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Characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion used without the permission of
Gainax.
Asuka's Project
by fuyutsuki@secondimpact.com
Part 1
Stupid Shinji. Asuka frowned as she washed the dishes. Why the
hell had he dirtied so many to make dinner? It hadn't been necessary,
and then having the nerve to hide behind Misato when she'd told him to
wash his share.
The wimp. Wuss. Pansy. She would have hit him if it weren't so
easy. Stupid, spineless Shinji. And here she was up to her elbows in
dirty water because of him. "Damn it," she growled.
It wasn't just Shinji either. The others at school just thought
she was a bitch; they didn't fear her any longer, and that was
unacceptable.
But her techniques had always worked before, always gotten her
what she wanted. It wasn't so easy to just change like that.
Asuka's eyes suddenly lit up.
***
"Hey, Misato, can I go to the command center with you today?"
Misato grunted something that might have been "school" as she
rested her face on the table in an effort to avoid the day.
Asuka waved it off. "Oh, it's one of those stupid career days.
I thought it might be interesting to see what you do when you're not
ordering me to kill angels."
Without lifting her head, Misato grunted in the affirmative, too
tired to even care.
She had to admit, when there wasn't any sort of emergency, the
command center was a really boring place. Currently, Asuka was
watching the tech whose name she couldn't be bothered to remember play
a huge game of minesweeper on the main screen. He still had a few
thousand mines left to find.
Sighing, Asuka looked around with as much casualness as she could
muster. Still as a grave... Even Misato was sitting, reading a
magazine. "So where is everyone?"
"When there isn't an alert, everyone either goes on stand-by or
maintenance." Misato looked up from her magazine. "I, of course, get
maintenance," she said flatly.
Asuka looked around again. "So... what do the commanders do
now?" she asked.
"Who knows?" Misato was once again involved in the magazine.
"Do whatever it is commanders do... watch MTV, Play Nintendo..."
"I can assure you it is neither of those things, Major."
Misato's feet slipped off the desk she had them propped up on,
and she practically threw her magazine on the floor. "Of course not,
sir," she said crisply, cheeks reddening.
"The UN wishes to cut our budget once again," Commander Ikari
said, standing behind his usual console. Fuyutsuki was, as ever, with
him.
"Again? We're already operating with less than optimal
resources!"
"Yes, Major. And that is what we have been doing. Not watching
MTV or playing..." Gendo looked up at the main screen, adjusting his
glasses. "Minesweeper."
Asuka heard the guilty tech swallow loudly as she gazed up at the
two commanders.
"Of course, sir." There was a tightness to Misato's voice, but
that was the only indication that she had been horribly embarrassed.
For a brief moment, Commander Ikari's eyes met Asuka's, and the
light was so that they weren't hidden by any glare or reflection off
his glasses.
She felt like a bug being slowly dissected, even in such a short
amount of time. Her body almost betrayed her, wanting to shrink back
under that look, but she would not allow it. Asuka met the commander's
gaze dead on.
"What is the Second Child doing here?"
Concise, to the point. No need to worry about whose toes were
being stepped upon.
"She's here..." Misato began.
"Career day at school, sir," Asuka announced loudly so everyone
would know she was addressing the commander. "I was curious what went
on during a non-emergency state." Again, he looked at her, but the
light reflected off his glasses, hiding his eyes.
"And the Third Child?"
"I don't think he cares much to follow in your footsteps. Sir."
She gave the commander the tiniest of grins, still staring right where
his eyes should have been. She glimpsed Sub-commander Fuyutsuki
raising an eyebrow.
Without another word, Commander Ikari turned and walked away with
Fuyutsuki following.
There were audible releases of breaths as he disappeared, and
even Asuka realized she had been holding her own.
"Well," she said loudly, laughing a little, "that was fun."
***
"Shinji, take out the trash."
"But it's your turn, Asuka."
She turned and leveled her gaze at him.
Somehow, he held it for a moment, then flinched away. "Fine."
When he left, Asuka smiled gleefully.
