Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Evangelion: Renaissance ❯ Episode 17'a – A Dark Welcome ( Chapter 2 )

Like an angel that has forsaken empathy, 
young boy, become a legend!

Even though the clear blue winds 
beat on the doors to your heart, 
you just look straight at me, smiling

So eager for something to touch, 
your innocent eyes know nothing of fate 
but someday you’ll notice 
that there are wings on your back 
that will carry you into the future

The cruel angel’s thesis 
will take flight from the window 
with surging, burning pathos 
if you betray your memories 
Embracing the sky and shining, 
young boy, become a legend!

___________________

The room where Dr. Ritsuko Akagi stood was pitch black and freezing cold.
There was a click, and an array of lights simultaneously flickered on, revealing a group of devious-looking middle-aged men sitting around a long black conference table. Each man's face was illuminated a different colour from lights affixed to the table in front of their respective seats, bathing their faces in an unearthly glow and casting stark shadows across their severe features.

At the farthest end of the table, a stern-looking man with swept-back gray hair watchfully leaned forward, eying her from behind a cyclopian visor.
Chairman Keel. The ultimate authority behind SEELE and NERV.

"Dr. Akagi, regarding the incident where the twelfth Angel absorbed Unit-01, your report indicated a sudden radical spike in the pilot's psychograph at the moment of contact." the chairman intoned.

"Yes, sir." Ritsuko confirmed.

"In your opinion, does this suggest that the Angel was attempting to establish a psychological link with the pilot's mind?" interrogated a burly mustachioed man on one side of the table.

Ritsuko kept her eyes straight ahead, her arms locked at her sides.
“There's no way to conclusively determine that the Angels have any concept of human thought, but based on wave pattern analysis of the pilot's neural oscillations..." she paused for a second as she looked for the right words, somewhat afraid of the implications. "It's almost like he was listening to someone speak."

"So there is a possibility that the Angels have an interest in communication with the human mind." the Chairman concluded.

As the last syllable left his mouth, all the lights flipped off in unison, and Ritsuko found herself in the dark once more.

———

At the end of the table the light was extinguished and the image of Dr. Akagi vanished behind a swatch of inky void.

Keel leaned back in his seat. "Reinstate Project Arjuna.” 

___________________

———————

第17'話

A Dark Welcome

———————

___________________

The glasses Gendo Ikari wore obscured his eyes, shielding any clue as to what he might be thinking behind the cold glint of light reflecting off their orange-tinted lenses.

Kozou Fuyutsuki sat across from him, a Shogi board situated on the desk between them. Gendo's gaze was fixed on the board, but he appeared to be disinterested in the game.
As he awaited his opponent's next move, Fuyutsuki thumbed through the transcribed pages of SEELE's latest communiqué.

"The committee thinks we are like tiles on this board," Fuyutsuki spoke, breaking a long period of tense silence, "scattering us about any way that pleases them. It seems that old man Keel isnt taking this lightly, either... he's already hinted at your dismissal twice."

Fuyutsuki watched patiently as Gendo casually slid his Gold tile to position 4d, gave a dismissive huff, and folded his gloved hands in front of his face.

While considering his next move, Fuyutsuki continued: "SEELE is afraid that any delays may cost them the chance for full control of the project."
To emphasize the point, he moved his Rook to take the Bishop which Gendo had situated at 7e.

Gendo's harsh stare seemed to penetrate the glare from his glasses. Fuyutsuki could feel it drilling a hole in him as he withdrew his hand from the board.

"There are no delays," Gendo responded gruffly. "The project is proceeding as scheduled." He removed his fingers from their interlocked position and reached for his next piece.
"In any case, the King is protected by three Generals. In this game, sacrifice is the key to obtaining victory." A sly smile crossed his normally stoic face as he punctuated his words with the quick removal of Fuyutsuki's Knight. One final move until checkmate.

Fuyutsuki shifted his attention fully to the game.

"Knights may be sacrificed, but for every tile lost, the retribution can be ten-fold." He moved his Bishop to position 4d, ousting Gendo's Gold, before continuing. "The committee has sent us its Pawn, but remember: even a Pawn can cause checkmate."

Gendo sat up in his seat and examined the board intently.

