Neon Apocalypse Luciferion
David Johston, rgorman@telusplanet.net
Disclaimer: Technically Hideaki Anno is the creator of these
characters. However, some significant modifications have been made.
The airbase seemed strangely desolate in the rain, as if some divine
hand had reached out and snatched everyone up. The only sign of life
was one spindly boy, cold, hungry and footsore, wondering where he was
supposed to go; if he'd missed his flight and if catching it would be
worse than missing it.
He stood there for a moment, trying to decide whether to head for the
large hanger and then his eyes widened. A pale form stood motionless,
just watching him. The rain made it hard to see clearly, but
something about the shape suggested a girl.
"Excuse me!" he called out, as he walked toward her. "Could you tell
me where..." There was nothing there except a closed door. He
shivered, but opened the door anyway. There was no point in standing
out in the rain and whoever that had been had probably just gone
inside.
The transition was abrupt and almost overpowering. Inside, all was
chaos, with a good dozen men shouting and rushing about underneath the
deafening roar of the rain on the hangar's tin roof as they hauled
crates into a twin-engined cargo plane.
He'd hardly taken two steps when a beefy hand caught hold of his
shoulder and shook him vigorously. Living proof that the military
wasn't operating on the same kind of short rations accorded to
civilians glared at him and shouted, "Hey you! What the hell are you
doing here? This is a restricted area!"
He rattled loosely in the mechanic's grip, too numb to think straight
as he stammered, "I-I'm-"
"Speak up, punk! You better have a good explanation or I'll-"
"Ikari Shinji?" Another voice called in a sharp soprano as its owner
walked up to them.
He nodded, confused by the sight of an undeniably female form in a
flight suit, red scarf providing a dashing accent to her otherwise
drab attire. "Yes, that's me!" he shouted, reaching for his orders.
She snatched them, took a glance and nodded. "Get on board."
"What, are you cradle-snatching your boyfriends now?" the mechanic
asked.
She sized him up and commented, "I could do worse. C'mon kid, you can
ride shotgun."
"You're the pilot?" he asked as they walked to the plane, which was
almost finished loading. The answer was obvious, but it was hard to
believe. What kind of woman flew planes?
"That's me! Katsuragi Misato, your personal chauffeur! Now let's get
you loaded. I'm running behind schedule."
Shinji watched with interest from the other seat as Misato deftly
started the plane's motors and taxied the plane out through the big
sliding doors of the hangar. "Isn't there supposed to be a co-pilot
in this seat?"
"Uh-huhn." she answered. "Don't worry, you'll pick it up in no time."
"Me!"
"Relax, I was just kidding. All you have to do is sit there and wake
me if I nod off during the flight."
"Nod...off?" Shinji swallowed nervously.
"I probably won't, but it is a fourteen-hour flight."
"Where are we going?"
"Well, I'd tell you, but then your father would have to kill me, so I
guess you'll have to wait until we get there."
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The rain rattled like bullets on the surface of the cargo plane as it
gained speed and altitude.
"You're a real white-knuckler, aren't you?" Misato observed. "I've
got a case of beer behind my seat. You can have one to take the edge
off, if you want." She reached back and the plane wobbled in response
to her motion.
"No!"
"Suit yourself." The plane steadied as she turned back.
"You don't drink..." Shinji hesitantly began, then trailed off. He
didn't want to seem as if he was trying to give her orders. She might
start drinking just to prove he didn't have that right.
"Up here? No. I keep those for when I touch down. There are some
things you have to devote full attention to. Important things...like
drinking."
Misato shot a look at him for his reaction to the joke, and looked
disappointed as his lack of response. She muttered something in a
foreign language. He wondered whether it was something insulting, but
lacked the nerve to ask. Instead he tried to change the subject by
saying, "I didn't know that the airforce had any lady pilots."
"Doesn't. I'm very much a civilian, and happy to be one. Just doing
my part for the war effort like all the little housewives working away
in the factories." The airplane hit an air pocket and she laughed and
added, "Except my bit's more fun."
Shinji hiccoughed nervously as his stomach rejoined the rest of his
body. "But I thought my father was doing something for the military."
"So are the little housewives. These days, everyone's doing
something for the military, even boys like you."
Shinji shuddered. That thought did nothing to settle his nerves.
"...Why did my father send for me, after all this time?"
"I don't know." Misato's voice was flat. If she had any suspicions,
she wasn't sharing them. "I just fly supplies out to them."
There was a pause as Shinji looked down at his hands, still
desperately clamped on the armrests of his seat.
"You sure you don't want that beer?"
Shinji shook his head and said, "No, thank you. Will we be out of
this weather soon?" His voice squeaked a little as the plane
shuddered again.
"Oh sure. The weather always clears up as I head south. By the time
we get there, the skies should be nice and clear." Misato didn't
look as happy about that as she sounded.
