Subject: [NGE]War of Evangelion ep. 3
From: Captain Jack
Date: 7/15/1997, 12:07 AM
To: "fanfic@fanfic.com" <fanfic@fanfic.com>

This episode was almost finished and I figured what the hell, I'll just
do the final checks myself.  So all my prereaders, its ok, I can do some
of the editing myself, you guys did a lot of work yourselves.  The
fourth episode won't be ready for a couple weeks since I'm going to cook
at a summer camp for a week and I don't have anything for my prereaders
to look over right now.  But anyways, here is Episode 3.  And of course,
C+C always accepted.

I’d like to give a special thanks to Gainax for creating such a
noteworthy series.  And most of all, thanks for not sueing me for
writing this story.

Notes on Rei Ayanami II

I find Rei to be the most intriguing character in the series.  She is
filled with mystery as she has no parents, no real friends to speak of,
and literally no past.  She is the pilot of Unit-00 which she has been
“bonded to” and because she “has nothing else.”  With no past, she
doesn’t have the experience to understand her emotions and so goes
through life using logic and doing as she is ordered.  She does display
emotions to both Shinji and his father, but she has no understanding of
them.  In this series of fics, I want to explore her struggle to gain
meaning for these emotions.  For those who have asked me, I will say now
I’m not planning to kill her off.  I don’t like killing off my favorite
characters (Zen can read freely knowing Ukyou won’t die in my R 1/2 fics
^_^).  After understanding emotions and just be killed off would be too
depressing for even me.  I can’t think of much else to write about her
that won’t give away the plot, so those who haven’t seen NGE, you really
should watch it, I highly recommend the series.


This episode doesn’t follow the original story line in that the 9th
angel mentioned does not behave the way my story portrays it.  Hopefully
this will be the only deviation from the original timeline.

Two months ago...

Units 01 and 02 launched to defend against the 9th angel.

“This one should be a breeze.  I don’t know why you have to tag
along.”   Asuka was speaking to Shinji over the radio.  She didn’t like
the idea he was there to help her every time Unit 02 was sent out into
combat.

“Will you stop complaining?  It’s because its Standard Op.  We have to
make sure we win.”  Shinji took an equal disliking to backing her up.
She never followed procedures and she always complained about how she
never got to fight alone.

“I still think its just not fair.”  Asuka was pouting as they neared
their target.

“It’s a lot better than fighting alone.  What if you get in some trouble
fighting one?”

“What do you mean get in trouble?  I never have problems cleaning up my
work.”

“Target should be in sight.  Stop your bickering and do your job.”
Misato was calling over the radio, slightly annoyed that the two still
refuse to get along with each other.

“Roger.  I’m first Shinji, so stay the hell out of my way.”  Asuka
charges forward, not waiting for a response from her backup.

Once Unit-02 comes 50 meters from the 9th angel, the target fires a
white beam, colliding with Asuka.  Unit-02 suddenly comes to a complete
stop.

“Asuka!  Get out of the way!”  Misato screams into the mic.  After there
was no response, she shifts her attention to Shinji.  “Shinji.  Get in
and fire at the angel.  You have to draw its attention away from Asuka.
Hurry!”

Unit-01 began firing on the angel.  After a few jolts from the target,
it stops its attack on Unit-02 and fires the white beam on Shinji.  Unit
01 completely stops its attack and stands motionless in the beam.

“Asuka!  Are you alright?  You have to rescue Shinji.  Hurry!”  Misato
was very agitated over the angel’s attack.  The beam was passing right
through the Evas’ AT fields.

Asuka was finally able to move again.  “What’s happening?  What the hell
am I doing in here?”  She was too confused about what had just happened
to focus on fighting an angel.

“The beam appears to have brain wave properties.  Maybe that’s why their
AT fields have no effect.  Whatever it is, it’s effecting the pilots’
brains.”  Ritsuko was also in the operations room, analyzing this new
form of attack.

“Asuka, listen.  You have to help Shinji.”  Misato was trying to calm
down, hoping Asuka could understand what was needed.

“How?  What’s going on?”

“It’s no use.  Rei.  Launch and rescue Shinji, then begin your attack on
the target.”

“Understood.”  Rei was waiting on the launch platform, ready in case
something should go wrong.

