Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.
Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or anything associated with it, and I am making no profit from this fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.
Chapter Two: The Importance of Clear Communication
(Ritsuko Akagi) The scarab spoke inside her mind. (Thank you very much for fixing me.)
For a very long moment, Ritsuko simply kneeled there on the floor, too shocked to make any reply to the thing. It wasn't that the scarab was showing incontrovertible proof of being intelligent that so stunned her, however. It was that it was still using the same chatters that it had before, but now, she understood them.
"Wha…?" she stammered stupidly, trying to run a hand through her hair, only to come into contact with the armor, which still covered her body.
(Are you all right?) The scarab asked in a worried tone. (My repair didn't damage you did it?)
The thing sounded so earnest and concerned for her that Ritsuko found herself actually taking a liking to it, almost despite herself. At least she now knew that the bug that had embedded itself into her back was friendly.
"No," she replied. "I'm fine. Just a little…surprised."
(Oh, I guess what I did must have been surprising.) The scarab replied, its clicks and chatters somehow sounding sheepish. (Sorry. It just seemed natural for me to do that.)
"Whoa, hang on a second," Ritsuko said. "What exactly did you do? And for that matter, what are you and what's your purpose?"
(I just sort of finally made full use of my link to your central nervous system, connecting our minds. That really should have been done when I first bonded to you… I think.) It said, sounding suddenly uncertain. (As for what I am and what my purpose is…)
"…Yes?" Ritsuko prompted after a few moments of silence.
(I do not know.) The scarab spoke, sounding bewildered. (Shouldn't one know what one is and what one's purpose is, Ritsuko Akagi?)
"You can just call me Ritsuko," she replied distantly, her mind elsewhere at the moment.
It's telling the truth, she thought. It really doesn't know any better than I do.
Ritsuko knew this not because of any type of intuition (as a scientist, she scorned such nebulous sources of knowledge), but because she was inside its mind, just like it was inside hers. She could feel its confusion, and she knew it wasn't deceiving her— because it couldn't deceive her.
(It seems like a lot of my memory was corrupted by the damage.) The scarab said, sounding despondent. (I might never be able to recover it. I might never know who or what I am!)
"Hey, hey, calm down there," Ritsuko said, doing her best to sound soothing and feeling very awkward while doing it. "Panicking won't help anything."
(Yes, you're right.) It agreed, but it sounded shaky. (But—)
"No buts," Ritsuko interrupted. "Let's look at all of this logically. Do you remember anything besides what you… uh, shared with me?"
(Yes.) It replied. (I remember at least some of my capabilities and the functions of the armor.)
Instantly intrigued, Ritsuko asked, "Can you tell me about those?"
A second later she wished she'd kept her curiosity on a leash, as such an overwhelming surge of information flooded her brain that it was like being punched in the head. The scientist actually blacked out for a brief moment, and when she came to, she found herself laying on her bedroom floor rather than kneeling on it.
(Sorry.) The scarab apologized immediately. (I don't quite know what your ability to process data is like compared to mine yet.)
"Uh, that's all right," Ritsuko replied as she sat up, mostly because she didn't know how else to respond. "Do you think you can send me some of that again, but more slowly this time?"
(I could, but how will this help?) The scarab asked. (It won't explain what I am.)
"Maybe not," Ritsuko agreed, "but I want to know. You've been a rather large intrusion in my life these past few days, and I'm curious about you."
(Oh.) The scarab replied, sounding contrite.
The flow of data started again, this time at a more manageable speed. It was a very strange sensation that Ritsuko never would have been able to put into words. It was almost like the information was being beamed directly into her brain, but at the same time, she could almost see it displayed before her eyes.
"Hang on a second. Does that one really work?" she asked, using her mind to show the scarab which function she meant.
(Of course it does.) The scarab replied, sounding slightly insulted. (Here.)
Suddenly, four transparent wings, like those of a dragonfly, sprouted from the back of the armor. They immediately began to flutter at speeds that would put a hummingbird to shame, and Ritsuko soon felt her feet rising up off the floor.
"Amazing," she breathed as she looked down.
(This is just a basic function.) The scarab said, sounding rather smug. (Would you like to take a flight around the city?)
"Well…"
(Wonderful!) The scarab said cheerfully.
Ritsuko let out a cry of surprise as she suddenly went flying forward, heading straight for her (mercifully open) bedroom window. Seconds later, she was out in the open air, and flying upwards into the starry sky at high speed.
"Don't do that!" Ritsuko shrieked.
(Sorry.) The scarab replied, sounding like a scolded child. (I just thought you'd enjoy it. Should I take you back?)
"No," Ritsuko said, calming down. "This is actually sort of… fun. But you can't just take me for a ride like that again."
(Oh. All right.) The scarab said, sounding pleased again. (Why don't you control our flight?)
Ritsuko blinked, surprised by the suggestion. However, before she could even express her surprise, the scarab transferred the information on how to control the wings into her mind and handed over the proverbial keys.
Initially cautious, Ritsuko began to fly about in slow, easy circles. However, soaring through the sky proved so effortless that she quickly started to perform elaborate loops and other aerial stunts.
At some point, she realized that she was laughing. That shocked her; it had been such a long time since she'd been happy enough to just have laughter bubble out of her in such a manner that she'd almost forgotten what it felt like.
Which is really, really depressing, she mused.
She shook her head, banishing the dour thought from her mind, and decided to just continue luxuriating in the feeling of complete and utter freedom that came with unrestricted flight.
This is so nice, she thought. It feels like I've left all my problems back on the ground.
Feeling her confidence in her flying abilities growing, Ritsuko attempted a series of complicated aerial acrobatics. This went fairly well until she went into the triple midair cartwheel, after which Ritsuko felt a wave of vertigo accompanied by sweeping nausea. Suddenly finding the sensation of flight to be not nearly as enchanting as it had been a moment ago, the scientist quickly searched for a place to land, now craving the feel of solid ground beneath her feet.
The first suitable place she found was the roof of an abandoned building. Ritsuko took a few deep breaths she lightly touched down, feeling relieved as her roiling stomach began to settle almost immediately.
"Clearly, I still need practice at this flying thing," Ritsuko muttered to herself.
(This place is different from where we were.) The scarab spoke up. (Why?)
Looking about, Ritsuko realized for the first time that she had flown into the bad part of the city. The building she had picked for her landing zone was abandoned, probably having once been a factory.
"This part of the city is different," Ritsuko tried to explain. "It's poor… depressed."
(I'd be depressed if I lived here, too.) The scarab commented.
Ritsuko shook her head. "Not like… you know what, never mind."
(Okay.) The scarab said, clearly not perturbed by the way she was dropping the point. (Hey, you think this place is abandoned, right?)
Ritsuko blinked. She hadn't told the scarab that, but it knew it anyway. Clearly, having the scarab hooked up directly to her central nervous system would take some getting used to.
"Yes," she replied.
(I'm picking up human life signs within this building.) The scarab said. (Should we check it out?)
"Why would we do that?" Ritsuko asked incredulously. "So some people are using the place for something. That's none of our concern."
(They could be up to something. One person's heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration are elevated well beyond the norm.) The scarab said. (Can we check it out? Please?)
Ritsuko rolled her eyes at the scarab's silly pleading, knowing that the symbiotic organism wasn't going to relent any time soon. "Fine," she sighed. "But once we see that it's nothing, we're heading home."
The scarab quickly agreed, and Ritsuko looked about until she spotted a doorway leading from the roof to the inside of the building.
