Evangelion: Rebuild a Legend - Chapter 15

Of Broken Things

2015 A.D., +2 Days After Sachiel

NERV Germany

"You're wha-aaaaaaat!?" Asuka cried out, jumping up from her desk.

Kaji shook his head in bemused resignation, leaning casually against the doorframe from where he had delivered the news to his erstwhile charge. Her assigned quarters in the officers' barracks were small, but unlike his own (admittedly) spartan room she had quite a bit of personal effects strewn about.

Tidy, but the tidiness of a teenage girl. He imagined all of it would fill quite a few boxes.

He, on the other hand, preferred to keep nothing around. It made leaving easy. He liked easy.

"I'm on my way to the transport now - ah," he scratched his chin stubble, then awkwardly gestured down at the single suitcase at his feet, "Well, sorry kid, short notice but -"

Asuka was having none of it, her face flustered - suddenly red - it made him vaguely uncomfortable knowing she was stubbornly holding back tears.

"But you're attached to me. I'm your responsibility! You're literally my guardian!" she restated, straining to keep from yelling. Gone was the trademark whine of her earlier years, now she was speaking harshly in clipped bursts.

She didn't need to be overheard by her neighbors down the hall.

Mustn't be.

Commander Ikari had proved for all to see that Asuka needed to be more than just the Eva pilot with the most formal training. She had to be more than one of the youngest officers in European Air Force history. More than the Pride of the Fatherland.

His performance, no, his domination of the battle field - it set an incredibly high bar. That Angel hadn't even stood a chance.

And Gendo Ikari wasn't even a real pilot.

Hell, his sync rate alone… Asuka realized she was distracting herself from the abrupt sitrep change. One part of her brain was busy coping, another part was getting… emotional.

Bury it. Yes. Bury it deep down where it can't hurt you, Asuka. Bury Kaji: think of NERV. Stop staring at him.

Yes. She had to be better: she had to be the very model of an officer. She had to be perfect. At all times. She had to act like a grownup. Not that little girl she left behind. She's dead. Buried. Be more. Not a child.

A woman.

OK, she breathed to herself.

"It's just - you've been with me, for… I just," she stumbled, "I mean, this is all I get?"

She resorted to a demanding tone. "A ten minute warning? This is it? After all our time together?"

He sighed, fumbling in his pocket for a pack of cigarettes.

"Who's even taking over for you?" She let out a bitter laugh. "Can't be Misato - she's already with the Third Child. Don't tell me it's one of those Section 2 arschlochs?"

"No, Asuka. Congrats. You've been emancipated."

She stared at him unblinkingly for a few seconds.

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm not. You're an adult now in the eyes of the government and the military."

She put her hands on her hips.

"Well whoop-dee-doo, I already was, pretty much. God," she huffed. "Where are you even going? Or can you not say?" she dared him.

Kaji handed her a datapad containing his new orders - orders specifically marked "For Your Eyes Only."

Sure. If he's going to flaunt security laws then who gives a damn, right? She flicked through the virtual pages, skimming over the mostly inscrutable Japanese and searching out the English keywords.

"Bethany Base?" she murmured to herself, then handed it back to him, "What's in Bethany Base?"

"Not what. Who."

She heard a sharp click and looked up expectantly, then scowled.

"No smoking," she chided.

Kaji had already managed to take a drag from the cigarette. He leaned his head to the side and exhaled out into the hallway, ignoring the German anti-smoking reminder emblazoned in big red letters on the opposite wall.

He chuckled, then walked over and swiped rightwards on the datapad she was holding. A picture appeared.

"The Fifth Child," he said.

Asuka stared at the photo of the girl with the irreverent smirk happily jutting her chest out in a garishly pink plugsuit.

"That glasses-wearing bimbo!" she screeched, then slapped a hand over her mouth. Her momentary embarrassment transitioned to renewed annoyance at this turn of events, and she flounced back down on her pullout bed.

"I had wondered where she had gone, you know? I thought we would train here together," she said.

Kaji had already burnt down half his cigarette and flicked ashes right outside her door, earning an eye twitch from Asuka.

"Keep in mind you've been training since you were five. She started a year ago," he flipped the datapad around to her again, showing off a series of charts. "As you can see, she had something of an 'accelerated' schedule."

"mein Gott."

