Nick was awake the next morning before the sun came up.
Not that he’d been able to witness it. He was sitting in Evangelion Unit One, plug suit bonded tightly around him. With the controls at his hands, he stifled a yawn.
“Is there a reason I have to be up this early?” he muttered, but of course he knew the answer to that already. It was the same reason he’d been up late the night before, staring at the brown ceiling, unable to fall asleep.
“We don’t know when the next angel attack is coming,” Risa explained to him. “You have to be prepared at any moment.”
“I don’t see Angie out here,” Nick muttered, looking around at the control board in front of him.
“You let us worry about her,” Risa said to him. “I’m deploying the unit now.”
Nick sighed, closing his eyes as he rumbled from inside the pod. He’d never been much of a fan of flying in an airplane - but that was a walk in the park compared to this.
Seconds later he felt the feet of Unit One hit the ground. He opened his eyes to see the electronic screen appear in front of him once again. Only this time, he didn’t recognize the setting as lower manhattan. Instead, it looked like some kind of military facility.
“Uh, where am I?” Nick asked, panic setting in. At least on an airplane there was a live map!
“You’re in the training grounds just outside the city,” Risa explained to him. “It’s setup so the pilots can actually be tested in battle and get extra training if they need to.”
Nick didn’t have a comeback for that because it actually seemed like a smart idea. Too bad he hadn’t actually been able to take advantage of it before being thrown out into the battlefield.
His mind had wandered off sufficiently, as it tended to do. Only back on tour the only thing he had to worry about was Kevin warning him to pay attention to whatever was happening around him. Not the explosion that had struck the left side of his unit.
“Fuck!” Nick cried, putting his hands on either side of the pod to try and stabilize himself. “What’re you doing?”
Risa’s voice was calm. “You have to be prepared for an attack at any time. Especially when you’re inside the unit.”
Nick glared at the speaker, but there wasn’t much he could do. Short of trying his best to kick ass and destroy whatever threat came his way. Then he could go back to touring and being on stage and his biggest worry being whether or not there was going to be food on the tour bus after the show. Which there always was.
He licked his lips and focused his attention on the screen in front of him. “Come at me, bro.”
There was an explosion right in front of his unit and he stepped back, stumbling a little but regaining his composure. Nick pumped his fist in the air in excitement, but before he had chance to get overly confident, something struck the back of his unit.
“Hey!” Nick shouted, concentrating his energy on turning the unit around. But when he finally did, whatever had struck him was nowhere to be seen.
“You’re going to have to be quicker than that,” Risa said to him seconds before another mine blew up near his unit’s feet. “Avoid the mines,” she instructed him.
Nick took a deep breath and nodded, watching the screen and facing Unit One’s head downward. The ground was displayed in front of him, and almost instantly his view was obstructed by thick smoke.
“You didn’t even give me a chance,” Nick said with annoyance.
“That’s the point.”
Nick pulled his hands off of the two joystick-like controls in front of him to rub his face and eyes. He’d played a lot of video games in his life, but he never thought he’d ever have to harness those skills for anything useful.
“You can dance, right?” Risa said, cutting into Nick’s thoughts. “Use your agility.”
He looked at the speaker and raised his eyebrow. It was a weird comparison, but it was a worth a shot.
One by one, mines blew up around him. Some stuck the feet of his unit, and some didn’t. Nick shook inside the seat of the pod whenever he failed to step out of the way in time. “Fuck,” he muttered to himself every so often. “Fuck, fuck, fuck...”
He gripped the controls and stopped biting his lip. He was in an almost catatonic-type state as he concentrated only on the screen in front of him.
The only thing he could hear was silence. Aside from the land-mines, obviously. There was no muttering of cuss words, no shifting in his seat. Most of all - his unit was struck by anything. For a giant robot that probably weighed thousands of tonnes, Nick was making its movements seem lighter than air.
He was so in the zone that it took him a couple moments before he realized the mines had stopped. He leaned back in his seat and looked at the top of the pod.
“That was fantastic, Nick!” Risa exclaimed, and Nick smiled a little a the speaker. Maybe he wasn’t going to be so bad at this world saving thing after all. “We’re going to transport you back to the holding cell now.”
Nick nodded and closed his eyes. He had acquired a little more confidence, but that didn’t make the transportation process of his unit any more enjoyable. But it didn’t take long, and before Nick knew it, he was back in the holding cell, being ejected from the unit.
“That was really well done,” Risa said, looking down at him from the bridge. “A big improvement from yesterday.”
Nick nodded, a small smile forming on his face. Now that his training for the day was over, he was really just itching to get out of the suit and back into his room.
Not that there was much for him to do, but at least he wouldn’t have tight plastic clinging to his skin.
