Peccata Patris, Filius Redentor [NGE]

[MarshalGraves]

Hello, everyone! Reposting this from my account over on SpaceBattles! Thought y'all might enjoy it! (Yes, I know the title is -really- bad Latin, that was the intention. Anno porked up -his- title because of translation issues, I can do the same!)

I...have no fucking -clue- what inspired this mess. I've spent the last four days -devouring- Eva fics such as Nobody Dies, Doing It Right This Time, Once More With Feeling, Last Child of Krypton, and so on, but this....this ain't them.
It is not a one-shot. I do not know how long it will be, but...well, it's technically a For Want of a Nail 'fic.
This is not your average Evangelion fic. I'll let you all judge this for yourselves, however.
Those of you who are familiar with my other work on this site...yeah. I will not be updating at the blistering pace I set for -that- one. That was more or less crack. This....this will have a -great- deal more care, thought, and coffee behind it.

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Tombstone Machinists Corporation
In Association With Sufficient Velocity Forums
Proudly Presents
Peccata Patris, Filius Redentor
A MarshalGraves Production

Episode Zero - 'For Want of a Son'​

Two months. Two months until his henceforth greatest work was complete. Two months until the construction of NERV-Japan was finalized and the city of Tokyo-3 was officially completed. Two months until he would be forced to cast off the good doctor and the First, replacing them with the daughter and the Second, respectively. Two months until the MAGI's final node, CASPAR, was complete. Two months until the third phase of his Scenario could begin. Just two months that were now so much ash and grit between his fingers.

Ten months. Ten months since he had left his son behind. Ten months since he had claimed to destroy every memento of his 'dead' wife. Ten months since he had sealed her belongings in storage and choked back every emotion he did not know how to show. Ten months since he sent his child, his -son-, his own flesh and blood, to his brother-in-law for his own safety. Ten months since he'd made the worst decision he had ever made in his life. Ten months that, only now, did he wish he could turn back. Ten months without his son, without his Shinji, without his salvation and his very reason to go on.

He missed his wife. Ikari Gendo would never, -could- never deny that. He was a bastard, a cold, almost mechanical shell of a man, and Ikari Yui alleviated that harshness, the agony of the loneliness he lived inside of his socially-inept shell. Even so, he -loved- his son. He knew not how to show it, could not bring himself, Commander Ikari Gendo, to risk his son's safety with demonstrative affection, not when it could damn that one ray of brightness and light he had to hell. He was a hard man, a cold man, but his son...he loved his son, his Shinji, more than anything, even the memory of his wife. Even if he never showed it, even if he never -could- show it, Shinji meant more to him than the entirety of this god-forsaken planet. It was for Shinji that Gendo had plotted his Scenario in counterpoint to that of the Old Men. It was for Shinji that Gendo had damned himself, willingly, to the Betrayer's Circle by giving his son up. It was for Shinji that he had planned his chess game, a hundred thousand moves in advance, three-thousand, five-hundred, and forty-nine days in advance, so that Shinji could have his mother, his happiness and his light, back.

Gendo loved Shinji, and he knew, in his heart of hearts, that Shinji loved Yui more than Shinji had loved him. It did not hurt. He could never, not for a moment, blame the boy. Yui was warmth and light, if eccentric, and above all, she was -demonstrative-. To a four-year-old boy, her love, her care, her very -presence- sang with all of the hymns of Heaven above, where Gendo was cold and mechanical and -distant-. He loved his son, but it was just so difficult to -show it-. He more than understood poor Shinji's loss, nearly as keenly as the boy himself did, so for his son, he would put the world on the altar of sacrifice to restore his mother. For Shinji. For the one he loved most, Gendo set out a plan to damn himself and, knowing the risks, knowing the pain, knowing the tears he would cry in the quiet, dead of the nights to come, Gendo gave his son, his light, away to keep him safe from the Old Men.

And now it was all for nothing.

The report on his newly-acquired desk in his richly-appointed, spacious, and -empty- office mocked him. Mocked everything he had given up. It mocked every single choice he had made for the past ten months since Yui had died, mocked every single instant of doubt, mocked every single second-thought he had ever had. The lines of the report had long-since blurred, from tears, alcohol, or the fading of the timed-lights in the Geofront, made to simulate the diurnal cycle of the world above, he did not know. He did not care. Every moment of the past ten months was worthless, destroyed. The path to damnation...there was no point in it, not anymore.

Wooing Naoko Akagi, earning her expertise in constructing the MAGI, earning her loyalty by plying her with sweet words and carefully-doled affection, knowingly tempting her to desire more from him, all in a bid to yank it away from her and set her own daughter against her, unknowingly, was moot. He would not need to take any more steps in that plan. He did not need his grand Endgame any longer. The Scenario was forever destroyed, and a part of him would be forever grateful to Shinji for saving what was left of his damned soul, for without Shinji, Gendo did not have the will, nor even the care, to continue walking down the Path of Good Intentions in his self-made handbasket.

An accident. Nothing more, nothing less, the report said. Gendo, despite his social awkwardness, despite his cold exterior, was a shrewd man. He was cold, mechanical precise, calculating, and an unmitigated bastard. He knew this about himself, accepted it, wielded it like a weapon. He was awkward, he knew, but that did not mean he did not understand. His mind was just constructed ever so differently, and it was a matter of child's play to read between the lines of the report before him. His son, his precious little boy, just barely turned five, was gone, and while the report read 'accident', Gendo knew there was more to the incident, and had read between the lines.

Shinji had been found by the Section Two agents assigned to watch over him in a small ditch outside of the rural home his uncle had carved out of the Post-Second Impact Japanese countryside. His guardian was found in his bed, in a drunken stupor. Inside of the man's closet was found a bloodstained cello, the very same cello Gendo, himself, had manipulated Fuyutsuki Kozo into shipping out to Ikari Tomoe's farm in an effort to 'save' it, for it had belonged to Yui.
Kozo did not know that Gendo, in fact, had saved every single memento he had of his wife, so that he could give them to his son after he and NERV had destroyed the world. It had been all he could do for his son. And now, the one gift, the one thing he felt would connect his Shinji to his mother's memory, had been used to brutalize the poor boy near to death. Gendo had read between the report's lines. The two agents he had assigned to watch over the one redeeming light he had in his life had been ordered to ensure that Ikari Tomoe never enjoyed another day of freedom under the sun, before two more agents had similarly silenced -them- for their failure in going out for drinks while on duty. Their failure had cost Gendo his light. His vengeance would end three lives, three lights, even as he planned to end a fourth.

Worse, he could feel the fingerprints of the Old Men in this. It would take time, Gendo knew, but he would find proof. He would find their moles, their manipulations, their methods, and these proofs....they would fuel the engine of the Committee's own destruction.

He knew his son was still alive. He knew that he still breathed. It was enough, but only just, to keep him from pulling the trigger of the revolver he held in his hand. Alive, but not living. His Shinji was forever destroyed, his light and his redemption forever gone. His son's brain was swollen inside of a fractured, caved in skull, his left eye missing, his ribs as broken and battered as his spine, and his little arms and legs mangled beyond any sort of repair, forever twisted in agonizing pain. His Shinji still survived, on life support, but he would never -live- again. Just like Yui.

Not for the first time did Gendo damn the Abrahamaic 'He Who Is Called I Am'. It seemed that demonic deity delighted in destroying everything Gendo ever cared for. Not for the last time, either. No.

Gendo put the gun down, cupped his head in his hands, and sobbed. He did not care that anyone could and likely -would- walk in on him. He was the Commander. This compound, this Geofront, was -his- project, his responsibility, and there were a great many people who needed his input in how the minutia of the construction and the planning would be settled. He was an extremely busy man. But right now, he was in mourning.

Ten months. His cold, mechanical heart had cost him ten months with the one he loved and adored above all else. Ten months he could never get back. Ten months he could never -earn- back. Ten months he could have spent holding his boy, teaching him, loving him. Ten months that now meant nothing as his child was ripped away from him, so coldly and cruelly. He shuddered, sniffled, sobbed. He could rage. He could cry out against that damned worthless 'God' in Heaven. He could beg, plead for his son's life and wellness. It would do -nothing-. It would accomplish nothing. Gendo's boy was all but brain-dead, and all that Gendo had planned, outlined, and sacrificed was ash in his mouth.

No. He was cold. He was resolved. He would -plan-. He would calculate. He would rise, and he would -fucking fix this-.

Her manipulations, her desire to leave an 'everlasting monument to mankind' had destroyed their son's happiness, and Gendo's desire to restore that happiness had, in turn, destroyed their son's -life-. Because of Yui, Shinji was sad.
Because of Yui, Shinji was so much hamburger hooked up to a respirator. Because of Yui, Gendo was left holding the bill and waiting for the Apocalypse to call him for its due. Because of Yui, all of Gendo's light and happiness, all of his joy, all of his -everything- was -gone-. He had sought to destroy the world he hated to restore Yui to Shinji, for his son to smile again, and because of Yui, that happiness, that light, was forever gone.

Fuck her. Fuck her plans. Fuck her manipulations. He was Ikari Gendo. He was cold, mechanical, precise, calculating, and an unmitigated bastard. But, most importantly, he was -fucking spiteful-. No. This world...this world of pain and anguish and loneliness, this world of ruin and separation...no. He would not destroy it. He would not unite mankind in a giant fucking puddle of dollar-store off-brand Tang. He would -make- this motherfucking world go on! He would save mankind from itself, for his son. For his Shinji.

He would save Shinji. He had the world's most advanced technologies at his fingertips. He had the Evangelion, nascent a project as it was, and he would use everything Yui had given him for her plan, for her 'monument', for her Scenario...and he would use them to save his son. He had to.

He picked up the phone and dialed quickly, not waiting for the voice on the other end to query when the call rapidly connected.

"Honorable Pieter-san. There has been a minor change of plans. NERV-Japan has need of Sohryu and her daughter. Have the husband's indiscretions made public, I want this to be a clean break."

He waited for a few moments, listening to Pieter's reply as he lowered his eyes back to the report on his desk.

"I need her to assist Doctor Akagi in the planning, construction, and implementation of a fourth node at our location. I will be opening a new project for this. I will forward you the details, soon enough. Kindly give the Chairman my regards, and render my assurances that the Scenario has not changed."

Again, he listened.

"No, Honorable Pieter-san, I do not foresee any issues with that. I would gladly loan the lovely Doctor Akagi to NERV-Berlin after the fourth node is completed. As it stands, we are quite ahead of budget this quarter, and I could certainly see uplifting our struggling brothers in Berlin's Geofront with our surplus, but I would require Doctor Sohryu's...expertise before I could even begin to plan how much of our budget we could offer."

The phone call ended abruptly from the other side, and a moment of patience earned Gendo an alert from his terminal's audio system. A brief look at the screen confirmed what Gendo already knew.

'TRANSFER ORDERS FOR KYOKO ZEPPELIN SOHRYU: TOKYO-3. CONTACT EXPERIMENTS HALTED, UNIT-02 CONSTRUCTION REFERRED TO NERV-TOKYO.'

With a cold, almost cruel smirk, Gendo dialed another number. A voice on the other end queried, and Gendo answered.

"Fuyutsuki. Make arrangements to have the Third Child...to have -Shinji-...airlifted to the Geofront. We will take his care into our own hands. Have Doctor Akagi sent up in an hour. ...Thank you, Professor."

With far more care than he had shown the previous conversation, Gendo terminated his call with his former sensei and current Subcommander, and pulled up the files he could access in the still-nascent MAGI referring to Conception, and began working on a new project.

He ignored the tears that fell like rain down the sharp angles of his cheeks as he worked, waiting for his redemption to walk through his office's door.

It was this sight that Doctor Akagi would find when she arrived, that of Ikari Gendo, Commander of NERV-Japan with tears streaming down his face onto an illegible, crumpled, salt-and-alchohol stained report, as he stared at a project-screen on his terminal. Across the top, in big, bold letters, all she could see reflected in his amber sunglasses, was one word.

HEKATONKHEIRES​

And all the while, he kept muttering the same three words, over and over.

"Forgive me, Shinji."

 

[MarshalGraves]

Peccata Patris, Filius Redentor
A MarshalGraves Production

Episode One - 'Asuka'​

We are sorry, all lines are currently unavailable due to the special state of Emergency. This is a recording.

A young teenaged girl, her hair a fiery red that apparently matched her temper, slammed the phone back down on its pay-cradle and snarled, kicking the payphone's metal trunk before crossing her arms over her impressive-for-her-age torso.

"Verdammt! Why isn't that baka here?! That dummkopf promised!"

With a strangled cry, the girl kicked the trunk of the payphone one more time, for good measure, before turning around and fuming at the empty streets and empty buildings in front of her. After a moment, realization struck and she blinked before looking up and down the streets once more.

"Wait...where is everyone?"

The redhead began to worry, and quickly checked her watch, knowing it was a futile gesture. It was rather firmly two o'clock in the afternoon, and even if it had been the dead of the night, Tokyo-3 was a busy city. In fact, the only times it was as empty as it was at the moment were times when...

"Did I arrive in the middle of an evacuation drill? Gah! That baka should've warned me, verdammt!"

As she began to fume, once again, and kick the payphone's supporting architecture even more , she was briefly distracted by the momentary sight of a boy, standing in the middle of the street, looking blankly out at the eastern horizon. He had dark hair, dead, blue eyes, and wore a white button-down oxford shirt tucked into black slacks.