The things she saw on the screen were insane, but before she could examine them any further he filched it back and tucked it away in his jacket. Asuka ran her hands through her hair and unconsciously tugged on a hair clip.

It was a thing Kaji noticed she did when she was off her game, which was rare. She wore them so often outside the simulator that she forgot they were there most of the time. They were her status symbol. The thing that drew attention away from her youth and to the fact that she was an Evangelion pilot.

"You have orders too," he said, pulling out another datapad and handing it to her as a peace offering. Hopefully she'd understand he wasn't the only one bound to the whims of greater powers.

She took the pad and unlocked it with her thumb.

/ SORYU, ASUKA LANGLEY. Captain. Detached NERV Auxiliary: Germany.

/ PRIMARY MISSION PARAMETER CHANGE

/ 1. Activation of Evangelion Production Model: Unit-02

/ 2. Live Fire Training and Practice for Rapid Deployment Maneuvers

/ 3. Preparation for Relocation to NERV HQ

/ TERTIARY MISSION PARAMETERS

/ 1. Formation of Pilot Corp Training Group

/ 2. Remote Training of Newly Inducted Forces

/ 3. Squad Combat Leader at NERV HQ

"Oh my god," she breathed out, "We're activating Unit-02!"

Kaji was done smoking and stubbed out the butt of his cigarette.

"Looks like Mari isn't the only one being 'accelerated'," he said smugly, stepping into the hallway.

She grunted in his direction as he hefted his suitcase and waved goodbye; Asuka looked for all the world like she was completely absorbed in the details of her newly cut orders.

He never saw the first tear winding down towards her chin, and as his VTOL transport left the ground he never even spared a glance down at the barracks of the child soldier he'd shattered and left behind.

Kanji's only real focus for the last hour had been consumed in finding a way to complete Gendo's latest off the books task and stay alive.

Long enough to get the truth, at least.

Reaching into his jacket he pulled out the datapad again, fingering a few commands and wiping its memory clean. No one was riding in the back with him, so there was no one to complain when he broke it in half on his knee, opened a hatch to a scream of frigid air, and tossed out the broken halves from 3,000 feet.

He closed the hatch, leaning back in the rough jumpseat.

"Adam, huh."

2004 A.D. Tokyo-2

The light was harsh.

The chair was metal. Cold. Uncomfortable.

"Ryoji, Kaji. Age 19." His interlocutor sat across a plain, wooden table. A salvaged relic from a pre-Second Impact IKEA.

"Yes."

A page flipped in a binder.

"When was the first time you killed a man?"

Kaji didn't need to think.

"September 14th, 2000."

"Who? Where? Why?"

He was calm.

"A looter. North of Mito, little town - it's gone now. He took something important from me. There was a struggle. He died. I didn't."

A pencil scratched something down.

"Important, hmm. Weapon?"

"He had a knife, I had some broken glass."

More notes jotted down.

"And the first time you killed a man when ordered to do so?"

"January 2nd, 2001. A woman, actually. Mistress to a Diet member who was threatening to compromise the construction of the new capital."

"Or so you were told."

Kaji leaned back.

"Or so I was told."

"Weapon?"

"Garrote."

"Disposition of the body?"

His eyes flitted up and to the side for a moment. The light was bright.

"Wrapped, weighted, dropped into the sea."

"You had help?"

"No. It was a quiet mission. No message to be sent. Just… containment." He leaned forward. "Mission parameters called for a single agent."

"Figures the JSDF would use a kid for it. Popped your cherry at what,16?" An answer wasn't expected. "So you have no issue killing women?"

"No."

"Kids?"

"Yes."

"Won't? Or you just have issues?"

"Issues."

More scratchings of pencil on paper.

"We can work with that." The other man had a satisfied look on his face. The binder closed with a loud snap.

"Welcome to the PSIA, Agent Ryoji."

He was relieved. "Thank you."

A folder slid its way across the table.

"I'm sure you won't have any issues in using your youthful charms to secure vital information?"

"Seduction is right up my alley, sir." Kaji opened the folder, scanning the dossier. "You're sending me to a university?"

"You'll be enrolled by morning. Majoring in Political Science."

"Understood."

He looked through the paperwork, stopping at the photo of his target.

"Well, at least she's cute. What's her na-" his words caught up with his eyes as he read her name off the page.

