# Neo genezis evangelion 1-V2

Аноним Kim_Sergey

Student Victor dies in his world and ends up in his favorite anime evangelion in the body of Shinji Ikari. And he gets used to the world. the author Sergey Kim is his cycle about Shinji Ikari.

Evangelion-1 Someone else's life.


Ким Сергей.


The prologue.


Phew, it's a little hot this morning... And I have a forty-minute bus ride to the university. And the heat is already almost forty.

But, by the way, it rained heavily last night, but there's no freshness and it doesn't seem to be expected. Is it going to rain heavily again? Maybe, maybe... It's not healthy, it's not healthy at all... Although it seems to me that there are only two extreme weather conditions in this city - either too hot or too cold. Well, at least for me personally. And there's nothing you can do about it - a local manifestation of the continental climate. Although I don't really care about the weather, I'm not afraid to get wet, but it's still kind of unpleasant...

I glanced at the dial of the worn commander's watch. That I got from my grandfather, a Red Army soldier.

It's almost nine thirty-where's the fucking minibus already? You can also be late for university... And I've already been late for practice four times. And all the traffic jams are damn.

I peer into the traffic, trying in vain to spot my bus. Wearily, I wipe the sweat from my forehead. No, it's time to stop dressing up with your fashion - the month of June is in the yard, and you, Vitek, are still wearing a leather jacket... And black jeans with boots.

No, where are you already, you bastard?! Faster, faster мove the wheels...

Oh, have my prayers been answered? The Sixteenth is coming! I don't care if he stops a little further than I need to and I have to stomp an extra stop - I'll get over it somehow.

All the seats in the Gazelle cabin were occupied, so I had to climb onto the unloved front seat. I handed the driver the required fourteen rubles, who accepted the money, looked me up and down, and with a skeptical grunt, drove off.

Well, yes, I admit, I look quite colorful... In places. Perpetually unkempt dark hair, a black leather jacket at any time of the year, and army berets peeking out from under black jeans are just such places. No, I'm not some kind of informal guy or something, I just like to dress like that and that's it. Convenient, practical, weatherproof. And if I had my way, I would have completely wrapped myself in camouflage.

...The minibus was traveling fast along World Avenue, which was not too busy at this time of day. I had to spend another thirty minutes on the road, so I took out my phone, plugged an earphone into my left ear and started choosing the right song.

I was in a slightly depressed mood this morning, so my choice fell on one of my favorite dreary themes - "Fly me to the Moon", a hand-cut from the anime "Evangelion". Not to say that I was a fan of anime, but I watched and reviewed this series, because I really liked it, although it really tore my brain... I sat down more comfortably and turned on the music.

I was even beginning to sing along softly to myself when events began to spin and spin in a way that no kaleidoscope could even dream of.

The sound of a burst wheel, a jerk. The minibus skids sharply to the left. Straight into the oncoming lane rushing straight at us. The driver, swearing desperately, tries to straighten the car.

A blow, a screech of metal, a sudden stop - someone definitely drove into our ass. And I drove in very efficiently, judging by the way the back of my head hit the headrest. As long as we can talk, buckle up, people... Although there would also be these safety belts in buses and taxis.

The Gazelle pulls into the oncoming lane. I grip the handle above the door with all my strength. And somehow distantly, as if in slow motion, I look directly at the jeep rushing towards us.

I didn't even have time to be scared - it was just that at some point my body was shackled by an incomprehensible weakness, and a nasty sour taste appeared in my mouth. And don't move, don't run away... Anticipating the next heartbeat, the realization came that this was the end.

"Fuck," the last thought turned out to be quite mundane. This is not how I thought I would meet the end of my mortal life...

Hit. Flash. Darkness

***

The feeling of flying.

The body doesn't seem to be there.

There's darkness and infinity around, but for some reason I'm not afraid... Although, probably, it should be, because, most likely, I died...

Is he dead?

Hmm, but dying doesn't hurt that much... I had not been afraid of death as such for a long time, I was more worried that my departure would cause pain to people who love me. But I've never been in a hurry to die either-life is too much of a drug to just get rid of it like that...

And now I'm dead? Just like that? Hurtful... I didn't have time for so many things... There's so much I haven't done...

Okay, Victor, don't worry - you're not the first, you're not the last. This has been said an infinite number of times before you, since the very creation of the world... But, damn... Most of all, it hurts HOW I died.

Moronism, of course, but for a very long time I dreamed of dying in battle, defending something, fighting for something, but it's not fate.

Oh, I wish I had one more chance... Just one chance... Victor swears that he would not waste time on trifles, but would try to do something good, change something, help someone...

"To help..." It's like someone is calling for help from somewhere far away... "To help... To help..."

...The feeling of flying through darkness, somewhere into infinity.

What awaits me ahead? The unknown is scary... Hey, what's this? The light? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel, damn it? Don't scare me like that!..

Wait a minute... Hey! I'm what... Am I going back?..

And Gendo launched a compliment, and humanity spread out like an ocean of love, and the liberated soul of his beloved Yu looked at him reproachfully and left, disappearing into the void. And then he received his sight, and he saw the work of his hands, and his soul screamed in despair:

"Why should I do this, did I wish for the death of the human race? I ask you, Heavenly Powers, if you can hear me, give me a chance to fix what I did out of my own stupidity."

"OK," the Powers of Heaven replied, and Gendo came to his senses in his own office. Sakiel was approaching Tokyo 3... The euphoria passed quickly, the trained mind searched for a solution and did not find it. What should I do, what should I do? With the existing set of pieces, you can't play the game any other way, which means that the set needs to be changed. His legs habitually carried him to the place where, as he remembered, he would meet his son again for the first time in many years. His lips were habitually pronouncing words, but his mind was far away, he was looking for ways to change the existing balance of power.

He came to his senses only when he heard words that simply could not be heard here:

"..So that's what my dad does... Yeah, and somehow I like to play with soldiers more than with transformers..."

It's definitely his son, but who's in his body? Has the ancient prophecy been fulfilled after all?


Chapter 1.1 Awakening after death


I'm thrown violently onto the asphalt. I hit my left side hard, my elbows burn with pain - there will be abrasions...

Er?!

Does it hurt? It hurts me!!! That means I'm alive!!! Heaven and the dungeons, I'm alive!!! Nothing hurts the dead!

Everything is swimming in front of my eyes, there is a ringing in my ears - it must have hit me hard, and, apparently, it was my head that suffered the most. Hot... But in a different way, or what? Hmm, it's strange, but it seems to me that... It feels like something is burning somewhere very close by - has the Gazelle gone off?..

I wake up a little, rub my eyes, shake my head (oh, I shouldn't have done that!), look around...

Giant high-rise buildings that gradually partially sank underground, hiding under boxes of concrete. And some of them stayed in their places, only they had huge guns.

Stop.

What the fuck?

WHERE AM I?!

The familiar panorama of an ordinary Russian city has disappeared, and it has been replaced by something futuristic and unreal. There were skyscrapers and high-rise buildings of unusual design all around, and smooth and good asphalt, which has long been listed in the Red Book in Russia, was underfoot (and ass at the same time)...

What am I talking about? That's not the main thing!!!

A real cannonade could be heard all around.

I've never been to a war, or even just to a shooting range, but I've seen enough action movies and documentaries to understand what's going on. Over a city unknown to me (eh?!) missiles traced their tracks, and combat helicopters flew by at low altitude (the brain turned on weapons identified them as American "Cobras", with a slight interspersing of our Mi-24 and legendary Ka-50 "black sharks"). From the underwing pylons of the helicopters, air-to-ground missiles and NURSES were torn down (approx. unguided rockets), automatic cannons rattled... Judging by the distant rumble, there were also combat aircraft somewhere at altitude; artillery was thundering steadily in the distance.

The fucking war...

Hey, wait, who's fighting with whom? I turned my head, and I was just stunned.

...Have you ever been hit on the head? Or was it doused with ice water? Well, at the very least, just unexpectedly scared? Yeah, so there was a case... Well, it's happened to me too.

So, I'm stating it responsibly - it's all just nonsense compared to what I've experienced. No, not only have I been hit on the head several times lately, which is why my mind hasn't started working better, but now it's also a direct blow to the psyche, right, fuck?..

...Frozen, as if under the gaze of a fabulous basilisk, I stared at IT with all my eyes.

A hefty car, taller than a stupid car building. In some ways it resembles a caricature copy of a human being.

Two arms, two legs, a bastard in the middle... I'm sorry, but I can't call this stuff anything else - a torso that looks like an inverted triangle, a ridiculously shaped head sticking out of the chest and most of all resembling a bird's skull. Ribs protruding from the body, several pairs of what looked like gill slits on the sides, all kinds of spikes... It's disgusting... The coloring is again dark green, like some kind of toad, but an extremely dirty shade, and in the middle of the body there is also some kind of red ball...