***
"You know, Misato, it's totally pointless for me to go to school.
I know more than the teachers do, and all the kids are so immature."
Misato just looked at her.
"I'd be much more interested in getting familiar with the command
center. After all, I'll have your position one day," she said, hands
on hips.
With one eyebrow twitching, Misato drained her beer.
***
"She doesn't want to go to school."
"She doesn't really have to. She already has one degree."
"Yeah, Ritsuko, but..."
"You just don't want to have her around you all day."
Misato put her head down and groaned. "Sometimes I wonder how
Shinji deals with her."
"As little as he has to probably. But if you really don't want
her here, you have to tell her. I don't blame her actually; I wouldn't
want to be in school either." She patted Misato on the shoulder. "You
won't have to babysit her... Make Shigeru do it."
Misato lifted her head. "Why me?"
The sub-commander. Yeah. No need to bother the commander with
it. "Sir, if I could talk to you for a moment?"
"Yes, Major?"
"I'm having a small... situation with Asuka. She doesn't want to
go to school; she says she'd prefer to spend her days here."
That brought Fuyutsuki up short. The Second Child... every day?
This was no time for personal biases though. "I... suppose it's not
a... problem. We'll... you'll have to find something for her to do
though."
"Of course, sir." Hoo boy. The shit was really going to hit the
fan.
***
"Waha! Shinji, go do the dishes for me. I'm too important to do
housework!"
"Asuka, it's your turn," Misato grumbled, holding her hand to her
head. She was in a permanent hangover now.
"Shinji will do them."
"No, you'll do them."
Swearing to herself, Asuka realized Misato wasn't paying any
attention. Misato didn't seem to realize that in the house, Asuka was
the smartest one and should have been afforded a little more respect.
As it was, Misato treated her like just another fourteen year old.
Unacceptable.
Misato watched Asuka march into the kitchen and knew work was
going to be... living hell.
***
"Asuka, this is Shigeru."
Asuka eyed him like he was an alien.
"Give her something to do," Misato ordered, and then hurried
away.
"You were the one playing minesweeper the other day," Asuka
accused.
"Ah... er..." How had he been drafted into this? Shit.
"So give me something to do, dummkopf. I don't want to stand
around here all day."
"Uh... you can..." Shigeru looked around to find the others
studiously ignoring him. "I guess you... could... help Maya! She's
doing... something. She'll be right back."
Snorting with disgust, Asuka walked off. She was a bit surprised
that no one said anything, none of the techs apparently caring whether
she actually did anything or not.
Well, if they didn't care, she'd just do what she felt like.
Casting one look back at the lazing crew, she walked off down a hall,
deeper into NERV, her footsteps echoing around her.
Another set of echoing footfalls reached her ears, and for a
moment, she considered heading back to the command center. She stopped
herself though; she had as much right to be at NERV as anyone else did.
Head held up high, eyes forward, back straight, she began
striding in the direction the footsteps were coming from.
Asuka turned a corner and almost skidded to a halt. Walking
toward her was Commander Ikari with one hand stuffed casually in his
pocket. He was alone, they were alone in the hall.
Would he say something to her? Reprimand her? He almost had to
for the way she had... shot her mouth off at him. Even if it had been
fun. The situation was about to get unpleasant, Asuka figured.
Closer, only five feet away. She expected him to stop and give
her a disappointed look before chewing her out.
Under the light, four feet away, there was only the glare and
reflection coming off his glasses. Three feet away and the glare
disappeared. Eyes visible, Asuka looked at them, expecting to find
something.
They gazed straight ahead, never noting her presence.
Two feet, and his eyes were still visible, never taking note of
her. For some irrational reason, Asuka wanted to block his path and
make him notice her. And then she realized it. So subtle, and so
effective.
Her presence was unimportant to him, and that annoyed her, made
her want to do something pointless, something against her calm and
reserved character.
The commander passed her by and continued on as if Asuka never
even existed. She turned and watched him go as he rounded the corner.
Then she smiled.
