Doctor Who: The Evangelion Error (Book Two)

Deleted Scene: the minotaur

Misato's Apartment
A few weeks prior

"PERVERT!" Asuka's voice rang through the apartment's thin walls as clear as a bell, followed by a loud, painful-sounding THUMP. "Idiot! Letch! I can't believe you!"

"Ow! H-how is this my fault?!" Shinji seemed to be sticking up for himself more often these days, at least. "You're the one who came running out here in y-your underwear, l-like -- like some kind of flasher!"

"Shut up! There's this huge gross spider in my room! Admit it! You put it there to trick me!"

"I -- what? Why would I do -- ow-ow-ow! Asuka, that hurts!"

"That's the point, genius! Now go get a broom! And keep those eyes closed or else! Viewing fee starts at one tooth for each peek!"

In the kitchen, Misato rolled her eyes and cracked open another beer. She didn't have the energy for this tonight. Not even close.

"So I've been meaning to ask..."

Misato repressed the impulse to reach for her gun. She turned to see the Doctor leaning on the counter next to her, head tilted at a contemplative angle. I guess I should probably just get used to him wandering in and out of here as he pleases at this point, she thought. It's like having a cat or something.

"Why don't you try to rein her more?" The Doctor motioned in the direction of Asuka's voice, as if the her he meant wasn't obvious. "Don't get me wrong. I don't mind spirit. I'm spirit's biggest fan, me. But she seems a little..." He stopped, as if searching for the right word.

"Aggressive?" Misato suggested. "Rude? Needlessly violent?"

He shrugged. "Honestly, it's the moments where she's outright cruel that bother me more than anything. I wouldn't think you the type to stand for that." She could hear the unspoken challenge in his words.

She responded by chugging down part of the beer. "It's... complicated."

"Try me."

Misato sighed. Okay, she thought. If we're really having this conversation, I need to be a lot less sober. She put down the beer and went for the cheap whiskey. "So... it's like this," she said. "I first met Asuka in Germany years ago, back when I started working for NERV. She was really different back then. Quiet. Shy. A little eager to please. She was a bit like Shinji at that point, come to think of it."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Now that's a hard one to imagine."

"I know, right? But it's the truth." She poured herself a shot. "She was living with her family at that point. I saw some things I didn't like. Things that I didn't think were in Asuka's best interest."

"So what did you do?"

She swirled the whiskey inside of the shot glass. Studied the ways the surface of the liquid caught the light. "I... sort of taught her how to stand up for herself."

The Doctor paused for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Ah."

"Yeah." Misato swallowed the shot in a single gulp.

"And that was a good thing, of course, but then she took it too far..."

She shook her head as the whiskey burned its way down her throat. "She took it as far as she needed to, I think. Problem is, I don't think she knows how to stop."

"So now you're being all nice and polite and patient with her, in the hopes that she picks that up too," the Doctor finished.

"Yup." She went to pour another shot, then thought better of it. Staff meeting in the morning, she told herself. Show some restraint.

"It's not the worst plan," the Doctor admitted. "Don't think it's going to work, though."

"You got a better idea?" Misato tilted her head. "You know how stubborn she is. All a direct confrontation would do is make her lash out even harder." At least, she thought, that's how it worked with me, back when I was Asuka's age.

"Mmph. Maybe."

"As for the cruelty part... well." Misato shrugged. "All I can say for sure is, she comes by it honestly."

"How so?"

"Let me put it like this..." She picked up the beer can again and took another mouthful. "I used to think I had things pretty bad with my father back when I was a kid, you know? Then I met Asuka's."