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Neon Genesis Evangelion 1:1

:: Steven brought the cigarette to his mouth with his withered hand. He always did that when the Cops were around, either to spite them or sicken them - I can never be sure which. Either way, he was disgusting the Redhats that were watching us. We couldn't see their faces, since their helmets obscured them - a bloody blur bearing a slight resemblance to a face, but we could hear them. 'Damn Defectives.' 'Sickening.' 'Why don't they just fucking die?' I edged towards the Shelter door, for what little protection the building might give us from the Cops. Luckily, they simply moved on, probably looking for a few Irredeemables to provoke into a fight.

'Dammit, Steven, why the fuck do you always have to do that? Remember what happened to Timothy? Now he's got no legs! And he's blind in both eyes! Fuck. Gimme a drag, man.'

'Forget it, kid, get your own smokes.'

'You won't fucking tell me where you get the stuff, and the Ration Station here's been out for weeks!'

'Tough fuckin' luck, then, eh, Evan?'

NGE 1:2

+ The design's finished. I just need a volunteer to finish my work. I think I know where to look.

NGE 1:3

:: Timothy groped around the table looking for his drink. When he found it, he took a long swallow and dropped the empty cup onto the table. 'I remember when I was first Voided,' his empty eye sockets were directed at me. You don't know how creepy it is to see a man with both his eyes open, but without any eyeballs. 'It was immediately after the Governing started Voiding Defectives...you're too young to remember then, Evan, but it wasn't bad...not like now...The Shelters were shelters, and the Ration Stations were always well stocked with food, and they usually had some tobacco too. No booze, but hey, Voiding was supposed to be a punishment, right?' He closed his eyes, and I silently thanked God.

'They showed movies in the Shelters every week, and gave us books. Really we were no worse off than Citizens at the poverty line, except that the Cops could beat on us with the slightest excuse. But most of the Defectives weren't stupid enough to provoke the Cops. A lot of the Irredeemables, though...They ended up looking like Defectives by the time the Cops were done with them.'

'Timothy, no offence, man, but those days are long gone.'

'Yeah, they are. Which makes it so much worse that I can remember them...'

NGE 1:4

+ I've found my volunteer, if he agrees. Not a perfect physical specimen, to be sure, but I couldn't expect that. He looks about 17, and is more or less healthy. He's undernourished, and he's missing his right arm below the elbow and his left leg from just above the knee. Whoever made the prosthesis he wears on his leg is quite the woodworker, though. I approached him, just as he left his companion - another Defective, in much worse shape.

'Son, come here a moment.'

NGE 1:5

:: I was wary, but when a Citizen calls, you go, unless you've got one hell of a head start.

'Yessir?' The man was in his 40s, from the look, but for all I knew of Citizens, he could have been 140. He looked like one of those mad scientists from the old comic books and movies Matthew had managed to horde before the Cops Recycled him.

'Are you Evan?'

'Yeah. Who are you and how the fuck do you know me.'

'My name is Dr. Joseph Neon, and James told me where I could find you. I have a proposition for you, Evan.'

I don't know why, but I listened.

NGE 2:1

:: Dr. Neon led me to the table that Timothy and I had been sitting at. 'You don't like being a Void, do you, Evan?'

'What kind of a stupid bloody question is that?' I couldn't believe the twit! 'Of course I don't frikkin' like it! What are you, a moron?'

'No, Evan, I am not. It was a rhetorical question. Anyway, I would like you to help me - and yourself in the process.'

'Help you, how?' I stood, preparing to run if he did anything funny.

'I want you to help me eliminate the Governing.'

'Why me?'

'Because you're the best choice. I need a Void, since Citizens are unable to work outside the Governing's view, for any extended amount of time. The amount of hacking by my assistant required to allow me an hour a day is horrendous...'

'How'd you manage to start this then?'

'The Governing lost track of me, for a while. Bad coding, I guess. In that time, I made arrangements that allowed for this. It's unimportant. While I need a Void, I cannot use an Irredeemable, since they are, by definition untrustworthy and dangerous, and I need someone I can trust, so I need a Defective. You are the healthiest Defective I could find, without doing the kind of search that's bound to attract the attention of the Geeps.' Geeps, he said! Only other person I've ever heard call the Cops Geeps is Peter - one of the oldest Defectives. Perhaps, I thought, Dr. Neon was older than I had estimated. Neon checked his watch, and swore. 'I must leave now, Evan. Would you please meet me back here tomorrow at this time?' I nodded and Neon bolted.

NGE 2:2

+ Evan was waiting when I arrived. 'Hello, Evan.'

'Sir.'

