A Janok
Production;
General
disclaimer;
The
usual... Some characters and original storyline copyright Gainax
and
affiliated companies.
WARNING
This is
a Post-Episode 26 story, if you haven't seen up to Episode 26
of NGE
I advise you not to read this story. You have been warned, so
no
complaints.
**********
NEON
GENESIS CHAPTER 2
A Fall
From Grace: Out of Eden
VERSE 3
"Do
you rulers ever give a just decision?
Do you
judge all men fairly?
No! You
think only of the evil you can do,
and
commit crimes of violence in the land."
Psalms
58:1
In a
large, empty office two men were holding a conversation while
they
sat at a spacious desk.
"I
think we are going to have problems with the third again," said
the one
in beige as he twiddled a tiny tile between his thumb and
forefinger.
"Yes."
said Ikari
The
other looked sharply at him, "You seem unconcerned. You do know
he was
snooping around the isolation ward don't you? We can't afford
to
allow him to become unusable, we've only got the seventh and the
ninth
as backup."
Ikari
seemed to be unmoved by his companion's concerns, "I have
already
made plans against the eventuality of losing the third. His
replacement
is even now being prepared, don't worry."
**********
This is
stupid, he finally decided.
He was
sat in a large lecture hall half listening to a Japanese NERV
officer
trying to teach his class on how to speak English.
He
placed the textbook down on the small desk space in front of him,
leaned
back, and looked up at the ceiling, letting his mind wander
back
over the last eight weeks.
He was
completely bewildered by all of the myriad lessons and tests
that
they had given him. He had been told that he was going to be a
NERV
Field Operative, but if that was the case, shouldn't they be
teaching
him camouflage and survival techniques, not to mention
gunnery
training? Instead they were teaching him battle strategy,
foreign
languages such as English and German, and a whole host of
other
things that seemed totally unnecessary for a Field Operative,
and
that was before you got to the 'irregular training' as his
instructors
termed it; he preferred to think of it as torture.
The
training had consisted of being drugged and getting hooked up to a
sophisticated
computer simulation (created by something called a Magi)
while
he was asleep, and then waking up inside the simulation. The
simulations
ranged from the insignificant to the insane, and they were
often
so detailed that he sometimes found it difficult to distinguish
between
fiction and reality.
He
hadn't been aware of it at first, of course, not until he had
mentioned
to Shiro about the strange conversation they had had the
previous
day, and found that his friend had no recollection of the
conversation
in question, and in fact he said that Michael hadn't been
to his
usual classes the previous day. He also found out that he had
been
absent on several days when he had thought that he was in class.
When he
had learnt that something odd had been going on he had
confronted
one of his instructors, and demanded to know what was
happening.
To his surprise the man didn't raise any objections, or
denials,
and instead began to explain about the simulation program.
Once he
had finished, he ordered Michael to report to the doctor for
yet
another blood test. As he was leaving, Michael noticed the
instructor
scrawling something on one of the clipboards that each of
the
instructors always seemed to be carrying around.
That
was something else that bothered him, whenever he did something,
whether
momentous or completely insignificant, there was always
somebody
writing something on a clipboard. Maybe it was just paranoia,
but he
felt sure that if somebody requested it, they could have a
detailed
report on the what, when and why of every time he either
belched
or broke wind twenty minutes after the fact.
Ahh
well, he thought, there's no point brooding over something that
I'm
powerless to change.
And
with that he went back to concentrating on the pointless English
lesson.
**********
"Why
has it taken you so long to respond?" the voice asked from out of
the
shadows in the dark room.
The man
in the centre of the room looked confidently into the shadows
from
where the voice had originated, "I am sorry for the delay, but
security
has been stepped up the last couple of months. I was unable
to
distract them long enough for me to contact you before now."
There
was no hint of apology in his voice.
"Time
is short, what have you to report?" came the voice again.
"Since
our last discussion a new candidate has entered the training
program.
The Commander himself organised a special training program
for
him."
He
waited silently as his contact absorbed and considered this
information.
"Is
Ikari involved in this?" demanded the voice.
"Not
that I could detect, no, but that means very little when talking
about
Ikari. He covers his tracks well."
Another
silent pause filled the air.
"What
information do you have on this candidate?" the voice asked in
a
calmer tone.
"I
have only been able to gain access to the files created since his
recovery.
I have located all of his files that predate third impact,
but
they are under such heavy security that I can't get near them, let
alone
crack them."
He
pressed a button on a tiny computer in his palm, "I am sending you
all of
the data I have collected. There is also a report on the
matters
we discussed last time. We don't have time to discuss anymore
now."