"Soon, this amusing game will reach its climax... for now, let the old men at SEELE do what they want. It doesn't matter if we lose a bit of our foothold as long as we retain our most important piece." Gendo declared as he retrieved Fuyutsuki's 4e Pawn, woefully exposing the older man's King.

Noticing his lack of defense, Fuyutsuki slouched in his chair as he realised what this meant.
Checkmate.

___________________

Gripping her mandatory cup of coffee in one hand, Ritsuko sat at her desk and idly typed away at her keyboard with the other. She took another sip of the lukewarm liquid and grimaced. She sat the cup down and briefly debated whether she should finish it or dump the remaining contents, before returning her attention to the monitor. A number of opened files stared blankly back at her from the screen—if you gaze into the abyss, she mused.

She listened to the dull rushing noise generated by the multitude of computers around her and tried to ignore the fact that with each key she pressed, more thoughts compiled.
Routine announcements filtered through the PA system; a tinny voice seeming to perpetually echo through the halls.
In spite of her best efforts to quell these many distractions, she couldn't help but recall the question which Misato had asked a few days earlier.
When Ritsuko told her that the recovery of Unit-01 took priority over the life of the pilot.

~~~

"What's so special about it?"

With no warning, Misato's hand sped towards the side of Ritsuko's face.

Then, contact.

Ritsuko's head twisted on impact; her head reeled and her cheek stung. Her eyes twitched spasmodically in time with the throbbing in her head.

For a short while she could only stare directly at the ground as the creeping heat of shame began to overtake the pain in her face.

~~~

Ritsuko used the rapid tapping of a pen on her desk to pull herself back into the present moment. Apparently, she had stopped typing some time ago, and had resorted to manipulating a pen while she gathered her thoughts. Her mouth suddenly grew dry and she considered taking another sip of coffee, but ultimately decided against it. She resumed hammering away at the keys, determined to finish this report.

As her fingers clattered against the keyboard, she became marginally aware of the sound of approaching footsteps.
The clicking of heels on tile roughly matched the speed of her typing and she figured that it must be Misato.

Momentarily distracted, Ritsuko shifted her attention to a Manila envelope that sat just to the left of the keyboard. When her train of thought re-railed and her gaze returned to the monitor, she could just barely distinguish Misato Katsuragi's figure reflected in the glass.
With an exasperated sigh, she swiveled her chair around to face the other woman. Instinct told her she probably wasn't in the mood to engage in whatever discussion Misato had come to initiate.

Misato stood in the doorway, her own coffee in hand, partially silhouetted in the light from the hallway. She propped herself up against the doorframe in an effort to look casual.

There was a brief, uncomfortable silence during which both women merely looked over each other blankly. As Ritsuko waited for Misato to speak, she picked up her coffee mug and downed the remainder of tepid liquid.
The silence stretched on for another grueling few seconds before Ritsuko spun back around and resumed her work.
A long, awkward moment passed where the only sound was the tapping of Ritsuko's fingers on the keyboard. Eventually, knowing Misato may never leave otherwise, Ritsuko decided to break the silence.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Misato, seeming surprisingly uncomfortable, looked down at the floor.
"It's Shinji," she said, her gaze firmly affixed to the tiles, "Ever since the last Angel, he's seemed... different."

"Spending such an extensive amount of time in the Sea of Dirac can't be very beneficial to Shinji. In fact, the experience is likely to have a negative effect on his synch ratio." Ritsuko stated. She stopped typing for a moment and looked over to see if Misato still bore the stony expression she entered the room wearing.

Unnervingly, Misato's face was contorted into a mixture of anger and confusion. "It's not his effectiveness as a pilot I'm worried about!" she shouted.

"Please keep in mind, he's undergone an ordeal none of us can fathom, and is still the early stages of his recovery." Ritsuko started, hoping she could pacify Misato. "Give it some time; with any luck, he should be back to normal in a few days."

"I hope you're right, for his sake." Misato replied.

Ritsuko placed her coffee mug back down on her desk and returned her focus to the computer screen. "However, you have to understand we cannot have pilots who are inefficient, and his performance may be effected by the psychological stress he endured. Right now there's nothing we can do, but..." she trailed off, unsure of how much she should let slip just yet.

"But what?" Misato demanded.

"Nothing."

