N.G.Evangelion - When Angels Deserve to Die

DISCLAIMER: I own none of the characters, save for Jack. I do not claim otherwise, nor am I making any money from this. The character of Alexia belongs to Tejina, who helped me write this fic. NGE is the property of Anno Hideaki, GAINAX, and Manga.

Author\'s Note: This is an alternate NGE universe, so things that you may think you know, you don\'t. Prepare for new surprises, as well as a return to what you all know and love.

Prologue:
Time: Shortly after the defeat of the Sixth Angel, but before the appearance of the Seventh.


Gendo fixed his white gloves, looking over at the small part of the base evident above ground. As always, he had to make sure someone didn\'t screw the job up. The Sun above was beating down on him, making him reconsider wearing is regular uniform outfit. \"A little hot out, isn\'t it?\" he commented sourly. \"To think, all this time, and they still don\'t have an undergrounrpadrpad...\"

\"We\'re lucky that they were able to get this base operational at all, sir.\" His companion said calmly.

\y\'vy\'ve had...what, six months? Is that too little time, Fuyutsuki? Any longer, and we\'d run the risk of someone finding out..\"

\"At least we have them working on the Dummy Plug.\"

Gendo, unwilling to concede, just nodded slightly, and walked towards the entrance, his arms folded behind his back. \"Well, let\'s see what kind of mess they\'ve made of things....Can\'t be any worse than the last time it was used in secret...\"

He nodded, letting Ikari lead the way.

Gendo looked at the soldier standing there, and studied the man. /Typical American...always thinking more about their physical strength...never about anything else.../ he noted the man\'s more muscular form. \"I presume you know who we are, correct?\" He fixed his glasses, which were sliding down his face.

\"Yes, sir! You are expected down below, sir!\" the man saluted him out of respect, amusing Ikari.

\"Which way then?\"

\"Sir, this way sir!\" the man turned quickly, and entered in a complex code. \"Just step inside, sirs! One of the technicians should be waiting for you on the other side.”

Fuyutsuki motioned for Gendo to go ahead of him. \"You\'re in charge of the operation...\"

He walked in, and noticed... \"The walls....why are they...graffittied?\" He was frowning even more than usual. He ran a finger along the markings. \"This must\'ve been here for a week or more....who did this?\" He rubbed his hand against his pants, and crossed his arms over his chest. \"This is NOT how one maintains a second branch of NERV...\"

The technician waiting for them gave a small chuckle. \"That would be the Sixth Child\'s doing, sir. He felt that the place needed to have some decor. You told us to make him feel comfortable, sir.\"


\"He is right sir.\" Fuyutsuki added, biting back any emotion. It was fun seeing Gendo Ikari wound up.

Gendo raised an eyebrow slightly. \"I see....I didn\'t think he\'d go this far....Apparently, he\'s more....troubled...than anyone thought...Where is he now, technician?\" He lowered his tinted glasses slightly, and rubbed his temples.
\"He may be talking to his unit.\"

\"Talking?\" Gendo\'s other eyebrow went up. \"And which unit? As I recall, we allowed you to create two Evangelions...ch och one is he using?\" This time he fully removed his glasses, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. \"I think someone is doing this on purpose...\"

\"Unit Four, sir. Would you like me to take you to the pools?\"

Gendo nodded. \"Yes, I would like to see exactly what you\'ve been working on here...I believe the design specifications are slightly different from the ones we have already implemented in Tokyo-3. The only question I have is the similarities between Units 3 and 4...is it much the same as with Units 0-2, or are they identical to each other?\" He put his glasses back on.

\"There are changes in both. We couldn\'t decide on what to keep.\" The Tech said leading the way towards the cooling pools where the two units were being kept. \"Unit Three is equipped with the system you wanted. Four is more of a prototype for the units SEELE wants.\"

Gendo made a face. \"I see...so, it possesses the S^2 engine, I assume. However, it is still under our control, correct? It would be interesting to see how it performs. So, the boy has taken a fancy for the fourth unit? How odd. If we bring him to NERV in Tokyo-3, then it\'s more than likely the fourth unit won\'t be used. Especially considering the....problematic issues with other prototypes, and the test types.\" He frowned slightly.

\"So we\'ve heard. Though the boy is good in the unit. It seems he can\'t stand the working model. Something about it feeling wrong...\"

Gendo resisted the urge to groan. \"I thought we had finally gotten rid of that problematic point, Fuyutsuki...Well, any problems we encounter here are your responsibilty, not ours.\"

\"Yes sir.\" The elder man sighed.