Unit-00 surfaced behind the angel, and approached without the angel
taking notice.  The angel began to approach Shinji and started swinging
its arms at him.  After a few good blows, Unit-01 falls to the ground,
still motionless.  As soon as the angel turned around after the Eva had
fallen, Unit-00 was there to strike the angel with the progressive
knife.  A few seconds later, the damaged core glowed brightly and
exploded.  What used to be eight blocks of houses on the outer edges of
Tokyo-3 were replaced by a crater thirty feet deep.  The shattered
remains outside the crater were either lying in the streets or embedded
in the structures that were able to withstand the blast.  Units 00 and
01 were at the center of the crater, but only Rei rose to her feet.
Shinji was too much in shock to even move.

“Get the rescue crew out there.  NOW!”  Now that the angel was no longer
a threat, Shinji’s safety was now top priority.  Misato then ordered the
two standing Eva’s to return to base.

Asuka suddenly woke up and looked at the clock.  3:24 am.  She then sat
up from her bedroll and looked around.  To her right were Ritsuko and
Misato sound asleep.  Over in the corner near the door was Shinji rolled
up in a ball.  She could only see the lower half of him, due to a crate
blocking her view.  Although there were several other rooms in the base,
this room was the only place that was comfortable enough to sleep.
Other rooms were stuffed with provisions, some were too hot, others
cold.  After another long fight, Asuka grudgingly allowed Shinji to
sleep here, promising to kill him if he got too close to her.

<Just a dream...all in the past.>  Asuka laid back down, but she
couldn’t get back to sleep.  <If Shinji didn’t help me when he did, I’d
have been the one messed up.  Maybe I should be nicer to him.>  She
rolled over so she could stare at the bedroll that contained Shinji.
<My mind was only temporarily messed up because I was in the beam for
only a second...but he still can’t remember anything.>  She stopped her
thought for a moment to watch Shinji shift in his sleep, then
continued.  <I wonder what he was thinking when that beam hit him.
Funny, I still don’t know why it was like I saw my mother when that beam
hit me.>

EPISODE 3:  Mind Games

The next morning Ritsuko and Misato were discussing their defenses.
Compared to NERV, they couldn’t stand a chance.  Misato figured they
needed a deterrent of some kind.  Something that would get NERV’s
attention while keeping them from attacking the auxiliary base.

“We won’t stand a chance if we don’t do something to keep them from
attacking.  That’s the only way I can think of to keep them from getting
to us.”  Misato was explaining her plan.  This was why she needed
Ritsuko’s help.

“But hacking into the Magi computers?  Do you realize what kind of
problems that will cause?”  Ritsuko was worried.  The Magi computers
were something not to be messed with.  “If their security protections
are compromised, they will self destruct.  I don’t think you want the
deaths of thousands of innocent lives on your hands...”

“That’s why we only get Balthasar and Melchior.  All three computers
have to concur for self destruction.  If they do attack us, we can hack
Casper too.  And besides, we need access to the supercomputers anyway.”

“And how are we supposed to gain access to them?  Its not like its some
simple task.”  Ritsuko was still trying to discourage this idea.

“We can use the Magi computers here in Tokyo-2.  Ritsuko, you know more
about these computers than anyone else.  This is important to our
plans.”  Misato was begging at this point.

“You mean _your_ plans.  Alright, I’ll have to make sure I can gain
access to Tokyo-2 Magi computers, then make sure the information we get
won’t be seen by anyone else,  then I can try to gain access to
Tokyo-3.”  Ritsuko sighs.  This was not part of the plan, but it was
something that had to be done.  But Misato was not going to back off on
this.  Commander Ikari will have to deal with this when it comes.

In the hanger of the Geofront, Gendo was with Rei, explaining the
changes that were going to occur as well as her say in the matter.

“You know that Shinji and Asuka have betrayed NERV.  That means that if
it comes to a fight with them, you will have to strike bac.”  Gendo was
briefing Rei on the situation.  He was much more relaxed with her.  To
him, she was like his child.  Over three years ago, Shinji ran away from
him and that he could not forgive.  He was a coward, he could never
confront his problems.

“I understand.”  Rei already understood the situation and knew she would
be asked to defend NERV if it came to that.

“Still, this is something I cannot order you to do.  Will you fight
against Shinji and Asuka?”  Gendo still had feelings for Rei.  He didn’t
want her to fall out of favor with him like Shinji had.  Besides, NERV
could not afford to have their only pilot balk if it would come to a
fight with Unit-02.  If she refused, there were always others that could
take her place.

“I will do as I’m ordered.”  Rei stood there with her emotionless face.

“That’s not what I asked.  How would you feel about fighting them?”

