eyes on his expression and her mind on his presence.
The boy himself is busy watching someone else - Lieutenant Seyoko Okazaki, who has told him that she will soon be playing "parent." Tenkei watches as Seyoko carefully checks through the unusual equipment she has gathered together for this task - wigs, makeup kits, sets of colored contact lenses..)
Seyoko: Is there anything he needs? Medication, any specific treatment? Allergies?
Maya: None that we're aware of.
Tenkei: ..
Rei: ..
(Maya Ibuki is also present, for similar reasons to Rei - watching over Tenkei, being sure that he is comfortable with what is going on. Soon he will be out of their reach - both Rei and Maya have played parts in protecting him. But the boy chose to be here; he said he was willing to undergo the "mission".)
Seyoko: (to Tenkei) Well? Have you ever gone outside - near flowers or plants - and started sneezing, or your eyes started watering?
Tenkei: (shaking head)
Seyoko: Is there any particular food that makes you feel ill, or causes swelling..
Tenkei: There's.. (thinks) a green vegetable I don't like..
(Looking for the word and finding himself lost, Tenkei looks to Maya for help. The Lieutenant smiles, trying to hide a smile behind her hand.)
Maya: Broccoli.
Seyoko: Broccoli?
Tenkei: (nods, perfectly serious)
(Seyoko grins at the boy. In a flash he is smiling back, his face reflecting the woman's.)
Seyoko: Well, that's normal. (to Maya) He's way too distinctive. Everything about him is a giveaway, the hair, the eyes.. we'll have to leave skin tone alone. There is stuff I could apply to him but it wears out in odd ways. I don't want him going patchy while we're operational.
(The former UNSynaps officer looks through the various dying agents and color groups set out on the table in neat rows.)
Seyoko: So we'll have to work with it, and give him hair that suits the skin. I usually go with wigs, so we might have to shave his normal hair down to-
Rei: (interrupting) No.
Seyoko: Sorry?
Rei: (slowly) I want to avoid cutting his hair.
Seyoko: (surprised) Well, I suppose if it's important then..
Tenkei: Please?
(Seyoko gives Rei and Tenkei a slanted look, then shrugs. She picks a hair cord out from her arranged equipment.)
Seyoko: We'll just have to tie it back then, hide it or color it. I suppose tying it back will do for now. (offering cord to Maya) If you could do the honors?
(Maya accepts the band and wordlessly takes hold of Tenkei's shock of pale hair. Gently she draws it back, binding it in a ponytail - and she freezes.
Ayanami watches, her blank expression hiding how sensitive she truly is. She can feel indecision flowing from Maya, concealed beneath a mask of businesslike efficiency. Rei can feel the young woman's concern. And fear? Something exposed, something revealed. Ibuki doesn't let it show on her face, but something about this greatly worries her..
The moment passes, and Maya ties off the band. Tenkei's near-white hair is now back in a tail, expect for a thick, unruly fringe at the front.)
Seyoko: (picking through colors) Any particular preference for his hair?
(Ibuki hides her worry well from Okazaki, but to Ayanami it is plain to see.)
Maya: We should go with colors that work with his skin tone.. avoid the darker colors?
Seyoko: You're right.. (hand hovers over boxes) Red then. Let's make you into Sohryu's little brother.
(Tenkei looks over at Rei, his golden eyes slightly worried. Seeing his expression, Seyoko considers a little more.)
Seyoko: Blue contacts too. I'd like to shield his eyes a little more with a hat but it might interfere with the wig. Maybe a baseball cap or something.
(Rei watches Tenkei expressionlessly as the red wig is settled over his drawn-back hair. It's not the final appearance, only a rough idea of what the boy will look like, to see how acceptable he will be in "normal society". At the very least, the wig gives her an idea of how the color suits him - horribly.
The First Child releases an faint and rather uncharacteristic sigh. At least color grows out - or can be recoloured.)
Seyoko: Sunglasses, maybe. And we might have to do something with his eyebrows, but they should be fine enough for most people not to notice..
(All this to make Tenkei look "normal". All this to allow him to walk among ordinary people without drawing attention.
He objects to Rei, his thoughts silent to the other women present but clear to the First Child. He doesn't need to be hidden. He can hide himself. He has done it before - concealing himself from NERV security. Men who have been trained for years to track and follow and observe have been unable to see him through the mental cloak he can wrap around himself. He can do it again. They won't see his eyes, or his hair. They won't see him. He'll appear like a perfectly normal and utterly forgettable child. He can even protect the Lieutenant to an extent. Make her forgettable, too.
Rei brushes against his thoughts, reassuring, calming. They needn't know. Best if they don't. Caution. Let them take the precautions they feel are necessary.
Under that, a small fear is growing. If they find out what he can do, the full extent of his abilities, they would continue to find uses for him. She doesn't want to lose him to that.
Tenkei finally nods, a slight shift that neither Maya nor Seyoko notice. He turns his attention away from Rei's thoughts, and back to those worrying blue pieces of plastic that are going to be put in his eyes very soon.
Meanwhile, Ibuki sighs in relief. With an atrocious lack of taste, Seyoko has managed to miss spotting any resemblance. With the wig in place and the poor color choice, Tenkei looks nothing at all like Ryouji Kaji.)
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Asuka: Whatcha doing?
Shinji: Nothing really.
(Her question is upbeat, teasing, curious. His answer is absent and businesslike.
Pen in hand, Shinji Ikari bends his head over the papers in front of him. Every so often he looks to his left, where a folder holding more papers lies open.)
Asuka: You're doing something.
Shinji: I'm filling out a form.
Asuka: I can see that, what's it about?
Shinji: NERV stuff.
Asuka: NERV stuff?
Shinji: (writing) Yeah.
Asuka: Why aren't I filling out NERV stuff?
Shinji: What makes you think you have NERV stuff to fill out?
Asuka: 'Cause normally when you have NERV stuff to fill out I have NERV stuff to fill out.
Shinji: Well this isn't like that. (looks up briefly) What are you doing?
Asuka: Nothing really.
(Asuka turns back to the papers on her side of the kitchen table. Unlike Shinji she isn't writing, but is looking over them closely - blueprints and maps and photographs and diagrams and sketches..)
Shinji: You're doing something.
Asuka: These are maps and stuff from the German branch. I'm going over them for when I go home.
Shinji: (thinking) Home. Well, it is her home..
(Shinji speaks again, quickly, not wanting to think about it.)
Shinji: You'll be staying with your parents, I guess?
Asuka: Haven't decided yet. Might stay in the base - I still have an allocated room there you know.
(Sohryu lets out a short laugh.)
Shinji: Huh?
Asuka: Just remembering my bedroom at home. I've got.. never mind.
Shinji: (writing) No, what?
Asuka: I said never mind.
Shinji: (ducks head) I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked.
(Asuka flashes a glance at Shinji - actually at the top of Shinji's bowed head. She briefly considers rebuking him for apologizing, or rebuking him for deliberately making her feel guilty.
Finally she just tells him.)
Asuka: Toys. I've got fluffy toys in my room. Plushies. Lots of them. Bears, bunnies. You know, general huggables.
Shinji: (writing) Oh.
Asuka: Oh what?
Shinji: Nothing, just.. Oh.
Asuka: Nothing is "just.. Oh" with you Shinji. No gasp of revelation? No amazement at my sensitive side?
Shinji: Everyone was a kid once. (pausing) Most people anyway.
Asuka: Well I wasn't. Not really. I hated those fluffy things.
Shinji: (writing) You did?
Asuka: Well yeah! But since I had quarters at the base as well as a room at home, I could at least sleep somewhere else, without them being there. You probably won't understand, but I couldn't throw those things out.. or even give them away. Just as I'd be carrying them to the trash it would be almost as if they were looking at me, with this sad glass-eyed look.. What am I saying, you mastered that look.
Shinji: I suppose I did.
Asuka: Are you paying attention to me?
Shinji: (writing) If you think so.
Asuka: (standing) What the hell are you doing, Shinji?
(The Second Child advances around the table. Shinji is torn briefly between trying to hide the papers, or boldly letting her see them. Caught in the middle he ends up just looking awkward.)
Asuka: (reading) A written request to undergo firearm training? Shinji, what the hell is this?
Shinji: It's nothing.
Asuka: You're not going Aida on me, are you?
Shinji: "Going Aida?"
Asuka: Mad about guns and war and military junk. You know, Kensuke Aida.
Shinji: Oh Aida. No.
Asuka: Then why are you writing up this? Shinji, Misato would kill you if she found out!
Shinji: (lamely) Well.. I've just been concerned.. you know.. with everything.
Asuka: You idiot! At any given moment you're being followed by a dozen security agents. If they can't save you, nothing can.
Shinji: You know all those UNSynaps personnel who came over?
Asuka: Yeah?
Shinji: Well, some of them have been working with security people here. This is one of the things they've changed.
Asuka: Are you saying pilots are going to be given guns?
Shinji: Apparently we've already been given guns - with the survival kit in the entry plugs..
Asuka: I know that Shinji. But they're for shooting, stuff, dangerous animals and things if you eject and happen to land near something like that! Its stupid! I can't believe that you of all people-
Shinji: We'll eventually have to be given the training anyway, I checked.
Asuka: Sheesh. Boys and their toys!
Shinji: Didn't you just tell me about huggable fluffy bears?
Asuka: Yeah, but at least I didn't submit a written request!
(The conversation cuts off for the moment, with Asuka leveling a look of part-outrage part-disbelief at her companion while Shinji looks down at the papers, trying to convince himself that it's not as ridiculous as Asuka says.)
Asuka: Well, if it was anyone else on the planet I'd say you were nuts. But since it's you..
(The Third Child doesn't respond to this. He keeps his attention on the papers, a small frown on his face.)
Asuka: (quietly) I still think it's dumb.
(There is ten, maybe fifteen seconds of silence between the two children. Then Asuka hugs him.
Over the last few days Asuka Langley Sohryu and Shinji Ikari have averaged one hug a day. Her usual tactic is to grab Shinji from behind and squeeze like mad for no apparently reason. She only hugs him inside, in the apartment. She never, Shinji has noticed, hugs him when Misato is in the room.
Asuka has hugged people like this before - mostly Kaji. Shinji had seen her with Kaji a few times, but he remembers them most clearly through the Contact - those memories that Asuka had shared with him. The lunge and hug, cheek pressed against him in a smile, is something she's done before. But the feeling is different. There is something less.. worried. Something less anxious. And yet, more afraid. The quick little gesture is something important to her.
When she grabs him she is taking a risk. She's doing something she does not do often. And Shinji knows that each and every time he has to respond in the right way.
He very carefully turns around in her arms, never fully detaching her from him. Then he hugs back. He can feel that smile pressing into his shoulder. He can smell her all around him. Her body is tense - so is his. She's not the only nervous one.
Asuka is usually the one to end it, finding something to divert attention.)
Asuka: (letting go) Well, you've got your papers to fill out..
(An average of one hug a day. It's becoming something that Shinji Ikari looks forward to; but with a twinge of sadness, he expects it will be one more thing he will miss about Asuka when she is gone.)
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(Meanwhile, another child is leaving.)
Tenkei: You're being..
Rei: ..
Tenkei: ..very brave about all this.
(Strangely enough, this was a situation that Asuka Langley Sohryu would have felt right at home in.
Tenkei and the pilot of Unit 00 are seated in a waiting room in the Geo-Front infirmary - waiting, as it so happens, for Seyoko Okazaki's last check up. The doctors at NERV still don't understand her rapid recovery, and insist on a final medical before she returns to full operational status.
Once complete, Tenkei will be leaving.)
Rei: (turning)
(Rei knows that it is Tenkei who is being brave. He is the one leaving on a dangerous mission to a foreign country. Tenkei is the one who will be threatened, and yet he is saying that she, Rei, is being brave.
Why? Because Rei is taking the risk of losing him. In Tenkei's mind, she is courageous to allow him to leave, to accept the danger of him not returning to her. With this statement, the boy completely overlooks the value of what he is doing and focuses entirely on Rei's happiness.
As mentioned above, Asuka would have found this situation very familiar. This sort of self-effacement, combined with placing emotional danger over physical danger, is exactly what Shinji Ikari would have done. Always exaggerating the consequences to feelings over the consequences to the body - completely ridiculous!
If Asuka were in this position she would eagerly point this out to him, as well as the fact that he's being an idiot. In fact, him being an idiot and making this sort of statement are to be expected, since he is Shinji, Asuka would have expressed. Shinji would have sat there and accepted it, not really willing to open himself up to even more of the girl's attacks, and allowed her to continue berating him. Eventually Sohryu would go to far, and leave them both feeling a little embarrassed about what was said, and unwilling to go over it again.
But Rei and Tenkei aren't like Asuka and Shinji.)
Rei: So are you.
Tenkei: I'm.. afraid. When I find her.. if I bring her back..
Rei: ..
Tenkei: I don't know how you will react to her.
Rei: I don't either.
Tenkei: She might be like you.
Rei: She might not.
Tenkei: You might hate her.
Rei: ..That is possible.
Tenkei: Do you?
Rei: Do I hate her?
Tenkei: ..
Rei: She is.. a threat. When you find her, she might be.. the sort of person you like. After knowing her, you might look back at me differently.
Tenkei: Differently?
Rei: You might see all the things I've done wrong. The things you have overlooked, forgiven because.. you don't know anyone else.
Tenkei: I've seen the things you've done wrong.
(Rei turns to look at him, an alarmed expression in her eyes. The boy touches his arm, where once it had been scalded by a flare of Rei's normally unseen temper.)
Tenkei: They don't make me stop liking you. And I know other people. (looks up) I know Maya. I know Shinji. They are good people. (looks at Rei) But I like you more.
Rei: ..
Tenkei: ..
Rei: ..
Tenkei: Are you alright?
Rei: (quietly) Yes.
Tenkei: You are going pink..
Rei: (blushing) No I am not.
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(Aoi knows it isn't her fault, but somehow that only makes it worse.
She runs, dark hair trailing behind her as she ducks and weaves amongst the pedestrians. Rei's presence is a white glow in her vision, just ahead. The shiver of energy that is Tenkei slides past her, coasting down the street.
Aoi skids to a halt and turns to look, this time with her eyes. An unmarked car drives past, its tinted windows hiding its occupants, but Tamashii knows that Seyoko and Tenkei are inside. She faces forward again and continues, now at a walk.
If she had planned this, expected this, somehow wanted it to happen, then she could have prepared. She could have convinced herself it was for the greater good, that in the end it would make everything better. She'd be able to put on a strong face and ignore anything Ayanami says. But this wasn't her choice, and Aoi finds herself preparing to apologize for someone else's decision.
Someone - probably Katsuragi or Fuyutsuki - ordered Tenkei on this journey, and somehow this is the first Aoi has heard of it.)
Aoi: (thinking) He must have hidden it from me..