Keeping her eyes centered on the computer, Ritsuko studied Misato's reflection in the monitor. The other woman stood with her arms folded and gave a disappointed grunt.
Suddenly, she stepped forward, set her coffee mug dangerously close to the edge of the desk, and said sternly, "If you know something that could endanger the welfare of my pilots, I demand to know what it is."

Ritsuko smirked at Misato's performance—she was like a mother hen wanting to protect her chicks. "We're currently investigating new ways to circumvent the problem of unstable synchronization rates." she answered, praying that this would be enough to sate Misato's curiosity.

Without warning, Misato grabbed the back of Ritsuko's chair and spun her around until they were facing one another.

"I feel like I don't understand anything anymore, and all my confusion lately seems to stem from one source," Misato stated bluntly, not trying to disguise her accusatory tone. "Are you hiding something from me?"

Knowing fully well that Misato's doubts were well-founded, Ritsuko made a conscious decision to dust the subject off to the side. "No, of course not," she lied easily. Some of Gendo's duplicity must have been rubbing off on her.
“Besides, you'll soon have something else to deal with," she muttered.

"What do you mean?" Misato asked as she crossed her arms over her chest once again. She continued to stare unflinchingly at Ritsuko, but now did so with an inquisitive look.
In response, Ritsuko swung her chair back toward the monitor.

"Doctor Ritsuko Akagi!" Misato yelled. "Just what the hell–"
She was cut off by Ritsuko grabbing the envelope next to the keyboard. She held it over her shoulder for Misato to take. Once she felt Misato snatch it from her hand, she continued typing.

The volume of Misato's voice dropped as she began to open the envelope.
”What is this?" she asked, calmly.

"It's the personnel file for a new transfer. He'll be assisting me in the Research and Science Division effective immediately tomorrow." Ritsuko replied. "His recommendation to NERV is quite an interesting one, at that."

Misato examined the dossier for a moment and then responded quizzically.
"Ichiro Sagiri... wait, he's sixteen? What the hell kind of person has this kind of record at that age?" She paused. "And he's married!?"

Ritsuko let out a little chuckle in spite of herself and finally turned back to voluntarily face Misato.

"He's sixteen... and he's married?" Misato repeated in disbelief.

"That's right," Ritsuko replied, trying to stifle another giggle at Misato's obvious shock.

"But how? It says he's been married for six months. Legally, he's not old enough."

"Of course he is, don't you remember when we were in college? The government changed the age of consent and marriage laws in response to the population crisis?" Teasingly, Ritsuko proceeded: "Oh wait, that must have been during that week you and Kaji spent the whole time–"

"I get it!" Misato interjected, her face flushed red with anger and embarrassment.

On that note, Misato spun on her heel and departed toward the Commander's office carrying the files with her.
At last, Ritsuko could finish her work.

___________________

The electric hum of the Maglev system resounded through the train car where Ichiro Sagiri sat. His mood oscillated wildly back and forth between the anxiety and excitement he felt about having been summoned to NERV Headquarters. The opportunity was incredible, no doubt, but definitely frightening at the same time. Although he knew it sounded like a cliché, he earnestly hoped that in his own small way he could somehow make a difference and help mankind. It could prove to be a daunting task and he only hoped that he wouldn't disappoint anyone.

Fittingly, his attention was divided between these thoughts and a telephone conversation with his foster mother. He pressed the mobile phone tightly, uncomfortably, against his ear and listened as she spoke.
The reception unsystematically fading in-and-out along the train line did nothing to help him decipher what she said in her already-low-enough voice.

"Alright, okay, yes ma'am," Sagiri essentially repeated into the phone in a loop. He hoped that his words would present the illusion that he was focused on what she was saying, but he couldn't bring himself to care about all the undeserved praise and unnecessary advice she laid so thickly on him.
Although he did love her, he often wished she wouldn't worry so damn much.

"Okay mother, I should probably go now, we’re going to arrive soon," he said finally. He spoke almost mechanically as his attention drifted, the monotonous drone of the train drowning out her various "goodbyes" and "take cares."

