“Are you fucking insane?!” Nick shouted from inside his Evangelion unit. He was still inside the NERV headquarters, decked out in his plug suit and seemingly prepared for battle. His blood was boiling he didn’t think he’d ever sweat so much in his life.
Simply put, he was terrified out of his wits.
“I just started training today. Today!” he shouted amidst the sirens and flashing lights.
“Yes Nick, we’re aware,” Dr. Brentson said calmly.
“And you’re going to send me out there when a fucking angel... which no one has explained to me what the fuck they are, by the way, is fucking attacking and expect me to do something about it and not get fucking killed?!”
“That’s the plan.”
His even demeanor was enraging to Nick, but he had nothing left. There wasn’t anything he could do and there was no fight left in him.
Not a good position to be in right before he had to go out and do battle with some kind of greedy celestial being.
“Could you be anymore whiny?” Angie’s smug voice came laughing through Nick’s intercom system. “Lord.”
Nick took a deep breath. How the hell had he managed to get himself into this situation? He swore to himself that once this was all over, he’d never complain about JIVE or management or anyone else again.
“We’re deploying the units now,” he heard Risa’s voice say.
Nick squeezed his eyes shut and prepared him for whatever “deploying the units.” meant. He assumed it was something to do with him and Angie being ejected from the NERV headquarters and being placed to do battle with the angels and -
Nick wasn’t able to think anymore as he felt the unit move. It moved fast and completely without his control. He took a deep breath and tried to focus his energy on moving the unit himself, just as Risa had told him to do.
“I’d advise you don’t do that right now, Nick,” Risa said to him, and Nick opened his eyes. Not that he could see her, the only thing in front of him were the controls to his unit. “We’ve taken over control of your units. You’ll want to save your energy for battle.”
It was hard for him to conserve energy when he felt like fear was draining all of it away from him. Still he nodded his head in agreement, even though he had no idea if Risa could see him or not.
After a few moments of being jostled around, the feelings stopped. Nick glanced around and a screen opened up in front of him. He peered at it, seeing buildings at eye level and a bright light in the sky.
“That’s the view from outside your unit,” he heard Dr. Brentson’s voice say to him. “And that light in the sky is the angel.”
Nick squinted to try and make out any kind of bodily shape, but he couldn’t. It really just looked like a sparkly mess of light ripping through the clear blue sky.
That is, until that mess of light shot something resembling white lightning bolt right at him. He darted out of the way without even realizing that he was in complete control of the until through his mind. “What the fuck?” he shouted.
“That’s what angels do, Nick,” Angie said in her condescending tone. Nick watched as she effortlessly stepped in front of him and shielded another beam of light from striking him. “They attack.”
Nick was too stunned to say anything else. His hands shook as he gripped the controls, but he was at a loss as to what to do or how he could possibly help.
Meanwhile, Angie was in front of him shielding and deflecting light right back at the sky. Her unit moved around easily and fluidly, as if it was an actual being and not just a piece of machinery being controlled by a small girl inside of it.
Nick just sat there while his unit stood there. Robotic arms at his sides, completely rigid. If someone were to push it, it would fall over without a second thought.
Angie? She was in front of him leaping around and sending light back to the sky. “Yes!” she cried, her voice cracking through the intercom in Nick’s unit. “Almost got him, and yes!”
After deflecting yet another beam of light back up to the sky, the other arm of her unit transformed into a gun and sent a blast upwards. The sparkly crack in the sky shimmered, and imploded within itself, before exploding like a firework.
Nick just stared in amazement. In fact, he didn’t even realize he was completely mesmerized until he felt his unit shake.
That could only mean one thing - Risa and Dr. Brentson had taken it over again and he was on his way back to NERV.
Indeed he was right - before he could register what was happening he was no longer outside. He was still sitting in the unit, but the unit was sitting inside the large holding cell at NERV.
His pod was ejected from the unit and the door opened with a zipping of the vacuum seal. Nick kicked his legs over the side and sighed as he pushed himself out of it. He looked to his right and sure enough, there was Angie hopping out of her pod as well.
He took a moment to watch her. She was also wearing one of those tight vinyl suits that clung to all the right places. The way her chest rose and fell with every breath she took served as a nice distraction for Nick.
But the distraction was only fleeting because Angie looked at him. She gave him a cheeky grin as she ran her fingers through her hair. “Certainly gives a new meaning to spending all of your time in flashes of light, doesn’t it?” she laughed. “And what happened to you being capable?” she asked, hands on her hips.
“Enough,” Dr. Brentson said as he and Risa entered the holding cell. “Angie, back to your room.”
“Not even a good work?” she asked as she walked by in a huff. “Hmph.”
