this is the first draft of what is likely to be my last
EVA-File (well, unless Joyce picks up her pen again).
c&c would be most appreciated.
A NEON GENESIS EVANGELION and X-FILES fusion fic.
Rights belonging to GAINAX and FOX respectively.
Used without permission.
A room filled with printouts, computer manuals and
disposable coffee cups. A man seated before five computer
monitors, all of them performing an array of functions.
He spun a pen in his right hand as he leafed through papers
and books, occassionally looking up at the display screens
and keyed in the odd command. One would describe Boris as
tall, thin and bespectacled. His chin was covered with
stubble and his hair was curly and somewhat oily. His eyes
spoke of constant anxiety and intermitent paranoia. It
didn't help that he was wearing a hideous Haiwaiian floral
shirt.
Commands scrolled down the screen. Seeking access to
jealously guarded secrets. Probing the defences. Seeking
a chink in the armour of the mighty edifice of secrecy.
Suddenly, there was a beep.
ACCESS GRANTED TO MAGI S.C.
BALTHAZAR>_
"YES!" Boris shouted in triumph and pumped a fist in the
air. "I am invincible!" He proceeded to key in a lightning
series of commands.
DOWNLOADING ALL FILES ON PROJECT EVA...
Opening sequence:
THE EVA-FILES
(Cue X-Files signature tune)
Grainy photo of the Giant of Light standing above the
ruins of the Antarctic research station, on the bottom
right hand corner:
KATSURAGI EXPEDITION,
ANTARCTICA,
13 SEP 2000.
An FBI identity card: Special Agent IKARI SHINJI. The
photo shows a young man in his mid-twenties, with unruly
brown hair. His eyes are a murky mix of brown and blue.
His gaze has a haunted but determined expression.
Satelite image of the inferno on Antarctica. The caption
"UN DECLARES: SECOND IMPACT CAUSED BY METEORITE" floats
across the image.
An FBI identity card: Special Agent SOHRYU ASUKA LANGLEY.
The photo shows a pretty young lady with flowing chestnut
locks and clear blue eyes. She smirks confidently and her
head is held high and proud.
Shinji and Asuka burst through a door, their handguns at
the ready but the sight that greets them causes both to
stare upwards in horror and wonder. Slack-jawed, they
begin to lower their weapons.
The red, double-pronged Lance of Longinus drifts into the
background while the Sephirothic Diagram of the Tree of
Life floats into the foreground until the view is just a
field of red.
The screen is dominated by a single eye. It opens. The
iris and pupil are red in colour. There is a brief flash
of a translucent image superimposed on the right half of
the eye. A young girl in school uniform with bluish hair
and red eyes standing on the outside of window. Her right
hand seems poised to knock on the glass. The huge red eye
blinks once and the girl vanishes. A caption appears on
the bottom right hand corner:
"CONCEPT BY JOYCE K WAKABAYASHI -
Fusing GAINAX's Evangelion and Fox's X-Files"
The background is browned parchment covered with the ancient
script of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Just above the centre of the
screen:
"THE TRUTH IS WITHIN."
(End theme music)
THE EVA-FILES: SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI
Written, directed and produced by E.L. Toh
The door to Boris' room was kicked in. Masked and black-
uniformed military operatives wielding submachine guns
stormed in. The computers continued to perform their assigned
tasks. A cup of still warm coffee and a half-eaten sandwich
lay next to the keyboard.
"As I expected, he is already gone," said a young man
dressed in a suit and trenchcoat. A wide-brimmed hat covered
most of his face in shadow but one could glimpse his red eyes,
pale skin and greyish hair. One of the operatives sat down on
at Boris' seat and began to type commands into the rogue
programmer's system.
"I wouldn't do that if I were..." Before Nagisa Kaworu
could complete his admonishment, an image popped up on all
five of the monitors. A purple dinosaur began to sing:"I
love you. You love me. We're as happy as can be..."
Rooted in place by this display, the assault team were just
were they were wanted. Half a kilo of homemade semtex spread
around the apartment detonated. A huge explosion sent a rain
of glass all around the apartment building as a tongue of
flame erupted from one particular window.
Far away, in a car speeding down the freeway, a certain
individual received a signal confirming that his trap had
been sprung. "YES!" he shouted, "I am invincible!"
But amidst the destruction the figure of a young man in a
suit and trenchcoat calmly walked out the flames and ruins.
He was unscathed and smiled as he whistled Beethoven's Ode
to Joy.