He pressed the "end call" button and slipped the phone back into his pocket. Retrieving the black fabric carrying case sat next to his seat, he unzipped it and produced his laptop. He sat back, placed the small computer in his lap, and turned it on. It would be good for him to do some further reading on the NERV staff. After all, from here on out they would be his colleagues, and although he'd had weeks to review the personnel files which had been sent to him, he'd given them only the most cursory skimming-over.
Honestly, he'd been so preoccupied with research the past few weeks he had pushed that vexing little task onto the back-burners of his mind, and thus still knew next-to-nothing about the people with whom he'd be working.

Truthfully, he wasn't particularly interested in getting to know his co-workers; he typically had always done his best work on his own, and often found himself doing the majority of the work on a project by himself anyway.
His wife would argue that it was an obsessive behaviour, but Sagiri would counter that it he was merely a perfectionist.
Still, there was one person he was excited to meet: Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. As the world's foremost authority on the Evangelions, he stood to learn a lot from her.

When the operating system was fully booted, he clicked on the folder containing the personnel files, and classified report instantaneously painted itself on the screen.
He quickly and absentmindedly scrolled past the information concerning the top brass; he was already relatively familiar with the higher-ups of NERV.
Additionally he breezed past much of the staff—most of their dossiers painted portraits of some rather ordinary people.

He stopped skimming the data when he reached the section that described the Evangelion pilots.

A few points of their information jumped out at him, bringing with them a number of prying questions: Why did the First Child have no birth date listed, and hardly any other biographical information? Wasn't it a bit irresponsible for the commander to make his own son a pilot?

He read further and stopped when he came to the Second Child. He studied her picture for a few moments and perused the data more carefully. He was a couple years older than her, but they seemed to have a number of things in common—among other things, both of them were already college graduates, and both had lost their mothers at a young age. Suddenly, it dawned on him: none of the pilots had mothers who were still alive. Why was that?

He shrugged the questions away, exited the window, and flipped his laptop shut... he supposed none of it really mattered at this juncture; the only thing that mattered to him was doing good work.

However, there was one final question he found himself pondering. Looking out the window at the flooded landscape speeding by, he spoke his thought out loud: "I wonder how they'll react to me?"

___________________

"All rise! Bow! Sit down!" Hikari Horaki, the class representative commanded, shouting over the sound of the morning bell.

Countless chairs squeaked across the floor, as the bleary-eyed children of Class 2-A sleepily obeyed. It was the routine beginning to yet another day of school. The old teacher shuffled into the room as the children scrambled to seat themselves and immediately launched into a history lecture. Once everyone was situated, some paid attention while others whispered among themselves or stared blankly off into space. A few others began to doze off after only a couple of minutes, owing to the hypnotic power of their teacher's voice.

Shinji Ikari folded his arms across the cool, smooth surface of his desk. His drooping head lulled to the left and he looked outside at the rapidly darkening sky. Although the weather service had predicted a nice day, it appeared that a storm was approaching.
Shinji sighed, and buried his head within the creases of his arms. When he had awoken this morning, all he could think about was his recent, terrifying experience in the Sea of Dirac. The assault on his senses, the onslaught of surreal imagery, the barrage of probing questions. The sides of himself he wasn't ready to face.
Now, he hoped to get some rest and bury those unpleasant thoughts under the notes from today's lesson.

Rei Ayanami sat a few seats away from Shinji. She appeared to listen astutely as the old teacher rambled on about the years before the Second Impact, but it was difficult to tell if she was concentrating or lost in her own head as well. For an instant her steadfast focus was broken by the wind howling outside, and she craned her head to the left to look out the window.
Shinji looked where she looked. Trees danced violently in the breeze, their leaves ripped from them by the force of the wind. Then, after a moment, it subsided. Rei turned back to the teacher and seemed to listen again for a few seconds before, like Shinji, she lowered her head and rested it in the fold of her arms.

A few seats away from Rei sat Asuka Langley Sohryu, slouched in her chair with her long legs sprawled out in front of her, her body nearly sliding out of her seat. Although her eyes were open and pointed at the teacher, she wasn't looking at anything in particular. Shinji surmised she was probably also wrapped up in thought.

———

Asuka was pouring over a list of questions in her head: Why had Misato been so worried about Shinji when she should have been angry at him? What made Shinji think he was so great anyway? Just because he managed to activate his Eva even after it had run out of power? That kind of thing only fueled his ego.