(She sees Rei ahead, still watching the departing car.)
Aoi: (thinking) I didn't think he could do that!
Rei: (looking at her)
Aoi: Sorry, I didn't-
(She stops herself.)
Aoi: (thinking) Why am I so afraid of Rei blaming me?
Rei: This wasn't your choice.
(Tamashii is almost grateful.)
Aoi: No, it wasn't. If you'd told me earlier then maybe I could have done something-
Rei: This was our decision.
Aoi: -and then Tenkei wouldn't have to.. what?
Rei: This was our decision.
Aoi: Oh.
Rei: ..
Aoi: So you and Tenkei dreamed this up between you?
Rei: (looks back down street) No. It was Ikari's idea.
Aoi: (disbelief) Seriously?
Rei: (nods)
(The Seventh Child turns and looks back down the street, but the car is long gone.)
Aoi: (turning back) Wow. I didn't think the Commander would come out of wherever he's hiding long enough to take notice of anything, let alone dream this up. I mean-
Rei: (interrupting) I meant Shinji Ikari.
Aoi: ..
Rei: ..
Aoi: Are you trying to shock me today or something?
Rei: No.
Aoi: (shakes head) Shinji. What's happened to this place?
Rei: ..
Aoi: That's almost frightening when you think about it. I'd keep an eye on him if I were you.
Rei: ..
Aoi: And I'm sorry. I didn't expect this.
Rei: ..
Aoi: If they've decided to do this, then I can't just tell them not to. Besides, it could actually end this - or at least tip it in our favor if Tenkei does what he says he can do.
Rei: He can.
Aoi: Maybe. But I didn't mean it to work out this way - bringing him back to you only to have him head off like this..
Rei: ..
Aoi: Sorry.
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(The business of the city and of the technological warren beneath it continues. Preparations for the Second Child's departure likewise advance, with annoying consequences for some.
The next morning is a struggle to get to the Geo-Front in time. Holidays are meant to be a time for relaxation and freedom, something to be cherished. NERV seems to like them as well - since the pilots are no longer concerned with school, they can be called in at any old hour..
What begins as just an inconvenient morning becomes something worse.)
DECONTAMINATION PHASE 15 - XENON CHAMBER
(The sign blinks, smugly informing the pilots of what will happen next. Or actually, to Asuka it seems smug. To everyone else it is just a sign.)
Asuka: No way.
Maya: (speaker) It's necessary for the test.
(Shinji, Rei and Lyn stand to one side, carefully avoiding the Second Child as she gesticulates at the room's speaker system.)
Asuka: Not for my alabaster body! Misato, are you there?
Misato: (speaker, resigned) Yes Asuka, I'm here.
Asuka: Can we not do the whole xenon chamber thing? I hate that thing! Everyone hates that thing! I think even Ayanami hates that thing!
Rei: (blank)
Misato: Like Maya said, it's necessary-
Asuka: I know what it's necessary for, I've gone through it enough times and heard it over and over, but can we not use it? Just this one time? Just so my last few days at NERV aren't ruined by that thing?
(There is silence from the speakers. Then a sigh.)
Misato: (speakers) Asuka, do you know what these tests are for?
Asuka: (petulant) No.
Misato: (speaker) We're modifying Unit Two for the transfer to Germany.
Asuka: Modifying? You're tinkering inside Unit Two? What for?
Maya: We have an engine for-
Misato: We need to fine tune what we know about how the Evas process internal power, so we can make those modifications. These tests are for you, Asuka.
Asuka: (surprised)
Misato: And we have to do this. If this is unfair to anyone, then it's to everyone else in there. They have to go through this for you, you know.
Lyn: (mock bitter) Thanks Sohryu.
Asuka: (sideways) Shut up.
(Ayanami heads into the girl's locker room - like the other pilots, she knows what is to follow. The xenon chamber isn't a regular part of the procedure - instead, it is part of the complete-decontamination process which they only occasionally go through. This is one of those times. Anouilh sighs and heads for the boy's locker room.)
Shinji: It's okay, Asuka. (pauses) Lyn didn't mean it-
Asuka: Of course he didn't mean it! What are you, stupid? (stops herself) Why am I asking this? What kind of question is that? Of course you're stupid!
(Shinji backs of a few steps to stay out of the blast radius. For reasons that have so far eluded Shinji, the xenon chamber makes Asuka more angry than usual. Which is a lot.)
Shinji: (hesitant) There's no reason to get all-
Asuka: No reason? No reason? Use your imagination! (pauses) No, on second thoughts don't use your imagination. The world is a safer place if you don't use your imagination.
Shinji: (blushing suddenly)
Asuka: You used your imagination, didn't you.
Shinji: (blushing) Sorry.
Asuka: (looking down) This sucks.
--------------------------------------------------
(Tenkei's feet ache.
A NERV security car had taken them out of the Geo-Front. They had gotten out at a shopping mall, strolled around, and then drove away in a car from the parking lot - one that that Japanese intelligence service left for them.
They had changed cars half an hour later. They had strolled through a park, used the train, walked some more, used another car, travelled by foot again, and used another car.
That was yesterday. Today has been even more car changing and train riding and walking, taking them out of Tokyo-3. And Tenkei's feet ache. This isn't to say that Seyoko, walking alongside Tenkei every step of the way, hasn't cared for him - far from it. She's shown surprising and slightly alarming concern. For one thing, she seems to take every possible opportunity, or at least it seems that way to Tenkei, to buy him a milkshake or softdrink or icecream.
Of course, he knows these little purchases have purpose. From what Tenkei has felt of Seyoko's mind thus far has convinced him that Okazaki is completely different from Maya or Rei or Aoi. Her thoughts are structured, tightly routined. Their travels through and out of Tokyo-3 have been nothing like Maya and Yuri leading Tenkei through the shopping malls. Seyoko is constantly and sharply aware. Twice now she has almost reacted - almost snatched him up in her arms and ran for the nearest open door. Brushing on Okazaki's mind, he recieves flashes of thought. Gunfire. Shooters. Windows with dark figures and muzzle flashes. Seyoko is on edge, and his safety is her first priority.
Every stop to buy a milkshake or icecream is a chance to look around, get a good feel of the area, and to check if they're being followed. Her thoughts slice the room into sections - advance, retreat, cover, vulnurability, escape route, death trap. And always in her thoughts is a soft spot, an achillies heel standing exactly where Tenkei is. She is constantly considering the possibility that someone will try to kill him.
As he takes a bite of his latest ice cream, Tenkei isn't worried. He redirected the men following them two car trips ago. Seyoko assumes his quiet confidence comes from his ignorance of the danger he is in, and keeps a careful watch.)
--------------------------------------------------
TO PROTECT SCALP AND FACIAL HAIR, PLACE HELMET SECURELY ON HEAD
(The helmet in question rests in an alcove molded into the wall. The headgear is metallic, designed to shield everything above the neck, and resembles a fencing mask. It entirely blocks the wearer's vision, which is the point - without it, the user would probably go blind in the xenon chamber. The radiation isn't friendly to the sensitive cells of the human eye.)
Shinji: (thinking) It's not that good to the rest of me either..
(The catches click into place as he dons the helmet. The Third Child shuffles a little, resisting the urge to grope around for the walls. Setting his feet at shoulder width, he lifts his arms, preparing himself for the treatment. He briefly wonders what he looks like, naked except for a very bizarre piece of headgear. Shinji is momentarily visited by the vision of a laughing Asuka.
He faintly hears the hum of the chamber functioning. Shinji has never seen it, and considering the possible consequences he is happier that way. Light washes over him, pulsing, burning. It a few seconds it is over; he hears a bell tone ring out and he knows it is safe to remove the helmet.
He is greeted - just like all the other times - by the sight of a fine white powder coating his skin. It was his skin, the outermost layer scorched to ash by the irradiating light. The Third Child moves, causing the dusty residue to break away. He runs a hand across his chest; previously there had been a few courageous hairs sprouting there, but now it is bare and smooth. Other places are, well, more bare and smooth.
The white ash trickles gray as he showers - this is not a normal wash with soap or shampoo, but another stage of decontamination with purified water laced with disinfectants and a number of other concoctions that Shinji would rather not know about.
At least this time they get to wear their plugsuits. As Shinji presses the wrist-catch and seals the garment around him, it seems to smell peculiar.. more disinfectant. The suits have been sterilized, cleaned to match the pilots.)
--------------------------------------------------
(While Shinji is completing the decontamination, his roommate is trying something that is proving very difficult for her.)
Asuka: (thinking) Okay.. this will be easy..
Asuka: ..
Rei: ..
Asuka: ..
Rei: ..
Asuka: (thinking) Right. That didn't work. Try again.
Asuka: ..
Rei: ..
Asuka: ..
Rei: ..
Asuka: (thinking) Dammit! Why does this have to be so hard!?
(The two pilots wait on the loading gantry in the Evangelion storage cage. The loading arm has just taken the Sixth Child up in his plugseat, and Shinji hasn't yet arrived. This leaves the First and Second Children both alone, and provides Asuka with an opportunity to speak to Rei while neither of those idiots are around to mess it up.
As messing it up goes, Asuka is doing very well on her own.)
Asuka: (thinking) One step at a time. Open your mouth. Say "Rei."
Asuka: Rei.
Rei: Yes?
Asuka: Um.
Rei: ..
Asuka: There's going to be a party at Misato's place. A sleepover. Everyone's turning up, and I wanted to ask you to come as well. Okay?
Rei: ..
Asuka: ..
Rei: ..
Asuka: ..
Rei: I understand.
Asuka: (brightly) Well I feel better after that, don't you?
(A plugseat is lowered to the loading gantry - Unit 02's. Asuka sits on the seat, momentarily gripping the butterfly handles. The crane arm that will lift her to the crimson Evangelion hisses with mechanical strength.
Asuka realizes that she forgot to tell Rei something.)
Asuka: (calling out) It starts at five or so, tomorrow night!
Rei: Thank you.
(The Second Child is carried out of view, a faintly confused expression on her face at Ayanami's response.
Rei is left alone on the loading gantry for a moment - until the next pilot arrives.)
Shinji: ..
(Like Asuka, he seems to want to say something. Like Asuka, he has a bit of trouble getting it out.)
Shinji: Rei? How.. (hesitates) are you?
Rei: I am alright.
(Shinji checks the wristseal of his plugsuit to cover his discomfort.)
Shinji: I heard that Tenkei's gone already - going to look for the enemy.
Rei: ..
Shinji: I'm sorry. It's my fault he had to go, really. If I hadn't.. you know. If I hadn't wanted so much to do something, then he wouldn't..
Rei: Are you afraid that something will happen to Sohryu while she is away?
(The question surprises him.)
Shinji: ..
Rei: ..
Shinji: Then you already know she's going?
Rei: Yes.
Shinji: (quiet) Yeah. I don't want anything to happen to her. You must feel the same way about-
Rei: (interrupting) You feel that what Tenkei is doing will help make her safer?
Shinji: (surprised) Uh.. well, yeah. If it works. It'll make us all safer, really.
Rei: ..
Shinji: (looks down) But I still feel like I'm.. using Tenkei. I've put him in danger.
(Shinji Ikari finds something disturbing in this; he remembers what he said earlier, to the man he calls his father..)
(flashback) Shinji: Doing all these things because of mother, because of how much you loved her.
Shinji: (thinking) Dad.. is this how it started with you?
(But while the Third Child considers this morbid thought, Rei Ayanami interrupts.)
Rei: Tenkei is going away for a while.
Shinji: (nods) They said a few weeks at most.
Rei: Sohryu is going away forever?
Shinji: (closes eyes) It looks like it. There isn't any other-
Rei: Wait.
(Ikari shuts his mouth and watches the First Child as her face takes on a faint thoughtful look.)
Rei: Tenkei is going for a few weeks, while Sohryu is going forever. And you are apologizing to me?
Shinji: (opens eyes)
Rei: ..
Shinji: ..
Rei: Interesting.
(Shinji Ikari wonders if this is Rei's way of saying "What are you, stupid???"
Maybe he imagines it, but Shinji sees something in Ayanami's expression - a change around the mouth, perhaps around the eyes, that marks the beginning of a smile. On Rei there is too little seen to be sure, but the Third Child finds himself considering the possibility that there is a lot more to Rei than he had ever thought.
Many, many times before Shinji has considered this. He has wondered how she lives, how she feels, how she exists with only the barest contact with the people around her. He has pondered long and hard on the mystery that is Rei Ayanami. Now is a little different - now the mystery is wearing a small, almost invisible smile. In that hint of an expression, Shinji sees the moment when he had first seen Rei smile; he remembers how achingly graceful she had seemed - how she seems now.
Rei is far from unaware of the mass of emotions welling up within Shinji. She can feel the edges of his thoughts, pushing clumsily about with none of the precision and control that she has felt from Tenkei or Aoi, or once had from Kaworu Nagisa. His thoughts are open as his blue eyes pore over her expression. He feels affection, something so powerful that it is on the edge of being called love.
Sensing this feeling in the Third Child, Ayanami feels oddly relieved. She had felt exactly the same thing in Tenkei when he had left in search of her other self.)
Rei: Ikari..
Shinji: ..?
Rei: Asuka will come back.
--------------------------------------------------
(Flight 247 from Tokyo-2 to Washington DC, with a half-hour stop in Los Angeles, proves to be an uncomfortable experience for Tenkei.
He spends the flight seated beside Seyoko Okazaki - although for the trip she is Gladys Stevens, who apparently works for an answering service in Omaha. And he, according to their cover story, is her nephew. She had spoken to him very carefully and seriously about his disguise; the contact lenses, the wig, the hat. Don't try to remove them. Don't talk to anyone. Don't call me Seyoko, or Miss Okazaki. No one is allowed to know. This was all very, very secret so we can get you to where Rei is. Where the other Rei is.
Seyoko, for her part, seemed not to question or wonder about how there could be "another Rei". Tenkei wonders quietly just how much she has been told.
The stop in Los Angeles was for triangulation - an experiment, to see how useful Tenkei's senses were. The child was quietly confident - when they had landed in LA he had immediately known where Rei was. Okazaki had discretely checked with a compass, marked down what he directed, and then they had moved on.)
Seyoko:
Next stop, Washington. Want to get some sleep?
(He shuffles in his seat, half-curling. He has the window seat - Seyoko prefers that the boy doesn't sit next to any other passengers. The in-flight movie is running, but Tenkei isn't really interested. Even the view through the window had lost his attention.
He could feel Rei far away - his Rei, the Rei he first knew. She is distant and vague, but he is certain she is there, and just as certain she is thinking of him. Even across this distance he can feel some things from her - almost frightened, almost jealous. But nevertheless her presence is comforting. As he drifts down into a doze he centers his thoughts on her, back in Tokyo-3.)
--------------------------------------------------
Misato: Status.
Hyuga: All Eva Units have been activated. No problems detected.
