Re: You Can (Not) Undo [EVAlt IC]

Aaaaaaaand the IC is up and ready to go! So here's what's going down:

You will all be waiting in apartments reserved by NERV, or else taken by your parents if they have the resources. Supervision is optional, as the organization will provide a chaperone if necessary. Most of you have just arrived recently, and will be taken down to NERV for the first time by creepy men in black (no seriously they exist in the show). PM me if your characters have different circumstances.

And here are the rules again, just in case you need to be reminded.

Rules

1. Usual forum rules blah blah blah.
2. No Godmodding. At all. None.
3. Metaing will be punishable by having your pilot cruelly and painfully. Just because you read the Wiki and watched the series does not mean your character has the right to suddenly figure out plot points that no one would really guess until later.
4. Autoing in any form is a no-no. Hitting something without giving it a chance to respond, hurting someone in a fight, and just automatically killing an Angel is not good at all.
5. This will have gore, lots of it. It may not be person gore, but it is gory.
6. Also, while the anime series itself is a bit...freer on the subject, I'm going to have to draw a few lines on romance. If it starts getting a bit too intimate, then take it to PMs with the RP partner. Don't post it directly in the thread.
7. Curse as much as you'd like, just keep it realistic. Shouting the F word in every sentence is pretty f***ing stupid.
8. Be realistic with the synch pain, and your reactions to various situations. I highly doubt any of us, upon being asked to pilot a giant robot and kill a giant Angel, would be all for it no hesitations.
9. Literacy level? Keep it moderate. As in no one-liners unless it's in a conversation where nothing else is happening.
10. Don't describe NERV base without my permission unless you have watched all the anime episodes. And give proof. But then I probably won't let you do it anyway.
11. Drama. We love drama. Yes.
12. If you have super awesome plan/idea, PM it to me. With this being an alternate universe of the series I'm sure we can change things up a bit.
13. No having super magical powers without my permission, okay?
14. Everyone, be nice. If you want to argue, don't do it in my thread.
15. This RP should be extremely disturbing later on. Feel free to indulge in as many mental breakdowns as you want at that time.
16. One thing I want to address: I don't need to be here for you guys to post. Seriously, have all the convos you want if I'm not there the advance the plot or whatever.
17. KAWORU DIED FOR YOUR SINS.
18. Read the whole OP. pls gooby pls.

ATTENDANCE LIST/PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR:

• Tex
  
• Balu
  
• DB
  
• Legs
  
• Crim
  
• Flame
  
• Deoxy
  
• Patches
  

9 out of 12 "active" users (counting me).
9 out of 15 users in total (counting me).

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3:00 P.M. That's what the clock said right in front of him. Yet it felt like six o'clock in the morning for Allen, who was still suffering from the ever-hateful phenomenon known as jet lag. He was also suffering from a bad mood. It was burning hot in the city of Tokyo-3, much unlike his father's estate in France. Even turning the flimsy air conditioner up to full throttle wasn't enough; Allen still had to practically remove his shirt just so he wasn't feeling constricted by the humidity. Additionally, though the boy knew he was stupid for thinking so, he felt lonely. He really didn't know why this time. His father was often gone for months at a time at his home, so when his father was unable to stay in Japan Allen wasn't surprised. Maybe it was just the unfamiliarity of the whole situation. Ugh.

The apartment was rather small as well. It consisted of only about three rooms: A large living room/dining room area that was additionally a sort of miniature kitchen with a countertop and stove, a small restroom with a shower included, and a bedroom which came without an actual bed. Allen used blankets and mats the previous few nights, resulting in a horrible crick in his spine each time. He supposed he would have to find a way to mitigate the discomfort. At least the outside had a good view. There was a small balcony that overlooked the towering skyscrapers, which were more power sources than actual work buildings. Solar panels covered them like fish scales, and served to power the city, with the help of some electrical power plants close outside the bounds of Tokyo-3. Allen had found that the sunset was especially beautiful to watch.

Well, the men in black were going to arrive in about five minutes to take him to their mysterious, top-secret building. It sounded like some sort of corny secret-agent movie, and not the type to get very good reviews either. Keeping his eye on the clock, he proceeded to button up his shirt again, leaving the top one loose, and slip on his sweater-vest. He had already eaten lunch; the dishes were in the sink, along with the dishes from his breakfast. He would have to clean those later. It would be a new experience for him, as he typically had maids and servants for that work. But he was practically an adult, he could handle this on his own! All he had to do was just clean occasionally and remember to tidy up the dishes.

He could do this. He could totally do this. No help needed at all. He was on his own, he couldn't just freak out over dishes.

(Though it would be nice if someone else were around)

A loud knocking on the door brought his mind back on track. The men must have arrived. He snagged a water bottle that was lying around on an adjacent table (wouldn't want to go thirsty after all) and opened the door. These were the oh-so-intimidating men in black alright, though a bit less expressionless and stone-like then he had imagined. The two looked absolutely miserable in their all-black outfits, which most certainly did not help with keeping cool in the weather.

"Well boy, are you ready?" The first man asked impatiently. It was a bit hard to tell the duo apart, but the one who spoke was more muscular and stocky in his build.

Allen nodded silently. He was a bit tempted to make a snarky remark, but considering the mens' moods, it would probably only get him a ticket out of piloting. He was ushered out of his room, which one of the men had remembered to lock, much to Allen's pleasure. They took the stairs down to the parking lot, which was five flights down. As he was walking down Allen could have sworn that he heard a faint rumbling in the background, but he quickly dismissed it as some sort of construction going on. His luck wasn't bad enough that there'd be some sort of huge disaster the day he became a pilot, after all.

Motoko stood centimeters from the window that overlooked the city of Tokyo-3. She looked down from the sixth story of the apartment complex. The Blue roofing of the building was brilliant against the mid afternoon sun. The humidity was killer in this heat, and the air conditioner was only helping in annoy her as it would shut off whenever she moved away from it. She looked around the small flat once again, it was absolutely spotless as she had been stuck in the room all day after her cousin had dumped her off at the bus station. She had cleaned up the flat to her liking in that amount of time. The stove top read 2:59. They would be here any minute. She glanced into her room, her suitcase lay empty in the corner. By suitcase she of course meant the plastic trash bag she had kept her clothes in. Motoko was ready for them to get here. She played with her ponytail, which was sadly held by a rubber band.