Fuck.

FUCK!

I remembered where I had seen it before.

No, not lying in a mental hospital. And not after using narcotic drugs. And not in a state of delirium tremens. Oh no, I've seen it in a completely different place...

I saw it in the anime "Evangelion". The first episode, "Attack of the Angel" is called.

...Calmness immediately came over me.

It just can't be, because it can never be. I'm dreaming, or I'm just delusional. Or maybe I'm still "stoned"? Or does an ambulance arrive at the scene of an accident and take me to the hospital, and on the way the kind orderlies throw some kind of filth at me?..

It's all just my imagination... it seems... it seems...

Damn, how real it seems! ...Without getting to my feet, I quickly crawled away from the source of the heat - the helicopter burning on the ground. I wonder what it is? Oh, yes, that's a stupid question - an angel from a beamer put it in his hand... I awkwardly tried to get up, but immediately grimaced from the pain - I hit the side of the mother earth hard after all. I wonder if I have any more injuries?

I quickly examined myself to freeze in a stupor from what I saw.

IT WASN'T ME.

Okay, the black trousers are just like mine, and my white shirt is the same... lying around somewhere. It doesn't matter that I almost never wear such clothes, it doesn't matter...

But why the fuck do I look like a teenager?! Where are my twenty-two years? On Bolshoy Karetny?!

I started laughing nervously. Great job. I didn't just end up in this brain-dead anime, but also, most likely, ended up in the body of the main character named Ikari Shinji. Better known as a pathological whiner, a wimp and a horseman of the Apocalypse all rolled into one.

That's what happened... I wish I'd been his dad, by God-I've always liked him better as a character, even though he's kind of a villain.

And this one, if I may say so, is the main character... Just a quiet horror! No, where did they see such a neurotic Japanese guy? They're as impenetrable and calm as a tank armor - and here, on you!

Not authentic, however...

...Meanwhile, the Angel emerged from a small valley between the hills and began to move slowly but inexorably towards the city, as expected without suffering any damage.

Naturally, he is also protected by the AT-field.

The rockets and shells only sank powerlessly in the faint golden glow surrounding the monster. He raised his claw hand and took aim...

Discharge! And one of the "Cobras" falls to pieces.

Most of all, it looked like a movie laser shot, or some other kind of radiation crap. But how is that even possible? A laser or some other particle stream shouldn't be visible, though... Maybe there is some other principle underlying the work of the Angelic Beamer? Well, or is it just some kind of concomitant phenomena, such as the ionization of air molecules?

...Oh, what kind of ionized molecules and beamers?! God, when will he let me go!.. Suddenly, I felt sad and creepy, because I had never had such realistic dreams. And I didn't have any glitches from the dope I tried once...

"What if it's all real?"

"Maybe this is the one I begged for Another Chance?"

I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched my ear, driving away the delusional thought.

Ah, the infection! It hurts!..

..I rubbed my damaged auditory organ. Did you want to live, you idiot? So now live in a psychedelic cartoon, on the eve of the Apocalypse and surrounded by complex schizophrenics!!! No, why do normal people end up in places like the Great Patriotic War, where even dying is the greatest thing, and I failed here?

...Suddenly, a golden glow intensified around the Angel (I don't remember what they call him here). He took off into the air easily enough (to the height of a five-story building, no less!), and after flying several hundred meters, landed right next to me.

A monstrous dirty-green foot dripping with mucus landed directly on the remains of the downed helicopter, crushing it into the ground. Four huge black claws left long furrows in the asphalt, and at that moment, apparently, the unexploded Cobra missiles detonated. An explosion broke out, and I was thrown to the side, painfully dragging along the asphalt. I involuntarily squeezed my eyes shut, and tried to somehow soften the forced flight at an extremely low altitude.

...No, into the abyss of such glitches and dreams! At least the shards didn't hit, damn it!

Suddenly, there was a sharp screech of brakes, and a shadow covered me.

"Ikari Shinji?" Above the cacophony of the battle, I heard a melodious female voice. "I'm coming for you!"

I slowly opened my eyes, already knowing what I was about to see.

A blue sports car, the door open, and a pretty black-haired girl in a short dark brown dress and sunglasses is driving.

Forgive him, Misato Katsuragi!..

"Come on, get in the car!"

Without really thinking about whether it was a dream or not, I quickly jumped to my feet and dove like a fish into the car, right through the driver's seat with Misato sitting on it. Somehow he crawled into the front seat, pulled up his legs, which were almost hit by a sharply slammed door...

Hold on! Katsuragi shouted, abruptly turning into reverse. It was only by a miracle that I managed to fasten my seat belt.

An angel (such a creature) was standing literally two steps away from us. But helicopter pilots (such creatures!) They didn't give a damn about it and continued firing guns and rockets at him.

This alien freak doesn't give a shit, but by the way, it can cover us with fragments! It was as if someone had hammered on the roof of the car with a sledgehammer - I had a panicked thought "they are the fragments!", but then, thank God, we got out of the danger zone. And right in front of us, Angel's legs were breaking and crumbling the asphalt.

Damn, but we were just there...

It's not pleasant to die twice in the morning... No, I'd rather live longer, even if it's in a cartoon.

By the way, IT didn't look like a cartoon right now - everything was extremely natural. Neither give nor take is a reality.

...With a sharp jerk, the car bounced on the bump of the speed bump. I slammed my head into the low roof and hissed in pain.

Very realistic, damn it...

Captain's car (is that what her rank is?) She turned around, and we raced away from the battlefield. Probably even a stone was burning and melting there now - barrel and rocket artillery, rockets and bombs of various types and calibers were hitting the biorobot at once... This amount of deadly explosive gear would probably be enough to smash a small city to dust...

But that thing doesn't care.

...When we were already a good distance away, Misato suddenly stopped, took out a heavy brick-shaped pair of binoculars from under the seat, and leaned on me, leaning out the window with it. It wasn't exactly pleasant... Although there were also positive aspects here... About the third size, at least...

"It can't be!.." Misato exclaimed.

I turned around and also looked at what had attracted her attention. It turned out that they were just helicopters flying away from the Angel... Flying away?.. Flying away!!!

Do they really want to detonate the N2 bomb?!

A flash on the left, a distant rumble...

"Get down!"

I was unceremoniously pushed to the floor of the car and pressed with my whole body.

A moment later, a shock wave struck.

The car was picked up and carried like a piece of fluff. I had the complete feeling that I was a sock and stuck in the drum of a washing machine - we were shaking and turning over so much. But it probably doesn't hurt so much for socks to bang their heads against all sorts of objects...

...I think I lost consciousness for a while, and I woke up to the fact that I was being gently shaken by the shoulders.

"Are you okay?"

What a wonderful question - I immediately start feeling like the hero of a cheap Hollywood action movie. Interestingly, the concept of "order" includes the numerous scratches and abrasions with which I was quite densely covered after all these felting and rolling on the ground?..

It could have been better...

I croaked indistinctly, amazed at the strange voice coming out of me. Damn, my head started to ache again, but it just seemed to have passed... Nasty bombs!

The girl laughed.

"That means it'll do. Let's get out of this tin can."

The car was on its side, so it wasn't that easy to do it... Okay, it doesn't matter.

They got out. I quickly looked around and whistled softly at what I saw.

However!..

We must have drifted about thirty meters away from the road, and the car was now lying near several huge craters from the explosions.

Thank God we didn't reach them by just five meters, otherwise it would have been really bad...


Chapter 1.2 A trip to NERV


"Are you sure everything's okay?" Misato asked again.

"It's all right," I confirmed, spitting furiously. "I just got sand in my mouth."

"Oh, well, that's nothing," Katsuragi waved her hand. "Come on, come on, help me get the car in a normal position..."

We walked right up to the roof of the car and put our hands on it.

"Are you ready? And one, and two! Go ahead!.."

Even with the two of us piling on, we could barely get the car back on all four wheels.

I wasn't in the best physical shape in my previous life, and now I've also lost, along with eight years of life, forty honestly eaten kilograms.

"Ugh..." we breathed out synchronously when we achieved what we wanted.

Katsuragi dusted off her hands, which were wearing red fingerless gloves.

"Thank you for your help," she thanked me.

"You're welcome," I rummaged through my head regarding Japanese customs, and added, "Katsuragi-san."

I think I should already know her name from the card I sent...

The captain pushed her sunglasses up on her forehead and smiled.

"You can just use Misato. And in general, we communicate in NERVE without suffixes."