This was something Rei hadn’t expected.  All this time, she had simply
done as she was ordered without question.  But all of a sudden, she’s
been given a choice that depended on emotion.  Rei didn’t like Asuka too
much, she being too selfcentered.  But she and Shinji had become good
friends.  He always spoke to her kindly, even when she didn’t understand
why.  He also helped her to feel compassion, happiness.  Feelings she
had never experienced before, feelings she had enjoyed.  But feelings
were something she could not understand.  In time she thought she might
have been able to comprehend those things and Shinji would have helped
her to understand.  But still there was Commander Ikari.  He was someone
she couldn’t betray.  He had given her life, was kind to her, even saved
her life.  She could not choose.  Her mind was uncertain, something that
made her panic. Once the feeling of panic got to her, another emotion
she had never experienced before, it only made her panic some more.  She
began to tremble, looking around, hoping the answer was written
somewhere so she could end this experience.

Gendo saw the anxiety on her face.  To wait for her to answer would
simply be torture.  “I understand.  You will stay here and defend NERV
from Asuka and the angels.

Rei gave a sigh of relief.  Commander Ikari took away the unknown and
helped her to come back to her senses.  She couldn’t use emotions if she
never experienced them before.  Some were enjoyable while others caused
her pain.  She needed to figure out why humans wanted to feel these
emotions before she could understand any of them.

Back at the auxiliary base, Ritsuko was working with the Magi computers
of Tokyo-2.  The base was already linked, since important information
might have been needed in case of an emergency that drove NERV out of
its Geofront headquarters.  However, with the arrival of Adam, losing
the Geofront was not an acceptable option.  Which meant this base was
now useful only for retrievals.

“So how’s it going?”  Misato came over to find out what progress was
being made.

“Oh, slow.  I want to make sure the information we gain access to will
not be used by somebody else.”  Ritsuko rolled her chair back from
behind the terminal to take a break.  She had to rub her eyes due to the
strain of six hours of staring at a monitor.

“Aren’t Magi computers here secure enough?”

“Ya, but I just want to make sure of it.  Information about the Evas and
NERV are things you don’t want to flash around.”

“So how long do you think it will take?”

“I’m almost done here.  Once we start hacking into Tokyo-3’s
supercomputers, it shouldn’t take too long since I know most of the
access codes.”  Ritsuko stood up to stretch her legs.  “By the way, can
you get a brain wave scan of Shinji?  I’d like to see it so I can try to
figure out exactly what that angel did to him.  Those doctors don’t know
much about the angels you know.”

“I’ll take him over to the examination room after I’m done here.  How
are you doing this morning?”  Misato was tired.  This was not going to
be an easy task defending a base that was poorly defended and
understaffed.

“Me?  I’m exhausted.  You can’t exactly get a good night’s rest in this
place you know.”  Ritsuko sat back down to get back at her work.  The
sooner she finished, the sooner she could relax.

“I know what you mean.  I wonder how the children are taking it.”
Misato was glad to know she wasn’t the only one feeling the heavy load
of stress.

“They’re probably tired of all this too.  I mean this isn’t something
they can get used to.”

“I know, but I can’t let Commander Ikari think he can do as he pleases.
I swear, I will kill him even if it kills me.”  Misato’s anger had shown
through her face.

“Are you that determined?  I mean is it right to kill him because he
tried to kill Shinji?  Two wrongs don’t make a right you know.”  Ritsuko
said quietly, still busy typing away.

“He doesn’t care about anyone.  He shouldn’t be commanding NERV if he’s
ready to throw away lives at his whim.”  Misato’s anger was still
growing.

“I wouldn’t say that.  He cares about Rei doesn’t he?  What if he was
dead?  Who would defend us from the angels?  You?”  It was the same
calm, quiet voice.

“Then why are you here?  If you like him so much, why don’t you go back
to him?”  Misato was screaming now.

“I have my reasons.”  Ritsuko ended the conversation.  She needed to
work, and Misato needed to tend to her duties of planning as well.

Shinji and Asuka had just woken up and were about to start their morning
toiletries.  Asuka was in her usual cheerful mood.

“Guten morgan, Shinji.”  Asuka gave her usual morning greeting.

“Gut...guten...guten morgan?”  After all this time, Shinji still had
trouble pronouncing it.

“Gee.  You are still gloomy, even when you’re all messed up.”

“What do you mean, messed up?”  He still couldn’t figure out what she
was getting at.  To him, everything was normal, that is except for
living in this place and being without his father.