Yui: Unit One is running on internal S2 power. All the others are running on external cable power.
Maya: Alternate external and S2 power for the Test Type at one minute intervals and feed the data into Melchior. (to Misato) We should also repeat reactivation for the comparison.
Arnold: How many times?
Maya: I don't know. This would be easier if we had more Evas operating on S2 Units.
Shigeru: It would give us a wider sample to work with.
Misato: What about higher level operation - maximum gainload power levels?
Maya: (nodding) I've already scheduled it. Once the evacuation of the testing ground is completed, we'll be able to send them up. (to Shigeru) How long?
Shigeru: There are still a few personnel that haven't checked in yet, but then we're still two minutes under the standard evacuation times.
Arnold: Two minutes then.
Misato: Then we make them run a bit.
-------------------------------------------------
(But the pilots take it a step further than just running.)
Asuka: (yelling) Come on Ikari, what's taking so long?
(The massive body of Unit 02 twists as it arcs through the air. Striking the ground with tremendous force, the giant pauses for a second to look over its shoulder at the purple Evangelion that is chasing her. Then the crimson Eva is on the move, taking three short steps before launching itself into the air once more.
With a whoop, Asuka guides her Eva through the cavernous Geo-Front cavity. Leaping and diving and rolling and running, Unit 02 hurtles from waypoint to waypoint, generally following the course laid out by Misato moments earlier but taking a number of airborne detours and meteoric pit-stops. Behind Asuka follows the Third Child; although he isn't indulging in all of the acrobatics that Asuka is, he is certainly giving the Second Child a run for her money. The red Evangelion lands in a crouch, with Unit 01 landing a bare second afterwards. Both immediately leap again, bounding towards the next waypoint with Asuka's laughter echoing over the radio.
From the entry plug of Unit 06, Lyn Anouilh watches the titanic contest continue. Major Katsuragi had ordered Ikari and Sohryu to move around in the Geo-Front, push their gainload capacities. Apparently they wanted to monitor the Evangelions' power usage, but whatever the purpose the Second and Third Child were giving everyone present a good show.
Anouilh hadn't been expecting this. He had imagined.. well, he hadn't thought about what to expect from Shinji and Asuka today. If he had, he would have expected Shinji to be quiet, unresponsive, and Asuka to be snappish and easily annoyed. That isn't the case.
Lyn can feel their AT fields swell and contract like massive muscles, pressing against his own Eva's field and propelling Units 01 and 02 through the Geo-Front like mad dancers.)
Misato: (radio) Asuka, your clock is down to two minutes.
Asuka: (shouting) Two minutes, two hours, what's the difference??
(Land and roll, then up again. Unit 02 sprinted along the shore of the Geo-Front lake, taking four massive footsteps to clear the waters. Tons of water are lifted into the air, spraying out hundreds of meters around the Evangelion as she plows along. Behind follows Unit 01, with head low but eyes locked on the crimson figure in the lead.
The purple Evangelion leaps over the still-rippling lake, slamming into the turf only a step behind the red giant. They race stride-for-stride, powerful limbs pumping.)
Asuka: (shouting) Watch out, I think Ikari's getting frisky!
Shinji: (indignant) I am not!
Asuka: So that isn't your Eva breathing down my neck? (leaps)
(In his entry plug, Lyn presses a button on the control layout before him. A small screen showing Ayanami's face appears.)
Lyn: Rei? When it's our turn can we just.. walk it?
(Inside the boundaries of the tiny projection, Rei's face turns to look at the two fiercely competing Evas as they stomp through the Geo-Front.)
Rei: (nods) I understand.
(Lyn Anouilh quietly considers himself lucky he was paired with Ayanami today.)
--------------------------------------------------
(The man who meets Seyoko at the airport gives her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. They have never met before.
According to the cover story he is Doctor Alan Benedict from New Mexico. He has a tanned complexion and, from his quick grin, perfect teeth. Expensive but understated clothing. He fits the part.)
Benedict: (smiling) I thought you'd never get here Gladys.
(A name as fake as his own.)
Seyoko: Alan!
(Okazaki manages a tired but welcoming smile. This at least is no deception - she is both genuinely tired and genuinely glad to see him.)
Seyoko: It's been years. Thanks awfully for coming all this way.. got a car ready? The boy and I have to get a move on..
(He is another of Japan's intelligence agents, loaned out to NERV in the "spirit of co-operation" that has formed since the three-pronged assault in France, which means that the Japanese government appreciates the value of covering their own backside. Having spent years in a quiet posting in the US, he's far better equipped to guide Seyoko and Tenkei on the mission that faces them. He's also a capable driver - as it happens, Okazaki is planning on doing a lot of driving.
The operative puts their luggage in the boot of the car while Seyoko and the child let themselves into the vehicle. Once safely away from the airport, the driver merges seamlessly with freeway traffic, giving Seyoko the opportunity to consult a fold-out map. Tenkei sits beside her, eyes closed, slowly turning his head from side to side - looking for something only he can see.)
Seyoko: Any idea, Tenkei?
(Yellow eyes stare blankly out across the competing rat race of the freeway. He points.)
Tenkei: I think.. that way.
-------------------------------------------------
Asuka: And you think..?
Misato: (tapping finger) You already know, Asuka.
(Misato Katsuragi had noticed that Shinji and Asuka had been oddly quiet during the trip home.
They had not been glum and silent and introspective. No, that would have been normal. Instead, Misato had received the impression that they wanted to say things, just not while she could hear them. It was a very different quiet that had left the Major feeling out of place.)
Asuka: No, I want you to tell me.
Misato: I don't really think anything is happening between you two. But you must know why I'm worried..
Asuka:
..
Misato: You're about to go away, and as much as I don't want it, you're probably going away for a long time. Getting attached to someone in this way isn't what Shinji needs right now..
Asuka: (interrupting) Spare me the "protecting Shinji" routine already..
Misato: ..and it's not what you need either.
Asuka: (folding arms) Like I didn't see that one coming.
Misato: ..
Asuka: Can I fill in the blanks? (sing-song) Shinji and Asuka are being close. Shinji and Asuka are being happy. (mock sad) But poor widdle Asuka has to go away, bweaking both der widdle hearts. (normal voice) Am I right or am I right?
Misato: I see you've thought about this already.
Asuka: You betcha - and more than that, Misato. We've talked about it, Shinji and me. What did you think we do all night? Have sex?
(Misato makes a "oops..." face, to which Asuka replies with an indignant "fat chance!" face - the more explicit thoughts are kept firmly away from the conversation. For now.)
Asuka: We've talked about this. We talk. We talk a lot. And basically..
Misato: ..
Asuka: I - no, I mean we - would rather regret something we did, rather than regret something we didn't do when we had the chance. We're not going to spend what may, and this is worst case scenario here, be the last time we get to be around each other by acting sad and distant and trying to, to..
(She searches for the words.)
Asuka: There's no point it trying to.. cushion ourselves against that's going to hurt no matter what we do. And it will, Misato, you know that just like I do.
Misato: Yeah I know.
(The Major slips into a comfortable slouch. She absently scratches at the shoulder of her tanktop.)
Misato: But I'm seeing this and.. you know. I had to say something.
Asuka: Yeah.
(Asuka looks down, her eyes finding an unoffending salt shaker. She toys with it.)
Asuka: Yeah, I understand. I'd probably do the same thing if I were in your place. Maybe.
Misato: So.. is everything okay with you two?
Asuka: Okay? Well..
(The Second Child's answer is delayed by a sound emerging from down the hall; a cello sings out a few slow scales.)
Asuka: Things are okay.
(There is a pause, and then the sound repeats itself. The scales shimmer down the hall again, but this time they are subtly different, some tiny change in tuning that Shinji had heard when he had begun.)
Asuka: Things are actually pretty.. great.
(A few notes are played, turning into a slow melody. As before, the sound of the cello is oddly incomplete; the piece is meant to be accompanied by other instruments, the violin, the bass..
Sohryu stands, a little smile coming over her face.)
Asuka: You want to listen to him practice? He's actually pretty good.
Misato: (hesitates) No, I don't want to pressure him..
Asuka: He's meant to perform Misato, unless there's pressure you don't know if he'll do any good!
Misato: (shrugging) All the same.. (thinking) This is something you kids would probably be better at alone.
(The Second Child disappears down the hallway. A few moments later the cello's singing ceases, then starts up again. Maybe it is Misato's imagination, but for a moment she thinks she detects a hint of effort in the sound the instrument makes, a sort of self-consciousness.)
--------------------------------------------------
(The walls are rough concrete, the air-conditioning a hollow whisper rushing down from the upper levels of the base. The table between the two men is simple, metal folding legs holding up a battered chipboard panel. It is a base on the other side of the world from the Geo-Front in Tokyo-3; it is also the base that Tenkei and Seyoko are, at this very moment, searching for.)
Suit: Production is slower than expected.
(The uniformed man across from him pauses to sip from his coffee, then returns his eyes to the papers before him.)
Officer: We don't have the space. We need more bases and better transportation or else we risk exposure. There's no point in making any more Units unless we can actually put them somewhere.
(The Suit smiles.)
Suit: Good excuse.
Officer: We're in no hurry to please SEELE, are we?
Suit: You tell me. I get your reports, but you handle the details..
Officer: We've caught a few breaks, and things look promising. Intelligence has locked down eight of the members. They communicate amongst themselves occasionally, so it's just a matter of connecting the dots without them knowing. Time is what we need.
Suit: And the attack on the new facility?
Officer: Germany? Our window is disappearing. Things are tightening up for our men on the ground. Too much security and we'll have to pull them out, and with them.. (shakes head) we'll have lost our chance.
Suit: How long do we have?
Officer: Fourteen days, maybe ten.
(In fourteen days, they will have made history. As they had before at Evreux, Nantes, and Aurillac.)
Suit: If we can keep our men operational for a little longer, we'll be able to remove Unit Two at the same time.
Officer: Maybe we can. But we shouldn't get greedy either. And we don't know how an Evangelion could affect the attack.
(The other man almost laughs.)
Suit: You seriously believe that they could interfere?
Officer: After the last strike on Tokyo-3, I'm beginning to wonder if SEELE's dummy plugs are all the old men make them out to be. Something's.. lacking.
Suit: You believe that their combat programs are insufficient?
Officer: I think the programs in the dummy plugs makes them perfect soldiers. Skilled, decisive, disciplined.. But judging by how the system performed in Tokyo-3.. I think there are limits that we can't see. Something we don't know yet.
Suit: ..
Officer: ..
Suit: Of course I don't have to tell you not to.. distress the regular personnel with these ideas.
--------------------------------------------------
(The apartment door slides open, revealing a suddenly surprised Lyn Anouilh inside.)
Lyn: Uh. Hi.
Aoi: Hi.
(She hasn't planned this out. Of course she had known that she would run into Lyn at the party, and then they'd have to deal with everything. That she could handle.
But she hadn't planned this part - arriving early and heading to Anouilh's place first. That's entirely different. Face to face, one on one.
Aoi has no idea what she's going to say.)
Aoi: (quickly) I'm early. For the party, downstairs.
Lyn: The end-of-the-world movie night, right?
Aoi: Right, and since.. can I come in? Is Seyoko here?
Lyn: No. I mean you can - she isn't here. (stepping back)
(Lyn's apartment - the apartment he shares with Seyoko Okazaki - is unusually neat. Tamashii distinctly remembers that when she was over last the videos discs had been in a disorderly line with empty cases lying around at random. Now they are neatly stacked, each named edge presented to view like little soldiers.
Little soldiers - the words appear in her mind without her even realizing it.
The apartment is in general neater, cleaner, somehow more organized. It hadn't been Seyoko's doing; Aoi knows enough about Seyoko to know that she was part of the neatness problem, not the solution. Instead it had been Lyn who had cleaned everything up in the days before she could return home from the hospital.)
Aoi: Where is she?
Lyn: She's gone - on assignment. Just up and left, said she'd be back in a few weeks. No warning. Can you believe it?
(There isn't any real heart in the question. The sentence dies, and Aoi can feel Lyn's surprise at her arrival fading. Tamashii looks at the carpet.
At the first moment Lyn had opened the door Aoi could have done something, anything. She could have hugged him. She could have squealed in delight at seeing him. She could have leapt forward and planted a kiss on his surprised lips, and maybe everything would have been normal.
Aoi shuts her eyes for a second. It wouldn't have been normal. What he knows about her - what he suspects, what he thinks, whatever - would still be there. She can't get rid of it by pretending. She won't try to.)
Aoi: We're not going to keep this up, are we? "Let's just ignore everything that's happened." I don't want to do this anymore.
Lyn: Me neither.
Aoi: ..
Lyn: Drink? Tea, coffee, water?
Aoi: No thanks.
(He heads for the refrigerator anyway, opening the freezer compartment.)
Lyn: While I'm here, I might as well get you something..
Aoi: What are you having?
(The Sixth Child reaches into the freezer.)
Lyn: Ice cubes. Maybe something with them.
Aoi: Seyoko told you everything, right?
(She had to ask at some point. Aoi sits down at the kitchen table and waits to see what Lyn will do.)
Lyn: No.
(That was a surprise.)
Aoi: What do you mean?
Lyn: I mean, no. She didn't.
Aoi: You.. do know what I'm talking about, don't you?
(Tamashii feels a moment of doubt - maybe he doesn't know at all? Maybe he's going through this completely innocently, blind to everything that has happened around him, blind to what she has done to him. Maybe things are already normal. Maybe she doesn't have to tell him.
The temptation, the hope, is almost too much. But it is very brief.)
Lyn: About you being.. something.
Aoi: (closes eyes) That's what I meant.
(Ice cubes clatter in squat plastic cups.)
Lyn: She told me you weren't dangerous, but you've only tried to help. There were other things, and she was willing to tell me, but..
Aoi: But what?
Lyn: But I asked her not to.
(Aoi stares at him as he sets her cup before her. Her fingers take hold of it, but her eyes stay locked on the Sixth Child.)
Lyn: I figured.. gee, you know this is really stupid when you try to tell it to someone..
Aoi: (staring)
Lyn: I guess I wanted you to tell me.
(He leans forward a little, supporting his forehead with his hand.)
Lyn: Wait, that's not right. I mean I don't want to know something that's secret. Private, special.. uh, you know. I know it's probably dumb, if you are something else.. but I don't want to take anything like that away from you. I'd rather if you trusted me, if you.. told me yourself. You know?
Aoi: ..
Lyn: Well, I think that didn't come out right. But I don't know, if that makes you feel any better, so whatever it is you're worrying about, well, don't worry about it. I don't know.
(Finally Aoi gets a word out.)
Aoi: ..thanks.
(She shifts in her chair, raising her cup to her suddenly dry mouth. She drinks, emptying the glass.)
Aoi: Okay. That settles that. Yeah.
Lyn: ..
Aoi: I don't know where to start.