"Misato, so Misato," I smiled in turn.

No, after all, Katsuragi is really a very positive character, although in real life she is much more charming than...

I even stopped at the thought - do I REALLY consider her to be a living person, and not an invention?! Soooo, I see my schizophrenia is progressing rapidly...

On the other hand, why not?..

"Nice to meet you, Ikari Shinji," she held out her hand to me with forced seriousness.

"Likewise, Misato Katsuragi," with the same serious face, I returned the handshake.

We stood for a while, glaring at each other, and then we laughed. What else can I do? Nerves after a fight are an unpredictable thing...

***

The road was good, which was no longer the case with Misato's car. Probably everything that was possible rattled and grated in it. The rear-view mirrors were completely demolished, the front bumper was still intact, the side windows were badly broken, and the windscreen and rear windows were still intact...

"..I have to ensure his safety, so prepare the platform for the car and the direct train." Misato was on the phone. "Yes, since I volunteered to meet him, I take full responsibility... No, I don't need to send anyone else, I can handle it myself. No, no helicopters. Yes... yes... We're almost at the backup entrance. That's it, stand down."

She hung up the phone.

I took a close look at this wonderful device.

Yeah... Not too much. The second blow must have battered everyone here a lot - not up to fancy civilian devices. It was probably the last time I saw such mobile phones at school - the screen was small, never touch-sensitive, and indeed...

I looked up from contemplating the wonders of sophisticated Japanese technology and thoughtfully looked out the window at the landscape flying by.

..Lately, I've been able to come out of my stupor a little bit after everything that happened, and I've started to think rationally...

So, what do we have? What we have is this... Getting, or rather, my soul into the recipient's body from another, um, reality. Not the worst alternative to death, by the way. So what if you got into a cartoon? And how are time lapses and all sorts of fantasy worlds better? The universe, I believe, is infinite, and there is a place for anything in it.

Even, uh, like that...

After all, the probability of getting into a fictional world is no less than in a world inhabited by fictional elfgoblins.

Of course, the fact that this world is not the best is not healthy. The changed climate, billions of deaths during the relatively recent coming of the Second Angel Adam (artificially caused, by the way). In the future, there will be a short but bloody war with Angels, giant creatures with incredible capabilities, a confrontation with the Japanese army and the world behind the scenes (a certain ZIELE committee), and as a crown, Armageddon or the Third Strike. Caused, by the way, according to the plan of my recipient's father (Gendo Ikari), by the recipient himself (Shinji Ikari himself), as a result of which we will get an almost lifeless planet (the new biblical Adam and Eve do not count).

Great job.

Okay, now about my current status. On the plus side, I'm alive, healthy, young (and I wasn't really an old man there), and I have the skills of a previous personality. I drew this conclusion from the fact that they understand me, I understand, but we should speak like in Japanese, unless, of course, it's not "The Peculiarities of the national Evangelism" in Russian... This is definitely gut (approx. (German) Gut. Well). By the way, I wonder where the identity of the real Shinji Ikari has gone? Has he been completely replaced by me? Although, given his mental turmoil, it's not surprising that I got into him - it wouldn't have worked for others, the characters are not the same at all...

Another advantage is to add knowledge of the surrounding environment and the development of events, at least approximate - it's generally such a bun that you just get pumped. Another thing is that the more unlike the original I act, the more unpredictable the future will become...

And now about the unpleasant.

If I don't want to receive a Worldwide Product in about a year, I will need to do something, and do it urgently. At the same time, not forgetting that I will need to fight, and really fight - I don't think I'm going to get a "berserk" performed by my future combat robot now. He's my mother's soul in this reality, Yu Ikari, and I've never been her son...

What other problems do we have? Oh, yes - the ZIELE conspiracy, the attack of the Japanese army, the machinations of Gendo, that is, bati... And as a crown, the total psychosis of everyone around them.

This is the most serious problem.

No, you can, of course, let things take their course, but where is the guarantee that everything will go as in the series? For example, I don't remember seeing any Mi-24 Cobras or Russian crocodiles there, but there were just some vague vertical takeoff machines, and where has the design idea gone over the past decade and a half?..

In short, if I'm here, then it's necessary for some reason. To the best of our ability, we will try to correct the current situation - this, of course, is not for you to get to June 22, 1941... It would have been really DIFFICULT there, but there is still hope here... And for starters, you can just stick to the serial line of behavior. At first.

Let's assume for the sake of conscience that I got into the most awesome role-playing game, and now I need to create an interesting character and play it well. I've always been good at this in computer games, but here it's more like a role-playing game - elves, there, paladins of all kinds... Hmm, who am I going to be here? So, we won't bother too much and we'll play the image of a maniac soldier driven by guns, especially since it's really close to me.

It's just that everything that's happening doesn't look like a game.

..I squinted at the girl.

It's good for her, damn it. He's thinking about a ruined dress, a broken car, and here I am, no less, about the fate of all mankind... I giggled nervously. Katsuragi looked at me warily.

"Don't pay attention - it's nervous", I waved my hand, still giggling, although it wasn't really funny.

Damn, it's really nervous.

Misato giggled too.

"Hmm, and I was already thinking that you're just indecently calm for everything that's going on."

"Was it necessary to panic?" I raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, I didn't know - I should have warned you in advance."

"You're an interesting guy, Shinji," Katsuragi smiled. "Actually, that's not how I imagined you to be..."

"Well..." I drawled. "That's the way it is. I hope I didn't disappoint you too much?"

"Quite the opposite. And please, let's say "you" - I think we agreed..."

"Easy! Where are we going, Misato?" I asked, knowing the answer perfectly well, but the chosen role now had to be played out and played out qualitatively.

"To the NERVE Special Institute."

"?"

"I silently stared at Misato questioningly."

"Oh, you don't know anything!.."

After wandering along a winding road and passing through several tunnels, we arrived at some kind of huge metal gates in the hill, similar to the hatch inside the starships from science fiction movies. The doors parted diagonally, and Misato carefully drove into a small room decorated with metal and gray plastic.

A smooth, mechanical voice came from the speakers:

"Be careful, the gate is closing." The special train departs along the W-9 highway.

Behind us, the metal doors closed again, and on top of them, another armored plate with the well-known NERVE logo - a half of a red fig leaf, a motto and four scarlet letters - fell.

The white fluorescent lights went out, and everything was bathed in the ominous red glow of the emergency lighting.

"A special institute?" I asked, carefully feigning surprise.

"Yes, it is an international organization that reports directly to the United Nations. Haven't you ever heard of them?"

"Uh... No, actually, of course I have, but... So my father works here? For some reason, the last word struck me with an unfamiliar pain."

"Well yeah Do you know what he does?"

The emergency lighting went out, and the normal light turned on again. The girl was aiming a marathon, looking in a small mirror.

I scratched my chin thoughtfully.

"It seems to have something to do with the military and national security..."

"Wow, what words we know!.. But in principle, you're right-your father directs the research necessary to protect the entire world."

I couldn't help but snort.

"I'm sorry, but this really looks like some kind of cheap action movie..."

Misato looked at me intently.

"Oh, if only, Shinji, if only..."

There was an awkward silence, and Katsuragi looked sad.

"And where are we going now, to my father?"

"I decided to interrupt the long pause."

"Well, in general, yes!.."

A wave of incomprehensible bitterness, resentment, anger, and something else suddenly rose in his chest... I was scared, but then it hit me.

So that's where you are, the real Shinji! You didn't disappear, you just ran away once again! But the word "father" makes you stick out a little bit... No, man, that's not going to work! Problems need to be solved, not run away from them, otherwise at one very bad moment you can run into a big one... Although sometimes I myself tried to run away rather than fight, but still, still, still...

"...By the way, did you get a pass from him?"

"Umm... Okay, he's got to be here somewhere..." I hesitantly patted my pockets in search of the pass I was looking for-I couldn't even imagine where it could be. Shirt, trousers... Trousers!

He fished a crumpled piece of paper out of his right pocket.

"Yeah! Here he is!" Misato handed it to her.

"Uh-huh, thanks... Oh, by the way!"

Katsuragi fished out a thin gray-green folder with a large inscription "Special Institute NERVE", in the corner there was a stamp "Top secret".

"Here, get acquainted."

I accepted the folder, opened it, and immersed myself in reading with interest-I like to read something on the road, you know...

"Welcome to NERV," I read the first sentence out loud. "God's in his heaven. All's right with the world..." "God is in heaven - is everything all right in the world"?.. Hmm, that's not very encouraging...

As I read, the current situation in the world became slightly clearer - the series didn't describe it in too much detail.

