Neon Genesis Evangelion Higher Learning Strike Fiss, 2000 Twenty-Ninth Lesson: "Run Like Hell" He didn't care. That was the only conclusion Shinji Ikari could draw against his escape. Last time he did this, even NERV's so-called 'finest' security officers took over two days to bring him back. Even then, they would never have been able to keep up with him until he stopped to visit Kensuke that one misty early morning. It was ridiculous and insulting to those in the agency. Finding one lost little boy was more than within their power. Combine that with the natural good Japanese work ethic and it was easy to see why things happened as they did. Like everything else in NERV, Commander Ikari controlled them all. A grumble from the man could make or break a mission. Launch a thousand missiles to destroy an offender, or sit back and let an enemy kill their fighter pilots until an N2 mine was ready for deployment. Commander Ikari did not give a rat's ass that his son was escaping. At least not until he was needed again. That's when the guards 'suddenly' started noticing him and would pick him up in their black limos; complete with their stoic atmosphere of 'fight us and you'll wish you hadn't'. Shinji Ikari, however, was not worried as he strolled down the deserted streets of Tokyo-3. It was only now becoming a lazy, blue dawn over the cityscape. Half of the people here wouldn't wake up until he was already on the train. He was no longer needed. He was a nuisance. He was happier than a clam in mud to know this, too. His Father would not take him back this time. He was free. These were the things that occupied Shinji Ikari's thought processes as he imagined how the train tracks would soon be speeding by his eyes. Perhaps he could request a window seat. It wouldn't really be a big problem, considering the usual morning crowd was so light along this section of the monorail. Shinji wore neither a sad look, nor a happy one. Only determined. Focused. He had to be strong. Stronger than he realized, or planned for. Running away had always been so easy...just escape when reality became too much. Not this time. Not when he was leaving Asuka behind. He knew that one day, he could come back. Maybe save her from Eva when he was sure he could save himself. Still...those were uncertain terms. Eva may have her trapped forever. Shinji realized he couldn't fight that...at least not yet. He had to become strong. Find his way in life. Find his own reasons to fight. All of these were things he could not do at NERV. Not with his Father watching behind his desk...controlling it all. He was not running away. He was running like hell to find himself. Or so he hoped. "Mama..." he whispered out loud, re-slinging his pack up on his shoulders. "Please watch over Asuka." The next crosswalk light showed the white 'Walk' symbol, and his feet kept moving. He had to keep going. If he stopped now, it was all over. Father would have won. Misato yawned as she unlocked the front door and stepped inside. Though she had wondered if she should stick to dating only on the weekend, those thoughts were always vetoed when Kaoru was around, it seemed. Luckily, he never seemed to mind her sleeping over, or she'd never get any. The Misato inside Misato Katsuragi's head that had received most of the benefit of sleep: the logical, thinking Misato (who usually needed every bit of sleep it could get, thanks to all the hangovers that Drinky-Tipsy-Misato had) noticed that Shinji's shoes were gone from the door-well. However, still nursing the lack of sleep caused by Happy-Hentai-Misato last night, Logical-Thinking-Misato didn't voice it's concern too loudly, opting to grab an aspirin instead. "Tadaima." She called out, looking around for the usual signs of morning activity that accompanied the morning fiasco. Silence. "Shinji-kun! Asuka! You kids here?" she called out down the hall as she put away her coat. Misato sighed as she heard nothing, wondering if the two had another fight or something last night and were avoiding each other. On that thought, she realized they hadn't fought in quite some time. "Oh well...I suppose they're due for one." She mused, grabbing a beer from the fridge. "Wuaaagh!" Pen-Pen announced suddenly, startling Misato. "Hi, Pen!" she smiled, bending down and patting the little penguin on the head lightly. Pen-Pen rubbed against her hand affectionately, but then looked at her expectantly. "Wuaagh!" Misato blinked, then looked at his food dish. "Hungry, boy?" "Wuaagh!" Pen-Pen waved his flippers happily as Misato got him his breakfast. Luckily, Shinji had left out a can of sardines, and therefore, Misato wouldn't poison the poor bird