The loud noise of a buzzing engine in desperate need of repair made itself known around the corner, distracting her from the sight of the boy and, when she turned back for a closer look, he was gone. Recognizing that oh-so-unique symphony of beat-up cylinders pumping ever so slightly out of alignment, of a transmission in dire need of complete replacement, and a suspension that was just on the springy side of 'brick', Asuka Langley Soryu turned around and waited for her ride, who pulled up and, without fanfare, opened the passenger door to his beat-up '91 Toyota Corolla.

"Hey, Asuka! C'mon, get in!"

She did, and immediately turned her sour mood onto the occupant of the vehicle, though admittedly she was feeling a bit more bright about the 'ordeal', now.

"Hello, Ryoji-nii-san. I'm doing fine, thank you for asking, and oh, I truly appreciate you and Misa-nee-chan giving me tickets that arrive in Tokyo-3 -the day of an evacuation drill-!" her shouting was punctuated by the slamming of a very, very beat-up chalk-white door and, without wasting a moment, Ryoji Kaji gunned the engine and drove at the battered vehicle's limits towards its destination.

"Now, now, Asuka. I'm really happy to see you, and I'd love to catch up with you when we have more time, but...well...to answer your unspoken questions," here, the scruffy, ponytailed man paused and mumbled something under his breath that sounded vaguely like 'more like demands made at gunpoint', but Asuka charitably decided that there was simply -no way- Ryoji was jonesing for a beat-down this quickly after meeting her and chose, instead, to dole out his punishment later, "Anyway, about the evacuation? Yeah. Not a drill, Asuka-chan. We need to get you to NERV, and we need to do it -now-."

Asuka's glare faltered, just a bit, as she felt the car turn in its charming, dilapidated way, before it returned with an unholy, fiery vengeance! "If this isn't a damn drill, and you need me at the Geofront so damn fast, why the hell didn't you take Misa-nee-chan's car instead of your hunk of junk?! And why the hell isn't that baka answering his phone? He's always, always there, always waiting, and now he's not, and there's no reason for it!"

At this, Ryoji winced, leaning out of his battered window and looking up at the sky. Sighing softly with relief as he made one more turn and gunned the struggling engine to pour on more speed for the looming Geofront access tunnel straight ahead, he winced as he realized exactly -why- Asuka was irritated, and, with a soft sigh, decided to spoil at least one surprise for her.

"Asuka...Shinji's not here because he -can't- be here. He's always been there, yeah, but everyone, even you, know there's exceptions to that."

The redhead's glare cooled in intensity from 'daggers made of lemon-juice and sulphur in your spine' to 'barbed needles under your fingernails' as she sighed and shook her head.

"I...no, he wouldn't have gotten me a ticket that terminated during a maintenance cycle, Ryoji. No way he'd be that insensitive!"

Ryoji simply smiled, though the effect was muted, indeed, as the darkness of the access tunnel covered the vehicle and threw the occupants into darkness. Asuka had caught a glimpse, however, and gasped.

"It's not a maintenance cycle! That means...they got it working!?"

All Ryoji could do was simply hum, whether in agreement, or denial, was meant to be ambiguous. He chuckled softly to himself as he felt more than heard the petite redhead in the passenger seat begin to vibrate in excitement, and, at last, they reached the access elevator and, with a quick swipe of a keycard into the window-access unit, they began to descend into the Geofront.

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​

A trip through a parking garage, a few quick turns and a ride in an elevator that amounted to about fifteen minutes later, and Asuka was at least -starting- to feel -somewhat- thankful that Ryoji had been sent out as her escort. Whatever higher power there was only knew how much time would have been lost if Asuka's been forced to get lost in these labyrinthine hallways with the -other- option. Her musings were cut short by a warm, familiar voice accompanied by the sound of dripping liquid. Looking up, Asuka came face-to-face with a tall, svelte-figured woman with dark hair and sky-blue eyes, wearing a wetsuit that was dripping with some dark fluid Asuka didn't think she wanted to try to identify.

"Asuka, dear! Welcome home, sweetie!"

The shorter redhead's poor mood skyrocketed upwards, a beaming smile on her face as she leapt forward and wrapped the neoprene-clad woman around her midsection, uncaring of the greasy, slick fluid that was now staining her yellow sundress. "Mama! It's been too long! How have you been? What have you been doing? Why are you wearing a wetsuit, and what -is- this stuff? I'm so happy to see you! Germany sucked, Mama, and Dad couldn't stop making eyes at that ridiculous cow and-"

Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu grinned and ruffled her daughter's hair with a slick hand, cutting the breathless tirade into a yelp of disgust that turned into a chuckle as she hugged her daughter back. Ryoji stood off to one side, simply smiling softly and shaking his head with mirth as he quickly lit a cigarette, one that was almost immediately extinguished after the two women gave him matching glacial glares. Kyoko looked down and squeezed her daughter again, seeming to luxuriate in the feel of having her beloved baby back in her arms, before stepping back. "I've been well, apart from missing you, Liebling. I agree, two years is far, far too long, but you did need to be there for your degree. I'm sorry to hear about that...man's poor habits, and I'm so sorry they had to be inflicted upon you, sweetie."

Here, Kyoko paused and gave Asuka a small, secretive grin before nodding over at Ryoji and, linking her arm with her daughter's, she turned and led them towards the Operations Center.

"As to the suit, and what's on it, well...there's been an alert, and we had to rush to get ready for launch. There was a burst hose, and I'm wearing the wetsuit for just such an emergency. I'd rather not get my good clothes stained by the lubricant we have to use to get the pilot ready for action, after all sweetheart."

Kyoko's words had the opposite effect she'd apparently intended, as Asuka's beaming, bright smile turned into a thoughtful frown, accompanied by much nibbling of the lower lip, a habit Kyoko herself shared. With a soft sigh, she squeezed her daughters arm and led Asuka and Ryoji through a door labelled 'Cage 01'.

The first thing that leapt to Asuka's mind was 'It's bigger than I expected.'. Had her mother been paying attention, Kyoko might have had a fierce giggling session as Asuka realized what and, by extension, -who- she was thinking about, and the atomic blush that resulted covered her face.

Before them, in a vast, hangar-like space, held up by clamps and enclosed walls with sockets and chains linking it to them, stood a massive, humanoid mech. Too close to truly take in its features as they were making their way onto the large bridge that ran just at the mech's shoulder level, all Asuka could make out was the gigantic head with its massive and red spherical main camera-eye, surrounded by five smaller cameras and sensors. Swept back from the armor plate that turned what should have been an utterly inhuman, robotic 'face' into a more helmet-like appearance were two long, blade-like antennae, each covered in multiple flat sensors. The end result gave Asuka the impression of a gigantic gunmetal-gray robo-bunny knight.

It would have made her giggle if it didn't look intimidating as hell.

Giving her mother's arm a quick squeeze, she moved over to the railing and looked down, then blinked awkwardly as, yes, indeed, it was a massive, muscular, and -male- form, which she had, of course, expected. What she had -not- expected was something that blanked her mind for a solid minute before she found the courage to speak up.

"Mama....why is it wearing a soldier's battle-dress uniform trousers? And...are those...-combat boots-?! Is...why is the giant mecha wearing -clothes- and a -bulletproof vest-?!"

Her answer did not come from the expected source, however. Instead of her mother's warm, yet stern tones, she was answered by the deep baritone of a much less familiar voice.

"Clothes are incredibly useful things, my dear Lieutenant Soryu. They offer protection from the elements, a boost to morale in the form of unity and cohesion, a great deal of dashing style, and the opportunity for pockets. In this case, the answer to your question is, of course, 'all of the above'."

As Asuka looked up at the one doing the speaking, she found herself looking at a well-dressed, well-appointed man with a wraparound beard looking down at her with a warm smile on his face apparent, even though his eyes were hidden by the glare of the cage's lights reflecting off of his amber sunglasses. Letting that information soak through, Asuka could only blink up at the man and shake her head slowly as she spoke up.

"...Pockets, Commander Ikari?"

At this, the man smirked.

"Pockets, Lieutenant. The armaments available for the ACP-01 do not come with an unlimited ammo headband, and they require both energy and physical munitions. If we tie the weapons to the ACP-01's frame, we reduce its effectiveness at AT-field generation, so we are forced to provide backup batteries for the weapons in our storage lockers, which do not have enough room for both. We could, of course, send up two lockers, one with ammunition, and one with batteries, but then the pilot would, effectively, be out of action in ranged combat until he could visit a storage locker after launch. The clothing enables us to get the pilot right into the action, right away."

Asuka nodded at this, quietly, before sighing softly. "So...what's going on, Commander? Where's-"

She was interrupted, however, by the sound of an alarm blaring and blue lights activating and spinning, providing an eerie strobe-like effect into the environments. A series of hissing noises began to issue forth from the mech, just as one of the bridge crew nodded at their monitor, leaned forward, and spoke into a PA.

"NERV-Command to all hands, we are at code blue. This is not a drill. I repeat, all hands, code blue, this is not a drill!"

Asuka was forced to choke back her questions as the commander leaned forward onto the rail and began to look around, barking orders and receiving responses.

"Lieutenant Ibuki, systems check?"

"Connecting secondary contacts now. Green across the board, sir!"

"Lieutenant Aoba, pilot status?"

"Bi-directional comm circuits are open! ADAMnations readings are within tolerances! All systems check green, sir!"

"Lieutenant Hyuga, synchronization report!"

"Pilot is synced at ninety-five point six! All harmonics are within tolerance, no abnormalities detected, sir!"

With a quiet nod, he turned to look back at Kyoko, who had pulled up a seat at a nearby terminal.

"Doctor Soryu, status report, if you please?"

"No mechanical abnormalities, sir. ACP-01 is ready to launch."

With that, Commander Gendo Ikari glanced down, almost...apologetically?...at the teenaged redhead, seeming to age before her eyes as he nodded quietly.

"Open a channel to the Captain. The Generals are here to brief him."

Asuka's eyes widened as Lieutenant Aoba barked an affirmative and the bridge began to retract, leaving the gigantic mech, clad in an armless, black vest that was bolted to its chest, its green-camo pattern trousers, and combat boots a very large range of free motion.

'Him?! No! They can't mean-!'

But her thoughts were interrupted by the aged voice issuing forth at a loud volume, coming from where the Commander had just stood. In his place, now, was an aged general with four stars on the epaulettes of his United Nations-standard military dress uniform.

"Captain Ikari, can you hear me?"

The giant mech's red eye lit up, and the whole thing, as a unit, seemed to straighten and move into what everyone recognized as 'attention'. From speakers mounted in the mech's head, a strong, though young, voice issued forth.

"Yes, General! Captain Shinji Ikari, pilot of the ACP-01 'Eligor', reporting for duty!"

"Excellent. Captain, I won't take too much of our precious time. The target is approaching from the east, and is expected to make feet-dry within the next thirty mikes. The UN's forces have already engaged and failed to harm the target with conventional weaponry, and it was decided that it was too close to the city to risk activating N2 armaments. This leaves NERV as the only option, Captain. Do you understand?"

The gigantic robot seemed to nod, shortly and sharply.

"Understood, sir. What are my orders, sir?"

"You are to arm yourself and engage the target as swiftly as possible, Captain Ikari. Bring it down, bring it down hard, and godspeed."

His instructions complete, the aged general gave the mecha a sharp, crisp salute, which was returned swiftly by the mecha. At that, the general lowered his hand, nodding as the mech again imitated him, and turned to the Commander. "Commander Gendo Ikari, execute Special Order number 341-b."

At this, the Commander stepped up and saluted, his voice ringing out crisp and clear, "Sir! Commander Gendo Ikari, reporting for duty."

"Commander Ikari, you are hereby appointed as the responsible party for NERV and all NERV assets. The UN will entrust overall command for this, and any further Angelic Combat Operations, to run as you see fit, as necessary, with provisional oversight only."

"Sir! Commander Gendo Ikari, reporting as your relief, sir!"

"Thank you, Commander Ikari. I stand relieved."

Another exchange of salutes, and the aged general disappeared into the darkness of the Commander's office. Once he was gone, and ignoring the Commander's shout to 'bring the city into arena configuration alpha', Asuka glared at the robot and, finally, exploded.

"SHINJI IKARI! What the -hell- do you think you are doing in that thing?! We discussed this, verdammt! You were supposed to be picking me up from the station, not...not....gallivanting into combat in that deathtrap! Where's Rei?!"

At her explosion, the mecha slumped, somewhat, and the camera-eye turned to focus on her. Through the mech's PA-system, the short, sharp intake of breath could be heard by the entire cage-crew, but nobody had the ill-grace to react.

"I...I'm sorry, Asuka. I had to. I -have- to. I couldn't be there for you at the station because Doctor Soryu needed me for the prep-calibrations, and I needed to focus on getting ready."

This did not alleviate the redhead's ire in the least, and she demanded, once more, "We talked about this, Shinji! What about Rei? Where is she, why isn't she the pilot?!"

At this, the giant mech looked down, and the entire scene grew just a little somber as Shinji's voice fought out of the PA-system as though he was choking it out, "...Rei's hurt, Asuka. She...she tried to activate the EX-00 too soon, and the backflow compensators blew. When that happened, the mech's stabilizers exceeded capacity and it fell a bad way. The plug crumpled inside of the unit."

Asuka's expression shuttered into darkness as she gasped, clasping her hand over her mouth. "Is...is she alright?"

The mech nodded, still somberly, but more firmly. "Yeah, Asuka. She's alive, just a broken arm and a few cracked ribs, but still. She's out of action, and with your mech still being refitted back in Berlin....."