\"Now, open the doors. I want to see what kind of mess we\'ve stepped into here...\" Ikari looked up at the door, his frown fading slightly.

The door opened.

Inside, sitting in front of the EVA Unit 4, was a slim teenaged boy with short, yet spiked, red hair. He was wearing a plugsuit, similar to the one for Unit 1, except the colors had been reversed, and instead of white there was platinum....which fit with the Eva in front of him. It possessed all the same features as the others, except its head design, which was more rounded, and was armored with platinum-like plating. Next to it was a black/dark-blue unit, of a near-identical design. The boy also wore a black leather jacket, with a few odd insignias....American corporate logos, Ikari noted with some distaste. The boy was saying something, but they were too far away to hear.

/He will be more of a handful than the German pilot./ Fuyutsuki thought.

Gendo looked at the two units. \"I can see the similarities; however, the differences are obviously more internal, than anything else...\" He looked over at Fuyutsuki. \"Hopefully we won\'t end up with another berserker...that is a waste of our time, and NERV\'s budget..\"

The grey-haired man nodded

The boy glanced over at them, some of his spikes falling down over his eyes, which were blue. There was a slight frown on his face, which faded as he looked back over the EVA. When he took a look at the other unit, he slapped his forehead. He moved towards it, and started looking it over. Then he waved at the technician, and the others, to come over.

Gendo blinked. \"What is he doing now?\" he asked the other two men.

The tech with them ran over. \"What is it, Jack?\"

Fuyutsuki shrugged and followed to see what was up.

The boy pointed at the armor plating running along the chest and arm. \"It\'s cracked...again. Didn\'t I say you should\'ve lowered the temperature slightly after the last test we ran on it? It\'s a given that when something superheats, you have to cool it slowly...otherwise..\" He took a pole that was nearby, and started poking at it. Small fractures appeared, and little chips of armor started falling.

\"She tell you that again?\" The tech asked with a grin as he picked up his radio. \"We need a team of mechanics here stat. Unit 3\'s damaged again.\"

Gendo watched the boy with some curiousity. \"Interesting, wouldn\'t you say?\"

Jack pulled the pole away. \"Something like that.\" He put it down, and looked up at the dark unit. \"This thing...is becoming more trouble than it\'s worth. Test after test, and I can\'t make any sense of this thing...Why is that? Why does this one always weird me out?\" he asked no one in particular.

Fuyutsuki stayed quiet as the team of mechanics came in to get the unit.

Jack gave the thing another once over. \"I think that\'s the only damage to it this time around. Good thing, too. The last time, we never noticed it in time.\" He rubbed his left arm. \"That really, really, REALLY hurt..\"

Fuyutsuki looked at the boy. \"Didn\'t they cut the power?\"

Jack had a sour look on his face. \"They were about three seconds too late....another reason why I can\'t wait to get out of here....no offense meant, but some of the people in the command center have NO clue what they\'re doing half the time.\" There was a ht ght grin on his face. \"I mean, it\'s you guys who see all the action, right? Meanwhile I\'m stuck testing out these guys on either false targets...or stuck in Unit 3 fighting with Unit 4...\" There was a more wry hint to his grin at that.

The elder man nodded at that.

Gendo watched the technicians, his face emotionless. Jack looked to Fsukisuki. \"Is it true the prototype was orange and white at first?\" There was a hint of a laugh in his voice.

Fuyutsuki was also curious about the colors.

Almost reluctantly, Gendo nodded slightly, which caused Jack to break out in a large grin. \"Oh man, would I have loved to have seen that...heh heh..\" He looked back at the older man. \"Orange creamsicle EVA-00.....\" Then he started laughing quietly.

\"The unit was, but we felt it was too cartoonish. Hope the new coloring doesn\'t offend you.\"

Jack shook his head. \"Nah...just would\'ve been something to see...\" He looked back up at EVA-04. \"This one is the one I prefer, but it\'s an odd one. There are times when the S^2 generator doesn\'t work right. That\'s why we\'ve been using the standard power umbilical....I hear we\'re goin try try a trial run with the S^2 fairly soon - provided the politicians don\'t get in the way of things with MORE red tape....and that tall, dark, and slightly scary there is getting transferred...so, how many other pilots are there now? Last we heard, it was at two.\" He held the jacket close to himself, as it was three sizes too big.