She sat down against the wall under the noisy air conditioning unit. Piece of junk. Hit it a couple times, and maybe it'll work right. She ignored the suggestion, sighing and leaning her head back against the wall and closing her eyes. Don't ignore me you little bitch. Motoko just didn't care at the moment, she was... confused at the mix of emotions she was feeling. She was glad to be away from her cousin, the cousin probably felt likewise. But she was also sad... like usually. But she was never alone. You got that right. Motoko glanced at the drippy sink, then at the door.

She did not like this apartment, it was dank and smelled of mildew and mold. Not to mention other things. No you should mention the other things. Motoko lowered her eyes to the wood floor that was warped and chipped, then to the carpeting that surrounded the kitchen area. It was rough and matted from years of use and spills. The ceiling was... well a ceiling, not much to say about that. Nope, just a ceiling. What is taking those bozos so long in getting here? Motoko glanced back at the stove top. 3:04. A knock should come at any second...

Footsteps could be heard below and to the left of her apartment, as well as gruff speaking... could it be? She didn't have time to ponder it further as a knock came on her door. She stood up and crossed the small threshold to the door and opened the door a small amount. Two men stood there. They were dressed in all black, stiff suits, and were likely very sweaty.

"Hello Miss, are you ready?" The man to the left said, he had a kind face, and he spoke kindly, but she could tell he was annoyed that he was all sweaty and had babysitting duty. She kind of liked him, though...

The nerve of him, making you wait for so long, and the idiot asks if you are ready! Guh, I would strangle him, and push him over the railing and watch his body splatter against the... What you don't like that idea? Kagami was... being difficult, perhaps she was just anxious to see the EVAs...

"Y-yes, just a moment." She unlatched the chain that held the door almost closed and briefly looked into a mirror. Her face was smooth and clean, and her scar was hardly noticeable. She nodded slightly. Damn girl, you are hot. There better be some cute guys there. Even if you won't hit on them, at least I might get a chance one day. Motoko had to stifle a giggle from that one as she smoothed her skirt and headed out the door of the small flat. On the walkway outside one of the men lead her towards the stairway, the other stayed behind and locked the door. Far off construction could almost be heard, though it seemed a bit strange to her... she didn't think she had seen any on her way through the city. But with all of the skyscrapers it would have been easy to miss. She walked down the stairwell, the two men surrounding her in front and back as she descended the several flights of stairs...

"Awwwhhhhhhawwwwwhhhh"

Natalia had already gotten herself nicely settled into her new apartment and just discovered that there was a fan. So naturally she cranked it up to high and started talking into it, which resulted in her voice sounding like a robot. She stood up, pulling herself away from the entertaining machine to look out the window. Natalia wasn't used to being this high, or at least not this high while being in a building. She couldn't remember what floor she was on, which might be a bad thing when she needed to come back here later. Natalia panned her eyes across the view of Tokyo-3 that she had. The view wasn't half bad...literally since half her view was blocked by a billboard advertising something Natalia couldn't care less about. The other half of view wasn't half bad. She glanced over the tall buildings, feeling smaller then ever.

She moved away from the window and looked around her tiny apartment. Even though it was small, Natalia liked it. There was a small kitchen, a dining area, a bathroom and a small bedroom looking place. However the bedroom's bed frame lacked an actual mattress, as if the last person to live here had stolen the mattress. Luckily there were extra blankets in the closet that would act as a bed until she can get her own.

Natalia sat on her bed, releasing her weight slowly trying to keep the old bed frame from squeaking. She glanced out the window and for the first time since she left home she felt lonely. Natalia was hoping her father would want to go with her to Tokyo-3 but he wasn't ready to leave their old house behind. He said that there were too many memories there. Natalia had asked her next store neighbors to make sure her father kept safe.

Trying to keep her composure, Natalia glanced over at the digital clock, it told her that it was five past three. She sighed, smoothing down her hair. "I was told that some men in black suits are going to pick me up...but I can't remember what time they told me..." Then, as if on cue, a knock came from the door. Natalia looked over at the door and crept towards it, making no noise. She slowly peeked through the mail slot. She only saw a wall of black fabric.

Natalia laughed to herself, what was she expecting to see? A small man? She slowly opened the door, looking at the two well dressed men in front of her. "Are you ready to go?" Asked the larger man. Natalia looked past him at the other man, who was dabbing his forehead with the back of his sleeve. Natalia suddenly flew the door open, throwing her arms up in excitement. "Hell yeah I am!" She said loudly, loosing all sense of professionalism.

She suddenly closed, locked the door then ran past the two suited men towards the stairwell. She didn't even stop to wait for the two men as she sprinted down the stairs, excited for something to happen.

"Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock..." went the Australian, who was laying on a bed made from crates of fireworks and two blankets. Not the most comfortable thing in the world, but Cedric didn't mind. He would never get mad at his fireworks. After all, they were always there for him, and one doesn't just abandon such a trusted ally. Unfortunately, the large crates, which had turned his apartment into a maze, had also hidden his clock, so he was making do by continually saying 'tick, tock', although he had lost count after a few minutes. There had also been a window in here at some point, but it too was long-gone, resulting in the entire room being fairly dark. 

Speaking of dark, where were those men in black that NERV had mentioned? Heh. Men in black. Were they men in black skin? Did they wear skin suits? That would be disgusting, but actually kind of cool. Cedric sat up on his makeshift bed, looking at the door, which he realized was locked shut not by the lock, but by a crate he had left in front of it. Good going, Cedric, now you've done it. That crate could EXPLODE if I'm not careful. he thought as he got up to move it, and then laughed at the old joke. Of course it wouldn't explode on touch; he'd need a flame to get any explosions out of that box. So he was even more surprised to find, not boxes of fireworks, but a mattress inside the box, along with a lighter. "... Huh." he said, and then looked up just fast enough to get his goggles to fall in front of his eyes at the sound of knocking. 

"Gimme a goddamn second!" he shouted, and then focused on moving the crate out of the way, which took a little while only because it was full of mattress and lighter fluid and lighters and it was also big and unwieldy and all that jazz. When Cedric did get it out of the way, two large men in black suits (they didn't appear to be made of skin, but hey, looks can be deceiving) stood in the doorway, looking a tad bit appalled at something. By the way they were sweating, Cedric guessed it was the heat. His apartment was pretty hot and humid, but it wasn't like it really bother him. Maybe the people who lived here weren't used to this type of thing? Cedric cocked his head at the two men and flipped his goggles out of the way. "Well...?" Cedric asked, looking at the bigger of the two men primarily because he could see his reflection in the sunglasses and wow he was a bigger wreck than usual. 

