Spoilers Abound
PM Productions Presents
A Phillip Masters Fanfic
The Ikari Contingency
Chapter One: Quicksilver
"Yes!" the blue haired woman cried as she ran down the corridor,
waving around a sheet of paper like a victor's flag.
"What's up, Aoi?" a man dressed in dark red asked while polishing
one of his boots. Karin stopped and looked around, noticing she
had somehow managed to celebrate her way into the men's locker room.
She balked only for a moment, then her face lit up anew and she bounced
over to Jake. "I got a job, Florin!" She waved the paper in his face
to drive the point home.
Jake snatched the orders from Karin and scanned them briefly.
"Tokyo... 2014, eh? Sounds interesting. What's the job?"
Karin stared at him blankly for a second, then grabbed the papers
back. "Good question... let me see...." As Jake picked himself off the
floor she read outloud, "Seek out target, Ikari Gendou... administer
DCM, catagory #16593-E73." She paused and took on a thoughtful
expression. "This means I'll have to stop by the Time Council and put
in a 659... damn...."
"Um... Karin?"
She smiled and shook her head. "It's well worth the trouble
though... I'll finally get my cu...."
"Karin!"
Blinking, Karin looked at Jake. "Yes?"
Jake pointed behind her, and she turned to find half a room full of
naked, wet men. "The showers just let out." he said.
----------------------------
"Damn guys!" Karin cursed as she stomped toward the launch bay.
"You'd think they were all born perverted or something!" The blush was
still present on her cheeks, and her hand hurt like hell.
"Ouch! Karin?"
She pulled her visor down over her eyes and mentally engaged
communications. "Yeah, chief?"
As he appeared on the screen seemingly projected into the air in
front of her, he began, "I see you're on your way to the launch bay...
very good. As soon as transit is complete, I will send further orders.
Good luck, and come home safe."
"Yes, sir... thank you, sir." Karin replied, and shut down the
visor. It pulled up into her helmet as she entered the elevator to the
launch pad. On the ride down the exhilerating feeling hit her.
She was about to go back in time again... to become master of history
once more. The power she held was awesome, and at times a little
overwhelming. However, she knew it was an important job, and one to be
taken seriously. Even if it was rather simple.
She stepped out onto the pad, then laughed out loud. Her job was
just too damn cool for words.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"Shinji!" Misato cried as she tossed her beer can across the room.
It struck the wall next to the door, eliciting a small squawk from Pen
Pen who was trying to take an impromptu nap below.
Asuka came into the room yawning hugely and scratching herself in a
very unlady-like manner. "Freak child isn't here, Misato... he woke up
early for some reason and left."
The older woman blinked a few times, then belched. "You wouldn't
happen to know why, would you?"
"Not a clue, though he was dressed rather sharply. None of my
business." Asuka shrugged and dug around in the fridge for something
outside Misato's rather dubious alcohol food group.
"Perhaps he has a date? It is Sunday, and he did seem rather
distant yesterday." After a small pause, she added, "Could you throw me
'nother beer?"
Tossing the beverage over her shoulder, Asuka laughed. "Shinji? A
date? That's a laugh." Standing up, she unwrapped the leftover
sandwich she had put behind the Tuperware container marked "Open At Own
Risk" for emergencies. "And what do you mean, "distant"? Shinji is
always distant." After tearing off a bite of ham and mustard she looked
thoughtful. "On the other hand, perhaps Kensuke and he finally realized
their hidden desires?"
"Maybe it's Rei?" Misato offered as though it were the most obvious
thing in the world.
This brought Asuka up short for a moment. "Wonder Child? Hmmm...
if that is the case, it's going to be an awefully boring date. What
with them just staring at one another for a few hours and all."
Misato took on a sly look. "I don't know... I think there's a real
soldier of fortune buried below that shy boy exterior. Maybe he's taken
some of his old man's push and set up a trip to Africa or something?"
Asuka stared at her for a few moments trying to figure out if she
was being serious or not. Coming to a rather disturbing conclusion, she
asked, "You're really drunk, aren't you?"
Misato chuckled, then became serious. "Why?"
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Shinji had a mission. The fate of one person lay in the palm of
his rather shaky hands. He was ready, and determined, to make Ayanami
Rei have as much fun as humanly possible. Even if it meant he had to
forcefully drag the corners of her mouth into a smile. It had taken him
a whole forty-five mintues to get ready that morning, and he'd be damned
if he was going to waste it.
