[NGE] Provisional
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Part 1
Thanks to @Susano and @Alex for inspiring me to write more about Eva than just little snippets.
*Port of Tokyo-3*
"...and Unit-02's pilot was made a captain in the European Air Force when she was twelve! Think of all the awesome stuff we'll have to talk about!"
"Ken, nobody'd put a kid my sister's age in a fighter jet that'd be crazy."
"Well Shinji pilots the Eva and that's way more complicated than any warplane right, Shinji?"
Shinji gave a noncommittal shrug, Kensuke had been babbling on about every minute detail of the new machine and its pilot on the walk over and the opportunity to see a brand new Eva, a UN warship, and what he kept assuring them was a hot new pilot just made things worse.
"And here we are, the port where we'll find the beauty that is the UNS…wait where's the aircraft carrier?"
There was no aircraft carrier or any ship for that matter. There was, however, a rather large shipping container with a teenaged girl sitting atop it dressed in an unfamiliar school uniform.
"Hey there! Are you guys the welcoming committee?"
Kensuke, still disappointed at the lack of an aircraft carrier was the first to speak.
"Sorry, but it doesn't look like Captain Shikinami and Eva Unit-02 are coming today."
"Who's Captain Shikinami?"
"Unit-02's pilot, the person we came to meet today."
The girl jumped off the shipping container and landed in front of Kensuke
"Wait, she's a captain? Does that mean I'm a captain too? Because Captain Makinami sounds way better than just plain old Mari Illustrious Makinami."
Ken for once found himself at a loss for words.
"Huh?"
'Mari' clicked her tongue and adjusted her red-rimmed glasses before striking a pose that wouldn't look out of place in a super sentai show.
"Oh, right I should introduce myself! I'm Mari, Mari Illustrious Makinami pilot of Provisional Evangelion Unit-05!
Ken's confused staring continued.
"But there isn't a Unit-05. There's Unit-02, then the prototype MP Units-03 and 04 are over in Nevada."
"Oh, no. I don't pilot Unit-05, my Eva is a Provisional model it's what they made before the ones here!"
"Uh huh, so you pilot some kinda super-prototype Eva and nobody on the internet's even mentioned it before? Yeah, I'm not buying it. C'mon Touji let's get outta here."
Mari puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and started to shout at the two boys walked away.
"I am a real Eva pilot! My Eva's right here! I can show you! Come back!"
Shinji awkwardly started to mumble.
"They…they're not the friendliest people at first."
The girl turned around and just stared at him.
"I…well when I first started school Touji, the boy in the tracksuit punched me because I screwed up and hurt his sister my first time out in Eva. It…it's nothing you did wrong."
Mari's down expression suddenly changed into an excited one.
"Oh man, you're a pilot too?! I thought I smelled LCL, oh this is great I've never had another pilot to talk to before! We're going to get along great and…what's with the sad puppy look?"
"What look?"
"Never mind, hey is anybody coming to pick us up? Dr. Heck left forever ago to let someone know we're here."
"Who's Dr. Heck?"
Mari gave a multi-megawatt smile.
"You sure have a lot of questions!"
Geofront, Commander's Office
"You show up on my doorstep without warning holding on to an item that I entrusted someone else under the utmost secrecy to obtain. You are not that person, and the fact that you even knew to bring that case to me means that you already know too much. So tell me, Dr. Heck, why shouldn't I have my men shoot you where you stand?"
Gendo Ikari stared at the large, sweating, middle-aged man on the other side of his desk, handcuffed to his wrist was a large suitcase, embossed with a hazard trefoil. Heck was a relic of the early days of NERV, back when Project E was still in its infancy his inventions and his ability had been outstripped by those with greater ambition and vision, leaving him with a position far away from anything of any real importance.
"B-because you need me alive to unlock the case?"
The bearded man adjusted his glasses.
"You are going to have to do better than that doctor."
The Section 2 agent in the corner clicked the safety off of his sidearm.
"I…I brought an Evangelion Unit with me! And a pilot! I have a pilot!"
"I have little need of your cobbled-together toys Heck."
"You don't? What about that unstable prototype of yours? My Unit-05 is much more…compliant than your Unit-00 seems to be."
The commander's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the Pattern Blue alarm. Heck gave a small, smug grin as he held the case close to his chest.
"There is also the small matter of the Angel that followed me here. It wasn't too happy with me taking the Key of Nebuchadnezzar from it. Consider it to be a demonstration to show the value of my creation."
Port of Tokyo-3
Mari had been telling the truth, after considerable effort, the pair had been able to open the door to the massive container, the machine sat within surrounded by crates emblazoned with the NERV insignia. Parts of it resembled Unit-01, but instead of legs it stood perched upon four, mantis-like legs that ended in large wheels, while the arms looked to have been replaced with gangly, segmented ones that ended in a set of pincers. Even more out of place was the olive drab the armor was painted in, compared to the dazzling schemes of the other Evas, this one seemed almost quaint in comparison.
"Hey Puppy, whatcha thinking about?"
Shinji stopped staring at the Eva.
"It's…really green."
Mari let out a giggle.
"Yeah, I wanted bright pink but Dr. Heck said that wasn't a good color for a weapon of war. But at least I get to pilot *something*even if its just the Provisional Unit."
"Provisional Unit?"
"Okay, so you know how your Unit-01 is the test type, and Unit-00 is the prototype?"
"There are different types of Eva?"
Shinji swore he could have seen Mari's eye twitch a bit at that.
"Wow, they really did just throw you into the Eva. Okay, so quick version is that my Provisional Unit is more machine since it was built way back when they weren't sure they could build one like yours or the First Child's."
"So it's way better right?"
"It would be if this was an anime. It's…kinda worse but I think all of the different parts and that give it character, which is great because I have a lot of character too! Or at least that's what the people back at Bethany Base said…well, that and they called me a problem child can you believe that?"
Shinji didn't know what to think other than how Mari managed to talk so quickly without having to breathe.
"No?"
Mari seemed to like that response and kept jabbering on about the Eva, occasionally pausing to brush her hair out of her face or adjust her glasses with the admittedly one-sided conversation continuing on with no signs of stopping. Shinji had no idea on how to respond, or if he was supposed to respond, then again usually when people talked to him it was usually because they wanted something. He supposed that it wasn't the worst thing in the world if all that Mari wanted was for someone to listen to her, at least it wasn't like she yelling at him to get back into the robot or any-
That thought was interrupted by the all too familiar sound of an air raid siren. The bespectacled girl stopped talking and turned her head towards the noise.
"Is that an Angel? Please tell me that's an Angel."
"W-why do you want it to be an Angel?"
"Because that rude boy back there really pissed me off earlier and I just want to beat the shit out of something that's socially acceptable to beat the shit out of."
"Oh."
Mari's megawatt smile returned.
"Plus we'll get to beat it up together! In Unit-05! We're gonna be giant robot battle buddies!"
Shinji gulped.
"W-what?"
"Okay, so I don't have four legs or tentacle arms which makes synching with my Unit-05 really hard without the neuroplastic thingy in my helmet. So I'd really, really would appreciate if you'd be my gunner while I drive. Please?"
Wait, did she say please? Nobody ever asked him nicely to get into a giant robot before, come to think of it nobody asked him nicely to do anything before. It always go here, does this…hey, where'd Mari go? The answer came a few seconds later when an orange-stained rope ladder smacked him in the head. Looking up, Shinji saw that Mari had managed to scale the machine and opened the entry plug.
"Come on Puppy, we've got an Angel to kill!"
Shinji scrambled up the rope ladder into a very different entry plug from the one he knew in Unit 01. Mari was sat in a seat that was familiar to him, but she was adjusting what looked like a set of night-vision goggles with a pair of ribbon cables leading down from where the headband rested near her temples. Behind her was the second seat with a similar headset resting on it. The usual pair of tillers had been replaced with a single joystick attached to the right arm of the chair with a set of four pedals attached to the back of the pilot's seat. On the left arm sat a bank or switches and buttons, flanked by a small LCD panel with various gauges and readout. Sitting down in the seat, he put on the headset and was greeted by the sound of Mari humming a cheery song ringing through his ears, followed by the dull thuds of whatever the approaching angel was doing outside.
"Welcome aboard! Now I have one question for you. Can you shoot a Pallet Rifle?"
"Put the target in the center and pull the switch?"
"Great! Now you just gotta flip the big red switch labeled 'cold start' it should be on your left."
Shinji searched for a minute and the plug moved into position, sealing the interior off from the outside world as it flooded with LCL. A voice speaking in what he assumed was English rattled off what he guessed what was the startup sequence. A few seconds later his vision flickered and the image he saw through the goggles was replaced with the view from the Eva's cameras with a small countdown timer in the corner.
"Hey Mari, what about the cab-"
He found himself thrown back in his seat as Unit-05 flew out of the container, broken strapping and bits of shattered crates trailing behind it as the massive wheels squealed against the pavement. The sound of Mari's voice in his ear broke the sense of shock he was feeling.
"Did you say something?"
"Never mind."
The girl let out a laugh as the Eva jerked to dodge a cargo crane.
"Okay then! By the way, the button on top of the joystick deploys the rifle. You're gonna want that unless you want to strangle the Angel with your bare hands which is something I've always wanted to try but it probably isn't as effective as shooting it."
"O-okay."
There was a dull clunk from the right of the plug and a familiar targeting circle appeared in Shinji's right eye, revealing a tentacle arm holding what looked to be a blocky, inelegant rifle in its hand, which was then promptly sheared in half by a swipe of a much more organic tentacle that appeared to be made out of bone. He snapped his head up and watched as the camera panned up across what was most certainly the Angel's body. It was, a long, serpentine shape made out of segments of bone. Its head was vaguely avian and capped with a number of smaller tentacles dangling where its mouth would be, and red, crystalline eyes that glowed within their sockets, and most notably, a scorched, pock-marked entry plug was lodged within its forehead. Mari, who apparently had no sense of terror resumed talking.
"Mr. Bonejangles! Did you follow us all the way here? You're supposed to be grounded!"
The Angel let out a scream that sounded like a sandstorm echoing through a canyon and charged at Unit-05, Mari responded with a yell of her own as she charged at the beast. Shinji's head smacked into the back of Mari's seat, cracking his display as the two AT-fields collided with each other when his vision cleared, he saw the Angel attempting to chew its way through the intangible barrier holding it back.
"Hey Puppy! Not to bother you or anything but I'd really like it if you shot this thing in its goddamned face!"
"It broke my gun!"