Lyn: You don't have to-
Aoi: Just listen, okay? I want to tell you before I start thinking rationally again.
-------------------------------------------------
(One floor down.
Rei Ayanami presses on the buzzer.)
Rei: (waiting)
(The door slides open.)
Asuka: -well someone's here early - oh.
(Surprise and even a little disbelief show on Asuka's face. Ayanami assumes that the Second Child is surprised that she turned up; when Asuka had invited her to the party she hadn't seemed to expect her to come.
But the girl's surprise is actually from something else entirely.)
Asuka: You're wearing a school uniform?
(Rei looks down at her outfit.)
Asuka: We're celebrating the end of school. Unless you're going to strip it off and burn it I can't see how -
(The Second Child pauses, her disbelief turning to horror.)
Asuka: You're not, are you?
Rei: I don't think it's important.
Asuka: Get in here.
Rei: ..
Asuka: Come in, Rei. (muttering) A school uniform..
(The First Child steps into the apartment while Asuka stalks around her, eyes narrowing at the girl's attire.)
Asuka: (low) I can't believe that you.. (louder) Okay. Let's get this behind us. It isn't completely beyond salvation..
(Rei feels a touch of panic; Asuka is clearly planning something. When the pilot of Unit 01 enters the living room it is a welcome relief from Sohryu's intense attention.)
Shinji: Rei! You're here?
(Asuka turns on the Third Child before Ayanami can answer.)
Asuka: Looks like it. (to Rei) Come with me. (to Shinji) I asked her come, okay?
(Shinji, who had been standing by the fridge, takes this with equal portions of confusion and calm.)
Shinji: Okay.
(Asuka leads Rei down the corridor to her room. She firmly closes the door behind them, centers Rei in the room, and begins rummaging through her closet.)
Rei: This isn't necessary.
Asuka: (from closet) Necessary is stupid. It's not necessary for you to be here, is it? But you're here.
Rei: You are.. looking for something for me.
(Asuka might have expected a touch of girlish disbelief and gratefulness in Ayanami's voice. But there isn't any. This isn't a question, but a flat statement.
Since it isn't a question, Asuka decides not to answer it.)
Asuka: (from closet) I remember when you came around before - back when I nearly left, we had a party.. gee, we seem to have a lot of parties around here depending on whether I go or stay..
Rei: ..
Asuka: (from deep within closet) Anyway, you turned up at the party, left that card, then disappeared. (pause) You and I aren't really the same shape, but we're close enough.
(An arm emerges from the closet with a dress on the end.)
Asuka: How would this look?
(When Sohryu looks at an outfit, she is capable of imagining it on a person, fitting it to their shape, comparing colors.. she is not a fashion master, but she knows what she likes.
Ayanami sees purple fabric with frills and bows.)
Rei: ..
Asuka: You're right. This is a sleepover, not a ball!
(The hand attached to the frilly bowed thing disappears back into the closet.)
Asuka: Cinderella and her glass slipper. Or her greeting card. What was I thinking? How would you possibly sleep in that?
(Without breaking for breath, Sohryu switches topics.)
Asuka: You cared, and you weren't quick enough to hide it, First. How about a nice set of pajamas?
(From outside the room, Shinji's voice can be heard.)
Shinji: (calling) Asuka, did you put those drinks in the freezer?
Asuka: (loud) Yeah, but a few of them are in Pen Pen's fridge as well! (to Rei) I got these two as a set. Don't know why I got two.. no actually, I do know.
(A bundle of fabric is tossed out of the darkness of the closet and into Rei's hands.)
Asuka: Try it on.
(A few moments later when Rei's school uniform is a crumpled bundle on the floor, and Asuka - after checking that Ayanami is modest again - emerges from the closet. Both girl are dressed in soft-looking pajamas, buttoned up the front and extremely comfortable. Asuka is in pale blue, and Rei is in red.)
Asuka: What do you think?
Rei: Why are you doing this?
Asuka: I guess..
Rei: ..
Asuka: Dammit, if you can care then so can I. Okay?
Rei: ..okay.
Asuka: Besides..
(A slow smile spreads across the Second Child's face..)
Asuka: ..when Shinji sees us like this, he's going to die.
-------------------------------------------------
(Once Aoi has finished, Lyn is silent for a moment.)
Lyn: So.. who are you? Out of all of that?
Aoi: I..
Lyn: ..
Aoi: I don't know. Sometimes, I'm sure I'm Aoi Tamashii - and sometimes just a name is enough to hold on to. Sometimes I just don't need anything else. But other times..
Lyn: ..
Aoi: Sometimes I think I'm a mistake - that when they made me, they let something else inside, something that they weren't expecting, and that thing was me. And sometimes I think I'm exactly what they made me, and everything I've done - even when I've thought I was fighting them, screwing up what they'd planned - I'm just becoming what they want me to be, just playing into their plans.
Lyn: (quietly) Made you.
(Aoi slowly nods.)
Aoi: Yeah.
(Lyn stands up, taking the Seventh Child's empty glass.)
Aoi: (voice cracking) Does it make me seem.. different?
Lyn: (heading for the sink) A bit, I suppose.
(He refills the glass and returns it to Aoi. She plays with it, looking into the water.)
Lyn: I guess everyone is made. By your parents, your teachers, friends. Everyone you know, and a lot you don't know.
Aoi: ..
Lyn: Sometimes it's done deliberately, and sometimes.. I guess you'd say it's done in ignorance, without them knowing or realizing it. All these things make people, just like you.
Aoi: But none of those people were made as deliberately as me. Not with the same intent.
Lyn: (looking down) Oh I don't know. I knew some kids back in Europe who had soccer mad parents..
(She gives him a look.)
Lyn: That sort of thing can be really stupid. And this can be really stupid too, if you take it the wrong way.
(Aoi wipes at her eyes, feeling the moisture that has built up there.)
Aoi: Why is this..?
Lyn: (hesitates) Can I get you something?
Aoi: I'll be fine, I'm just.. (laughs weakly) I'm crying but I don't feel that bad. (wipes again) I really don't, but I'm still crying.
Lyn: ..
Aoi: ..
Lyn: What about the party?
Aoi: Huh?
Lyn: Are you coming with me?
(Finally there is a genuine smile on her face.)
Aoi: You sure you want me to come? You sure you're okay with it?
(The Sixth Child takes a breath, half-shrugging, half-sighing. He stares at the glass in his hand.)
Lyn: I don't know.
(Anouilh looks up, his lips tight for a moment of consideration.)
Lyn: I guess I'll have to find out.
(And he stands, heading for the front of the apartment. The door hisses open with a keypress.)
Lyn: (looking back) You are coming, right?
--------------------------------------------------
(And she does.
Within the hour everyone has arrived, and the living room of the Katsuragi apartment is filled with talking, joking, laughing teenagers. But the male half of the conversation dies down to a respectful, or maybe just appreciative, silence as Misato emerges from her room.
Shinji, Lyn, Goro, Kensuke and Touji account for the boys, and Aoi, Asuka, Rei and Hikari make up the girls. They are generally milling around in the living room, trying to select what will be the first film of the evening. If one closely examined how they were moving around, one might surmise that their formation and reformation was based on differing opinions and preferences as to what movie to watch. Or that they had no clue.
Misato is wearing an orange dress that neither Shinji nor Asuka has seen before - something bought recently, maybe? Faint touches of makeup have been applied, and combined with the handbag over her shoulder the overall message is that the Major is about to make an exit.)
Kensuke: (surprised) Misato?
Touji: (concerned) You're going?
Goro: (pleading) But the party hasn't even started!
(Misato gives one of those cheery smiles that is guaranteed to only magnify the fanboy reaction.)
Misato: Oh, I'd only be in the way. I'm just on my way out..
(Shinji and Asuka both feel slightly relieved. Neither is really comfortable with having Misato around during parties - the reaction shared by Touji, Kensuke and Goro is a perfect example. Instantly, thoughtlessly and shamelessly they are ready to beg for her to stay, regardless of what anyone else in the room thinks of their behavior. Shinji is embarrassed by stuff like this. Asuka just hates it.
Their relief is short lived.)
Misato: ..and my date's waiting.
(Katsuragi misses Asuka and Shinji's disbelieving expressions as she heads for the door.)
Misato: Don't wait up! Have a nice time!
Kensuke: (stunned)
Goro: (speechless)
Touji: (gaping)
Hikari: (elbows Touji)
(Of all the boys, the only one unfazed is Lyn. The Sixth Child turns immediately back to the task at hand.)
Lyn: Let's settle this. Giant meteor, solar flare, earthquakes... hands up if you want to watch the meteor one. (looks around) Anyone?
(On the other side of the gender fence Aoi doesn't seem that worried, nor does Hikari. Rei is.. well, Rei, meaning the only one truly effected by this turn of events is Asuka.
The Second Child meets Shinji's shocked eyes. Wordlessly they head to the kitchen area.)
Asuka: (furtive) Did you-
Shinji: (shaking head) I had no idea.
Asuka: Me neither.
Shinji: (looks around) Could it be someone from work?
Asuka: Probably, but what do we know?
Shinji: Why didn't she tell us?
Asuka: I don't know, it feels.. (trails off)
Shinji: Yeah.
Asuka: Exactly.
Shinji: (looking at Asuka)
Asuka: (looking at Shinji)
(The same thought occurs to the two simultaneously.)
Shinji: (sighs) What are we doing?
Asuka: I was about to ask you that.
Shinji: It's not like it's any of our business..
Asuka: Misato's perfectly capable of taking care of herself..
Shinji: We shouldn't be prying..
Asuka: It's her life, her choices..
Shinji: We wouldn't want her poking in on stuff we did..
Asuka: It's too late to follow her, isn't it?
Shinji: (nods) Probably.
Asuka: Balcony.
(The two pilots weave through the still-undecided teenagers in the living room and head out onto the balcony. The warm evening air feels like a wall as they step out of the air-conditioned coolness of the apartment.
Shinji and Asuka peek over the handrail, down and down, to the street. Far below them, throwing a long shadow in the streetlights, is a familiar purple-haired woman. She is visible for a moment before stepping up to a car on the curb and opening a door on the passenger side.
Then she is gone, out on her date.)
Asuka: A date.
Shinji: A date.
(They lean back from the rail in one motion.)
Shinji: Asuka.. do you feel-
Asuka: Yes.
Shinji: Jealous.
Asuka: ..
Shinji: ..
Asuka: This is weird.
Shinji: The jealousy, or Misato just.. going out like that.
Asuka: All of it.
Shinji: She didn't say a word.
Asuka: No warning. Nothing. We don't even know who this guy is!
Shinji: We don't even know if it is a guy.
Asuka: Don't get started Shinji.
Shinji: Sorry. But what I mean is..
Asuka: I know, I know..
Shinji: ..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: It's as if.. well, as if..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: ..
Asuka: If you won't say it, I will. Misato was ours and now she's not.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: Right?
Shinji: Actually, that wasn't what I was going to say.
(Asuka doesn't move. She doesn't blush - yet - but she realizes that she's spoken a bit too soon, and too honestly.)
Shinji: I was thinking that it's like she hid it from us.. trying to make some space for herself..
Asuka: (quickly) Well that goes without saying.
Shinji: (continuing) Like she's had too much of being around us for a while..
Asuka: Oh, don't start on that unloved crap.. (trails off)
Shinji: ..
Asuka: You don't she actually is sick of us, do you?
Shinji: Maybe.
Asuka: ..
(Ikari shakes his head with another sigh as if remembering something.)
Shinji: I'm sorry. I should have thought of that.
Asuka: Thought of what?
Shinji: I should have taken you out on a date tonight.
(Shinji and Asuka both freeze as he finishes that very un-Shinji sentence.)
Shinji: (quickly) I mean, we should have gone to a movie. Gotten something to eat. You know..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: Because, well, now I'm going to be wondering the whole night if we'd be having a better time if we had..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: I mean the guys are great to be around, and it's nice to have everyone together before you go, but some things you just have to..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: ..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: (very quietly) I think I'll be quiet now.
Asuka: (exhales) Finally! You're talking as if being with your friends is like being chained or something!
Shinji: ..
Asuka: And you know what?
Shinji: ..what?
Asuka: (looks to one side) You got me thinking about it too.
(Sohryu looks down over the railing, finding something on the ground far below to stare at.)
Asuka: A nice dark cinema, you beside me..
Shinji: (embarrassed) Asuka, I wasn't talking about that sort of-
Asuka: Keep quiet, you dirty minded little boy. Let me finish.
(She sighs a little, directing her eyes upwards.)
Asuka: No pretending. No being nice. No being polite. No trying to forget that I'm going.
(She turns to look at him.)
Asuka: I am going, Shinji. I am. (deep breath) And I don't want to. I want to stay here, because it's better here. I'm actually..
Shinji: ..
Asuka: Happy. I feel happy. (looks down) Even if I have to go next week, next month, tomorrow, whenever, I'm happy now.
Shinji: ..that's..
Asuka: That's because of you, Shinji. (grins) Betcha feel all warm now, huh?
(Shinji tries to find something to answer that with, but Asuka quickly changes the topic.)
Asuka: How do you think Tenkei's going?
Shinji: Tenkei? I don't know.
Asuka: Well I know you don't know, but.. Okay, when you put it like that it doesn't really work, does it?
Shinji: I suppose it doesn't. I hope he's okay.
(The traffic on the street can be heard from the balcony, headlights moving between streetlamps.)
Shinji: I haven't asked Rei how she's doing. I'm going to have to remember.
Asuka: It's weird, putting a kid out there on some mission.
Shinji: It happened to us too. Kids dumped in the middle of something dangerous.
Asuka: Doesn't make it right.
Shinji: No. You're right, it doesn't.
Asuka: That reminds me, I got to talk to Rei later..
Shinji: About what?
Asuka: Nothing. Girl stuff. Mind your own business.
(Shinji is familiar with this wall, and doesn't try climbing it. He backs off from the question.)
Shinji: Okay, alright. (suddenly) She's looking nice for some reason, don't you think?
Asuka: Huh?
Shinji: Rei. In those pajamas, she looks sort of different. Um, warm. Cuddly, I guess.
Asuka: ..
Shinji: ..
Asuka: Shinji?
Shinji: Yeah?
Asuka: Do you want me to throw you off this balcony?
--------------------------------------------------
(Inside..)
Aoi: (exasperated) Why did you have to bring that Hikari?
Hikari: Well I've been checking up on next semester's workload, and since this is a sleepover I'd thought I'd bring a little something to read..
Aoi: Please, as a personal favor to me, and to everyone, especially Touji, please put the textbook away!
(Hikari puts her hands on her hips and a determined expression on her face. Touji, who had turned to look on hearing his voice, feels something small but vital melt in his brain at the sight of the class representative in that particular posture.)
Hikari: Now Miss Tamashii, I'm not interfering with anyone's fun so I don't see what the problem is.