The smaller man, who wasn't wearing sunglasses, coughed, and then looked further into Cedric's apartment. "Umm... Kid, are all these crates yours...?" he asked, and then looked to Cedric, who was nodding. The man shook his head for a moment, and then snapped back into business mode. "Are you ready?"

Cedric ran a hand through his hair, readjusted his goggles on his forehead, and then messed up his clothing to just the right amount of cool messiness, using the bigger man's sunglasses as a mirror. He checked himself over one more time, feeling like he was missing something, and then inserted his piece of wheat into his mouth so it hung off to the right. He grinned, and then nodded. "Let's get a move on."

Yuri sat on a small wooden chair, studying Japanese, to pass the time until he was supposed to be picked up, after all, they'd most likely be speaking Japanese, and his Japanese was severely lacking. He had found his temporary apartment rather uninteresting, with it's one bedroom, plus a kitchen and bathroom, the only thing he really liked about his apartment was that the view from the windows situated in the kitchen and bedroom were really nice. Especially the sunset, though, the glare from the sides of the sky scrapers was really annoying, a clear view of the sunset was great, as was the moon over the last couple of evenings and nights.

And now, he wondered when those agents from NERV would arrive, surely they'd be punctual? So, in the time he waited for them to arrive, he also, thought and worried about what the other people might think of him, and how his generally apathy to their fates and how it could possibly effect things, but he didn't get too far into that before he heard a bell ringing, and glanced over at the clock that hung on the wall. Hmm, three o'clock, they should be arriving any minute now..

And oddly enough, just as he thought that, he heard knocking at the door, so he got up, grabbed his book, after all, he might need to look up Japanese phrases. He opened the door, to find two very tall and somewhat muscular men wearing black suits and glasses, though, one was older looking and bald, which Yuri thought was a definite sign he was the younger man's superior. The younger one spoke up in Japanese, "Hello, we are here on offical business to escort you to NERV." Yuri looked at him uncomprehendingly, for he only understood "Hello", and the tidbit about "NERV". Which still didn't make sense, he then took a moment to flip through some pages of his book, find some words, and he then smashed them together hoping the men would understand. This time, they only looked at Yuri oddly through their glasses, and deep down inside, laughing.

This time, the older one spoke up, realizing that he did not understand Japanese very well, and thus tried repeating himself in Swedish this time, but once again, the words were completely lost on Yuri. Why can't they speak Russian?! It's the one language I can actually speak fluently! He thought, rather disappointed, in these agents. The younger then spoke up to the older one, which Yuri didn't understand, but then the older one replied, and the younger one began speaking in Russian explaining that they were there to take him to NERV. So, he followed them as they descended down a single flight of stairs to the ground floor, and through the front door towards the car they arrived in.

Man it was getting late, Lesley thought to himself. Late, as in, he hadn't gone to bed yet and it was gonna start getting dark out. Wasn't much of a bother to him though, since he never went to bed a reasonable hour. And after all, he was supposed to be escorted to some magical secret facility any minute now, right? With that in mind, he continued with everything he had been doing for last four and half hours. Watching random television shows and horror flicks. To some that sounds like fun. To him it was like goddamn torture. Excitement of piloting was making him jumpy and at that moment, it was like trying to go to bed the night before Christmas when you aren't tired at all. So there he sat, watching the clock tick, all the while feeding his fish every few minutes. Overfeeding more like it actually. No matter what he did, he felt uncomfortable. Lesley considered going for a walk at first, but if they came while he was gone, something told him they wouldn't stick around and wait for him.

The apartment was filled with half fulfilled endeavors, things that Lesley prepared, but never went through with. There was a bath that had long since turned cold after two hours, vegetables that were never chopped for a soup that would never be made, and a cardboard puzzle of a polar bear that would never end up getting put together. Constantly he would tell himself that he'd take care of the mess later, but that probably ensured the rest of the day would be filled with cold baths, old vegetables, and messy puzzles.

Humid air, cooled by the air conditioner, permeated throughout the room. It wasn't enough to make him shiver, but it was enough to make him feel sort of uncomfortable.

Almost as if on some sort of cue, there was a firm knock two times on the front door. Rushing over the couch and pulling on a shirt as he went, he answered.

"Helloooo," He said in an amiable tone. Unfortunately the men didn't seem to reciprocate the friendliness. All he got was a rugged, 'ready to go?' from the man and nothing more. Lesley simply nodded his head and grabbed the watch on his nightstand before stepping outside with the men.

Walking in unison made him feel awkward, but if he tried to speed up or slow down, the men kept pace on both sides. In the parking lot, they slowly turned and corralled him toward a black car. Without a word, all three were inside the vehicle, ready to leave.

Strangely enough, he felt a bit uneasy. It was too late to mention that now.

What? How was it not destroyed? It was a direct shot into the chest. There’s no way it could’ve survived. Yet here it was, defying the idea of death. It seems like he’d have to utilize another plan to destroy it. However, before he could do that, it attacked with what seemed to be a thousand arms, or maybe it was just attacking so fast it created the illusion of that. It ripped off the arm of his unit, and aimed for the head next. He was lucky that he could just barely avoid the last attack, otherwise he’d be done for. As it was, the mission had to draw to a close, and soon. He only had thirty-five seconds worth of power left over, and he still needed to get back to base. He pulled out the unit’s prog knife, and charged at it. ”Alright, it’s now or never. Let’s do this, old girl,” he thought aloud with a screaming voice, and then charged at it. He was able to strike at the arms, and it let out a deafening bellow of agony. However, he still could not get right at where he wanted to strike, but it could. It ripped at the unit’s chest, and he screamed in pain, for he could feel the unit’s guts being ripped out. The power to the unit went out, and the world went dark…

James awoke from the nightmare, and thought about it. It was the same dream he’d been having for the last week. Ever since he found himself in this apartment, he’d been unable to think about anything else. He hasn’t even been able to try and think about how ugly the yellow walls are. Man, what is wrong with this place? I hope I don’t have to stay here long, he thought. At least, I hope it has to do with the apartment, and not with some weird prediction.