Mari went silent for a moment then started laughing like a madwoman. Shinji was pretty sure that things weren't okay because he'd been in the exact same spot before…what made things even worse is when the laughing stopped. He felt the rumbling and squealing of the Eva's massive tires beneath him as its pilot continued to push its way into the Angel. It was this point that he did what he and any logical person who found themselves in this circumstance would do, he screamed at the top of his lungs, and started furiously tearing at the controls trying to figure some way, any way to flee from the situation he was in. In the corner of his eye, he could see the precious seconds of activation time ticking away like a noose tightening around his neck. No matter how hard the arms flailed against it opposing AT-field, it failed to make any meaningful impact. He yelled at his companion.
"Mari! We're going to die if we stay here!"
"Well, then I guess we've found where we are to die! Let's take this thing with us!"
Shinji tried to stand up, hoping that he could grab Mari and shake some sense into her. There was no reason to die here, not when Rei or the military, or somebody could be close enough to help. Unfortunately, any hopes at shaking sense into the girl were dashed when he stepped on one of the pedals near the floor and sent the Evangelion careening back into a stack of shipping crates, throwing him back once more into his seat. Dazed, Shinji raised his head to see the Angel slowing stalking towards them when it was suddenly hit by a falling cargo crane. Somehow, it hadn't had its AT-field raised in the direction of the falling object, which effortlessly fell on its head, cracking its skull. Mari let out a groan followed by a string of muttered profanities.
"Geez, you mind warning me before you hit the drive pedals? I'm only synched to the legs, but man, that really stings."
The Angel's AT-field flared, pulverizing the wreckage of the crane and sending it flying across the port. It was injured, but still continued to inch ever closer to the machine. Shinji started shaking his companion' s chair in terror.
"Mari! We've gotta move!"
The girl shrugged.
"No can do, I think we bent one of the legs the wrong way we're not going anywhere."
"We have to do something! Anything!"
Shinji continued to shout, and try to shake some sense into his companion while tearing at the controls in a frantic attempt to do anything he could to prevent the Angel from getting any closer when suddenly the sound of shearing metal filled his ears, in the frantic button mashing he'd managed to tear one of the arms off, and was waving it about like a flail in the left arm's claw. He let out a shout as he reared back to strike at the beast with his newfound weapon, only to watch as it bounced off its AT-field with a flash of orange light. Mari, who apparently had figured out a way to work past the pain of the Eva's damaged leg and charged forward.
The boy's senses were drowned out by the sound of the arm impacting the field like an anvil being struck and the dazzling light coming off of it, after what seemed to be an eternity the barrier broke and the patchwork Eva gained traction on its opponent and drove over its skull, crushing the core within causing its body to explode in a plume of red liquid. As the batteries finally ran out, and the soft while of the systems shutting down the only sound in the plug was the sound of Mari's breathing and Shinji softly sobbing in relief.
*Port of Tokyo-3*
"...and Unit-02's pilot was made a captain in the European Air Force when she was twelve! Think of all the awesome stuff we'll have to talk about!"
"Ken, nobody'd put a kid my sister's age in a fighter jet that'd be crazy."
"Well Shinji pilots the Eva and that's way more complicated than any warplane right, Shinji?"
Shinji gave a noncommittal shrug, Kensuke had been babbling on about every minute detail of the new machine and its pilot on the walk over and the opportunity to see a brand new Eva, a UN warship, and what he kept assuring them was a hot new pilot just made things worse.
"And here we are, the port where we'll find the beauty that is the UNS…wait where's the aircraft carrier?"
There was no aircraft carrier or any ship for that matter. There was, however, a rather large shipping container with a teenaged girl sitting atop it dressed in an unfamiliar school uniform.
"Hey there! Are you guys the welcoming committee?"
Kensuke, still disappointed at the lack of an aircraft carrier was the first to speak.
"Sorry, but it doesn't look like Captain Shikinami and Eva Unit-02 are coming today."
"Who's Captain Shikinami?"
"Unit-02's pilot, the person we came to meet today."
The girl jumped off the shipping container and landed in front of Kensuke
"Wait, she's a captain? Does that mean I'm a captain too? Because Captain Makinami sounds way better than just plain old Mari Illustrious Makinami."
Ken for once found himself at a loss for words.
"Huh?"
'Mari' clicked her tongue and adjusted her red-rimmed glasses before striking a pose that wouldn't look out of place in a super sentai show.
"Oh, right I should introduce myself! I'm Mari, Mari Illustrious Makinami pilot of Provisional Evangelion Unit-05!
Ken's confused staring continued.
"But there isn't a Unit-05. There's Unit-02, then the prototype MP Units-03 and 04 are over in Nevada."
"Oh, no. I don't pilot Unit-05, my Eva is a Provisional model it's what they made before the ones here!"
"Uh huh, so you pilot some kinda super-prototype Eva and nobody on the internet's even mentioned it before? Yeah, I'm not buying it. C'mon Touji let's get outta here."
Mari puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and started to shout at the two boys walked away.
"I am a real Eva pilot! My Eva's right here! I can show you! Come back!"
Shinji awkwardly started to mumble.
"They…they're not the friendliest people at first."
The girl turned around and just stared at him.
"I…well when I first started school Touji, the boy in the tracksuit punched me because I screwed up and hurt his sister my first time out in Eva. It…it's nothing you did wrong."
Mari's down expression suddenly changed into an excited one.
"Oh man, you're a pilot too?! I thought I smelled LCL, oh this is great I've never had another pilot to talk to before! We're going to get along great and…what's with the sad puppy look?"
"What look?"
"Never mind, hey is anybody coming to pick us up? Dr. Heck left forever ago to let someone know we're here."
"Who's Dr. Heck?"
Mari gave a multi-megawatt smile.
"You sure have a lot of questions!"
Geofront, Commander's Office
"You show up on my doorstep without warning holding on to an item that I entrusted someone else under the utmost secrecy to obtain. You are not that person, and the fact that you even knew to bring that case to me means that you already know too much. So tell me, Dr. Heck, why shouldn't I have my men shoot you where you stand?"
Gendo Ikari stared at the large, sweating, middle-aged man on the other side of his desk, handcuffed to his wrist was a large suitcase, embossed with a hazard trefoil. Heck was a relic of the early days of NERV, back when Project E was still in its infancy his inventions and his ability had been outstripped by those with greater ambition and vision, leaving him with a position far away from anything of any real importance.
"B-because you need me alive to unlock the case?"
The bearded man adjusted his glasses.
"You are going to have to do better than that doctor."
The Section 2 agent in the corner clicked the safety off of his sidearm.
"I…I brought an Evangelion Unit with me! And a pilot! I have a pilot!"
"I have little need of your cobbled-together toys Heck."
"You don't? What about that unstable prototype of yours? My Unit-05 is much more…compliant than your Unit-00 seems to be."
The commander's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the Pattern Blue alarm. Heck gave a small, smug grin as he held the case close to his chest.
"There is also the small matter of the Angel that followed me here. It wasn't too happy with me taking the Key of Nebuchadnezzar from it. Consider it to be a demonstration to show the value of my creation."
Port of Tokyo-3
Mari had been telling the truth, after considerable effort, the pair had been able to open the door to the massive container, the machine sat within surrounded by crates emblazoned with the NERV insignia. Parts of it resembled Unit-01, but instead of legs it stood perched upon four, mantis-like legs that ended in large wheels, while the arms looked to have been replaced with gangly, segmented ones that ended in a set of pincers. Even more out of place was the olive drab the armor was painted in, compared to the dazzling schemes of the other Evas, this one seemed almost quaint in comparison.
"Hey Puppy, whatcha thinking about?"
Shinji stopped staring at the Eva.
"It's…really green."
Mari let out a giggle.
"Yeah, I wanted bright pink but Dr. Heck said that wasn't a good color for a weapon of war. But at least I get to pilot *something*even if its just the Provisional Unit."
"Provisional Unit?"
"Okay, so you know how your Unit-01 is the test type, and Unit-00 is the prototype?"
"There are different types of Eva?"
Shinji swore he could have seen Mari's eye twitch a bit at that.
"Wow, they really did just throw you into the Eva. Okay, so quick version is that my Provisional Unit is more machine since it was built way back when they weren't sure they could build one like yours or the First Child's."
"So it's way better right?"
"It would be if this was an anime. It's…kinda worse but I think all of the different parts and that give it character, which is great because I have a lot of character too! Or at least that's what the people back at Bethany Base said…well, that and they called me a problem child can you believe that?"
Shinji didn't know what to think other than how Mari managed to talk so quickly without having to breathe.
"No?"
Mari seemed to like that response and kept jabbering on about the Eva, occasionally pausing to brush her hair out of her face or adjust her glasses with the admittedly one-sided conversation continuing on with no signs of stopping. Shinji had no idea on how to respond, or if he was supposed to respond, then again usually when people talked to him it was usually because they wanted something. He supposed that it wasn't the worst thing in the world if all that Mari wanted was for someone to listen to her, at least it wasn't like she yelling at him to get back into the robot or any-
That thought was interrupted by the all too familiar sound of an air raid siren. The bespectacled girl stopped talking and turned her head towards the noise.
"Is that an Angel? Please tell me that's an Angel."
"W-why do you want it to be an Angel?"
"Because that rude boy back there really pissed me off earlier and I just want to beat the shit out of something that's socially acceptable to beat the shit out of."
"Oh."
Mari's megawatt smile returned.
"Plus we'll get to beat it up together! In Unit-05! We're gonna be giant robot battle buddies!"
Shinji gulped.
"W-what?"
"Okay, so I don't have four legs or tentacle arms which makes synching with my Unit-05 really hard without the neuroplastic thingy in my helmet. So I'd really, really would appreciate if you'd be my gunner while I drive. Please?"
Wait, did she say please? Nobody ever asked him nicely to get into a giant robot before, come to think of it nobody asked him nicely to do anything before. It always go here, does this…hey, where'd Mari go? The answer came a few seconds later when an orange-stained rope ladder smacked him in the head. Looking up, Shinji saw that Mari had managed to scale the machine and opened the entry plug.
"Come on Puppy, we've got an Angel to kill!"
Shinji scrambled up the rope ladder into a very different entry plug from the one he knew in Unit 01. Mari was sat in a seat that was familiar to him, but she was adjusting what looked like a set of night-vision goggles with a pair of ribbon cables leading down from where the headband rested near her temples. Behind her was the second seat with a similar headset resting on it. The usual pair of tillers had been replaced with a single joystick attached to the right arm of the chair with a set of four pedals attached to the back of the pilot's seat. On the left arm sat a bank or switches and buttons, flanked by a small LCD panel with various gauges and readout. Sitting down in the seat, he put on the headset and was greeted by the sound of Mari humming a cheery song ringing through his ears, followed by the dull thuds of whatever the approaching angel was doing outside.