Asuka's eyes closed tightly as she nodded, unwilling to let anyone, least of all Shinji, see the tears that were threatening to spill forth.

"You're the only option we have. You...you be careful out there, you baka! Do you hear me!?"

A wry chuckle barked forth from the PA as the mech nodded.

"I've trained for this, Asuka. We all have. We always knew the chances I would have to sortie were high. At...at least I can actually -do- something, Asuka. At least, if the worst happens, I can be proud of that."

At that, Asuka let a tiny sob she would later call a laugh escape into her palm, and she nodded, unable to speak. Quickly, she ran around the cage and into the bridge proper, where the bridge crew were busily running calculations and preparing for the battle. She moved to stand next to the commander and looked up at him, closing her eyes tightly against the sight of the man she knew to be a strong and charismatic man and fearless leader. His expression seemed angry enough at the world to crush it between his hands, all while looking so terrified he wanted to grab his little boy and run into the furthest, most remote mountain village where they -might- be safe. The sight of it was enough to almost induce physical pain in the young redhead.

Still, this did not degrade the man's voice in the least as he addressed the cage.

"Captain Ikari, prepare for undocking procedures! Doctor Soryu, initiate on my mark....mark!"

The spinning blue lights became yellow as the walls of the mech's cage unclamped and recessed, revealing that it was standing on a -very- large platform built onto an angular escalator, which moved the massive mech, still restrained to the platform by a three-side wall save for the right hand it had used to salute.

"Lieutenant Ibuki, location of the target?"
"Fifteen mikes from feet-dry in sector 24, sir!"

"Lieutenant Aoba, prepare a path through the Sephirot to sector 23!"

"Course laid in, sir!"

"Lieutenant Hyuga, I want all storage stations except for 22 and 24 in that quadrant stocked with two batteries and a spare rifle each! Stock stations 22 and 24 with two replacement magazines each of HEAT and TPC!"

"Orders received and acknowledged, station readiness in six mikes, sir!"

The yellow lights turned red, and with them, Asuka's mood plummeted even further, dropping into her heart as she recognized what they signalled.

Shinji was about to launch.

"All hands, as soon as the Captain is launched, I want that sector on the main screen and sub-screens four through ten! I don't want to miss a single instant! That said...Captain Ikari!"

The mech turned and looked down at the battle bridge from his place against the wall, ignoring the series of doors that opened up above his head in sequence. The Commander continued, his voice choked with emotion that he refused to allow show in his body language.

"Your first armaments are in the catapult locker! Remember, your AT-pylons are only good for five minutes of consecutive use before you need to replace the transmission-batteries, so use the field wisely! Good...good luck, my son. Eligor, launch!"

The mech disappeared at Mach 1 up the tube that led up, up, and away, out of the Geofront and into certain danger.

 

[MarshalGraves]

Peccata Patris, Filius Redentor
A MarshalGraves Production

Episode Two - 'Sachiel'​

The catapult was -fast-, but that didn't help Captain Shinji Ikari, pilot of ACP-01 Eligor, (much) when he had to make a long, circuitous horizontal trip to the other side of the Geofront's armored walls through the Sephirot to get to his prepared destination. It did help, however, that his right arm was the only limb disconnected from the restraints that kept him aloft. Still, he was left alone with his thoughts for a minute, maybe more, before he reached the surface exit of the sephirot, the path that rose to the Angels.

Ten years. It had been ten long, difficult years since that day. Ten years since his father had taken him back in, ten years since his father had bent all of the resources, all of the greatest, most dedicated minds in the world to -saving his life-. Ten years since his pain stopped, and with it, the crippling loneliness only a five-year-old without his parents could feel.

Ten years since he'd been beaten near-to-death with a devil-damned -cello- of all fucking things, just for having the unmitigated gall of asking if Daddy was coming to see him for his birthday.

To this day, Shinji -still- hated cellos. He wasn't overly fond of classical music, in general, though he did make a special exception to Canon in D, by Pachelbel. Pachelbel apparently hated the cello, too, and the song had the benefit of being upbeat and uplifting, so that was a bonus. It wasn't exactly the kind of music you could just lay around listening to for -hours-, unless you were a total mopey loser, but...wait. Cut that thought, right there.

I've been spending too much time around Rei, if that thought snuck in.

That was another thing. Ten years since he'd discovered he had a sister. Granted, he hadn't been in much of a condition to do anything about it for a couple of years, there, until they'd gotten his brain's swelling down enough that he could control his cybernetically-assisted limbs, but once he could, Rei had been the first person he'd hugged under his own willpower.

It had been nice.

After that, his little sister had become...well....well, Shinji supposed she'd -always- been a bit...off. But she was his sister, and he loved her regardless. He loved his father, too. Sighing softly, almost contentedly as he passed Duct 4-B, Shinji's rapid thoughts coalesced towards today, and the impending apocalypse that he, and only -he-, stood in front of.

God, that was a sobering thought, wasn't it? They'd had discussions about it. Shinji, Rei, Dad, even Asuka. None of the others had wanted Shinji to be anywhere near a cockpit, given his...condition. He understood their fears, and he loved them for their concern, but all of the cybernetics and neural nets in the world couldn't make him -not feel fucking useless-. He was a lump of fucking hamburger animated by neurally-linked -hydraulics-, for fuck's sake, and that was on the -best- of days! No, he wanted, -needed-, to pull his -own- fucking weight, to be -useful- to the family that loved him, that cared for him!

Ten years of construction, of design, and re-design (or, as Shinji privately called it in his mind, Rei-design), testing, re-testing, synchronization, re-synchronization...at this point, Shinji just mentally sighed and said 'ten years of everything and re-everything, and sometimes re-re-everything'. Ten years of -that-, and they'd finally gotten themselves up to snuff to take on the challenge of staving off the apocalypse (Shinji privately preferred Asuka's take on the subject, calling it 'The Ragnarok', partly because it was the great, big, no-holds barred battle between Gods, which was pretty damn spot-on for what was happening, now, but mostly because 'Ragnarok' suited his love of classic rock better.). The only question they had was 'Who will be the pilots?'

Gendo's take on the topic, two years ago, the last 'extended family' meeting before Asuka left for Germany, was that Shinji would -not- pilot. Asuka's take on the matter, which she felt was the first, final, and only word was that she agreed, and Shinji had best not think otherwise while she was in Germany, ostensibly to spend time with -her- father (stepfather, but Richard Langley still had no clue, or more likely, didn't care that Kyoko had carefully selected a sperm donor from a list of 'very promising individuals'), but really, she'd just gone because Germany had one of the best medical programs in post-Second Impact Acadaemia, and 'she'd be -damned- if the best of the best was going to settle for some cut-rate third-world pill-peddling license disguised as a doctorate'. Rei...Rei just told Shinji 'no'. Asuka, Rei, and Gendo agreed, and Gendo had put his -foot- down.

Don't get Shinji wrong, he loved his father, almost more than anything in the world, but Gendo Ikari was -not- somebody that got visibly angry without someone needing to change their trousers. So, Shinji had relegated himself to poring over the weapons designs, his own Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering, Theoretical Engineering, and Physics coming into play as he helped Rei, Kyoko, the Doctors Akagi, and his father design the mecha that would save the damn world. Of course, these designs needed huge amounts of testing, and so Shinji managed to sneak himself into the simulators to 'test' the weapons.

That he was, in fact, using the simulators to get a sensation of being -useful-, of being able to pilot, was ignored by most of his psyche. He was a good son. He wouldn't dream of disobeying his....okay, fuck that noise, he couldn't even say that in his head without getting hysterical. Still, he'd been preparing.

The MSRG-01 Rail Rifle that was riding up to the surface with him was a weapon of his own design. Granted, it wasn't a difficult thing to build, it was almost just a scaled-up version of a really, really big Kalashnikov, but damnit, it was -his- baby.

And because Rei had tried being a big, damn hero to make sure he was safe, she'd guaranteed that, with Asuka and the RCM-VF-1S still in Germany, he was going to have to take the Eligor into battle. And, speaking of battle...

His destination was rapidly approaching. In ten seconds, he'd be on the surface. Without wasting a moment, that free right hand rose and slammed down the hinged-roller covering of the locker at his side and grabbed the rifle, already pre-loaded with one 54-round clip of Tungsten Penetration-Canisters, and secured it to the strap across his mech's chest. He then grabbed the spare clips of TPC and a clip High-Explosive Anti-Tank shells, the last thing in the right locker, and slipped it into a pocket on his mech's vest. Just as he finished securing the ammunition, a hatch above him opened, and he rose from the ground, like a god built from metal and flesh, come to avenge the three-billion slain in Second Impact. Ready to fight.

It was a -heady fucking feeling-. One he enjoyed for a moment before shaking it off and activating his comm. "Eligor to Command. I have arrived at the combat zone. Requesting final preparations, over."

A moment of silence, an eternity of silence. He wanted to be ready, he wanted to get into the action. He wanted to rise high and -prove- to his father that he wasn't just a hunk of meat, dam-

"Roger that, Eligor. Prepare for umbilical attachment in three....two....one. Umbilical attachment initiated, over."

A dull thump rocked his mech (him) forward, and indicators on his HUD and lights in his cockpit began to activate and brighten. His mech (he) perked up, the mech's antennae (his ears) perked up and began to feed a cacophony of information directly into his mech's processor (his brain). Three more thumps issued forth from Eligor's (his) back, and he knew, before the confirmation light on his console turned green, that his umbilical was latched in.

"Umbilical attachment confirmed, Command. All signs green. Eligor is ready for combat, over."

"Roger that, Eligor. Releasing restraints in three...two...one. Restraints released. Eligor, you are condition green for operation. I repeat, Eligor, you are condition green for operation."

Hisses and clanks had sounded during this speech, and Shinji felt the Eligor (himself) freed from its (his) cage, and without any conscious effort on his part, his face cracked into a smile even as he turned to the left-side locker, opened it up, and withdrew another spare clip each of HEAT and TPC, and then the two spare batteries the rifle drew power from in order to fire. Going over his mental checklist, the mech's (his) hands drifted over his clothing.

Progressive Fairbairn? Check. Rail Rifle? Check. Pre-loaded TPC magazine? He slid the slide on his rifle back and gave that a 'check' before letting the slide roll forward again. Two spare clips each of HEAT and TPC? Check.

He smirked to himself once again as he turned the Eligor to the east, and began to stride, as easily as though he was thinking (walking on his own two legs).

-------------------​

It/He/She/They made Its/His/Her/Their way, a slow, inevitable march, onwards, towards The Call. Nothing would forestall It/Him/Her/Them. Nothing would stop It/Him/Her/Them. Even this cold, wet existence beneath the Waters, the very essence of It/His/Her/Their Being, would faze It/Him/Her/Them as It/Him/Her/They trudged towards land, towards The Call, towards Its/His/Her/Their Progenitor.

It/He/She/They had been walking for hours, Its/His/Her/Their massive height hidden by the great waters above, concealing It/Him/Her/Them. It/He/She/They had destroyed the metal canisters that had launched smaller metal canisters at It/Him/Her/Them, their explosive termination detonating uselessly against the Light of Its/His/Her/Their Soul. It/He/She/They was, and It/He/She/They would Forever Be, for the Light of Its/His/Her/Their Soul was inflexible and inexterpible.

It/He/She/They was. And It/He/She/They would let them know, soon, and now, as It/He/She/They broke the surface of Its/His/Her/Their Waters, the surface of the body the Lilim called Sagami Bay. Even as It/He/She/They continued Its/His/Her/Their inexorable way towards the Call, It/He/She/They felt a moment of curiosity.

There, before It/Her/Her, silhouetted by the setting sun behind it, stood a Being nearly so large as Itself/Himself/Herself/Themselves. How could this Being exist? It was a Being of metal, a creation that, even now, moved closer to the line between Water and Land. It was a Being that moved, that walked, but it was a curiosity, for It could feel no Light, no Soul, from the metal Being before it.

Still. This Golem did not matter. It/He/She/They was, and the Being stood between It/Him/Her/Them and Its/His/Her/Their goal, the beginning of Complementation through Unification of The Fruit of Life. So, It/He/She/They issued Its/His/Her/Their warning, to chase off the interloper as the Lilim beneath the Waters had been chased off.

-------------------​

Inside of the control room, a slight figure entered through the door from the cages and made its way towards the rail where the Commander and Lieutenant Soryu were standing side-by-side, each gripping the rails as they stared at the massive, verdant-green shape making its way out of the water, its 'face' a bone-white rictus grin of a mask that seemed to leer -evilly- at the mecha that was Captain Shinji Ikari. Quietly, this figure made its way into the gap between the two, and rested its hands on each of theirs in quiet support.

Each turned to look at the figure, and saw well-cared for blue hair and blood-red eyes staring almost blankly at the screen. Asuka took a moment to internalize that Rei, the figure whose hand rested on her own, was wearing a black dress with a white frock over it, a curiousity that made her look like some sort of maid, with her blue hair held up by a simple, solid hairband. Asuka smiled, weakly, as she held Rei's hand, squeezing it firmly before both girls turned and studied the bipedal monstrosity slowly making its way out of the ocean, two gigantic pink lances seemingly made only of energy itself extending from its ridiculously-proportioned elbows.