'Evan,' I sat at the table and looked him dead in the eye. 'Evan, as I said yesterday, I want you to help me eliminate the Governing, since it has become insane, as strange as the idea of an insane AI may seem to you.'

'You said that, yeah. What you didn't say is how you expect me to help.'

I leaned in close, and Evan did the same. 'I have designed what I call the Genesis Armour. It's based on the Governing Police armour, but has been improved, somewhat. I want you to wear the Genesis Armour, and take care of the Geeps, while other agents of mine shut down the Governing. The armour is designed to compensate for your...handicaps.' I gestured at his arm, justifying my bluntness with the thought that tact was less important that expedience.

'This armour...it's designed especially for me?' He looked suspicious.

'It has to be. But, no, right now, the design is not specific to you. When...if...you agree to do this, the design will be customized, and the Armour built, and...I feel I must tell you that surgery is involved...'

'Sur...? You're a fucking Harvester, aren't you?' His eyes were wide with fear.

'No, Evan, no! I am not a Harvester. If I were would I warn you that there was surgery necessary?'

'No, I guess not.' He looked down, then back up at me. 'I'll do it.'

'Excellent! Can you read, Evan?'

'A little.'

'Then come to this address tomorrow about twenty minutes earlier than you met me here. My assistant will meet you, and prepare you for the surgery.' I handed him the card with the address and left.

NGE 2:3

:: The address that Dr. Neon gave me was an abandoned Void Shelter. 'If he's doing surgery in here, he must not be a Harvester. Anything he harvested would end up too contaminated to use.' I knocked three times, waited, and knocked twice more, as the card he gave me said. A girl about my age answered. She probably would have been pretty, if it weren't for some serious scarring on her face and left arm, which probably continued under her clothes. 'Um, I'm Evan.'

'I know, Dr. Neon told me to expect you.' Her voice was quiet, barely a whisper. 'My name's Mary. Please, come in.' Mary closed the door behind us, and bolted it, with a lock that looked like it would cave to the tiniest pressure. The room we were in was better looking than the outside of the building, but not much. It didn't look like it was going to cave in, at least, and there was some fairly expensive looking equipment in there. But how am I supposed to judge, right? 'Please remove your shirt, Evan.'

'Only if you do it first.' I grinned at her, but the look on her face was part anger, part sadness, and part revulsion. I stripped my shirt off without further comment. She then went about marking places on my chest, arms and head, for some obscure reason.

NGE 2:4

+ When I arrived at the Shelter, Evan was ready for surgery.

'Hey, Doc, shouldn't you be giving me something to knock me out?'

'No, the technique used will locally anaesthetize the areas I work on as I work. Now lie back.' He did as I asked, and I began to work.

'So, Doctor, why me? Why not Mary, say?'

'Lie still. I was going to use Mary, but the injuries that resulted in her Voiding caused some very minor brain-damage that while not having any real effect on her intelligence or personality, made the implants to use the Armour useless.'

'Implants?'

'Yes. I'm sorry, I must have forgotten to tell you. The Armour is directly linked to your brain - one of the improvements on the Geeps armour. I use Neuroptic fibers, which are illegal for just this reason. Now, hold your head still unless you want to be lobotomized.' Mary walked over and clamped his head as I inserted the implant.

NGE 2:5

:: I looked at myself in the mirror after Dr. Neon left, having completed the surgery. There were slight dimples at the points where he added the implants, but they weren't really noticeable. Mary stood to one side as I examined myself. I turned to her. 'So, you work for Dr. Neon huh?' She nodded. 'Are you the assistant he talked about?' Nod. 'Are you the only person who works for him?' She shook her head.

'You work for him too,' She whisper-spoke. 'Would you like something to eat, Evan? Dr. Neon makes sure to get me plenty of food.'

'Yes, thank you.' I could hear my stomach anticipating the food. She quickly left and returned with a plate of some sort of meat and paste each.

'Will you be staying here, Evan?' She asked me as she placed my plate in front of me.

'I think so, Mary. It's warmer here than where I usually crash, and the food's better.' I took a bite of the meat - bland, but not tainted, which was unusual, frankly. 'And so is the company.'

NGE 3:1

:: The next day, when Dr. Neon showed up, he locked himself in his lab with the Armour components, and told Mary and me not to disturb him. So, we got a lot of time to talk.

'So, Mary, how long have you worked for Dr. Neon?'

'A long time...' Her whisper-voice seemed...I don't know, actually... it's hard to tell with her, anyway.

We both fell silent for a while...whatever I heard in her voice, it bothered me. It was Mary who broke the silence. 'Evan? Does my scarring...does it bother you?'