\"Three now... The German unit is making it\'s way to Tokyo-3 at this moment.”

Jack whistled. \"Nice...that was the first combat model, right? So what does that make these guys?\" He looked up at them, and saw that the repairs were going at an average pace. \"I can\'t wait to see how you guys run things....I hate to sound like an unpatriotic snoot, but the lack of adequate equipment here is starting to get on my case, you know?\"

Fuyutsuki laughed. \"He\'d fit in with Misato alright.\"

Gendo nodded absent-mindedly. \"Well, at least these two are useable...unlike the earliest experiments. It\'s good to tha that the Americans can at least build weapons the right way, even if historically they\'ve been spotty with their usage...\" the NERV commander commented. \"One more thing....I noticed these two are cosmetically the same...does that mean the armor can be interchanged?\"

Fuyutsuki noted Gendo\'s lack of enthusiasm.

Jack made a face. \"We assume that. Of course, no one here wants to try it. Either someone will confuse them, or the things inside will get loose...and I don\'t think there\'s a tranquilizer high-powered enough to dope this things up with...\"

/Interesting... He knows.../

Fuyutsuki looked at o. o. \"Just how much do you know about the Eva units?\" He asked.

Jack allowed a small grin. \"You\'re looking at the person who\'s managed to keep this place running, after the last program crash we had, thanks to some militants...I always knew there was something not right with them...After all, a robot doesn\'t bleed, it doesn\'t have bones, or a real brain...but these guys do, even in they\'re not exactly human or Angel. The rest, I found out when I had to piece together Blacky\'s programming. It\'s amazing how lazy some people are around here...\" He laughed a bit louder, much to the annoyance of the commander.

\"Hey! NOT all of us are Lazy, you brat!\" The tech that had escorted them there wrapped his arm around the boy\'s neck, giving him a noogie

\"ACK! Okay, okay...stop with the noogie! You\'re making my hair go down!\" he griped, as he tried to swat at the man. \"Okay, I take it back! I take it back!\"

He smirked. \"Good. Now go get washed up. You\'re joining the staff for lunch, considering our guests seem to have interest in you.\"

Jack made a slight face. \"Is it better than that freeze-dried junk I\'ve been eating?\" He fussed with his hair, trying to fix the loose spikes. \"You\'d better have some clothes I can wear. The only things I have on me right now are my plugsuit here and this jacket.\" He zipped it up, and looked up at the EVA-04. He reached out, and patted the side of its head as best he could. \"Don\'t go tearing the place up on me, okay?\" he said to it with a grin....and for a second, there was a slight flash of recognition and acknowledgement in its empty eyes. He looked up at the technician, and the others. \"Well, lead the way.\"

The tech shoved him towards the door. \"The girls picked out something to make you look more.... Charming...\"

Jack made another face. \"Oh, great....it better not be pink. You know how I hate pink....\" He walked through the door. \"So, which was is it? I still get lost in this place....maybe I should stop spending most of my time in here....\"

One of the girl techs shook her head. \"Don\'t worry I stopped them from turning you into a gay pilot, Jack.\" She grinned as she ran up to get some more data for the higher ups. \"Talked them into getting a uniform made for you. Looks Special Ops.\"

Fuyutsuki followed another tech towards the control room.

Jack smiled slightly. \"Well, it\'s better than pink. So, where\'re the lockers too? I\'m getting hungry again...\" He winked his left eye. Meanwhile Gendo went after Fuyutsuki, having seen all he wanted to of the two EVA units.

\"So... what do you think?\" Fuyutsuki asked when Gendo caught up.

The commander rubbed his chin. \"Well, other than the damage to the black one, they seem to be on the same level as the other two back at NERV. And while his value can\'t be ignored, the Sixth Child is still a pain in the ass...apparently – according to the reports I’ve seen, anyway - his IQ is higher than some of those that work here...some kind of odd fluke in his brain, I believe...the same with the...redecorating...\" There was a grimace on his face as he spoke those words.

\"He\'s still a kid though. You really should loosen up on Rei and Shinji...\"

The grimace deepened. \"If we are to place our trust in them, we must treat them as either adults, or weapons. I will admit one thing, though....\" Ikari\'s shoulders were tensed again.

Kozo looked at his former student. \"Yes?\"

\"...Somedays, it makes me want to stay in bed..\" the man said softly, rubbing his temples.

He laughed.


To Be Continued.....