"Welcome aboard! Now I have one question for you. Can you shoot a Pallet Rifle?"
"Put the target in the center and pull the switch?"
"Great! Now you just gotta flip the big red switch labeled 'cold start' it should be on your left."
Shinji searched for a minute and the plug moved into position, sealing the interior off from the outside world as it flooded with LCL. A voice speaking in what he assumed was English rattled off what he guessed what was the startup sequence. A few seconds later his vision flickered and the image he saw through the goggles was replaced with the view from the Eva's cameras with a small countdown timer in the corner.
"Hey Mari, what about the cab-"
He found himself thrown back in his seat as Unit-05 flew out of the container, broken strapping and bits of shattered crates trailing behind it as the massive wheels squealed against the pavement. The sound of Mari's voice in his ear broke the sense of shock he was feeling.
"Did you say something?"
"Never mind."
The girl let out a laugh as the Eva jerked to dodge a cargo crane.
"Okay then! By the way, the button on top of the joystick deploys the rifle. You're gonna want that unless you want to strangle the Angel with your bare hands which is something I've always wanted to try but it probably isn't as effective as shooting it."
"O-okay."
There was a dull clunk from the right of the plug and a familiar targeting circle appeared in Shinji's right eye, revealing a tentacle arm holding what looked to be a blocky, inelegant rifle in its hand, which was then promptly sheared in half by a swipe of a much more organic tentacle that appeared to be made out of bone. He snapped his head up and watched as the camera panned up across what was most certainly the Angel's body. It was, a long, serpentine shape made out of segments of bone. Its head was vaguely avian and capped with a number of smaller tentacles dangling where its mouth would be, and red, crystalline eyes that glowed within their sockets, and most notably, a scorched, pock-marked entry plug was lodged within its forehead. Mari, who apparently had no sense of terror resumed talking.
"Mr. Bonejangles! Did you follow us all the way here? You're supposed to be grounded!"
The Angel let out a scream that sounded like a sandstorm echoing through a canyon and charged at Unit-05, Mari responded with a yell of her own as she charged at the beast. Shinji's head smacked into the back of Mari's seat, cracking his display as the two AT-fields collided with each other when his vision cleared, he saw the Angel attempting to chew its way through the intangible barrier holding it back.
"Hey Puppy! Not to bother you or anything but I'd really like it if you shot this thing in its goddamned face!"
"It broke my gun!"
Mari went silent for a moment then started laughing like a madwoman. Shinji was pretty sure that things weren't okay because he'd been in the exact same spot before…what made things even worse is when the laughing stopped. He felt the rumbling and squealing of the Eva's massive tires beneath him as its pilot continued to push its way into the Angel. It was this point that he did what he and any logical person who found themselves in this circumstance would do, he screamed at the top of his lungs, and started furiously tearing at the controls trying to figure some way, any way to flee from the situation he was in. In the corner of his eye, he could see the precious seconds of activation time ticking away like a noose tightening around his neck. No matter how hard the arms flailed against it opposing AT-field, it failed to make any meaningful impact. He yelled at his companion.
"Mari! We're going to die if we stay here!"
"Well, then I guess we've found where we are to die! Let's take this thing with us!"
Shinji tried to stand up, hoping that he could grab Mari and shake some sense into her. There was no reason to die here, not when Rei or the military, or somebody could be close enough to help. Unfortunately, any hopes at shaking sense into the girl were dashed when he stepped on one of the pedals near the floor and sent the Evangelion careening back into a stack of shipping crates, throwing him back once more into his seat. Dazed, Shinji raised his head to see the Angel slowing stalking towards them when it was suddenly hit by a falling cargo crane. Somehow, it hadn't had its AT-field raised in the direction of the falling object, which effortlessly fell on its head, cracking its skull. Mari let out a groan followed by a string of muttered profanities.
"Geez, you mind warning me before you hit the drive pedals? I'm only synched to the legs, but man, that really stings."
The Angel's AT-field flared, pulverizing the wreckage of the crane and sending it flying across the port. It was injured, but still continued to inch ever closer to the machine. Shinji started shaking his companion' s chair in terror.
"Mari! We've gotta move!"
The girl shrugged.
"No can do, I think we bent one of the legs the wrong way we're not going anywhere."
"We have to do something! Anything!"
Shinji continued to shout, and try to shake some sense into his companion while tearing at the controls in a frantic attempt to do anything he could to prevent the Angel from getting any closer when suddenly the sound of shearing metal filled his ears, in the frantic button mashing he'd managed to tear one of the arms off, and was waving it about like a flail in the left arm's claw. He let out a shout as he reared back to strike at the beast with his newfound weapon, only to watch as it bounced off its AT-field with a flash of orange light. Mari, who apparently had figured out a way to work past the pain of the Eva's damaged leg and charged forward.
The boy's senses were drowned out by the sound of the arm impacting the field like an anvil being struck and the dazzling light coming off of it, after what seemed to be an eternity the barrier broke and the patchwork Eva gained traction on its opponent and drove over its skull, crushing the core within causing its body to explode in a plume of red liquid. As the batteries finally ran out, and the soft while of the systems shutting down the only sound in the plug was the sound of Mari's breathing and Shinji softly sobbing in relief.
Part 2
Working on more, but here's the first part of the next chapter.
Shinji woke up once again to a ceiling that for better or for worse was becoming more and more familiar. Coupled with the perpetual sound of the cicadas outside the room, and the soft, steady beat of the EKG everything seemed like it had gone back to normal, except for somebody singing? Shinji turned over on his side and found the source of the music. Sitting in the chair next to his bed was Mari, her right leg clad in a dull grey boot cast, and one of the arms on her glasses held together with what looked to be electrical tape, but no worse for wear muttering the lyrics to some pop song under her breath.
"M-Mari?"
The brown-haired girl stopped singing and turned to face him. For a second it looked like she was about to burst into tears, but then the megawatt smile and light in her eyes came back.
"Hey Puppy!"
"Uh, hi."
Mari rummaged around in a bag that sat next to his chair and pulled out a card with a sad-looking cartoon puppy printed on it that said 'I'm sorry' in bright, cheery lettering. Shinji was dumbfounded.
"I'm sorry I tried to make a last stand without asking…and dragging you into my Eva when we'd only just met. Oh! And I'm sorry I nearly got you killed without even knowing your name, which I didn't know so I couldn't really personalize the card."
"It's okay, I like the card. A-and my name is-"
"Ikari-kun."
In the doorway, dressed in her usual school uniform was Rei Ayanami. Mari turned to face the blue-haired girl and let loose with her cheery routine once again.
"Hi, my name's Mari, what's-"
Rei walked past barely acknowledging that there was anyone else in the room.
"Ikari-kun, you have been cleared for discharge. Major Katsuragi will be waiting for you and the Sixth Child in the lobby when you are ready."
With that, Rei took a moment to observe the expression on the boy's face, turned on her heel and headed out of the room, passing by the bespectacled pilot once more
"-your name?"
Mari made a noise that sounded like a deflating balloon.
"What's her deal?"
Shinji shrugged.
"That's Rei, she's not being rude, she's just…uh, Rei."
"Oh. Also, did she say Ikari? Like Big Boss Ikari who runs NERV?"
"He's my father. I-I'm his son, Shinji."
Mari's eyes went wide.
"Shit, I nearly got the boss' son killed.."
"I…wouldn't worry, he doesn't really pay attention to that sort of thing."
The girl stared for a moment as if she wanted to say something.
"I still feel bad though. I wish Dr. Heck were here."
"Who's Dr. Heck?"
Shinji woke up once again to a ceiling that for better or for worse was becoming more and more familiar. Coupled with the perpetual sound of the cicadas outside the room, and the soft, steady beat of the EKG everything seemed like it had gone back to normal, except for somebody singing? Shinji turned over on his side and found the source of the music. Sitting in the chair next to his bed was Mari, her right leg clad in a dull grey boot cast, and one of the arms on her glasses held together with what looked to be electrical tape, but no worse for wear muttering the lyrics to some pop song under her breath.
"M-Mari?"
The brown-haired girl stopped singing and turned to face him. For a second it looked like she was about to burst into tears, but then the megawatt smile and light in her eyes came back.
"Hey Puppy!"
"Uh, hi."
Mari rummaged around in a bag that sat next to his chair and pulled out a card with a sad-looking cartoon puppy printed on it that said 'I'm sorry' in bright, cheery lettering. Shinji was dumbfounded.
"I'm sorry I tried to make a last stand without asking…and dragging you into my Eva when we'd only just met. Oh! And I'm sorry I nearly got you killed without even knowing your name, which I didn't know so I couldn't really personalize the card."
"It's okay, I like the card. A-and my name is-"
"Ikari-kun."
In the doorway, dressed in her usual school uniform was Rei Ayanami. Mari turned to face the blue-haired girl and let loose with her cheery routine once again.
"Hi, my name's Mari, what's-"
Rei walked past barely acknowledging that there was anyone else in the room.
"Ikari-kun, you have been cleared for discharge. Major Katsuragi will be waiting for you and the Sixth Child in the lobby when you are ready."
With that, Rei took a moment to observe the expression on the boy's face, turned on her heel and headed out of the room, passing by the bespectacled pilot once more
"-your name?"
Mari made a noise that sounded like a deflating balloon.
"What's her deal?"
Shinji shrugged.
"That's Rei, she's not being rude, she's just…uh, Rei."
"Oh. Also, did she say Ikari? Like Big Boss Ikari who runs NERV?"
"He's my father. I-I'm his son, Shinji."
Mari's eyes went wide.
"Shit, I nearly got the boss' son killed.."
"I…wouldn't worry, he doesn't really pay attention to that sort of thing."
The girl stared for a moment as if she wanted to say something.
"I still feel bad though. I wish Dr. Heck were here."
"Who's Dr. Heck?"
Part 3
And now, the other part of our interlude.
Geofront, Commander's Office
"The Angel at Bethany Base has been defeated before it's appointed hour."
"Indeed, the great work of fulfilling our covenant with Lilith has taken an unplanned turn."
Gendo Ikari sat at his desk surrounded by the seven monoliths of SEELE as they deliberated over this recent turn of events. The black, monoliths stood in midair as the voices that inhabited them spoke.
"What say you, Ikari? This…Heck was under your jurisdiction."
"Dr. Heck is a relic of the early days of Project E. His clumsy attempts to develop the first Evangelion units were largely unfruitful, as is evidenced by the monstrosity he brought with him which is more machine than flesh. I will deal with his insubordination, no deviation from the Instrumentality Project will be tolerated."