this morning. Logical-Thinking-Misato woke up enough to finally register that Shinji, even if he was avoiding the redheaded devil, would at least feed Pen- Pen on the way out. "Shinji?" she blinked, walking over to his door, beer still in her hand. A soft knock later and she opened it herself. PLUNK! The beer-can dropped and spilled over her foot, though she didn't even notice. Asuka Langley Sohryu was on Shinji's bed, rather knelt against Shinji's bed, crying softly. She was completely oblivious to the intruder in the room, never missing a sob. A large, dark stain from her tears had spread out over almost all of the sheets, matting her hair down to the bed. "A..." Misato had to swallow back the whirlwind of feelings that were submerging her heart just in order to speak. "Asuka?" Pen-Pen poked his head in the door, past Misato's legs, and stopped in shock, having never seen anything like this before. Half of a sardine plopped out of his mouth. Asuka raised her head slowly, only now noticing that there were people here. Her eyes were red and her face was swollen from crying so much. "He's gone..." she whispered, standing up on shaky legs. Misato gasped and rushed over to her, picking her up in her arms just before she fell. "Asuka! Shinji's gone??" She nodded, looking up at her in desperation. "I...I couldn't go..." A sudden sob wracked her body, forcing Misato to pick her up like a baby in her arms. "Asuka..." the older woman whispered; her eyes were wide as the reasons presented themselves to her. "You love him..." Asuka just cried as Misato carried her out of Shinji's Lovely Suite. "What do you mean you're too busy!?!?" Ritsuko had to hold the phone out away from her ear as Misato broke into yelling once again. "Major, get a hold of yourself." She sighed, leaning back against her chair, illuminated by the dull glow of the computer screens around her. It had been a long night, and while she wasn't exactly surprised to hear that Shinji had ran away, it was grating on her nerves nonetheless. "I DO have a hold of myself!" Misato insisted. "He's done this before." Ritsuko said as she mixed some more sugar into her next batch of coffee. "He always comes back safely. You said it yourself that he probably just rides the monorail for a while to blow off steam." "That's all fine and dandy." Misato chided. "But I don't think it's too much to ask for a security team to find him in case he's in trouble." She grumbled. "From what I understand, that was supposed to be an outstanding order." "Commander Ikari recalled that order a while ago." Ritsuko said. "We've needed all available personnel at Headquarters. I know you think that we've just suddenly installed some new fancy equipment in the Evas, but it's a LOT more involved than that. Security has been a major issue since the Second Branch's accident." "But...they're our PILOTS!!" Misato yelled. "They are the reason NERV exists today!" "Might I remind you that it is the Operation Co-ordinator's duty to oversee such matters." Ritsuko smiled to herself as she heard Misato almost choke on her tongue. "A duty that you have insured us that you were handling personally." "But..." "Tell me, Major...where were you last night?" Ritsuko asked coldly, not willing to give an inch. "Fuck you, Akagi." Misato slammed the receiver down, ending the call with a loud, ringing click. Ritsuko sighed and hung up on her end as well, pressing in a new number right away. "The Third is gone again." "Understood." Came the cool, cold voice. "Reconfigure Unit-01 for Rei. Erase the current profiles. Keep the Dummy Plug in as backup. I expect the next battery of tests to be scheduled right away. I want this to be flawless." "Yes, Commander." He hung up without another word. Sensei Kaoru idly checked off the attendance list as the class was reading an essay he had picked out for them to do a report on. As he got to Shinji and Asuka's names, he looked up. "Has anyone seen the married couple?" "Probably off on a honeymoon." Toji offered, to the amusement of the class. Kaoru smiled, but persisted, turning to Rei, who was surprisingly present considering the Eva pilots often disappeared from school together at the same time...usually due to hospital stays. "Miss Ayanami?" "Hai?" she looked up from her essay, already half way though and taking notes as she went. "Do you know where Shinji and Asuka are today?" Kaoru asked. "No." Rei shook her head slightly. "But I would imagine they are in need of many lubricating fluids if they have been absent this long." Everyone blinked. "Or so I've been told." She smiled innocently before going back to her essay. Kaoru was just about to move on when he heard