“There’s no way of getting anything through that thick skull is there?”
Asuka was slightly annoyed, but her voice didn’t show it.  She began to
walk to the bathroom to take a shower.  “Don’t be coming into the
bathroom until I’m done or you’ll be a dead man.”

<Guten morgan.  All this time I still don’t know what it means.  I’ve
never asked her.  It sounds like the English ‘good morning,’ but she’s
speaking German.  Sometimes I get the feeling it’s some kind of insult.
The way she’s been acting lately, I really can’t be too sure.>  The
curiosity finally overcame him and had to ask just before Asuka left the
room.  “Uh, Asuka?  What does ‘guten morgan’ mean anyways?”

Asuka turns around suddenly, suprised.  “You mean you don’t know?  I’ve
only been saying it every other day.  You really are stupid.  It’s just
good morning.”  She gave him a little grin so as to show her
intelligence.

Shinji smiled back.  It was nice to see her in a good mood again.  He
was also relieved his suspicions were just that.

“You two getting along now?”  Misato appeared behind from behind
Shinji.  “You know you two make a good couple.  But I thought you liked
Rei, Shinji.”  She couldn’t help but add that comment.  She enjoyed
teasing them.

“Rei?  That’s sick!”  He gave her a disgusted look.  <Be in love with my
own sister?>

Asuka was even less pleased.  “I would never go out with a pervert like
him!  How could anyone like such a dummkopt?”

“You’re blushing, Asuka.”  Misato was still having her fun.

“I am not, so shut up!”  Asuka was definitely red, but it could have
been because she was just mad.

“I love teasing the both of you.  You both get so lively.”

“I’m taking my shower, and you better not peep, Shinji.”  She slams the
door and the stomping of footsteps could be heard trailing away.

“She was in a good mood too...”  Shinji stared the shut door.

“Oh, don’t worry, she’ll be fine.  Shinji, I’ll need to see you in
infirmary.  Ritsuko wants to see your brain scan.”

“What for?  People keep saying I’m confused, but everything seems normal
to me.”

“Its just a precaution.  Don’t worry about it.”  Misato knew he was
getting tired of hearing everyone saying he was wrong.  Telling him
again and again was only going to frustrate him more.

At STEELE headquarters, the meeting resumed, now that more information
was gathered.

“It appears that Dr. Ritsuko Ikagi has also defected from NERV.  Our
special investigator has reported that no actions have been taken to
retrieve the Eva or the personnel involved.  NERV is currently on a
normal status.”

(STEELE 3)  It appears they are still trying to cover things up.

“The official report to the UN states that the intentions of the rebels
are unknown.”

(STEELE 2)  Even the UN is refusing to do anything.  Seems they’ve lost
their backbone now that the angels are showing up.  I wonder, why is
NERV at a normal status after all of this?

(STEELE 4)  I still think Ikari’s up to something.  Has our investigator
found anything new?

“Nothing at this time”

(STEELE 1)  Katsuragi is very dangerous right now.  Perhaps she intends
to eventually attack NERV headquarters.

(STEELE 3)  That is possible.  Our Captain doesn’t seem to like Ikari
much.

(STEELE 5)  She is reckless, but she’s not foolish.  Still, keeping a
low key is the best thing to do right now.  It’s too early in the
schedule for us to do anything drastic.

At school, Toji and Kensuke were sitting down to eat lunch when the
class rep, Hikari stopped at their table.

“Hey, its the class rep.  What are you gonna yell at me for today?”
Toji felt a dislike that came from Hikari, it seemed she always had
something on him.

“I was wondering, have you heard from Shinji yet?  He’s been gone for a
long time now.”  She’d been worried about the “three stooges” for a
while.  Ever since Shinji’s been gone, they haven’t been quite the same.

“No, not yet, but we were going over to see Misato after school.  She’d
know before anyone else.”  Kensuke was always happy to have an excuse to
go stare at Misato.

“In that case, mind if I join you?  I have to deliver some printouts to
Asuka.  She wasn’t in class today you know.”

“You haven’t heard?  They say she ran off with an Eva and hasn’t been
heard from since.  I hacked into my dad’s data banks to get that
information.”  Kensuke, was also looking for any information he could
about NERV and the Evas.  Hoping someday he’d be picked to pilot one, he
wanted to find an inside track.  Most things he couldn’t get to, but
there was always some information he could find.

“Didn’t you hear the news?  They said it was a training operation and
nothing more.”