Behind Rei stood a purple-haired amazon of a woman, her large bust straining against her black minidress. Asuka had a moment of hysterical jealousy as she took in the fact that her friend and big-sister-figure's decency was likely only being saved, at the moment, by a red leather jacket, but that one moment of pure hysterical envy (Damnit, boobs! Grow, already, damn you!) was forestalled as she saw the look of grim determination, -rage-, and sorrow warring on Major Misato Kaji's face.

Without making a sound, Asuka reached back with her free hand, and took Misa-nee-chan's within it.

-------------------

I AM.
I AM COME.
THOUGH MY FEET ARE STAINED BY THE BASE EARTH ON THIS BLESSED QUEST, I HAVE COME.
THE LIGHT OF MY SOUL IS SUFFUSED WITH THE COVERING OF THAT WHICH IS CALLED 'I AM'.
I AM THE HARBINGER OF THY DOOM, ANGEL OF WATER.
I AM THE FIRST OF MANY.
I AM SACHIEL.
I AM COME.

-------------------
​

Rei stared at the massive monster on the screen, then at the form of her brother's mech before it, and finally, she turned her blank, almost blind gaze upon the shape of her father beside her, his own features schooled carefully, but worried nonetheless. After a moment of consideration, Rei's voice, in an almost-robotic monotone, broke the relative peace of the quiet, except for the tapping of keys and whispering of orders between technicians,

"....You're a louse, Commander Ikari."

Asuka double-taked at Rei, her eyes widening disbelievingly, and she opened her mouth to chastise Rei, to make her apolo-

-------------------
​

"And I am Captain Shinji Ikari. I am the first defender of mankind, Angel of Water. As long as I draw breath, nothing you do can touch the dry land upon which I stand."

Shinji switched off the safety of his rifle and shifted it to his right hip, bracing it with both hands and aligning it so that the barrel pointed squarely at the massive monster before it. He took a moment to ensure the beast was in the Smart-linked scope's vision.

"Nice to meet you."

Shinji opened fire.

Each pull of the trigger was rewarded with the barking of three separate 'kabooms', the railgun-propelled projectiles slamming uselessly against a gleaming, sparkling shield that resembled nothing so much as a hexagonally-segmented soap bubble.

Seeing his firing was having no effect, Shinji made a quiet 'che' of disapproval and began to walk himself forward, into the salt water, drawing closer and closer still to the angel even as it drew nearer to him. Sweat began to bead off of his brow before wicking away, absorbed by the LCL surrounding him and bouying him in the plug.

His rounds were having no effect. To be fair, though, they'd expected this. As he ran down the last burst remaining in his clip, he slung the rifle onto his back and reached for his Fairbairn...

His world went white.

-------------------​

Asuka's knuckles whitened on the rail and Misato's hand, drawing a yelp of pain before her own hand was squeezed back just as hard.

Shinji's rifle had had next to no effect on the angel, and it was too large for close-quarters-battle. Obviously, from a tactical standpoint, Shinji had no other choice but to sling his rifle and go for his CQB loadout. It was a moment, just a single second of distraction, and the Angel, Sachiel, had capitalized by grabbing Shinji's mech by the head and detonating that arm's energy lance, causing a minor explosion -right in Shinji's face-.

She bit her lip, holding back a scream, as she heard Shinji make one for her as he fell backwards into the water. He couldn't...it couldn't end like this, not so soon!

He couldn't lose! He was Captain Shinji Ikari! He'd been in the simulators with her, even while she was in Germany, piloting against her, with her, at her side against so many things! They couldn't have gotten everything so...so wrong! He couldn't be dead yet, he just couldn't be dead! She'd gotten her degree for him! She'd spent two years in Germany learning how she could best help the crippled idiot, he couldn't throw all that away over one stupid, fucking kaiju-wannabe! That stupid idiot wasn't dead, damnit! She hadn't blessed him with the revelation she'd had on the way back to Japan, so he didn't have her -permission- to-

Her musing was abruptly cut off by the cheer echoing throughout the control room.

-------------------​

The explosion rocked him, distracted him. The grab to his head, that hurt. The lance retracting, then lancing forward, and then detonating? That hurt. Falling back towards the water? Yeah, that was kind of embarassing.

None of it compared to the sheer pain of catching himself on his free hand, and forcing a 30,000 ton goddamned -mecha- to do a one-armed handstanding backflip. That had -hurt-.

As he managed to orient himself back on his feet, Shinji caught sight of the Angel coming in for a follow-up attack, a heavy left cross, through the now-cracked visual he was receiving through the central camera mounted on Eligor's head. Reacting before his mind could catch up, he dodged, and, wildly, he threw all of his weight against the beast's midsection, screaming wildly as he tackle-dragged Sachiel further and further away from the shore before abruptly stopping, letting the creature fly further back and land in the water.

Without wasting a moment, Shinji grabbed for his Fairbairn and drew out...a broken handle. A series of flat, diagonally-segmented pieces that resembled nothing so much as the progressive sections of a utility-knife fell out after it.

"Oh. Shit."

He threw the hilt back over his shoulder and knelt down, waiting for the Angel to approach once more as he thumbed his comms.

"Activating Pylons. Begin countdown on my mark! ...Mark!"

As he spoke, a series of matte-black rods extended from the mech's (his) back, and a whirring noise issued forth from within the depths of the Eligor's (his) body. Matte black became brilliant red, and he felt them link to his consciousness, seeping in to his mind as though asking for direction, for shape.
He layered his new AT-Field over his fists just as Sachiel managed to orient itself for another charge, and he punched the fucker in what should be a normal being's kidney. It at least ought to be -painful-.

The scream that echoed from the beast seemed to agree.

-------------------​

"The Angel is showing negligible signs of damage!"

"Four and a half minutes of pylon-power remaining!"

"Sync ratio is rising! The AT-Field is interfering with the buffer! 110% 112%! Captain, you need to calm down, or finish this fast!"

-------------------​

"Why! Won't! You! Lay! Down! And! Die!"

Shinji straddled the downed form of the Angel, having used his AT-Field to trip it and begin to hammer it with a series of violent punches, some of them sloughing watery flesh that turned into orange-red goo off of its form!

The Angel reared back and launched another lance at its attacker, who held on and bore through the explosion with a little help from the anchor named Sachiel, and even more help from the shielding effects of his AT-Field. With a snarl, Shinji shook himself clear of the explosion, just as a reddish glow made itself visible in the twilight of the evening, its subtle lambency visible at last through its thick, gooey flesh in its midsection, near where Shinji had punched it earlier.

-------------------​

"The core has made itself visible!"

-------------------​

Shinji/Eligor raised its right arm back, as though for another punch, when the forearm segmented and split, and what looked like nothing more than a giant, matte-black segmented metal bar with a sharpened chisel-tip and edges jutted forward!

-------------------​

"Nano-Ceramic Progressive Sword deployed! Sync ratio at 145%! Captain, no!"

-------------------​

"Oh, you have so got to die."

Shinji brought the sword, no glowing bright red to match the pylons along his spine, down, straight on for the core, straddling the beast to hold it steady as he pierced its flesh and encountered resistance. Bracing his right arm with his left, he leaned down, pushing more and more of his 30,000 tons of weight down as hard as he could, just as the angel shook violently in an attempt to throw Shinji off.

Glowing, AT-hot metal speared the core, but imperfectly, and the core -cracked-.

The Angel roared and pushed Shinji backwards before seeming to become less humanoid and more a leaping mass of gelatinous ooze that wrapped around him, stifling his body and face with its implacable presence.

"Oh, shi-"

The world went white again.

-------------------​

"We're detecting a high-energy reaction in the Angel!"

"The Captain's AT-Field is draining rapidly! Ten seconds left!"

"No! It's going to...."

The command center screamed in unison as a massive, pink cross etched itself into the sky, its base centered directly upon the site where the ACP-01 had stood. Static in the cameras of the immediate area fuzzed out the picture, but as it cleared, cheers began to issue forth.

There, walking away from the explosion, his rifle slung over his shoulder nonchalantly, was a sight welcome to all in the command center. The Eligor, a little banged up, a little worse for the wear, giving their sensors a thumbs-up as he walked towards the nearest catapult.

"Captain Shinji Ikari, reporting in. Confirmed Angel Kill, Command, over?"

Lieutenant Aoba, who had been about to reply, was unceremoniously dumped from his seat by a slight blue-haired girl wearing a maid costume, and her shrill, high-pitched voice stopped the nascent celebrations before they could begin.

"Onii-chan! Onii-chan! THAT WAS AWESOME! THAT'S MY BIG BROTHER, WHOOOOO!"

The Eligor seemed to puff up with pride as it reached the catapult and began to stow its gear. The extended umbilical began to retract into its housing and Shinji stood proudly as its restraints, again, save for the right hand, were restored.

"OH! OH! Umm...um...how'sit go again? Right! NERV-Actual...no, wait, Command to Captain Onii-chan...I mean Captain Shinji Ikari, yeah! No, wait, um...Command to Eligor, confirming Angel kill! Come on home, Onii-chan! Oh, um...over!"

At this, the entire control room was treated to the sight of a fourteen-year-old girl in a maid costume smirking like a demon.

"Oh, and one more thing! DON'T YOU FUCKING SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN, YOU BAKA! WHEN YOU GET BACK DOWN HERE, I'M GONNA TEAR YOU A NEW ONE FOR MAKING ME BREAK CHARACTER, YOU IDIOT!"

"....S-sorry, Rei...."

-------------------​

Later, after the evacuation order was lifted, the massive crater the Angel's explosion would become a tourist trap on the beach. The site of the death of the Third Angel.

It was a massive crater beneath the water, buried deep into the sand and down into bedrock. One enterprising young man, a certain Kensuke Aida, would later remember Shinji's words to the angel, and measured.

The nearest lip of the crater would turn up to extend just half an inch short of the low-tide line.

Nothing it had done had touched dry land.

 

[Alkard]

"Onii-chan! Onii-chan! THAT WAS AWESOME! THAT'S MY BIG BROTHER, WHOOOOO!"

The Eligor seemed to puff up with pride as it reached the catapult and began to stow its gear. The extended umbilical began to retract into its housing and Shinji stood proudly as its restraints, again, save for the right hand, were restored.

"OH! OH! Umm...um...how'sit go again? Right! NERV-Actual to Captain Onii-chan...I mean Captain Shinji Ikari, yeah! No, wait, um...NERV-Actual to Eligor, confirming Angel kill! Come on home, Onii-chan! Oh, um...over!"

At this, the entire control room was treated to the sight of a fourteen-year-old girl in a maid costume smirking like a demon.

"Oh, and one more thing! DON'T YOU FUCKING SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN, YOU BAKA! WHEN YOU GET BACK DOWN HERE, I'M GONNA TEAR YOU A NEW ONE FOR MAKING ME BREAK CHARACTER, YOU IDIOT!"

Click to shrink...

Well... this Rei definitely has a personality (or more than one)... and it looks like a doozy.

 

[Jake]

Wow.

First of all, let me just state for the record that I am incredibly honoured to have my Eva-fic mentioned in the same breath as Nobody Dies and Once More With Feeling, the two works that got me into Eva-fic writing in the first place.

And this story is absolutely amazing. Everyone's written in character, and yet at the same time they're very different people thanks to living different lives. I've seen people do lots of different things with Shinji before, but very rarely have I seen him written as confident, capable and determined to prove himself yet still recognisable as Shinji Ikari. Same goes for Asuka; she's still got a short fuse and a competitive streak, but at the same time she's legitimately and believably scared for the safety of her friend and comrade in arms.

And Rei coslifing as R. Dorothy Wainwright? I have no idea where you're going with this but I can't wait to find out.

 

[MarshalGraves]

Wow.

First of all, let me just state for the record that I am incredibly honoured to have my Eva-fic mentioned in the same breath as Nobody Dies and Once More With Feeling, the two works that got me into Eva-fic writing in the first place.

And this story is absolutely amazing. Everyone's written in character, and yet at the same time they're very different people thanks to living different lives. I've seen people do lots of different things with Shinji before, but very rarely have I seen him written as confident, capable and determined to prove himself yet still recognisable as Shinji Ikari. Same goes for Asuka; she's still got a short fuse and a competitive streak, but at the same time she's legitimately and believably scared for the safety of her friend and comrade in arms.

And Rei coslifing as R. Dorothy Wainwright? I have no idea where you're going with this but I can't wait to find out.

Click to shrink...

Yes. And you get an Internet Cookie (I'd give you more than one Like, if I could! And Hugs, too!) for being the first person on -two boards- to spot the connection. It's a thing! And it's called Foreshadowing!

Yes, Jake. I did, in fact, read your story, and I love it to -bits-. I actually started this account to start commenting on your thread, and on @Strypgia's Advice and Trust, which are the two big influences I can think of that had me wanting to write this 'fic.

And as I mentioned most recently on SpaceBattles: these kids are -still broken-. Shinji's more obviously-so, but he's still Shinji Ikari at his core. Asuka is still competitive and tsundere, but not because she lost her mama this time. Rei's...well. All I can say is Rei gon' be Rei. Because Rei's Rei.

She's not 'Reee~ey' from Nobody Dies, nor is she Sergeant Murderface from Mobile Fighter Evangelion. She's Rei.

And she's had an onii-chan for -ten years-.

That said, I will give just as many hints here as I did on SpaceBattles.

I do Foreshadowing -a lot-. It's a thing. I can't help it. I drop important bits and bobs for people to pull together -everywhere-, because in my mind, a story is the sum of -all- of its parts. I dropped a -metric fuckton- of hints of things to come in Chapter One - 'Asuka', and there are quite a few in Chapter Two - 'Sachiel', despite it being almost wholly-devoted to battle.

