Doctor Who: The Evangelion Error (Book One)

E5 Part 9: Do you have any recommendations?

Misato's apartment

The sun had nearly set in the sky by the time Misato finally dragged herself back up the stairs and to her front door. Just about every inch of her hurt. She looked like a damned mummy, for all the bandages the hospital had insisted on wrapping her up in. Her hands, in particular, were completely bound in gauze and anti-inflammatory cream — she'd lost a lot of skin from the rope burn, they'd said — so she had to type in the door code with her nose.

He was waiting for her inside. Feet propped up on the kitchen table. Reading her newspaper. He'd changed his suit, at least.

She paused. Then walked past him to the fridge.

"So," she said, as she pulled out what was undoubtedly the most well-deserved can of beer she'd ever had in her life, "is breaking and entering just a lifestyle choice for you, or what?"

"Didn't have a choice." The Doctor flipped to the next page. "Too many security cameras. You take down too many for too long, people tend to notice."

"You don't say." She sat down across the table from him.

He flipped another page. "No comics," he muttered. "I don't understand that. Why would you make a newspaper without comics? Even just an editorial cartoon or two..."

She sighed. "Look — if this is about that one thing, I'm sorry. That was below the —"

"Forget about it." He folded up the paper and tossed it aside. "We'll just chalk it up to the heat of the moment, shall we? Just... don't do that again. Ever."

"So what are you doing here? Thought you said you didn't like monsters."

"Well — that is —" He glanced down at the unopened can of beer in her bandaged hands. "Are... you going to need help with that?"

She waved him off. "It's fine. I'll take care of it."

"Right. So. Business, then." He put his feet down on the floor and looked her in the eye. "That hospital you mentioned. The one for the adult pilots. Was that true?"

She looked down. "Yeah."

He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "I was afraid of that. Nothing's ever simple..."

She tried to pull up the can's tab. It felt like sticking her finger in a vise. "So, what... were you hoping we were just a pack of sadistic bastards? Using kid pilots for laughs, or something?"

"I wouldn't say hoping... but it just doesn't make any sense." He looked up towards the ceiling. "You've got the resources of the entire planet at your disposal. Why wouldn't you take better care of two children?"

"Look — just the hell are you expecting from me here?!" She slammed the can down on the table. "Even if everything you said is true — it doesn't change that we're in a fight for survival. And if I push back too hard against command, they'll just fire me and bring in someone who doesn't give a damn about the pilots. And trust me, they won't have to look very hard!"

The Doctor didn't say anything.

She stared at the bandages on her hand. "I'm just... trying to get Shinji through this alive. Alive and... intact, I guess. And the way things have been going lately, I don't even know if I can do that."

The room was silent for a moment. Then the toilet flushed. Penpen opened the door to the bathroom and plodded across the kitchen to the fridge. He — or she, maybe. After all these years of owning one as a pet, Misato still wasn't entirely clear if cybernetically-augmented, genetically-engineered penguins had a gender — opened the freezer and pulled out a sushi pack.