Takei would be the first person to admit that he'd had some very bad ideas in his days. As a very young child, he'd once attempted to emulate the way his parents would unlock the front door by trying to stick a key he'd somehow gotten into a power socket. Only the quick action of his mother had prevented him from electrocuting his young self. At the age of thirteen, he'd attempted to impress a girl by "borrowing" his father's car and offering her a ride. Through sheer dumb luck he'd avoided the police, but his parents' wrath had not been so easily dodged.
Yes, his mind had birthed some truly terrible ideas, but he'd thought he'd left most of his ability to scheme up the truly disastrous ones in the past along with his impetuous youth.
Yet when a member of the local yakuza had come to his shop and offered him "protection," Takei had somehow thought that it would be a good idea to refuse, thus proving his arrogant assumptions about himself wrong. Which was why he was now tied to a chair in the middle of an abandoned factory, with a number of men who were much larger than he was looming over him.
"C-Come on, guys, there's no need to resort to violence," he pleaded, even as he continued to vainly struggle against his bonds. "It was all just a… a misunderstanding. Really. I'll pay you double your usual fees if you just let me go."
"If it were up to me, I'd be just fine with that," the leader of the group said. "But I have orders from higher up. Apparently, your stubbornness inspired others to follow your example. So I've been told to make an example out of you."
With that said, the man reached into his coat and produced a dagger. Takei's eyes widened. The whole world seemed to slow down as terror mounted within him, and his senses all seemed to go into overdrive. He was almost painfully aware of the drop of sweat that was running down the side of his face, the body odor of himself and the yakuza members standing around him, the way the light flashed off the blade of the dagger in the leader's hand, the blue dragon tattoo on said hand that snaked out of and then back into the man's sleeve, the creaking noise that was coming from the old catwalks above them…
Wait, what?
Before Takei could gather his thoughts, there was a loud crash as one of the factory's aging catwalks collapsed, and something blue went falling into a huge pile of cardboard boxes that lay below it.
"What the hell?" the leader of the group of yakuza members exclaimed as they all turned to face the boxes.
Okay, this is bad, Ritsuko thought as she stumbled her way out of the mountain of cardboard she'd ended up in, neither herself nor the scarab having been quick enough on the draw to get her flying after the catwalk had collapsed.
She finally managed to extract herself from the boxes which had broken her fall, stepping out of the great heap of the things. She sighed in relief, glad to be free of them.
Then she heard several ominous clicks as the yakuza members all pointed their guns at her.
Oh, crap, she thought, swallowing.
"What the hell is it?" one of the men asked warily.
"A new superwoman?" another asked, a note of trepidation clear in his voice.
Ritsuko blinked, stunned by the reactions of the two men. Are they… are they afraid of me? She wondered.
She couldn't remember the last time anyone had been afraid of her. Intimidated by her intelligence, yes, but afraid of her? No. Oh, a few of her subordinates feared the Project-E Chairperson, because she could fire them, but nobody had ever taken seriously the prospect that Ritsuko Akagi would mess them up, at least not so far as she knew.
Yet standing before her was a group of criminals with guns, and despite her less than glorious entrance, they were afraid of her.
It was a heady thought.
"I don't care what the hell she is!" the leader of the group of criminals shouted, rudely pulling Ritsuko from her thoughts. "Shoot her!"
Almost as one, the men fired, the shots echoing in the large, mostly empty factory. Ritsuko's eyes widened beneath her armor and her brain, her incredible keen brain, instantly went into neutral.
Fortunately, the scarab wasn't nearly as frightened as she was.
Two great pieces of metal that each resembled a very large, very blue beetle wing burst out of the armor's arms, shielding Ritsuko's entire body. The faux blonde heard the sharp pting! sound of bullets bouncing off the barrier without immediately realizing what had just happened or where the shield in front of her had come from.
Then her mind finally caught up with the situation.
Thanks for the save, she told the scarab.
(My pleasure.) The scarab replied, sounding like it was having a grand old time. (Now, what do you say to showing these guys who's boss?)
Ritsuko grinned. Works for me.
The armor over her right hand and half of her forearm began to shift and change, until a wicked and very sci-fi looking gun had been formed.
(Annihilator beam ready.) The scarab said, its tone one of gleeful ferocity. (You may fire when ready.)
Wait, 'Annihilator beam'? Ritsuko asked.
(Breaks normal organics down into their component atoms. Don't worry, it'll only take one shot to neutralize each one.) The scarab vowed.
I don't want to kill them! Ritsuko snapped.
There was a brief pause, and the scientist could easily feel the scarab's surprise and incredulousness. (Why not?) It demanded.
I don't have the right, Ritsuko answered firmly. Now, please, something non-lethal.
(Oh, fine.) The scarab said, as though Ritsuko was being the biggest killjoy in the world.
The weapon on her right arm quickly reconfigured itself, becoming smaller and less frightening in appearance, though still looking every inch like something that had come out of a science fiction B-movie.
(Suppression beam ready.) The scarab announced. (Targeting system is on-line.)
A reticule popped up before Ritsuko's vision. She carefully parted the beetle wing-shaped shields, just enough for her to see through them and lay eyes on her attackers.
Immediately, the reticule focused itself on the leader. The words "Target Locked" appeared before her vision, written in characters that were completely alien to her but which she had no difficulty reading.
Her arm moved seemingly of its own accord, the scarab's systems guiding her body far more quickly and with far more precision than she could. The sensation should have scared her, or at least unnerved her, but for some reason working in tandem with the scarab to defeat their enemies felt like the most natural thing in the world.
A bolt of electric blue energy burst forth from her weapon and soared straight at the leader of the group of criminals. The man let out a cry as it struck him right in the chest, and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious but otherwise quite fine.
"She got Toshi!" yelled one of the remaining yakuza.
"Spread out!" commanded another.
The others obeyed, and the yakuza members quickly scattered, several of them doing their best to reload their pistols as they went.
Oh no you don't, Ritsuko thought, locking onto them and firing with the speed allowed by the scarab's aid. She dropped three more yakuza before they could find cover, leaving only two that managed to escape into the shadows.
Ignoring them for now, Ritsuko went over to their hostage, a middle-aged man who was tied to a chair.
"Are you all right, sir?" she asked.
"I'm fine," he replied. "Who are you?"
"A friend," Ritsuko answered simply. With a thought from her, the armor formed a blade over her left hand, and she cut the man free. "I'd suggest you get out of here and call the police."
He nodded, rubbing his sore wrists as he got up. "Thank you," he said, before he went fleeing from the factory.
With the hostage saved, Ritsuko felt sorely tempted to call it a night and return home. However, the scarab picked up on this and conveyed a wordless blast of displeasure right to her brain.
"Oh, fine," she grumbled. "We'll get the last two. But then we'll go home."
The scarab chattered happily in agreement.
Shaking her head, Ritsuko proceeded deeper into the factory, in search of the two remaining yakuza. They couldn't have gone too far, she reasoned, and they probably wouldn't try to run unless they could take their fallen comrades with them.
Scarab, can you find them? She asked.
(Yes.) It replied simply.
Ritsuko was suddenly aware of a wire frame model of the factory being transferred directly into her brain by the scarab. It was a strange sensation, but not the least bit unpleasant. On the model, there was a blue dot that represented her, and a pair of red dots that represented their enemies. One of the red dots was practically on the other side of the building. The other, however…
A shot rang out, striking Ritsuko right in the chest, causing the scientist to let out a cry of pain and surprise.
Son of a bitch! She thought.
The armor had protected her from the bullet, but that didn't mean the shot didn't still hurt like hell. Ritsuko was willing to bet she'd have a bruise there tomorrow.