He looked around the room, which was fairly small, even for Japanese standards, and decided there was no point in moaning over the dream. Presently, he got up off his mattress, went to the fridge for food, only find it was empty. Again. He really needed to keep better track of it. James decided to check to clock to see what time it was, and if the Store was open, he’d made another grocery run. He’d been spending a lot on food lately. He didn’t have much money, or get much food per trip, but he could tell they were adding up. He’d been spending most of what he got in food; his apartment was sparsely decorated as a result. Oh well, he’s used to have little.

When he did check the clock, he saw it was already 3:00 pm. Man, he was starting to sleep in. That, or these dreams were really disrupting his sleeping pattern. Ugh, Why did I have to bring up the dream again? No matter, he had more urgent things, like getting food. He opened, the door, and nearly ran out, only for some Men In black to be in front of him. They stared at him silently for a minute, giving James the time to study them. The both were a pale skin colour, and had short hair. One had black hair, the other brown. Though he couldn’t tell, James estimated that the Brown haired man was the stronger of the two. The black haired man, however, had the look to him that suggested he could scare off a Grizzly just by waving at it in a welcoming way. They both wore tuxedos, and had very creepy sunglasses.
The brown haired man then jokingly stated, “Well well, look at the psychic.”
James blinked confusedly, but was able to retain his cool and said, “Well, what can I say? I’m a natural at these things.”
The black haired man butted in, cutting James off with, “Alright, let’s cut the chatter and go. We need you to come with us, James.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really, but if you comply there’ll be no issues.”

Lucien Romarin was hopelessly exhausted. There was no other way to describe it. Between his insomnia and the amount of stress he was placing himself under, there was no surprise as to why he felt as though he was crashing into the ground. He rubbed his eyes, now rimmed by dark circles, and stared at the ceiling of this temporary home. The dark room was lit by the glare of his laptop, half-closed, and the only noise was the slight hum of its hard drive. Deciding there was no chance he would be able to get a decent amount of sleep, he turned and sat on the edge of his bed, yawned, and picked up his phone. 3:47 am. He put his phone in his pajama pocket and ran his hand through his hair. Soon the laptop was open and he was typing away, nervously trying to scrape together as much information on NERV as possible. Of course, after doing this for the past week and not finding anything of much importance, he shut the laptop down and stared out his window. He had been staying with his father in this apartment in Tokyo-3 for the past week, mainly so that he would grow accustomed to the place before he was taken by the NERV agents and to practice his moderate understanding of Japanese. Lucien sighed and leaned on the windowsill, hundreds of thoughts running through his head at once. Would he be able to find a place within the team? He didn’t want to be known as the socially awkward or intimidating one -- not again.

.:Morning:.

Lucien Romarin double-checked that everything that he had placed in his backpack was still there.The black backpack was filled with a spare change of clothes, a notebook, Purell, and other necessities. Lucien had changed out of his pajamas and into a pair of dark skinny jeans, a black t-shirt, and his essential black and white sweatshirt and now felt ready to face the day. After brushing his teeth, fixing his hair, and washing his hands, he quickly tied his bright blue bandanna around his neck and placed his phone, headphones attached, in his pocket. He left the room in the same condition as he had first seen it and walked out into the kitchen area of the apartment. What he met was the sight of his father sitting in one of the chairs, staring at the newspaper on the table.

Aurelio Romarin stood and walked up to him, smiled, and gave his son a hug. “I’ll miss you, Dad.” Lucien’s father strode towards the window overlooking Tokyo-3 and sighed. Lucien Romarin was the spitting image of his father, Aurelio, minus the well-starched suit and tie and dark hair. “Just do what you always do, son: your best.” He had a strong accent, a cross between Italian and Spanish. “Know that whenever you need me -- if ever you need me, all you have to do is call. I’m sure a businessman such as myself can find a gap in my schedule large enough to talk to my son.” Aurelio turned around and placed a hand on his chin in thought. “Actually, I think you’ll have to talk to my secretary about that.” His father, clearly joking, laughed at the thought. Lucien smiled and headed towards the door. “Bye, Dad. See you soon.” “Take care, Lucien.”

The door closed with a soft click, and Lucien took the elevator down to the first floor. As he stepped out into the streets of Tokyo-3, he caught a glimpse of two men in severe-looking suits leaning against a black limousine. The men glanced at him, and Lucien made sure that he was the one their gaze was focused on before taking a step forward. Once he stepped toward the limousine, the two men flashed NERV badges, and Lucien handed him the forms they had requested in advance. After he was seated in the limousine, the taller of the two men slammed the door shut. He glanced up at the building he had been staying at and saw his father staring down at him from the eighth floor. Aurelio nodded toward his son as the car sped away, and Lucien waved goodbye. Lucien took out his phone, put on his headphones, and closed his eyes as he listened to his favorite playlist in an attempt to drown out the deafening silence.

The control center at NERV was buzzing with panic as the staff ran to and fro, trying to properly find a way to solve this situation. An Angel was on its way. It wasn't even close to the cit yet, but taking chances was not an option here. A trio of military generals were shouting out orders to their troops from over the phone, their sense of urgency easily heard. Below them some of the NERV staff were typing out commands and signals via computer, their hands flying rapidly over the keys. One, a man with scruffy black hair, looked up at the generals with a slight look of disgust on his face.

"They really think that shooting a bunch will kill that thing? Those rock-headed bastards can't think to save their own lives!" He continued pounding at the keyboard, sending the alert to various media stations. It was the same message over and over again: "ANGEL DETECTED", and while it wasn't very eloquent in words it suited it's purpose.

The short-haired girl next to him responded with a firm hit to his arm. "Yasu! This is our only hope right now! If they can't do something then we're doomed. And stop using those words; we're at work, you know!" Normally she wouldn't have been so rough with him, but right now she was terrified. Their only available pilot was out of commission, and the new blood hadn't arrived yet, let alone actually learned how to pilot an EVA. She had the horrible feeling this would end badly.

Meanwhile, they had finally been able to get a picture of the Angel up on the screen. It was vaguely humanoid, with disproportionately long legs and a thick body. In the center of the black, rubbery-looking skin on its chest, protected by rib-like appendages clasping it, there was a deep red gem-like sphere. The core of the Angel; its heart and engine. It had no neck or significant head structure, but it did have a sort of white mask, with a beak pointing downward and soulless black eyes. Sachiel, the Third Angel, had arrived.

---

"Are we ready yet?"

"No, we need to wait here. There is one other coming with us."