Speaking of...whatch'all think of Shinji's Badass Boast?

 

[ToothMaker]

Interesting take on Evangelion.

Watched.

 

[Sir Plusse]

Interesting thought to have all of Gendo's plots be for Shinji's sake. Doubt it'd fit canon Gendo too well, but as a catalyst for a NERV that actually works toward its stated goal it seems to work. It even gives a plausible reason for how Akagi (pretty sure it's Naoko specifically) found him breaking down despite his difficulty emoting- I mean, what caring parent WOULDN'T break down upon hearing about that sort of thing happening to their kid?

It looks like Gendo's been practicing emoting (and, to a degree, acquiring a sense of humor- is that a Metal Gear reference I see?) since then, incidentally.

Kinda wondering about the Eligor's technical stuff (like, converted from the Evangelion or built from scratch), but I suspect that'll be explained in time, so I'll just ask if all the piloted mecha will be named from the Goetia instead. Will we be seeing, say, an Astaroth?

 

[DocMatoi]

...You have my attention.

 

[MisterHalt]

The armaments available for the ACP-01 do not come with an unlimited ammo headband

Click to shrink...

I see what you did there.

So totally watching this story by the way.

 

[Susano]

Okay, I came here due to @Jake 's recommendation, and so far it seems to have been a good one!

Your writing style is really good, very engaging. Detailed, without going overboard. And the changes promise to be very interesting. And I also like how it promises more by hinting at things without yet explaining them. What is the relationship of Misato and Kaji to the others? It's clear there is one, after all. Is Asuka 'extended family' because she's Shinji's girlfriend? I mean, it is never explicitly stated... and so on. Not to mention all the different terminology. Eligor? Well, that's not Judeo-Christian. ACP? EX? I suppose we'll see. But I have the feeling those are not actually the EVAs with another name...

I really like that Shinji still has a proper motivation. That often gets a bit overlooked when a fic changes his background and hence his personality. The series made it clear he basically only sticks around because he is rather weak-willed, after all. So it's nice to see him being altered here, but still have his very own reason for fighting. I hope we will see more of Asuka and Rei and their motivations as well. Especially given how altered they are... Rei obviously so, and Asuka, with her mother still around, well... that kinda changes everything, one would think.

Asuka works well as PoV character. Impulsive, lively, yet still clearly different from canon. As for Rei, uh... yeah, that's odd. I'll reserve judgement until we see more of her

I do wonder how certain things still work. In the series, most likely Asuka could synch with 02 because it was her mother's soul inside it. Here, Kyoko is alive, yet Asuka is nonetheless a pilot. Which makes me believe her "RCM-VF-1S" is not EVA-02, either. But if it aren't EVAs, what are they? And what happened to the EVAs then? And if they are, well, how does it all still work?

Also, okay, Asuka got her degree. As a teenager. But then, she is a kid genius... and yet, Shinji also already went or goes to college at that age? That seems to be a bit of a stretch to me. And since Asuka is called a "young teenager", they don't seem to be aged up, either... Also, they're now properly integrated into a military hierarchy? Hm.

/E: Oh and yeah, one other thing: Gendo. So one the one hand, he still longs for Yui, but then on the other hand he decides, due to what happened to Shinji "fuck her and fuck her plans"? How does he emotionally reconcile that?

 

[MarshalGraves]

Days off are fucking -amazing-, and so are responsive readers! You all get cookies...wait, no. You all get -another chapter-! Longest one yet, too!

Peccata Patris, Filius Redentor
A MarshalGraves Production

Episode Three – 'Adrenaline Cooldown'​

Gendo stared implacably up at the catapult elevator as it slowly lowered the Eligor back to the mecha cages. His expression remained blank, his mouth drawn back into its habitual non-expressive neutrality after the battle had ended, and his son had shown himself to be in good repair and good spirits. Showing worry during the battle was one thing: he was the supreme commander of NERV, and this had been the first sortie, the proving ground, so to speak. It was almost expected of him to be worried about his 'baby', the mission, rather than 'his' baby, his son Shinji.

Damn the Old Men for not letting him smile in public. Damn the Old Men for not letting him show his son that he gave a damn. Damn Yui for damning him to this utterly cluster-fucked mess. And damn him for setting it all in motion, that dark, dark day fifteen years ago. If only he hadn't...if only. If only, if only, if only. If only Gendo had a bullet for every 'if only', he'd have long-since destroyed SEELE.

Still, the battle was won, and there were matters to attend to. He turned his gaze and his introspection outward, to take in the shape of technicians and engineers swarming the now-silent Eligor, each of them wearing a jumpsuit uniform. It brought a small smirk to his face to see it. Each of those men wore gunmetal-gray, with 'IKARI' stenciled in black above a silhouette of the Eligor's front-on profile, its red camera the only real color gleaming menacingly, or perhaps reassuringly, at the viewer, across their backs. Beneath it was the legend 'ELIGOR'. Each of them wore a NERV patch on their left shoulder, a UNAF patch on their right shoulder, and a job-badge on their left breast that read, simply, 'ACP-01'.

These were -his son's- men. His pit crew. His team. And each of them bore a proud smile or broad grin as they began to hook up hoses and inspect sites of damage. Gendo had hired each of those men personally, and he knew each of them would give their all and then some to ensure Shinji's mecha was in perfect condition for the next go 'round. They'd work especially harder, knowing their efforts to date had yielded what was a resounding victory against a nominally-superior foe.

The care the bridge crew used to open the neck of the Eligor and extract Shinji's plug-and-play designed 'universal canopy' that allowed him to interface to the neural receptors in the mechanical monstrosity showed their dedication. Still, Gendo had a job to do.

"Eligor Team, this is Commander Ikari. Ensure that Captain Ikari is situated and sent to my offi-no. Have him report to the control room for debriefing. That is all."

With that, Gendo turned around and walked up to his desk, giving a brief nod and a meaningful look from behind his glasses at his once-more placid daughter and her friend, Lieutenant Asuka Soryu, before turning to look at the purple-haired woman that was still holding both of them against her in a death grip of a hug.

"Subcommander Kaji...I believe Lieutenants Ikari and Soryu would like to see the good captain before he has to report for debriefing."

Misato merely nodded once, releasing the girls and nudging them towards the exit that led out into the Eligor's cage with a shaky smile. Asuka charged out, her eyes wet with unshed tears, while Rei stared at him for a brief moment.

"....You're a louse, Commander Ikari."

With that, the blue-haired girl walked, almost mechanically (Gendo could almost, -almost- believe that it was because of her injuries rather than her eccentricities, but he knew he wasn't that lucky. He -hated- R. Dorothy Wainwright, and he'd have to put up with 'her' all night at dinner!) out of the room after the fiery redhead, leaving Gendo Ikari with his subcommander. With the girls gone, Misato had no reason to moderate herself any longer.

"What the -hell- were you playing at, Gendo?! You -know- Mission Control is my job, you -know- I need to be out on that floor directing the battle! Why did you even -hire- me to be your subcommander if you're going to run the show, anyway?!"

Gendo sat down in his chair, turned his amber-tinted gaze upon the formerly-JSSDF captain-turned-NERV-subcommander, and rested his elbows upon his desk, lacing his fingers together before his face, casting his mouth in shadow that allowed him, at last, to smirk.

"This was our first mission, Subcommander Kaji. Our first sortie, and our first contact with the Angelic Threat for fifteen years. What sort of commander would I be if I did not give this battle my personal attention? What manner of -father- would I be if I did not direct my son, and encourage him, even if it is by weight of my presence alone?"

Misato pulled up short in her rant, then gave a quick 'che' as she crossed her arms over her impressive bust. Make no mistake, Gendo was a cold man, an almost mechanical automaton of a human being, but even -he- was hard-pressed not to stare at the cleavage on display. If she wasn't a happily-married woman, his subordinate, and a highly-accurate shot with a pistol, he'd probably have put in quite a bit of effort into wooing her. As it was, she was nearly ten years younger, and far, far less jaded than he would ever be, and he did not begrudge her her happiness.

She was still really, really damn hot, though.

"Commander...I'm sorry. I understand that, and I really appreciated the day off to take care of Aki-chan, but...I..."

Gendo raised his eyebrow sharply at her, and experience with her boss had ingrained the reflex that that gesture meant 'shut the fuck up' very, very quickly.

"Subcommander Kaji....Misato....believe me. I understand. I know what happened fifteen years ago. I know what it cost you, what it cost -everyone-. Your father's death was one of the reasons I looked very, very closely at your curriculum vitae, after all. The Angels may have taken your father, but it is our job, as NERV, my job, as commander, and -your- job, as subcommander, to ensure the -best possible performance- of our mecha pilots against the Angels."

He took a deep, fortifying breath, though he moved his body not an inch otherwise. Misato still could not see him still smirking beneath his hands.

"...This sortie was not proceeding as planned from the -get-go-. And you, of all people, know that no plan ever survives first contact. When Lieutenant Ikari was injured, I was forced to use the -last- person I ever wanted in the cockpit. Captain Ikari was never meant to enter battle directly, but to act as your hand and voice as an operations commander. Now, however, I cannot...-NERV- cannot afford to bench him again. Even should the Fourth Angel wait for Lieutenant Ikari to heal--by some miracle I will never be foolish enough to believe in--Captain Ikari has a -proven battle record- against these foes. He has, dare I say it, commendable record for someone who was -never- intended to pilot. I took command today because the confidence and surety that today's victory will have given him could not spring from nowhere before this battle."

Misato raised a very, very laconic eyebrow at the commander, almost a universal gender-based and gender-understood signal to get to the damn point.

Gendo continued to smirk as he did, in fact, continue, "Now, however...flush with victory, with a confirmed Angelic kill under his belt, Shinji...-Captain Ikari- will not -need- me to hold his hand. After today's sortie, unless you are out of action somehow, I will not be taking command. That will be your job, subcommander."

With that, he turned his head towards the cages, where he felt more than heard the technicians finally opening his son's universal canopy.

"Thank you for your time, Subcommander Kaji."

It was as clear a dismissal as he could give without being considered a -rude- asshole, at least.

"And Misato? Don't worry. You will be present for enough Angels to die 'by your hand' that someday, I am sure, you will wish you had worn gloves. Kindly send the captain in when he is...prepared."

This time, as she gave him one last short, sharp glare, Misato Kaji could almost -swear- she saw the malicious smirk beneath Gendo Ikari's interlocked hands before she shook her head and tossed it away as a figment of her imagination, instead choosing to walk outside to the cage where Shinji was being removed from his canopy.

Shinji was...not a pleasant sight to behold as the Life Cauldron Liquid, or 'LCL', drained from the canopy. Even hunched over and coughing the foul-tasting witch's brew from his lungs, the extent of the damage to his body from years before was very, very visible. His arms and legs were encased in metal 'sleeves' that simultaneously acted as armor and forced his twisted limbs into a facsimile of normal motion. Metal braces ran up his ribs, bolted to the bone directly, to ensure the weight of the sleeves did not tear his flesh from his skeleton, and, hunched over as he was, Misato could see the flexible metal nodes that ran from the back of his head all the way down to the bottom of his tailbone, a metal 'spine' that connected all of the 'augmentations' to his brain and allowed him the only semblance of normality his condition would allow. Then he lifted his head.

His nearly-bald pate was a ruin of scar tissue left over from the many dozens of surgeries he had needed, first to ensure his brain's swelling did not kill him outright, and then for the installation of the neural nets and wetware implants that tied his nervous system to the mechanical 'limbs' that contorted his uncooperative body into the -worst- uncanny valley of normal movement Misato Kaji had -ever- seen in her life. But the worst of all was his left eye. A ruin of flesh surrounding a cold, mechanical iris, the outer 'ring' dyed a cold, icy blue that attempted, and failed miserably, to match his normal, natural right eye gazed out, making him look half like an unfeeling machine and half like a sad, silently-screaming caricature of a human being. The dichotomy of his features was jarring. It always had been, and it always would be.

Misato could never quite shake the feeling that Shinji's 'good' eye was constantly begging her to put him out of the misery merely -existing- inflicted on the poor boy. Between that, and the scarring that criss-crossed his chest as an artifact of the -severely- extensive surgeries that had been required to give the poor boy the semblance of normality he currently had, it was no wonder most people who met him for the first time had the nowhere-near-unique-enough reaction of losing their last three days' worth of lunch while simultaneously vowing vengeance upon Tomoe Ikari.

Shinji was far too sweet, far too -nice- a boy for this to be his life. Worse, Misato knew the poor boy had never been outside of NERV since the day he had arrived in the Geofront's hospital ten years ago. People who were paid and knew what they were signing up for, people who joined to -help him-, were one thing, but inflicting the general public with his....features was too much for the poor boy to handle, and that was the greatest crime of all.

All of Shinji's friends, Misato ruminated, were -technicians-. Doctors. Engineers. Soldiers. All of them adults. Misato rather imagined that the day Shinji first met Asuka (the reports were hilarious: he didn't even know what children -were-, and thought her an adult small person. It...ended badly for the poor boy, by all accounts, though Asuka had seemed to develop an 'I'm an adult complex' immediately and forever thereafter) was the first breath of truly fresh air the child had ever received since his injuries. It was made all the more heartbreaking when Misato remembered that Shinji was -still a growing boy-, and needed ten times the maintenance such a set-up would cost someone who was already fully-grown.