***
It was late evening. The streets were grimy and littered
with rubbish. Bright gaudy neon signs flashed all around,
their strident proclamations involving various permutations
of the words 'nude', 'girls', 'XXX'... well, you get the
idea. And out of one of the cinema exits strode FBI Special
Agent Ikari Shinji. He had been considerate enough to leave
his handphone switched off during the screening. As he
switched it back on, it began to ring immediately. The rings
were so loud and strident that the phone almost leapt out
of his hand. Without looking at Caller-ID on the LCD panel,
Shinji pressed 'Talk'.
"Hi, Asuka."
"BAKA SHINJI! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!?" Shinji
moved the phone as far away from his ear as his arm
allowed him. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG I'VE BEEN
TRYING TO GET HOLD OF YOU!?"
"Gomen," he said, "erm... I was tailing a suspect so I
couldn't allow myself to be distracted."
"Shinji?"
"Yes, Asuka?"
"You couldn't lie to save your life."
"Yes, Asuka."
"As if I didn't know my partner was the biggest baka-
hentai in the Bureau. Anyway, Skinner wants us in his office
first thing tomorrow. Got that?"
"Yes, Asuka."
"And make me some lunch tomorrow. I'm sick of the stuff
in the Bureau canteen. Make it something really nice."
"Yes, Asuka."
"Later, Baka Shinji."
"Bye, Asuka."
***
"Sorry about that, now where were we?" said Asuka after she
switched off her phone.
"Yes, perhaps Mademoiselle would care to see the examination
chair?"
"Hmmm. I'm not really into the medical type theme."
"Perhaps the iron maiden would match Mademoiselle's dungeon
better, non?"
"Wunderbar," smiled Asuka ferally.
***
"Is this the best you could manage?" fumed Asuka, her
chopsticks pushing the bento box's contents around.
"Sorry," mumbled Shinji, "I was really tired and I
woke up late."
"I asked for something nice and you whip up Japanese
food. You know damned well I'm sick of Japanese food!"
"Sorry."
"Hmmph," snorted Asuka, "and stop apologizing!"
"Sor..."
WHAP!
***
"Finally! A *real* case at last!" crowed Asuka after
parking her sporty red convertible.
"Real?" asked Shinji sourly, knowing exactly what his
redheaded partner meant.
"Something important! Not chasing after imaginary EVAs
or Angels!" smirked Asuka as she rubbed it in.
"I don't understand why this case came our way, it should
have gone to the computer crimes section of the Bureau," mused
Shinji.
"Oh, who cares?! It's our chance for a big break! And for
once those idiot stooge friends of yours will be of some use.
Hey! Open up! It's us!" yelled Asuka as she banged on the
reinforced steel office door of the Lone Three Stooges.
The closed circuit television camera focused on the FBI
duo for a moment before multiple locks, bolts and chains
slid open.
"Hi Asuka! Hey Shinji!" greeted Kensuke as he ushered them
into the dimly lit office. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"
"Skinner wants us to catch a hacker. Boris Loonygov. Russian
national. Hacked into the National Security Agency system last
night. NSA managed to get a trace but by the time agents got
to his apartment, it had been burnt down. Here's the file,"
said Shinji.
"It'll be a piece of cake to find him! If he's online, I'll
nab him!" proclaimed Kensuke confidently.
"Strange though," remarked Fuyutsuki, "that you two got the
case. I would have thought this required investigators with
more specialized skills."
"That's why we're here," pointed out Asuka.
***
"'If he's online, I'll nab him!' he said! What a big fat
waste of my time!"
"Asuka, Kensuke isn't a miracle worker. You can't expect
to catch a master hacker in just a day. Hopefully he can come
up with a few leads in a couple of days' time," said Shinji a
little tiredly.
"Well, he'd better come up with something or I'll kick
his otaku ass all the way to Antarctica and back!" said Asuka
as she pulled into the driveway of Shinji's apartment block.
"Thanks for the lift. Though I wish you wouldn't drive so
fast," said Shinji as he got out of the car.
"Fast? You just don't know how to appreciate a real auto!
Well, can't expect much from someone who drives that cranky
purple-green monstronsity of yours."
"What's wrong with my van?" asked Shinji defensively.
"Everything, Baka Shinji. And don't forget to make something
Continental for my lunch tomorrow."
"By your command," said Shinji with a mock bow.
"That's more like it," grinned Asuka from ear to ear before
she sped off.
***
Shinji undid his tie and leaned back in his couch which also
doubled as his bed. Staring at the ceiling, he began to think
if he should make beef straganoff or seafood linguine for
Asuka's lunch tomorrow.
