The New York skyline was the last thing on Nick's mind as he laid down on his hotel bed that night.
After being shown what had been called an Evangelion and scared out of his wits, NERV had put him up in a hotel room for the night. Of course they hadn't let him leave without signing a non-disclosure agreement.
That signature what the current bane of his existence, because he wanted nothing more than to pick up the phone and tell everyone about what he was now a part of. Moreover, he wanted to try and discuss with someone why exactly he was the one who had been called upon for this mission.
He hadn't yet fully comprehended what he'd been told. All he understood was that apparently, because it was the dawn of the new Millennium, these Angels were targeting to take back the Earth. Somehow this NERV organization knew about it, and in order to fight these not so celestial beings, he was going to have to get into some sort of humanoid suit that was ten times his size and fight it.
It all seemed completely surreal, and before Nick knew it he was dialling Brian's number from the hotel phone.
It wasn't that he and Brian were the best of friends anymore. They weren't – not since Brian had started dating this woman who took up all of his time. Nick still sort of resented him for that, but at the moment he couldn't care less.
All he wanted was to feel as though he was thirteen years old again and talk to his best friend.
He didn't care that it was late. He sat up in bed impatiently, feeling like a child as he hugged his knees to his chest. He cradled the receiver of the phone to his ear as he breathed heavily, trying to calm his own nerves.
“Hello?” came Brian's voice from the other end. He sounded tired, and Nick was sure he'd probably woken him up, but he didn't really care.
“Frick,” Nick said softly, using his friend's old nickname.
“Nick!” Brian said, his voice instantly coming to life. “What're you doing? What happened?”
Nick sighed. There were so many things that he wanted to tell Brian, but couldn't. Although, if things were as dire as Dr. Brentson had told him, then Brian would know about all of them soon enough.
Still, he didn't need to be sued by a crazy organization like NERV.
“I can't tell you,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. Being internationally famous meant that he was quite used to not being able to talk about certain things, but never to Brian or anyone he considered close. Sure, he had to keep details about his job under wraps, but he could deal with that. He didn't really feel any burning need to run off and tell his brother about the release date of their album when the world wasn't supposed to know yet.
But this? This was in another league entirely.
“Uh, okay,” Brian said with confusion, making Nick feel guilty.
“I want to,” he clarified, nodding his head and glancing out the window. New York was still just as boring as it had been all evening. It certainly didn't look as though it was about to become the epicentre of hell. “I just...can't.”
“I get it,” Brian said quickly. He too was familiar with the concept of having to keep information to himself. “All we know is that you got taken to New York because NERV wanted to meet with you.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you still there?”
“No, I'm in a hotel,” Nick sighed, glancing around the walls of the room. It wasn't an overly fancy room, and he was perfectly fine with that. It was the type of hotel room he was used to, actually. That actually made Nick feel strangely comforted – having lived in and out of different hotel rooms for the past four years of his life. “What're you guys doing?”
“We're having an emergency teleconference with JIVE tomorrow,” Brian said, yawning a little. “I don't know what it's about, but it probably has to do with you.”
“Probably,” Nick said, slightly bitterly. It seemed like the group was always doing things without him . Even though of course this time his situation was likely the cause for the meeting he was still annoyed that he wouldn't be able to be there for the meeting, and hadn't even been told about it. “Do you think it's about the tour?”
“I think so, yeah,” Brian said with just a hint of uncertainty. “It's probably on hold. We're staying in Boston tomorrow and not travelling like we were supposed to be. I don't know what's going on.”
“Sorry,” Nick said apologetically. It wasn't as though it was actually his fault, but he still felt as though he should say something. Even when he wasn't trying to, he was still causing some kind of chaos for the group.
If nothing else, he was definitely earning his right to his nickname.
“It's not your fault,” Brian almost laughed, “this time,” he added jokingly.
“Yeah,” Nick muttered. “For once.” He almost wished that it had been all his fault. Because that would mean that he had some semblance of control over the situation – but of course, he didn't. Not in the slightest. “It's fucked up, Brian,” Nick said suddenly, feeling a shiver run down his spine as he truly realized how little control he actually did have. “NERV is so fucked up... at least they seem really fucked up. I can't talk about it... but it's fucked up.”
It seemed to be the only way to accurately describe the situation. “Tell me again Nick, is it fucked up?” Brian asked, trying to lighten the mood a little, just as he always tended to do. Lately that facet of his friend's personality had annoyed him, but right now, it was everything Nick needed to calm himself down.
“Yeah,” Nick said, yawning a little bit. “So fucked up.”
“Get some sleep Nick,” Brian advised. “It sounds like you could use it.”
Brian wasn't wrong. “Yeah, okay. Night, Bri.”
“Sleep tight, Nicky.”