...So, September 13, 2000... Um, people are "lucky" for man-made disasters in September - terrorist attacks, Strikes... Okay, stop. The second impact is the largest disaster in the history of mankind, which, according to the official version, occurred due to the fall of a meteorite in the Antarctic region. But in fact, it was the fault of the second Angel, Adam, who had awakened from a thousand-year sleep.

Although this is not the whole truth (I know for sure), it's just another version, but this time it's NERVE-racking for the staff. In fact, the expedition of Misato's father, having found Adam, tried to carry out some kind of bad machinations with him, which caused a lot to explode in the area of the South Pole. But that's it, a lyrical digression...

The result of the Second impact was a displacement of the Earth's axis, the melting of Antarctic ice and, as a result, an increase in the waters of the World Ocean. Most of the coastal areas were flooded, and countries such as Bangladesh and the Netherlands ceased to exist altogether. New York, St. Petersburg, Tokyo - these cities are simply gone. And, of course, there are various kinds of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, tornadoes...

Millions of dead, millions left homeless.

Chaos, anarchy, horror - it's difficult to find other words for what happens after the Impact. The planet quickly erupted into dozens and hundreds of local and not-so-local wars, and in some places it even came to the use of nuclear weapons...

Yeah... I remembered our two thousandth. Why, these are just toys compared to what happened here!

After several years of total wars, the world community still managed to come to a fragile truce and conclude the so-called "Valentine's Treaty", so named because of the date of signing - February 14, 2003, Valentine's Day. The revived and renewed United Nations, with a new headquarters in Berlin, under the auspices of the leading world powers, formed a NATO-based defensive alliance with a unified army to suppress raging conflicts, and the Security Council received the highest authority on the planet. This is not a semi-amorphous talking shop from our reality - the UN men there didn't stand on ceremony and beat them so that all sorts of aggressive assholes couldn't even get up later...

Naturally, I was wondering what had become of my homeland... The information received was generally gratifying - today's Russia, of course, is not a superpower, but also not a secondary country in the global political arena. As I understand from fragmentary information, after a series of local wars at the beginning of the millennium, a military dictatorship was actually established in the country under the leadership of the unforgettable VVP, and a significant part of the territories that separated in '91 were returned... However, it was not said by what methods all this was achieved, but I think it was something like the situation of the thirties of the twentieth century in the USSR. It's scary to even think about what's going on in my homeland right now..

I got all this out of the rather stingy input data. The bulk of the materials in the folder were devoted directly to the Office.


Chapter 1.3 NERV


So, the NERV special institute.

It was established in 2005 as a UN body to prevent events like a Second Strike (that is, to fight the Angels). It has enormous funding and enormous powers in case of emergencies. Under the command of NERV are parts of the reinforced contingent of international forces in Japan, consisting of troops from Japan itself, Russia, the United States and China...

The headquarters is located in Tokyo-3, a specially built city of the future designed to counter all possible threats, a kind of last fortress of humanity. The main building is located in the so-called Geofront, a colossal underground cavern... By the way, I wonder how it managed to survive in such a tectonically unstable place.. Okay, let's leave it on the conscience of the creators of huge humanoid robots... So, go on. Yeah, the NERVE offices are also located in other countries - the USA, Russia, Germany, France, China, England...

Okay, what else? Oh, well, then there was basically all kinds of propaganda about the great mission of the institute, about its great importance for all mankind, and so on and so forth... As always in such campaigns, there was a lot of unnecessary information, pathos and dust, but painfully little really important information about what kind of office it really is...

Okay, I know that in general terms.

The creation of inhumanly expensive combat vehicles of a strange design, eugenic experiments and similar brain damage, such as a project for the Complementation of humanity, that is, a global brand with a little-understood motivation. And if I don't want to (and I don't want to) shorten my new life to just a few months, I'll have to do something about it. And urgently.

The system will have to be broken.

There is, of course, a huge chance that I will be quietly "removed" in this endeavor, or I will simply arrange it, but I cannot sit idly by! There's only one horseradish ahead, total and irrevocable - a real Armageddon...

So if I'm already a potential corpse, then I have nothing to lose.

Hey, you're there, everyone! Hold on! I'm on my way! Russian isolation, coupled with samurai philosophy, is a stronger thing than Goethe's Faust!..

***

...Like a giant escalator located inside a gigantic pipeline, we descended deeper and deeper underground. That's a few... It was annoying. I don't like, you know, cramped enclosed spaces and all sorts of dungeons... However, I also strongly dislike heights...

"Misato, am I going to serve in NERV now?" I asked the question I was interested in (little by little, I was already beginning to get lost - am I really interested in this, or am I pretending so skillfully?).

"Hmm, you said "to serve"..." she said thoughtfully. "Why not work?"

"It is unlikely that the organization responsible for the security of the entire planet will not be supervised by the military. And where there's military, there's service," I smiled wryly. "And I've always dreamed of becoming a military man."

"Mmm... Yeah, you really are a very interesting person... You know, for your age..."

"..I'm being too mature and weird", I finished in a boring voice. "Misato, they tell me that all the time, ten times a day. I'm already tired of listening..."

"I'm thinking normally. For a twenty-year-old guy. Although..."

"And why did it happen that way?" Misato asked with genuine interest.

"I have no idea," I shrugged vaguely. "Maybe because I was on my own most of the time. I read all kinds of books, I was busy with different nonsense..."

"What about friends?"

"I've never really had any friends," I turned away. "But I've already gotten used to it, and it doesn't bother me anymore. I am quite self-sufficient."

There was silence.

Damn, what have I just spun here? It's not like I'm supposed to tell you about myself, but I'm supposed to invent Shinji's biography...

"I'm sorry, Shinji, if I offended you," Katsuragi's hand squeezed my shoulder lightly.

"Come on, Misato," I grinned without malice. "What a grudge."

"Well, that's nice," she smiled back at me. "Oh! Now look carefully - we are entering the Geofront."

I didn't have time to answer, because huge cutouts covered with transparent material flashed in front of the super tube, and IT unfolded in all its glory in front of me - the one and only Geofront. A creation of inhuman hands, as beautiful as it is mysterious... To describe it in words? No, it's impossible.

You just have to see it.

No words can convey even a hundredth part of reality. A colossal underground cavern, which for some reason was not dark, but a light twilight. Buildings and roads, mountains and rivers, lakes and forests... Long trestles of monorail trains connecting the Geofront with the surface, thin spokes of elevators stuck near the huge pyramid of the NERV Headquarters, one side of which stood near another pyramid, but only already tipped deep into the earth...

I don't understand HOW all this could have been built?!

"Do you like it?" Misato asked slyly.

"Yeah..." I said, fascinated, staring at the panorama.

"It's good. Welcome to NERV Headquarters, Ikari Shinji! To the last fortress and hope of mankind!"

"God, there's so much pathos..."

"Come on, you've ruined all the solemnity of the moment!.."

***

...The elevator doors swung open, and the same Akagi Ritsuko appeared in front of us.

I looked at her with interest-something was definitely wrong. For some reason, the people around me didn't look too much like real Japanese - I had seen them in various forms in my time...

So, if Misato could still be attributed to them, then such a number categorically did not work with Ritsuko. Well, unless there are green-eyed blondes among the Japanese...

In life, Dr. Akagi turned out to be more likeable again - he is a cartoon cartoon.

Well, and hers... The uniform looked very good on Ritsko. Well, if only a white robe and a turquoise-colored indoor swimsuit can be called a uniform.

"You're on time, Misato - they were just waiting for you to start the show", Akagi smiled from the corners of her lips. "But you took a long time..."

"Traffic jams," Katsuragi waved her hand affectedly. "And the freaks on the roads. However, it doesn't matter - what about Eva-01?"

"All systems are currently being defrosted and tested, so we will be there very soon..." Ritsuko turned to me. "And this, I take it, is the Third Child?"

"Exactly. So what about the Zero-first one - is there a chance of activation?"

"Well... Actually, the probability of activation is still one billionth... How do you like this chance?"

"So it won't work? So, it turns out?" Misato frowned.

"No, come on. The probability is not zero," I encouraged Captain Akagi. "But everything will depend on the pilot..."

Such encouragement made me uneasy... What are they even counting on?! Dad, why are you completely crazy? Build the defense of a million-strong city based on a one-billion-chance of success?!..

***

Ascents, long corridors, hatches... For a change, a short throw on a light rubber boat through a giant pool of an incomprehensible purple-purple liquid, a gate, an ascent, a corridor, another gate, and now we are standing in some completely dark room.

"Hey, turn on the light!" I shouted indignantly.

I disliked not only the height, but also the darkness... Although the altitude is still higher, it cost me a lot of effort to maintain my composure during all these trips at high altitude. Yes, yes, yes, I have many phobias that I have been successful with (hopefully) I'm struggling...

