A/N: Episode 09 may well be the worst episode in the whole series. I got this close to saying 'fuck it' and having them beat Izzy at the first attempt.
Standing in the locker room, senses still keyed up to an unbearable level, Rei hesitated with her finger on the detensioning stud. Her plugsuit was specialist equipment. It was designed as a synchronization aid. It was not intended to be worn for any purpose other than Evangelion operations and training. It was not suitable for everyday wear. She could not go home in it. She could not sleep in it.
She shook her head and pressed the stud. Such thoughts were futile. The Angel was suppressed. There would be no combat engagement for several days. She had to change back into her school uniform and go home. Refusing to do so would simply make Dr Akagi insist that she needed to be taken down to Terminal Dogma for examination.
She would be content enough when she re-emerged the next day, or maybe the day after. Her behaviour would be as expected. Her senses would operate in their usual envelope. She would not have to grit her teeth as she pulled on garments made of everyday textiles. She would not feel nauseous breathing the tobacco-scented air around Dr Akagi. She would not object to how each of her shoes was ever so slightly the wrong fit in different ways. She would not be distracted by the way Shinji and Asuka's souls behaved.
Dressed in accordance with expectations, she regretfully dropped her plugsuit into the cleaning chute. The one small mercy, as she walked out of the locker room amid a storm of unwanted sensation, was that her crudely hacked-off hair was still short enough not to brush against her neck. She was not going to be able to sleep like this. Sheets in contact with her whole body would be insufferable. She needed something to—
Her gaze lit on a wall-mounted emergency medical kit. Her conditioning was tuned to respond, at least in part, to the hormonal markers of combat. A spike of exogenous epinephrine might serve a similar purpose, but breaking open the inspection seal on the fixed kit would raise questions.
She smelled someone over the cleaning products used to maintain the corridor. She was unsure who, except to exclude Dr Akagi because there was no stink of stale tobacco smoke.
"Rei?" asked Captain Katsuragi, coming round the corner. "I was just coming down to see how you were."
"I am well enough." Rei paused. Shinji had described the Captain as a caring person, if not always... good at it. She could endure a delay to avoid the attention she did not want. "Captain, I need some standard medication and I do not wish to disrupt Dr Akagi's analysis of the Angel. Could you get me an epinephrine autoinjector?"
"An EpiPen? I didn't know you were allergic to anything," replied the Captain. "But sure, I can get you that from Medical."
"Thank you. Please... do not mention it is for me."
"Rei?"
"Any requisition associated with me is notified to Dr Akagi. It would distract her when her full attention should be on finding a solution to dealing with the Angel. It is very important to me that I not distract her."
Shinji hesitated as he walked into the briefing room. Misato, Dr Akagi, and the three bridge crew were all sitting in the audience seats, leaving the seat next to Asuka as the only one vacant.
It wasn't that he didn't like her. It wasn't that he didn't want to sit near her. He just didn't want to accidentally brush her hand or anything and share the residual sympathetic pain in his left side with her, or find out the hard way that she had the same kind of problem. But he couldn't really make a thing of it because he didn't want to land himself any extra prodding and poking by Dr Akagi "in the name of science".
So he sat down next to Asuka and clasped his hands together in his lap. She looked up from her notebook at him, frowning slightly. "Hi," she said.
"Hi," he replied.
Any further conversation was curtailed by the lights dimming and Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki walking into the room. "Good evening," said Fuyutsuki, as a slide showing the identically charred figures of the Angel's duplicates appeared on the screen behind him. "We are here to review the unsuccessful engagement with the Angel called Israfel."
Shinji braced himself.
"Let me begin by saying that this incident demonstrates why it is not enough simply to have the right weapons to defeat the Angels. They must be used correctly."
The slide advanced to show a still image captured halfway through the Angel dividing. Shinji heard Asuka give a sharp intake of breath, but she didn't say anything.