Coming to the apartment door in what could be called the "hood" of
Toyko-3, he knocked. After a few seconds it swung open to reveal Rei...
dressed in exactly the same thing she always was, a school uniform. To
some guys this was just fine, Shinji had been there, done that. As much
as he disliked it, there wasn't much to be done. Her wardrobe consisted
of nothing else but. "Hi, Rei... you look nice."
Rei stared back in her usual fashion. "Good morning, Ikari. Are
we starting our date?" She asked this as a person might ask if they
thought it was going to rain or not.
Even given that fact, Shinji still blushed. "Um, yeah, I guess so.
Are you ready?"
Rei nodded, though it was barely perceptible. She walked out and
shut the door behind her. She began to walk away, but turned back after
a moment when she noticed Shinji was not following. "Is something
wrong?"
"Aren't you going to lock your door?" He felt sort of stupid
asking this, she never seemed to do it previously, much to his own
consternation a time or two.
"Why?" she replied curiously.
"Oh, never mind." He walked up to her and offered his arm to her.
After she stared blankly at it for a while, he took hers and placed it
around his. "Come on, Rei... the first place we're going is Genji's for
breakfast."
Rei nodded again, and they were off.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Karin finished pre-flight check and strapped in to her seat. She
closed her eyes and prepared for the feeling of Time Shift.
"Five," the computer counted obediently, "four, three, two, one...
here we go!"
The silver pod rose from the surface of the pad and small bolts of
electricity began to leap from it. The air charged quickly and plasma
formed around the ship. The bolts of energy became more profound and
frequent as the craft began to phase out of true space.
Karin gripped her armrest tightly and her hair stood on end. In a
brilliant flash of illumination her body exploded. She felt everywhere
at once, her mind scattered across the Universe, unable to focus on any
one point. For a brief instant she became truly non-linear. Then, as
quickly as it began it was over. She was herself again, and normality
returned.
When time travel was first discovered in the latter half of the
twenty second century, there had been much experimentation in order to
perfect the technique. Of course, accidents had occured. Some of these
involved people going into a Time Shift and not coming out at any
destination along the Lineal Time Grid. They were assumed to be lost to
non-linearity, forever spread throughout time and space. Karin
sometimes wondered what it would be like to not be anchored to any given
spot in the Grid for an extended period of time, thought the term is, of
course, used relatively.
She shook her head sharply. Time Shift always made her way too
phylosophical. "Did we make it?"
"Working," the computer replied. After a few seconds it continued,
"Affirmaaative. We have for certain arrived at our destination. Thank
you, and have a wonderful day!"
Karin sat back and sighed. Another successful trip. Now, she
awaited her further instructions. All she knew was that she was
supposed to shoot and Ikari Gendou with the DCM bullet she had been
given. Very cut and dry simple. Her gun was clean and ready to make
the shot, all she needed to know was where to look for the target.
After a half an hour she began to worry.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Makoto was drawn out of his daze by a sudden alarm at his station.
He read the figures that scrolled across his screen, and then read them
again to confirm. "What the...?" He turned toward Maya and cried, "Are
you getting the same thing I am in Sector 86-C by 75-I?"
Maya typed a few figures into her consol and instantly it began
beeping just like Makoto's. After doing her own double check she
nodded. "Yeah... what in the world does it mean?" She picked up the
phone near her desk. "Yes, Dr. Ikagi?" She waited a moment, then
looked down at her screen again to make sure she was right. "Yeah,
Makoto and I are picking up something really strange on sensors." She
paused a moment and Ritsuko asked what it was. "Well... um... I'm not
sure how to explian this. It appears there was a brief moment when time
and space... collapsed... maybe that's not a good word... fell in on
itself... er...." She winced as she was instructed rather harshly to
get to the point. "Well, ma'am... it seems time froze at Sector 86-C by
75-I for .0000333 seconds. Our spacial scanner barely picked it up, but
the neutrino level went off the scale." She nodded, and hung up the
phone, then looked at Makoto. "She says it doesn't sound too urgent,
but she'll look into it. Keep an extra eye out for a Blue Pattern."
"Well, duh," Makoto replied, thowing his feet up onto his consol
and closing his eyes again. "Like it's hard to do with the damn alarm
systems around here."
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Karin roamed the streets, in search of her target. Apparently her
agency had deemed it unessesary to inform her of his whereabouts, so it
was just up to her to complete the task and go home. Fortunately, it
appeared Tokyo was rather deserted at the moment. Why was still a
mystery... as far as she could recall, Tokyo was a major metropolis
during this time period. One couldn't walk down the street without
bumping into another person at least eight times, and here she was
standing in the middle of an emply *street*. "Something is just not
right here. Maybe the computer goofed?"