The first monolith turned to face the man. A soft tone, like a finger running around the rim of a wine glass, started to ring in his ears. Slowly the sound became clearer and more piercing and his vision began to blur slightly and for a fraction of a second. Gendo put a hand on his desk to steady himself, only to watch it deform and spread out across it like clay. Then, as soon as it began the sound stopped, and the world snapped back to normal as it spoke once more.
"Realize Ikari, your efforts are to prevent the children of Adam from reaching Lilith before we awaken the true Evangelion and fulfill our work. You will observe Heck, determine his motives, and then if they threaten our plans you will act."
The commander adjusted his glasses.
"What of the Provisional Unit and the Sixth Child?"
The fourth monolith replied in a stilted, unnatural tone.
"You asked for another Evangelion to assist you. Given your imperfect performance, an imperfect Eva should suit you well, wouldn't you say? See this through Commander, lest your actions result in unforeseen consequences."
With that the monoliths faded from existence and the room returned to normal. Fuyutsuki, who had stood silent throughout the ordeal began to speak. As Gendo reached his hand into his desk and pulled out a bottle of scotch.
"If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent Him."
The younger man poured the amber liquid into a glass and took a sip.
"Indeed Teacher. This would explain the reports we've heard about the Mark.06, SEELE sees our Evas as playthings that they allow us to use while they seek to fashion themselves a replacement for Adam. We'll have to move up our timetable if we are to create a god of our own."
Fuyutsuki frowned slightly.
"What about Heck? We can't dispose of him without tipping our hand to the Council, and he knows too much of our plans as it is."
Gendo smirked.
"The old fool just wants his ego stroked. Dr. Akagi has been grumbling about managing the MAGI's systems and Project E's day-to-day operations. I'm sure she won't mind if some old has-been sits there monitoring synch-tests all day."
Geofront, Commander's Office
"The Angel at Bethany Base has been defeated before it's appointed hour."
"Indeed, the great work of fulfilling our covenant with Lilith has taken an unplanned turn."
Gendo Ikari sat at his desk surrounded by the seven monoliths of SEELE as they deliberated over this recent turn of events. The black, monoliths stood in midair as the voices that inhabited them spoke.
"What say you, Ikari? This…Heck was under your jurisdiction."
"Dr. Heck is a relic of the early days of Project E. His clumsy attempts to develop the first Evangelion units were largely unfruitful, as is evidenced by the monstrosity he brought with him which is more machine than flesh. I will deal with his insubordination, no deviation from the Instrumentality Project will be tolerated."
The first monolith turned to face the man. A soft tone, like a finger running around the rim of a wine glass, started to ring in his ears. Slowly the sound became clearer and more piercing and his vision began to blur slightly and for a fraction of a second. Gendo put a hand on his desk to steady himself, only to watch it deform and spread out across it like clay. Then, as soon as it began the sound stopped, and the world snapped back to normal as it spoke once more.
"Realize Ikari, your efforts are to prevent the children of Adam from reaching Lilith before we awaken the true Evangelion and fulfill our work. You will observe Heck, determine his motives, and then if they threaten our plans you will act."
The commander adjusted his glasses.
"What of the Provisional Unit and the Sixth Child?"
The fourth monolith replied in a stilted, unnatural tone.
"You asked for another Evangelion to assist you. Given your imperfect performance, an imperfect Eva should suit you well, wouldn't you say? See this through Commander, lest your actions result in unforeseen consequences."
With that the monoliths faded from existence and the room returned to normal. Fuyutsuki, who had stood silent throughout the ordeal began to speak. As Gendo reached his hand into his desk and pulled out a bottle of scotch.
"If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent Him."
The younger man poured the amber liquid into a glass and took a sip.
"Indeed Teacher. This would explain the reports we've heard about the Mark.06, SEELE sees our Evas as playthings that they allow us to use while they seek to fashion themselves a replacement for Adam. We'll have to move up our timetable if we are to create a god of our own."
Fuyutsuki frowned slightly.
"What about Heck? We can't dispose of him without tipping our hand to the Council, and he knows too much of our plans as it is."
Gendo smirked.
"The old fool just wants his ego stroked. Dr. Akagi has been grumbling about managing the MAGI's systems and Project E's day-to-day operations. I'm sure she won't mind if some old has-been sits there monitoring synch-tests all day."
Part 4
Misato's Apartment, later
Mari brushed a few stay strands of brown hair out of her eyes and looked across the expanse of the living room from her perch on the couch. The kitchen area seemed to be clean and neatly ordered, but the space seemed to fall into anarchy as bags of trash and cans waiting to be recycled slowly gave way to stacks of takeout boxes and small pyramids of empty beer cans before just falling victim to entropy and ending in a scattered mess. Not wanting to seem ungrateful she searched for words.
"It's…homey."
Shinji leaned back on the couch and sighed.
"It's a mess."
"No, its...uh, lived in. It gives it character!"
Silence fell over the room.
"I really appreciate you and Misato letting me stay here until we figure out what's going on."
Shinji shrugged.
"No problem."
"I'm sure Dr. Heck will get everything in order. He's pretty good at that sort of thing, even when we were back at Bethany Base he somehow managed to figure out how to take care of me after my parents died."
"Sorry. My mother died when I was younger, its hard. A-at least you have someone who cares about you though."
Mari inhaled sharply and moved closer to Shinji, glaring at him all the while before letting out a sigh and and flopping herself back down on the couch with a dull thud.
"Hey Puppy, why do you pilot your Eva?"
"What?"
The girl started staring again and sighed.
"I'll go first then. I pilot Eva because people really don't like it if I get mad about homework, or synch tests, or having dead parents and there's nothing I can really do about it besides getting stuck in the brig. But nothing on Earth can stop Unit-05 once it gets going and nobody gets mad if I take it out on one of those stupid Angels. So why do you do it?"
Shinji stared. If Mari piloted because she was so angry with the world would she beat him up if he gave the wrong answer? She seemed a little weird before and he could kinda see what she was talking about given the fight with the skeleton Angel but she'd always seemed pretty friendly, at least compared to most people he'd met. He gulped and gave a response.
"B-because, I'm told to? I guess? It's not like I really have anywhere else to go since I live here with Misato, and Unit-01 doesn't work for anyone but me and Rei for some reason but she has Unit-00 now so that just…leaves me. "
He flinched slightly with that last line.
"Please don't hurt me!"
A look of guilt passed over Mari's face, she scooted away from Shinji slightly and tried to sound reassuring.
"Pup…Shinji I'm not…I'm not mad at you, it's just a sore spot. I don't want to hurt you or anybody else it's just- I'm sorry. You're my friend, hell you're the first person my age I've ever met that's bothered to talk to me for more than a few minutes and you must think you just let some crazy ax-murderer into the house or something."
Shinji's response was cut off by the sound of the front door opening to reveal a haggard-looking Misato carrying a bag of takeout.
"Sorry I'm late, tons of paperwork, a bunch of grumpy longshoremen who didn't appreciate us tearing up their port. The usual, you guys like Chinese food right?"
Silence hung over the room until Mari decided to speak up.
"I've never had it?"
Misato put the bag down on the table and grabbed a beer from the fridge.
"Well, there's a first time for everything I guess."
Mari brushed a few stay strands of brown hair out of her eyes and looked across the expanse of the living room from her perch on the couch. The kitchen area seemed to be clean and neatly ordered, but the space seemed to fall into anarchy as bags of trash and cans waiting to be recycled slowly gave way to stacks of takeout boxes and small pyramids of empty beer cans before just falling victim to entropy and ending in a scattered mess. Not wanting to seem ungrateful she searched for words.
"It's…homey."
Shinji leaned back on the couch and sighed.
"It's a mess."
"No, its...uh, lived in. It gives it character!"
Silence fell over the room.
"I really appreciate you and Misato letting me stay here until we figure out what's going on."
Shinji shrugged.
"No problem."
"I'm sure Dr. Heck will get everything in order. He's pretty good at that sort of thing, even when we were back at Bethany Base he somehow managed to figure out how to take care of me after my parents died."
"Sorry. My mother died when I was younger, its hard. A-at least you have someone who cares about you though."
Mari inhaled sharply and moved closer to Shinji, glaring at him all the while before letting out a sigh and and flopping herself back down on the couch with a dull thud.
"Hey Puppy, why do you pilot your Eva?"
"What?"
The girl started staring again and sighed.
"I'll go first then. I pilot Eva because people really don't like it if I get mad about homework, or synch tests, or having dead parents and there's nothing I can really do about it besides getting stuck in the brig. But nothing on Earth can stop Unit-05 once it gets going and nobody gets mad if I take it out on one of those stupid Angels. So why do you do it?"
Shinji stared. If Mari piloted because she was so angry with the world would she beat him up if he gave the wrong answer? She seemed a little weird before and he could kinda see what she was talking about given the fight with the skeleton Angel but she'd always seemed pretty friendly, at least compared to most people he'd met. He gulped and gave a response.
"B-because, I'm told to? I guess? It's not like I really have anywhere else to go since I live here with Misato, and Unit-01 doesn't work for anyone but me and Rei for some reason but she has Unit-00 now so that just…leaves me. "
He flinched slightly with that last line.
"Please don't hurt me!"
A look of guilt passed over Mari's face, she scooted away from Shinji slightly and tried to sound reassuring.
"Pup…Shinji I'm not…I'm not mad at you, it's just a sore spot. I don't want to hurt you or anybody else it's just- I'm sorry. You're my friend, hell you're the first person my age I've ever met that's bothered to talk to me for more than a few minutes and you must think you just let some crazy ax-murderer into the house or something."
Shinji's response was cut off by the sound of the front door opening to reveal a haggard-looking Misato carrying a bag of takeout.
"Sorry I'm late, tons of paperwork, a bunch of grumpy longshoremen who didn't appreciate us tearing up their port. The usual, you guys like Chinese food right?"
Silence hung over the room until Mari decided to speak up.
"I've never had it?"
Misato put the bag down on the table and grabbed a beer from the fridge.
"Well, there's a first time for everything I guess."
Part 5
Morning, Misato's Apartment
The sunlight poured in through the apartment's windows as Shinji stood in front of the bathroom door fumbling with his shirt buttons.
"Hey, Mari? Are you almost done in there? We're going to be late for school if we don't leave soon!"
The door opened revealing a Mari with her long brown hair tied back in twintails held in place with what looked to be a pair of A-10 clips and a pair of shiny red half-rimmed glasses replacing the plainer ones she had been wearing the previous day. What stood out more was her outfit.
