Creation began on 06-26-17

Creation ended on 07-04-17

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Evangelion APB

A/N: I was just skimming through the pilot episode and then browsed my random thoughts and got stuck on something entirely new.

Gendo Ikari looked over his son's file for the umpteenth time and found it to be impossible to understand because there was something about the boy that didn't add up. Ever since the failed contact experiment over a decade ago, he left the boy in the care of his maternal aunt and uncle…and then found the boy living with his maternal grandmother about eight months later…and then, through means and reasons currently unknown to NERV, was some sort of child prodigy billionaire with a degree in mechanical engineering. Not only that, but his son owned his own company.

"How is something like this possible, Ikari?" Kozo Fuyutsuki asked the man, just as confused. "He should be just a fourteen-year-old, and he's the head of his own company…and a billionaire? Was this ever part of your scenario?"

Gendo knew that he had to get in contact with his son, but the only number listed in his personal file was the number of the boy's company.

New Genesis Solutions.

-x-

A beautiful view of the world outside his office. That's all the fourteen-year-old Shinji Ikari could ask for today, looking at the large garden in front of his company's building, admiring the flowers, trees and water fountains. It was a greater sight than the display cases showing off the old television and vacuum cleaner that he up and one day started tinkering with and got working again. It was those same things that made his aunt and uncle go and drop him off one day at his maternal grandmother's because he decided to show them that the devices they were going to dispose of were working once more.

That one day became two weeks…and then a month…until Shinji realized that he had been abandoned for the second time in his childhood. He wasn't even sure how he was able to get the appliances to resume functionality again; he just tinkered with their pieces and cleaned what was dirty. Then one day, his grandmother gave him a book on computers that would've taken any child his age some time to finish because he didn't know many words; he ended up getting tired of it within four hours…and then showing her how to work her unused computer.

She took him to see a specialist, who, after a long conversation with him, discovered that Shinji possessed a photographic memory and was demonstrating a gift for machines.

"If you put him in a room with a broken video game console and replacement parts, he would know what to do and get them working again," the specialist explained, and that was exactly what they did to Shinji…along with pairing him with three other children with photographic memory.

But Shinji did something totally different that day with those kids. He turned the broken video game console into a rudimentary computer to access the building's Internet. Until he got bored and asked to do something else. He felt constrained, isolated, rejected, like people only wanted him for what they wanted to see or hear…and threw aside the rest of him.

Until he met three kids two years older than he was that were his intellectual inferiors…and grew on him after a while.

"Hey, Shinji," he heard his company's CFO and military enthusiast otaku, Kensuke Aida, greet him as he stepped into his office. "We got purchases of thirty of the new drones."

"Individually or a large order?" He asked the freckled boy.

"One buyer in New York asked for three, another in Chicago wants eight, and two here bought the rest, totaling more than sixty-and-a-half billion in US currency, including their payloads and additional features," he answered.

The new drone being spoken about was the one that was used in a fire demonstration two days to show how it was capable of putting out fires by using concussive charges and could deal with temperatures up to two-thousand degrees and remain airborne for up to thirty-seven consecutive hours. Just another masterpiece that Shinji helped create to make people's lives easier.

"Great, Kensuke," he told him. "That's…really great."

As the CFO, Kensuke knew that "great" meant "great"…but a friend to Shinji, "great" was just another word that didn't go well with the boy's depression.

"What's bothering you, Shinji?" He asked, wanting to know.

"I got a call yesterday from my aunt," he revealed. "My grandmother died. I was supposed to go see her today. Instead, I'm trying to arrange her funeral affairs because I don't want her buried in that eyesore of a parched expanse of land called a cemetery."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

His grandmother was really the only one that actually didn't cast him aside like his other relatives had done years ago. She was also the only relative that didn't even try to ask him for a handout like his aunt had when he made his first thirty grand by fixing some computers at a small firm and then went into business for himself. He always spent every other day, every other week, every other month seeing her, letting her know that he cared, even when she had to spend her few, remaining years in a nursing home after losing mobility in her right leg, prompting him to start working into the field of cybernetics, wanting to help people get back onto their feet and use their hands again.

"Is there anything we can do for you, Shinji?" Kensuke asked.

"It would be appreciated if you could attend the date to pay respects to her when I get it all straightened out," he suggested.

-x-

"…I can't believe some kid owns his own company," said Misato Katsuragi as she examined the front entrance and lobby of the building. This place makes NERV HQ feel like a dungeon.

The building was at least seven stories, with five sub-levels, twenty-eight divisions dedicated to things like renewable energy sources, material science, cybernetics, even refining machines as simple as mopeds and complex as cars.

Though, for some reason, to Misato, it seemed that there was no research being done that delved into the field of genetic engineering. At least the holographic maps and guides were helpful, otherwise, she'd be lost just trying to find out where Shinji's office resided.

Does he even know about NERV? She wondered.

-x-

"…Um, Hikari, could you cancel my remaining appointments for today?" Shinji asked the computer girl that was another older friend of his over the intercom on his phone in his office. "I'll be going out the countryside."

"Yes, sir," he heard her response.