Beef straganoff won the day. He wasn't sure if he could
get the linguine to Asuka before it became soggy. Having made
his decision, he began to sort through his mail.
Utilities bill.
Junk mail.
Junk.
Junk.
It was from a dating/introductions service. Shinji threw
it away without even opening it.
Credit card bill.
He winced as he recalled the huge bill for the French haute
cuisine meal that Asuka had forced him to take her out to. He
also remembered that still hungry after the meal, they had to
flee to a pizza joint.
Junk.
Subscription magazine.
Shinji smiled and put it aside for latter. He had been
really looking forward to this particular issue. It was
supposed to have the score for Elgar's cello concerto in E
minor this month.
Junk.
More junk.
Letter.
Shinji blinked. Then he stared at the envelope.
'How long has been since I've gotten a personal, hand-
written letter?'
"Dear S.A. Ikari, this was the only method of contacting
you that could evade detection. I have important information
on Project E and on your sister. Meet me at 11 p.m. at the
Lincoln memorial tonight. Come alone. Boris L."
Shinji looked at his watch. 'If I leave now I can just get
there in time.'
He hurriedly made his way down to the garage and got into
his van. He turned his key and the engine sputtered to life
noisily before dying again.
Shinji sighed. Asuka kicked her car and yelled at it
whenever it gave her any problems. And that usually fixed it.
However, his vehicle was a little different.
'Come on, come on, don't let me down,' thought Shinji with
all his mental might as he stroked the steering wheel. Sure
enough, ignition sequence was completed. Vehicle has been
activated. As the purple van (with a lime green streak) sped
off into the night, Shinji didn't notice another car starting
up and following him.
***
Shinji made his way carefully the shadow shrouded interior
of the memorial. One of the shadows coalesced into the shape
of a man and whispered to him.
"Shinji Ikari?"
Still keeping his pistol level, Shinji advanced cautiously.
"Yes, that's me. Boris?"
Despite the darkness, Shinji could see the figure relax and
break out into a smile. "Yes. It is me."
Shinji began to lower his weapon when suddenly he felt a
presence behind him. There was a sharp blow to the back of
his head before everything went black.
From the deep shadows, a pair of red eyes watched as a few
burly men bundled the unconscious FBI agent into a waiting
car marked with Russian diplomatic plates.
***
Shinji regained consciousness in what seemed to be a prison
cell. There was a small barred window that was too high up to
look out of. Left and right were bare cinder block walls and
the exit was blocked by an iron bar door.
Getting to his feet, he made his way to the cell door and
peered into the corridor outside. No one.
"Hello?" he called out. "Is anyone there?"
No response.
"Hello! I am a federal agent! Is anyone there?" he demanded.
"Newcomer," came a whisper from the cell to his left.
"Who are you? Where are we?" asked Shinji, instinctively
lowering his voice.
"I am... was a scientist. We are held in an abandoned Russian
military base near the border with Finland." From the sound
of it, Shinji decided his fellow prisoner was male and probably
Russian.
"Russia? What the hell am I doing in Russia?"
"Because of Project EVA."
"What has it got to do with the Russians? With Boris? With
me?" asked Shinji.
"Boris was a thief. He hacked into Russian bank accounts but
was caught by the security services. Then either he could work
for them or go to the gulag.
"I used to work for SEELE but my usefulness to them has run
out and I have thrown to the wolves. The security services have
tortured me to find out about my work but I am only a small cog
in a vast conspiracy.
"Russian intelligence does not trust SEELE or the Americans.
They want to see how all the pieces of Project EVA fit together
so they got Boris to steal some of the data on the NSA database.
And now they think that you are one of the keys to the Project.
They will try and find out what the Project is meant to do and
how it will be achieved. And if they don't like what they find
out..."
"Then what?" asked Shinji.
"They will try to stop it or seize control of it. In either
case, that probably means that you and I will be dead men."
The sound of a door opening and approaching boots put an
end to the conversation. Several soldiers unlocked the door
to Shinji's cell and dragged him off. He never saw the face
of the man he had spoken to.
***
Shinji soon found himself strapped to a metal table in a
pit. There was an empty table next to him. Directly above him
loomed huge instruments that reminded him of MRI scanners.
>From his position, he could see the main control dias where
an assortment of people stood.
A tall, thin and slightly greasy looking man in a floral
Haiwaiian shirt was handing over a disk to a Russian general
attended to by military acolytes and white garbed scientist
types.