(Aoi shares a sidelong glance with Rei. Or actually, Aoi looks sideways at Rei while the First Child just watches the proceedings.)
Aoi: I see we'll have to resort to extreme measures!
(Aoi snatches the textbook out of Hikari's hands and dances back, waving it above her head.)
Aoi: Keepaway!
(The Seventh Child throws the textbook to Rei, who calmly hands it to Hikari.)
Hikari: (accepting book from Rei) Thank you.
Aoi: (deadpan) Okay, somebody doesn't understand the basic concept of "keepaway." (snatches book from Hikari)
Hikari: (calmly) You're acting like a child.
Aoi: Yes! A child on holidays! Because that's what I am!
Hikari: (shaking head)
Aoi: (exasperated) Anyway, my point is the same! The only thing this book is good for is - is - (hesitates, looks around) hitting Shinji on the head!
(Tamashii hands the textbook to the slightly surprised Asuka Langley Sohryu, who has just returned with Shinji from the balcony.)
Aoi: Give Shinji a knock with this, okay?
(Shinji prepares himself for the worst. Asuka looks thoughtfully at the cover for a moment.)
Asuka: (slowly) No.. I don't think I will.
(Shinji relaxes.)
Asuka: I'd use something heavier, maybe chemistry.
Aoi: Hardcover?
Asuka: Wouldn't have it any other way.
Aoi: At least somebody here understands.
--------------------------------------------------
(The film rolls on. The cast of heroes are giving their final farewells as they disembark on their dangerous, daring voyage to save the world. The children watch.
The boys and the girls have separated into two camps, but meet in the middle of the livingroom - that's where the drinks and snacks are, and neither group is willing to give them up. The dramatic parting of hero and heroine, accompanied by a swelling variant of the movie's theme song, plays in duet with the crackling of Aoi's bag of chips.
This is the third disaster film of the night and they've seen this scene before, albeit with different lines and different actors and a different global catastrophe.)
Shinji: Asuka?
(The word floats over the gap between the two parties. Everyone notices this border violation - it's made doubly worse by being directed at the she-demon. Several sets of ears discretely turn to listen to the following exchange..)
Asuka: Yeah, what?
(She doesn't seem annoyed at the question, nor does she appear to notice the attention that is being directed at herself and Shinji.)
Shinji: Can I talk to you? In the kitchen?
(A long, bored look. The Second Child's consideration - of whether missing a few minutes of a movie she's already seen is annoying or not - is visible on her face. Then an answer.)
Asuka: Yeah.
(The two teenagers stand up and head for the kitchen. Shinji's slight anxiety is contrasted by Asuka's mask of pure boredom.)
Asuka: What is it?
(She opens the freezer door and pulls out a soft drink bottle. The inside of the bottle is iced over, and most of the cola is frozen. Asuka thumps the bottle down on the counter, making the ice crack and splash into the cola.)
Shinji: Oh. I had wanted to ask you something before, but I guess I forgot with what we were talking about..
(She gives him an odd look. Shinji and Asuka stand on opposite sides of the kitchen; Sohryu by the sink, and Ikari by Pen Pen's fridge.)
Asuka: We should probably keep it quick. (points to living room) We've got guests.
Shinji: I know, and it's not like I wanted to say anything private. Or actually..
Asuka: ..?
Shinji: I'd like to know if you're going to tell them. About you going, that is.
Asuka: Oh.
Shinji: (quickly) I know that you probably don't want to ruin a good time, and tonight is going great..
Asuka: I have noticed a few times tonight that you seemed to be having fun. Either that or someone's slipping you nitrous.
Shinji: Huh?
Asuka: Never mind. Go on.
Shinji: Okay, well, most of the past few nights have been really great. (very quickly) Not that anything happened, just doing nothing was great.
(The Second Child smiles, turning the half-frozen bottle in her hands as she watches the boy on the other side of the kitchen.)
Asuka: It's been great on this side, too.
Shinji: Yeah.
Asuka: ..
Shinji: ..
Asuka: You know I realized something weird this morning - I haven't worried about me and Unit Two for a while now. You know, synch ratios and tests and Angels.. I haven't been bothered by anything like that.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: Of course thinking about it jinxed it like forever and I've been thinking about it all day..
Shinji: Asuka?
Asuka: Yeah?
Shinji: If you go - and I'm hoping that you won't have to, but.. well, you know. But if you go..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: I'll miss you. More than miss you.
(Asuka looks away from the Third Child, a redness coming into her cheeks.)
Asuka: Shinji, if you're thinking of ruining tonight by getting all depressed..
Shinji: That's not what I mean. I mean..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: No matter how this turns out, I think that meeting you, living with you, has been better than not meeting you. I'd rather have you in my life than not.
Asuka: ..
Shinji: Sorry, that sounded stupid.
Asuka: Yeah, it did.
Shinji: (looking down)
Asuka: But I liked it anyway.
(The Second Child straightens up from the countertop. A determined expression on her face, she takes a single deliberate step across the kitchen floor towards Shinji.)
Asuka: Well?
Shinji: Well what?
Asuka: (sighs) Ikari, meet me half way on this!
(Shinji looks down to Asuka's feet, then up to her eyes. Her gaze is firm, but oddly.. entertained. She almost smiles as she watches Shinji decide.
He takes the necessary step forward to stand in front of Asuka - almost on the exact spot where they had stood more than a year before, a nose-grabbing half-minute that had left Shinji gasping for breath and completely and utterly confused, and Asuka rushing for the bathroom to wash out her mouth.
The two pilots share something in common. They both over-analyze when it comes to the people they care about. They both look hard and long at the things that are done to them, the things they are told, until they find something. Sometimes it is something real, something hidden inside the everyday actions of the people around them. And sometimes it is nothing - the wrong message picked up, the wrong conclusion, the wrong reason.
This shared problem is what made the relatively simple activity of kissing so damn complicated for Shinji and Asuka.
Shinji is, regardless of what Asuka or anyone else says, capable of being daring. Or at the very least he can be stupid, reckless, and forgetful of the kind of damage that people, like Asuka, can do to him. This is what got his nose pinched by Asuka so long ago, and is also what makes him the first to lean in, his head tilting, his mouth closing in on Asuka's.
But we should remember that although Shinji is capable of being daring, that doesn't mean he's very good at it. So when Asuka fails to respond immediately - and immediately means within the half-second it took for Shinji to remember this was Asuka he is trying to kiss - he hesitates, leaving him about three or four inches from Asuka's lips.
Asuka almost completes the movement - she would have to lean forward just a little to meet Shinji halfway - but he seemed to be going so well, and believe it or not Asuka doesn't actually like walking all over Shinji. There is something endearing about his struggles, watching him battle with himself to be the boy - or man - he wants to be. It makes what he does, if he ever damn well gets around to doing it which in Asuka's experience isn't very damn often, so much more valuable.
Of course she could just kiss him, hug him, jump all over him like she once tried to do with Kaji. But that would be taking something away from Shinji, taking away that struggle that makes him who he is. That struggle is why they chose life over Instrumentality, distance and barriers between them rather than perpetual, enforced intimacy. That struggle means that if Shinji does something, like kiss Asuka, it's because he really, really wants to. If he ever gets around to doing it.
This is all wonderful philosophy but unsuited to kissing. But because of it, Asuka waits for Shinji to follow through.
On the other side of the line, Shinji's moment of hesitation has blossomed into doubt. In a flash he is aware of the possibility that this is all just a horrible joke. This isn't a rational fear, and Shinji knows very well that it is not a rational fear. It is a reflexive response, a defensive reaction. It offers him a way out of a potentially dangerous situation, and Asuka Langley Sohryu is a very dangerous situation. He knows that there is no real reason to doubt what Asuka has said, what he has come to know about her, but that doesn't make it any easier to shake off. But he tries. And he successfully pushes forwards to the two-inch mark, wavering slightly.
Meanwhile, Asuka's deep philosophical thoughts about what makes Shinji valuable as a human being - that is, his daily struggle to manifest his feelings and express what he thinks - gives way to impatience. Ikari's puppydog uncertainty is cute, very cute at times, but right now it's unnecessary, annoying, and plain old getting in the way of what he obviously wants. His intentions are clear. His efforts are earnest. By helping over the finish line Asuka is just doing him a favor!
At the same moment as Sohryu comes to this conclusion, the Third Child is successfully fighting back a moment of self hatred, which emerged from his self doubt. How could he be so stupid, so scared, so pathetic that he could doubt himself at this moment? How could he, when at this exact second things have never been more clear? Resolved within himself to finish what he started, Shinji pushes forward just as Asuka does.
Their teeth make an unusual "clink" sound.)
Shinji: (recoiling) Ow!
Asuka: (clutching mouth) Ack! (hits Shinji) You jerk!
--------------------------------------------------
Aoi: You can't be serious.
Kensuke: (nodding) My own two eyes.
Goro: Mine too.
(Hikari Horaki and Aoi Tamashii exchange a look of extreme doubt. A brief look at Touji doesn't reveal anything; the boy just shrugs. Apparently the former Fourth Child had not witnessed this bizarre development.
The two girls aren't the only ones taking this with a grain of salt. Lyn Anouilh has fished a Japanese-English translation book out of his pocket - a slightly battered pocket edition that he hasn't needed much recently - and is checking that he actually heard right.)
Lyn: Wait. (reading) You said that Shinji has a.. girlfriend.
Kensuke: (nods) Yes.
(The television continues, ignored by everyone except Rei. The film has reached the point where the courageous last-ditch attempt to save the world may have failed, the incredibly handsome hero has given his good-byes to the heroine, and the special effects are ramping up for the impending end of the world.)
Lyn: That's a girl, right? And friend?
Hikari: Yes Lyn, he said girl. Like me. Or Aoi.
Lyn: And friend. A close, uh, acquaintance? A fond person-to-person understanding?
Goro: Well they were going to have dinner, so we don't know how fond they are..
Kensuke: Seemed like a pretty classy affair from what she was wearing.
Lyn: Right, yeah.. (flips a page, reads) And this was Shinji, right? Third Child? This wasn't a philosophical statement like "truth is a woman in a red dress?"
Aoi: You understood him Lyn. Please put the book away.
(The film rolls on, several monuments across Europe and the United States being destroyed in the build-up to the final destructive climax. Whoever wrote this film didn't believe in happy endings, but certainly enjoyed theatrics. Meanwhile Goro leans back, settling his head against a convenient roll of blanket and pillow, and shuts his eyes in denial.)
Goro: I mean, Shinji. There must be a law against it somewhere. And an older woman. That's totally weird.
Touji: Well, there was always Misato..
Rei: (from somewhere) Are you sure?
(The roll of blankets that Goro had been resting his head on suddenly moves. All concerned quickly scramble away, and Goro gapes at the emerging First Child.)
Goro: Oh geez I didn't know that was you!
(Ayanami, bundled up to watch the movie, sits up. Her eyes travel around the room, over the faces of all present.)
Rei: Are you sure about Shinji and this woman?
Kensuke: Pretty sure.
(Rei stares blankly through the group, her eyes seeming to be unfocused. Then she looks back at them.)
Rei: Shinji.
Touji: Yeah.
(She blinks. The girl turns her head, looking across the group again, and then again she looks past them.)
Rei: And a woman.
Aoi: It would appear to be..
(Ayanami demonstrates her eloquence with another slow blink. The children watch her in apprehension, awaiting her slowly emerging opinion. She looks around one more time, at the teenagers around her, at the television briefly as the end of the world looms, and then looks towards the kitchen.)
Rei: I see.
(Rei Ayanami slowly raises her hand, pointing a single pale finger at the kitchen.)
Rei: Then what..
(Everyone turns to look.)
Rei: ..is that?
(And everyone sees Shinji and Asuka kissing.
On TV the world ends. The Earth's crust is thrown skyward, trailing blazing magma as the heart of the planet is cleaved out. The oceans go white, evaporating in an instant. The planet is torn from its gentle spin, continents falling away from the crippled sphere, billions of lives ending in a heartbeat..
After overcoming the initial shock, a few brave souls venture their opinions.)
Goro: That's impossible.
Lyn: That's suicide.
Touji: That's just sick.
Hikari: That's infidelity.
Kensuke: Wait, wait, let's not jump to any unsupported conclusions.
Aoi: "Unsupported conclusions?"
Kensuke: Well yeah. I mean, they could be just rehearsing lines, and other stuff, for a play. You know.
Goro: (watching) Pretty enthusiastic rehearsal.
Hikari: (also watching) Well, Asuka is a bit of a perfectionist. Must be trying to get it absolutely right.
Touji: Um. It can't be a play, school's out.
Kensuke: Oh, well, maybe it's a play that NERV is performing. Lyn? Please tell me NERV is running a production of Romeo and Juliet or something. Please?
Lyn: (shakes head)
Kensuke: Oh.
--------------------------------------------------
(Rei burps.
It is later, after Shinji and Asuka had returned to the rest of the teenagers. Everyone has tried to pretend that what happened didn't happen, or if it did happen then it wasn't seen to be happening by any of the people who saw it happening. This isn't working out, because all of them know that everyone else saw what happened, and that no matter how much they pretend what happened didn't happen, it just happens that it happened. Period.
Now they are asking some hard questions.)
Shinji: What?
Touji: (whispering) The girl, Shinji. That girl.
Shinji: (loudly) What girl?
(Or at least they're trying to ask hard questions. Touji, Goro, Lyn and Kensuke make frantic shushing noises.)
Kensuke: Keep it down, Asuka's just over there!
Shinji: What's Asuka got to do with it? And who's this girl you're talking about?
(The boys have gathered around Shinji in a protective cluster, intended to shield him from the wrath of Asuka if, or should we say when it comes. The girls - in part of the same plan - have drawn Asuka across the room for their own little discussion.
Someone has to get the truth out of Shinji Ikari. And that someone is definitely not Rei Ayanami, who is calmly sipping at her softdrink with the girls. The job of finding the truth has been delegated to Shinji's friends, and the effort is not going well.)
Lyn: Well, guessing by what she did to your face a few minutes ago, I'd say she has everything to do with it.
(The Third Child blushes. No one had really been meant to see that. The thought of any sort of display of affection with Asuka feels dangerous to Shinji - not because of what his friends would think, but because of what Asuka would do if she thought his friends were thinking something. Anything.
Shinji isn't sure how he knows this. Perhaps he has learnt this after long exposure to the live-fire threat called Asuka, or maybe from some left-over memory from the contact. But Ikari had been very sure that Asuka wouldn't allow herself to be seen with Shinji, or anyone, in that situation.
He had been sure, anyway.
So when Shinji and Asuka had finally realized that their shared moment had been shared a little wider than they had thought, the pilot of Unit 01 had been extremely surprised by Sohryu's reaction.
She had smiled. That had scared him. But it had also felt really, really good.)
Touji: About that, you want some mouthwash or something? Goro, you got some stuff with you right?
Shinji: Knock it off!