***
Asuka made a choice that night. "I want to go back to school."
Misato put her hand on her forehead and rubbed it. "What now,
Asuka?"
"Part-time. Be at NERV three days and school three days. So I
can interact with people my own age, even if they are intellectually
inferior."
"I'm to the point where I don't care what you do, Asuka. I just
need a beer."
"Let me get you one, Misato," Asuka offered sweetly. "Shinji!
Get Misato a beer!"
***
The two idiots made comments, proving what she had suspected
before: they were no longer afraid, they no longer respected her as
their superior. Instead of yelling, she didn't even bother to look at
them, and the puzzled expressions on their faces she glimpsed made her
feel warm inside.
They didn't know what to do. She had power over them. That was
the real reason for coming back to school. To hell with interacting
with the idiots; she just needed to start small and work her way up.
"Hey Shinji, what's up with Asuka?" Toji asked at lunch.
Shinji shrugged, frowning. "She's been really pushy at home.
She made me take out the trash even though it was her turn. It's
really starting to bug me."
Kensuke looked at Toji, and they shook their heads. "Shinji..."
"Why do you put up with her like that, man? She's a grade-A
bitch," Toji said.
"She's not that bad. She's just... I don't know. She's just..."
Toji and Kensuke nodded at each other. "A bitch," they said in
unison.
Shinji sighed.
***
"You fixed it all by yourself?"
Ritsuko laughed. "Of course not. The repair crews did, though I
had to oversee them."
Asuka nodded, feeling like a kid again. It was like the first
time she had seen her Unit 02. This time though, she was actually
going to get her hands on it, see what made it tick. "So what are you
going to work on?"
"Last time, you said your HUD was a little fuzzy; I was going to
look at that first." Ritsuko smiled at Asuka, surprised at the girl's
perky attitude. She wasn't as easy to work with when she was piloting.
"Do you make all those changes on MAGI?"
Ritsuko shook her head. "Think of it like a big TV. Sometimes
the signal is bad, and you need to adjust the antenna, but sometimes
the picture tube isn't working properly and needs to be fixed."
"So MAGI is like the antenna, and my Eva is like the TV."
"Exactly. We can look first to see if there are any problems
with MAGI, and then Unit 02. It that turns up empty, I'll have to open
it up."
"Will I have to synch?"
"Maybe later if there's nothing obvious, but I don't think it'll
be anything serious."
Asuka whistled as she carried the stack of papers. Maintenance
records, test results, repair notes, Unit 02's activation logs... And
they all had her name on it. Right under Dr. Akagi's.
Pilot clearance wasn't high enough when the doctor had wanted to
do some testing on the biological components of Unit 02. Even though
Asuka had complained mightily, the doctor hadn't budged. Security
clearance, even if it was concerning a pilot and her own Eva, was not
something to be trifled with.
For some reason, Asuka was beginning to like Dr. Akagi. Maybe it
was from giving her actual work to do, but there was more as well. The
papers, for instance. She didn't really want to be a mail carrier, but
this wasn't quite the same. They were to go to the commander,
delivered personally, usually by Dr. Akagi herself.
But the doctor had instructed Asuka on what to say, what the
commander would probably ask, and what to answer in return. The doctor
must have done it a lot to be so familiar with the commander.
Asuka marched up to Commander Ikari's door, put on her most
serious face and rapped sharply on it twice. She expected an almost
immediate answer since that was the kind of man the commander seemed to
be, but there was no such thing.
Staring at the door, Asuka waited. She tapped her foot a bit
impatiently. Maybe he wasn't there. Maybe he hadn't heard her knock.
She lifted her hand, ready to knock again.
"Enter," came the voice from the other side of the door.
Asuka froze in amazement, an appreciative grin slowly spreading
across her face. Recovering quickly, banishing the grin, Asuka opened
the door and entered the office.
When her eyes adjusted, she saw three stacks of paper already on
the commander's desk, and his attention remained on them as Asuka
crossed the dimly lit office. She stood across from him for a moment,
waiting for some sort of acknowledgement, expecting it... until she
remembered who she was dealing with.