'Your...?' I laughed. 'No. I'm a Void just like you. A Defective. I've seen worse.' Then I suddenly felt...ashamed of my own deformities. 'Do my arm and leg bother you, Mary?'

'No.' She responded too quickly, I thought. 'Um...yes...I...' She fell silent.

'Don't be ashamed, Mary.' I moved a little closer, but turned my right side away from her. 'You weren't born a Defective, were you, Mary? There was an accident.'

'No. There was a fire. I got burned.' She didn't seem comfortable talking about it, so I spoke up.

'Well, I was born this way. I've lived all my life among the Voids, so I've had time to get used to people with severe scarring, or missing limbs, or whatever. Hell, it's rare for a Void to be completely intact, even if he's an Irredeemable.'

She looked down at her hands which were folded in her lap. 'I feel so bad about...' She stopped talking and sobbed.

'Don't worry about it.' It was blatantly obvious I'd have to change the subject quickly. 'How long have you known Dr. Neon. Did he recruit you like he did me?'

'No. He...' She paused. 'I knew him before the fire.'

NGE 3:2

+ Adapting the Armour design to accommodate Evan wasn't just easy, it proved to be useful. The original design had the joints set to enhance the natural strength of the wearer, so I didn't have to change them much to give Evan a working arm and leg, so the extra space was free for the power cells so that the over all bulk of the Armour was reduced.

I was also able to add the stun device to the right hand, and improve the locking mechanism for the Armour's knife. Yes, it proved quite useful.

NGE 3:3

:: I was surprised when, the next day, Dr. Neon only spent twenty minutes in his lab before pulling a table with the armour into the main room.

'Here it is. Evan, if you'll remove your prosthetic we can get you into the armour.' I sat down and did as he said, handing my leg over to Mary who was waiting to take it. Dr. Neon wheeled the table over to me and put a small metal disc to the armour, which opened. With a little help from him and Mary, I managed to get into the armor, settling my hand into the left glove and foot into the left boot, both of which didn't open, though the forearm and shin did. With a small push on the left half of the breastplate, Dr. Neon closed the armour around me, and Mary placed the helmet on my head.

I felt the implants as they connected with the Armour's systems, and then...it's hard to explain, actually. The Armour felt like my own body, only not. That is to say, it felt like a part of me, though it was a novelty to have a functioning hand attached to my right arm. I stood and looked at myself in the mirror Dr. Neon presented. I looked /big/. The Armour was white and blue - giving almost the impression of a cloudy sky. I looked like a comic book hero. I worked the right hand, which responded as readily as my left.

'I think I'm going to like this.' My voice startled me. It was deep, with a metallic echo. It certainly wasn't anything like when I wasn't wearing the armour. 'Too Cool.'

NGE 3:4

+ After giving Evan a run through on the basics of moving in the Armour - I hadn't realized I would have to until he nearly crushed Mary when he stepped wrong - I got him out, and put the Armour away, preparing to return to the world of Citizens. I was heading for the door when Evan intercepted me.

'Doc, I have something to ask you.'

'Make it quick, Evan, I've only got 10 minutes.'

'I was speaking to Mary yesterday while you were working on the Armour, and your relationship came up...' I must have reacted - though I can't remember how - because Evan smiled slightly. 'But she wouldn't talk about it. Then, when I stumbled earlier, your reaction seemed more than I'd expect from someone worried about his assistant. So, anyway, what's the deal? You two got something going on? You screwing her?'

'No!!!!!' I found myself having to force myself not to take a swing at him. 'No, Evan, I am not.' I took a breath.

'Ok, Doc, fine! No need to react like that, though. I'm just asking...'

'But you don't know what your question is implying.' I took another breath. 'Mary is my daughter.' He looked shocked, and I wondered why he never considered that option.

'Your daughter? Then why does she call you Dr. Neon?'

'I asked her to, around you. I don't know why....'

'Maybe you were ashamed to have a Void for a daughter?'

I didn't answer his question. 'She was our pride and joy. Then there was that damnable fire. We were just happy that she wasn't killed, but then the doctors gave us the news. The Governing had declared her a Defective - a Void. We appealed, but they sent her away, anyway. We appealed again - her scars were cosmetic - nothing worth Voiding her for. No good. Her mother...she...she couldn't take it. She threw herself in front of a transport...' I could feel my throat tighten. 'That's why I want to destroy the Governing, and end Voiding. No altruistic reason. I just want my daughter back.' I turned towards the door again. 'Tell her you know she's my daughter, but please...don't tell her about her mother. She doesn't know, and I don't...' I choked and rushed out the door, heading for home.

END BOOK ONE

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