Allen and the two men were now down in the parking lot, waiting by a large black car which resembled a van more than the sleek vehicle he had imagined. Now, however, the reason was clear. They were waiting for another party that was supposed to come with them, and they would need enough room for six people. Allen was both excited for and dreading the arrival of the other pilot. On one hand, this would mean that he could try and make a friend. On the other, this meant that he might have to deal with some annoying kid's prattling.

The agents weren't all too happy about the arrangements either. Some of the cars would have already left by now, and being late was something they really couldn't afford. After all, the director was a bit of a stickler for promptness. One of the guard's phone started buzzing, and he opened it up. It was a text email sent directly from headquarters. "ANGEL DETECTED". Both of the men shivered in fright, and began to look even more worried.

The rumbling sound of "construction" was growing. Now it sounded almost rhythmic, like a beat. A beat curiously resembling footsteps.

Motoko didn't take long to descend the stairs, but when they reached the bottom flight one of the men's phones buzzed. He looked down at it, it could easily be read that they were disturbed by the message. What ever it was. Motoko was slightly disturbed by this but Kagami was no less than ecstatic by the small glint of fear in their stone faces. Yes if they are upset by something it has to be bad. And big and bad involves us. This will no doubt be a trial by fire, I can't wait. The fear had removed the mask of kindness that the man had put on earlier.

"There is a situation, we need to hurry." The man said quickly as he motioned to the black van that waited in the parking lot. Motoko started in a brisk walk that settled in a sprint. She reached the van and the two other guards and boy (who looked very tiny compared to the hulking giants) were already situated inside. She slid into one of the seats and the guards settled down on either side. Motoko looked around for a seat belt of any kind, but found none. Perhaps they didn't think of safety at NERV, or maybe there was a seat belt it was just shoved between the padding of the seats.

Kagami was... annoying as ever, her thoughts were excited and pretty random. I wonder what scared them so bad? That boy is kinda cute. I think I am claustrophobic... CAN'T THEY DRIVE ALREADY? Say hello to the boy. I hope what ever scared them is ferocious and comes close to the city so I can smash it to pieces. Do you hear that noise! Hunh, the boy? Motoko looked up at him. He was kindof cute... but. The van started to move.

"H-hello." She said to the boy who sat across from her in the seats that lined the sides of the eight passenger van. She lowered her head to hear some sort of berating from the guards, or maybe from the boy... She was so used to speaking and getting yelled at sometimes.

“Vamos a correr a través de la frontera, y abrazar una tierra libre, libre!” chanted a boyish voice, singing a song that used to play on the radio back home. The room Pedro was looked like a lounge – there was a mat, a table, bookcases, chairs, giant beanbags (which practically were chairs), and many other luxuries such as a shelf full of movies, games, and CDs consisting of all kinds of media, and a large television screen. If anything, NERV did know how to make its younger members feel at home, or have a good idea on the concept of fun. NERV base itself seemed so alien in contrast to the lounge itself. Back in a corner was what appeared to be a large desktop computer. A boy was sprawled out on the floor underneath the computer, with old dull green pants, and a stained blue sleeveless shirt. His arms were reached over his head, moving actively. He dug his fingers in to remove some of the devices from the computer such as a couple of chips to reach the main hard drive, and soon as he got to that, he pulled that out and got out from underneath the computer. “Ahí vamos…” He muttered as he tore apart the plastic shell of the hard drive to observe inside it.

He heard that there were going to be some new pilots being trained and initiated today, but that was only a rumor. Another rumor was that they were around his age, which was exciting, because as cool as these people were, he was desperate for others he could actually relate to on some degree. To hang out with. But rumors within a rumor was dangerous stuff, and mostly never to be taken seriously. A damn shame that one. It would be interesting for sure, he’s always wondered what it was like to pilot an EVA. Lucky dogs. He doubted that they even knew of the honor of piloting one. But enough of that, there’s no need to be jealous. After all, he helped make them. Strange though, how he never got to see the final products, but he turned his attention back on the hard drive he was working on, as there was no use in being so dangerously curious. He’d see them once he was allowed to.

“Alright, let’s see what we’ve got here…” He said while hovering his finger over a couple of disks that was in the hard drive. “I know that these are the magnetized platters, and basically hold data.” He removed the spindle that held the platters and removed them the platters and replaced them with newer, more up to date and advanced platters, which will help the hard drive store more data. “Right, now that’s done, I put the spindle back in… and I should probably check out the slider and replace that with a more precise head.” He unscrewed the head off the slider which looked like the arm over a record player and put in a smaller and more precise needle. “If I’m not mistaken, the actuator arm is what reads and writes the data… or was that the axis or the actuator itself…? Maldita sea Dios, al infierno, no puedo ni pies ni cabeza de este. La programación es mucho más difícil!” He ranted; combing his hand through his razor cut hair, before sighing at last final breath.
“I guess I’ll find out soon enough if whether or not this new head works… now, as for the circuit board, I should probably leave that alone just so I do—“

Pedro’s train of thought was interrupted as a flash of red light erupted from a small screen near the front of the room, startling him and making him shout out some sort of profanity; “chingar estúpido”, or stupid chingar. In Mexico, chingar means “to fuck” or “to make a mistake” (“to fuck up”); so translated, a stupid fuck up is Pedro just called what seemed to be an alarm. Pedro sighed once more, and rubbed his scalp to soothe his agitated nerves. What was the base doing this time, another simulation? He looked up to see it flashing: 警告：エンジェル•アタック
Pedro sighed and lifted up a remote and pointed it at the sign. He pressed a button, and the foreign text blinked away, and what he saw next, virtually stopped his heart, leaving him nearly unable to muster up the strength to even mutter, Advertencia: El ángel de ataque. Angel attack.

What on God’s green earth was an angel? Why are they attacking?

What the hell is going on…?

Pedro placed the hard drive aside and marched his way towards the way out of the lounge. He was going to speak to one of the officers around here to have them explain what exactly is happening, because this whole angel thing is starting to concern him more than just some simple "lice scare".

The men in black were quickly able to catch up to the running Natalia, stopping her in front of a black van. One of them men opened the side door for her while the other man pulled out a vibrating cell phone. He flipped it open and glanced at the message. He motioned to the other suited man to read the message.