And those maintenance cycles took up most of two days out of every two months. Even now, having had years to get used to the idea, Misato Kaji could not help but want to cry looking at the boy. Instead, she chose to take heart at the sight of the blue-haired 'maid' once more breaking character to give her precious Onii-chan a monster of a hug while Asuka berated him.

"....and how could you let him grab you like that?! Don't you know you're not supposed to take your eye off the enemy for even a -second- in combat! Of course you know, you dummkopf, you're the one that beat it into -my- brain in the simulators! Baka-Shinji, stop smiling at me like that, you...you...you pervert, and take your beating like a man!"

Honestly, it was like she'd never left home. Though, the 'pervert' thing was rather new.

She cleared her throat, and Shinji, still bare-chested (he was all-too-frequently clothed only in a pair of heavy-duty trousers, as his mechanical parts were a bit too rough on most clothes, and most clothes that could withstand the stresses his body could put on them were too rough on his scarred skin) immediately snapped to attention. Smiling thinly at the lack of a salute (good, she'd drilled them well), she merely stepped up and snapped to attention, herself. "Captain Shinji Ikari?"

Shinji held back the urge to gulp at Misato's brown-eyed stare. "Captain Shinji Ikari, reporting, Subcommander Kaji."

Misato nodded, shortly and sharply. "Good. You are expected in the command center with Commander Ikari for debriefing. I'll be taking command of the work crews for maintenance on the ACP-01. Understood?"

Shinji just nodded shortly and sharply, his hands clenched tightly to his sides. Without conscious effort on his part, his right hand began to close into a fist and, with a will, he forced it to stop. "Understood, ma'am!"

Misato nodded and smiled thinly. "Good. Dismissed, captain."

Shinji slumped to an at-ease posture and gave each of the girls a quiet, subdued hug before moving to head for the open door leading to the control room, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned and was somewhat surprised to meet Misato's eyes with his own mismatched gaze.

"And...Shinji? Good work out there, little bro. You nailed it." She winked at him, almost scandalously, before linking arms with both girls and dragging them off and away towards the bridge that overlooked the cage. He smiled sheepishly, rubbed the back of his neck (he hated doing that, the screech of metal-on-metal got -annoying-, but it was such a habit!), and walked into the control room.

It's...kinda quiet in here.

He didn't know what he'd expected, but everyone was utterly silent. There wasn't even the noise of keyboards clacking away. Feeling a hysterical sense of doom welling up in the very pit of his chest, Shinji Ikari walked towards the desk where his father still remained seated, still held his vaguely-threatening pose with his elbows propped up on the surface of the desk.

It was only the benefit of Shinji's mechanical eye that let him see the easy, relieved grin his father wore. And with that smile, Shinji felt his own spirits reverse from their dive into a soar. He approached the desk and stood at attention, waiting for his father's acknowledgement.

Gendo, for his part, finally schooled his expression and lowered his hands, 'absently' touching the base PA trigger.

"Captain Ikari, reporting as ordered, commander."

Gendo smiled thinly as he replied, "At ease, captain."

Shinji relaxed and clasped his hands loosely at the small of his back.

"Captain Ikari, today, at Eighteen-Hundred-Thirty-Two hours, you entered into the combat zone and engaged your opponent, the Third Angel, designated 'Sachiel'. Is this correct, Captain?"

Shinji nodded shortly and sharply. "That is correct, sir."

"The engagement lasted approximately ten minutes, and ended in the termination of the target while you and your Angelic Combat Platform remained combat-worthy. Is that correct, captain?"

Shinji gulped and nodded again, remembering all of the mistakes he'd made, oh-so-helpfully pointed out to him by Asuka -again- just outside. "That...that is correct, yes, sir."

Here, Gendo nodded gravely, his voice grim and almost -quiet-. "Then, Captain Ikari, having reviewed the footage of the battle, and having downloaded your Angelic Combat Platform's onboard recording, I shall have to await your signature on the after-action report when it is prepared. I have just one more thing to say on the matter."

Shinji began to feel sweat build up on his brow once more as he almost hesitantly, almost whisperingly, asked, "What would that be, sir?"

Though his face remained completely neutral, Gendo's voice took on a quality that seemed as though he was almost forcing himself to show some enthusiasm. That was all anyone in the control room could think as his voice positively ground out, "Captain Ikari, by sheer dint of the undeniable evidence in the matter of the First Angelic Battle, it is apparent that your sortie was an unqualified success. As a result, I am forced to make your temporary brevet-rank due to impending combat sortie permanent, and install you into the rolls as a captain. Your pay shall be backdated to the moment of your breveting, and from this day forward, you shall be known to all NERV and UN Forces as 'Captain Ikari'. Excellent work, captain. Excellent work."

He stood and abruptly turned away, clasping his own hands behind his back and looking directly into the barely-polished glass in the back, where only someone with perfectly-exceptional vision, or a cybernetic eye, could see the reflection of the commander, beaming at his son with pride and joy that he could not afford to show before any other face.

Shinji left the control room upon dismissal with a broad grin of his own that it would take surgery to remove. The cheers that were erupting all over the base, the crews all chanting his name, couldn't even hold a candle to that smile gifted to him by his father.

Nothing ever could.

-------------------​

Misato gazed up at the partially-ruined face of the massive mecha, imagining, for a moment, that it was gazing back at her, judging her, weighing her. The weight of that gaze settled upon her shoulders in an almost physical manner, sending jolts down her spine as she met the gaze that, scarcely half an hour ago, would have been the less-unkind gaze of Shinji Ikari.

It gave her an unpleasant shiver, now, as she imagined herself to be found wanting in that cold, dead, red stare.

She turned at the sound of muffled footsteps, and tilted her head to greet the much-less-judgemental blue gaze of Kyoko Soryu, who nodded briefly in greeting before leaning on the rail, still clad in her wetsuit, and staring back into the dead, cracked camera 'lens' of the inert machine-god that rested before them. Misato turned back and met its gaze, once again, resisting the wild urge to close her eyes and cry, and the two ladies remained that way in silence for a moment, just living in the moment as the sounds of the 'pit crew' running their checks and calling out itemized reports to one another filtered up from the cage they stood above.

"It wasn't originally named 'Eligor', you know."

Misato turned and tilted her head at the brunette, a curious look on her face despite herself.

"In the early design stage, we ran into a hell of a lot of problems, and had to work hard, fast, and throw some serious shit at the wall and see what stuck to get this thing even as far as prototyping. Just...so much went wrong, at some points, it felt like -everything- went wrong. As a result, for about four years, this thing's name was 'Murphy'."

Kyoko turned a wry grin at the purple-haired subcommander and gave a simple shrug. "Looking back, that name's even more appropriate, considering we built the outer layers according to specs and appearance standards given to us by the commander...who apparently received them from Rei. This design, Eligor's design, is based off of a cybernetic cop."

Kyoko chuckled softly to herself at that, while Misato just kept on looking confused before shaking her head and turning around to lean her back and elbows on the rails, inadvertently pushing her chest into much greater prominence. "I...don't get it."

It took Kyoko a full minute and a half to get her laughter under control, time that Misato took advantage of to collect her thoughts and put forward another question, one that was more important, to her, at least.

"Why Shinji? Why...all this? Why can't someone else pilot these things?"

At that, Kyoko's intermittent chuckling dried up and became a long, tired sigh, "That...that's easy to answer, but difficult to actually -say-."

Misato reached up and rested her hand lightly on the wetsuit-clad brunette's shoulder, silently encouraging her.

"The answer is because we didn't have time. The first mecha project we had going was scrapped because of the extreme likelihood of fatalities in the creation process. And by 'likelihood', I mean every single model was guaranteed to kill the first person to initiate contact with the machine. There was a strong possibility that the second person might not survive, either. Commander Ikari pulled the plug on -that- research less than a year after the first test model was completed and killed his wife."

Misato winced, mentally chalking yet another fatality, yet another ruined life, ruined -family-, up to the angels as Kyoko continued.

"Unfortunately, that research was the -best- we had going for us, and we had design specs and armor mock-ups and everything. We could build all the mecha in the world we wanted, but we didn't have anything that could make them -move-, not with the laws of physics being perfectly capable of enforcing themselves."

At this, Kyoko sighed tiredly and walked over to the console she'd been working on during the battle. She withdrew a slim brown purse, which she proceeded to open. Pulling out a pack of cigarettes, she took one, lit it, and took a long drag before walking her way back towards Misato. "Were you briefed on all this when you took up the post?"

Misato shook her head, looking fascinated, now as she replied, "No. I was hired to the post of subcommander when Kozo Fuyutsuki retired, and the commander gave me overall command of the tactical side of things, with Sections Two and Four nominally under my command. The mechs are Section Three, I jus--"

At this, Kyoko raised her hand in Misato's direction, palm flat and aimed at Misato's face, while she took another drag. "I'm the head of Section Three. I know who signs my paycheck, hon. I just thought as subcommander you might actually know the specs of the machines you oversee in battle."

Misato just shook her head. "No, I've cared more about their performance, and the pilots' performance in the simulations. You guys do the programming there, I just trust what I see. I don't have the head for all that 'pounds per square inch' thing." At this, Misato gave a self-deprecating shrug and smiled disarmingly at the good doctor.

Kyoko just chuckled at that and lowered her hand to rest it on her hip. "Well, you might want to learn. There are three different mechs we've constructed, and knowing what they're -designed- to do could help you determine what they -can- do in a battle. For instance, this bad boy is 120 meters tall. You're not going to be sending him under a bridge any time soon, unless there's a -really- deep river or bay for him to walk through."

Misato had to nod at that, conceding the point, before drawing herself back towards her earlier question. "So...why the kids, anyway? Why couldn't...say...-I- climb in this thing and wreck Angel face all day?"

At that, Kyoko winced and took another long drag off of her cigarette before stubbing it out, staring contemplatively at the diminished pack, as though deciding whether or not a second was worth it, or called for, at the moment. "It's an artifact of the first project. The first project took advantage of a then-undiscovered phenomenon caused by Second Impact, called ADAMnations, to 'link' the pilots to the mecha and make it move. The problem is, these ADAMnations are only detectable by those born under ADAM's radiation atmosphere, which has blanketed the planet since Second Impact."

At this, Misato blinked, almost owlishly, and then the stress of the conversation and, more importantly, its content, hit her. She reached over to grab the pack from Kyoko, teasing a cancer stick from the pack with her teeth and lighting it with Kyoko's offered flame. "ADAMnations?"

Kyoko nodded quietly. "Portmanteau of 'ADAM' and 'emanations'--and, to everyone who's worked on Project E, 'damnations'. Children....children born after Second Impact are somehow -modified-, below the genetic level, to be sensitive to these ADAMnations. It's been known to cause hallucinations, when the ADAMnations are particularly strong in a given area, and some children can be more or less sensitive to them. But the key thing is, these...psychic links? They're only active in children fifteen years old and under, and they were and -are- the only method we have of connecting the pilot to the mech and making it -move-. These ADAMnations are still being studied, but...we do know two things."

At this, Misato turned back to leaning on the rail, realizing, somehow, that the Eligor's glare was less judgemental somehow as she absently listened to Kyoko's words.

"The first is, somehow, the links between pilot and mecha -somehow- allow the child to tell physics to pack up and leave the house for a while, and the second is that, without those links in the first place, all our AT-pylons would do is make a pretty red glow. The synchronization process gives the AT-Field -direction-...and the pilot is its soul."

Misato gazed, almost defiantly, into that dead, broken red stare, the sightless gaze boring into and through her. Somehow, she almost -preferred- that damned thing when Shinji was behind it.
That red, dead circle just continued to glare listlessly at the purplette.

-------------------​

Making tea was -awesome-, Shinji decided as he lightly stirred the teabag around to turn the steaming water in the cup into a nice, rich red color. Taking in the rich aroma, one of the first genuine smells he could remember outside of the bloody, coppery stink of LCL, he sighed contentedly as he sat down at the table. While he wished he could help Rei and Asuka in the kitchen, having a mobile body was still something...very, very new to him, and he wasn't going to be winning any awards for something as intensive as cooking any time soon.

That said, he probably wouldn't have had the heart to try and stick himself in the kitchen even if he -had- magically sprouted with five-star cooking ability from his LCL-filled tank, a tank that had been his home for almost the entirety of the last decade. And Rei and Asuka were -absolutely enthusiastic- about cooking Shinji 'his first home-cooked meal'. And, of course, by 'enthusiastic', Shinji meant 'if he dared to step one metal boot inside their kitchen, he'd be shitting scrap for a month', but, of course, he was just arguing semantics, there.

That sounded weak, even in his -own- head. With a sigh, Shinji took a slow sip of the hot tea, and delighted in the slight burn that developed on his tongue from the too-hot beverage. Closing his eyes and enjoying the sheer -wash- of scents that filled the house, from Rei's muted vanilla to Asuka's more vibrant cinnamon, the scent of the teak furniture that his father had had imported, the light dusting of earth from countless years of countless shoes treading across the varnished cherry floors....

In all honesty, the scents of cooking food washing in from the kitchen were, while heavenly, utterly second to the fascinating -everything- Shinji had not yet had time or inclination to render into 'white noise'.

It was, after all, his first day walking, out and about, and while he'd had to throw on a cloak before he could stomach the thought of leaving NERV for the first time since he could remember, it was...it was magnificent.

The sights, the sounds, the smells, everything was -new- and -wonderful- and -fresh-. A whole world he'd been separated from, open to him at last!