Asuka couldnt stand people like that. What was running through his mind right now anyway?
She scooted in her seat, twisting to face him, and shot him a scornful look... only to see the little idiot had fallen asleep on his desk. Stupid Shinji.

———

The morning passed uneventfully and it was soon lunchtime.
Shinji was rudely torn from his sleep by a hand squeezing the back of his head and a loud voice. "Wake up, sleepyhead!" it boomed.

Startled, his head snapped up, and he saw Toji Suzuhara looming over him like a giant, laughing heartily.

"What time is it?" Shinji asked with a yawn.

"Lunchtime, of course," replied Toji enthusiastically, "Whadya bring?"

Shinji shrugged.

Kensuke Aida, who sat backwards in a chair directly in front of Shinji, had already dug into his own lunch.
He looked up and caught a glimpse of Shinji's downtrodden look. Without bothering to swallow his mouthful of food, he asked, "What's wrong, Shinj?"

Again, Shinji answered with a halfhearted shrug.

"I bet I know." said Toji, with a sly grin. He playfully punched Shinji in the shoulder.

"Huh? You do?" Shinji asked as he looked up at Toji.

"Yeah, you and the old lady have been fightin' again, right? Trouble in the bedroom, huh?" Toji teased, grinning wide.

"What was that, dummkopf?" a piercing cry cut clear across the room.

The heads of the three boys turned simultaneously as a red blur rushed toward Toji. He cringed and began to raise his arms in defense, but was too slow. Asuka's fist connected with the crown of his head, clobbering him and knocking him backwards against Shinji's desk. His body flipped backward onto the desk and shoved Shinji out of his seat. In a feeble effort to not fall, Toji flailed his arms spastically about in a vain attempt to grab onto anything. One desperately flailing limb inadvertently smacked Kensuke's food out of his hands in mid-bite and sent it airborne. He could only look on aghast as it came raining back down on top of him.
When the attack had ended, Asuka shouted, "Don't ever insinuate I'd do anything like that with that little weasel Shinji!"

"A-Asuka," Shinji said lowly as he picked himself off the floor. Next to him Kensuke was crawling around sorrowfully picking up bits of his ruined lunch.

Toji bolted upright, leapt up from the floor and indignantly wiped the food from his shirt and hair. He took a step forward and, face to face with Asuka, began to stare her down. "Oh yeah? What makes ya think that anyone would wanna do it with you anyway, ya little bit–"

The end of his sentence was cut short by Asuka loudly slamming both her hands down on the top of Shinji's desk.
“Hmpf. Like I have to explain myself to you!" Asuka retorted in her most snobbish voice.

"You've gotta be the nastiest little—Ow!" Toji hollered as he was interrupted again, this time by Hikari, who dragged him away from the scene with a tight grip on his left ear. He pleaded and apologized as she pulled him out of the room, undoubtedly to scold him for being mean to her friend.

"Wow," Kensuke intoned, stunned, as he watched Hikari and Toji exit the classroom. "Class rep really has an iron fist." He nudged Shinji. "Huh, Ikari?"

Shinji didn't respond, but instead silently pursued Asuka, who was on her way to the window. Kensuke followed a few steps behind them.
The sky was black and a swarm of menacing clouds had amassed. The rushing wind whistled sharply through the naked trees. Outside, the temperature had dropped significantly and frost particles began to speckle the glass.

In the distance they could see a small, round object crest the skyline. Its vibrant red colour made for a striking contrast against the darkened sky.

Several students jumped in place as an emergency alarm started to blare.

"Another one so soon?" Asuka asked rhetorically in an irritated tone.

"What is that?" Kensuke questioned, saddling up alongside them at the window.

Shinji turned around and grabbed Rei's shoulder, gently shaking her until she sat up.
“Ayanami, we have to go."

___________________

"We will be arriving in Tokyo-3 in fifteen minutes." the conductor's voice rang out through the speakers, "I repeat, we will be arriving in Tokyo-3 in fifteen minutes."

"Tokyo-3... I'm finally here." Sagiri muttered to himself.
Hopefully he'd be able to achieve something with his work at NERV, something to lessen the suffering the world faced... maybe he could prevent anyone else from having to lose their mother the way he did.
He was still in a state of near-disbelief. He would finally reach Tokyo-3, home of the original and most important NERV headquarters. Just by making it here today, he had proved so many people wrong: his ex-best friend, his old school principal, and—most of all—his father.