She exited the room and the moment she was gone Nick turned his attention back the two adults standing in front of him. Suddenly he felt like he was a child and he’d done something to displease his mother.
He glanced at Risa, hoping she would offer him some of of support, but she only averted her gaze from him. Instead, Dr. Brentson started in on him.
“You were lucky you didn’t get killed,” he said, narrowing his eyes at Nick.
Nick scoffed. That was rich - he hadn’t even known what to do! It wasn’t like he signed up for this voluntarily. It wasn’t like he’d gone out for a drink without a bodyguard. That was (and had been, in the past) a bad decision on his own accord that really could have gotten him killed. But this? None of this, as far as he was concerned, was his fault.
“Give me a break,” Nick said, taking a page out of Angie’s book and rolling his eyes. “I had no idea what the fuck to do out there. You guys give me one little training session and expect me to go out there and kick ass? Even MTV lets us rehearse more than that.”
Dr. Brentson and Risa exchanged a look.
“We don’t have control over when the angels attack, Nick,” Risa said.
“Yeah, whatever,” Nick muttered.
“The world is in real danger. Rest assured you’ll be going back into training after this, because we can’t have another incident happen like that again.”
Nick stood up, shaking his head. “Right, well I’ve got news for you. Your whole operation is bullshit - you can do this without me. You saw Angie out there, she didn’t need me. Girl can handle her own,” he said, walking away from the two of them.
“It would be unwise for you to walk away at this point, Nick,” Dr. Brentson said, raising his voice only slightly so Nick could still hear him.
“Uh huh,” Nick said, but still he stopped in his tracks. He turned around to face them once again. “This isn’t my job, you know. And if it is, it’s a pretty shitty one. Do I even get paid?”
His question was ignored. “Risa, take Nickolas back to his quarters.”
Risa nodded, walking over to Nick and escorting him out of the holding cell. Once the doors closed behind them, Nick turned to her. “It’s fucking bullshit.”
She pursed her lips together and looked up at him, tucking a piece of blonde hair behind her ear. “It can’t be helped.”
“It can be,” Nick pressed, nearly getting down on his knees and begging her. “Why me? Get someone else, some military dude who actually has experience blowing shit real shit up. Let me go back to doing what I do best - singing and entertaining people and taking their minds off of shit like this.”
Risa narrowed her eyes and looked him straight into his. It was a look that nearly made Nick’s blood run cold. “You are the pilot of Evangelion Unit One. In order to control the unit it has to sync up with you and your DNA. There is only one way out.” she said seriously.
Nick gulped. Though all of this mess, death hadn’t truly crossed his mind as a possibility. He’d just assumed that eventually he’d be free to return to his popstar life. Now it was very clear - it was either win the fight against the angels or die trying.
“Do you understand?” Risa asked him, her tone much softer than it had been just moments before.
Nick nodded. “Take me back to my room,” he said, his mouth suddenly very dry.
Risa nodded, wordlessly accompanying back to his room.
As soon as the door shut Nick hit the button on the suit he was still wearing to loosen it from his body. He shrugged it off, placing it in a lump in the corner of his room. Not bothering to put on any clothes, he sat on his bed and picked up his phone without a second thought.
Kevin picked up after only two rings.
“It’s Nick,” he said as soon as Kevin answered.
“How’s it going, little bro?” Normally Kevin’s sympathetic and fatherly tone would have annoyed him. But now he found himself needed that annoyance and sense of normalcy more than ever.
Nick sighed. That was a loaded question, one that he couldn’t answer 100% honestly. Then again, he couldn’t remember a time when he was able to answer a question with exactly what was on his mind. “A’ight,” he said simply.
Kevin chuckled, but it seemed forced to Nick.
“Brian said you guys had a meeting with the label.”
“Yeah, we did. The tour’s on hold indefinitely.”
“Sorry,” Nick said, even though for once all of this trouble wasn’t actually his fault. And ironically, when it was, he rarely apologized.
“It’s not your fault.”
“What did you guys tell the fans?” Nick asked, and almost laughed. He was hardly ever concerned about what the fans thought.
“We told them we were postponing it for everyone’s safety. They know a bit about what’s going on in New York... it’s been on the news. Are you staying safe?”
Nick scoffed. He definitely would be staying safe if he had any sort of choice in the matter. “Yes,” he lied for his and Kevin’s mutual benefit.
“Good,” Kevin replied, but Nick knew that he was fully aware he’d lied. “I’ve gotta get going, Nick. You take care, okay? If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call.”
“Thanks, bye Kevin.”
As nice as the offer was, Nick knew that for once Kevin wouldn’t be able to help or offer any sort of long-winded advice about the situation. This burden was his and his alone.