It took all her willpower not to start grinning again. "The
report of this morning's level one diagnostic of Unit 02, sir," Asuka
said, and set the papers on his desk.
It suddenly looked like a mess, and she got an intense urge to
take the papers back so the desk would be tidy once more.
"Where is Dr. Akagi?" he asked, not looking up from his work.
A question she had expected. "Still running tests. My clearance
was not high enough to assist her."
"Pilot, hand over your access card."
He was looking at her then, and even in the minimum of light, his
glasses gave off a glare and made his eyes impossible to see. This
question, asking for her access card, hadn't been expected at all.
With her hand trembling ever so slightly, Asuka held out her card to
him.
When the commander reached out to take it from her, Asuka
couldn't remove her eyes from that white-gloved hand. Surely he
wouldn't... She was the second child; she was needed! "Sir," she said
weakly, and hated herself for it.
He took the card, almost gently, and turned to look at his
console. No doubt he was deleting all of her records, and she'd soon
find herself on the streets of Tokyo-3 with nowhere to go and...
"Clearance granted," Commander Ikari said and handed the card
back.
Asuka accepted it with numb fingers.
"Inform the doctor that I would speak with her at her
convenience. Dismissed." His attention was already back on the papers
before him.
"Yes... sir." Asuka left the office, access card still held
loosely in her hand.
Ritsuko looked back as she heard the door open. "Asuka, you..."
"Commander Ikari increased my clearance level," she said, still a
bit shell-shocked. "And he said he wanted to talk to you at your
convenience."
Ritsuko rolled her eyes a bit and nodded. "When I'm done here,
I'll go see what he wants this time," she noted absently.
That brought Asuka back to attention. The commander never did
anything at anyone's convenience except his own, so why would he let
Dr. Akagi get away with it? And she seemed so... casual about it, even
a little dismissive.
Whenever Misato had to talk to the commander, she was always a
frazzled mess afterwards. Though it seemed she was usually being
reprimanded for one thing or another...
The doctor though, she was... cool. That was something Asuka
could appreciate. Nothing at all like Misato, always getting drunk,
yelling, acting like a child... That didn't accomplish anything.
"What do you think the commander wants to talk to you about?
Me?" Asuka asked.
Ritsuko looked at her curiously. "Probably not. It's most
likely about... the budget. Nothing to concern yourself with."
Asuka nodded, but didn't really agree. She wanted to be a part
of the entire process, and she sure didn't want her Eva to break down
in the middle of a battle because they didn't have enough money to buy
new batteries.
She'd just have to be sure to be a fly on the wall for their
meeting. That was all.
"That's enough for today, Asuka. What'd you think of it all?
Not nearly as interesting doing the dirty work, eh?"
"I don't need to get the taste of LCL out of my mouth so it's not
that bad, Doctor."
"I have to admit," Ritsuko said, straightening up, "you were more
helpful than I thought you'd be."
Asuka gave her a confident smile. "I'm used to being
underestimated."
"Well, I need to meet with Commander Ikari now; you should be
able to get a ride from Misato," the doctor said as they both left the
lab, the door locking behind them. "I'll see you tomorrow for synch
tests," she said, and walked away from Asuka.
Asuka waited a moment until the doctor was out of sight. No
doubt she was heading back to Commander Ikari's office. After counting
to thirty, Asuka went that way too.
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not at your beck and call. I have things to do."
"They can wait."
"You are not my number one priority."
"I am aware of this. It does not please me."
"Damn it, Gendo..."
Asuka's eyes widened a little. So this was the secret. No
wonder the doctor didn't want her around for it.
"I have more work to get done," Ritsuko said tersely.
Finding she had no place to hide, Asuka just flattened herself
against the wall and hoped she wouldn't be caught when Dr. Akagi came
out.
The door never opened any wider than it already was though, and
after a few heart-pounding seconds, Asuka relaxed fractionally.
"You can't get your way every time," Ritsuko said softly,
sounding out of breath.