It had taken both Asuka and Rei, a cloak, and a heavy-duty forklift to get him out the damn door. He'd been fucking terrified, and he'd remained quiet and still in the back of the van, thinking 'I mustn't run away' for...pretty much the entire trip to his father's house.

Once he'd gotten there, though...once he'd gotten inside, he couldn't help exploring. He kept well away from any windows--drawing the curtains when passing them by was impossible-- just to familiarize himself with his new, larger world.

Then he'd seen the nameplate on the door to 'his' room, and he'd broken down crying. Asuka had held him, calling him a 'baka' and a 'sensitive moron' while he kept apologizing to her. Rei came in from time to time when her cooking could afford it to give him a soft, tender hug, breaking character with alarming frequency. Finally, Asuka had dragged him into the dining room, handed him a cup of near-boiling water, and a tea infuser, and here he was, now.

He raised his head and blinked, holding back a smile as his father entered the room, just as Asuka and Rei both brought in dishes upon dishes of food from the kitchen. Gendo admired the sight stoically, for a moment, before pulling a device out of his pocket and studying it for a moment. He held up his hand for a moment as Shinji began to rise from his seat, stopping the teenager cold in his tracks before, with a soft nod and a -very- explosive sigh, he pressed a button on the side of the device and wrapped his arms around Shinji in the first hug he'd given the boy in over a decade.

Both Asuka and Rei developed an extremely selective and short-term version of memory loss when tears made themselves evident in both of the men's eyes. Without fanfare or ceremony, the 'family' set down to dinner. As they began to eat, discussions naturally cropped up over time, with Shinji learning that Asuka was staying here for a few nights while Kyoko hammered out Section Three's workload in bringing the Eligor and the EX-00 'Artemis' back up to snuff, and would be sleeping in Rei's room.

He also learned that Asuka had picked up an unwanted 'admirer' back in Germany, and felt an irrational desire to introduce Eligor's MSRG-01 to the ballsack of the eighteen-year-old who apparently thought a thirteen-year-old girl earning her initial -degree- was 'easy pickings'. He laughed, a stilted, dry thing--his throat unused to making the sounds--when Asuka revealed she'd used her training on him when he'd tried (and failed) to get a little handsy without so much as a 'by your leave'. He then felt an immediate and irrational desire to introduce his rail rifle to Richard Langley's -head- when the man had refused to press charges on the harasser.

Of course, talking about Asuka's college life inevitably turned into talking about Rei's schooling, which brought up a conversation that would eventually come back to bite Shinji in the rear. Of course, by 'eventually', it should be known that said rear-biting would take place within the next three minutes.

"...And that brings us to now, Commander Ikari."

Gendo nodded, his chin resting on his hands as he stared forward with a rictus smile fixed to his face, ignoring the twitch in his left eye as it and its partner flicked down to the device he'd removed from his pocket and placed on the table, earlier. Shinji knew, from experience and design, that it was a signal detector, designed to pick up and detect sent signals in the area. His father was doing what he could to ensure nobody realized that Gendo had a goddamned -heart-, and Shinji felt yet another irrational surge of hatred for an unseen target. He was soon drawn from his musing by his father's voice.

"That's good, Rei. I'm glad to hear you're making friends. I've said it once, and I'll say it a thousand times, it sounds like this Horaki girl has her head screwed on straight. I believe her mother works in Section Three, under Kyoko....hrm. Obviously, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

At that, Gendo rubbed his face tiredly with one hand, before turning to look at Shinji, his smile shifting from indulgent to merely...content. "Shinji, son...how are you feeling, right now? Are the new mods settling well?"

Shinji nodded, took a sip of his tea (his fourth cup tonight!), and swallowed before answering, "Yes, Father. I'm feeling a lot better than the last attempt, and I'm more than a little hopeful this'll be a longer-lasting setup than...well..."

Gendo nodded, smiling quietly to himself. "That's good, son. That's actually...wonderful to hear."

Shinji stared, curiously, too timid to question his father (he'd always been too timid, this was -Gendo fucking Ikari-, damnit!), but eager to know what was going through the man's mind.

"Well...Kyoko and I had very high hopes for the current model, so we...well, we designed an outer-layer, so to speak. We thought you might have trouble acclimating to the public world after living in Terminal Dogma's...in -that- tank for so long that we...we wanted to make sure you kept your self-esteem intact."

Shinji tilted his head as his dad's hand darted down into his briefcase and returned with a picture. He handed the picture to Shinji, and Shinji could not help but stare.

It looked like the Eligor, but...it couldn't be, considering his father was -leaning on the mech's shoulder-. If it weren't for the bunny-ear antennae, Gendo would outstrip the mech's height by a good two or three inches! It was then that Shinji realized what this meant.

"Father, is...is this...?"

Gendo merely nodded, his smile widening. "Indeed, son. That is a cybernetic exoskeleton designed to link up to your current series of mods. It won't do anything for your anonymity, but then again, with your condition that was always going to be a problem, but...at least this way, you don't have to feel ashamed of your scars while you and Asuka are in school."

Shinji couldn't help but smile, at that. His father was always thinking about him, always putting him first. It was a heady feeling, for someone who'd been without love or parents at all for nearly a whole year ten ye--wait, what?

Two voices shouted as one, "While I'm in -what-?!"

-------------------​

It is now time to deal with questions!

Interesting thought to have all of Gendo's plots be for Shinji's sake. Doubt it'd fit canon Gendo too well, but as a catalyst for a NERV that actually works toward its stated goal it seems to work. It even gives a plausible reason for how Akagi (pretty sure it's Naoko specifically) found him breaking down despite his difficulty emoting- I mean, what caring parent WOULDN'T break down upon hearing about that sort of thing happening to their kid?

It looks like Gendo's been practicing emoting (and, to a degree, acquiring a sense of humor- is that a Metal Gear reference I see?) since then, incidentally.

Kinda wondering about the Eligor's technical stuff (like, converted from the Evangelion or built from scratch), but I suspect that'll be explained in time, so I'll just ask if all the piloted mecha will be named from the Goetia instead. Will we be seeing, say, an Astaroth?

Click to shrink...

Have a cookie for spotting that! And yes, that was actually explicitly Naoko Akagi that found him. Yes, yes, that was an MGS reference. Gendo has two teenage children at the moment, and he's -trying- to be a decent father...even if Rei tests that -all the goddamned time-, so he's a -bit- more up on the lingo, as it were, than his canon counterpart. As to emoting...he's definitely had more practice, but he's also a consummate actor. I'm actively attempting to blur the lines, here, so that nobody knows whether or not he's CaringDad!Gendo, or ManipulativeBastard!Gendo. If my -readers- can't tell, Kihl Lorenze and the Old Men can't tell, natch.

As to the technical side...well, while we don't get into tensile strength, we do have a nice little bit about the mecha in this chapter, so I hope that satisfies at least -some- of your curiousity!

Okay, I came here due to @Jake 's recommendation, and so far it seems to have been a good one!

Your writing style is really good, very engaging. Detailed, without going overboard. And the changes promise to be very interesting. And I also like how it promises more by hinting at things without yet explaining them. What is the relationship of Misato and Kaji to the others? It's clear there is one, after all. Is Asuka 'extended family' because she's Shinji's girlfriend? I mean, it is never explicitly stated... and so on. Not to mention all the different terminology. Eligor? Well, that's not Judeo-Christian. ACP? EX? I suppose we'll see. But I have the feeling those are not actually the EVAs with another name...

I really like that Shinji still has a proper motivation. That often gets a bit overlooked when a fic changes his background and hence his personality. The series made it clear he basically only sticks around because he is rather weak-willed, after all. So it's nice to see him being altered here, but still have his very own reason for fighting. I hope we will see more of Asuka and Rei and their motivations as well. Especially given how altered they are... Rei obviously so, and Asuka, with her mother still around, well... that kinda changes everything, one would think.

Asuka works well as PoV character. Impulsive, lively, yet still clearly different from canon. As for Rei, uh... yeah, that's odd. I'll reserve judgement until we see more of her

I do wonder how certain things still work. In the series, most likely Asuka could synch with 02 because it was her mother's soul inside it. Here, Kyoko is alive, yet Asuka is nonetheless a pilot. Which makes me believe her "RCM-VF-1S" is not EVA-02, either. But if it aren't EVAs, what are they? And what happened to the EVAs then? And if they are, well, how does it all still work?

Also, okay, Asuka got her degree. As a teenager. But then, she is a kid genius... and yet, Shinji also already went or goes to college at that age? That seems to be a bit of a stretch to me. And since Asuka is called a "young teenager", they don't seem to be aged up, either... Also, they're now properly integrated into a military hierarchy? Hm.

/E: Oh and yeah, one other thing: Gendo. So one the one hand, he still longs for Yui, but then on the other hand he decides, due to what happened to Shinji "fuck her and fuck her plans"? How does he emotionally reconcile that?

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I appreciate the compliment, thanks! I try not to bog down in the details, but, as I mentioned earlier, every little bit of a story -makes up the story-. From settings to events to characters, -everything- has to come together. On the character side, yes, that -is- why Asuka was selected to be the first-episode introductory character for us, to act as our eyes and ears as we're brought into this scary, new NERV, and because, thanks to backstory, I actually had a valid excuse! I do so love it when canon agrees with my attempts to change it, hee.

Shinji is, as noted by Jake earlier, different, but still similar, and the same holds true with Shinji. Rei, on the other hand...I could not find a valid excuse to keep her character anywhere -near- the same, especially for...certain reasons. All I can say about that at this point is that, essentially, she's living life for both herself and her Onii-chan. It doesn't -quite- come through, especially in these early chapters (it's still the same day! Holy crap, three chapters and I haven't even gotten passed the first -day-!), but it will become much, much more obvious as time wears on that Our Reis Are Different.

Shinji has a metal spine, and obviously has little to no problem whatsoever with being the pilot of the Gigantic Murder Machine, but his -base- motivation remains absolutely the same: he wants to make his father proud. It's for different -reasons-, and has different connotations this time, but it's still our beloved baka-Shinji at the core of it. And it's less that Shinji's a child genius, and more....well...circumstances conspired, and I'll leave it there, for now.

Asuka is still very much Asuka, but without the utter crippling fear of being left alone. Now, she has her mother, but her father proved to be just as much a dipshit as he did in canon, and, while not nearly so egregious as boning a nurse in the next room while his insane wife commits murder-suicide in tandem with her daughter-that-is-a-doll, it's still a horrifying thing to go through as a child that young, and it's a weight on the psyche as you grow up and realize -why- your family is a broken one. She latched onto Shinji, hardcore, and...well, he's her motivation, her rock, and no, he is not her boyfriend.

Possibly yet. (Spoilers!)

As to how Gendo reconciles things....yeah, he's broken. He does miss and love his wife, very, very much. But, for all intents and purposes, she's -dead-. And she -wanted- to be a giant mecha, -anyway-. All Gendo had left was her plans, which involved him damning his already-damned soul even further, and his son, which the plan called for him to abandon. That abandonment got his son nearly -killed-. He's not seeing much need to reconcile 'keeping Shinji safe' with 'Yui's plan' when Yui's plan blatantly -ruined- 'keeping Shinji safe' (in this continuity, at least). Gendo -does- love Shinji. We even have exceptionally tear-jerking moments of that shining through, in the scene where he leaves Shinji behind, and in his last words. He -loves- Shinji, and we get to -see it-. As to Yui....well, he's definitely -obsessed- with her, but love? That he doesn't even stop to think for a couple of minutes as to how his wife would react to the callous, evil treatment of -her- son speaks ill of one or both of them, in canon. Either Yui wouldn't bat an eye at Shinji being all-but-physically abused speaks ill of her, or that Gendo doesn't realize a woman who -does- love her son would want nothing to do with the man that did that speaks very, very poorly as to his actual -love- for the woman. It's a tightrope, managing to balance the few shows of love and care for Shinji we get (There is no way the Scenario called for that 'Good work, Shinji' after the Sahaquiel battle, for example), and his actual 'I'm gonna turn my son and all of humanity into goo for -that woman-!' right now.

Now, as to how this affects the Scenario....well. For one thing, you're very, very right. The mechas seen so far, and near to come, are -not- Eva-series. At all. They're mechs. Mobile suits. Knightmare Frames. Armored Cores. Our Giant Mecha Are Different. They do, obvioiusly, generate an AT-Field, as explained in this chapter, and they -do- still need an underaged pilot to control said AT-Field, but the -how- is ever so different. And it's explained in chapter yet to come.

There will only ever be eleven Evas in this 'fic. One of them is Unit-01. I'll let y'all figure out what the rest of them are.

For another....Gendo -does- still have to convince the Old Men that he's following the Scenario, and so far, the only things that matter to -that- are the Dummy Plug system, which...doesn't necessarily -need- an Eva, and killing the fuck out of the Angels, which, as you saw in Episode Two, Gendo's still all about dat!

Oh, and before y'all point this out to me, I already know what y'all are going to say.

"If Shinji couldn't go out in public because of his appearance, and he's lived in a tank all his life, how could he pick up Asuka from the station like she said in Chapter Two?"

That's not a mistake or a plot hole. That's -intentional-.

Also, I will be going back to repair some jargon-related errors in Chapter Two. NERV-Actual is apparently moronic, and should be shortened to 'Command' as Shinji's not speaking to Gendo, but the actual bridge crew.

Marshal, out! Whoo!