Instantly, she brought her right arm up and fired a suppression blast at the shooter, not even bothering with acquiring a target lock first. She didn't hit the man dead center like she had with all her other targets, but he collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap all the same.
One down, one to go, she thought, heading for the remaining red dot on her little map.
As she approached it, it soon became clear exactly where her last enemy was hiding. There was a large piece of rusting equipment right next to him, and Ritsuko was willing to bet just about anything that he was crouched behind it, waiting for her in preparation for an ambush.
Must have realized that bullets aren't exactly getting the job done, she thought. Be ready, scarab.
(I always am.) The scarab replied eagerly.
Keeping her steps even and measured, Ritsuko approached the piece of equipment, doing her best not to give her quarry a clue that she knew where he was. She walked past the rusting machine.
And the criminal made his move, swinging a piece of metal pipe he'd gotten somewhere right at her head.
Ritsuko allowed the scarab to take over, and it reacted faster than any human could hope to. Her right arm went up, and her hand changed from an energy weapon to a frightening-looking pincer claw. There was a surprisingly loud snap! and the length of pipe was cut cleanly in two, soundly thwarting the man's opening strike.
However, the criminal wasn't willing to go quietly, even with the element of surprise lost to him. His free hand—the one that wasn't clutching a now pathetically short length of pipe—swung about, his large fist heading right for her head.
This time, it was Ritsuko who reacted to the attack. She reached up and calmly grabbed the man's fist, stopping it cold. She saw his eyes widen, and unnoticed by him, her own eyes did likewise.
It wasn't the great strength she'd just exhibited that had shocked her; the scarab had informed her that the armor gave her superhuman might. No, it was what she was feeling right then that took her by complete surprise.
She had just realized that for the first time in she couldn't remember how long, Ritsuko Akagi felt powerful. Potent. Dominant.
It was a very pleasant contrast to how helpless she'd been feeling all the time lately.
I could get used to this, she decided, even as the pincer on her right hand morphed back into the suppression blaster, which she quickly used on the yakuza in front of her before he could try to attack again.
Her foes all vanquished, Ritsuko walked out of the old factory, willing the wings to come out of her back again as she left the place. Then she went flying into the night sky, heading for home.
"That was incredible," Ritsuko said as she flew back into her bedroom through her window not much later.
(That was only a tiny fraction of my capabilities.) The scarab said, sounding quite pleased with itself. (Would you like me to resume the flow of data from earlier?)
"Please," Ritsuko nodded. "I want to know everything that you—that we—can do."
It happily complied, and the list of the capabilities the scarab gave her began to scroll through her mind again. A disturbing number of them were rather destructive, to put it mildly. Indeed, several functions made the annihilator beams the scarab had offered her earlier look about as deadly as a water gun in comparison. Ritsuko looked down at her hands, feeling trepidation at the power she had been so enjoying not long ago.
"I think that's enough for now," she said, and the scarab immediately stopped.
(Have you gleaned any insight into what I am?) It asked softly.
"I think," Ritsuko said slowly, not sure whether it was the best idea to reveal her hunch but knowing she couldn't keep it from the scarab, not with the close link between their minds, "I think that you might be some kind of weapon."
(Oh.) The scarab replied, sounding not the least bit perturbed by this information.
"You're okay with that?" Ritsuko asked.
(Why shouldn't I be?) The scarab replied.
She shrugged in response, guessing that it was just as well that the thing could roll with the punches. Then again, the scarab had undeniably displayed a rather vicious streak that evening, so perhaps learning that it might be a weapon really wasn't the least bit disturbing to it.
(So… what now?) The scarab asked. (Without knowing my identity or being certain of my purpose, I'm… directionless.)
"Look, I'll make you a deal," Ritsuko said. "I'm a scientist, so researching things and figuring things out is what I do. I'll do my best to help you find out who and what you are, but I need you to do something for me in return."
(What?) The scarab asked nervously.
"I need you to cooperate with me," Ritsuko said. "That means not putting me in the armor unless I ask you to, and being quiet when I tell you. We cannot let anyone find out that you're inside me, or else people will cut me open to get you out in order to figure out how you work and use your power for their own purposes. You didn't show up on any of the tests I ran on myself, but that won't matter if you cause me to give us away, understand?"
(Yes, I understand. I promise I won't expose us.) The scarab said earnestly, clearly relieved that she had asked so little of it.
"Good," Ritsuko said, "now, it's time for bed, so if you could get me out of this armor, that would be good."
(Right.)
Ritsuko braced herself for the agony of removing the armor, but it never came. The blue and black dissolved off her form without so much as a twinge of pain.
"I am really glad I fixed you," Ritsuko commented as she began to change out of her clothes and into pajamas, which for her consisted of panties and a long T-shirt.
(So am I.) The scarab said. (I'm also glad that I bonded with you instead of someone else.)
The image of Gendo Ikari flittered through the scarab's mind as it said this, just clear enough for Ritsuko to catch, and she nodded, shuddering at the idea of the Commander possessing the scarab's power. Clearly, it realized that other hosts would not be so kind to it.
Shutting off the lamp in her room, Ritsuko crawled into bed. "Good night," she said.
(Good night.) The scarab replied.
The next morning, Ritsuko awoke with a yawn and a wide stretch, musing on just how good she felt that day. Unlike usual, the scientist felt like a million bucks, as if she could take on the whole world (or at least, everything contained within her perpetually overflowing inbox at NERV) and win. Heck, the whole world seemed a little clearer and sharper that fine morning.
Must be not having to worry that the mystery thing in my back will make its presence known while I'm in public, she thought. I guess I didn't realize how much the stress of that was getting me down.
She hopped out of bed, allowing herself another languid stretch, her pleasurable awakening making her even more reluctant to go out and face the harsh realities of the world than usual.
But there was no escaping the real world, so she finally ceased her stretching and began to head for the door, en route to the bathroom.
However, she happened to pass the full length mirror she kept in her bedroom as she did so. Though Ritsuko initially passed right by it, she slowed down two steps later, then stopped completely. For a moment, she simply stood there and blinked dumbly, then she walked back to the mirror and examined her reflection.
She had not imagined it. The twin bulges on the front of her T-shirt were larger and more prominent than they had been the previous night.
"…The hell?" Ritsuko muttered to herself as she looked more closely at her reflection.
Finally deciding that something really was different about her, Ritsuko quickly grabbed her T-shirt and pulled it off herself. What she saw in the mirror when she'd discarded the garment made her jaw drop.
The first thing she noticed were her breasts, which were definitely larger than they'd been the previous night, looking capable of rivaling Misato's famous bust, but somehow also looking firmer than they'd been mere hours ago.
Yet she quickly realized that this wasn't the only change. Her body, which had been suffering the effects of her consuming too much junk food from the NERV vending machines (because that was often all she had time to eat during her hectic days at work), not to mention the effects of approaching thirty, looked completely different that morning. It didn't look like the body of scientist who spent most of her time sitting on her desk chair in her lab any longer. Instead, her body looked like it belonged to an Olympic-class athlete.
"Holy crap," she whispered, staring shell-shocked at the lean, impeccably defined muscles that had replaced the small bulges of fat that had been in their places mere hours before.
"Holy crap," she said again as she saw the peaked biceps that popped up when she flexed her arm.
She leaned in closer to the mirror, and in doing so, she noticed something else that was different about her that morning. "My hair," she muttered, looking at her eyebrows and her scalp. "Am I really blond now?"