"Yes, I can."
The door shut and Asuka almost collapsed. That had been too
close for even her comfort. The next time the doctor wanted to speak
to the commander in private, she would give them both a very wide
berth.
"I wonder what Shinji would say about this?" she mused aloud as
she walked away. "Or Wondergirl..."
There was something about the idea of Wondergirl, Miss Non-
emotional, in Unit 00 very calmly stepping on the commander that made
her laugh, though a bit guiltily.
Asuka couldn't help thinking about what she had heard though.
'You can't get your way every time.'
'Yes, I can.'
"Yes, I can," she breathed and continued to walk.
***
"Asuka?"
"Yes, Hikari?"
"I liked the way you handled that idiot this morning. Thanks."
Asuka flashed her a cocky grin. "No problem. I think Toji's
finally learned not to mess with me." Or she had learned how to keep
him easily in line. Maybe that was why NERV ran as well as it did with
the bunch of clowns working there.
Suddenly disgusted, Asuka couldn't help but think about those
idiots as her only technical assistance if something ever went wrong
with her Eva.
"Just because he and that little worm Kensuke don't take class
seriously doesn't mean other people don't want to." Hikari's hand
clenched into a fist, a gesture not lost on Asuka. "Sometimes I'd like
to take Toji and..." There were no words to express how she was
feeling.
Asuka just looked at her.
That was enough to make Hikari turn away, a blush rising on her
cheeks, fist no longer clenched. "Well, he's rude anyway. Boys are
just immature."
"Ah." That was interesting. All she did was look at Hikari and
the class rep had practically spilled her guts. Maybe it was just in
the other girl's nature, but still...
Still looking embarrassed, Hikari took a step back. "That was
all I wanted to say. Thanks, I mean."
"Hey, want to eat lunch together?" Asuka asked suddenly, catching
Hikari by surprise.
"Uh... sure."
"Shinji made lunch today. I hope he got it right this time."
"Is Shinji a good cook?"
"Pretty good. He needs some help, but he's getting better. He
makes great streudel, just like back home. I could have him make you
some."
"Oh, would you? That sounds great."
"Shinji'll do it if I say so."
***
"So how did your meeting go?"
"Meeting?"
"With the commander."
"Oh, it was fine. Your name never came up."
'Thank God,' Asuka thought. "So, what's today's schedule?"
"Synch tests. You can get a jump on Rei and Shinji."
Asuka grimaced a little. "When will you do something about the
taste of LCL? This stupid tests wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't
floating in a big puddle of whale backwash."
Ritsuko raised an eyebrow. "Backwash from a whale?"
"You've never tasted it, have you? Ah well. I suppose that's
the price I have to pay for saving the city."
Ritsuko shook her head, smiling slightly. "Go get changed so we
can start. Maybe you can help me with Shinji and Rei's synch tests
later."
Asuka suffered through the synch test as she had all the other
times. She obeyed instructions automatically, lost in thoughts of her
own.
She had to be realistic. She couldn't get her way every time, no
matter how hard she tried. Commander Ikari was so much more...
prepared to get his way. He was older and had more experience, his
rank alone was enough, and he was a complete cold-hearted bastard.
That was the key concept. Since everyone thought he was capable
of killing his own son, there were only a few select people that would
question him. And if no one questioned him, no one would refuse him.
He always got what he wanted...
Asuka frowned. Everyone questioned her, as if she were still in
grade school. Waiting twenty or thirty years was not an acceptable
option.
"You just dropped a couple points, Asuka. Is there something
wrong?" Ritsuko asked over the com.
"No, just... distracted," she answered, and then tried to relax.
Still, it wasn't fair that no one trusted her, that everyone treated
her like a child. Except for Dr. Akagi; she didn't as much as the
others.
Or Commander Ikari.
An adult... That was what he expected her to act like. To him,
she was an adult. When it suited him, otherwise she was non-existent.
That got Asuka's thoughts running in a completely different
direction while she performed her synch tests.
END part 1
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