(The other boys are slightly startled, and Shinji looks down.)
Shinji: Just.. you don't have to make fun of her.
(Speculation darts around the group like a bad metaphor. They realize that Shinji is in deep - really, really deep.)
Shinji: Just tell me what's going on, please?
Goro: We saw your girlfriend.
Shinji: (blank) Girlfriend?
Kensuke: Yeah. The lady in red.
Touji: The amazing babegirl.
Lyn: Whoever it was that you decided to risk death by Asuka for.
(Lyn's statement reflects something very significant about Shinji Ikari's friends. None of them believe that Asuka has feelings for Shinji.
No, that's wrong. They all believe that she has feelings for Shinji, something along the lines of "I feel he's an idiot." They believe she feels the world would be better off without Shinji. Occasionally they believe that Asuka might someday admit that she likes Shinji, in some small supportive way, but they don't believe that they could ever have a relationship of the sort that, at this very moment, they actually have.
But they all believe that Asuka would take it very personally if Shinji were to develop such a relationship with someone else. Asuka would display huge amounts of disinterest and disgust at the prospect of a relationship with the Third Stooge and would fervently disagree with anyone who even implied she was jealous of whoever had bagged Shinji. Then she would kill him.
Or at least, that's what Touji, Kensuke, Goro and Lyn believe. It should be remembered that reality does not always match perception - but it should also be remembered that what people think of you can be very, very important. Which returns us to the first problem; Asuka smiled when they saw her and Shinji together. She smiled. No rage or disgust or revulsion. That, more than anything, has the boys of Tokyo-3 off balance.)
Shinji: Death by Asuka? Girl? Who are you talking about?
Goro: (gesturing) About this high, short dark hair?
(Shinji racks his brain for a hint as to who this might be. The faces of girls at school flash in his mind, but nothing registers.
Ikari's friends are talking about Maya Ibuki, NERV lieutenant and current head of Project E. It isn't Shinji's fault that he doesn't understand who the guys are talking about - Maya Ibuki is someone who exists in an entirely different world from his friends. Goro and Kensuke, who had seen this mystery girl, were guys from school; so Shinji naturally thought they were talking about a girl from school. He was looking in the wrong filing cabinet in his brain.)
Shinji: (thinking) Uh..
Touji: You had dinner a little while back.
(That simplifies things for Shinji.)
Shinji: But I haven't had dinner with anyone.
(The boys let out exasperated breaths. Kensuke rolls over to where his bag lies and begins rummaging through it, searching for hard evidence to confront the Third Child with.)
Goro: We're your friends, right Shinji?
Shinji: Right.
Goro: Why hide something like this from us?
Shinji: I'm not hiding anything!
Kensuke: Then how do you explain this!?
(Aida fiddles with his laptop computer, having just retrieved it from his bag.)
Shinji: Explain what?
Kensuke: Sorry, spoke too soon. Got to get everything running first.
(They all wait.)
Kensuke: Okay, take two. (deep breath) How do you explain-
Shinji: Miss Ibuki?
Lyn: (looking at screen) Wait a second, that's..
Shinji: (confused) Yeah.
Touji: Who?
Goro: What?
Kensuke: See?
Shinji: Yeah.
Lyn: You're going out with-
Shinji: (shaking head) No.
Goro: Oh.
Kensuke: Then why-
Shinji: I don't know. (pauses) I really don't!
Touji: Who is she?
Lyn: She works at NERV. Maya Ibuki.
Kensuke: (dreamily) Maya..
Lyn: (firmly) Lieutenant Ibuki.
(Anouilh had hoped that referring to her authority might scare Kensuke off. He was wrong.)
Kensuke: (dreamily) Cool, she's military..
Shinji: But we're not going out, really! (points at screen) See that dress she's got on? That must have been back at the big dinner, with all the representatives. Remember Lyn?
Lyn: Sort of. I didn't actually go, remember?
Shinji: Well yeah, but.. Anyway, you guys must have seen her going to that dinner. I was there, yeah, but so was half of NERV. So was Asuka.
(A shadow settles over Shinji.)
Asuka: (from up on high) Speaking of which..
Shinji: (looking up) Oh.
Asuka: (tapping foot) It seems you've been busy.
Shinji: It.. seems?
(Shinji's wiser friends look behind Asuka at the girls. Aoi and Hikari are making frantic hand signals. Rei is watching calmly.)
Touji: Explain Shinji.
Kensuke: Fast.
Asuka: (with that look in her eye) Oh, I'm sure Shinji will be able to explain himself in good time.
(Shinji recognizes that look in her eye.)
Shinji: (fast) TheseguysthoughtIhadbeengoingoutwithMayabutIwasn'tbutyouknowthat.
Asuka: (curt nod) Go on.
(Shinji sighs with relief. She's listening. At least he can slow down a little.)
Shinji: It was because they saw her a while ago going to the big dinner, when she had that red dress on that made her look just incredible, and they must have-
(Shinji sees Asuka's fist clench.)
Shinji: (very fast) Overheardherspeakingorsomethingbecausetheythoughtshewasgoingtodinnerwithmewhenshewasn't!!
(The Second Child considers this.)
Asuka: Well, it is the sort of mistake you idiots would make.
(Shinji breathes. His relief is cut short as Asuka ducks down to face him nose-to-nose.)
Asuka: But you owe me for this, Shinji. And I'll collect.
Goro: Um, but why? He didn't actually do anything wrong-
Asuka: Shut up.
--------------------------------------------------
(Ruler and pencil in hand, Seyoko Okazaki looks down at the map.
Every time Tenkei has taken a reading, and every time Seyoko has drawn a line across the map following the boy's sense. And every time it has passed through the same area. Shortly afterwards she would erase the marks as a safeguard, in case the map fell into the wrong hands. A close examination of it would reveal the indentations left by the pencil, but then again it would only be a creased map.
She expects him to be a few degrees off; as they draw closer and closer, the margin of error narrows and the area they are looking for shrinks. But as they close in, Okazaki knows they will face a new problem - knowing what they are looking for, recognizing what they are seeing. Secret bases aren't secret bases because they advertize.
Benedict taps his fingers on the wheel, looking over at Seyoko in the passenger seat. The car has stopped to make it easier for her to mark Tenkei's readings; the map is folded in her lap as she checks.)
Benedict: Ready to get going again?
Seyoko: (erasing marks) Just a second.
--------------------------------------------------
(Nag.
Nag nag nag nag nag. A little hammer tapping away at the inside of Asuka's head.)
Asuka: (thinking) Dammit.
(Nag nag nag nag nag-)
Asuka: (thinking) Dammit!
(Hours have past, and the party has calmed down as sleep beckons. The sound of planets exploding to swelling musical themes, accompanied by the fizz of soda nad the crunch of snack food, has been replaced by the rustle of blankets, the shifting of sleeping bodies, and the occasional snore.
The Second Child rolls over slowly, careful not to disturb the bedsheets. Stretched over four girls, it wouldn't take much to dislodge and wake them all up. And Asuka doesn't want to include everyone in her confession.)
Asuka: (thinking) Shinji must have infected me with something. I can't believe I'm doing this..
Asuka: (quietly) Rei?
(She speaks softly to the mass of blue hair that is the back of Ayanami's head, lying beside her.)
Asuka: (thinking) Trying to talk to Ayanami. How has this happened to me?
Asuka: (quietly) Are you awake?
Rei: Yes.
Asuka: Can I talk to you?
(Ayanami seems to take her time in rolling over; that blue head of hair turns to reveal her profile, with one crimson eye turned towards Asuka.)
Rei: ..
Asuka: Well that's good enough I guess.
Rei: ..
Asuka: Well..
Rei: ..
Asuka: I wanted to clear some stuff up.. before I go. In case anything happens.
Rei: ..
Asuka: I want to get some things off my chest so they don't bother me later.. and some of this stuff has been bothering me for a bit..
Rei: ..
Asuka: Sorry about Shinji.
Asuka: (thinking) There. I said it.
Rei: (eyes widen) Sorry?
Asuka: Yeah.
Rei: ..
Asuka: I mean, when I turned up it seemed like you two had a.. understanding, friendship, whatever. And then I appeared, ended up living in the apartment with him, and..
Rei: ..
Asuka: Is any of this ringing any bells in that head of yours?
Rei: ..?
Asuka: How about the phrase "I stole Shinji from you"? Anything?
Rei: (shakes head)
(Asuka cannot see even an ounce of deception in Rei's red eyes.)
Asuka: (slumping) Don't tell me it was all in my head..
Rei: ..
Asuka: Well, who cares if I did or didn't do it?? I'm sorry for it, okay?
(By the time she realizes how much of a "Shinji-thing" the statement is, she's already said it.
Ayanami rolls onto her back, squeezed between Asuka and Aoi. Her eyes find the ceiling.)
Rei: I have Tenkei.
Asuka: (snaps) That's not the same.
Rei: (small smile) No, he isn't.
Asuka: ..
Rei: (small smile)
Asuka: Wait a second. Are you seriously saying that you got a better deal?
Rei: (small smile)
Asuka: With that kid?!?
(It's getting difficult for Asuka to keep her voice down; her words are a frantic whisper.)
Asuka: Shinji is.. well, almost a man I guess, but Tenkei is still just a little kid and there's just some things that a kid can't understand-
Rei: Tenkei is Tenkei.
Asuka: But how can you (splutters off, thinks for a moment) You're not, are you?
Rei: ..?
Asuka: You and him?
Rei: No.
Asuka: What am I thinking, not even you would do that.
Rei: ..
Asuka: Then what? What makes him so special?
Rei: What makes Shinji so special?
Asuka: ..
Rei: ..
Asuka: I think I get it.
Rei: ..
Asuka: Or at least, I get the fact that I'm not going to get it, because I'm not you. I can't get it.
(Rei considers this interpretation, deciphers it, and eventually nods. This relieves Asuka.)
Asuka: Well at least we cleared that up.
--------------------------------------------------
(Morning breaks.
The Seventh Child twists her foot idly, squeaking the heel of her sneaker against the corridor floor. Aoi had been expecting to spend more time at the party with Lyn, but that hadn't happened. He had been cordoned off with the boys, and she with the girls. Asuka and Shinji's little display in the kitchen had stolen so much of the room's attention that, for a little while, she had forgotten why she had been so worried about Lyn.
It has been a good night.)
Aoi: Walk me home?
Lyn: I live one floor away.
Aoi: ..
Lyn: I'd sort of be going a little out of my way.
Aoi: Well.. okay.
(Lyn takes a breath.)
Lyn: What the hell. It's not like I have to be anywhere anytime soon.
(They fall into step, heading towards the elevator.
The party is over, defeated by the basic principles of post-party physics - food gets cold and drinks get warm. Trays of finger food have been depleted - except for a few sad and slightly soggy morsels that no one dares to touch. All the softdrinks are either drunk or flat, and no one has any interest in watching movies. What everyone mostly wants to do is sleep - and not an hour stolen on a makeshift bed, but a couple of hours in one's own bed, in one's own room, at home, where you can wake up and look at familiar surroundings and doze off again without a care.
The sun peeks between the buildings, falling on Aoi and Lyn as step out of the apartment block and onto the street. Few cars roam the streets this early.)
Aoi: I missed you.
Lyn: ..
Aoi: Nothing to say to that?
Lyn: It's nice to be wanted.
(During the day the asphalt of Tokyo-3 is usually either hot with the sun, or wet from rain and storm. The Second Impact shifted the Earth's axis and rewrote the seasons, leaving much of Japan in tropical weather all year round - sun and storm, storm and sun.
But at this time of the morning the asphalt is still cool, and travelling the empty streets is a pleasure. Lyn and Aoi walk side by side, with maybe a foot of space between them.)
Lyn: I worried when you were in NERV. I didn't know what they were doing.
(They reach a pedestrian crossing. Although there is no traffic the Sixth Child reaches out and presses the button on the Walk/Don't Walk sign. The two teenagers continue regardless, crossing the empty road.)
Lyn: That room.. there were all those soldiers and just you. But.. they were the ones afraid of you. But I was still afraid that maybe they'd..
Aoi: ..
Lyn: I didn't know what to think. What to feel. I know you had something to do with what happened in Europe.
Aoi: (suddenly) I'm sorry.
Lyn: ..?
Aoi: About your dad.
(It's something Anouilh has heard a hundred times already, and this time it's no different. But Tamashii continues.)
Aoi: I'm serious. I'm really sorry. I had a chance to stop it, but I didn't take it. I didn't think..
Lyn: ..
Aoi: No. I didn't realize how they'd go about it. It was my mistake, my.. miscalculation, I suppose you could call it that. My fault. I thought your dad would be safe.
Lyn: ..
Aoi: I'm sorry.
Lyn: It's okay. It's not like you were the one who pulled the plug on him. And it's not like I knew him. He was just.. dad. Just this guy somewhere out there that didn't like me much. And I didn't like him.
Aoi: ..
Lyn: And then I found out he was keeping an eye on me, even from over there. What do you do about someone like that?
Aoi: ..
Lyn: When he died, I didn't really lose a dad. I lost what he was to me, which wasn't much. I couldn't be just a kid who hated his dad anymore, I had to.. grow out of it.
Aoi: ..
Lyn: Anyway, that's enough about that..
--------------------------------------------------
(Seyoko Okazaki sits back in the passenger seat, her eyes closed. The car windows are up as those inside try to survive on air-conditioning.
The sound of the air-con in her ears, her eyes closed, Seyoko is suddenly reminded of her time in the hospital - listening to the air conditioning, mutely being rolled to one side by orderlies as they change her bedsheets. She is sharply reminded of her injury - or lack of it.
The scar is nothing more than the faintest of faint pink marks; barely noticeable. She had seen "war wounds" during her training, from veteran operatives who had explained how resilient the human body could be, and that a single bullet, striking the torso, could not be depended on to drop a human target. It hadn't dropped Seyoko, but that tiny scar was nothing. It was too small for a rifle round. Her recovery was too perfect, too fast.
Okazaki opens her eyes. Outside the car is dust and blue sky, stretching out forever.)
Seyoko: Middle of nowhere..
Benedict: We'll hit Vegas if we go far enough.
Tenkei: She's much closer now.
Benedict: Should we stop for another reading?
(The man gestures out over the steering wheel. Seyoko squints at what he has seen - a gas station, maybe a diner too, sitting alone out in the desert.)
Benedict: Good as any place to stop.
--------------------------------------------------
(Okazaki picks up their order from the counter and takes back to their table by the window, where Benedict and Tenkei already seated. Seyoko does her best to remain calm - they can't raise any suspicion by leaving. They have to stay, and eat, like a regular family.
The room is full of enemy agents. Most of them look like truckers, or the stray hitchhiker, but Okazaki's trained eye picks up far too many concealed weapons. The entire room is packing heat. The entire room is waiting for someone. Being truckers or whatever these guys should be travelling, but Seyoko is willing to bet that not a single engine in the parking lot is warm. They've all been here for way too long - the food scraps on their trays betray signs of breakfast.