"Unit 02's blow at the start of the engagement should have been decisive, but as we have now learned, 'should' means nothing when the Angels are involved. Instead, the Angel split into two copies of itself, which the MAGI system has called 'Banach' and 'Tarski', and began to actively engage the Evangelions."
A new slide showed Asuka and Shinji attacking the coppery duplicate. "The Pilots demonstrated an awareness of their tactical situation, and an ability to focus their attacks on a single target when presented with multiple. Unfortunately, despite landing multiple blows on duplicate Tarski, including strikes causing visible fractures of the core, they were unable to inflict any lasting damage."
Unit 02 – or at least, its legs, poking out from under a rockslide – appeared on screen. "The duplicates made a combined attack on Unit 02, seizing it and throwing it into a nearby hillside. The impact destabilized the terrain, leaving Unit 02 incapacitated."
Unit 02 was replaced by Unit 01, lying face down with a severed power cable. "Pilot Ikari offered a valiant resistance, but was unable to harm the duplicates or prevent them from destroying Unit 01's power cable. The SDF launched an N2 missile at NERV's request, causing extensive damage to both duplicates. Dr Akagi, I believe you have some input."
"Yes." The blonde-haired scientist walked to the front of the room – a little more awkwardly than usual, Shinji couldn't help noticing – and took Fuyutsuki's place at the lectern. "Any part of either duplicate where the other took no damage recovered almost instantly. The parts where both duplicates took damage from the blast remained injured. Our best forecast indicates the Angel will take a week to recover to combat readiness."
A new slide appeared, showing two horizontal lines with identically spaced marks on them. "The MAGI's analysis notes that while the duplicates moved independently, their attacks – whether on the same or different targets – were always very closely synchronized. The detailed AT Field analysis is ongoing, but we have a proposed plan of attack. Pilots Sōryū and Ikari will need to synchronize their movements so that they score blows against the duplicates as close to simultaneously as possible."
Shinji looked at Asuka. She looked like she wanted to say something – probably something rude – but obviously thought better of it. He allowed himself to smile a little... just as she turned towards him and frowned.
Before any words could be exchanged, Misato stood up, her chair scraping against the floor. "I have a training plan to help with that before we put them in the simulator again," she announced. "Kaji's getting the equipment delivered as we speak."
Asuka frowned as she, Shinji, and Misato approached the apartment building. There was an unmarked white box van parked outside, with two men in long-sleeved turtlenecks and gloves busy closing up the back. "Who even dresses like that in this heat?" she asked, plucking at her school blouse.
"Good question," replied Misato, just as Kaji emerged from the building. He grinned at the trio and waved, then turned to shake the hands of the delivery men. For a moment, Asuka thought she saw a flash of colour at the wrist of one of the men where his glove didn't quite overlap his sleeve.
The van drove off, and Misato walked over to poke Kaji in the chest. "What's with hiring guys like that for delivery?"
"How else was I going to get a good deal at short notice?" he countered. "Don't worry, the gear's all perfectly legitimate. Their boss knows what's good for him."
"Those were the same men as last time," observed Shinji. "I recognized the short one."
Misato turned to face Shinji. "Wait, you mean he had those guys haul my junk away?!"
"I told you, their boss knows what's good for him. And besides, they're not the shadiest people in town." Kaji bowed apologetically and tossed the house keys towards Misato. "Let me buy you yakiniku next Saturday to make amends?"
Suddenly blushing, Misato snagged the keys out of the air and glared at him. "Fine. Now scram."
Asuka watched Kaji departing, facts clicking into place. This was the man she'd been fascinated with? A man who apologized for hiring the Mob to deliver whatever-it-was by asking Misato on a date? "Ugh, that man!"
Shinji shrugged. "He's better than my father."
To be continued shortly in "Bifurcation III", expected date 02 August 2021.
Fingers crossed for an omake where the sync training spoofs the 'French Mistake' bit from Blazing Saddles.