a knock at the door. The class all turned to see a very nervous looking Misato Katsuragi looking in through the window. Toji blinked. "Hey, that's Misato." Kensuke nodded, nudging his glasses up on his nose. "Maybe she's here to recruit me?" His friend sighed. "I told you, they already have enough pilots." Kaoru smiled and stood. "Just a second, class. Carry on with your essays." Of course, that received many cat-calls and 'Oooooooooooo's and 'Awwwwwwww's from the class...not to mention a few jealous looks from some of the girls. Misato waited patiently until he had opened the door before hauling him outside and slamming it shut behind them. The class blinked, then returned to saying a collective: "Ooooooooooooooooooh!" "He's gone." Misato said quickly, letting him down from her grasp now that they were away from the door. "Shinji is gone." Kaoru blinked. "G...gone?" Misato looked very dishevelled. While Kaoru had managed to pull in a few hours of sleep, she had not. She shoved a piece of paper into his hand and waited expectantly for him to read it. He sighed and opened the carefully folded letter, recognising Shinji's hand-writing immediately. "Dear Major, Thank you for everything these past few months. I am sorry for any trouble I have caused you and the fights we had. I..." "I know all that part. Skip to the last." Misato interrupted. Kaoru blinked, then scanned down. "Please respect this as my final wish with NERV. Do not follow me. NERV does not need me anymore. You have the new auto-pilot systems, and Pilots who have a reason to fight for you. I cannot live here, where my only reward is a lie I've been telling myself for years. I must find out where the tracks take me. I wish to be free. Please tell my Father I said goodbye, and I wish for us never to meet again. Take care, Misato-san. Your friend, Ikari Shinji." Misato nodded. "Tracks." Kaoru blinked. "What did he mean by tracks?" she pressed into him, arm first, back against the wall. "What the HELL have you been teaching him???" Kaoru sighed, but did not resist. "Train Tracks." He said. "Shinji wanted to leave." His face was apologetic where his words could not be. "I didn't think he would actually leave right away, though." "And you didn't TELL ME?!?!" Misato yelled, making Kaoru wince. "Dammit! I mean, I know you're just a teacher to the Children, but you knew about this and didn't even THINK to tell me when I was around last night?!?" The Sensei nodded. "Misato, you have to understand, that boy was suffocating here! I didn't want to crush any dreams of his that he might have a future!" he stood up tall, making Misato back off a bit. "You would have done this if I told you. Pushed him back down." SLAP! Kaoru held his face as Misato re-pinned him up against the wall with a sound 'crack'! "You sonofabitch!" she growled. "Who do you think you are?!? You KNOW what Shinji...what every one of them means to us! You have no IDEA what this means if an Angel attacks. You don't even KNOW Shinji...or Asuka...or Rei for that matter! You're treating them like they're some worthless group of kids who you can afford to test out third-rate psychology on!" "I'm treating them like normal people." Kaoru defended. "Do YOU know them?" he pushed off her arm to her surprise. "Each of them are still kids, Misato! And you're treating them like the fucking Evas that NERV tosses around like dolls!" Misato growled. "I never put ANYTHING into Shinji's head. I just told him he should follow his heart." Kaoru said sternly. "I know how important these kids are to you...and to all of us. But I'm not about to condemn them to a second-rate life just because they're so damn priceless. I'm going to teach them like I would any other normal young student." "No." Misato said. "Don't you do this. Not fuckin now." She growled. "Don't you twist this into something it's not. The fact is that Shinji's running again. Do you really think that's going to help him?" "When he's running away from NERV?" Kaoru smiled sadly. "I'd tie his own running shoes for him." "NERV?!?" Misato yelled. "What the HELL does this have to do with NERV?!? Do you think I just treat him like some kind of guinea pig? That little man means more to more people than a thousand teachers or Majors combined! There isn't a day goes by where every person I meet or deal with at work doesn't ask how Shinji-kun is doing. If he's okay and feeling better from the last attack or whatever. Not an attack or emergency goes by where I would give my life if it meant he could be a thousand miles away instead of inside that fucking purple monster!" tears were now evident on her face, but her voice was strong. "Misato..." "SHUT