Even though she was still a student before her work hours, Shinji felt that she could've at least ceased with the formalities when talking him, class representative or not. It was one of these things that made him feel like more of a recluse when he was approached by the Japanese military.

As he stepped out of his office, he caught sight of a woman in her late-twenties, with purple hair, a red coat and a dark dress that barely reached down to her knees up the hall from him; this woman clearly didn't know the dress code around here prohibited unconservative clothing.

"Excuse me, but are you Shinji Ikari?" She had asked.

"Who is asking?" He countered with a question of his own.

"Misato Katsuragi of NERV."

"Never heard of NERV…nor do I even want to, ma'am. Yes, I am Shinji, and I'm taking the rest of the day off to take a view of the countryside."

As he turned to leave, the woman followed him.

"Wait, I'm here to take you to see your father in Tokyo-3," she told him.

"I haven't seen him ever since he dumped me…and I'm not interested in seeing him again."

"Don't you know what he does there?"

"Like I said, I don't know a thing about NERV and I don't want to know."

He stepped into an elevator, but the woman continued to follow him.

"You mean, you didn't get a letter from him asking you to go to Tokyo-3?" She questioned.

"I'm rarely at my apartment these days," he explained to her as the elevator quickly descended. "Look, I really don't have the right mindset to be talking about anyone. My grandmother just died yesterday and I need to relax my mind while I plan her memorial."

The elevator stopped and opened up to a garage.

"You have a chauffeur?" She asked.

"Scooter," he revealed, walking down to the parking spaces where various bikes and scooters were, getting on one that was green and orange. "Whatever the reason that man wants to see me, tell him I'm not interested…or as busy as he could claim himself to be. I was already discarded twice by him and his in-laws. I got the hint to know where I'm not wanted."

He started his scooter and rode off.

What? Discarded twice?

-x-

"…According to Captain Katsuragi, the boy is rarely at his home much of the time," Gendo was being informed by Ritsuko Akagi of the current situation with his son. "And he's not under a tolerable mindset because his grandmother passed away a day ago. He neither knows of NERV nor wants to know about NERV. It would seem that…it is personal for him to reject you."

"Irrelevant," Gendo responded. "It is imperative that he be here."

"He said he was discarded by relatives twice and that he got the hint to know where he wasn't wanted."

That's just cruel, thought Fuyutsuki on this revelation, and was even disgusted to know that the boy's aunt once asked him for money after he became successful.

-x-

The drawback of success…always seemed to be the people he didn't try to think much about trying something on him. But Shinji, despite his interest in tinkering with machines and his relationship with three older teens that kept him from going over the edge between being a complete recluse and a guy that needed to get out more, really wanted nothing to do with these relatives of his that cast him aside. There were rare moments where he thought of just being able to trade all that he had for just one day with more than one relative that actually gave a damn about him, that didn't see him as some sort of problem…or a meal ticket. Yet, all he seemed to have as he rode his moped down the road, viewing the coastline…were an absentee father he didn't want anything to do with after the passing of his mother, an uncaring aunt and uncle that got rid of him just for fixing their old appliances they were going to throw out…and a dead grandmother.

There's no remedy for poor family ties, he thought, stopping his moped at an observation cliff overlooking the ocean. What does he want from me after all these years? It couldn't possibly be to ask how I managed to get by or why I'm not living with those people he dumped me with. Probably just another lying cretin trying to play at the Munchausen Syndrome act by pretending to be in distress.

He thought back to a day where he had to write an essay about his life…and had to question the teacher on the morality of people that seemed to lack the attitude to tolerate people just because they did something that was believed to be impossible to do. For his essay, he simply laid out his past and how he ended up where he is now, and how his relatives seemed more negative than positive in terms of who accepted him and who didn't.

"Shinji, why do you concern yourself with those that don't accept you?" He recalled Shizue asking him one day a year ago. "It was their unwillingness to get to know you that made them unfit to look after you, not anything you might've done."

Except Shinji couldn't remember what made his father ditch him, only the faintest sense that it was horrible because there were times where he had nightmares he couldn't remember. And he couldn't understand why smart or gifted individuals were shunned by others. After all, it was his grandmother who convinced him to use his skills to benefit people, to share his intellectual results with the world to make it a better place. He owed much of what he had right now to her caring nature; he never hated her as much as he hated the rest of the family…and he was sure it was a hatred that was going to follow him to his grave since he couldn't let go of it.

Still, it took a gracious view of the ocean in a place like this that tempered his disgust.

We're still in the trial and error stage on Ruins Salvation Project, he thought, picking up a stone and tossing it into the water below. But someday…someday, maybe we can save the planet instead of harm it like our predecessors did fifteen years ago.

-x-

"…So, basically, he fixed their broken appliances…and they got rid of him because of that?" Misato questioned Ritsuko over the fact that Shinji had been abandoned twice by his relatives.

"That's what everyone says happened," she explained. "There's nothing but bad blood between him and his maternal relations, with the sole exception of his late grandmother, and his aunt once approached him some time after leaving him with her mother…and asked him for money."

"What a bitch."