"Why are you dressed like a Sailor Scout?"
Mari's head tilted in confusion and adjusted her neckerchief and smoothed her skirt.
"I thought that schoolgirls in Japan dressed up in sailor outfits?"
"Maybe in manga, b-but don't worry I'm sure we can get you a school uniform!"
"Wark."
The conversation was interrupted by Pen-Pen waddling his way out of the bathtub and between the two of them. He stopped for a moment to stare at Mari for a second, gave another wark, and made his way to the kitchen.
"That's Pen-Pen, he's Misato's pet penguin."
Mari's familiar smile lit up her face once more.
"Well it's good to know that he's real and that I'm not just seeing things again!"
Shinji just stared as his companion's face deflated.
"I was joking Puppy…although I guess it wasn't that funny."
"N-no, it's just unexpected?"
That seemed to be the right response and the smile returned to the girl's face.
"Yeah, that's me alright! Unexpected. Maybe that should be my middle name instead of Illustrious?"
"I guess so? Illustrious is a good name though."
"Aw, thanks. We better get going though, I don't want to be late on my first day!"
The walk over to the school was surprisingly uneventful and took less time than usual giving Mari's insistence on getting there as soon as they could. Once in the building, they were met by the stares of their classmates. Shinji didn't really like being noticed, but then again he wasn't wearing an outfit different from everyone else's. He wondered if Mari felt the same way, but given how she seemed to be so excitable about everything she saw maybe she just didn't care? He continued to ponder on the nature of his new companion until he felt a sharp tugging on his sleeve.
"Hey, Puppy. Is she the boss?"
Mari tilted her head in the direction of Hikari, the freckled girl was talking to another girl as people filtered into the classroom.
"Who? Hikari? She's the class rep so she makes sure everyone stands and bows to the teacher, makes sure people who are sick get their homework, and…wait are you afraid of her?"
The girl puffed out her cheeks and adjusted her glasses.
"No...it's just that class reps are kinda hardcore disciplinarians, right? I've got issues with authority sometimes, I just don't want to make a bad impression since this is my first time at school with other people and..oh shit."
Shinji turned his head and noticed Hikari walking over to them, making a quick appraisal of his companion's outfit in the process.
"Good morning Shinji, I see you brought someone with you."
She turned to face Mari.
"Hello, my name is Hikari Horaki I'm the class representative from Class 2-A."
Mari gave a short bow which seemed to confuse Hikari and mumbled out a reply.
"I'm Mari. Mari Illustrious Makinami, I'm not signed up or anything and I don't have a proper uniform and I'm sure NERV will take care of everything, but I'm really looking forward to being here thank you."
A familiar look of verbal overload crossed over Hikari's face while she processed everything Mari had just told her.
"Oh, okay you're a new pilot. Well, that's wonderful, I'm sure that everything will be taken care of. Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?"
"I guess…I mean that sounds good. Thanks?"
"Hi, I'm Mari Illustrious Makinami and I'm looking forward to getting along with most of you!"
Shinji heard a gulp coming from Kensuke's desk.
"Did you see that she was looking right at us when she said that. We're in deep trouble man!"
Touji shrugged.
"Hey, it's your fault for making fun of her giant robot. Maybe you should beg her forgiveness so she doesn't drive it through your house or bodyslam an Angel into it the next time one shows up."
Ken's voice became more panicked and high-pitched.
"S-she wouldn't do that right? I mean there are rules against that sort of thing. R-right Shinji?"
Given what Mari had said last night he couldn't give a definitive answer. Mari seemed friendly enough but he couldn't tell if that was because she was just being nice or if it was out of some sense of obligation since she felt bad about nearly getting him killed by the skeleton Angel. He also had to admit that after Touji had punched him while Kensuke just watched he'd thought of doing the same thing with Unit-01, but decided that it wouldn't be worth having everyone hate him forever because of it...and Ken just seemed to continue fretting about what Mari was going to do to him with disregard for whatever his response was. Glancing around the classroom he'd noticed that Mari had decided to seat herself next to Rei, who as usual had her nose buried in a book despite the bespectacled girl's attempts to get her attention.
"Hi there! My name's Mari, we met the other day but I didn't really have a chance to introduce myself."
Rei flipped the page of her book and spoke in her usual monotone voice.
"I am Rei Ayanami."
"Hi Rei!, We should be friends!"
The blue-haired girl put down her book and stared at the new girl sitting next to her.
"Why?"
Mari tilted her head slightly in confusion.
"Do people need to have a reason to be friends?"
"That would be a matter of philosophy."
"I...guess so? Well, we're both Eva pilots...and you call Shinji 'Ikari-kun' so you guys must be friends and I gave him a nickname and went into battle with him so I guess we're at least battle buddies which kinda makes us friends. Oh! We're also desk neighbors so that makes us kinda makes us friends by relation?"
Rei stared at Mari for a moment and turned her attention back to her book causing the other girl to let out a noise that sounded like a deflating balloon. A short while after that she took her seat and waited eagerly for the teacher to arrive. Hours later after sitting through a lecture about what life working at a ramen stand was like prior to Second Impact she came to the realization that public education might not be as exciting as books and movies made it out to be. The bell was a welcome relief and as the class started to file out of the room she turned to a rather bored-looking Shinji.
"Please tell me it's not like this every day."
The boy shrugged.
"At least it's Saturday, classes during the week go most of the day. But at least weekend classes mean that we at least have some free time after synch tests."
Mari's shoulders sagged.
"Oh. Goody."
"We'd better hurry because if we miss the train it's a long trip to the GeoFront and Dr. Akagi gets angry if we're late."
"Perhaps I might be of assistance."
The deep, slightly unsettling voice came from a bald, bearded man dressed in a dark uniform that looked similar to the one Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki wore, and perched on his nose was a pair of half-rimmed glasses. He leaned against an idling van emblazoned with the NERV insignia on its doors. Mari let out a happy shout and ran over to hug him.
"Doctor Heck!"
"Hello Mari, would you and your friend like a ride?"
The sunlight poured in through the apartment's windows as Shinji stood in front of the bathroom door fumbling with his shirt buttons.
"Hey, Mari? Are you almost done in there? We're going to be late for school if we don't leave soon!"
The door opened revealing a Mari with her long brown hair tied back in twintails held in place with what looked to be a pair of A-10 clips and a pair of shiny red half-rimmed glasses replacing the plainer ones she had been wearing the previous day. What stood out more was her outfit.
"Why are you dressed like a Sailor Scout?"
Mari's head tilted in confusion and adjusted her neckerchief and smoothed her skirt.
"I thought that schoolgirls in Japan dressed up in sailor outfits?"
"Maybe in manga, b-but don't worry I'm sure we can get you a school uniform!"
"Wark."
The conversation was interrupted by Pen-Pen waddling his way out of the bathtub and between the two of them. He stopped for a moment to stare at Mari for a second, gave another wark, and made his way to the kitchen.
"That's Pen-Pen, he's Misato's pet penguin."
Mari's familiar smile lit up her face once more.
"Well it's good to know that he's real and that I'm not just seeing things again!"
Shinji just stared as his companion's face deflated.
"I was joking Puppy…although I guess it wasn't that funny."
"N-no, it's just unexpected?"
That seemed to be the right response and the smile returned to the girl's face.
"Yeah, that's me alright! Unexpected. Maybe that should be my middle name instead of Illustrious?"
"I guess so? Illustrious is a good name though."
"Aw, thanks. We better get going though, I don't want to be late on my first day!"
The walk over to the school was surprisingly uneventful and took less time than usual giving Mari's insistence on getting there as soon as they could. Once in the building, they were met by the stares of their classmates. Shinji didn't really like being noticed, but then again he wasn't wearing an outfit different from everyone else's. He wondered if Mari felt the same way, but given how she seemed to be so excitable about everything she saw maybe she just didn't care? He continued to ponder on the nature of his new companion until he felt a sharp tugging on his sleeve.
"Hey, Puppy. Is she the boss?"
Mari tilted her head in the direction of Hikari, the freckled girl was talking to another girl as people filtered into the classroom.
"Who? Hikari? She's the class rep so she makes sure everyone stands and bows to the teacher, makes sure people who are sick get their homework, and…wait are you afraid of her?"
The girl puffed out her cheeks and adjusted her glasses.
"No...it's just that class reps are kinda hardcore disciplinarians, right? I've got issues with authority sometimes, I just don't want to make a bad impression since this is my first time at school with other people and..oh shit."
Shinji turned his head and noticed Hikari walking over to them, making a quick appraisal of his companion's outfit in the process.
"Good morning Shinji, I see you brought someone with you."
She turned to face Mari.
"Hello, my name is Hikari Horaki I'm the class representative from Class 2-A."
Mari gave a short bow which seemed to confuse Hikari and mumbled out a reply.
"I'm Mari. Mari Illustrious Makinami, I'm not signed up or anything and I don't have a proper uniform and I'm sure NERV will take care of everything, but I'm really looking forward to being here thank you."
A familiar look of verbal overload crossed over Hikari's face while she processed everything Mari had just told her.
"Oh, okay you're a new pilot. Well, that's wonderful, I'm sure that everything will be taken care of. Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?"
"I guess…I mean that sounds good. Thanks?"
"Hi, I'm Mari Illustrious Makinami and I'm looking forward to getting along with most of you!"
Shinji heard a gulp coming from Kensuke's desk.
"Did you see that she was looking right at us when she said that. We're in deep trouble man!"
Touji shrugged.
"Hey, it's your fault for making fun of her giant robot. Maybe you should beg her forgiveness so she doesn't drive it through your house or bodyslam an Angel into it the next time one shows up."
Ken's voice became more panicked and high-pitched.
"S-she wouldn't do that right? I mean there are rules against that sort of thing. R-right Shinji?"
Given what Mari had said last night he couldn't give a definitive answer. Mari seemed friendly enough but he couldn't tell if that was because she was just being nice or if it was out of some sense of obligation since she felt bad about nearly getting him killed by the skeleton Angel. He also had to admit that after Touji had punched him while Kensuke just watched he'd thought of doing the same thing with Unit-01, but decided that it wouldn't be worth having everyone hate him forever because of it...and Ken just seemed to continue fretting about what Mari was going to do to him with disregard for whatever his response was. Glancing around the classroom he'd noticed that Mari had decided to seat herself next to Rei, who as usual had her nose buried in a book despite the bespectacled girl's attempts to get her attention.
"Hi there! My name's Mari, we met the other day but I didn't really have a chance to introduce myself."
Rei flipped the page of her book and spoke in her usual monotone voice.