The man chuckled, "You said you wanted answers. His kid is a good place to start."

Kaji nodded.

She'd be a good start, alright.

2004 A.D., Waseda II University

The music throbbed, pulsing through Kaji's body in sync with his buzz. He had drunk enough to look legit, popped a pill or two to be loose enough to fit into the neo-rave that had organically overtaken the sorority house.

"Shit," he stumbled, pushing into a coed wearing, well it was too dark to tell what was going on down below, but up top it was all candy strings and pasties. "Sorry," he said, sloshing his plastic cup around for good measure.

The ravette looked like she was into him but he had already pushed past further into the crowd, his eyes intent on his target in the corner. The DJ switched it up and lasers started playing across the ceiling to an electro-funk remix.

Kaji was trying to make his way over to the far couch without being obvious. The flickering lights helped, the combination of staccato rhythm and ecstasy kept the heads bobbing and the bodies gyrating.

He was pretty sure her invisible security detail - the one she didn't know about - was blind to his approach as he zigzagged through the masses.

Finally he made it, plopping himself unceremoniously on an empty spot on the couch next to the girl with the long purple hair.

"Taken!" She yelled over the noise, pointing beneath him.

"Thanks!" He yelled back, swishing his cup and taking a drink, pretending to mishear.

"Dude, I said, taken!" she tried again, shifting her whole body to face him.

Wow. She was gorgeous. and that little black dress she was wearing left nothing to the imagination.

"No, I'm good, I already took some!" Kaji yelled back, waving his hand in faux-refusal.

She looked flummoxed for a second, did this guy think she was offering him drugs? She was about to scoot closer to him to shoo him off when a brown haired girl in the university standard uniform popped out of the crowd holding two drinks.

"Misato! Take one, hurry!" Ritsuko shouted, trying to keep from spilling the liquor. "Who's he?"

"I dunno!" she started, but Kaji was fast on the interrupt.

"Hi! I'm Kaji! Thanks for letting me sit with you two! It's crazy out there!"

Misato tried again: "But we didn't let -"

Ritsuko sat down quickly in Misato's lap, one knee draped off towards Kaji. "No problem!" Misato tried to complain but Ritsuko didn't let her. "Shut uppppp!" she hissed loudly in Misato's ear, "He's cute!"

Then Ritsuko turned towards Kaji and drunkenly yelled, "My friend thinks you're cute!" She giggled, leaning back and hugging Misato, shifting around so that the confused girl was pushed more towards the hot guy sitting two inches away from them.

"I'm Ritsuko!"

"Kaji!"

"You already said that!"

"Oh yeah!" he was reminded, rather lamely.

"My friend thinks you're hot!"

Misato swiftly tried to punch Ritsuko in the shoulder. "I didn't say that! Sto-oppp!"

"Tell your friend I think she's hot too!"

Ritsuko beamed, shaking her hair back. "I know, right? Misato, say 'hi' to him! How're you gonna get laid if you don't talk to him!?"

Before Misato or Kaji could say anything Ritsuko kept going. "Misato, this is Misato by the way, she needs to get laid sooooooo bad."

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do!"

"No! I don't!"

"Drunk girl says what?"

"What!?"

And without warning Ritsuko pulled Misato's head in and locked lips with her. Kaji stared: this wasn't in the dossier. It might be the drugs but he was definitely turned on by the show.

Especially since it wasn't a short little kiss, no, they were still going at it as his arousal grew.

Suddenly they broke it off and Ritsuko laughed while Misato yelled out a loud: "Fuck it!" and drained her entire cup, giggling.

Ritsuko turned back to him while holding Misato's cheeks between her hands.

"See? She only does this when she's super drunk! She's straight as an arrow!"

"Ritsu-chan!" Misato complained. Then she turned her head to follow Ritsuko's gaze.

"Fiiiiiiiiine! God, you're such an enabler!"

Ritsuko laughed again and tossed her cup over the couch, snuggling up.

"You're. The One. Who corrupted. Me!" Ritsuko exclaimed.

Misato was looking at Kaji with something a little more… hungry, than she had been before. The music had just lost its swell, getting ready for the next song.

"Hey!" she yelled over to the handsome guy with the stubble, "You wanna get out of here?!"

Score.