Tension can be a very tiring thing, and Shinj had already been tired
when he'd boarded the plane. By now he'd been awake for nigh to a
full 24 hours and so he'd spent the last couple of hours no better
than semi-conscious when he started awake again at the sound of a
metallic noise that rattled the plane.
"Hunh? What's happening?" he said, looking about wildly at the
incomprehensible dials and the clear blue sky as the plane's nose
tipped downward and a strange whistling noise grew in intensity.
"We're crashing? Do something!"
"Relax," Misato answered tersely. "We aren't crashing. I'm just
making an abrupt altitude adjustment."
"Um..." Shinji blinked blearily. "An altitude--?"
"Uh-hunh," she absently answered.
"Why?
"I'm in a hurry."
Another sudden clang extracted a startled yelp from him.
"Could you stop screaming? It's distracting."
He reflexively apologised, clenching his eyes tight shut against the
jungle landscape drawing ever nearer with frightening speed. The
plane shook as he could hear and feel the tops of the trees scraping
against the bottom of the plane.
"Well, what do you know? The wings didn't come off after all. Just
goes to show my flight instructor didn't know everything."
His resolution to keep silent shattered. " Are you trying to kill
us?"
"No, they're trying to kill us."
"What!"
"What did I tell you about screaming?"
Shinji took a deep breath. "Excuse me, ma'am, but would you please
tell me what is going on?"
"Don't you 'ma'am' me! I'm still a young, vital, and desirable woman,
so don't talk to me like some maiden aunt. Are they still chasing us?
Look out the side and see."
Distracted, Shinji did as he was told. "Um...I don't see anyone," he
reported.
"Looks like the Katsuragi luck is holding true. They were either lazy
or low on fuel," Misato decided aloud, and pulled back on the
joystick. Her plane began to sluggishly ascend.
"-but I think we're trailing smoke," Shinji continued. "We're going
to die, aren't we?" Somehow the panic had receded, replaced by a
general sense of fatalistic acceptance.
"Are you always this cheerful? Do you get some kind of perverse
pleasure out of being a doomsayer? Why can't you just once say
something like 'Misato, I see the runway so we can land and not
die after--"
"Misato-san! I see the runway!"
"It's rude to interrupt, Shinji-kun."
"But I really do see the runway!"
"Of course you do. It's right there. Now brace yourself. We're
going to have to come in low," Misato warned in ominous tones.
"Why?"
"Because otherwise we won't land." Misato's laugh was just a bit on
the shrill side.
Shinji could feel his ears burning as they approach the strip, his
embarassment so intense that he forgot to be frightened as they
roughly touched down, jouncing from side to side as the plane rolled
down the pockmarked surface to a stop. Instead he felt the impulse
to poke back at her. "Are all your landings this smooth?"
Misato rested her forehead on the dashboard. "If you can still walk,
it's a good landing. At least, that's what my instructor told me.
Of course that might have been my instructor up there trying to kill
me." He thought he could see a tremor pass over her body. Laughter?
Fear?
He curiously looked at the buildings in front of them. A fairly
anonymous jungle outpost looked back at him, bamboo buildings under
concealing tarpaulins. A group of men in army uniforms were
approaching. "You learned how to fly in America?"
Suddenly the soldiers stopped moving.
"Get out. Move!" snapped Misato. The deadly intensity of the orders
send him scrabbling for the door even as he wondered if he'd somehow
offended her by asking the question. Then as he opened it, he finally
heard the buzzing, like a swarm of giant insects overhead. The
soldiers were already turning to run.
"Go!" Misato roughly shoved him toward the concrete central building
after the soldiers. From above he could hear a whistling sound,
deepening in pitch as he desperately sprinted, wondering why that
building was supposed to be safe. Surely it would be the primary
target for the enemy.
Geysers of earth were erupting behind them, far flung particles
stinging their backs as they dived through the open front door. "Wait
for us, you cowards!" Misato called out. "Where's the entrance?"
"This way."
The ethereal figure startled both of them as it appeared appeared out
of nowhere. She was distinctly ghostly, with white skin and hair and
eyes that gleamed a demonic red. Already rattled, they both stared at
her blankly for a moment as she repeated dispassionately, "This is the
way to safety." She pointed to emphasize her advice. An open panel
revealed a set of stairs leading downward.
Misato shook herself and answered, "You don't have to tell me three
times. Let's go Shinji-kun."
The albino shifted her unnerving gaze to Shinji and said, "You are
Shinji Ikari." She placed her hand on his chest and shoved him hard.
"Hey!" Shinji felt injured as he stumbled back. What did the ghost
girl have against him? He didn't have the opportunity to ask her
before the ceiling caved in.
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Author's notes: Maybe a little too hectic?
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