"I am Rei Ayanami."
"Hi Rei!, We should be friends!"
The blue-haired girl put down her book and stared at the new girl sitting next to her.
"Why?"
Mari tilted her head slightly in confusion.
"Do people need to have a reason to be friends?"
"That would be a matter of philosophy."
"I...guess so? Well, we're both Eva pilots...and you call Shinji 'Ikari-kun' so you guys must be friends and I gave him a nickname and went into battle with him so I guess we're at least battle buddies which kinda makes us friends. Oh! We're also desk neighbors so that makes us kinda makes us friends by relation?"
Rei stared at Mari for a moment and turned her attention back to her book causing the other girl to let out a noise that sounded like a deflating balloon. A short while after that she took her seat and waited eagerly for the teacher to arrive. Hours later after sitting through a lecture about what life working at a ramen stand was like prior to Second Impact she came to the realization that public education might not be as exciting as books and movies made it out to be. The bell was a welcome relief and as the class started to file out of the room she turned to a rather bored-looking Shinji.
"Please tell me it's not like this every day."
The boy shrugged.
"At least it's Saturday, classes during the week go most of the day. But at least weekend classes mean that we at least have some free time after synch tests."
Mari's shoulders sagged.
"Oh. Goody."
"We'd better hurry because if we miss the train it's a long trip to the GeoFront and Dr. Akagi gets angry if we're late."
"Perhaps I might be of assistance."
The deep, slightly unsettling voice came from a bald, bearded man dressed in a dark uniform that looked similar to the one Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki wore, and perched on his nose was a pair of half-rimmed glasses. He leaned against an idling van emblazoned with the NERV insignia on its doors. Mari let out a happy shout and ran over to hug him.
"Doctor Heck!"
"Hello Mari, would you and your friend like a ride?"
Part 6 - That Bishie Came From The Moon
How about an Interlude?
Tabgha Base, Mare Tranquillitatis, Moon
"Good morning brother. I hope you are well."
A massive white giant, clad in a massive seven-eyed mask sat in the pit that had been dug in the lunar surface. It was surrounded by various gantries supporting massive hoses and piping that carried fluids in and out of the white, rubbery outer skin that protected it. The gray-haired boy who had greeted it, stood bare to the world around him rubbed the back of his head and sat down at the edge of the wall, the tiny cuts and scrapes caused by the regolith sealing themselves almost as quickly as they appeared.
"I doubt it would hear you."
The boy turned to find a featureless black monolith suddenly standing next to him. The deep, almost inhuman voice that came from it echoed in his mind.
"Because individuals are incapable of ever completely understanding one another?"
There was a dull chuckle from the monolith.
"Because there is no atmosphere for it to hear the sound. Not everything has to be inscrutable Tabris."
Laying back on the ground with his arms behind his head the boy let out a sigh.
"You know, there was a time where we would stand here cryptically debating the nature of the Lilin and my kind."
"Times were simpler then. We've been through much together Tabris, we will remember you fondly when our task is finished."
"This is assuming that my brother reawakens after being thrown into the moon and that the alterations that you've made this time prove effective."
The deep voice of the monolith took on a slightly humorous tone.
"We will attempt to hold up our end of the bargain as long as you do. Perhaps if you'd spent more time working towards our goal instead of amusing yourself with our flock we'd all be able to…Apologies it is unbecoming of us to lose our heads."
Tabris laughed.
"Making jokes at my expense? Things have truly gone awry when SEELE is showing a sense of humor."
As soon as it had appeared the monolith vanished as if it had never existed. The grey-haired boy gave a small smile.
"Oh dear, it looks like we've embarrassed Lilith's poor servant brother. Whatever shall we do?"
The white giant continued to sit silently in the dust.
"I wonder what Shinji-kun is up to?"
Tabgha Base, Mare Tranquillitatis, Moon
"Good morning brother. I hope you are well."
A massive white giant, clad in a massive seven-eyed mask sat in the pit that had been dug in the lunar surface. It was surrounded by various gantries supporting massive hoses and piping that carried fluids in and out of the white, rubbery outer skin that protected it. The gray-haired boy who had greeted it, stood bare to the world around him rubbed the back of his head and sat down at the edge of the wall, the tiny cuts and scrapes caused by the regolith sealing themselves almost as quickly as they appeared.
"I doubt it would hear you."
The boy turned to find a featureless black monolith suddenly standing next to him. The deep, almost inhuman voice that came from it echoed in his mind.
"Because individuals are incapable of ever completely understanding one another?"
There was a dull chuckle from the monolith.
"Because there is no atmosphere for it to hear the sound. Not everything has to be inscrutable Tabris."
Laying back on the ground with his arms behind his head the boy let out a sigh.
"You know, there was a time where we would stand here cryptically debating the nature of the Lilin and my kind."
"Times were simpler then. We've been through much together Tabris, we will remember you fondly when our task is finished."
"This is assuming that my brother reawakens after being thrown into the moon and that the alterations that you've made this time prove effective."
The deep voice of the monolith took on a slightly humorous tone.
"We will attempt to hold up our end of the bargain as long as you do. Perhaps if you'd spent more time working towards our goal instead of amusing yourself with our flock we'd all be able to…Apologies it is unbecoming of us to lose our heads."
Tabris laughed.
"Making jokes at my expense? Things have truly gone awry when SEELE is showing a sense of humor."
As soon as it had appeared the monolith vanished as if it had never existed. The grey-haired boy gave a small smile.
"Oh dear, it looks like we've embarrassed Lilith's poor servant brother. Whatever shall we do?"
The white giant continued to sit silently in the dust.
"I wonder what Shinji-kun is up to?"
Part 6.1 - They (Did Not) Tell You?
New update with art!
"Good afternoon children, my name is Dr. Stephen Heck. I'll be taking Dr. Akagi's position as the lead on Project E and will be administering this afternoon's synch test. Before we begin, does anyone have any questions? And before anyone asks, yes Heck is my actual last name, it's from the old English for gate or doorway. Hopefully, together we'll be opening some new doors to the unknown eh?"
An awkward silence fell over the test chamber. Rei seemed preoccupied with looking off into the distance while Mari fidgeted in her pink plugsuit softly humming a pop song under her breath. Shinji reluctantly raised his hand.
"Dr. Heck? What is an Evangelion? Nobody's ever told me what exactly it is and why somebody would even build something so big an expensive if only one person in the world could pilot it?"
The older man lit up with an almost Mari-like expression before a slightly perplexed look took over.
"That's an excellent question Shinji, although I'm surprised you'd ask. Unit-01 was your mo-"
Out of the corner of Heck's eye, he could see Mari shaking her head and gesturing wildly.
"Well I suppose we have time for a lesson, and it's good to see someone so eager to learn."
Shinji soon came to the realization that he'd just made a rather large mistake. Along with the realization that his father hadn't told him to get into a giant robot, but a clone of the Angel that had caused the Second Impact in the first place which was through the power of synchronization was ordered to fight its brothers? Did Angels even have families? Shinji then sat wondering if Unit-01 was as reluctant to be piloted as he was about piloting. That train of thought quickly derailed when the older man stopped talking wistfully about his past in Project E when one line suddenly stood out.
"…Which comes with the problem of the occupant of the Entry Plug disappearing into that undiscovered country, lost to us forever."
"W-what?"
Heck stopped rambling and stroked his beard.
"Apologies Shinji, that was insensitive of me."
"N-no what was that last part?"
"The plug depth? Think of synchronization as trying to yell instructions at the Eva's core, the closer we get to the core the quicker that it's able to respond. However, when the plug comes in direct contact with the core it causes the occupant to come into direct contact with the Evangelion's mind."
"And that's bad?"
The older man knelt down and put his hand on Shinji's shoulder.
"Your mother hypothesized that the reason why the Angels attacked us was that they were so divorced from humans that we were unable to communicate. So she thought that if she could completely contact the Eva's core she could bridge that gap. It turned out that exposing a human mind completely to one such as Adam's overpowers it and causes the person's mind to become indistinguishable from that of the Eva's and it caused her to vanish."
"M-my mother isn't dead? She's just in Unit-01's core somewhere? Can I talk to her? Why didn't father-"
"We think that her presence inside the core, be it real or just an after-image of that moment of contact is what allows you to pilot Unit-01 so effectively. Outside of that, there's so much we still don't know about Adam, the Angels and the Evas themselves. We run these synch tests to help learn more about how the link works in hopes that one day we'll be able to undo what happened."
Shinji stared at the wall behind Heck, unsure what to think.
"Shinji? It's a lot to take in if you don't want to continue with the test I understand."
"C-could I try it? In case you know…"
Heck gave a small smile.
"Of course. Now, who here enjoys Abba? I find a little light music helps pass the time during these things."
"Good afternoon children, my name is Dr. Stephen Heck. I'll be taking Dr. Akagi's position as the lead on Project E and will be administering this afternoon's synch test. Before we begin, does anyone have any questions? And before anyone asks, yes Heck is my actual last name, it's from the old English for gate or doorway. Hopefully, together we'll be opening some new doors to the unknown eh?"
An awkward silence fell over the test chamber. Rei seemed preoccupied with looking off into the distance while Mari fidgeted in her pink plugsuit softly humming a pop song under her breath. Shinji reluctantly raised his hand.
"Dr. Heck? What is an Evangelion? Nobody's ever told me what exactly it is and why somebody would even build something so big an expensive if only one person in the world could pilot it?"
The older man lit up with an almost Mari-like expression before a slightly perplexed look took over.
"That's an excellent question Shinji, although I'm surprised you'd ask. Unit-01 was your mo-"
Out of the corner of Heck's eye, he could see Mari shaking her head and gesturing wildly.
"Well I suppose we have time for a lesson, and it's good to see someone so eager to learn."
Shinji soon came to the realization that he'd just made a rather large mistake. Along with the realization that his father hadn't told him to get into a giant robot, but a clone of the Angel that had caused the Second Impact in the first place which was through the power of synchronization was ordered to fight its brothers? Did Angels even have families? Shinji then sat wondering if Unit-01 was as reluctant to be piloted as he was about piloting. That train of thought quickly derailed when the older man stopped talking wistfully about his past in Project E when one line suddenly stood out.
"…Which comes with the problem of the occupant of the Entry Plug disappearing into that undiscovered country, lost to us forever."
"W-what?"
Heck stopped rambling and stroked his beard.
"Apologies Shinji, that was insensitive of me."
"N-no what was that last part?"
"The plug depth? Think of synchronization as trying to yell instructions at the Eva's core, the closer we get to the core the quicker that it's able to respond. However, when the plug comes in direct contact with the core it causes the occupant to come into direct contact with the Evangelion's mind."