By the time the other man read the message Natalia was in the van, enjoying the air conditioning. Outside the car the two men were discussing the contexts of the message and the fastest route. The men quickly got inside the car, one of them in the drivers seat and the other in the passenger seat. The man in the passenger seat turned back to Natalia while the man in the drivers seat started the car. "There is a bit of an emergency and we need to move quick. Hold on tight."

Suddenly the car jolted forward, causing Natalia to almost ram her head into the seat in front of her. "No kiitos varoituksen" Natalia muttered in her native tongue, in hopes of confusing the two men.

Ah, Delays. Always so lovely and not inconvenient. Never, no, not at all.

Yuri had been looking forward to getting to NERV base as quickly as possible , but they ended up having to pick up another person. Of course, Yuri wasn't going to voice his discontent, so he had just sat in the back seat, upright and mildly stiff while looking around in his book, considering that the guards weren't really worth his attention while they drove. After a bit they arrived, and they retrieved the other person, who sat down in a seat near him, he ignored her, until the agents got the van moving and she spoke.

Then the guards went on about something, he quickly flipped through the book to the basic phrases section, and then he replied, "Hello? Who are you..?" Of course, he pretty much butchered the pronunciation.

He half expected her to take a dislike to him, considering he pretty much appeared like an idiot. Ugh. I'll be extremely grateful when I find another peer who speaks Russian properly! I sound like an idiot in Japanese.. He thought, he turned his head and looked at her, mentally noting that she was kind of pretty. Though, she probably didn't think anything similar about him, or at least, he thought.

Motoko had never heard an accent like that. Where was he from? It sounded European... It didn't matter. The book you idiot. Read the front of the book. The... book? She turned her head so she could see the front of the book. Letters that Motoko recognized as English, or latin, or whatever could be seen, but with other strange letters. Japanese to Russian Translation Guide. Russian. But like you said, it didn't matter, tell him your name. Right, my name. Ummm... "Motoko" She said in her best English voice. Perhaps he understood that? Japanese children were taught it as another mandatory language, but she didn't know anything about Russians except for their love of Vodka.

Motoko overheard one of the Guards say a word that seemed far out of place in the situation.
"Angel" She didn't catch the rest though... but even in context she doubted she could understand the full meaning of their words.

As Cedric and his two men in black entered the parking lot, the smaller man reached into his pocket, producing a phone which he stared at for a moment, as if not believing what he saw. The bigger of the two moved his head slightly to view the screen, and Cedric leaned over as well to see what it said. All he caught was the word "ANGEL" before he stopped and realized that the smaller guy wasn't Japanese. Oh right and the bigger guy caught him looking at it and then moved him away. "So, where's our riiiiiiiiiiiiioh." Cedric began to ask a question before seeing the other teenager, the van, and the other two men in black. "Okay."

As they walked over, the smaller, probably American suited man made for the driver's seat. "All right, we're sort of in an emergency situation here. Just stay calm and everything will be fine." He opened the door to let the other two agents in, as the bigger man with sunglasses had entered the passener front seat, and for the two soon-to-be Pilots. "A finer driver has yet to be found, I assure you." Cedric bound into the car before the other teenager, grinning wildly. Emergency situation? Best driver ever? Oh yeah, wacky car stuff was probably on the agenda. Maybe it would even involve that ANGEL thing. Did ANGEL stand for something? Why else would it be all capitalized? Maybe it stood for... Angelo's Nearly Gored Early Lesbians. Yeah, that made sense.

As the other Pilot got into the seat next to him (it was the only seat left open, after all), Cedric grinned over at him. "The name's Cedric." And then he was looking out the window and thinking about how car engines worked.

It was a beautiful day, one of the best that has been seen in a while. Two or three clouds, like pulled cotton, dotted the bright blue sky; sun sitting lazily over the row of houses--Grey blue eyes, soft--
mother...
A crash, wood--splinters--flying. Men, dressed in black, through the door.
On the floor, brown hair draped like a halo, sun glinting off the dark red, spreading across the floor. The glint of brass falling..
....falling....
...........falling...........

The boy woke with a start, pillow drenched with sweat, heart pounding, trying to pull itself out of the kid's throat. His breath came in shallow gulps, burning on the way down. He put a hand to his head, trying to just calm his beating heart.
No...not again...
Looking down at his hands, just for a moment, he saw a flash of the dark red blood, spilling through his fingers. "Not again..." except this time the words came shakily from his throat. It burned. He must have been screaming before he awoke. The kid's own eyes, grey, just like in the dream, but maybe a bit darker--harder--glanced over to the digital clock sitting on the nightstand next to his bed.
5:07 AM
Well, at least he got some sleep that night. Reaching over he picked up an envelope from the stand, dumping the contents from them. He read through it, or, what was left of it seeing as most of the contents were covered in black ink. He's read through it every day for the past six months he's been in Japan.

"Mr. Akando Shiriki,
I am Commander ||||||||||||||||||| of NERV, a branch of the United Nations. We hereby are requesting that you come to Tokyo-3, to NERV, to be a pilot in a new program. You fit the bill perfectly. This program, |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||, is tasked with |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||. |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||...."

After that the paper was soaked through with ink, covering all the important details...except for one. He read through it again, still confused.

"||||Evangelion program, of which you pilots (sixteen for the first production phase) will be tasked with piloting against the newest threat to humanity--the Angels."

Obviously it was a mistake on whoever was that was supposed to be blacking out the important bits, still though, all it did was confuse him. Included in the letter was a plane ticket to the city along with a key for an apartment room. The only other thing in the letter was an I.D. card. How they got his picture, Akando never knew.
Today is the big day.
Today he would be piloting his EVA for the first time. Or, at least, that's what he assumed. Three days ago another letter arrived in the mail. All it said was that they would be waiting for him this afternoon. He would finally be going to the NERV facility.

Akando sighed inwardly. He still had eight hours to kill until the time specified in the letter, and he doubted he could get back asleep. Pulling himself out of his bed he stretched away the kink in his neck and back. Walking out into the small hallway he reached up to a metal bar he bolted between the two walls. He pulled himself up and swung his legs up and over the bar. If he had hours to kill he might as well do something proactive.






"Desudesudesudesu desu desudesu desdesdesDESU! Desudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesu desudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesu desudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesudesu--"
The T.V. went off with a click, the little white star hanging out in the middle of the screen before going dark. All that moonspeak sounded the same to him. He knew some Japanese, being here for half a year and all, but still, all the words ran together in his mind. Putting the plate and pan in the sink from the eggs he made he checked the time again. "Twelve fifty. Should get down stairs..."