 

[Susano]

Man, it must be so annoying to keep names straight at NERV... Commander Ikari, Captain Ikari, Lieutenant Ikari How come Shinji outranks Asuka and Rei, anyway? You mentioned it as a brevet rank; so was that just for the sortie? Will the other hence also be ranked such, at least as brevet ranks, once sortieing? And actually, how come the pilots have ranks at all; I don't see that logically extending from the PoD

And poor Shinji. I see the fic still follows the universal principle of "Being Shinji Ikari is suffering". And all that stiff military talk... but then, I suppose, Shinji even appreciates it, as it shows he was useful.

The metaphysical explanation as for why kids are needed... I always subscribed to the theory that the "born after 2I" thing was in-universe propaganda/misinformation, as the real reason was "Our mechas are powered by literal souls and we're using the kids of those souls" and you can't exactly make that public. But I suppose, at least you did present a reason, and eh, it works for the story.

...and yes, why would Shinji and Asuka need to go to school? That already made little to no sense in the series in Asuka's case.

well, he's her motivation, her rock, and no, he is not her boyfriend.

Click to shrink...

Huh. Interesting. I wonder how that came to be.

On that note, I noticed your post in the story advertisement thread. "Hikari Ikari"... of course, could be a false lead...

Gendo -does- love Shinji. We even have exceptionally tear-jerking moments of that shining through, in the scene where he leaves Shinji behind, and in his last words.

Click to shrink...

I fundamentally disagree where canon is concerned. For every "Good job" etc we have literally a dozen moments where Gendo is incredibly cold to him, but also not specially cold - just as much as he is to anyone else. And he quite apparently wants nothing to do with him. In the end he muses how he can only hurt Shinji, but I don't think he truly cared about that during the series. He was too obsessed with his Scenario, ultimately with Yui, to love anyone. I think in canon Shinji really was just another tool to him, and it didn't matter that he also happened to be his son.

And yes, I would say Gendo loves Yui. To try to make a distinction between love and obsession is IMO wishful thinking. Love can IMO absolutely do that. And it can make you absolutely blind and can lead to the strangest logical and emotional dissonances: Gendo most likely just pushed away what Yui would think of what he has done. He probably thought it would all work out in the end... somehow. Maybe even with Shinji. But for the moment, he's just a tool. Hell, even Rei is, and he shows more concern for her than for Shinji.

At least, that's my interpretation But then, I've just been recently called a cynical man, heh.

They do, obvioiusly, generate an AT-Field, as explained in this chapter, and they -do- still need an underaged pilot to control said AT-Field, but the -how- is ever so different. And it's explained in chapter yet to come.

Click to shrink...

Yes, the AT-Field thing is strange. So I appreciate that there will be an explanation for that, and as I've said, for the need for underage pilots.

I'll let y'all figure out what the rest of them are.

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My guss: Well, 00 and 01 have already been built, after all. Plus nine MP EVAs, because SEELE's plan is probably still to bring about Instrumentality by using EVAs - that, rather than fighting angels, is after all their primary purpose.

 

[Jake]

...and yes, why would Shinji and Asuka need to go to school? That already made little to no sense in the series in Asuka's case.

Click to shrink...

Neither of them seem to have spent much time around kids their own age, which can't have been good for their social skills. Shinji is also not a child prodigy, and will presumably need to pass his exams like everyone else if he wants to have a career outside of piloting giant robots when it's all over.

 

[Susano]

Shinji is also not a child prodigy, and will presumably need to pass his exams like everyone else if he wants to have a career outside of piloting giant robots when it's all over.

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Actually...

So, Shinji had relegated himself to poring over the weapons designs, his own Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering, Theoretical Engineering, and Physics coming into play as he helped Rei, Kyoko, the Doctors Akagi, and his father design the mecha that would save the damn world.

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Yeah, I find this odd, too.

 

[Jake]

Huh. I missed that part.

The part about socialisation and spending time around their peers (in age at least) still applies, though. Letting them at least pretend to be ordinary teenagers for a few hours a day would do all three of them a lot of good.

 

[Susano]

pretend to be ordinary teenagers

Click to shrink...

That may be a doomed cause for Shinji... And besides, I just can't imagine going back to whatever grade you go through at age 14 in Japan after already having bachelor degrees. Wouldn't that feel very odd, hence contrary to that aim?

 

[Sir Plusse]

Just because they're in school doesn't necessarily mean they'll be working on school stuff. For example, maybe Shinji'll spend significant portions of his days trying to fix that issue with his knife falling apart when he tries to draw it (yeah, that might've been caused by it getting damaged by the Angel's attack, but durability's still a problem).

 

[MarshalGraves]

Q&A session! Woo! I'm doing this mostly because I could not hijack it into the story without it being just that, hijacked, at least this early on, and it honestly has little to no effect on the greater plot.

Man, it must be so annoying to keep names straight at NERV... Commander Ikari, Captain Ikari, Lieutenant Ikari How come Shinji outranks Asuka and Rei, anyway? You mentioned it as a brevet rank; so was that just for the sortie? Will the other hence also be ranked such, at least as brevet ranks, once sortieing? And actually, how come the pilots have ranks at all; I don't see that logically extending from the PoD

And poor Shinji. I see the fic still follows the universal principle of "Being Shinji Ikari is suffering". And all that stiff military talk... but then, I suppose, Shinji even appreciates it, as it shows he was useful.

The metaphysical explanation as for why kids are needed... I always subscribed to the theory that the "born after 2I" thing was in-universe propaganda/misinformation, as the real reason was "Our mechas are powered by literal souls and we're using the kids of those souls" and you can't exactly make that public. But I suppose, at least you did present a reason, and eh, it works for the story.

...and yes, why would Shinji and Asuka need to go to school? That already made little to no sense in the series in Asuka's case.

Click to shrink...

Huh. Interesting. I wonder how that came to be.

On that note, I noticed your post in the story advertisement thread. "Hikari Ikari"... of course, could be a false lead...

Click to shrink...

1) It is, indeed, a brevet due to his sortie that was made permanent upon one, the UN realizing 'yeah, it's not just propaganda, SI wasn't just a one-off, we need people beating ten different kinds of hell out of the angels' and two, these may be child soldiers, they may be forced to be Big Damn Heroes, but they're going to get fucking paid! If they could die any and every time they climb into the death machines we've been forced to allow to exist to save humanity, we're at least going to treat them like -fucking- human beings'.

2) Gendo, waaaaay back when, went to the UN with his cap in his hand, and...oh, wait. That's a chapter for the Gendo v. Old Men interlude.

3) I hated canon for this. I always figured there was some big metaphysical deal, between Shinji's -waaaaaaaay- too fucking accurate hallucinations (one is in the first. Five. Fucking. Minutes.), and they went with the 'murdered mommybot' deal rather than 'Where's My Wife' with some -actual- soldiers, rather than Children. I mean, Gendo probably would have piloted Yui, if only to have the sense that -she was nearby- if adults could actually, physically pilot the murderedmommybots. So, I took ADAM, bled him of a bunch of his phlogiston, and made him radiate Minovsky particles.

...Not really, but that's the general idea. Of course, I -do- have to point out 1) the degree to which this effect affects kids and adults differently is not mentioned, yet, in the 'fic, and 2)who said it can't still be propaganda?

4) H-unh. I wonder what happened with Fuyutski....

5) Now I'm hungry, damnit. Oh, right, school. God, I miss gumbo day....

Yes, the AT-Field thing is strange. So I appreciate that there will be an explanation for that, and as I've said, for the need for underage pilots.

Click to shrink...

It -is- strange, but that's a chapter further afield.

My guss: Well, 00 and 01 have already been built, after all. Plus nine MP EVAs, because SEELE's plan is probably still to bring about Instrumentality by using EVAs - that, rather than fighting angels, is after all their primary purpose.

Click to shrink...

Nice guess! You're wrong! But nice guess!

I won't tell you -how- wrong, just that you're wrong!

Neither of them seem to have spent much time around kids their own age, which can't have been good for their social skills. Shinji is also not a child prodigy, and will presumably need to pass his exams like everyone else if he wants to have a career outside of piloting giant robots when it's all over.

Click to shrink...

6) No...wait...we're back on one. Right.

Like I said before, there was an interaction between NERV and Gendo. It's a thing. Kids go to fucking school, damnit. They socialize, they learn, and nobody said you had to stop at one degree, anyway!

Also, there may be problems as regards the whole 'reading' thing. Tanks full of blood-colored fluid are not very nice to paper, I guess. Maybe? Hrm...something, something, non-chapter explanation, exposition, subtle jabs about politician's parentage and sexual orientation as regards chairs, jaywalking, peanut butter!

That may be a doomed cause for Shinji... And besides, I just can't imagine going back to whatever grade you go through at age 14 in Japan after already having bachelor degrees. Wouldn't that feel very odd, hence contrary to that aim?

Click to shrink...

What they're -doing- at school is...well. Huhn. Nope. I wonder -why- Gendo's sending them to school. I mean, if he didn't like the idea, he's got enough clout by now to pick up the UN, tell them to stop being stupid, and tell his kids to get back into the elevator.

Or something.

As to 'Hikari Ikari'.....

Well. I just want to point out. If we use the pairings I'm, personally, a fan of for this list, we'd end up with Commander Ikari with Doctor Ikari, Captain Ikari with Captain Ikari and Captain Ikari with Captain Ikari by the end of the 'fic.

Did I mention I'm an utter -bastard-?

(No, I'm not using my fav pairings for this. We're using exactly -one- of them.)

 

[Susano]

If they could die any and every time they climb into the death machines we've been forced to allow to exist to save humanity, we're at least going to treat them like -fucking- human beings'.

Click to shrink...

Well, if it's about that... just a captain's salary? And that at the price of now being in an actual military command hierarchy... I mean, Shinji in canon could just walk away whenever he wanted, and did twice...

3) I hated canon for this.

Click to shrink...

That seems strange to me, because I think it is such a huge part of canon. All the mommy issues and daddy issues... they define NGE in a way. And I would say souls and synching with them is a pretty damn metaphysical deal already As to why Gendo can't pilot Yui... yeah, no clue. I mean, we know mother-child relation isn't strictly needed - Rei doesn't even have a mother. Unless you count her gene donor as one (she can synch with 01, after all), and the part of her soul (00) as another one because hey, it's Lilith, the ur-mother... hm.

Or maybe Yui just rejected Gendo because she had a plan and he isn't part of it. I'm usually not seeing Yui all too positive

2)who said it can't still be propaganda?

Click to shrink...

Well, considering that this is "pro-Shinji Gendo", and that Shinji in turn cares about Rei and Asuka... I would suppose there is indeed some genuine reason only children can pilot, or Gendo would have done something already to protect his son, and the people his son cares about.

4) H-unh. I wonder what happened with Fuyutski....

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Oh. Heh. Probably being eliminated or sidelined for being too pro-Yui-scenario...

I wonder -why- Gendo's sending them to school. I mean, if he didn't like the idea, he's got enough clout by now to pick up the UN, tell them to stop being stupid, and tell his kids to get back into the elevator.

Click to shrink...

Aren't... aren't you the author?

Well. I just want to point out. If we use the pairings I'm, personally, a fan of for this list, we'd end up with Commander Ikari with Doctor Ikari, Captain Ikari with Captain Ikari and Captain Ikari with Captain Ikari by the end of the 'fic.

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Dude. Think of the poor NERV personnel! Though if you aren't using them, what would those pairings be?

 

[MarshalGraves]

Dude. Think of the poor NERV personnel! Though if you aren't using them, what would those pairings be?

Click to shrink...

I am! By the time the pairings are fully realized, all anybody at NERV has to do is realize 'HigherRank Ikari' has suddenly become a catch-all term, and their jobs become -so much easier-.

I've got a -list- of favorite pairings that I'll include here.

ShinjixAsuka (<3)
ShinijxHikari
MisatoxKaji
MisatoxRitsuko
MisatoxMaya
MayaxRitsuko
MisatoxMayaxRitsuko
GendoxYui (I'm utterly disgusted with both of them in canon....so they can have each other in Hell)
ReixKensuke (not happening here, sorry.)
ReixPretty Much Anyone That Isn't Kaworu or Shinji,really. (I can't stand Kaworu's NGE character until the moment he tells Shinji to kill him, the stupid fish, and having Shinji stick his thing in his mother's genes is just -waaaaay- to Alabama for this Louisiana boy.)

 

[Susano]

ShinijxHikari

Click to shrink...

Personality wise, they would actually go great together. They're both so... serious. But I can see why nobody would want to meddle with the one canon pairing

MisatoxMaya
MisatoxMayaxRitsuko

Click to shrink...

Huh.

and having Shinji stick his thing in his mother's genes is just -waaaaay- to Alabama for this Louisiana boy.)

Click to shrink...

Well, good thing we're talking about Rei here, who is an own person, and not Yui. *taps foot in annoyance*
And genes, schmenes... it's still the most adorable pairing by far!
(but sure, they can have Asuka in there as well...)

 

[MarshalGraves]

Personality wise, they would actually go great together. They're both so... serious. But I can see why nobody would want to meddle with the one canon pairing

Click to shrink...

....*snorts*......*snortgiggle*......*snortgigglegiggleSNAP!*

BWAhaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Sorry, Touji-fans. Just....-so sorry-.

BRAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!

 

[MWKillKenny84]

Read all the chapters so far...

"Looking back, that name's even more ironic, considering we built the outer layers according to specs and appearance standards given to us by the Commander...who apparently received them from Rei. This design, Eligor's design, is based off of a cybernetic cop."

Click to shrink...

... Briareos Hecatonchires, is that you?

 

[Jake]

Hah! I knew the description reminded me of something!