(Yes, you are.) The scarab suddenly spoke up, sounding like it was bursting with excitement.
"Did you do this to me?" Ritsuko asked.
(I did.) The scarab said proudly. (I saw in your mind what you wanted to look like, the idealized version of yourself, so to speak. So I decided to make it a reality. Do you like it?)
Through the haze of her slowly diminishing shock, Ritsuko realized that the scarab sounded like a young child looking for a pat on the head after showing an adult its latest piece of macaroni artwork.
"Yeah," she said, twisting her body about to examine it at every possible angle, and not finding an inch of herself she could deem even remotely unsatisfactory. "It's amazing."
(I could do more if you want.) The scarab said happily. (Would you like a sixth finger on each hand, perhaps?)
"It would probably increase my typing speed…" Ritsuko mused, and then shook her head, coming to her senses. "I mean, no, no! Look, this is absolutely incredible what you did, and I'm very grateful for it, but you really have to stop using your abilities without asking me first. Remember, if we get exposed, bad things will happen."
(Oh, right.) The scarab said, its mood dampening slightly.
"Hey, are my wrinkles gone?" Ritsuko asked, quickly forgiving and forgetting the scarab's latest bout of presumptuousness as she noticed this new marvel.
(Yes.) the scarab replied, suddenly cheerful again. (I 'turned back the clock' a few years. Not enough to be really noticeable, but enough to restore a measure of your youthful vitality.)
"Well, I'm certainly feeling vital and youthful this morning," Ritsuko said.
Suddenly taken by the urge to test her new physique, the (now real) blonde went down to the floor and began doing pushups and was amazed at how easy it was. Though she'd always tried to work out enough to stay in reasonably good shape (something she hadn't managed of late), she'd never really been athletic, always having been a more cerebral person.
Wouldn't know it from looking at me now, she thought, switching to one armed pushups and barely feeling any more strain than she had before.
Satisfied that she was really as physically fit as she looked, she resumed her original course toward her bathroom, silently wishing that she could take the day and hit the beach or something.
A nude beach! She thought, her confidence soaring, and released a silly little giggle.
After she had cleaned up and gotten dressed for the day, Ritsuko headed down to her kitchen, where she put on a pot of coffee. While the java brewed, she reached into one of her kitchen draws and grabbed a pack of cigarettes.
(Oh no, you don't!) The scarab suddenly spoke up.
Before she could react, one of Ritsuko's hands was covered in the armor, and thin bolts of electricity burst forth from the fingertips, promptly charring her pack of smokes.
"Hey!" Ritsuko exclaimed indignantly.
(You are not smoking those things anymore.) The scarab told her sternly. (It took me hours to clean all the tar out of your lungs.)
"But—"
(Besides, you don't need to smoke, anymore.) The scarab continued. (I managed to neutralize your nicotine addiction. Any desire you have to smoke those awful things anymore is purely psychological.)
"You're not going to be swayed on this, are you?" Ritsuko asked.
(No.) The scarab answered simply.
Ritsuko sighed, thinking about how the scarab had reminded her of a kid earlier. Then she thought back to her own childhood, to when she'd first been bombarded with anti-smoking information in school. Little Ritsuko had then gone home, now with a new, righteous cause, and had tried to make her mother (who, unlike Ritsuko herself, had never smoked more than a pack a day in her whole life), quit smoking.
Naoko had humored her daughter, pretending to quit while in reality she just stopped doing so in front of little Ritsuko for several months.
Of course, the scarab was far more powerful than she had ever been.
With a heavy sigh, the blonde threw her ruined pack of cigarettes into the trash can.
The scientist's disgruntled attitude didn't last very long, mostly because she was still marveling over how good she felt thanks to the scarab's efforts. Only now that she was in peak shape did she realize how bad she'd felt before. No longer feeling chronically exhausted and generally unwell was like having a huge weight lifted off her shoulders.
"Good morning, Maya," Ritsuko greeted her assistant as the two met in the hallway, just as the petite brunette emerged from one of the elevators.
"Good morning, sempai," Maya replied, then frowned in confusion. "Dr. Akagi, you haven't pulled another all-nighter here, have you?"
Ritsuko frowned slightly. "No," she said. "Why did you think that?"
"Well, the shift just started, and you're here, but you didn't ride down with me," Maya explained, hooking a thumb toward the elevator.
"I took the stairs," Ritsuko replied.
Maya blinked, knowing full well that to get from the ground level to where they now were required traversing nearly twenty flights of stairs. "Why?" she asked.
Because I could, Ritsuko thought, knowing that attempting the feat only days ago would have had her wheezing and panting like… well, like what she was, namely a woman who had smoked far too much for too long.
"Because it's good exercise," Ritsuko answered out loud. "And I can use it."
Wouldn't know it by looking at you, Maya thought appreciatively, thinking that her boss and mentor looked particularly lovely that morning.
Though, strangely, Ritsuko had buttoned up her white lab coat, something she had never done in the past to the techie's knowledge.
"So what's on the agenda today, Maya?" Ritsuko asked as the two headed down the hallway together.
"Today's shaping up to be a doozy, sempai," Maya replied. "Technical Division Two reported problems with the MAGI, so we have to run another full diagnostic, we received some of the parts necessary for a minor upgrade to Unit Zero that the Commander wants done yesterday, the head scientist from one of the American branches wants you to review his new hypothesis on the principles of S2 power generation, and of course there's the usual tasks that need to be done around here."
To Maya's considerable surprise, Ritsuko actually smiled at hearing this, as though it was a challenge she was pleased to be taking on.
Wow, it's been a while since she reacted to a huge pile of work like this, the brunette thought, feeling pleased. For a while there, Maya had feared that the enormous pressure they were all constantly under was crushing her mentor's love for science.
"So, what's first?" Ritsuko asked.
Four hours later, Maya was about ready to beg for mercy. Not only was their workday particularly labor intensive, but the various jobs they had to perform often had them hopping from one side of the base to the other. And given the size of the base, this was often quite the trek, even when taking into account the elevators and the occasional moving walkway.
"Sempai, please, slow down," Maya panted, following as the blonde walked briskly through the hallways.
If she wasn't so tired and frazzled herself, Maya might have realized that Ritsuko should have been huffing and puffing far worse than she was at this point.
"Come on, Maya, you're younger than me. You shouldn't be having any trouble keeping up," Ritsuko teased but slowed her pace all the same.
"You certainly seem to be in a good mood today, sempai," Maya commented. "Any particular reason why?"
"Oh, not really," Ritsuko lied. "I just had a really good night's sleep last night. Woke up on the right side of the bed, I guess."
I wish I could have a night of sleep that good, Mayathought. It's like she's got the energy of ten women today!
"I'm glad," she said. "If you don't mind my saying so, you haven't exactly seemed like yourself lately."
"How so?"
Maya shrugged, suddenly looking rather sheepish. "You've just seemed rather…tired and depressed for a while."
"Have I?" Ritsuko asked.
"Well, yes," Maya said, then hastened to add, "but you were still getting your job done, so it's not like it was that bad, but…I was worried about you."
Ritsuko smiled warmly at her assistant. "I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine, Maya. Never better, in fact."
"I can see that..."
"What was that?"
"Nothing!" Maya squeaked.
Did I say that out loud?! The mousey technician wondered.
Ritsuko shrugged. "So, what's left on our agenda?"
"That American scientist, Dr. Mitchell, wants your opinion on his new S2 hypotheses, and the MAGI diagnostic," Maya said. "Other than that, just the usual work."