"So what about my money, General?" asked the former.
"You're lucky you're not going to be shot, Boris," sneered
the general. "Bring in the other test subject."
Shinji watched in horror as another person was brought
down and strapped to the table next to him. He was aghast
not just because the other victim was a young teenage girl,
it was because he recognized her bluish hair and red eyes.
"Rei?"
She did not respond.
"Rei? Please. It's me. Shinji."
She turned her hair towards him and gazed at him with
those unfathomable red orbs. In that empty stare, Shinji
immediately realized that he was probably looking at another
one of his sister's clones. Just like the one he met in
Tokyo with Rally. But still he had to try and make a
connection.
"Rei. I'm Shinji. Your brother."
She blinked slowly. "I am not the first," she said a
little uncertainly.
"Do you know where the first is?"
Silence.
"Rei?"
The pale young girl had closed her eyes. Opening them again,
she said: "She is alive."
"Rei. I promise I'll try to get us out of here."
"It is does not matter. If I die, I can be replaced."
Suddenly, the machinery around them began to hum and move.
Russian personnel all around them began to announce their
actions and readings. The experiment had began.
Shinji began to struggle against his bonds but it seemed
useless.
"Destrude detected."
"Increase radiation of the pulse signals."
"Sepia stage reached."
"Approaching absolute border line."
"Confirm partial link between both subjects."
"There's something missing here..."
"Continue the experiment! Push to maximum tolerance!"
"I'm reading an A.T. Field!"
Shinji gasped as the clone of his sister began to glow with
a molten white light. Wave after wave of this light started to
flow from her like ripples on a pond. Her eyes were tightly
shut and she seemed to be in pain.
"Rei!"
"Readings are going off the scale!"
"The instruments can't take the reverse pulses!"
"Stop the experiment!"
"Reversing tangent graph to..."
An explosion rocked the room. A huge piece of machinery
came crashing down. Debris, smoke and screams filled the air.
Shinji was momentarily stunned but recovered quickly. His
whole restraining table had been knocked off its mounting and
he had been freed as a result.
He got up on his knees and found himself looking at the
remanants of the other table, now buried under a huge piece
of broken equipment. Only a pale fragile hand protruded from
the rubble.
'No. No. Please. No.'
Shinji reached out for it and felt the wrist.
There was no pulse.
His eyes clenched shut, Shinji let out a ragged sob of
frustration. His eyes tearing, he gently let go of the hand
and struggled onto his feet, stumbling out of the complex.
As he ran along the wall of the building, he heard the
shouts of approaching soldiers. He didn't look back as he
continued to run. Looking back, he saw that they had seen him
and were in pursuit. As he rounded the corner of the building,
Shinji found a T-72 racing towards his direction. He looked
back again to see the soldiers and forward at the tank, now
only about 10 metres away.
He was about to choose the midway, that is, bolting towards
the probably electrified fence when he heard a familiar voice.
"OI! DUMMKOPF! WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!"
Slackjawed, he turned to see half of Asuka sticking out of
the tank's porthole. She was waving an angry fist at him.
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE! GET ON!" she bellowed.
Suppressing his natural urges to either grovel or run away,
Shinji sprinted over to the tank and climbed in.
"Asuka? How did you get here?" he asked as he closed the
porthole behind him.
"An anonymous tip off just minutes after you'd been
kidnapped! Kensuke traced your location through your handphone
signal - hacked into an intelsat for that! Misato!"
"Aye, Asuka?" replied the purple haired beauty who was
driving the tank. Shinji's eyes bulged in shock.
"Take us through the fence! We just have a few kilometres
to clear it to the Finnish border after that!"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
"Don't you 'Ma'am' me, Misato! You're older than me! What
a nerve!" shouted Asuka who occupied the position of tank
commander.
"Don't be so hard on Mi-Chan, Asuka-chan! It's not nice
to see pretty ladies being nasty to one another," declared
Kaji as his head popped up from being his position as breech
loader.
"Baka Shinji!" barked Asuka.
"Yes Asuka!" Shinji snapped to attention.
"Make yourself useful and help Kaji-san load up on the
ammo!"
"Yes Asuka!" Shinji scrambled over to Kaji's position.
"I didn't know you guys knew how to use a tank..." he muttered
to no one in particular.
"Oh, you didn't know Asuka's got a licence from a military
vehicle appreciation society in Germany? She's a really good
teacher too. Got us into shape just ten minutes after we
sneaked into the base and stole this little baby."