My voice echoed off the distant walls-we were not just in some dark room, but also in a VERY large room.

Suddenly, the brightest light turned on, and I involuntarily squeezed my eyes shut and shielded myself with my hand...

When my eyes got used to the light a little, I carefully removed my hand and opened my eyes.

"Scheisse!" (approx. (German) Shayze. Shit. A universal and extremely common German expletive) a German expletive involuntarily escaped me, and there was a reason.

He was standing right in front of me.

Evangelion-01.

More precisely, only Eva's head and shoulders were sticking out of a huge man-made lake filled with coolant, but that was enough. There's only one muzzle of the robot's face, maybe five meters wide...

After recovering from the shock a bit (after all, it's not every day that biomechanical armor the size of a blue whale stares at you), I realized that this Eva is significantly different from the anime version.

No horns or ridiculous protrusions for you - everything is extremely utilitarian and functional. The sleek outlines of armored plates, the head seemed to be wearing a rounded knight's helmet with a heavy visor and a narrow viewing slit with the addition of a massive chin. The neck is long and elongated, partially covered by wing projections extending from the bottom of the helmet. The body armor even looks very solid, and there is a natural cuirass on the chest, which is additionally reinforced. There were also the shoulder pylons mentioned in the original - two long thin rectangles fixed on the shoulders - where, I remember, Evangelion knives were usually always kept... But the main thing is that the biomechanoid was not that disgusting blue-purple color, as in the series. Eva-01 (at least its visible part) was painted gray-black, a la urban camouflage. No, though. Perhaps her camouflage coloring was more reminiscent of the so-called "ball" coloring of warships from the Second World War. For actions in Tokyo-3 conditions, that's for sure, otherwise, I'm afraid, I would require an urgent repainting. Although the design was still a bit strange, well, okay...


Chapter 1.4 Eva-1.


"No fucking toys!" I muttered, still staring at Zero-one in amazement.

"In front of you is the universal anthropomorphic combat vehicle Evangelion," Ritsuko, who had once managed to change into a blue blouse and a short black skirt, said solemnly, pleased with the impression she had made. She'd left her robe, though. This is Unit-01, designed in the strictest secrecy - the last hope of mankind...

"And here I thought that Misato was soaked through with pathos and cliched speech... Tell me more about the asymmetrical answer..." I muttered.

"What?" Katsuragi was indignant.

".. So that's what my dad does... Yeah, and somehow I like to play with soldiers more than with transformers..."

Due to the stress, sarcasm, coupled with speech retention, quickly came out of me - as always in moments of excitement.

Akagi and Misato looked at me in utter surprise, as if they hadn't expected this, obviously not like this...

Interesting... That's my reaction now, but if I really were fourteen years old, what would I do? I probably would have stood there, fucked up and imbued with the solemnity of the moment.

"Transformers are not bad either" A loud, sarcastic voice came from the speakers. "It's been a long time, son."

I raised my head. Somewhere above, behind the armored glass, I made out the figure of a man in a black and gold uniform, glasses and a beard (hooray! my slight myopia is gone!).

"Father," I bowed my head slightly in greeting. "Did you call me?"

"Yes." There was a hint of surprise in Gendo's voice. Apparently, he didn't expect such a reaction from me. "Now we will begin the attack, and you..."

"Like an attack?" Misato asked, dumbfounded. "Yes, on what? Eva-00 is still in the defrosting stage!.."

Katsuragi broke off.

"Do you want to activate Eva-01?!"

"We don't have a choice," Ritsko said harshly.

"But after all... But Rey isn't able to control Eve yet! We don't have a pilot!"

"One has just arrived," Akagi said clearly.

Misato's face sharpened.

"You're kidding," not a question, but a statement.

"Ikari Shinji," Ritsuko said to me.

I'm coming to attention.

"You will take the pilot's seat!"

"Jawohl!" (note. (German) Yavol. That's right)

?.. - stunned faces all around.

"That's right! It will be done!"

Calm down, Vitya, calm down... Less clowning and all sorts of show-offs...

Everyone, without exception, looked at me with real amazement.

"Ha! Finally, the war!" I grinned happily, even though the thought made my insides go cold. But now we will play out the image of a maniac who has gone mad on a military theme to the end - after all, the example of Kensuke stands before our eyes... I've always dreamed of going to a real war! So, where is the enemy?"

Excitement and a slight fear of a slightly unusual kind came over me-not my fear and worries. It seems that somewhere in the depths of me, the real Ikari Shinji was stirring, who was disgusted by everything that was happening...

"It's a little scary..."

"Calm down, old man," I said inwardly. "I'll take it all on myself, it will be quite difficult to mess up more than you."

Fear, fear, fear... Waves of fear and uncertainty rise from somewhere inside.

I began to boil a little.

"Are you a kid or not? Get ready! Damn, the mind, honor and conscience of the Japanese nation!.. Couldn't you have found someone better? The third Child, damn it... A father like that, and a son like that, is a wimp... Shinji, your samurai ancestors are turning over in their coffins right now!.."

But on the other hand, they're just going to throw me to the slaughter, trying to find a way out of a completely hopeless situation... Just because there are no other options - either I climb into Eva and kill the Angel, or the Angel in question destroys everything here to the ground... And it doesn't matter what my name is now - Shinji or Victor, Gendo just needs at least some kind of pilot, and he doesn't really care about the specific personality of the performer...

"My father doesn't need me. No one needs me at all," someone else's thought came.

And then I suddenly exploded.

"What?! To hell with your father! Why don't you get it, or what? If an Angel breaks through here, the world will end! And even if it doesn't break through, do you know how many victims there will be? Do you hear me, you freak? Don't you care about them? Then why shouldn't I? Don't run away from the answer! The imbecile is a minor... His own self, you see, is more precious to him than the lives of ordinary people... Yes, at the front, people like you would have been immediately put in the penalty boxes or put against the wall!"

"But are we at war?"

"And where else?! In the fucking war! On her own! Answer me now- do you want to accept this responsibility? I don't hear an answer!"

Indifference, bitterness, resentment, confusion instead of an answer.

"Everything is clear with you..."

The apathy and despondency in Shinji's performance is so familiar to me, as if I've known him all my life... Or maybe I just know these feelings too? It's not clear, but one thing I clearly know is that this is not the right mindset right now. There is no need to be offended and whine, but to be angry. Or, as I usually did in critical situations, stay calm... Calm... Calm, I said. There's no hope for Shinji... Oh well! Then I'll act on my own...

"But... But even Ayanami needed more than seven months to fully synchronize with Eva!" Misato exclaimed in despair. "He can't fly, he just arrived!"

"He should just sit inside and nothing else." her father's calm voice. "Shinji should be able to handle it, I'm sure of it."

"But..."

"Now our task is to stop the Angel. We need anyone who can pilot Eva, even if his synchronization is very low... Do you understand, Captain Katsuragi? Or are you suggesting that we put Eva Ayanami in the cabin after getting her out of intensive care?"

Misato fell silent dejectedly.

I looked up at the ceiling, looking for Gendo's figure.

"Father, are all your orders discussed in this way? Then you don't have much discipline in that NERV of yours..."

Katsuragi looked at me with real horror.

"That's a good idea, son," Gendo replied thoughtfully. "It's good that you understand the current situation..."

Okay, now I can't overplay it, otherwise this old schemer will quietly take me out somehow...

"...Although the idea is, of course, too reckless, in my opinion", I immediately expressed my concerns. "This is the first time I've seen this car, and how can I fight on it? I do not know how to control it, what it is capable of - you have no performance characteristics (approx. tactical and technical characteristics) were not given to me... Why wasn't I trained for such battles?"

"It's nothing. They'll explain everything to you. If you're ready to manage Eva, we won't waste any time, but if you're not, leave!"

"Uh, no..." I drawled, grinning. "Fuck you, you're going to get rid of me now."

The floor shook under his feet, and the liquid in the pool began to agitate.

"He's already here," Gendo said calmly.

"Shinji, there's no time to think," Akagi added.

"So what are we waiting for? Go ahead! Drang nah Western!" (note. (German) Drang nah Western. The onslaught on the west. Victor paraphrased the name of the famous German doctrine "The Onslaught on the East")

Get ready and fight! It's too late to retreat now, and if I do die in battle, then the real Shinji sitting somewhere inside me will most likely die with me. Do you hear me, old man? Come on, get together too - from now on and forever and ever, you and I are in the same boat. You can sit like a dead weight, the main thing is not to try to do anything - I think it will only get worse... Do you understand me?