"Tell me about it. Shinji just told her to leave him alone after that day. Kid goes from having nothing to having wealth in a few years…and he is nowhere near what anyone would deem happy."

"How can he be happy? The only family member that wanted him around is dead and everyone else is either someone that just wants a piece of him or is out to get him."

"Still, his father wants to see him."

"Well, that's going to be a problem because the boy doesn't want anything to do with him or NERV."

"He's hoping he'll come around after coming here."

"And if he doesn't?"

"We'll work around that."

-x-

As he walked down the hall to his apartment door, Shinji sighed as it looked like the new door still held out, unlike the last three doors; three times in the last year, his place had been broken into, but the weirdest thing of it was that despite the appearance of being ransacked, nothing had been stolen, just moved elsewhere around his home. He didn't understand why anyone would break into his place and not take anything; it wasn't like he surrounded himself with fancy things or lived like a king in his little palace. Truth be told, Shinji lived like a common bachelor with the most meager of needs, despite his wealth. Money simply didn't buy him any happiness.

He unlocked the door and walked in, shut it behind him and locked all seven locks.

"Mew," he heard a small noise coming from his kitchen…and saw a small tabby walked out and sat in front of him. "Meow."

"Heh. Hey, Shinyu," Shinji greeted his pet. "Sorry I haven't been around lately."

-x-

"…I think the only way we're going to be able to contact Shinji is by contacting these three kids that he surrounds himself with while at New Genesis Solutions," Ritsuko informed Gendo, showing the company's personnel files on the three teens that were of similar status as the boy. "Hikari Horaki, Kensuke Aida, and Toji Suzuhara. Despite none of them having the same degree of intellect as Shinji, the boy gets along well with them, and each has a share in the company."

"Like a four-person consortium?" Fuyutsuki questioned.

"No, more like he trusts them more than the other people there. The Aida boy acts as the company CFO, Ms. Horaki serves as the head of liaisons when she's not attending school as a class representative…and her boyfriend, Mr. Suzuhara is a protege of Shinji's with a degree in electrical engineering…though some say he's more brawn than brains, but your son tolerates him. How he's able to associate with these three remains a mystery."

"Try contacting the Suzuhara boy first," Gendo ordered her.

-x-

Once more, Shinji was glad Toji invited him over to the Suzuhara household for dinner; it did him better to eat among others as a guest rather than eat alone at his place, even if he did have a cat.

"My sister, I swear," went Toji as they walked down the street after dinner; it wasn't just the fact that the four were good friends, but they all lived in the same building. "She likes it when you come over."

"It's always appreciated by me when any of you invite me over, really," Shinji responded, truly grateful. "I never know for certain what I'd do without any of you."

"Try not to think about it. Besides, you're successful. You're sure to never need to worry about such things right now."

"Yeah, I…" Shinji's response was cut short by the sight of a young girl across the street under a streetlight, illuminated from the darkness around them, dressed in an outfit he didn't recognize, but her pale skin and blue hair made her stand out, all the same.

She seemed to be looking at him, but he couldn't say for sure.

"Shinji?" Toji spoke, and Shinji shook his head before turning to face him. "You zoned out for a second. What happened?"

"I…" He went, looking back at the streetlight, but the girl was gone. "I thought I saw a girl across the street just then."

Toji decided that Shinji needed some more sugar in his diet and dragged him into a nearby store.

"Just like how my old man has every right to get trashed by booze, you deserve to indulge your sweet tooth, man," he told his friend.

Unfortunately, what neither of them expected was the insanity in front of them.

A man, or at least someone that had the physical masculinity of a man, dressed in black with a ski mask covering their face, raising a gun at the shop owner, turned to face them.

"Get down on the ground!" They shouted, clearly a man.

Naturally, Toji reacted by pulling Shinji behind a shelf while his friend took out his phone.

"Come on, pick up," Shinji pleaded for the police to respond.

"Nine-One-One emergency," said a female voice to him.

"Yes, we're in a situation at a convenience store…" He started.

"Please, hold."

"What?! No, no!"

BANG! A gunshot came and the top of the shelf holding several bags of potato chips exploded.

"The money! Now!" The armed criminal shouted at the shop owner.

"Stay on the phone, Shinji," Toji told him, grabbing a glass bottle.

"What are you…" Shinji tried to speak, but Toji had already gone around the aisle and he heard the sound of glass breaking.

"Damn kid!" The man shouted.

BANG, BANG! Two gunshots were heard…and a small thud came after.

"Shit!" The man groaned and ran out of there.

Shinji came from around the aisle and saw Toji, on the ground, a small pool of blood forming beside his body.

"Oh, no, no!" He gasped, running to him, seeing that he was shot twice in the abdomen. "Toji! Toji!"

"Aaaurgh!" Toji groaned. "Call for…call for help…"

"Nine-One-One, state your emergency," the female voice on Shinji's phone uttered.

"Yes, I need am ambulance," he told her, trembling from fear and anger. "We're at a small convenience store. My friend has been shot! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE?!"

To be continued…

A/N: I wouldn't call this a pilot chapter. More like one half of a pilot chapter, with the other half in the works. But at least it gives some insight into what to expect later on. What do you think so far?