"In that case, I'm going to look over the notes on that fool's latest leap of illogic," Ritsuko said. "Can you start the diagnostic?"
"Of course, sempai."
"Good. Once I'm done, I'll come and help you," Ritsuko said.
Maya nodded, and the two parted ways. Ritsuko resumed the quick pace she'd been going at before her assistant had asked her to slow down, keeping her pleasant expression on her face all way the to her office.
Once she was inside and had managed to close the door, however, she allowed herself to slump against the wall and release a sigh.
Thanks the scarab she'd been able to forget for a little while, just what she was mired in. However, the moment Maya had so shyly said that she was concerned for her mentor, Ritsuko could only think one thing.
The Commander's scenario will kill her, and I'm helping make it happen…
Bile rose up in her throat along with a wave of self disgust at the thought of the bright young woman who so admired her dying by her hand.
(Ritsuko?) The scarab spoke up. (What's wrong?)
Don't you know? She thought back at it, suddenly feeling tired again. Can't you see it for yourself in my mind?
(Well, I see that there's a plan to combine everyone into one giant life form, and in the process reunite the Commander with his wife, but I don't understand why that's causing you so much grief.) The scarab answered.
So far as it could tell from scanning Ritsuko's memories, humanity wouldn't die if this "Third Impact" were to take place. Everyone would loose their individual bodies, yes, but their consciousness would all live on in a hive mind.
To the scarab, there didn't seem to anything wrong with that. On the contrary, it seemed only right and proper.
It's not the way humans are supposed to live, Ritsuko informed the scarab, sensing its line of thought. The members of SEELE want it to happen because they want to be immortal, and Ikari wants it to happen so he can be with his wife again, but no one else would ever chose that kind of existence.
(Oh.) The scarab said. (Then why don't you just stop helping?)
Because, Ikari will have me killed, and then he'll replace me, Ritsuko thought.
(In that case, why—)
The scarab was interrupted by the soft whooshing sound of the automatic door to Ritsuko's office sliding open. The scientist didn't even need to turn around and look to know who it was; only one person made a habit of barging into the office of the Project-E Chairperson without knocking.
Well, actually, two people did, but Misato was considerably louder about it, knock or no.
"Commander Ikari," Ritsuko greeted, turning her chair around.
The scarab released a wordless hiss of anger.
Shut up, Ritsuko told it sternly.
"Doctor," Gendo said. "What is the status of the Dummy Plug Project?"
Ritsuko stifled the urge to breath a sigh of relief. An update on his favorite pet project was all he wanted. For a moment, she'd felt certain he knew about the scarab.
Which had been silly. Gendo Ikari wasn't as omniscient as he liked to make people believe. Yet despite knowing this, Ritsuko was still unable to dispel her fears that he knew things he couldn't possibly have learned.
That, she mused, was one of the most insidious things about Gendo Ikari. Even if you could see through his tricks, you still weren't entirely immune to them.
"The Dummy Plug Project is on schedule, Commander," Ritsuko said. "Is that all you wanted to know, sir?"
Gendo's expression softened very, very slightly. "I want you to accompany me this evening."
Ritsuko froze. If she went to Gendo's home and he saw her undressed, saw her dramatically altered body, he would instantly realize that something very unusual had happened to her. And from there, nothing good would happen.
(Say the word and he dies.) The scarab spoke up.
I told you to keep quiet, Ritsuko snapped.
"I'm afraid I can't, sir," Ritsuko said, forcing her voice to remain level.
Gendo raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"I have too much work to do," Ritsuko replied.
"I see," Gendo said after a brief hesitation. "Good afternoon, Doctor."
With that, he turned and left. Once he was gone, Ritsuko went limp in her chair, feeling drained from the effort of keeping her fear concealed.
She hoped that nothing would come from her refusing him. She had never refused him before, so she didn't know how he'd react to this. Would Gendo Ikari have her disappeared because she wouldn't warm his bed any longer?
Don't be stupid, she told herself.
As easy as it was to picture the man as a vengeful sadist, Ritsuko knew that Gendo really wasn't. Oh, he was capable of truly monstrous acts, but he never hurt anyone simply for the sake of hurting them. All his actions were ultimately done for the purpose of furthering his scenario, and so long as she obediently continued to work for NERV, killing her would only be counterproductive to that end. Regardless of whether or not she stopped sleeping with him.
At least, that's how she hoped his thoughts on her refusal would go.
(We can still kill him.) The scarab piped up. (One blast of an annihilator ray and he's dust—literally. No one even has to know it was you! I can jam all the security cameras easily.)
No! Ritsuko thought.
(Why not?) The scarab asked, sounding baffled.
Look, the idea of killing Gendo definitely has a certain appeal, but it wouldn't fix anything, Ritsuko thought. If anything, it would just make things worse, because then SEELE would be firmly in the driver's seat. Gendo and the old men sort of check each other.
Of course, the problem was their desired endgames were both disastrous for the whole world. Only in her wildest fantasies would Gendo and SEELE end up utterly ruining one another's schemes and thus accidentally saving humanity from one another.
(Then let's kill him and SEELE.) The scarab said.
The members of SEELE are hard to find, well protected, and scattered across the globe, Ritsuko replied flatly. Then she frowned as a thought occurred to her. Hey, you didn't seem that disturbed by the Commander's scenario. So why are you so keen on killing him?
(Because he hurts you.) The scarab answered.
Ritsuko suddenly felt a lump forming in her throat. It had been a long time since anyone had shown such simple, sincere concern for her.
(There must be some way to stop this Third Impact from happening.) The scarab said.
Ritsuko shook her head with a sigh. No, it's…
She trailed off before she could complete her thought, her mind suddenly going back to the previous night, when she'd rescued that poor man and defeated the yakuza thugs with the powers the scarab had granted her. She remembered how she'd felt that night…strong, powerful, invincible.
Like she could take on the world and win.
Maybe I can stop it, she thought, feeling a cautious flicker of optimism. But how?
She thought about the awesome resources that SEELE and Gendo commanded. Then she thought about the powers the scarab granted her. Fantastic as those powers were, they didn't seem to match up, not really, not in her mind.
Given the right lever, you can move the world, she told herself. Maybe the scarab can be that lever.
Part of her wanted to discard that thought immediately, to return to her unpleasant but comfortable feelings of helplessness. However, another part of her seized onto the notion, her keen mind quickly going into overdrive.
The scenarios of both Gendo and SEELE were planned out very specifically, and had been for years now. Unforeseen elements were abhorrent to them, and she could certainly be one of those. Not only that, but with her access to inside information, she could be especially vexing to her enemies. She could hit just the right spots to make the whole house of cards come tumbling down. Perhaps she could even play both ends against the middle and set NERV and SEELE against one another.
Maybe…maybe I…we can do this, she thought.
(Yes we can.) The scarab said enthusiastically. (So, at what point exactly do we kill Gendo?)
Ritsuko smacked her forehead with her palm.
"Hello, sempai," Maya greeted as Ritsuko emerged on the bottom tier of the command center several minutes later. "That took a long time. Did Dr. Mitchell make some new discovery?"
Ritsuko shook her head. "The damn Yankee's 'findings' were nonsense, as usual," she said. "The man's smart, there's no question about that, but he likes to pretend he understands S2 theory when no one actually does."
"Oh," Maya said. "I see."
"Anyway, sorry I was delayed," Ritsuko said. "Other matters came up."
"It's no trouble, sempai," Maya said. "We've already begun the diagnostic, and so far it looks as if everything's fine. I swear, since the incident with that last Angel, the Commanders demand we check everything out every time the system so much as hiccups."
