A/N: Sorry for the delay and from now on I will try to get new chapters and stories posted within two weeks of each other. Happy mother's day 2011 to all (hence why I'm posting this chapter today) and I hope you have a good one. Thank you to all the positive responses to chapter 1 of "A Mother's Justice" including four subscriptions to the story and one person has added it to their favorite stories list and me to their favorite authors list. I have made one change in that there will be six and not five chapters. I now present chapter 2 in which Misato begins her hunt for justice.
Thanks to my pre-reader gunman and thanks to the Fifth Horseman (again) whose fanfic "Blood resolve" inspired this.
Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion it belongs to Gainax
"Dammit" said a frustrated Misato Katsuragi as she rode the elevator back to her apartment.
"No clues, nothing to hint at tried to kill Shinji.", she had racked her brain for any evidence to of who might have poisoned the sushi that Shinji ate but found nothing and was mentally exhausted as she and Hyuga entered her residence.
"Hello Pen-Pen, I'm home." said Misato who needed to unwind but instead of the pet penguin someone else greeted the Major and her Lieutenant with a different response.
"There you are! Where have you been and where is Shinji? I am starving so that idiot better get diner started right away and if you even try to suggest cooking I swear I will call Child Protective Services!" an angry redhead shouted an angry redhead as she rushed into the hallway.
Misato looked over and cringed, in her worry over Shinji she had forgotten about Asuka. She didn't mean to but she was worried over Shinji. It wasn't like Asuka needed looking she could take care of herself but with at least one assassin if not more on the loose she needed to keep an eye on the girl. Add to the fact the assassin might have gotten into the apartment meant Misato couldn't trust Section 2. The purple-haired woman motioned to Hyuga where the sushi was and the addressed her ward with in a grim and solemn tone.
"Asuka.", Misato began not knowing how to break the news so she just came straight out with it "Shinji is in the NERV infirmary, someone poisoned the leftover sushi and I am certain they were trying to kill all three of us."
Worry replaced anger on the face of the fiery redhead.
"How...how is baka doing?" asked the Second Child trying to keep her usual facade but the concern on her face betrayed her.
"He has stabilized but nothing is sure now. Ritsuko is looking after him and I will lead the investigation into exactly what happened." replied the Major who only nodded as Hyuga left with the tainted sushi.
Asuka went to over to the refrigerator but was stopped by Misato who told her "We don't know if anything else is poison so all food is off limits Asuka."
Asuka didn't protest, the news about Shinji had ruined her appetite so she went to her room while Misato gathered the tainted sushi from the trash.
That night neither female slept well.
The next day was Sunday and the two remaining residence of the Katsuragi/Ikari/Soryu apartment were eating take out with the refrigerator on quarantine. Misato was at the table while Asuka sat on the couch watching TV with Pen-Pen, the similarity was so eerie to the previous day Misato couldn't look over in that direction. As Asuka got up to throw out her empty soda can into the recycling when the doorbell rang, she went to answer it with out protest and was not pleased by the visitor.
"What the hell are you doing here Wondergirl?" Asuka snapped
The fact that Rei Ayanami, the blue-haired, red eyed First Child was at the door and wanted to come in was the last thing Asuka wanted right now.
"Dr. Akagi sent me over here to give an update on Pilot Ikari so may I please enter Pilot Soryu?", said the albino in her cool manner.
"Fine.", huffed Asuka, as Rei entered Asuka called to the kitchen "Misato, Wondergirl is here!"
Misato entered the hallway and in with an obviously forced smile said "Hello Rei what brings you here, don't you have synch tests?"
"I finished and was sent here to give an update on Pilot Ikari." stated the First
Misato's eyes shot open "How is he? Will he be okay? Please tell me!" In a frantic voice.
Rei responded as conditioned, with matter of fact and straight to the point.
"Pilot Ikari has not gotten any better or worse since yesterday ma'am." after she bowed and began to leave the apartment.
"Rei," began Misato "Are you okay?" despite her usual demeanor Misato still picked up something wasn't right with Rei Ayanami.
Rei was confused, she was worried for Shinji, an emotion Commander Ikari told her was useless and one she have never experience before, because of this she had no idea how to handle the situation so to hind her budding emotions Rei answered as normal as was possible for her without turning around.
"I am all right Major, Shin-Pilot Ikari's ailment will not interfere with my duties." came the answer from the First.
As Rei reached the door, Misato stopped her again because of a hunch the three of them were not the only targets.
"Rei, have you received any suspicious gifts lately, maybe food?"
After a moment of thinking Rei turned around to face the two whose apartment she was in "Yes, I was offered chofu by a strange man this past Wednesday."
This was a new and excellent development, the kind Misato needed.
"Rei can you remember this man,what did he look like?"
"He was 5 ft. 6 in. (168 centimeters) and 165 lbs. (75 kilograms) average for a Japanese man. He wore a brown trench coat and at first I thought he was one of the 'perverts' that Commander Ikari warned me about who usually expose themselves or abduct children but this was not the case."
Asuka mumbled something about Rei being abducted while the First Child continued .