Leaving the small apartment complex he sat on the curb to the road. 1:00 A van, black, pulled up in front of the boy. Akando couldn't help but give a small smile. Very punctual these people. He could respect that. Nothing more. Before the men could even get out of the car Akando was already inside. He didn't even speak to the two men, simply looking at them in the mirror and nodded, saying he was ready. He didn't trust these men. For a second instead of seeing these people his mind remembered what happened six years ago. He quickly shook that image out of his mind. These weren't the people. They would of been dead already. He thought.

The van pulled away from the building, heading towards the main expanse of Tokyo-3. It would be a long drive.

Just to Pedro's luck a relatively higher-ranking member of NERV was coming his way. He was wearing the typical, tan and orange-bordered attire for the employees, but Jirou, age 31, had a more important job. He worked in the "bridge", as some of the staff liked to call it; the place that many considered to be the heart and center of the headquarters. Not only did it have the largest screen for witnessing important events, but it was also the home of the supercomputer(s) that controlled the whole building: The MAGI. If there was any important decision to be made concerning the safety of NERV, one of the three programs, Rhadamanthus, Minos, or Aeacus, would take care of it. On that note, if any of the three were to fall into the wrong hands the entire facility could go kaboom. So obviously, only the most skilled of technicians and programmers were allowed to enter the ranks of the "bridge" staff.

Jirou, being one of the most skilled computer hackers, or programmers as he preferred to be called, in the region, was one of these most skilled ones. He was carrying a large box filled with folders, paper, and thin binders, all of them being various forms of classified information. Thankfully, most of these were sealed, and the files that weren't sealed were filled with more mundane information like computer statuses and such. However, Jirou wasn't exactly one for giving little care to these important documents. In fact, he seemed a wee bit paranoid as he walked briskly down the metal corridor, brown eyes furtively peeking around from underneath elliptical glasses. He would have just walked right past Pedro if it hadn't been for a tremor that caused him to trip and spill the contents of the box all over onto the floor.

Just then multiple sirens began to sound, and red alarm lights began to flash. He began to gather up the files, though he knew that getting them all reorganized would take forever on his own. "Hey, kid," he said rather loudly, trying to raise his voice over the sirens, "It's Pedro, right? Do you think you can help me out here?" While his voice had a slight lisp to it, the overall worried and urgent tone of his words made the impediment very unnoticeable.

---

When Allen heard Cedric talk, nay, when he first saw the boy, he had the feeling that he wasn't going to like this kid. It seemed as if one of his expectations had been confirmed; this whole piloting course was going to be filled with shallow, way-too-talkative kids like Cedric. And was he wearing goggles? This car ride was going to be fun. At least he might be able to talk with some of the adults about what was going on. He slid in next to Cedric, returning the grin the other boy gave him with a more subdued smile.

"My name's Allen. Glad to meet--"

It was then that the Third Angel came into view right in front of them. It wasn't very far off either; the hills and mountains had simply obscured it until now. Planes were circling it like insects, which the creature didn't even bother to shake off. Just then the entire fleet dropped multiple large missiles onto the target, causing explosions all over, and fogging up the entire distant area with smoke. The guards were frozen in the vehicle, not sure of whether to just drive away or wait.

When the smoke cleared, the Angel was still alive and very much intact. However, it seemed to be getting tired of these puny machines. It raised its arm, and from it came a huge beam of bright white, somewhat purple-tinged light that shot through every single one of the aircraft vehicles, and spread into the city, where it then branched out into a cross-like shape that decimated whatever was in front of it. The ground shook and trembled with the sheer force of the explosion.

The driver, wisely realizing that it would not be a good idea to wait around for the giant creature to actually enter the city, stepped on the gas and sped off in the car. Allen was caught by surprise, and was pushed back into the car seat as the van sped away at a speed way above legal levels. The boy muttered something in French that sounded like it might be some sort of curse. He then switched to more comprehensible Japanese. "What the hell was that thing?!"

"That was an Angel." Said one of the guards that had picked him up. Allen paused in thought for a moment, but then it dawned on him. That letter, it had said that the purpose of piloting the EVA was to fight Angels, wasn't it? They would have to fight one of those abominations? What the hell was going on here?

Cedric nodded to Allen, registering his name for the future. Something seemed horrible and nasty about this Allen, but he wasn't quite sure what it was yet. So he just got in the van behind Allen, sitting in the seat next to his fellow Pilot. Of course, they then got a good glimpse of that Angel which Cedric really was beginning to think stood for something because that sure as hell was no Angel. Too... Demonic, really. The big man with the shades said something softly to the American driver, who floored it while Cedric was enthralled with the sheer magnitude of the missiles and the fact that they hadn't done anything against that Angel. Allen seemed to be flipping his shit beside him, but Cedric was silent, wishing he had access to toys like those. 

"So... We're going to fight that thing?" Cedric asked, leaning forward. The large man with shades was the one to answer, pulling his shades down to reveal his eyes: the left was a freakish magenta, while the right one was a more ordinary green. "Yes." the large man said calmly, turning back forward after glaring at both Pilots with his weird heterochromatic eyes, returning his shades to their position on his nose. The driver glanced into the rear-view mirror, and gave a smile almost as insane as Cedric's. "Good luck with that, eh?"

Cedric sat back, smiling. "This is going to be so cool. As long as we don't filleted than my grandfather's catfish." he said, directing his comment to Allen. Little did Allen know, his grandfather had never owned a catfish! Joke's on him!

The quiet atmosphere seemed never ending until one of the guards muttered something to the other. It seemed like they were waiting for another guest, but before Lesley could even finish the thought, the car sped forward, sending a slight jolt through the boy's body. Light glared through the windows and bounced off of every reflective material which all seemed to be directed towards his eyes. They were shut for the first few minutes, but then when the ground started shaking like an earthquake, he couldn't help but open them. Every slight tremor made him jump a bit. At first he wanted to tell himself that it was just the car, but that worked for only a short amount of time.

The quakes continued, and with each Lesley would flinch somewhat. It seemed like he was the only one in the vehicle to be overcome with a sense of claustrophobia as if there was some great impending danger ahead of them. Sweat trickled down his brow even though the vehicle wasn't that hot.