"Considering how close we came to annihilation, I guess it's only to be expected," Ritsuko said. "So, how far—"
At that moment, a door at the second tier of the command center opened with a soft swish, quite unnoticed by any of the techs on the lowest tier.
(WARNING!) The scarab suddenly shrieked. (HOSTILE ENGERY SIGNATURE DETECTED! WARNING! WARNING!)
Ritsuko was caught off guard by the scarab's frantic cries and went staggering back a step. She clutched her head and winced. Maya's eyes widened in alarm and the technician moved toward her mentor, ready to catch the blonde in case she started to collapse.
"Sempai? Are you all right?" she asked.
"Fine, Maya. I just think I need to sit down for a second," she said, lowering herself into a nearby chair.
"You must have overworked yourself today, sempai," Maya said. "Why don't you just rest for a few minutes?"
"I think that's a good idea," Ritsuko agreed.
What's wrong? She asked the scarab. Why are you freaking out like this?
(There is a hostile and extremely dangerous enemy in the immediate vicinity!) The scarab said as though that explained everything, sounding panicked.
Who? What? Ritsuko asked.
(I…I don't know for certain.) The scarab confessed. (But I know that what I'm sensing means us harm, and has the means to fulfill its intentions!)
Is it the EVA's your sensing? Or maybe Adam? Or Lilith? Ritsuko asked, not able to think of anything else in the base that could possibly set the scarab on edge like this.
(No, it's not them. It's something else. Something bad. Very bad.) The scarab said.
So, you're sensing some weird form of energy, and you don't know anything about it, except that it's bad? Ritsuko asked.
(Yes!) The scarab replied, obviously not realizing how that sounded.
I think there may be some lingering damage that those nanomachines didn't repair, or something, Ritsuko said. There's nothing here that's a big threat.
(Yes there is! I know! I know!) The scarab said.
Look, I'm NERV's resident mad scientist, Ritsuko said. If there was a monster in the basement, I'd know about it. I'd have been the one who created it!
(There's something bad here! Something that wants to hurt us!) The scarab insisted obstinately.
What do you want me to do? Ritsuko asked in exasperation. All you know is that there's something "bad" here. What am I supposed to do about that? Drop everything and go looking for this mystery thing? Leave the city and abandon the plan to save the world less than an hour after I made it?
(…)
Yeah, Ritsuko said.
Meanwhile, on the middle tier of the command center, Misato was clutching her head and wincing.
"Are you okay, Major?" Makoto asked, noticing the signs of her discomfort almost immediately.
"Feels like I got the migraine from hell the second I stepped in here," Misato groaned.
"That's strange," Makoto said, then turned to Aoba. "You don't suppose there's, I don't know, some kind of gas leak in here?"
Aoba shook his head. "There's no gas pipes or anything that go through here, man. Even if there was something wrong, we'd have started feeling it a while ago."
"Which means that it's me, not this room," Misato deduced. "Ugh, I'm going to go off in search of some aspirin. Uh, keep up the good work, guys."
With that, she retreated out of the command center. To her surprise, the pounding in her head began to abate almost the instant the door shut, and the further she got from the nerve center of headquarters, the more her discomfort ebbed. Abandoning her quest for pain killers, Misato instead ducked into one of the ladies lavatories, pleased to find no one else there.
Walking over to one of the sinks, she turned the knob on the faucet and splashed cold water onto her face.
"That was weird," she whispered to her reflection. "And disturbing."
The migraine had only been part of what had assailed her when she'd walked into the command center. Along with the pain had come the overwhelming sense that there was something utterly evil nearby…and the need to eradicate it with extreme prejudice.
Misato was a soldier. She had taken lives before. But never before had she experienced such an incredible urge to kill.
She quickly double-checked that no one was in any of the bathroom stalls, then looked at her right hand and concentrated. Within seconds, a ring shimmered into visibility on her middle finger. It was made of green metal, rather on the bulky side, and had a simple symbol on the top: a circle with horizontal lines on the top and bottom, the symbol of the Green Lantern Corps.
Since the dying alien named Abin Sur had given her the ring and charged her with defending order and justice (a task her duties at NERV too often interfered with), the ring had obediently followed all her commands, sometimes offering advice but never trying to take control.
So blasting her with a super migraine and homicidal urges didn't seem like the sort of thing it would do, but why else would such a weird thing happen to her?
There are always flukes, I guess, she thought, splashing more water on her face. I'll have to do something if this happens again, but I guess it's not that big a deal.
Using a paper towel to dry off, Misato checked her appearance briefly, and then left the bathroom.
Both the Operations Director and the Project-E Chairperson had a normal day after the incident on the command center, and the strange occurrence began to fade from both of their minds. Indeed, with their often crazy schedules, days might have passed without the incident being repeated, were it not for the fact that they both happened to venture to the parking garage at roughly the same time as they left work.
It was Misato who felt the effects of their proximity first, her pain level suddenly going from zero to ten with such speed that it practically knocked the wind from her lungs.
"Ring," she spoke through gritted teeth, "what the hell?"
It wasn't exactly the most precise of questions, and the ring had asked for clarification of less vague queries in the past, but this time, it answered immediately.
"The presence of an alien infiltrator has been detected," the ring answered in its flat, otherworldly voice. "Immediate action to contain this hostile alien is highly recommended."
Misato clutched at her head, barely able to think straight. It was like there was a voice in her head whispering, "Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill…" over and over again in time with her pulse, and that made it hard to concentrate.
There's an evil alien here, what else do you need to know? A voice in her mind that was her own (or at least, she thought it was) piped up. You never get the chance to fight the damned Angels. If you let this one go, too, then what did you accept the damned ring for?
There was a certain logic to this that Misato couldn't deny.
"Ring," she said. "Take out the surveillance cameras in the parking deck. All of them."
The Commanders will absolutely shit a brick if they realize the Green Lantern was inside NERV, she thought, finding she didn't really care about that all that much at the moment. Hopefully, this'll keep them from realizing it.
Green energy crackled around a camera that she could see, and it stopped panning back and forth, a thin trail of smoke coming off it. Misato gave a satisfied nod, then looked around to see if anyone else was nearby. Spotting no one, she concentrated, and emerald flames flared up around her form. Her NERV uniform was swept away, replaced by a form fitting green, black, and white outfit, complete with a mask. Her body changed as well, becoming slightly more muscular, and her hair became jet black.
"Ring," Green Lantern said, "locate the alien."
A jet of light shot out from the top of her ring and went flying off into the distance. The Green Lantern was quickly flying off in pursuit of it.
(WARNING! HOSTILE ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED!)
This blast of noise that only she could hear assaulted Ritsuko for a second time that day, and she nearly went staggering as a result.
"Ugh," Ritsuko groaned. "Look, you can't keep doing this to me, and there's not a whole lot I can do about this thing you keep detecting, unless—"
She stopped speaking abruptly as she noticed a flicker of green from the corner of her eye. Turning, Ritsuko saw that the nearby security camera had abruptly died on her. She looked about, realizing that there was no one else in sight.
I think I saw a horror movie like this once, she thought. I didn't like it.
Suddenly, a thin stream of emerald light, like a glowing snake, appeared from around a corner and went right up to her, stopping mere centimeters from her form.
The sight of the green light caused the scarab to go ballistic.
(I remember now! It's a Green Lantern! Green Lantern energies are what I was picking up! The Lantern is coming for us!) It shouted, and Ritsuko suddenly felt the increasingly familiar sensation of the armor appearing over her form.