Nick hung up the phone and turned the lamp off in the room. The city lights shone through the windows but Nick didn't bother drawing the curtains. It might have been subconscious, but Nick didn't want to risk not knowing for a second what was going on outside.
Not a minute before six in the morning, there was a knock at Nick's hotel room door. Having slept light for most of the night, he was woken up easily. Before he knew it he was in a car escorted by Risa and the same two goons who had been with him the night before, being taken back to the NERV headquarters.
“What now?” Nick asked Risa irritably as they sat in the car and Nick picked at the bagel she'd handed him. “Didn't you tell me enough stuff last night?”
Risa gave him a look. “You're kidding, right?” she asked him, and Nick was taken aback a little by this attitude she seemed to have developed overnight.
“Uh, no. You just told me I had to fight against some angels or shit. I don't see anything weird,” he said waving his hand around as if to signify that everything was normal around them.
“Not now,” Risa said, regaining the calm demeanour she'd had the day before. “But don't you think you might need to learn how to pilot the Evangelion before you do?”
Nick couldn't argue with that, but still he found the need to be difficult. As he usually did when he was tired and generally in a bad mood and in need of a distraction. “Why me?” he asked with annoyance. “Why is it me who has to do this?”
Risa sighed, looking down at her feet. She didn't say anything.
“C'mon,” Nick said, raising his eyebrow and turning on the charm just a little. He liked to think of himself as something of a ladies man – even though he was well aware that the only reason for that was because he was so internationally famous. “You're making me do all this weird shit, and you won't even tell me why you're making me do all this weird shit?”
“It wasn't supposed to be you,” Risa said, averting her gaze from Nick and looking out her window.
Nick had no idea what she meant by that. “What?”
“Evangelion Unit One had another pilot before you,” Risa started, but Nick cut her off.
“And what's with all this 'Unit One' business?” he asked, feeling a little more confident about spilling all the questions that were on his mind. At least he was no longer getting the “It's classified,” response. “Is there a Unit Two? Who pilots that?”
Risa ignored his other questions. “There was another pilot for Unit One,” she said simply, glancing back at him.
“Okay...” Nick said slowly, waiting for her to continue. “And what happened to him?”
“Her,” Risa corrected him. “There was an accident during the training.”
Nick felt the blood drain from his face.
“It wasn't anyone's fault, we've repaired and tested the unit, but she...” Risa said, looking at Nick apologetically.
Nick just nodded, the gravity of the situation stealing the words from his mouth.
“I didn't want to have to tell you,” Risa said, still looking at him, wearing a sympathetic smile on her face. “Rest assured we've taken all the appropriate safety precautions now and -”
“But why me?” Nick asked, his mouth dry.
“The pilots were asked to pick a backup... someone who could be trusted in the case of an accident leaving them unable to perform. It wasn't until after the fact that we realized you weren't someone she actually knew.”
Nick scoffed. “Y'all really dropped the ball on that one.”
“Either way,” Risa said, sitting up straighter and regaining the firmness in her voice. “I have full confidence that you'll be able to complete this mission to the best of your abilities.”
“And if I don't?” Nick asked, staring at her and almost daring her to make eye-contact with him again.
“You will,” Risa said with confidence. “The fate of the world depends on it.”
Nick tried not to let her words get to him, but it was easy to tell they affected him. He sat silently for the rest of the car ride. He didn't utter a word when he walked through the halls of the office building, or when they took the elevator up to the top floor once again.
He kept his lips tightly shut as they stepped into Dr. Brentson's office and only nodded the man a simple greeting as they walked down the long corridor.
It wasn't until they were standing in front of the Evangelion again that Nick spoke.
“You want me to get in that thing?!” he exclaimed, glancing at Brentson and Risa with fear. “Are you fucking nuts? A chick died in there. And you're all acting like this is completely fine and normal? Do you know how much shit you'll be in if I die? My record company will kick you-”
“Nickolas,” Brentson said slowly, eyeing him from overtop of his glasses.
“It's Nick,” Nick said cooly, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Nick,” he corrected himself, but it did little to comfort Nick as he just watched him with annoyance. “I can assure you that so long as you follow our ord...instructions that you'll be just fine.”
“You don't know that,” Nick said, rolling his eyes. “What about that other girl? I'm sure she-”
“She didn't,” Risa cut in slowly. “She didn't. Nick, you have to understand that we are in dire circumstances.”
“Yeah, I know,” he snapped, not really caring to hear their entire speech once again.
“We're going to need your cooperation in this matter, and you're going to need to do what we say in order to save yourself and to keep the rest of the world safe.”
Nick sighed. He still wasn't exactly sure why it had to be him who had this responsibility. He didn't want any of it and just wanted to go back to living on the tour bus doing shows every night. He was beginning to think he'd even rather call in to TRL every day than go through this.