Overhead the speakers reiterated their countdown: "We will be arriving in Tokyo-3 in ten minutes. I repeat..."

Sagiri reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and pulled out his cellphone and a folded-up piece of paper.
Unfolding the paper, he squinted as he tried to decipher the illegible writing, then held up the cell phone and began to dial the number that was sloppily scrawled alongside the name: Major Misato Katsuragi.

He waited as the phone rang. When he heard someone pick up the receiver, a disinterested voice answered, "Yeah?"

Caught off guard by the apparent apathy of the speaker on the other end, Sagiri stumbled, "Er... Major Katsuragi?"

"Yes?" the voice replied inquisitively. At least he knew he had the right number.

"This is Ichiro Sagiri." he informed her.

"Oh, Sagiri! Hello!" Misato's voice suddenly became cheery. "Have you arrived in the city yet?"

"Actually, I'll be at the station in a few minutes. Will you be meeting me there?" he asked, stuffing the paper containing her phone number back into his pocket.

"No, but we'll have a car waiting there to pick you up. Anything else?"

"No, ma'am. Thank you."

"I look forward to seeing you!" Misato proclaimed. "Listen, I'm sorry, but I'm kind of in the middle of something right now... we can talk more when you get to HQ, okay?"

"Sure," Sagiri said as he pushed the end call button.

He shifted back in his seat and closed his eyes, trying to settle his nerves. Soon he'd be marched around NERV headquarters and introduced to dozens of people with meaningless titles and likely forgettable faces... it would assuredly be exhausting; he could use the rest the remaining few minutes onboard afforded him.
Sinking into his seat, he cleared his mind until all he could hear was the sound of the train gliding across the tracks.

___________________

"He won't be much longer, I presume?" Gendo asked, his tone icy and stern.

"Yes, sir, " Misato replied. A minute ago during her meeting with the commander, she'd been embarrassed by her cell phone suddenly ringing. However, his agitation subsided a bit when she informed him that the call was from the new addition to the Research and Science Division.

"Very good—you are dismissed. Go outside and wait." Gendo commanded.

"Yes, sir." she repeated. As Misato turned to leave, she suppressed a desire to lash out against the Commander.
She walked through the threshold to his office and the door quickly shut behind her. About halfway down the hallway, she slumped up against the wall, weary from the encounter. Her eyelids drooped and she hung her head. For a couple of seconds she leaned on the wall and tried to fight off the weight of fatigue, before a familiar voice cut through the ambient noise of the hall.

"You don't look so good."

Misato looked up and saw Ritsuko standing in front of her, holding a clipboard.

"Oh, hi Ritsuko. Yeah, I just came from a meeting with the commander. He's in a real mood today." Misato said, rolling her eyes and gesturing backwards with her thumb.

"What's new?" Ritsuko laughed.

"Why he can't he be cordial around us?" wondered Misato as she straightened her posture a bit. "More like he is with Rei?"

"I dont think he's even been that kind to Rei lately," said Ritsuko. She sounded somber, almost curiously sympathetic.

"Poor Rei," Misato mused. "He's all she has, really, and now even he's withdrawing from her."

Ritsuko said nothing, but simply nodded in agreement.
Misato folded her arms over her chest and proceeded down the hallway, her eyes lowered. Ritsuko didn't follow, but instead turned and headed toward Gendo's office.

———

Outside, the air of the Geofront was abnormally still. Misato checked her watch—Sagiri should be stepping off the train in a few minutes. She took a moment to glance around the Geofront and absorb its tranquil, protected, yet somehow eerie, uneasy atmosphere. Even after all this time, she was astonished that the kind of technology holding this operation together could even exist.

The serenity was abruptly broken by the blare of nearby sirens. A faint chorus of screams rang out from the city above, accompanied by the whirring of massive, unknown gears in the distance and the chattering of a hundred public address speakers coming alive with announcements.

"Not another Angel," Misato gasped. She spun on her heel and dashed back inside. After fumbling around for her phone in her coat pocket, she grabbed it and speedily entered Shinji's number.

"Hello? Ms. Misato?" Shinji answered, sounding somewhat out-of-breath.