Shinji nodded dumbly.
"Apparently when she's back in Germany on holiday, she runs
around in one of these things on the Fulda plains and blows up
stuff to destress," added Kaji cheerfully as he slapped Shinji
just a little too hard on the back.
"Kensuke is sooo going to get the hots," said Shinji as the
tank sped ahead, brushing aside the occasional bit of light
resistance.
"We're coming up to the border checkpoint!" declared Asuka
as she peered through the scopes. "Heh. No lousy truck is
going to block our way out of here! Oooh. Oh. Schiese! They've
put mines on the verdammt road! Right, Misato! Right!"
Through a small slot in the front, they could see the road
leading to the border. The road was double-blocked with a pair
of military trucks. To the right was a double-storeyed brick
border checkpoint and beyond it was rocky crags. The left of
the road was strewn with boulders as well. Impassable even to
the mighty tracked vehicle they were travelling in.
"What are we going to do!?" exclaimed Shinji, "should we
stop and make a dash for it?"
"I've got an idea," said Asuka with dead serious calm.
"Those shells loaded, Kaji?"
"Loaded and ready, Asuka!"
"There's a weak spot in their defences!" said Asuka as she
aimed for the house that housed the checkpoint.
"FIRE!"
The house crumbled as the shell smashed into it. At Asuka's
direction, Misato expertly drove the tank away from the mines
on the road, onto the grass verge and then through the check
point itself with reckless abandon.
"Woohoohoo!" Misato whooped with glee, enjoying this just a
little too much as they made their way across the border.
***
"YES!" shouted Boris, "I am invincible!"
He had managed to escape from the wreckage of the room,
unscathed by the explosion and now was lifting off in a
stolen helicopter. In less than an hour, he would be in
neutral Sweden.
"BWAHAHAHAHAAA!!! Now the whole facility is a wreck, I,
Boris Loonygov, am the only one in possession of the Project
EVA data!" he shouted to himself, as he patted the pocket
containing the disk.
"If Russian intelligence wants it back, they will have to
pay me... $100 million U.S. Dollars! BWAHAHAHAHAAA!!! Boris,
you are a genius!"
"He was right that Shinji would lead me to you," came an
angelic voice in the back seat of the attack chopper.
Boris spun his head around to see Nagisa Kaworu smiling
beatifically at him.
"DIE!!!" shouted Boris as he pulled out his pistol and
fired at the grey-haired young man.
The rounds bounced off a faint orange hexagonal field.
Still smiling, Kaworu reached forth. With one hand, he
grasped Boris' throat and with the other, he seized the disk
from his pocket.
"I...am...in...vin...ci..." choked out Boris before
his neck was finally broken.
***
Back in Washington D.C.
"Thanks for coming after me," said Shinji quietly. "I only
wish I could have saved her."
"I know you tried everything," said Asuka soothingly as she
held his hand, "you wouldn't leave someone behind if you had a
choice."
"Thanks Asuka."
"Now tell me about it when you were tied down to that
examination table..."
"But I've told you about that already. And three times too!
You haven't told me about how you got into the base and got
hold of that tank yet," protested Shinji.
"Awww," pouted Asuka, "you're such an ingrate. Just one
more time, pleeease?"
With that, what little was left of Shinji's spine melted
away. He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Errr... well... it was like..."
THE END
NOTES:
The EVA-Files Timeline:
1. The Shadow Over Newburyport (EeL)
2. The Aylesbury Horror (EeL)
3. The Evangelion Files (JKW) *
4. The Neon Mobius Files (JKW) *
5. The Summoning (EeL)
6. Into Darkness (EeL)
7. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (EeL)
8. Without Foundation (JKW)
9. Utopia (JKW)
10. Last Photograph (JKW)
11. Very Unfamiliar Ceilings (JKW)
12. My Heart is that Eternal Rose (JKW)
13. The Unbroken Thread (JKW)
14. And I Was Still Afraid (JKW)
15. World without Limits (Finale - unfinished) (JKW)
The EVA-Files marked with 'EeL' are by me while those marked
with JKW are the work of Joyce K Wakabayashi. The Evangelion
Files and The Neon Mobius Files are the foundation pieces
that got the whole series started and continue to be my
inspiration. Joyce can be contacted at
MOBIUSKLEIN@prodigy.net
and her archive is located at
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Gulf/7463/
First draft completed 10 Apr 2000.
contact: toheel@singnet.com.sg or teloong@cwcom.net
archive: http://www.teloong.mcmail.com/