A hesitant, but still affirmative nod from somewhere in the depths of consciousness.

That's great, that's great...

"...Somewhere on the edge of his brain, someone else's thought flashed: "Don't run away, don't run away, don't run away..." - Shinji was somewhere nearby... I'm sorry, old man, but it has to be this way. I'm not the coolest person in this world, but at least I'll try to teach you something. It sucks that I didn't find such a teacher at the time... I do not know how long I will be here, but I will try to give you something. Don't count on toughness and strength, but at least calmness and confidence won't hurt you.

In order not to retreat, Shinji, it's not enough just not to run away - you can go back and step...

So what does that mean? So, don't take a step back! Stand to the death!!!

...Before my eyes, as if in reality, I saw a shot from the movie "Liberation", where Marshal Zhukov, played by actor Ulyanov, scolds some commander...


Chapter 1.5 synchronization


"Cooling is completed. The right arm is fixed..."

"Ready to dock with the catapult..."

"The plug is removed!.."

"Roger that, we're introducing a contact capsule..."

"There is a fix!.."

"The first stage of synchronization..."

"Fill the contact capsule!.."

The male and female voices alternated-it was probably Maya and Hyuga. Or maybe Shigeru, the inseparable trio of technicians from the command center, I had not yet seen and could not distinguish them by their voices.

At the moment, I was in a kind of cockpit... Well, let's have a fighter jet. The internal volume is not too large, the pilot's seat is a couch with a comfortable headrest. The central ledge, where, in theory, there should have been some kind of monitors and devices (but for some reason they were not), a pair of comfortable joystick handles on the sides, as if they were lying in your hands. The only thing that bothered me was the dull gray metal-plastic inner surface of the contact capsule. No portholes, let alone windows with blinds...

It was somewhat unusual to sit in the pilot's seat, although it was quite comfortable. There was a hoop with neural clamps on my head, which looked more like a girly hairpin - I even tried to protest against it, but, alas... Oh, well... that's it. And that's what it is...

"Hey, what's up?!"

I exclaimed involuntarily as some yellowish liquid began to pour over my feet.

There was a distinct smell of blood in the capsule.

LSL, fuck it...

Damn, I'm not even wearing a contact suit, that's the end of my clothes... Although it's not even bad - I'll knock normal clothes out of my Father...

But still, panic seized me - I don't like water. I can't swim and I don't want to, but it's already overwhelming, damn it!!!

Miraculously, he managed to inhale air and cover his nose and mouth with his hand.

"Calm down," Ritsko's voice came from somewhere in his head. "This is LSL, it will fill your lungs and supply your body with oxygen."

Yeah, and it will give my breath an unforgettable fragrance... What if I drown? Okay, okay, if it's necessary, then it's necessary...

...I forced myself to open my eyes and took my hand away from my face. My throat and lungs spasmed wildly as my body tried to reject the foreign stuff. I instinctively clutched at my throat, but then LSL filled my lungs and esophagus.

Phew... I breathed a sigh of relief (?!) - it really wasn't difficult to breathe, it seemed like everything was as usual, and there was no fluid in my lungs.

...Damn, but it's all so fucking creepy! Besides, there was a nasty taste of blood and metal on his tongue.

"Ugh, that's disgusting," I almost spat. I couldn't talk with my lungs and larynx full of fluid, but my thoughts were very clear...

"Stop whining! Act like a man!" Katsuragi's voice also rang in my head. "Apparently, this is the LSL (or the most?..) somehow it provides me with a connection to the control room..."

"Misato, you would have tried this dirty trick yourself, you would not have spoken like that..."

***

"...Connect to the main power supply. Apply voltage to all circuits. Start the first stage of synchronization."

At the same moment, the light inside the cabin went out, only a pair of duty lamps flickered faintly orange due to the LSL glare. However, very soon, waves of radiance began to roll over the inner surface of the contact capsule, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. Then, after a bright flash of white light, the walls of the contact capsule turned into a kind of continuous viewing screens.

"There is! We proceed to the second stage of synchronization. The connection to the A-10 nerve is in working condition..."

The next moment, a tremor swept through his entire body, and his arms and legs were twisted with slight cramps. Pain shot through my spine and skull, but after a moment I felt my Eva as if it were a part of me. Every inch of armor, every muscle and cell...

The experience is simply unforgettable! How can I describe it? Very, very difficult... Sharpness and clarity of vision, the feeling of a mighty force spread throughout the body. And lightness, an unusual lightness in half with... No, I can't convey it!..

"The second stage of synchronization has been successfully completed. The pilot made regular contact with Evangelion-01. All nerve connections have been successfully established. The intensity of nerve impulses and harmonics are normal. Deviations are within acceptable limits. The synchronization level is 43.1%. Evangelion-01 is activated!"

Wow, and the synchronization level seems to be higher than in the real world (damn, what a real world! ..).

"Great. Set the interface language to Japanese."

Hey, is there going to be a system conflict? I think I'm thinking in Russian... Or not anymore? I rubbed the back of my head. Processing error: input not recognized. Probably not, though... Maybe the real Shinji has become something like a synchro translator in my head?

"The contact went fine. Connect the feedback lines."

"Prepare for launch, remove the latches."

"The retainers are removed."

"Remove the blocking bridge..."

"Unlock the hydraulic locks..."

"Remove the main and additional racks..."

"Release the fastenings from the first to the fifteenth."

"The internal batteries are charged..."

"The input for the external power supply is normal..."

"Eva-01, to the catapult!"

I felt my Evangelion start to move towards the wall. So, there is a fixation of me in the launch catapult... I wonder if it's electromagnetic?..

"The mine is free!"

"Ready to launch!"

"Shinji, are you ready?" Judging by Misato's agitated voice, they're in serious trouble and running out of time. How else to explain the fact that a completely leftist type is being shoved into a combat vehicle without any hesitation and such hopes are pinned on him?..

Stop. But I'm going into battle now...

Oh well! There will never be two deaths, and there will always be one! All it takes is to get out of the ground and punch one alien freak. For a man who has just jumped from one world to another, just spit!

"That's right."

"Great. Launch!!!"

Misato's scream coincides with a sharp jolt and increasing acceleration-I'm literally being shot up. Млять! Not a bad overload, however! I hate all these rides!!!

The walls of the launch shaft are rapidly rushing past - damn, how deep were we sitting?!

Boom! I'm jolted, and Eve finally stops.

Fuu...

It was a narrow, dark room. I wonder if I'm claustrophobic. But even if it wasn't, after sitting in this box for a while longer, I will definitely earn it. Hey, let me out of here!..

I was about to think it out loud, but then two thick doors opened right in front of me.

Eve was rigidly fixed in the upper stage, located inside a building right in the middle of the city, and not far away he could be seen - an Angel. Standing right in front of me, a hideous green leather, maybe five hundred meters away, is just a couple of steps of Evangelion. He shoots green rays at the ground from two hands at once, making his way into the Geofront - and he's already dug a pretty big excavation, the parasite...

Well, that's it, guys - my way out. Come on, unlock me at last - now we'll see what kind of liver these Angels have...

...My heart was beating fast and hard, and my arms and legs began to cramp - still, despite all my pretense, I was very afraid of the upcoming fight. Can I win without the berserker? I don't know... Shinji, Yu, can you hear me? I'm not doing this for myself, but for you who live in this world. I'm just as much an invention to you as you are to me, but right now we're all in this together... Aren't we fighting to save others? It means that our cause is just, and the enemy will be defeated...

Блин, I still managed to soak up the pathos of Ritsuko and Misato...

"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy will be done both in heaven and on earth... Defend yourself from the evil that lurks, from the evil-minded enemy..." my lips began to involuntarily whisper an inept but sincere prayer. I'm not that religious, but there are times when I just want to believe...

"Are you ready, Shinji?" Misato's excited voice is in my head.

"Yes, Comrade Captain," I blurted out involuntarily.

"Unlock the safety lock! Evangelion-01, go ahead!"

The clamps came off safely, and I felt that I was already standing without any support. It made me go cold, and Eve staggered a little.


Chapter 1.6 Fight with the third angel.


"Shinji. Now just try to imagine that you're walking" Ritsuko said calmly.

From these words, I suddenly calmed down abruptly. Everything is bound to happen.

"...Synchronization is 46% and continues to grow!" Somewhere on the edge of hearing, a voice slid by.

Calm, just calm.

I flexed my shoulders a little, clenched and unclenched my fists, moved my arms -Eva obeyed my slightest thought, and obeyed perfectly. Well, almost. The delay between the mental command and the required movement was completely minuscule, in my opinion. Zero One was like an extension of myself-no levers or steering wheels were needed, just my thoughts and reflexes, and the control knobs in the cockpit were probably there solely to calm me down...