“You can go back to your room,” Risa said, turning her attention back to the computer in front of her. “There’s also food being served in the cafeteria on the fourth floor.”
Nick’s stomach grumbled at the mere mention of food. For the past few days his meals had been delivered directly to him. While that was nice, he appreciated the idea of actually going to get his food. It made him seem less like a prisoner.
“Thanks,” he said.
Risa nodded her head, but didn’t turn away from whatever she was working on. Nick just shrugged and went back to his room.
It didn’t take him long to change out of his plugsuit and get into regular clothes. As he walked through the halls of NERV, he couldn’t help but feel out of place. Everyone was wearing business attire or lab coats, and he was just walking around in an old t-shirt and jeans.
Not that he cared about his appearance, but it was still strange to him. That, and as he walked through the halls in search of the cafeteria, no one seemed to take much notice of him.
He tried not to let it bother him as he stood in line, taking generous portions of the food that was available. He scanned the room for somewhere to sit. The were plenty of empty tables that he could have picked, but instead his eyes fell on a different one.
One occupied by a solitary redhead who looked to be quite focused on her plate of french fries.
“Hi,” Nick said, setting his tray down and sitting across from her.
Angie looked up at him and raised her eyebrow. She popped a fry into her mouth. “Hi,” she said.
Nick shoved three fries at once into his mouth. He watched Angie as he chewed his food. She was less than chatty, with an annoyed look on her face.
They ate in silence for a few minutes before Nick had to speak up. Angie’s lack of small talk told him that she probably wanted to be alone. But since Nick didn’t know anyone else and was feeling particularly lonely, he’d take his chances sitting with someone he even remotely knew.
Besides, she was the other pilot so they would have something to talk about. Right?
“Did you have to do training today?” he asked her after he’d cleared half his plate. “I was out on this badass battlefield.”
Angie shrugged. “No, thought I did a good enough job saving your ass that I didn’t have to go through extra training.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “I’ve been here for, like, three days.”
“Right,” she said, glaring at him. “And in those three days you’ve been in the Evangelion like, two times and you still have this dickish attitude.”
“Attitude?” Nick challenged her. “I’m not the one sitting here acting like a pompus bitch.”
“Neither am I.”
“Actually,” Nick said, narrowing his eyes at her. “You kinda are.”
Angie just shrugged, biting on the straw of her drink and finishing it until it made a slurping sound.
Nick raised his eyebrow and took a deep breath as he watched her. She just smirked at him a little, clearly aware of the fact that she was irritating him.
“What the fuck is your issue?” he blurted out, because he’d always had trouble keeping his mouth shut. “It’s not like this was my choice. I didn’t show up here and say ‘hey, can you give me an assload of responsibility?’”
“No,” Angie said, standing up sharply and pressing the palms of her hands on the table. “You didn’t, did you? You were just brought here and expected everyone to act like you were The Chosen One. Like you’re somehow special.”
“Uh, yeah,” Nick shrugged, as though it was obvious. “We’re piloting those things that are supposed to save the god damn world.”
“Well, we’re not special, Nick,” she huffed. “Everyone here works really hard and it’s not just you or me or any other person who gets all the credit. Sorry that you come from this world where everyone fucking worships you but here we’re a team and you better start acting like it. Christ.” She glared at him one more time before picking up her tray, tossing her garbage in the bin and walking out of the cafeteria briskly.
Nick just watched her go, half irritated and half stunned. He glanced back down at his tray and half-eaten dinner. Suddenly, it didn’t look so appetizing anymore. Instead he picked it up, emptied it into a garbage bin and shoved his hands in his pockets as he made his way back to his room.
Angie’s words had stung, and though Nick didn’t want to believe she was right, part of him knew that she was. As he walked down the halls, he glanced at everyone he passed by. Not many people took notice of him, but this time he analysed it a little more.
He missed being adored. He missed charming the world with his smile. He missed walking into a room and hearing thousands of girls scream.
He walked back into his room silently, shutting the door gently behind him. He rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a nylon CD case. Music was something that always helped him figure his shit out.
Nothing caught his eye until he got to the end of the large binder. The disc was so familiar to him, but so foreign at the same time. He was sure he’d never actually listened to it before.
He placed the disc into the player and laid down on his bed. The upbeat first track did little to lift his spirits, but he listened to it all the same, mouthing along with the words he knew all too well.
He had a job that was so much more important now, didn’t he? One that came with far less attention and recognition than his more insignificant role.
Nick blinked back tears as the first track ended and the dreaded second track played. A song he’d been so sick of at one point, that it had physically hurt.
Now, all he wanted to do was get back up on stage and do what he did best.