"Shinji! Where are you? Are Rei and Asuka with you?"

"Yeah, they're both here. We were in class when we saw that red sphere. We'll be there in a few minutes," Shinji replied, straining to get the words out between gulps of air.

"I'll be waiting. Be careful." said Misato. She hung up. Next, she had to warn Sagiri. As she cycled through her contact list, her phone started to ring.

"Hello, Major Katsuragi? Whats going on?" the person calling blurted as she picked up, their voice shaky. It was Sagiri. Although he had surely read about Angel attacks and seen news broadcasts, he had probably never been so close to one before.

"Yes, everything's fine down here. How about you? Are you hurt?" Misato inquired, concerned.

"I'm fine, but I'm stuck," Sagiri answered. "The trains have stalled."

"Are they taking you to the shelters?"

"No... I'm not sure what's happening—they just stopped and I heard some people talking about an Angel. The announcements said that it's safest for us to stay on the train... should I try to get off and head for a shelter?" Sagiri bombarded her with questions.

"No, just stay where you are for now." Misato ordered. "I'll check on you in a few minutes." she removed the phone from her ear, preparing to hang up, then added: "Oh, and be careful."

"But what ab–"

Sagiri was cut off as Misato ended the call. Right now, her top priority was reaching the Command Center.
All hands to battle stations.

___________________

"Can't you move any faster?" Asuka demanded, looking over her shoulder at Shinji as she sprinted. She turned and started jogging backwards, as if to mock his lagging pace. Rei's speed rivaled Asuka's. They were both several meters ahead of him.

"Sorry! This is the fastest I can run," Shinji apologised breathlessly, before his thoughts were again submerged in a hysterical whirl of images from his last Angel encounter. He had been places he never wanted to go. Stared into oblivion and felt its alien eyes peer back at him from somewhere beyond the endless, freezing blackness.

"Because of you, Shinji, its going to take us ten minutes to get there!" exclaimed Asuka. She sounded amused by her own statement, as if disparaging him was a form of entertainment for her.

"We only have a couple of blocks left," Rei stated in her usual serene voice. She was the only person Shinji knew that could maintain such a cool appearance during such a frightening event.

"What do you know, Wonder Girl speaks!" Asuka exclaimed with feigned excitement, as if it were a once-in-a-lifetime event.

"Finally, were almost there," said Shinji, as the entrance to NERV HQ appeared on the horizon. He was relieved to know that he could soon give his aching legs a break.

"Not only did the First talk, but Shinji actually ran a mile without dying of exhaustion! Yes, it is a day of miracles!" Asuka announced, sounding once again like she was breaking the biggest news story in Tokyo-3.

"Let's just get this over with so I can get away from you," Shinji whispered disconsolately as he looked down at his feet.

"What was that?" Asuka screamed. She decreased her speed so she could run alongside Shinji, ensuring that he had a good view of her furious expression.

"Nothing!" cried Shinji. He was about to dart away to avoid Asuka's wrath, when Misato suddenly came into view.

"Finally, you're here," she called to them with a breath of relief. The children skidded to a halt and gathered around her at the entrance.

"We would've gotten here a lot faster if it wasn't for that idiot Shinji," remarked Asuka.

Misato rolled her eyes and motioned for them to follow her inside, jumping into a frantic, protracted debriefing on the Angel as they entered the base.

___________________

Sagiri rigidly sat in place on the train. It had come to a screeching halt a few seconds after his hurried conversation with Misato had concluded. He sat with his left leg draped over the armrest of the chair, and his other leg planted firmly on the floor.
His laptop was beside him to the right, its screen displaying a map of Tokyo-3.

The other passengers clambered about restlessly, doing little to soothe his frazzled nerves as he swiftly pressed at the keys, plotting a course from his current location to NERV HQ.
Just as he determined the optimum route, the train suddenly fell silent. The passengers' frenzy had been interrupted by a city-wide evacuation announcement.

An automated female voice issued through the loudspeaker: "At 4:10 this afternoon, a special state of emergency has been declared for the Kanto and Chubu regions, surrounding the Tokai district." it stated emotionlessly.
“All residents must evacuate to their designated shelters immediately," the announcement concluded before looping, "At 4:10 this afternoon, a special state of emergency..."