"Misato, what's wrong with my weapon?" I asked abruptly.

"You only have a quantum knife in your left shoulder pad", the response was not very pleasant. "The city's defensive systems haven't been turned on yet, so you can only rely on yourself."

"That's the thing," I muttered.

One time, and the tall, thin shoulder pad opens like an envelope. Two - and the rough handle of a quantum knife peeks out of it. I snatch it out, feeling it come out of the soft clamps.

Intercepting it with a reverse grip with my right hand, slightly pressing it to my body, I put my left hand slightly forward. Of course, I have never mastered knife fighting skills. But I've read a lot of books on the subject and intuition makes things happen...

At least, that's what I want to believe.

...I'm taking my first step in Evangelion.

Boom! Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a glass phone booth shattering from the shaking of the earth. Walking turns out to be not so difficult...

With small steps, trying not to get tangled in the power cable, I carefully try to get around the Angel. Suddenly, he is enveloped in a familiar golden glow, abruptly soars into the air and lands right in front of me.

Healthy bastard. I'm not used to people above me...

The angel swings his left arm, intending to grab my head.

"Yeah, right now..."

"Barra!" The cry of the Roman legionnaires turns out to be very useful.

With the right, deflect the blow to the side, and with the left, from the turn, hit the opponent's torso... The main thing is not to damage the power cable...

The beast is strong!.. I barely blocked his kick, but mine landed right on target - the Angel is slightly staggering. Suddenly, I see that his arms are literally starting to swell. Damn, he's building up his muscles...

There's a lightning rush, and my left arm feels like it's being squeezed in a vice. The pain overwhelms my head. I think I can even hear my own bones cracking...

"Scheisse!" I growl through my teeth and stab sharply with the knife.

The width. And the Angel's right claw falls with a crash, severed at the wrist. I am turned around by inertia and carried past the opponent. Immediately, I feel something grabbing me by the head, Eva's legs lift off the ground - I'm hanging in the air.

Now I understand how people feel when guns are pointed at them.

The Angel's beamer, hidden in his palm, is pointed directly at my face. I just raise my arms to free myself from the grip... Just one stab and I'm free...

Blow! It gets dark in my eyes, a sharp pain pierces my head, and there is ringing in my ears...

Blow! Spots of light dance in my eyes... A trickle of blood runs down his forehead...

My forehead, my Eva's forehead - I don't know, and it doesn't matter...

Mom, it hurts...

a blow!..

"...A crack in the head armor!"

"The defense won't hold up now!!!"

The pain fills my whole body, and I can't stand it.

I scream, not hearing my own scream...

Gradually, it turns into an unintelligible growl. Infinitely distant voices are heard somewhere on the outskirts of consciousness...

.. Nerve connections are tearing apart one by one!

"Shinji!!!"

"The connection is lost!.."

Hit.

I'm thrown aside.

The darkness envelops me...

It's like I'm hearing voices from somewhere in another universe.

"Head injury! The degree is unknown!" a female voice.

"The pilot's condition?" Dr. Akagi.

"Out of sync, nerve impulses are disordered!" a man's voice.

"Block the chains!!!" Dr. Akagi.

"Impossible, the signal is not getting through!" a female voice.

"What's with Shinji?" Misato.

"We can't say anything! Strong interference in the channel is an AT-field!.." another male voice.

"Eva-01 is not responding to our commands!" a female voice.

"This is the end... Cancel the operation! Saving the pilot! Forced ejection!" Misato.

"Impossible! There is no control at all!" a female voice.

"Damn it!!!" Misato.

It hurts, it hurts me so much... Darkness and pain... Scary, scary, someone help me, please...

"Shinji, Misato, Ritsuko, Gendo...

I'm sorry, for God's sake, I'm sorry... I shouldn't have bent my fingers and walked around like an omnipotent know-it-all... I shouldn't have pushed a barrel at Shinji, I'm no better than him... Oh, I've let you guys down, and there's no hope for any "berserker"- Shinji's mother won't help me..."

A wave of warmth and peace, like a light summer breeze...

Someone's light, like a child's hand on my shoulder...

"hold on!"

"Hold on?.."

"Hold on, we believe in you!"

"I shouldn't have. I'm just another loser dreamer, yes I am, yes with my knowledge... A lot of honor, but a complete lack of strength and will..."

"Not true."

"Truth..."

"It's not true, we need you."

..I feel like I'm literally starting to shake with anger and anger. I don't know why, it's just that this invisible wave rolls over me and overwhelms me.

I'm needed here for some reason.

For some reason, I was needed in my reality.

But to find out what I have to live for, and for that...

I have to kill the Angel.

...I open my eyes.

I'm getting up from the rubble of a high-rise building that I destroyed in the fall.

The angel is moving towards me-I've been out for quite a bit... Blood runs down his forehead, flooding his eyes. But is it me who's injured, or is my Eva damaged? It doesn't matter... The knife! Where's my knife?

"Eva is moving!!!"

"Impossible... What's going on?!"

"What is it?.."

I'll rip this thing apart with my bare hands.

"Come here, you freak..." I croak. "I'm going to rip out your heart..."

Jump, I put all my strength and Eva's weight into the kick with my right foot. O-on!

The angel literally flies dozens of meters away from me, demolishing all buildings and structures in its path.

"Come here..."

I've never wanted to kill someone, and not just kill them, but tear them apart, smear them on the wall... "Berserk"? Oh, yes! This state can also be called "berserk", except that I did not feel blinding and insane rage. On the contrary, I was icily calm-it was as if someone had lit a scorching cold fire inside me...

The Angel started to get to his feet. As I noticed, he had already managed to regenerate his right hand, and he had two beamers at his disposal again...

Let's just see how much they will help him...

Take off, and the Eva-01 rushes forward.

I've always hated running, and I didn't know how to run, but now it was so easy and enjoyable... Step, step, step. Run, feeling the asphalt crumble under your feet. Hey, you beast! I'm on my way to you!..

The Angel throws up his claws with lightning speed, and some kind of radiance begins to flare up around them...

At the limit of flexibility of my armored body, I dive under the possible ray path, crouching as low as possible. Two streams of fire brush casually across Eva's back, and some kind of alarm sounds in her head. The countdown numbers start flashing in front of my eyes - 5:00, 4:58...

Млять! The cable is damaged! Now I have only five minutes for active actions... At the right pace, at the right pace, Vitya...

I straighten up like a spring, striking from the bottom up. The opponent flies to the side, receiving a crushing uppercut right to the skull. I rush to him to finish him off, but the Angel is already on his feet and raising his claws again. After a moment, they are enveloped in a golden glow, and I stumble upon some kind of invisible, but extremely strong barrier.

"This is an AT-field! While the Angel is maintaining the AT-field..."

"...Eve won't be able to get to him!"

Can't I get to that thing? Fuck you guessed it!!!

In a rage, I hit the invisible barrier, as if I were clutching it with both hands.

To me... need... to break through it... AT-field, you say? What about the antiphase wave, motherfucker?..

"Eva-01 also sets the AT-field! It neutralizes the Angel's field!!!"

"No... It's destroying him!!!"

The force of action is equal to the force of reaction... O-on! The resistance disappeared, I was thrown forward by inertia, and I found myself right next to the Angel. He tried to grab me with his claws again, but I was already ready. Kick the left paw to the side, and grab the right one. One, and the Angel's limb crunches in my hands-I'm drenched in the dark blue blood of the monster. The angel raises his undamaged left claw again, trying to grab me, but I intercept it and break it too.

For symmetry.

Step back, kick with a roundhouse kick. The enemy, leaving a real gap in the buildings, flies away from me. However!.. And I always thought that all these bouncers were just showing off... Although this may be the case if your opponent has no idea about hand-to-hand combat.

The enemy is lying down and for some reason is in no hurry to get up again. Did it get to you, creature?..

I seem to have almost calmed down, but then a new attack of anger and a thirst for murder hits me. I jump straight at the Angel, feeling the creature's bones break under Evangelion's feet, and blue blood sprays in all directions. Punch, punch, punch. I beat with my hands, trying to break the core of the Angel - it contains his death and life.

It's solid, damn it... And if you try the field?..

From the depths of memory, it seems, comes the knowledge of what needs to be done. It's not my knowledge-it's someone else's, alien.

I'm trying to form an enhanced field around my right hand. It's hard, damn it! It's about to disintegrate, you have to constantly monitor it... So, it seems to have stabilized... How do I do it? I don't know, ask for something easier...

Blow! The new tactic turns out to be good, but the accuracy is not very good - I miss the core. But it turned out well enough - the impact site on the Angel's body literally explodes with fragments of flesh and fountains of dark blue blood. Another blow and the strange skull on the freak's chest shatters.