She walked a bit farther, and glanced up at the skyscraper towering
over her head. The city felt so... dead. As she brought her gaze back
downward, it met a sign that had "Tokyo" written upon it. She smiled,
as it seemed she had made it after all. Then, she noticed the 3 next to
the name. "What's with that?" she asked, though no one could hear her
query. She couldn't connect the name to any particular business, and it
didn't seem like an advertisement. "Maybe I'm not as up on the early
twenty-first century as I thought?"
That's when she noticed the couple walking toward her. "Aha!
Maybe they could answer some questions!" She began to run toward them.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Shinji stopped, cutting off in mid-sentance as he noticed the oddly
dressed blue haired girl running toward him and Rei. If he didn't know
better he would have thought she was wearing a deranged Plug Suit.
She came up to them, looking rather excited. "Hi!" she said.
"Hello," Shinji returned. "Who are you?"
The woman bowed. "My name is Aoi Karin... you wouldn't by chance
know of someone named Ikari?" She figured she'd try the easiest way...
sometimes it proved to be the... easiest. Anyway, in such a small town
population wise perhaps everyone knew everyone else.
"Yeah, that's me." Shinji returned, now confused as to why the girl
was looking for him, he didn't think he'd ever seen her before.
Karin blinked. Could it possibly be true? Could she really be so
fortunate? "Thank you!" she cried and pulled her gun up, pulling the
trigger as it went. At the back of her mind, something was nagging her.
Something she knew was important.
Shinji had enough time to look appropriately shocked before the
bullet entered his body. He was thrown backward by the impact, coming
to land roughly on the pavement three meters away.
Rei looked back at Shinji, sprawled out on the ground behind her
and bleeding. A surge of emotions assulted her mind, and she turned
back to face Karin. Something she had once heard Gendou call Ritsuko
came up in her mind, and it seemed to fit the situation. "You bitch!"
she screamed, and kicked the gun out of the woman's hands. She pulled
her fist back to administer the finishing blow, however her target
proved to be more nimble than originally thought.
Karin flipped out of the way of the rather amatuer blow. She
sensed a lot of power in the small girl's form, fortunately it was not
properly focused. Whether that was due to her anger of the moment, or
lack of training, she couldn't be sure. She didn't want to find out
either. "Wait! I didn't hurt him! He'll wake up good as new in a
moment!"
Rei dared to hope for a moment and glanced back at Shinji.
Expecting to find him bleeding to death, she was rather surprised to see
that his wound had, in fact, healed itself. Her anger began to give way
to curiosity.
"Damn!" Karin suddenly spat. "I just realized... hey, girl!"
Rei, the red fully removed from her sight, looked back at Karin.
"Yes?"
She waved at the unconscious boy. "What's his first name?"
"Shinji."
Karin stared incredulously at Rei for a moment, then slapped
herself in the forehead. "Son of a... I should have known." She looked
up to the heavens and raised her hands. "Always check both last *and*
first names!! Geez, I know that! I am such an idiot! They are going
to kill me, they really are! I'll never have my cu...."
Shinji chose that moment to pop back to the land of the awake and
aware. He shot up like a bolt of lightning, almost (*almost*) causing
Rei to jump. She did, however, much to his glee, smile. "Yes!" he
cried, "You smiled! I did it!" He frowned. "Had to get shot to do
it... but hey!" Reminding himself of something rather important, he
patted himself over trying to figure out what damage he had aquired.
Finding nothing, he wondered why it had felt as though he had been hit
dead on in the chest. "What happened?" he finally asked, unable to work
it out for himself.
"I screwed up!" Karin replied, sounding rather... disturbing. "I
blew it! That's it! It's over! No more Karin!" She laughed lightly a
few times, then broke down crying.
Shinji blinked a few times, non-plussed. "Rei?"
"Karin shot you... I kicked the gun from her hand. She said you
would be fine, and you are. Now she appears rather distraught."
----Cut Here------
----Attach to 1(B)-------
Sorry for the abrupt cut off... I just ran out of time... need to work
tomorrow. Anyway, I would like to hear any comments. And yes, I do
have a direction for this, thus it should be written. I think being as
busy as I have been lately is keeping me more on the ball and less
spontaneous with my writing.
Thanks for reading,
PMasters (1/99)
"I'm only holding back the rain. So many raindrops, so many pains. I
want to find my train someday. As seasons go past the station." - Tokyo
Babylon OVA 1
/ E-mail: PhilMasters@webtv.net /
"...has anyone ever used something alive for a coat of arms?" - The
Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea (Mishima Yukio, 1965) /
"You see, what you call a cat, we use as armor." - Rune (El-Hazard,
1994)