"And that's bad?"
The older man knelt down and put his hand on Shinji's shoulder.
"Your mother hypothesized that the reason why the Angels attacked us was that they were so divorced from humans that we were unable to communicate. So she thought that if she could completely contact the Eva's core she could bridge that gap. It turned out that exposing a human mind completely to one such as Adam's overpowers it and causes the person's mind to become indistinguishable from that of the Eva's and it caused her to vanish."
"M-my mother isn't dead? She's just in Unit-01's core somewhere? Can I talk to her? Why didn't father-"
"We think that her presence inside the core, be it real or just an after-image of that moment of contact is what allows you to pilot Unit-01 so effectively. Outside of that, there's so much we still don't know about Adam, the Angels and the Evas themselves. We run these synch tests to help learn more about how the link works in hopes that one day we'll be able to undo what happened."
Shinji stared at the wall behind Heck, unsure what to think.
"Shinji? It's a lot to take in if you don't want to continue with the test I understand."
"C-could I try it? In case you know…"
Heck gave a small smile.
"Of course. Now, who here enjoys Abba? I find a little light music helps pass the time during these things."
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Part 6.2 - Prelude to Dinner
Synch Test Chamber, Later
"Mari? What's wrong?"
"Doc, you can't just go dropping giant Earth-shattering things like that!"
Heck stroked his beard.
"You gave him the always angry all the time speech didn't you?"
The girl sighed.
"Yes. And I scared him like I do with everyone because I'm the weird girl from the middle of nowhere who's creepy. Yes, I know that you don't think I'm creepy but you build giant angel robot monsters for a living so that doesn't count."
"Well, he seems nice."
"Which is why you shouldn't have started doing that whole rambling thing you always do! He's been friendly and kind and I nearly got him killed and you just went on about his mom and it's just this big mess."
Heck wrapped his arm around Mari's shoulders.
"Maybe it is right now, but making new friends and trying new things always comes with that risk. Like I always say-"
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I know."
"How about we invite your new friends and the Major to have dinner with us? Nothing like a nice family dinner to sort everything out."
Mari puffed out her cheeks.
"It'll be an awkward family dinner."
That got a small chuckle from the doctor.
"Perhaps. How about you get changed and I'll see to making reservations somewhere?"
The girl let out another sigh and took off for the locker room.
Rei stood in front of her locker, her white plugsuit sitting crumpled near her feet as the Sixth Child continued talking at a rather impressive clip complete with hand gestures. It was, different from the usual economy of words and actions she was used to from the Commander and Dr. Akagi, even Ikari-kun was more restrained than this.
"…And anyway I'm sorry for just bouncing in getting up in your face and…"
The blue-haired girl continued to stare blankly. The Sixth Child was somehow still speaking seeming about unrelated things. Commander Ikari had made mention before of people being unable to truly understand each other due to the metaphysical walls they built. Were Rei more inclined to metaphor she might think that the girl in front of here was wielding the verbal equivalent of a battering ram. Wait, she stopped. She's looking at us like we're supposed to say something.
"Uh, Rei? Are you off in your own little world there?"
Rei stared for a moment.
"Yes."
The Sixth Child's head tilted slightly.
"Oh, okay I do that sometimes too. What I was trying to ask is if you wanted to join me, Shinji, and Dr. Heck, and Major Katsuragi for dinner?"
"Yes?"
"Great!"
Mari took off humming a cheery song with her clothes tucked under her arm leaving Rei wondering what exactly she had just agreed to.
"Mari? What's wrong?"
"Doc, you can't just go dropping giant Earth-shattering things like that!"
Heck stroked his beard.
"You gave him the always angry all the time speech didn't you?"
The girl sighed.
"Yes. And I scared him like I do with everyone because I'm the weird girl from the middle of nowhere who's creepy. Yes, I know that you don't think I'm creepy but you build giant angel robot monsters for a living so that doesn't count."
"Well, he seems nice."
"Which is why you shouldn't have started doing that whole rambling thing you always do! He's been friendly and kind and I nearly got him killed and you just went on about his mom and it's just this big mess."
Heck wrapped his arm around Mari's shoulders.
"Maybe it is right now, but making new friends and trying new things always comes with that risk. Like I always say-"
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I know."
"How about we invite your new friends and the Major to have dinner with us? Nothing like a nice family dinner to sort everything out."
Mari puffed out her cheeks.
"It'll be an awkward family dinner."
That got a small chuckle from the doctor.
"Perhaps. How about you get changed and I'll see to making reservations somewhere?"
The girl let out another sigh and took off for the locker room.
Rei stood in front of her locker, her white plugsuit sitting crumpled near her feet as the Sixth Child continued talking at a rather impressive clip complete with hand gestures. It was, different from the usual economy of words and actions she was used to from the Commander and Dr. Akagi, even Ikari-kun was more restrained than this.
"…And anyway I'm sorry for just bouncing in getting up in your face and…"
The blue-haired girl continued to stare blankly. The Sixth Child was somehow still speaking seeming about unrelated things. Commander Ikari had made mention before of people being unable to truly understand each other due to the metaphysical walls they built. Were Rei more inclined to metaphor she might think that the girl in front of here was wielding the verbal equivalent of a battering ram. Wait, she stopped. She's looking at us like we're supposed to say something.
"Uh, Rei? Are you off in your own little world there?"
Rei stared for a moment.
"Yes."
The Sixth Child's head tilted slightly.
"Oh, okay I do that sometimes too. What I was trying to ask is if you wanted to join me, Shinji, and Dr. Heck, and Major Katsuragi for dinner?"
"Yes?"
"Great!"
Mari took off humming a cheery song with her clothes tucked under her arm leaving Rei wondering what exactly she had just agreed to.
Chopsticks
Local Noodle Shop, Tokyo-3
A sea of tan NERV uniforms, the dark suits of salarymen, and various workers of the city packed the small restaurant. The party of the pilots, Dr. Heck, and Misato sat tucked away at a corner table.
"So, Major Kusanagi."
"Katsuragi."
"Apologies, I appreciate you taking care of Mari while I was indisposed. I know it was on short notice. Well, you didn't have any idea we were coming at all with how abrupt our transfer was. Anyway, thank you for joining us for dinner, its the least I can do to repay you."
"Thanks, I guess? She certainly seems…spirited?"
Across the table, the Sixth Child was busily building a tower from the cup of chopsticks as Rei blankly stared at the sight while Shinji fiddled with his hopelessly tangled earbuds.
"She comes by it naturally, her mother was the same way. Granted, growing up on a converted container ship in the middle of nowhere leads to a lot of pent-up energy."
The clattering of a falling tower, followed by the sound of a startled Shinji having a small pile of chopsticks land on him punctuated that statement. Misato stared at the scene as Rei reached over and grabbed a pair of chopsticks out of Shinji's shirt pocket and nonchalantly started to dig into her bowl of ramen.
"Well, it's nice to see that Shinji's making new friends. He's pretty shy, I'd thought he'd never find anyone."
Heck gave a knowing laugh.
"I'm just glad that Mari found such a nice young man, I was beginning to lose h-"
There was a sharp smack of a chopstick bouncing off of flesh, thrown by a furiously blushing Mari with an equally embarrassed Shinji staring down at his lap. Heck rubbed his forehead.
"I was joking, Mari. Also, violence isn't-"
Mari made a grasping motion with her hand, the boy sitting next to her sighed and pull a chopstick that had managed to lodge itself behind his ear and handed it to her.
"Okay, perhaps I went a little too far this time. I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted! Sorry about that, I tried to aim for somewhere that wouldn't hurt so much."
"Well, all that time you spent in the marksmanship simulator on the trip over certainly seems to have paid off."
Misato stared for a moment, unsure of how exactly to react or what to say. It made sense that putting a teenager in a giant death machine and ordering them to kill would lead to…outbursts. But it wasn't something that she was entirely comfortable with thinking about. She decided that the best course of action was to just disregard it and move on.
"Well it's getting late, thank you for dinner, Dr. Heck."
"You're most welcome Major. Before you go I'm afraid I must impose on you again, I've yet to get my quarters assigned to me at the Geofront, if it wouldn't be too much trouble could Mari stay with you for one more night?"
The Major thought for a moment, the first night hadn't been too bad and it wasn't much worse than the German.
"Not a problem we'd be happy to have her."
A megawatt smile lit up the Sixth Child's face as she wrapped her arms around a bemused Shinji and Rei who was still preoccupied with her bowl of ramen.
Geofront, Commander's Office
"We run these synch tests to help learn more about how the link works in hopes that one day we'll be able to undo what happened."
The video feed froze as Gendo removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a defeated sigh.
"I wouldn't let it bother you, it isn't like you haven't given the boy more than enough reasons to despise you. It's something that you've always had a talent for."
"It gives Heck leverage over him, which could endanger our plans for Unit-01."
Fuyutsuki laughed.
"And to think less than a day ago you were calling him a washed-up old fool."
The younger man scowled.
"While I enjoy your counsel Sensei, do you have anything useful to add or are you just here to mock me?"
"I'm here because we have larger problems than your relationship with your son to worry about."
The older man placed his hand on the Commander's desk and a set of images of a masked giant, clad in a skintight suit spread out across the surface.
"Our sources have indicated that Tabgha Base is nearing completion of the Mark.06, which means that SEELE will have their so-called 'True Evangelion' before us. We can be on the launch out of Tanegashima next week to confirm these reports."
"There's a slight problem there Sensei, it will be blatantly obvious that we're not here."
"I might have a solution to that."
Tapping another folder on the desk brought up a spread of schematics, project files and a picture of a dark-skinned man with a rather pinched expression on his face in a dark suit with what looked to be a rather ungainly-looking machine behind him.
"The Americans have managed to complete their alternative to the Evangelion. They call it Jet Alone, and because of their permanent seat on the Security Council they're seeking to hold war-games against our forces."
Gendo stared at Fuyutsuki with a rare look of confusion.
"That thing will be reduced to a pile of scrap metal the minute any of our units look at it."
A knowing smirk crossed the Sub-Commander's face as he rested his hand on his old student's shoulder.
"Perhaps we can make things a little more interesting?"
A sea of tan NERV uniforms, the dark suits of salarymen, and various workers of the city packed the small restaurant. The party of the pilots, Dr. Heck, and Misato sat tucked away at a corner table.
"So, Major Kusanagi."
"Katsuragi."
"Apologies, I appreciate you taking care of Mari while I was indisposed. I know it was on short notice. Well, you didn't have any idea we were coming at all with how abrupt our transfer was. Anyway, thank you for joining us for dinner, its the least I can do to repay you."