Putting her in the armor was something she'd specifically told the scarab not to do without her express consent, but she was so bewildered by this turn of events that she could just stand there.
Ritsuko, like most of the residents of Tokyo-3, had heard of the Green Lantern. The masked super heroine had made a splash some time ago when she'd rescued a young woman from being sacrificed by a cult. The emerald warrior had put in a few appearances since then, but she had mostly fallen off the radar.
But what the hell is she doing here? She shouldn't be here! Ritsuko thought.
But, regardless of the way things "should" have been, the Green Lantern emerged from around a corner in the parking garage, a halo of emerald light surrounding her as she flew toward Ritsuko.
Before Ritsuko could get a good look at the jade warrior, however, multiple warnings, threat assessments, and various analyses of potential weak points began popping up before her vision, thrown up by the obviously frantic scarab.
Stop that. I can't see! She told the scarab, but it ignored her.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" the Lantern demanded in a voice dripping with tightly restrained rage.
"I could ask you the same thing," Ritsuko replied.
It would have been the classic standoff, if not for the fact that both women had little genuine desire for the confrontation, and were both resisting the pull from their respective items of power. Ritsuko was barely able to keep the scarab in check, and the Green Lantern wasn't much better off. All her instincts were telling her that the blue and black thing in front of her was an enemy, and the throbbing pain in her head wasn't helping her keep her feelings of hostility in check.
Green Lantern inhaled a deep, slow breath through her nose, forcing herself to think more or less clearly. "Look," she said. "My ring doesn't like you—"
(She's going to attack us!!) The scarab screamed, throwing off Ritsuko's tenuous hold on it.
Before the scientist could react, the bug in her back seized control of her right arm, raising it and transforming the armor over her hand into a wicked looking blaster weapon.
Stop! Ritsuko ordered, but it was too late. A blast of electric blue energy erupted from the weapon, heading straight for the Green Lantern.
The emerald warrior's eyes widened, but her whole being had been tensed and ready for a fight; she had no trouble reacting to the attack. A stream of emerald light came from the top of her ring, forming a construct of shield before her. Ritsuko's energy attack bounced off the jade barrier and was deflected into one of the parking deck's concrete walls, taking out a sizable chunk from it.
Oh, now you've done it! Ritsuko told the scarab.
The Green Lantern felt her self control snapping. She didn't feel very compelled to try and regain it.
"All right, that's it!" she exclaimed, dispelling the shield and firing a blast of emerald light at Ritsuko.
"Ack!" the scientist exclaimed, raising her arms in a gesture of self defense.
The beetle wings shields that she'd used back at the warehouse burst from her arms again, just in time to protect her from the blast of green power. The impact of the attack against her shields pushed her back a good several inches, and the alien metal rapidly began to heat up, soon beginning to glow.
Then, the attack abruptly stopped.
The hell? A bewildered Ritsuko thought. Maybe she decided I'm too much for her…oh God, I'm becoming delusional.
Slowly parting the two shields, Ritsuko peeked timidly out, in search of the Green Lantern.
A massive green fist filled her vision. The emerald warrior had made another construct of green light, placing it over her right arm, and had gone flying toward her enemy. Ritsuko was only able to stand there as a fist that was twice the size of her head crashed into her like a battering ram.
"Ahh!" she screamed as the force of the blow sent her flying.
Ritsuko landed painfully on the hood of a nearby car, partially crumpling it and setting off its car alarm.
Okay, that hurt, her dazed mind thought as she looked up at the ceiling, stars dancing before her eyes.
Unseen by her, the Green Lantern wasn't allowing Ritsuko to enjoy a breather. A stream of light came from her ring, forming into a hand that grabbed another nearby car and moved it toward her enemy.
Ritsuko didn't quite understand what was happening when the underbelly of an automobile suddenly filled her vision. She was still so out of it that she merely wondered when someone had invented a flying car, and why she hadn't heard about it.
Fortunately for her, the scarab was faster on the uptake. (That's it, I'm getting us out of here. Right now!)
"Raugh!" Green Lantern roared as she slammed the car downwards, ready to crush her enemy to a pulp.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and Ritsuko vanished, leaving the unfortunate car to take the attack alone.
"What the hell?" Green Lantern muttered, suddenly feeling rather woozy. "What happened? Where'd she go?"
"Residual energy signature confirms a nineteen-sixty three," her ring said.
"And what does that mean?" Green Lantern asked.
"Suspect escaped into an extra-dimensional vortex."
"Where the hell am I?" Ritsuko demanded.
One moment it looked like she was about to be getting far too up close and personal with the latest model Hyundai had produced, and the next moment she was floating in…something. Ritsuko didn't have the faintest clue what it actually was, except that it looked a lot like a space nebula, and that it was very colorful.
I'm not in outer space, am I? She wondered.
(Negative.) The scarab replied. (This is the Bleed. It is the space between dimensions.)
"Oh, like that's so much better," Ritsuko grumbled. "Get me out of here and back to the real world! Now!"
(Okay.)
There was another flash of light, and suddenly Ritsuko found herself laying on her bedroom floor.
"That was…surprisingly painless," she decided as she sat up.
She happened to look at her clock at this moment, and her draw dropped. It read 11:30. It had been roughly seven o'clock when she'd punched out for the evening. Nearly four and a half hours had vanished in moments.
(Time's different in the Bleed.) The scarab said sheepishly, answering her unasked question. (And I don't quite remember how to control the effect. Uh, I'm pretty sure it's still today, though.)
That statement caused Ritsuko to do a double take, and she quickly rushed to check the date. She was understandably relieved to find that she had, indeed, lost only a few hours rather than a few days.
"How did she find us?" Ritsuko asked aloud as she willed the armor to leave her form. "And what does she have against us, anyway?"
(I don't know how she found us. As for what she has against us, she's the enemy.) The scarab said the last part as though it was self-evident.
Recalling how the Green Lantern had manhandled her, Ritsuko supposed that it was.
She allowed herself to fall back on her bed with a sigh. Well, I think it's safe to say I've made a permanent enemy of the Green Lantern, she thought. I really shouldn't have let the scarab make me shoot first, but damn, she didn't hold anything back.
Ritsuko shivered slightly as she recalled the way her foe had tried to drop a car on her. The Green Lantern had meant to kill her.
And hell, maybe I deserve it, but the scarab doesn't. Besides, I have to save the damn world.
The thought of her of all people being the savior of the planet, like some damn superhero, struck her as almost silly, and a small, bitter smile appeared on her face. Most superheroes weren't saving the world from disasters they themselves had help set into motion.
It's my mess, and I have clean it up, it's that damn simple, Ritsuko thought as she stared up at her ceiling. And I can't let anyone stop me.
Not even the Green Lantern.
Author's Notes: And so Ritsuko discovers one of the facts of having the scarab, namely that it and Green Lantern rings don't mix very well. In fact, they're like cats and turtles (bonus points for those who get the reference). Heck, poor Jaime was almost killed by a berserk GL Guy Gardner in the first issue of his book, and Guy, though far from a perfect person, is no murderer.
Speaking of Jaime, those of you who followed his adventures know why the scarab and Misato's ring don't like each other. The rest of you will just have to keep reading this to find out.
Anyways, the worst of Ritsuko's "growing pains" are behind her now that she can communicate with the scarab, but she's still got quite a few challenges ahead of her, as you'd expect. Also, as you can see, while the scarab might be itching to kill Gendo, Ritsuko isn't. There's two reasons I did this. One is that I don't want to just copy a certain other SOE fic with a bug theme superwoman. The other is that it seems to me that Rits is stuck in a situation where she has to chose the devil she knows or the devil she doesn't know. I can easily see Ritsuko as someone who could ignore her emotions in order to take what she sees as the wiser option, which is the devil she knows: Gendo.