The announcement threw the other passengers into pandemonium. They scuttled about the car aimlessly, bumping into each other as they scrambled to grab their belongings. Some beat against the doors of the train and struggled to pry them open.
Sagiri stayed in place, huddled over his laptop studying the map of Tokyo-3 in effort to commit his route to memory.

"Look! There it is!" a female passenger shouted over the cacophony.

Sagiri glanced up and saw that a woman two rows up was pointing at something outside the window. He stood upright and leaned forward, allowing him a glimpse of the object through a nearby window: a gigantic red orb, not quite spherical, but more elliptical. Long, segmented red tendrils trailed behind it, whipping about sporadically.
It advanced through the air toward the innermost section of Tokyo-3, ducking in and out of view as it passed behind the tall buildings of the city. Eventually, it passed through a more open area and was brought into full view. Sagiri sprang out of his seat and pressed his face to the window.

"We can't stay here." Sagiri uttered. He shut his laptop and hastily gathered his belongings. As he hefted the strap of his laptop carrying case over his left shoulder, he noticed a group of men had congregated around one of the automated doors, trying to wrench them apart. Right now, they seemed like his best chance.

Sagiri joined the other men and grabbed hold of the lowest part of the door, then attempted to pry it open with his hands. For a long time, they hardly budged, but as the men pulled opposite one another in unison they steadily began to give.

One of the passengers, a middle-aged man, admonished the group, "You shouldn't try to go outside; it's too dangerous... didn't you see that thing out there?"

Ignoring his warning, Sagiri continued to pull. As he did, he felt a light tugging on the back of his jacket. He looked over his shoulder and saw a little girl, maybe four or five years old, beckoning for his attention. 
"Hi there," he grunted, exerting himself against the door.

"Whatcha doin'?" she asked as she stuck her index finger inside her mouth.

Sagiri smiled sweetly at her. "Just... trying to get us... out of here."

He decided it would be best to inform everyone on the train of the situation at hand.
"Everyone, listen up! I hate to say it, but it isn't safe to stay on the train. There's a shelter just two minutes east of here. When we get these doors open just follow the tracks—you won't have any trouble finding it."

"Is it really that bad?" the girl's mother asked as she swept her daughter up into her arms.

"I'm afraid so, ma'am," Sagiri replied.

With the help of four other men, Sagiri resumed trying to get the doors open. He heard a heavy metallic clank, like a huge deadbolt, and the doors flew open in both directions.
Sagiri and the other men staggered backwards, surprised. Sagiri fell flat on his butt while the rest of them were able to regain their balance and remain upright.

"Yay! You did it!" the little girl cheered, clapping her tiny hands.

The robotic female voice poured forth from the speaker again.
“Attention passengers: please exit the train in an orderly fashion..." it droned, proceeding to list the location of the nearest emergency shelters.
Passengers began to file out and make their way down the tracks to the eastern shelter.

As the message repeated, Sagiri stood up and said, "I'm not sure I had much to do with that door opening."

The little girl's mother smiled at him. "I hope she didn't bother you," she said, before turning to her daughter. "You ready to go, sweetie?"

The little girl once again grasped at the collar of Sagiri's shirt as her mother hefted her up, but came away with a handful of air.
“Bye-bye," the girl giggled, her face alight with an innocent smile, blissfully unaware of the gravity of the situation.

Without returning the smile this time, Sagiri took a step off the train and surveyed the area. The wind blew hard, ruffling his hair. He shivered.
For a moment, Sagiri questioned whether or not his plan was the best course of action. He took in a deep breath and took a step toward the city.

"Be careful." came the woman's voice from behind him.

Sagiri stopped and craned his head around. The mother, with the little girl cradled in her arms, had just stepped off in the opposite direction.
“I will," he promised.

The mother gave a short nod and headed down the track with the other passengers. As they left Sagiri's sight, the wind blew more fiercely, the cold biting his skin. They had been the last people off the train.

Sagiri sighed. This was not the welcome he had hoped for. He rubbed the sides of his arms for warmth, then jammed his hands into his pockets and proceeded toward the city.
As he walked, he tried not to look at the giant red orb that floated over Tokyo-3. 

___________________

EVANGELION
エヴァンゲリオン