"Thanks, I guess? She certainly seems…spirited?"
Across the table, the Sixth Child was busily building a tower from the cup of chopsticks as Rei blankly stared at the sight while Shinji fiddled with his hopelessly tangled earbuds.
"She comes by it naturally, her mother was the same way. Granted, growing up on a converted container ship in the middle of nowhere leads to a lot of pent-up energy."
The clattering of a falling tower, followed by the sound of a startled Shinji having a small pile of chopsticks land on him punctuated that statement. Misato stared at the scene as Rei reached over and grabbed a pair of chopsticks out of Shinji's shirt pocket and nonchalantly started to dig into her bowl of ramen.
"Well, it's nice to see that Shinji's making new friends. He's pretty shy, I'd thought he'd never find anyone."
Heck gave a knowing laugh.
"I'm just glad that Mari found such a nice young man, I was beginning to lose h-"
There was a sharp smack of a chopstick bouncing off of flesh, thrown by a furiously blushing Mari with an equally embarrassed Shinji staring down at his lap. Heck rubbed his forehead.
"I was joking, Mari. Also, violence isn't-"
Mari made a grasping motion with her hand, the boy sitting next to her sighed and pull a chopstick that had managed to lodge itself behind his ear and handed it to her.
"Okay, perhaps I went a little too far this time. I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted! Sorry about that, I tried to aim for somewhere that wouldn't hurt so much."
"Well, all that time you spent in the marksmanship simulator on the trip over certainly seems to have paid off."
Misato stared for a moment, unsure of how exactly to react or what to say. It made sense that putting a teenager in a giant death machine and ordering them to kill would lead to…outbursts. But it wasn't something that she was entirely comfortable with thinking about. She decided that the best course of action was to just disregard it and move on.
"Well it's getting late, thank you for dinner, Dr. Heck."
"You're most welcome Major. Before you go I'm afraid I must impose on you again, I've yet to get my quarters assigned to me at the Geofront, if it wouldn't be too much trouble could Mari stay with you for one more night?"
The Major thought for a moment, the first night hadn't been too bad and it wasn't much worse than the German.
"Not a problem we'd be happy to have her."
A megawatt smile lit up the Sixth Child's face as she wrapped her arms around a bemused Shinji and Rei who was still preoccupied with her bowl of ramen.
Geofront, Commander's Office
"We run these synch tests to help learn more about how the link works in hopes that one day we'll be able to undo what happened."
The video feed froze as Gendo removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a defeated sigh.
"I wouldn't let it bother you, it isn't like you haven't given the boy more than enough reasons to despise you. It's something that you've always had a talent for."
"It gives Heck leverage over him, which could endanger our plans for Unit-01."
Fuyutsuki laughed.
"And to think less than a day ago you were calling him a washed-up old fool."
The younger man scowled.
"While I enjoy your counsel Sensei, do you have anything useful to add or are you just here to mock me?"
"I'm here because we have larger problems than your relationship with your son to worry about."
The older man placed his hand on the Commander's desk and a set of images of a masked giant, clad in a skintight suit spread out across the surface.
"Our sources have indicated that Tabgha Base is nearing completion of the Mark.06, which means that SEELE will have their so-called 'True Evangelion' before us. We can be on the launch out of Tanegashima next week to confirm these reports."
"There's a slight problem there Sensei, it will be blatantly obvious that we're not here."
"I might have a solution to that."
Tapping another folder on the desk brought up a spread of schematics, project files and a picture of a dark-skinned man with a rather pinched expression on his face in a dark suit with what looked to be a rather ungainly-looking machine behind him.
"The Americans have managed to complete their alternative to the Evangelion. They call it Jet Alone, and because of their permanent seat on the Security Council they're seeking to hold war-games against our forces."
Gendo stared at Fuyutsuki with a rare look of confusion.
"That thing will be reduced to a pile of scrap metal the minute any of our units look at it."
A knowing smirk crossed the Sub-Commander's face as he rested his hand on his old student's shoulder.
"Perhaps we can make things a little more interesting?"
You Are (Jet) Alone
Cihiba Docks
"Ikari-kun? What is our current windspeed?"
Silence. Rei adjusted her position in her seat and gingerly removed her hands from the controls as not to disturb the massive rifle resting in Unit-00's massive hands. The titanic machine sat in a kneeling position on the Chiba docks, staring down the length of a cannon that looked more at home strapped to a battleship, its barrel rested on the shoulder of the familiar purple bulk of Unit-01.
"Ikari-kun?"
Shinji's voice echoed through the comms.
"S-sorry Rei, I was thinking about something else."
"I require your targeting data."
"O-okay. Uh, wind is coming in from the northwest at twenty kilometers per hour. Hey Rei? That thing Dr. Heck mentioned about my mother maybe being still inside Unit-01. Y-you didn't hear or see anything in here when you piloted it did you? I mean, there's nothing actually inside the Eva right?"
The soft scream of a small child echoed at the edge of the girl's hearing, she quickly brushed it away.
"I have not heard or seen anything out of the ordinary in Unit-01."
"Oh."
"That is not to say that it is impossible that you might hear something."
Shinji let out a sigh.
"Thanks for trying to make me feel better Rei."
A small smile crossed Rei's face.
"You are welcome, but please stay focused. I don't wish to hit Mari-chan by mistake."
"Wait, Mari-chan? If I'm Ikari-kun shouldn't Mari be Makinami-chan?"
"I…was not aware of her surname."
"Oh. Uh, Rei? Could I be Shinji-kun then?"
"No. Ikari-kun is better."
Yokosuka Naval Base, Tokyo Bay
"…you are to simply put up a fight long enough for the Jet Alone to not look like a complete embarrassment and then Units 00 and 01 will kneecap the machine with the Light Gas Gun from their position across the bay."
A tired, nicotine-deprived Ritsuko Akagi, dressed in a rather scratchy suit stared down a rather excited looking Mary...no Marie…Mari, whatever the brat her replacement that dropped her down to being a glorified IT technician brought with him was called.
"But it's just a hunk of metal without an AT Field, Unit-05 could probably blow it up if I looked at it funny."
The blonde let out a sigh.
"The Americans paid a lot of money to their politicians to build that hunk of metal, and if we want to keep getting funding from them we need to make them think that they didn't waste all of that taxpayer money on another useless toy."
Mari gave her usual deflating balloon sound.
"That really sucks the joy out of having a giant robot fight."
A man's voice interrupted the pair's conversation.
"I know, right? I can think of about twenty billion reasons why giant robot fights are awesome."
The source of the voice walked over and sat down in a chair, he was an older but still somewhat handsome man with a square jaw and slightly greying brown hair. Next to him stood a dark-skinned man in an equally dark suit wearing a pair of dark sunglasses.
"Jack Langley, Langley Defense Systems. This is my associate Dr. Stern, the brainchild behind our bouncing baby war machine."
A smirk crossed Stern's face as he spoke in a smooth, deep voice as he offered his hand to Ritsuko.
"It's been a long time since Hamburg, Rits. I'm surprised that you're still with NERV."
Ritsuko managed a forced smile.
"Stern, I see you got tired of waiting for a spot on Project E."
"Let's just say that Mr. Langley is a little more open-minded than the old men at the IPEA. You should consider the private sector Rits, it's a little more fulfilling than spending your time among the relics of the past."
"Well, I could never leave my family, even if they're three copies of my mother's brain living in a supercomputer."
Langley let out a small, awkward cough at that and turned to Mari.
"Apologies miss, Jack Langley pleasure to meet you and you are?"
Mari started to open her mouth only to notice Dr. Akagi giving her a subtle glare out of the corner of her eye.
"M-Mari Illustrious Makinami, the pilot of Provisional Unit-05."
Stern's smug look fell from his face.
"Provisional? Ikari sent us one of Heck's failed prototypes against us? We promised the brass a super robot fight, not a subpar robot fight!"
Mari felt her knuckles pop and she clenched her fist.
"It's not a failure! Unit-05 killed the last Angel and it's going to reduce your stupid waste of money into a pile of scrap metal!"
Stern's angry retort was cut short by the sound of Langley chuckling.
"Oh, you and my daughter would get along like a house on fire. Tell you what, instead of us arguing in front of the brass and shareholders how about we get down to brass tacks and do this?"
Tokyo Bay
Provisional Unit-05 sat in the bay, gently bobbing up and down on its four mechanical legs in mimicry of its fidgeting pilot. Across from the Eva stood Jet Alone. Its squat, flat head sat in an upper body that looked more like a tank perched atop a massive segmented torso. The water around its long, spindly legs bubbled from the heat coming off the machine. Rei's monotone voice echoed through Mari's entry plug.
"Mari-chan, we are in position. Please try to keep Jet Alone behind you, I would rather not shoot you."
"Aww, Rei. I didn't know you cared!"
"Ikari-kun asked me not to."
"Oh."
Dr. Akagi's image appeared in the corner of Mari's eye.
"Also, don't go for the head, Stern isn't prone towards common sense so the nuclear fission reactor that powers Jet Alone is stored in the upper torso. We don't want to go irradiating the entire bay."
"You know, we're about to have an actual fight between two giant robots here and all you guys seem to be really down about it. Also, why is that giant hunk of junk not moving? I want to just beat it up already!"
Ritsuko let out a sigh.
"Patience, the machine has to boot first. Then you can enjoy your mindless violence."
A spasm of movement went through Jet Alone as power surged through its actuators and the faint growl of hydraulics pressurizing could be heard as it slowly started moving towards Unit-05…until it turned around in a slightly drunken stumble and started walking towards the exit of the bay.
"Hey! I'm right over here! Come on! This is a giant robot fight, you can't just go running away!"
Shinji mumbled under his breath at the Sixth Child's frustration.
"It's what I'd do."
Mari ignored her companion's snark and dove towards the rival mech, tackling it into the water with the sound of grinding metal and cracking ceramic. Quickly shifting the Eva's bulk to straddle the mech, she drew her Progressive Knife to stab at the machine's boxy head.
"Alright! I have got you now you overgrown toaster! DIE!"
As the blade plunged down there was a sudden flash of light, followed by a loud ringing sound that flooded the senses.
"What?! Oh come on, I thought this thing wasn't supposed to even have an AT Field!"
The girl's outrage was cut short when a second bright flash of light that sent the cobbled together Eva flying. Mari's world went black for a moment, she wasn't sure how long she was out for but she was awoken by a woman's synthesized voice echoing throughout the plug.
"Patten Blue confirmed. Updating IFF. New target designation, Iruel."
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