As if
to confirm his statement a red light began to flash on his
palmtop
computer, "Cut your connection..." he began, but his contact
had
already left.
He
slipped the computer into a secret pocket in his jacket and walked
out of
the room.
**********
"I
still think that you're wrong," Michael said to his friend, "Why
don't
you just drop it, okay?"
"No
I wont, you are a genuine babe magnet," he said scratching his
chin.
Suddenly Shiro's finger shot into the air, "And I can prove it,"
he said
triumphantly.
"Huh?
How?" Michael asked sceptically.
Shiro
leaned forward to whisper something to him, "I bet that you can
make
the first girl you say 'good evening' to smile and become nice
and
affectionate, if you know what I mean."
Michael
gave Shiro a disgusted look, "You're really sick, do you know
that?"
Shiro
seemed unconcerned by Michael's appraisal "Sure, I get told that
all of
the time. So, are you gonna do it?"
Michael
sighed and asked, "How much?"
"Pardon?"
"You
said you bet I could do it. How much is the wager?"
Shiro
considered this for a moment, "Well, as both of us are broke
it'll
have to be a service of some kind," he paused and looked around
his
room, "How about the loser has to clean the winner's room for a
week?
Deal?" He held out his hand.
Michael
grinned, and took his friend's hand, "Deal!"
**********
This is
really stupid, she thought, slamming the book onto the desk in
her
room, My mom sent me to Japan to become a scientist, but instead
of
going to a University like a normal American girl I'm dumped in
this
military academy, being taught how to fight war games. It just
isn't
FAIR!
She
brushed her long blue-black hair off of her face, and took a
long
breath to calm herself.
Feeling
a little calmer she decided to turn around and go to her
bedroom.
As she did so her eyes caught on something she definitely
didn't
want to see right now; a NERV insignia. She stared at the
plaque
on the wall for a moment, reading the motto, her blood began
to
boil.
"How
dare they say that?" She screamed, "How dare they? After what
happened
to father... How dare they!" She ripped the plaque off the
wall
and threw it across the room.
"How
dare they..." she muttered to herself.
**********
He
looked at the dark haired beauty walking down the hall towards
him.
"Go
on," urged his friend.
He
sighed, put a confident smile on his face and walked towards her,
"Good
evening," he began but stopped when he saw the dark glare in her
eyes.
"What's
so good about it?" she half shouted at him before continuing
down
the hallway.
He
returned to his friend who was staring at the girl as she walked
away
from them. "I don't believe it," muttered Shiro.
"You
better believe it my friend," returned Michael, "You lost the
wager."
With
that he turned and walked back to his room. He would have laughed
at his
friend, but the glare that the girl had given him troubled him.
**********
It was
that dream again.
He was
floating in a tank of orange liquid.
He was
breathing in the orange liquid, but that didn't matter, it was
only a
dream after all.
He felt
comfortable in this place. It was his favourite dream. All of
his
others seemed to be nightmares, but this dream made up for the
pain
the others caused.
He mentally
sighed as he felt his mind drift into another dream.
**********
He was
numb, that's what it was. He wasn't tired, or depressed, he was
just...
numb.
He
continued to stare at the ceiling over his bed.
He
couldn't go on like this. The constant Angel attacks were draining
him of
his energy. There was a time, he could barely remember in his
despondent
state, when the Angels attacked once every month or so, but
now
they seemed to be attacking on a weekly basis, and in some periods
even
daily.
Sooner
or later he would make a mistake, he knew. It was only a matter
of
time, and with that mistake he would join all of the friends he had
lost in
the last six years, and maybe he would see the ones who had
failed
to return after fourth impact as well. He was so lonely. There
was no
one left whom he could call friend.
He
thought of all of the others who had gone before him...
Touji...
Kensuki...
Misato...
Asuka...
No,
that wasn't right, Asuka hadn't gone.
That
thought banished some of the numbness and replaced it with anger.
His
hand slipped to the locket under his shirt, he thought again about
all the
grief he had felt after they had told him that... but he had
found
that too to be a lie...
"I
won't let you take her," he whispered to the darkness in the room,
"Not
like the others, this time I refuse to let you take her..."
He once
again stared into emptiness, "...Father."
**********
To be
continued...
"And
in my great anger I will take revenge
on all
nations that have not obeyed me."
Micah
5:15
---------------------------------------------------------------
Author's
Note:
If you
have any comments about this fanfic then gladly send them to
me.
Janok_Re
<jreproduct@hotmail.com>