“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth.
Dr. Brentson smiled with satisfaction. “Good. Now then, there's a suit in that changeroom over there that you'll have to put on, and then we'll get you into the unit.”
Nick gave him a look but didn't say anything as he walked over to the changeroom and closed the door.
The only item that was hanging on the wall was what looked to be some kind of pleather outfit with what looked to be outlets on the shoulders and back. Nick picked it up and inspected it. It certainly wasn't the weirdest thing he'd ever worn – that award likely went to one of the many strange photoshoot outfits he'd donned over the years.
Still, that didn't make it any better as he stripped down to his underwear and pulled the suit on. He tried as best he could to zip it up in the back, and for being pleather, it was more loose-fitting than he would have liked. After a couple minutes, he gave up trying to zip it up and sighed, stepping out of the room. “Uh, I can't...” he said, motioning to his back.
“Oh,” Risa said, walking over to assist him. He stood behind him and zipped the suit up with ease. “And this too,” she said. Nick didn't know what she was talking about, but he felt her push into something on the suit and immediately it clung to his body, fitting a lot tighter than before.
“What the hell?” Nick asked, looking at them strangely. This tight-fitting outfit left very little to the imagination, and Nick didn't have a clue as to why he had to wear it.
“It's called a plugsuit, and it’s to help you better communicate with the Evangelion,” Dr. Brentson said. Then he pointed at the wire staircase beside them. “Climb those stairs, there's a platform around the back that will lead you into the pod of the unit.”
Nick looked up at the robot again. He gulped, wondering what it was going to be like to actually sit in it. But apparently he didn't have a choice, so he grudgingly climbed the stairs and just as Dr. Brentson had said, there was a platform at the back that led him him into a pod. He glanced around for a second before stepping into it. As soon as he did the door behind him sealed shut and he felt it move, presumably inside of the unit.
It wasn't a very big area. Just a small seat with an array of controls in front of him. Nick sat down and right away felt overwhelmed. This Evangelion, Unit One, giant robot humanoid... whatever it was was far more complicated than anything he'd ever seen.
“How the hell do you expect me to pilot this?!” he exclaimed, wondering how Risa and Dr. Brentson would be able to hear him.
But somehow they could. Nick looked down and saw the two of them standing next to a small microphone that must have been built into some kind of intercom system in the suit, because Risa's voice came ringing through the walls of it, almost as if it had surround sound. “You will, it's easy.”
“Are you nuts?” Nick muttered, still at a loss as to what to do with the controls.
“Lean back,” Risa instructed. “You're not fully connected.”
Nick did as he was told and right away the plugs on his suit connected and snapped him into the unit. Contrary to what Risa probably thought, this didn't help and only made him feel more confined.
“The unit connects with your energy, that's what the suit's for,” Risa explained. Just think, really think about lifting up your left leg.”
“I can't lift my leg,” Nick said bitterly. “I'm locked in, remember?”
Risa sighed. “I said think about it. Not do it. Just think about it. Almost imagine yourself doing the action.”
Nick sighed, but he did as he was told. He closed his eyes and concentrated his energy into his left leg. He almost felt it tingle because he was concentrating on it so hard without actually moving it or being able to move it.
Then he felt the unit shift from underneath him. The weight of it shifted to one side and Nick panicked, opening his eyes.
“You did it!” he heard Risa say. He looked down at her, and even though he was high up, he could swear that he saw a grin on her face. “Keep doing that. That's how you control the movement of it, just think of the unit as an extension of yourself.”
Nick sighed, closing his eyes again.
“But you have to do it with your eyes open,” Risa said. “Otherwise how will you be able to fight or see anything that's coming at you? Keep your eyes open.”
Nick nodded, keeping his eyes open and facing firmly forward as he concentrated on moving the limbs of the unit. Lifting the legs and moving the arms was easy enough after a little while. He wasn't sure he'd actually be able to move it around, but for now, he was sure he was doing good enough.
“It's not good enough,” he heard Dr. Brentson's booming voice through the speakers.
Or not.
“See those control sticks?” he asked. “That's what you're going to use for weaponry.”
Nick nodded, looking down easily at the two control sticks in front of him. He gripped them, taking a deep breath as he tried to focus his energy on controlling the unit.
As he went through the coaching with Risa and Dr. Brentson, he began to feel a bit better. The hopeless feeling of not being in control, while still present, was less than it had been the night before. So long as he learned how to pilot to unit and listened to them, he would retain some control over his own destiny, at least.
That was the thought that soothed him as he fell back onto his hotel bed that night, after a long day of training. He fell asleep almost instantly, still apprehensive, but with a little bit more of a positive attitude. Maybe this whole mess wouldn't turn out to be so bad after all.
So long as he stayed in control.