Misato and the others are shouting something, but I'm no longer paying attention to them, I'm getting excited.

So, what if we try to stretch the field in space and hit an Angel with it?.. I spread my arms wide to the side, and then, as if with an effort, I push something forward from myself, bringing them together.

Not bad... The Angel flies off to the side, he is dragged along the asphalt. Real rivers of dark blue blood are gushing from the torn back. So, stop having fun - you need to complete the task, and not mess around and smash the city to pieces...

I aim to deliver a control blow, but suddenly the Angel rises from the ground with a sharp jerk and rushes straight at me like lightning. ...I admit, I was even taken aback by this, because in the heat of battle I forgot exactly HOW the Third Angel was eliminated...

More precisely, no one eliminated him - he somehow managed it on his own, a freaking kamikaze. But I don't have any desire to set off an explosion in the very center of the city.

The Angel swoops with his whole big body onto the previously exposed AT-field and tries to push through it in order to get to my Eva. Strong, contagious - I'm just holding him on the edge of my strength, because I have to, I have to, I have to...

Gritting my teeth, I throw the opponent away, putting everything at my disposal into the AT-field blow - Evangelion's physical strength, my will and desire to live, my fear and rage...

O-on!.. The Angel throws him aside, and he demolishes several more huge buildings - damn it, we're going to destroy the whole city like this...

The creature was dragged through the rubble of buildings, literally tearing apart; a core dimly flickered in the torn chest. Wow, the Angel is soft... Apparently, when he tried to attack me and envelop me with his own body in order to enhance the power of the explosion, his structure was rebuilt into a more plastic one, but he did not have time to return to his original form... I jump right up to him - I wish I could devour this Angelic generator and no longer bother with the power cable, but I can't even imagine how to do it... With my hands, I tear the flexible and malleable body of the Angel, trying to pull out a large red core from it - I think it's fraught to hit it, but perhaps it's possible to pull it out... What time is it? Damn, it's only forty seconds!.. Faster, faster...

Suddenly, almost torn out of the Angel's body, the core began to shine with a dim crimson light - did the self-destruct system really start?! What should I do?! Well, well, it seems that the power of my AT-field should be enough to keep the explosion within a small space... I'm trying to form a hemisphere in my hands, cover the enemy, if only I could make it, if only the batteries wouldn't run out...

I didn't have time.

A powerful explosion that flashed right in front of me, accompanied by the brightest flash, threw me into the air, scorching my entire body with unbearable heat. The last thing I remember, except for a few seconds of flying, was hitting something big with my back and losing consciousness...


Chapter 2.1 hospital


Silence.

I toss and turn restlessly after waking up.

...Блин, what a dream I had!.. The plot just swings - as if I got into the anime "Evangelion", into the body of the main character and even fought with a giant alien robot... And he won after all! I've rarely had such beautiful and interesting dreams...

Okay, it's time to wake up, so as not to be late for practice...

I open my eyes. I realize that I'm lying on a hard bed...

Not on my bed.

A pungent hospital smell hits my nose. Recent memories flash through my mind - a minibus, a jeep on the wrong side, a blow... Am I in the hospital after the accident? How long have I been here, I wonder? Although... Why are there hieroglyphs everywhere, and why do I understand them? Here, for example, is the "exit"...

Блин, it wasn't a dream!!! What on earth is this!..

I look up at the sky in desperation...

An unfamiliar ceiling, I think, and I start giggling hysterically. I guess I'm already one hundred percent Shinji, even if I'm starting to think like him. Oh, damn it!.. My body aches all over...

Still laughing like a madman, I lift myself up heavily and sit up on the bed. My whole body aches, as if after a good workout, my forehead is bandaged, and I'm wearing a hospital gown instead of my usual clothes.

"Okay, let's not let this be a dream. But," I say resolutely to myself. "I am me. And I'm going to do something else that's going to make all these Angels and demons feel hot... And I'm not going to register in the infirmary! I hate hospitals!"

I carefully lower my bare feet to the cool floor, walk over to the door, open it, and step out into the hallway.

"Hey! Is anyone alive?"

Silence...

Thoughtfully, I walk up to the window pane, peering at the view outside the window - all the same wooded hills.

Suddenly, from somewhere around the corner, a hospital gurney appears, equipped with all sorts of fancy hospital equipment. A pretty young nurse rolls her.

"Uh... Hello! Can I..."

The nurse shushes me irritably, and only then do I see who is lying on the gurney. I'm speechless.

A girl of about fourteen or fifteen. Hospital gown. Bandaged torso, right arm and head. There is a blindfold on his right eye.

And the eye, by the way, is red. And short ash-pearl hair, coupled with unnaturally pale skin...

There is no doubt that this is Ayanami Rei, the most mysterious and incomprehensible character in this world.

I meet her eyes for a brief moment, and.. nothing. Zero reaction to me.

The nurse continues on her way, the gurney turns the corner. Silence falls again.

***

The emergency room of a hospital located somewhere in the middle levels of the command pyramid of the headquarters. I'm sitting on a chair. My head still hurts a little - it turns out I have some kind of deep scratch there.

The hated hospital smell is everywhere, even from clothes. After my stay at the LSL, it was washed and boiled here, which actually didn't make me particularly happy - it would have been better if they had given me a new one...

"Hello, Shinji!" Katsuragi's joyful voice reached me.

"Misato!.." I jumped up.

I was genuinely glad to see her - I liked her as a person from the very first meeting.

Katsuragi came up to me and asked excitedly:

"Are you okay?"

How long have you been asking me about this?!! "Are you okay? Всё правой!"

"In full. I wish I could eat something..."

The girl winced.

"I wouldn't mind a snack either..."

Блин! This is Katsuragi, and she doesn't have anything but instant noodles at home!!! ahh!!!

It's also Japan, which means there's only seafood and rice around. No sausage, bread and pasta!

You never know that all sorts of Angels are attacking here, how can I live with that?..

"Okay, Shinji, let's go."

"Dejectedly," I followed the captain.

"Why are you hanging your nose?"

"Just like that..."

...We're waiting for the elevator. Oh! And here he is, my dear!..

The elevator doors open, and Gendo stands inside. Shinji would have turned away and ignored him, but I'm not him. And I quickly crushed Shinjin's weak attempts at protest.

"Hello, Father," I stepped into the elevator, Misato following me.

Gendo nodded at me silently.

So, now you will need to try to start implementing your ideas... But to do this, I need to talk to Gendo, and given the odiousness of this character, I was frankly timid right now...

Ugh. Deep exhale, finally decide... Forward.

I gathered my courage and started talking to "father" (or is it already possible without quotation marks?).

"Father, can I talk to you?.."

He looked at me like I was a talking stool.

"I'm listening to you."

...So, now the main thing is not to get too arrogant...

"Father, I'm a NERV employee now, right?"

A slight nod is confirmation. I cheered up a bit.

"And so... Do I have a rank and a uniform? Well, it would be nice to have a salary, at least some..."

I can feel the waves of surprise coming from Misato on my back. And what? I really want a uniform and a rank - I didn't get into the army (and I didn't really want to), but I've always been interested in military subjects. Well, you have to provide yourself with pocket money, after all, to take a girl to the cinema there, to eat something normal... Damn, I need to buy a normal player for myself, otherwise it's always buggy in black in this cassette...

...Meanwhile, Dad now looked at me not just as a talking stool, but as a stool reciting all of Blok and Pasternak by heart. Damn, I guess I'm straying too much from the described psychotype... Okay, let's hope they decide that I just lost my mind a little bit in the fight....

"You already have a rank, you'll get a uniform. There will be money, too," I was finally honored with an answer.

So, now let's try to get a little cocky.

"Can I also have a personal weapon? For a successfully completed task, so to speak?"

Gendo glared at her from under his chameleon glasses. Just as his floor approached, the elevator doors opened, and he got out, saying something like "Let's see."

"Thank you, Father! Goodbye!" I shouted at his back. Politeness is first and foremost...

Pleased and proud of myself, I turned to Katsuragi.

"Shinji, you're a jerk..." To say that Misato was surprised was an understatement.

"What's the big deal?" I blink my eyes innocently. "I've always dreamed of this! Save the world, be a military man and have a real gun under your pillow!.."

"A maniac," the girl summed up and laughed. "No, it's more like just a kid. I bet a couple cans of Ibiza that you'll be asking to go to the shooting range with everyone..."

"Can I?" I asked with sincere greed. Oh, let's shoot!..

Katsuragi realized that she had let it slip.


Chapter 2.2 a conversation on the observation deck.