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"Why the heck they made you an Eva pilot, I'll never understand," she continued, putting her bald head onto the tabletop and relishing the cool surface.

"Hey, it isn't like I had much of a choice about it, you know," Suzuhara grumbled, taking a sip from his can of juice, causing Asuka to shift her attention back to him.

"Eh? What do you mean, you didn't have a choice?" she asked, mind quickly flashing back to Ikari Shinji's motivation of getting into Unit 01's entry plug for the first and only time.

"Forget I said anything," Toji scowled, staring at the table, as thought that would dissuade further questions. Of course, he should have known better.

"Oh, no, you don't drop stuff like that in a conversation and then don't speak up, you idiot," his companion snapped, putting her elbows onto the table and leaning closer, "Because if you still have an out, I'd take it if I were you. You'll be massacred by the first Angel that comes along if you don't shape up, and you still hadn't had any movement training at all! I shudder to think how long it'll take to make you barely competent with Unit 02 if that's the speed you're going to learn at."

"I can't, ok!" Suzuhara mumbled, still staring at the table and clenching his juice can tightly, "They promised they'd take my sister to a Nerv hospital and pay for the treatments."

"Ah," was all Asuka was able to say, leaning back and digesting that bit of information, "I see."

So the incident with coercing Shinji into Unit 01 wasn't the only one, it seemed. Considering all that she's found out about Nerv's top management in her time at Tokyo-3, it wasn't so surprising. Making a snap decision, the girl leaned closer to Toji, modulating her voice to be as quiet as possible.

"You aren't the first they pulled that trick on, Suzuhara," she whispered, drawing the boy's attention and making his eyes widen in surprise, "remember what I told you about Ikari Shinji?"

"The one who died?" Toji whispered back, also leaning forwards and throwing a surreptitious look around.

"Yeah," Asuka answered, still in sotto voce, "Well, he didn't get into the plug willingly either. The commander paraded Ayanami in front of him, while she was still so beat up she couldn't even sit up straight, and told him she'd have to pilot if Shinji didn't."

"Woah," Suzuhara winced, "wasn't he like, the commander's son?"

"Oh yeah, like the bastard cared," the young german smirked nastily, "it was his first sortie too, the guy hadn't even seen an Eva before."

"Shii-it," Toji drawled quietly, leaning back, his juice forgotten. Asuka sipped her coffee again, grimacing.

"You said it," she commented, "I kinda get it, defend humanity at all cost, and all that, but I'd watch my step around the brass, if I were you. Considering what they did to Ayanami, I wouldn't put anything past them."

"What they did to Ayanami?" Suzuhara inquired, brows furrowing, "What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, Fourth, use your head," Asuka snapped, "You don't end up like her without some brainwashing. I mean, she's constantly going on about 'duty' and 'bond to people' and 'the commander ordered'. You don't end up like that on your own."

Suzuhara just stared back at her, flabbergasted, obviously wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into.

"Sohryu, you're being paranoid," he finally stated, though he sounded unsure, "I mean, yeah, she's quiet and a bit distant, but brainwashing? You're bullshitting me."

"Oh yeah?" the girl smirked humorlessly, "I live with her, you only see her at school. That girl's so emotionless she's like an automaton most of the time! She doesn't know anything that's not connected to Eva or to the commander. I mean, I asked her once if she's afraid of getting into Unit 00 after it went nuts that one time. You know what she'd said? That 'if she dies she can be replaced'! How fucked up is that?"

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5093352/5/