Eight, no, nine men are camped in this diner, disguised as ordinary people. What they are really..?)
Seyoko: Here's your fries.
(Tenkei begins munching on his chips. Seyoko gathers her burger up in both hands, praying like mad that Tenkei doesn't say a word.)
Benedict: Maybe we should order some burgers or something for the trip, too. It might be a long way to the next station.
(He turns in his seat, calling towards the counter.)
Benedict: Hey, how far is the next service station?
(The clerk at the register has a semi-auto hidden in his pants.)
Clerk: You know, I really don't have any idea.
Seyoko: Anyone? Little help?
(A few grunts sound out around the room, but most of them keep their heads down.)
Seyoko: Oh well. (takes a bite of her burger)
(Probably just watchful eyes. Definitely part of MARI's personal defenses. Unless this is the most-robbed service station on the planet.)
--------------------------------------------------
(Seyoko only really remembers the heat when they step back out into the open.)
Benedict: (grimacing)
(Once they are in the car, Seyoko sets a small notebook down in her lap and begins to scrawl.)
Benedict: Their number plates are probably fake.
Seyoko: But the vehicle makes and models are real. Maybe our intel guys will be able to work out whose inventory they're from.
(By the time they pull out of the diner's parking lot and hit the road again, Seyoko has a page of shorthand notes - vehicle models, number plates.. in case the Japanese Intelligence service can dig something up, or if not them then NERV. Okazaki folds the piece of paper carefully and slips it into her jacket.)
Seyoko: (searching through handbag) I've got to make a call.
Benedict: You can't send those plate numbers over an unsecured line.
Seyoko: (pulls out mobile phone) I'm not. I just need to send an update.
(She dials quickly - a local number that she knows off by heart, memorized for the mission. She listens to the recorded message, waits for the tone, and then begins.)
Seyoko: (to phone) Hi, sorry I called while you were out. Well, I met up with Alan and we're.. well, somewhere between Vegas and Phoenix and there's a lot of dust. Out in the middle of nowhere, and geez, I never thought a place could be so hot. Figures, it must be midday.. (checks) Crap. My watch stopped. Eleven forty-six. Must have been the heat. Flight around eighty-four minutes long - not enough time to watch the in-flight though, but not long enough to get fed the airline food. Mixed blessings I guess.
(Okazaki softly laughs into the mobile phone and continues.)
Seyoko: Anyway, we're going to have to start doing some withdrawals. Everything's a lot more expensive over here than we expected, must be the exchange rate. We're down to.. (checks) Sixty-two dollars and seven cents. I've got more in my account, but I'd like to have a little more in my pocket for security's sake, you know?
--------------------------------------------------
Misato: The call was made two hours ago.
(Shigeru and Hyuga both wear headsets as they play parts of the message back, typing observations into their consoles. At the back of the Central Dogma control room, where Misato stands with Rei, the Major explains what is happening to the First Child.)
Misato: The references to it being "hot," or the to the "heat," means that the enemy have a lot of operatives there. We have to hide the message in plain sight, because encrypting it isn't a option at this point.. but she's given us co-ordinates, what she and Tenkei have been able to pull together about where the base is located.
Rei: Will he come back now?
Misato: (quiet) No, not yet. She said she needs more time, and that they might be under suspicion. If we pull them straight back we could put them in danger and tell these MARI people that we've found them.
Rei: Will he be alright?
(The head of operations pauses.)
Misato: They've come this far without any problems.
Rei: And if you find them?
Misato: Probably an attack. We'll have to hit them. We might use ground troops, special teams.. but if the defenses are too much, we may need an Evangelion.
--------------------------------------------------
(Over the week, preparations are made in a base on the other side of the world.
The NERV branch in Germany has been largely inactive for some time - after the mass production Evangelion series had been completed and shipped to France, the facility had simply shut down. Personnel had been transferred to other areas, and only a skeleton crew remained. Sections had been shut down and closed off; there was no point in maintaining or even lighting unused portions of the base. The fabrication facilities that had built Evangelion Unit 02, and many of the following production model Evangelions, were no longer used. The power grid that had supported the crimson Evangelion while the Second Child stomped through her training was dead, deactivated.
And now those systems are returning to life. As a result of the new alliances between NERV and nations across the world - nations unwilling to stand along against a threat as dangerous as MARI - the facilities in Germany are being reactivated, readied to resume construction of Evangelion Units. Also they prepare for the arrival of the Evangelion that will protect the base. Unit 02, the first Eva that the facility produced, is coming home.
But other preparations have also been made. A mission, planned and simulated, with only a few key personnel briefed. Even their normal levels of secrecy were outdone by just how quietly this operation has been planned. The base has been mapped out in detail. The pilot and co-pilot have received mission profiles. The launch crew know that one of their craft will take off on a certain night. An ordinance team has been discretely informed that one nuclear device will be required.
The force behind the MARI Unit that struck in France is human - capable of reasoning, planning, thinking tactically. And the NERV branch in Germany carries too many threats to ignore.)
--------------------------------------------------
(Around the last corner and into the home stretch, Asuka Langley Sohryu runs in long, easy strides. Sneakers hit the pavement in a steady rhythm as she eats up the last distance. She reaches the steps in front of the apartment block, heading up towards the entrance to the foyer. Sohryu heads up them, her leg muscles complaining as she takes the steps two at a time and runs right into Shinji.)
Shinji: Asuka!
Asuka: Shinji!
(The Second Child stops, her eyes on Shinji as she leans forward on one leg.)
Shinji: (quieter) Asuka..
Asuka: (panting) Shinji.
Shinji: Um.. are you alright?
Asuka: (takes a big breath) Of course I'm alright! I've been running, that's all!
Shinji: Yeah, I know, just..
Asuka: What?
Shinji: ..
Asuka: What?
Shinji: No, forget it. We were waiting for you to-
Asuka: No Shinji.
Shinji: No?
(She takes another breath, trying to slow her lungs down so she can speak normally. Her lungs, however, insist in sucking in as much air as possible.)
Asuka: No, you're going to tell me what you were going to say.
Shinji: You don't want me to.
Asuka: No, you want to say it, you know you do, you wouldn't be acting this way if you didn't.
Shinji: No I don't. Touji got this thing in the mail..
(Another breath. Short of air and short of temper, Asuka barks at the boy.)
Asuka: Shinji tell me!
Shinji: Breathing!
Asuka: ..
Shinji: Heavy breathing.
Asuka: My heavy breathing?
Shinji: (nods)
Asuka: What about it?
Shinji: It's distracting.
Asuka: ..
Shinji: I'm sorry.
Asuka: (going red)
(At this stage Shinji can't tell if "red" means anger or embarrassment.)
Shinji: (stepping back up the stairs) I told you that you didn't want me to say it..
Asuka: I know. Remind me later not to listen to your stupidities.
Shinji: Is that a word?
Asuka: What about sweating, Shinji? Perspiration? Does me being slippery distract you too?
(There is a touch of humor in the girl's voice.)
Shinji: ..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: It might, now that you've mentioned it.
(And Shinji is catching on.)
Asuka: Anything else? Now that we're on the subject, you might as well get everything off your chest.
Shinji: Yeah.. off my chest.
Asuka: Yes.
Shinji: (takes a breath)
Lyn: I hate to interrupt..
(Shinji and Asuka suddenly straighten up as Anouilh waves from the top of the stairs leading to the apartment block foyer. Beside him is Touji Suzahara, overlooking the discussion between the Second and Third Children with a disturbed expression.)
Asuka: What are you two doing here?
Shinji: We were all waiting for you, sort of.
Asuka: Sort of?
Touji: (waves a paper) I got this in the mail. Shinji thought that you might know something.
Lyn: It's weird.
Shinji: (nodding) Very weird.
(Asuka takes the offered paper and runs her eyes over it.)
Asuka: (reading) Suzahara.. prior data.. evaluation of all third level candidates.. (stops, reads carefully) ..have been selected for re-evaluation?
Shinji: That's what it says.
Asuka: Wait a second - this says there are others!
Lyn: That's also what it says.
Asuka: (looking at Touji) But I thought you couldn't - you know! Not anymore, not after the accident!
Touji: (shrugs) Probably can't. Probably shouldn't make too much of this.
(Touji might not make much of it, but someone does.
A taxi pulls up at the bottom of the steps and Kensuke Aida leaps out of it. His face is glowing with happiness as he dances up towards the other teenagers.)
Kensuke: (yelling) This is the greatest day in the history of everything!!!
(He flies around Shinji, Touji and Asuka, a piece of paper held in a death-grip in his hand, a boy on the verge of tears of joy.)
Kensuke: (singing) I'm going to be an Eva pilot!!
(He plants a kiss squarely on Touji's lips, knocking the taller boy down in the process. Then Shinji receives similar treatment, sending the Third Child spinning in shock. Then Kensuke flies towards Asuka and everything goes dark.)
--------------------------------------------------
(A single blip appears on the dark radar screen - the missile is visible the moment it is clear of the stealth-craft. It streaks downwards, its engine leaving a pillar of white as it screams towards the ground.
Automatic systems activate, readying close-in defense systems. The weapons are precise, powerful, more than sufficient to blast the warhead out of the sky before it can reach its target. But the defensive batteries fail to move - each remains silent, sheltered in their armored bunkers, completely unresponsive to both the computerized defense systems and to the orders of the increasingly frantic personnel. Fingers stab at keyboards, curses are thrown at monitors, but the response is always the same.)
Fehler Fehler Fehler Fehler Fehler
(The warhead was designed specifically for this purpose, and has been aimed with absolute precision. The point of impact, illuminated by infra-red laser from the ground, was selected with near-complete knowledge of the subterranean base beneath. It is the path of least resistance, the weakest point in the facility's armored shell.
Punching through earth and concrete and steel it bursts down into clear space - a giant chamber fitted with Evangelion-sized restraints and launching pads. The warhead's chassis is ruined, scored and torn by its passage through the armored skin of the underground base. Explosive bolts blow, shedding the mangled exterior of the missile as a smaller warhead within launches downwards, its engine flaring as it picks up the speed it needs to complete its mission.
The warhead explodes.
It should be realized that among the hundreds of personnel who died in the explosion, or were crushed by the following collapses, or suffocated deep underground, that one of them was an enemy. He had illuminated the target zone with a infra-red laser, guiding the warhead. He had been under orders. He had not known that the missile was nuclear.)
--------------------------------------------------
(The first that is noticed is the absence of communication. Regular updates of data, sent to the MAGI systems in Tokyo-3, cease without warning. The supercomputers make a note of it, alerting the technical staff.
Then comes the news from more conventional groups. Germany's national military do not normally communicate with NERV - the Bundeswehr receive their orders direct from the NERV commanders on their own soil. But with the chain of command broken, they send word to Japan and NERV's highest commanders.
All communication with the facility has ceased. Some sort of seismic activity. Some radiation. Reports of a breach in air defense, an intruder. Possibly fires. Major entry points to the base have been blocked by rubble. We suspect the worst.
Almost as quickly as news reached NERV, word of the disaster is reaching the governments of other nations. Many of them are "concerned groups," many of them offering to provide NERV with a base of operation within their borders. With the destruction of one such base, these governments have some very serious questions to ask.
As always, rumor and assumption spread far faster than fact. Within a day - before efforts to clear the rubble away begin - the world is convinced that the angels have struck again.)
--------------------------------------------------
(Tenkei leans forward, his pale face looking around the driver's chair as he listens to the radio.)
Radio: ..unknown causes. UN representatives have only stated that they are still in search of information..
Benedict: (driving) Bad news.
Radio: ..calling for the establishment of defense systems to stand against the new threat. Once thought confined to Japan, the "Angels" struck military bases in France..
Seyoko: Tell me about it.
Radio: ..described as a major shift in the way nations defend themselves. Member nations of the security council have each faced stiff political pressure from home regarding budget allocations for the joint defense project..
Seyoko: Typical crap. (switches off the radio)
Benedict: What do you think happened?
Seyoko: I don't know. Maybe we'll find out more when we get debriefed. (looks over her shoulder)
(After making sure that she won't flatten Tenkei, Seyoko pushes her seat back to full tilt.)
Tenkei: (looking over)
(She shifts a little, getting comfortable. She'll have a few hours before her turn at driving comes up, and she intends to be fully rested for it. Driving none-stop is suspicious, but safer than exposing Tenkei to whoever might chance across a motel. Despite his disguise, Seyoko feels very uncomfortable about putting any more strain on the boy.)
Seyoko: How is it back here? Air conditioning reaches back here, doesn't it?
Tenkei: (nods)
Seyoko: Need a drink?
Tenkei: (shakes head)
Seyoko: Go to the bathroom?
Tenkei: (shakes head)
Seyoko: Okay.
(She shifts a little, settling down.)
Tenkei: We're very close.
Seyoko: What?
Tenkei: We're very close to where she is. (closing eyes) She's low down.. lower than us.
Seyoko: Like.. underground?
Tenkei: Maybe..
(The pale boy slowly raises one hand, touching it to his cheek.)
Tenkei: Something.. rough.. cold. She's standing on something..
Seyoko: ..
Tenkei: And she knows we're here.
--------------------------------------------------
Asuka: (from the hallway) What?
Misato: (calling out) Just come in here.
(Katsuragi runs one finger around the top of her beer can; it's open, but she hasn't taken a drink yet. And honestly she doesn't feel like it.
She looks up and sees Asuka's expression. It's a normal expression - a little bored, but with a touch of attentiveness in case something interesting happens. Misato has seen that expression transform into anger, or playfulness, or even on rare occasions a shy blush.)
Misato: (thinking) I don't want to have to tell her. (aloud) Sit down for a bit.
(Asuka sits. Her face registers a few of her thoughts - whoops, is this something important? Have I done something wrong? Is Shinji okay?)
Asuka: It's about hitting Kensuke, isn't it? Listen, that jerk was about to-
Misato: (interrupting) No! No, just.. don't say anything. Not for a little while, please.. you should hear all of it before you.. (trails off)
Asuka: (worried) What?
Misato: Okay. I guess you haven't heard the news?
Asuka: (blank) News?
(Everything she had thought of - how to start to explain what has happened - has disappeared from her mind. Misato closes her eyes for a second.)
Misato: (thinking) They never said this would be easy..
Asuka: So what's up?
Misato: Something's happened in Germany - another attack.
Asuka: Wh-
Misato: (quickly) Your parents are okay, we think.. they weren't on shift. But a lot of people were. The entire facility was destroyed.
Asuka: ..
Misato: We're still trying to figure out how. There was an explosion.. maybe from an angel, but that's what the news is running. It could have been nuclear, a bombing or even a weapon that somebody smuggled into the facility..
Asuka: ..
Misato: But we don't think it was an accident.
Asuka: ..
