The Black Hands of NERV (Evangelion/Noir)

[bissek]

This is an expansion of something that I had in the crossover twists section of the miscellaneous folder.

This would take place after the end of Noir, and some time after the arrival of Asuka on the NGE side (Whether Kirika is a pilot instead of or along with Touji is something I'm leaving open).

Shinji Ikari spent his early childhood with his parents and his twin sister Kirika. He was totally unaware of the fact that a woman named Altena had visited his sister she was a baby, and blessed her as worthy of taking up an ancient fate. The implications of this would not become clear until after the two siblings watched their mother disappear during a test at a GEHIRN research facility.

Shortly after that, Shinji's father turned him over to the custody of an uncle, claiming that he had no use for the boy. Despite Shinji's pleas, Gendo would not let Kirika go with him, as she was still useful to her father. After Shinji was sent away, Kirika was turned over to Altena, to be trained to become an elite assassin, one who would be tested as a candidate for the title of Noir.

Years later, Shinji is called back to his father's side. When he does, he finds that Kirika is not there. Asking around, he finds that nobody at NERV remembers her ever being there, or even knew that Gendo had a daughter in the first place. Apart from one photograph that Shinji kept, all evidence that Kirika ever existed has vanished without a trace.

Some time after the arrival of Second Child Asuka Soryhu, a Fourth Child is found in Paris and sent to Tokyo-3. The Fourth Child is named Kirika Yumura, and with her comes her guardian, Mireille Bouquet. Shinji finds the new pilot to be extremely familiar for some reason, and after a test that showed that she could also synch with EVA-01, manages to convince Ritsuko to do a DNA test - and finds that the new pilot is his missing sister (someone who by now most of NERV was willing to believe was a figment of Shinji's imagination).

The discussion between Ritsuko, Shinij and Kirika after the discovery is made is rather unusual. Kirika has no memories of her early childhood. She categorically refuses to discuss her later childhood for any reason. She also is against forming connections with other people unless necessary, so as to avoid the pain of losing them. Shinij has found his sister, but she is a total stranger to him, and vice versa (After learning about this, Gendo's relationship to Kirika remains the same: an unspoken agreement between the two to ignore each other outside of work-related issues).

Asuka has misgivings about the Baka's twin for totally different reasons. One day, after leaving school late due to drawing cleaning duty, she and Kirika were attacked by fanatics who believed that the Angels were messengers of God and that therefore EVA was a tool of the devil. Before Section 2 even noticed that the pilots were in danger, Kirika had killed one of them with her student ID, taken his weapon, and used it to kill the others. Asuka doesn't want to know WHO Kirika is, she wants to know WHAT she is, as people who can kill that swiftly and casually aren't exactly common.

Meanwhile, the thousand-year-old conspiracy known as Soldats is unhappy. Two of the three selected candidates managed to complete all the trials to become Noir, the legendary enforcers of the Soldats. However, instead of swearing fealty to High Priestess Altena and becoming the tool with which Soldats could shape the world, they killed Altena and the entire priesthood and opted to remain as freelance assassins. Noir is willing to do jobs for Soldats, but only on the same terms with which they do business with every other client (Which includes the right to decline a contract).

They also have to worry about SEELE, a fledgling conspiracy that nevertheless has acquired considerable power and threatens to supplant Soldats' supremacy. The fact that Noir is willing to do business with SEELE on the same terms that they do business with Soldats doesn't help.

With Noir relocated to Tokyo-3, and control of the SEELE-sponsored organization NERV given over to a minor Soldats member named Gendo Ikari, Soldats starts developing a plan to put the newcomer into its place.

SEELE, on the other hand, believes that Gendo is their man planted into Soldats, and starts developing a plan to ensure that Soldats cannot interfere with the Human Instrumentality Project. This plan also involves the services of Noir, though they do not know who Noir really is (As Gendo never thought to ask WHY Altena wanted his daughter).

Whose side is Gendo on (besides his own)? Which conspiracy will win? Will Shinji get his sister back? How will Asuka react when she finds out what her roommate's sister does for a living? How will Shinji react, for that matter? And what will be the effect of having a pilot trained to kill, rather than trained to pilot mecha, have on the war against the Angels?

[CJN]

Interesting. There are a few points I think you should consider further:

- Another plot twist would be to replace Mirelle's role in Noir with Asuka.

- The connections between HIP, 2nd impact, 3rd impact, Noir, Altena, Soldats, SEELE, NERV and Gendo are still a little weak. I mean, if Gendo is a Soldat, why would he become involved with Angels, EVAs, SEELE, ...? How have the 2nd impact influenced the plans of Altena and the Soldats? Who know about HIP and what are their plans regarding it?

- Why would Kirika be found as a pilot? And why would she accept? I mean NERV would not be in a position to keep track of her life.

- Ok, the pieces have been set up. Now what? They are still on the RR track to 3rd impact. If you have Shinji and Asuka as main characters, can they really do anything that matters?

[bissek]

The only thing in common with Mireille's trauma and Asuka's is that they both were the ones to find the bodies of their dead mother (and father and brother, in the case of Mireille). Asuka's mother's death ultimately came from an accident while working on EVA-02. Mireille's parents were executed for not turning Mireille over to Altena. Besides, Asuka is needed for the perspective contrast. Shinji looks at Mireille and sees the sister he used to play with. Asuka looks at Mireille and sees someone who can cut people's throats with her student ID without a moment's hesitation and then continue on her way as if nothing happened. One sees the child she was, the other sees the killer she became.