The ride continued and Lesley gradually calmed down until the shakes were nothing different from a bump in the road. Peace was short lived, however, as his innocent eyes looked up and saw the massive behemoth off in the distance. It felt as if his heart had literally skipped a beat. It may have only been visible for seconds, but it was enough to drive anxiety deep into his heart. What was that? How the fuck was something like that even possible? He must have imagined it, right?

"Please tell me I imagined the freaky ass monster the size of a skyscraper?" He whimpered lightly. The man in the passenger seat simply looked at him with barely moving his mouth replied with, "No, it wasn't just your imagination."

At that, Lesley simply sighed and slumped back into his seat, with the greatest confusion in his eyes.

Wow, this day was just getting better and better.

The view from Gabi's apartment here in Tokyo-3 was certainly different than it was back home in Göttingen. Instead of ancient houses and cottages mixed in among new buildings, here everything was new. Normally, she wouldn't really be seeing too much of it, as she'd have her head buried in a book or something, but today was different. She was sitting there on the curb, waiting for her ride to headquarters - the NERV center, as it were.

She waited for a minute or so before her driver arrived, evidently somewhat delayed. He was talking on a bluetooth headset, his Japanese so fast Gabi had no earthly idea what he was saying. The ground vibrated as she got in the car, and the driver sped off the instant she got in, right as she was reaching for the seat belt.

Shortly, the Angel showed up in the window. Gabi cursed under her breath when she saw it. That thing? She was going to be fighting that thing? Bloody hell, this was going to be either a very long engagement, or a very short one...

(I hope this works, sorry for mildly small post!)

Yuri had never known any English except for about two phrases, though, he repeated Motoko's name in his head several times, mentally trying to pronounce it properly. Let's see, let's see... English phrases... Oh, right, perhaps she'll understand this.. He thought, right before he spoke, "Hello, my name is Yuri."

Meanwhile, the car continued on, making sure to try to get to Nerv as fast as possible while avoiding the Angel, which meant driving even faster and breaking a lot of traffic laws, but then again, in this situation, traffic laws didn't really matter.

She smiled at the boy, and bowed as best she could given that she was in the seat of a van. Oh wow, he really butchered that, didn't he... Now, stop gawking at the boy and look out the front window. What? Why? She stopped smiling and put on a concerned face. Yoori... or was it Yuri? She would ask later, perhaps once he had started to grasp the Japanese. Out the window... NOW She turned forward, and the road ahead sped past, as well as the buildings and such. Something behind the buildings came into view. A hideous monster. That, is the "Tenshi" The angel. Her thoughts flashed back to the letter she received about the Evangelion Program. They were evidently supposed to fight them. She assumed they was herself and Yuri. Perhaps others. She clenched her fist. They were going down. Finally you're aggressive, I swear it has been ages since you have bared ill will towards anyone.

She watched off and on, between buildings and turn offs, dodging the footfalls of the creature and it's wreaked havoc. The city was relatively empty... rather strange for the time of day. But instead of cursing, swearing, or any other vulgar things, she could only watch, and note various quirks of the creature. She had to admit it was fascinating, but she sincerely that there was more than one of these things, or perhaps only her and Yuri to fight it. She doubted it could take more than two from the looks of it.

But the greater part of her wanted to run and hide. Far from the vile monster, far from the Evangelion, far from Yuri. Kagami kept her going. She was her willpower. Motoko was the cloud that brought life giving rain. Kagami was the cyclone that formed tornadoes and breathed lightning and boomed thunder. She was noticed. Motoko just got in the way of the sun.

Pedro staggered as the tremor knocked him off balance, causing him to quickly grab hold of the frame of the doorway, and he watched as the man carrying the box of folders go down. Pedro winced. "Yeah?" He said instinctively after the man said 'hey kid'. He knew perfectly well what he was going to ask, but again, it was instinct. Pedro quickly bent over to help the superior officer as he scrambled for the folders and files that was sprawled out across the floor. Grabbing a handful of the files and folders and set them back down in the box neatly. "What the hell was that?" Pedro asked urgently in moderately good Japanese. "It felt like an earthquake! And what is going on with the alarm, what's an angel?

All sorts of questions were swimming around Pedro's head right now.

Lucien sat, eyes closed, listening to the music playing through his headphones. He didn’t notice the men in the two front seats exchange anxious banter, and he didn’t notice when that banter turned to frantic chatter over an apparent emergency. He was awake, that was for sure, but he certainly wasn’t aware of what was going on outside the car and back at NERV’s headquarters. Lucien sat in a sort of music-induced calm while the news of the angel attack spread between the NERV agents.

Minutes passed, and the false peace was broken when a rumbling noise began and a resulting tremor shook through the ground, causing the car to swerve abruptly. Lucien tore off his headphones as his eyes shot open with terror. “... Angel attack. Don’t we need to pick up another person?” The NERV agent who had just been talking turned around at the sound of their silent passenger “waking.” The agent behind the wheel stared straight ahead, pressing down on the gas pedal. “They’ll have to be picked up by someone else,” he said, his voice straining to remain confident despite their dire circumstances. The car weaved through the now-vacated streets of Tokyo-3 as the passenger in the back seat stared out the window. Another tremor occurred, followed by an unnerving mood falling upon the agents.

“All right,” the driver muttered, “we’ll stop at the other pick-up point for two minutes. If anything happens, I’m heading straight to HQ.” The car swerved along the streets and Lucien, silent, tried to contain his nerves. Then, he saw it in the distance between the gaps of the streets by the edge of the city. The Angel. He had never seen one prior to this, and the very image of it pushed him to a type of terror he had never experienced before. Then, seemingly all at once, the Angel was blocked from sight as the car dove back into the streets of Tokyo-3. Even from afar, the Angel was monstrous. For some odd reason, Lucien’s terror was replaced with an odd sense of apathy. He’d be fighting... those things? His horror had actually been pushed over the edge, resulting in that strange feeling... that was it, nothing more.

Lucien’s mind raced over that one instant as the car zoomed to a vacant parking lot. As the car skidded to a halt, he tried to compose himself enough to not beg the driver to forget about the other person and to head back to this so-called “NERV HQ” as fast as they could. After about twenty interminable seconds of sitting in silence, Lucien took of his bandanna, which he felt at this point was choking him, shoved it into his backpack, and sighed. “Well,” he spoke, his voice fighting to conceal the mixed emotions he was dealing with, “I know which direction we won’t be heading in to get to NERV central... haha... ha... ha.”

For all I know, he thought, we’ll be heading that way... Angel or not.