“No way, NERV has simulators for things like that.  And besides, the
news is censored.  They won’t tell us civilians anything.”

Toji decided to break in at this point.  “Well I’m glad that bitch is
gone.  She’s always complaining about something.”

“Toji, will you stop it with all that?”  Hikari wasn’t here to fight,
simply to see what was going on.  They could always find time to fight
later.  “By the way, how is your sister doing?”

Hikari’s question turned Toji’s anger a new direction.  “Same.  Every
time I go there, the doctors say there’s been no progress.  Those
doctors are driving me nuts with their stupid lines.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.  Listen, I’ll meet you after school, ok?

“Sure thing.”  Toji’s answer was directed towards her back as she
trailed away.

After the brain wave scan, Misato and Shinji went to see Ritsuko and
give her the analysis.  Ritsuko then puts it into the computer so she
could look at the data compared to his other brain scans before the
accident.

“Hrm.  This is interesting.  There’s only a 0.02% difference in overall
brain activity.  Its like nothing ever happened to him.”

“What does that mean?”  Misato looked worried, even though she didn’t
understand any of the data on the screen.

“I’m not sure.  But it seems as if the angel somehow completely changed
his memory without touching his personality or even his thought process
right down to his subconscious thought.”  Ritsuko turns to look at
Shinji.  “According to all the data, you’re supposed to be completely
healthy.”

“Well I don’t feel any different.”  Shinji looks down at his shoes.
<Could I really be wrong about everything?  Why else would they go
through all this trouble?>

“Don’t worry, I’m sure in time you’ll remember everything.”  Misato was
trying to comfort him.

“Well it looks like you’ve come just in time, Misato.  I’m just about to
connect with Melchior.”  Ritsuko changed subjects as she moved over to
the main terminal.

Ritsuko started to type away while on the other side, Maya was notified
of the intrusion.

“Sir, someone is trying to gain access to Melchior.”  Maya turned around
to make eye contact with Fuyutski.  “What should we do?”

“Run a dummy program.  Do what you can to prolong their attempt.  Do we
know where its originating from?”

“We’ll know that in a few seconds.”  Maya started a dummy program as the
Magi computers start sending him information about the hacker.  “It
seems to be coming from somewhere in Tokyo-2.  They are using the
Tokyo-2 Magi.”

Fuyutski turns to Ikari and whispers so no one can hear their
conversation.  “Misato? or could it be STEELE?”

“Its gotta be Misato.  STEELE wouldn’t try blowing this place up right
now.  We have too many things they need to do that now.”  Ikari leaned
back in his chair to contemplate his options.  <Well Misato, an
unexpected move.  Looks like this will be an interesting chess game, you
and I.  But you should know I hold all the pieces...>

“Sir, its no use.  Who ever it is can see right through the dummy
programs.  One minute until full access is gained.”

“Rewrite access programs for Casper and Balthasar.  We’ve lost this
one.  Make sure we don’t lose another.”  Ikari’s command was executed at
once.

Time.  A few moments after Melchior recommended self-destruct, there was
a call made over the emergency line.  When it was answered, Misato
appeared on the screen.

“Commander Ikari.  I hereby request your resignation as Director of
NERV.  Your actions are inexcusable and therefore you must be relieved
of duty.”  Misato was trying to sound professional.

“Relieved by who?  You?  You are not fit to command NERV or the
Evangelion Project.”  Commander Ikari could play her little game.

“In that case, I will be forced to self-destruct the Magi supercomputers
and NERV as well.”

“I know you won’t do it.  Imagine, the thousands of innocent lives.  You
couldn’t sleep at night with the screams of all those people going
through your mind...”

“You asshole!  How dare you say such a thing when...”  Misato’s poise
had broken down when Maya suddenly broke up the argument.

“Sir, there’s another intruder attempting to hack into Balthasar!”  Maya
was looking at his terminal go crazy.

“Run dummy programs!  We can’t allow the other two Magi to be
compromised.”

He was already going through the procedure when the Magi made its
trace.  “This one is gaining access locally.”

“Trace to the exact location.  I want this stopped immediately.”
Fuyutski was shouting, he did not like this situation at all.

“I can’t trace it, it appears to be coming from everywhere in the
system.”  Maya didn’t look up to report this.  He was too busy fighting
to keep the intruder out.

“Could this be...”  The deputy commander was whispering to Ikari.

“An angel, I suppose it is.”  Ikari didn’t allow Fuyutski to finish his
question.

TO BE CONTINUED...