Gendo might have been sent on the Katsuragi expedition by Soldats to figure out what was going on. He would then have been assigned to interact with the group behind the expedition, entering GEHIRN. Once Yui died, Gendo would then start playing both sides against each other to try to achieve his own scenario.

Second impact restructured the world, altering the political face of the world as much as the geographic. Compensating for that is what enabled SEELE to gain influence in a system previously dominated by Soldats. Altena isn't in the equation for long, as Kirika killed her. I highly doubt that the Soldats plan for shaping the world involves orange goo.

NERV may not be in a position to keep track of Kirika's life, but Soldats is. If you watch the anime, you'll find that Soldats was able to find where Noir was staying no matter where in the world they were. Their intelligence network was downright spooky in its efficiency. She could have been tested at the school she was attending before she hooked up with Kirika. Soldats could arrange for Kirika's address to be passed to Gendo, who'd have someone try to bring her in if he wanted more pilots. Why Kirika would accept is a different issue.

The main point of this story is 1: The shadow duel between SEELE and Soldats, and 2: Shinji's efforts in trying to reclaim at least one part of the family he lost. What he's going up against is the fact that despite the fact that Kirika really wants to have something resembling a normal family, she also knows that a person in her career can't afford to have connections.

Just look at the list of friends/family figures she has over the course of the anime. 1: Mireille. Relationship nearly destroyed once she remembered that she was the one Altena sent to execute the Bouquets. 2: An ex-KGB officer, who she had been paid to kill. She did kill him, despite the friendship and the fact that he was dying anyway. 3: A painter, who was killed in a drive-by shooting for being a friend of a friend of Mireille. 4: Chloe, the third Noir candidate. Killed by Kirika for attacking Mireille. 5: Altena. Killed by Kirika to ensure that she'd stop meddling with her life. That's four out of five dead, three by her own hand. Kirika does not have a good track record with keeping friends, and would probably want to distance herself from others to prevent such things from happening again.

[Comartemis]

Asuka has misgivings about the Baka's twin for totally different reasons. One day, after leaving school late due to drawing cleaning duty, she and Kirika were attacked by fanatics who believed that the Angels were messengers of God and that therefore EVA was a tool of the devil.

Sounds like something pulled out of 'Those Who Hunt... Eva?'. Not that that's a bad thing...

Now granted, I know jack about Noir, but it sounds good and solid so far.

[CJN]

You make a good case on all points, however there's something that might corner you when writing the story.

The main point of this story is 1: The shadow duel between SEELE and Soldats, and 2: Shinji's efforts in trying to reclaim at least one part of the family he lost. What he's going up against is the fact that despite the fact that Kirika really wants to have something resembling a normal family, she also knows that a person in her career can't afford to have connections.

As I see it once the Soldats find out enough about SEELE, they will start to hit their members. If the Soldats fail, Noir will be called in. If SEELE id Noir, Kirika and Mireille will be hunted by the police/military. If Noir have to hide, Shinji's involvement comes to an end.

[bissek]

But part of the concept is that Noir is now independent from Soldats. They will work for anyone, so long as they're paid and feel like accepting the mission. They will take contracts from Soldats on people in SEELE, and from SEELE against people in Soldats. They're a powerful weapon that nobody controls, and both sides want to control.

Besides, people have tried to use military units against Noir. Back in episode 4, a platoon of soldiers was sent to attack the place they were staying while working a job (Intel provided by Soldats). Several dozen men with M16s went against a woman with a pistol and an unarmed girl (who later appropriated an M16). There were no survivors among the troops.

I've seen the religious fanatic that thinks that 'Angels' must be good thing idea in a lot of fics. It provides an easy way for Kirika to show her skill in front of Asuka.

[CJN]

But part of the concept is that Noir is now independent from Soldats. They will work for anyone, so long as they're paid and feel like accepting the mission. They will take contracts from Soldats on people in SEELE, and from SEELE against people in Soldats. They're a powerful weapon that nobody controls, and both sides want to control.

Once the Soldats find out about the plans for third impact, they have to tool to put Noir firmly on their side on the conflict.

Besides, people have tried to use military units against Noir. Back in episode 4, a platoon of soldiers was sent to attack the place they were staying while working a job (Intel provided by Soldats). Several dozen men with M16s went against a woman with a pistol and an unarmed girl (who later appropriated an M16). There were no survivors among the troops.

I'm not worried about the survival of Noir, I'm worried about that everyone else at NERV becomes targets too early. Someone could just put Noir on the terrorist list, and Kirika would have to leave the piloting job.

[bissek]

You couldn't do the terrorist thing without the approval of government boards that contain plants from SEELE, Soldats, or both. And both of them want Noir free (and working for them). The fact that Noir's targets mainly consist of terrorists, criminals and corrupt officials makes things a little trickier as well. It's hard to create a public uproar over the death of people who won't be missed.

Kirika and Mireille have done a pretty good job of killing most everybody who has seen them working, so their identity is fairly secure at the start. The surviving five members of the Soldats inner circle know, but Noir has seen their faces as well, along with the name and home address of one of them. With Chloe dead, Soldats doesn't have anyone capable of challenging Noir directly and surviving, and Noir can retaliate against the inner circle directly if they attack indirectly. SEELE has no clue of their identity, and since Noir takes contracts via email, there won't be any face-to-face contact to leak identities (Of course, that leaves records in the Magi that Ritsuko or Maya could find later and trace to Mireille's IP address).

Without solid proof of HIP, Soldats wouldn't be able to convince Noir to side with them. They've spent far too much effort to get free of their predestined role of being Soldat's enforcers to go back there. Of course, it's quite possible that Soldats and SEELE will both hire Noir to kill Gendo for betraying them at the end.