"He also had on a brown fedora hat and plastic novelty glasses that were black in color and with a bulbous plastic nose attached." This made Misato think about Groucho Marx and made almost ask Rei if the guy had a cigar with him, bushy eyebrows and a this mustache but she didn't and Rei went on with her description still.
"He offered me chofu and I accepted not wanting to be rude but when I arrived at NERV and told Commander Ikari he made me throw them away." finished Rei
Now Asuka spoke up , "Think Wondergirl was there anything odd about this guy?"
After thinking for a moment Rei responded "Yes, part of his right ear was missing."
(A/N: The failed assassin is not Mick Foley)
This was great for Misato but the description Rei gave sounded familiar to all three ladies it was creepy. The problem was none of them could pinpoint where the similarity came from.
"Thanks Rei your information is very helpful", said Misato "Now lets go Asuka. I'm not letting you out of my sight, both of you are sticking with me today."
"But Misato I already have plans with Hikari.", replied Asuka but Misato wouldn't hear it and soon both girls were in Major's Renault Alpine.
When the trio got to NERV they went directly to Dr. Akagi's office and were greeted by the fake blonde and her faithful assistant Lieutenant Maya Ibuki.
"Why are you three here?" asked the doctor.
"I got a break, Rei was also offered food by someone and I think it might be the same person. Lucky for us she gave a great description.", Misato responded
"Given food?", Akagi asked as she could not remember replacing a clone because of poisoning.
"I did not par take on the orders of Commander Ikari.", responded said clone
Akagi got the picture now and brought the Major and pilots to the MAGI "It has been testing all night,what ever was used is not a normal poison but we can still determine what is with 99.9% accuracy and a margin of error of .000000000000001%."
As the MAGI tested the sushi Lieutenant Hyuga brought back all was quiet in the control room with only Misato, Rei, Asuka, Dr. Akagi, Maya present along with Hyuga and Aoba at their stations.
As the MAGI was testing Akagi's eyes lit up and she turned over to her old college friend.
"Misato, Thursday I found a box of chocolates at my door with no name, you think it might be same person behind these?"
"Rei on Wednesday, Rits on Thursday and the three of us on Friday." Misato mused "No doubt it is the same person and from the targets these attacks definitely has to do with NERV."
"Maya!" started Akagi as she threw her keys at the Bridge Bunny "These are my keys to my apartment the chocolates are in my fridge." causing Maya to blush.
"Rei what exactly did you do with the chofu?" she asked
"I threw into my trash receptacle but since trash is not picked up until Tuesday it should still be there." Rei answered
"Right. Rei go with Lieutenant Ibuki she'll go to your apartment and you just need to need to grab the chofu.", ordered the Director of operations.
It took about thirty minutes to leave NERV, go to both apartments, the duo returned just as the MAGI gave the results of the tests.
"You are not going to believe this!", began a surprised Akagi but the substance used to poison the sushi was Brugmansia, also know as Angel's Trumpet, which can be deadly if ingested. We'll create an antidote immediately. "
"That sick bastard is messing with us!" yelled an irate Katsuragi
Akagi tested one chocolate and chofu, and was more surprised by the results of these tests.
"The substance used to poison these were potassium arsenic." said the doctor "How odd that he uses such a potent poison as that at first then switch to a plant."
"Either we are dealing with a botanist or the assassin was not acting alone." said Misato
That night Rei stayed at Misato's flat sleeping in Shinji's room so she would not be vulnerable to an assassin well alone. Not one of the three got much sleep.
A/N: Chapter 2 was longer then I thought. A few things, first somebody might want to double check my math on the height and weight translation, I am American and thus am unfamiliar with the metric system. Chofu is a popular Japanese is a pastry. Groucho Marx was on the famous Marx brothers, comedians back in the 1930s and 1940s and the appearance of the man who offered Rei the poison mirrored Groucho with out the hat. Mick Foley is professional wrestler who besides his name has wrestled as Dude Love, Mankind and most famously Cactus Jack. It was as the last persona that in 1992 Foley wrestled Vader (real name Leon White) in Munich, Germany and during that match Foley was slammed on the rope which is a thin covering over steel and had part of his ear torn off which helped to cement Foley's reputation as a hardcore icon. As for Gendo warning Rei about perverts I know that is ironic. Brugmansia is real and with it's other name I thought it appropriate. Arsenic is a deadly an commonly used poison. An additional warning that Windows system tools is also malware.
I hope you check out my Evangelion demotivational poster video on YouTube, my name their I EssexAggiegrad2011 and my account on where my name is Thehumanhistorybook.
I also encourage you to read my fanfic "Pathetic" if you haven't.
Starting in July I am starting a crossover of Evangelion with Strike Witches and to have fun I added a list of random letters with the title of that crossover hidden with in and I will dedicate the first chapter of the crossover to the first person who can send me a personal message with the correct title. It's on my profile if you want to try. I feel I should warn you my personal messenger and email have been disabling themselves so I might not get your response and it's not on purpose if you're right but I don't acknowledge it it is an accident and I'm sorry.
Next time a revelation from an unlikely source blows the case wide open. Thanks and to quote Mick Foley's persona of Mankind: Have a nice day. Don't forget to review!