Misato: That also means.. that you aren't going anywhere anytime soon. It means that everything's going to change. (looking down) Germany was an important part of NERV's overall strategy..
Asuka: ..
Misato: ..and stuff. We haven't got a body count, and.. we probably aren't going to. We're guessing most of what was underground caved in, and that's going to make any sort of recovery operation impossible.
Asuka: ..
Misato: We have a good idea of who did it - and thanks to what Tenkei is doing for us, we should be able to strike back very soon.
Asuka: ..
Misato: Really soon, I hope.
Asuka: ..
Misato: ..
Asuka: (quietly) The whole facility?
Misato: (pauses) Yeah. The whole lot.
Asuka: What about Mom? And..
Misato: Your parents are okay.
Asuka: Oh. (looks down) Yeah.
Misato: ..
--------------------------------------------------
Rei: Up there..
(The mattress bobs and sways under her weight, springs singing. Her feet dig into the bunk.)
Rei: Somewhere..
(She stands in loose-fitting white clothes with a patient's tag around one wrist. She isn't really a patient - the doctors have given her a clean bill of health. She hasn't asked for any new clothes, instead seeming content to make do with what she has. There is no chance of mistaking this girl for a regular patient; firstly, this facility has no regular medical patients. Secondly, the crimson eyes and pale hair are dead giveaways.
Rei Ayanami stands on the bunk, as close to the ceiling of the room as she can. She presses her cheek against the concrete ceiling, her eyes closed.)
Rei: Up there. Somewhere close.
(If this were the Geo-Front beneath Tokyo-3, she would be free to come and go as she pleased. But here she wears a transmitting device on a band on her arm, keeping constant tabs on her movements.)
--------------------------------------------------
(They loom around him, wide gray towers marked with the words SOUND ONLY. He understands a little of the psychology of this - to be faceless is to be strong, to be without an identity is to be impervious to any harm. In comparison he is naked, vulnerable, his true face visible to their implacable stares.
The man in the suit smiles to himself. They'd find out.)
SEELE: Why?
(His arms rest casually by his sides as he speaks.)
Suit: Because we wouldn't have the opportunity at a later date.
SEELE: A later strike on the German branch could have eliminated Unit Two, and made your own task simpler. Why did you not make an opportunity?
Suit: The attack was made possible by our men on the ground. Security was tightening up, in accordance with the upcoming arrival of Unit Two. They could not have remained on-site and operational under those circumstances. We had the window of opportunity, and we took it rather than lose it.
SEELE: And now NERV concentrates its forces in Tokyo-3.
Suit: While their ability to form an international force is kneecapped. It's a fair exchange.
SEELE: This was a situation in which you should have turned to us for guidance, rather than blunder about on your own.
SEELE: This may strengthen support for NERV.
SEELE: As well as alert them to your capabilities.
SEELE: But it may also provide NERV's allies a way out of the dangerous situation they now find themselves in.
SEELE: True. An invisible opponent, a threat that is impossible to intercept.. they may be more receptive to our offers.
Suit: If you could convince certain nations to assist us, or even just provide information on what NERV plans within their borders, it would assist our operations.
SEELE: We will see if this premature action will produce any benefits.
(The holograms vanish, leaving the man standing alone in the darkness of the chamber. The entrance opens, a white blade against the blackness.
He finds his "better half" in an adjacent chamber, watching the screen of a terminal.)
Officer: (looking up) You couldn't have kept them on the line longer? Maybe with a few of those jabs you're so good at?
Suit: So the trace didn't go well?
(The man gestures to the screen.)
Officer: We have eleven locations, two of them new. Nine of the them we've been able to visually confirm at their little hideouts, and we'll be sending men to check those two new ones..
Suit: So if all goes well, we'll only need one more.
Officer: That's where we have the problem.
(His finger stabs at one name on the list.)
Officer: The trace leads to Kiel, but our agents have confirmed that he isn't on-site. He must be using the old man's home as part of his signal route.
Suit: Unless he's living on-site, with Kiel.
Officer: (shaking his head) If he spends all day indoors, doesn't venture near windows, doesn't produce a thermal signature and goes invisible when our men check out the place? Somehow I doubt it. If he's using Kiel to bounce his signal in from someplace else, then our problem is that we don't know how the signal gets to Kiel. We had it covered completely and nothing has come up. I don't know how he does it.
Suit: Maybe we'll have to dig in some other places to find this (reads) Chiba Kimio.
--------------------------------------------------
(That afternoon is Shinji's turn to cook dinner, which he and Misato eat quietly at the kitchen table. They are not joined by the Second Child.
Ikari eventually packages her dinner in a plastic container and puts it in the refrigerator with a small note.)
for Asuka do not touch please
(Afternoon fades into evening; there are a few things on TV that Shinji had wanted to watch, but he doesn't feel interested anymore. Katsuragi heads back to NERV for a night shift, leaving the Third Child alone with the absent Asuka Langley Sohryu.
It isn't that she has been avoiding him. She hasn't exiled herself in her bedroom and threatened anyone who dared even to knock. She simply slips from room to room without a word, always on the way out when Shinji is on the way in. Asuka eats dinner in small pieces taken from the fridge and carried on her silent march around the apartment. She bites down on a celery stick, her blue eyes passing over the Third Child as she passes him by.
It isn't until later that night - sometime around ten - that Shinji begins to wonder that maybe Asuka had been waiting for him to say something.)
Shinji: ..
(He watches quietly as Asuka tramps into the den. Her mattress is a limp bundle that overflows in her arms. She drops it in front of the TV, and then falls on it.)
Asuka: Turn the light off or something?
(Shinji stands and heads for the lightswitch, while Asuka's searching hands find the remote control. The Third Child cuts off the lights.)
Shinji: Asuka? Did you.. know anyone there?
(The volume is set to low as she flicks through the channels. Voices are barely audible through the TV's speakers.)
Asuka: Sort of.
(He realizes that Asuka is keeping her face turned away from him.)
Asuka: They were.. people I knew. But not well.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: But my parents were okay.. and I suppose that's what every kid wants, huh?
(There is something dead in her voice.
Somehow that's worse that what Shinji had feared. The last thing he had wanted was to see Asuka cry - for a number of reasons. But that.. lack of anything, that hollowness in her voice is somehow worse.)
Shinji: I heard that..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: I heard that they aren't going to go through with installing the engine in Unit Two.. not until they figure out what's going to happen next..
Asuka: Yeah.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: So for now you're going to stay.
Asuka: Yeah.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: That part.. I knew that pretty fast. (swallows) I knew that pretty fast, yeah.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: And it felt good. No matter why I was staying, it felt good.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: It makes me feel sick. I mean, if anything I'm better off for what happened over there.. everyone gets killed and I'm just fine thanks.
Shinji: You shouldn't feel guilty-
(She rolls over, her eyes finding him.)
Asuka: But you do, don't you? I bet you feel it just as bad as me - no, worse. You're Shinji Ikari, you always feel worse. You didn't even know them, which is why you feel so bad.
Shinji: (quietly) Only because I want you to stay..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: ..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: I didn't ask for this.
Asuka: Neither did I.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: ..
Shinji: ..
Asuka: I didn't want this to happen.
Shinji: Neither did I.
Asuka: ..
Shinji: But I wanted you to stay..
Asuka: (bitter) And that's how you find a way to blame yourself.
Shinji: Just like you.
Asuka: ..
Shinji: (looking down) I guess, anyway.
(The Second Child rolls onto her back, blues eyes directed to the ceiling. Her lips press together glumly as she thinks. Finally she sighs.)
Asuka: Okay. I'm as pathetic as you. I admit it. Are you happy now?
Shinji: ..
Asuka: Maybe more like half as pathetic.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: Two thirds, tops.
Shinji: Have you got any plans for tomorrow?
Asuka: I was figuring that some serious wallowing in self-pity would be good.
Shinji: ..
Asuka: (sighs again) No, Shinji. I have no plans.
Shinji: I was thinking..
(Ikari settles down on the edge of the mattress - not too close to Asuka, but close enough to not be lying on the floor.)
Shinji: Maybe we should do something.
Asuka: Maybe.
(There are no answers for either of them tonight.
Shinji can't say anything to Asuka to make her feel any better about it; likewise, there is nothing he can do to ease his own troubled mind. In the back of his head, itching, is a quiet voice that tells him that he's happy about what happened. It tells him that his life is better. That he should be ashamed of himself.
It's
stupid, he knows that - and Asuka would be the first to tell him.
She surely has told herself that a dozen times already, and will tell
herself a dozen more before she gets to sleep.
Shinji feels her tug at the blanket, and he shifts to let it be pulled out from beneath him. Asuka sits up, briefly visible against the flickering glow of the TV before she throws the blanket over the Third Child and herself. Ikari lies still, the sheet covering his face for a moment before Asuka's hands carefully fold it back. She shuffles beneath the blanket, wriggling up to lie beside him. Asuka seems to stop, close enough for Shinji to feel her breath against his face. Her ear is sharply outlined against the still-lit TV screen.
Slowly, Shinji lifts one hand above the covers - not willing to take the risk of exploring beneath the covers - and carefully reaches out for Asuka's shoulder. With small shuffling movements he gets slightly closer; at some point the Second Child's arms snake around his neck while his own go around her. Her head is low, against his chest.)
Shinji: Good night Asuka.
Asuka: ..
Shinji: And don't feel bad.
(She looks up. Asuka knows that Shinji can't see her through her red fringe, but she still smiles.)
--------------------------------------------------
(The Officer presses a button on the vending machine. He hears a bottle thud its way down the dispenser chute.
He is standing outside a gas station. The asphalt of the road shimmers with the heat, a black burn mark cutting across the desert in a straight line from horizon to horizon. There is also small dirt turn-off, a little track that looks like as if it hasn't been driven down in years. Great care was taken to make it look that way; after all, heavy machinery leaves deep tread marks.
The gas station is real. It receives petrol shipments and restocks the odds and ends that can be bought from the air-conditioned store. Those odds and ends are why the Officer has come here. He can't get a good cold drink and a hotdog in the MARI bunker.
It is against regulations to wear a uniform on the surface. He left his jacket and sidearm in the base, leaving him dressed in what looks like casuals - shirt and trousers. A sharp eye might spot the military cut of his clothes, or notice the shine on his shoes, but sharp eyes aren't common out here in the middle of nowhere. In fact, people aren't common out here, which is why they based MARI here.
There is another reason for the Officer to come out here - to avoid the Suit. But today he has followed.)
Suit: You're surprised at how this is being handled?
(The Officer squints down the road at an approaching car. He cracks his soda can.)
Officer: NERV didn't supply a cover story. They didn't even try explaining what had happened in Germany. (drinks)
Suit: Of course not.
(Heat shimmers transform the road into a mirror. The mirage reflects the sky, turning the burning asphalt and lifeless dust into wide pools of water in the distance. For a moment the approaching car is gone, hidden by the mirage. Then it rises out of the liquid road again, rippling and threatening to vanish again.
The Officer takes a bite of his hotdog. It tastes old - a genuine hotdog.)
Suit: Not SEELE, or NERV, or even the UN could make the Angels invisible. The word "Angel" has a new meaning in the mind of every person on the planet.
Officer: Enemy.
Suit: More than that. Dangerous. Mysterious. Unknowable. They strike and disappear. They act without reason. After the attack on Evreux, it turns out that they will attack anywhere.
Officer: So when a base in Germany is attacked by forces unknown, and no one offers an explanation..
Suit: Everyone accepts that it was just another Angel. Another Act of God.
Officer: ..
(The car seems to be slowing. At this distance, the Officer can almost make out those within. A driver and a passenger. Maybe someone in the back too.)
Suit: The most powerful weapon in the world - something that can be blamed for everything, with no questions asked.
(More squinting at the car, another drink. The soda has lost its flavor, and the Officer has lost interest in the car.)
Officer: Why does this suddenly make sense to me?
Suit: ..
(The man turns his foot in the gravel, glancing down.)
Officer: We find we have an enemy. Military, financial, political.. doesn't matter. He's an enemy. He's in our way. One day our enemy is destroyed in a massive explosion. Nuclear or N2.. doesn't matter.
Suit: And the world says it was an Angel.
(The car is slowing. It turns, tires crunching on gravel as it heads for the gas pumps. The windows are rolled up, probably with the air-conditioning on full blast. The Officer might have envied them in this heat, if he hadn't been more concerned with what he was being told.)
Officer: All you have to do is have a small catastrophe now and then. Make people believe that the Angels will strike anyone, anywhere, and then you have the freedom to destroy anyone.
Suit: And it works. The news of the world has already connected it with Tokyo-3, Evreux.. and they're right. They are connected.
Officer: But not the way they think.
(Car doors open. A woman climbs out of the driver's side, a slim young thing with reddish hair. Sunglasses hide her eyes from the glaring sun. She looks left, looks right, talks to the man who has climbed out of the other side. The back door opens, a boy climbs out. Red hair again, probably family.
They're too far away to overhear their conversation.)
Officer: Striking NERV and UNSynaps has set everything up. We could hit anywhere in the world and everyone would think it was an Angel. Hell, they'd know it was an Angel, and anyone who said different was a nut.
Suit: Because everyone knows that Angels are real.
(The man laughs, which draws a sharp look from the woman. The Officer realizes what this must look like - two men out in the middle of nowhere, one of them chuckling at something.. it would look weird to anyone.)
Officer: Keep it down. (drinks) It's a neat situation, but it'll stop being so neat as soon as someone uses it on us.
Suit: We'll have to prepare for that.
Officer: (shaking head) Short-sighted. This could get very, very messy.
(The Officer jiggles his soda can - empty.
He can see the danger of what has happened - of what could happen. But he knows he can't turn things back. In the end, only more time can give him answers, or peace of mind.
He heads into the service-station and drops the empty soda in a bin. He pauses, enjoying the air-conditioning for a few moments - he doesn't want to face the blazing heat of the walk to the entrance to the base just yet.
The woman from the car is at the counter. She pays for gas and picks up a few things - cigarettes, gum. Nice looking girl. She flashes him a look, her eyes flickering down. Not a serious look. She's probably married. Still pretty though.)
Seyoko: ..
(Okazaki heads back to the car, where Tenkei and the agent are waiting. She waits until they've pulled away from the station before she speaks.)
Seyoko: We're right on top of it, aren't we?
(Tenkei nods.)
Benedict: What happened?
Seyoko: They guy in there was military. His clothes, his shoes, his watch. He lost the jacket but he had milspec written all over him.
Benedict: You think there's a base around here?
(Seyoko in the rearview mirror at the gas station disappearing in the distance, heat shimmers swallowing it up. She also sees Tenkei's face - the boy grins at her. She wonders for a moment what exactly he's happy for; because he's found her, or because he can go home to her?
Whatever the reason, Seyoko is sure of one thing.)
Seyoko: We've found them.
TO BE CONTINUED