UP!" she yelled. "There isn't a moment where I don't wish he was a safe, happy, normal boy! He's given us so much, and asked so little in return." She leaned forward. "But that's not the way things are. That's not reality. I don't know what you think reality is, but it's life or death out there. We're all just hanging on by the tips of our fingernails just to keep alive! This is NOT a fucking classroom, you pompous, self-righteous asshole! Things don't work on tests and pop quizzes! You do NOT get time to study and review. You will either live or die." Kaoru was silent. Words were long since escaping him. "Shinji is that one thing that lets us have any CHANCE of survival." Misato whispered dangerously at him. "He's not going to have any future if we all die tomorrow in an Angel attack. It doesn't matter how long the train-tracks are...they'll lead to the same place. The only difference is that you've given him a false hope...something to pretend and play up to. He's still running away, though, and we may all die because of this. "And I'm sorry if you can't accept this, but I have more love toward that little boy than you will ever know from me, and the only reason I'm not putting a bullet in your head is because I know he'll be back." Misato released his shirt and pushed him away. Sensei Kaoru, dazed slightly, finally managed to retain a bit of his analytical mind as Misato was walking off. "W...why do you think he'll come back?" She turned and frowned. "Don't expect Asuka in class for a few more days. I think they're in love." Kaoru was silent as he watched her leave. When he opened the door to class, he was greeted with the wide-eyes of his students. He swallowed hard, wondering just how much they heard. "PMS." Rei offered quietly. The class all blinked, then returned to their assignments nervously. Kaoru slumped into his chair. They were in love. "This is not good..." he thought to himself. Shinji was looking at his travel pass as he sat on the bench, waiting for the next train. As he had been walking along the streets, he wondered what it would be like to live in a cooler place. Away from so many noisy cicadas and the unending summer. Asahikawa was on the Northern island of Japan, and far enough inland that it wasn't flooded out by the Second Impact. "I wonder if they have cicadas up there..." he asked out loud. As if to answer him, the cicada's chirping suddenly stopped. Shinji looked up and around, wondering what happened. That was right about the same time the sirens started. "A...an Angel?" he blinked. The fear that he might be brought back to Eva suddenly reclaimed his mind. A sudden voice echoed out over the almost deserted train station: "A state of emergency has been declared throughout all Tokyo-3 Sectors. All non-combat personnel please report to the nearest shelter immediately. Thank you!" As he turned back to the train tracks, he saw the green lights had all shifted to red. "All Trains Delayed" Shinji Ikari was trapped in Tokyo-3. Misato swore to herself as she and Asuka drove. The buildings were already being retracted down into the Geofront, creating an eerie illusion of flying as they sped by. "Why, oh why, do these fucking things attack us NOW?" Asuka looked lazily out of the window. Her features seemed so delicate and fragile at the moment. She had gotten a bit of sleep that morning after Misato had escorted her to bed, but her emotions were sill playing havoc on her body. "They are the enemy." She said simply. "They come when they want to." "I'm going to take you to the NERV's hard-shelter." Misato said. "You're in no condition to fight right now." "No." Asuka said, this time much more forcefully. "I have to fight. Let me pilot. I'll be okay." Their world lit up in a bright flash as the first attack hit only a block away from the car. Misato cried out and struggled to keep control of her vehicle as it took to the air and landed hard from the shockwave. Asuka looked out of the rear window at the tiny white-and-black speck in the sky that was descending upon them. "I will kill it." Misato prayed Asuka was right. The next cross-shaped explosion would have hit them if it wasn't for the tunnel that enveloped the car, taking it down to the Geofront. To be continued... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey everyone! Sorry for the slight delay as usual, but hell, I'm sure you're all used to it by now. ^_^ No Omake, as I have lots of things to do (as well as start working on HL 30 right away, since it will be long). As always: e-mail: strikef@bigfoot.com homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9110 Strike Fiss, Ninja Crowbotics 2000. Khattam-Shud, EOF.