I realize that I shifted gears pretty abruptly from "Ritsuko realizes she can save the world" to "Green Lantern vs. Blue Beetle" but it just didn't seem realistic for Misato and Rits to not get close enough to set off the respective talismans for days and days, and I really like the idea of this battle.
Animefan, yes the scarab was originally intended for that purpose. However, Ritsuko's scarab was also damaged, thus purging it of that programming like the one in DC canon.
Well, enough of my rambling. Thanks as always to my readers and reviewers, and thanks to my beta reader as well.
Omakes
Karma Doesn't Work…or Does It?
One Week Ago…
"Ikari," Fuyutski whispered to the Commander of NERV and his former student as they stood on stage, "this event is supposed to be a morale booster. Stop scowling at everyone."
"I don't think anyone is looking at me," Gendo replied. "And in any case, I still think this whole thing is moronic."
"What are you talking about? Everyone's so excited," Fuyutski said, subtly gesturing toward the buzzing crowd.
Before Gendo could make any kind of reply, an attractive young woman hopped up onto the stage. "Hello, NERV employees!" she said to the crowd. "Are you ready to get this event underway?"
The crowd cheered.
"Okay!" the young woman said. "Now, let me go over it real quick for anyone who hasn't heard yet: a tiny portion has been held back from all your paychecks recently, and it's gone toward the purchase of a brand new car! We're raffling off that car right now, and every NERV employee has been entered into the competition! So without further ado, let's see who our lucky winner is!"
She walked over to a large plastic jar containing hundreds upon hundreds of slips of paper, each of which had the name of a NERV employee on it. With great fanfare, she shook up the jar, then removed the top, stuck a hand inside, and pulled out a single slip of paper.
Her enthusiasm died as she read the name printed upon it. "Um, this week's winner is…Commander Gendo Ikari," she said.
The crowd let out a huge, collective groan, the morale booster instantly turning into a morale killer. The most powerful man in the city did not need a free car.
"I didn't even know I was entered into this contest," Gendo said.
"Neither did I," Fuyutski grumbled.
With a small shrug, Gendo walked forward, and claimed the keys to his new vehicle.
"Um, you'll find the car in the parking garage, sir," the woman said.
"Thank you," Gendo said, the barest trace of a smirk appearing on his face as he departed, indifferent to the several hundred disgruntled NERV employees that gazed hatefully at him.
"Um, anyway," the woman said, turning back to the crowd, "make sure you're here next week when we raffle off another car…hopefully to a more deserving soul this time," she grumbled the last part under her breath.
Present Day…
Unseen by Ritsuko, the Green Lantern wasn't allowing her to enjoy a breather. A stream of light came from her ring, forming into a hand that grabbed another nearby car and moved it toward her enemy.
Ritsuko didn't quite understand what was happening when the underbelly of an automobile suddenly filled her vision. She was still so out of it that she merely wondered when someone had invented a flying car, and why she hadn't heard about it.
Fortunately for her, the scarab was faster on the uptake. (That's it, I'm getting us out of here. Right now!)
"Raugh!" Green Lantern roared as she slammed the car downwards, ready to crush her enemy to a pulp.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and Ritsuko vanished, leaving the unfortunate car to take the attack alone.
"What the hell?" Green Lantern muttered, suddenly feeling rather woozy. "What happened? Where'd she go?"
"Residual energy signature confirms a nineteen-sixty three," her ring said.
"And what does that mean?" Green Lantern asked.
"Suspect escaped into an extra-dimensional vortex."
Before the Green Lantern could ask her ring what that meant, she suddenly realized that one of the cars the fight had trashed looked awfully familiar…
"That my car!" she wailed, recognizing the form of her Renault, mutilated though it was. "And I just got it fixed, too!"
Before she could bemoan the loss of her vehicle further, or wonder about the other one that had been trashed, she heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Eyes widening, she flew off, away from the sound, and disappeared.
Gendo Ikari hummed a little tune to himself as he walked through the parking deck. The scenario was on schedule, the fools at SEELE had no idea about any of his plans, and the superwomen of the city seemed even more oblivious than the old men did. It was a good day to be Gendo.
Then he rounded a corner and saw two utterly ruined cars, on sitting atop the other. His eyes widened as he took them in.
Instantly, the man reached into his pocket and took out his cell phone, dialing Fuyutski's number.
"Sir?" his second in command said.
"Fuyutski, something bizarre appears to have happened in parking deck C," Gendo said. "It looks like one car has been flung atop another. I want you to have security look into this. Make sure they leave no stone unturned."
"Yes, sir. And what will you be doing?" Fuyutski asked.
"Going home," Gendo answered simply, then hung up. "Good thing that wasn't my new car that was totally wrecked." He commented to himself.
With that, he got into his still pristine vehicle and drove off.
"YATTA!" Shinji shouted as he ran down to the parking deck. "I can't believe I won the second raffle for a car!"
The possibilities seemed endless now that he had his own wheels. He wouldn't have to put up with Misato's insane driving anymore! If he wanted to run away, he could actually get away now! He might gain a real social life! And, most importantly, this could well be a sign that the universe had tired of having him as its designated butt monkey! Oh yes, it was a great day to be Shinji Ikari!
Let's see, he thought, looking at the little piece of paper that told him where the car that went with the keys he was holding was located. Space 3-J…
He scanned the parking deck, and soon found the space, which held not one, but two cars in it, one of which was sitting atop the other…
Shinji Ikari said a very bad word very loudly then.
(A/N: Nope, apparently karma doesn't work after all)
The Dangers of Being Beautiful
Satisfied that she was really as physically fit as she looked, she resumed her original course toward her bathroom, silently wishing that she could take the day and hit the beach or something.
A nude beach! She thought, her confidence soaring, and released a silly little giggle.
You know what? You only live once, and the world's probably going to end soon, too. I should have fun while I can, damn it! Ritsuko decided, heading for her phone so she could call in sick for work.
About an hour later, Ritsuko was pulling her car up near one of Japan's nude beaches. Such places weren't as popular in the Land of the Rising Sun as they were in Europe, but they existed, and one happened to be fairly close to Tokyo-3. Ritsuko had never expected to visit it before, but now she bounded over to the sands without hesitation.
Once she was officially in the nude area, Ritsuko stripped off the bikini she'd worn there. The heads of several men (and not a few women) instantly turned her way.
That's right, gaze upon the perfection, the blonde thought smugly as she spread out a beach blanket and lay down upon it. Look, Ma, no tan lines!
A little while later, Ritsuko was feeling a bit less cheerful. Though she had managed to get a wonderful tan, she had also acquired quite the crowd of admirers, who were all sitting nearby and gazing at her with a disturbing intensity.
Finally deciding that enough was enough, Ritsuko got up, grabbed her blanket, and began to walk off. Her fans got up and followed her.
Oh, screw this! She decided and broke out into a run.
Her zealous admirers began to run after her.
Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! Ritsuko thought as she increased speed.
Eventually, she began to pull away from the horde, and she thought that she was almost home free…when she happened to collide with another person.
"Ooph!"
"Ow!"
Looking up to see who she'd run into, Ritsuko looked up to see Misato, who was just as nude as she was and looking just as attractive.
"Misato?!" Ritsuko exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"
"It's one of my favorite hangout places," Misato replied cheerfully. "I didn't know you came here, too, Rits!"
"Uh, I usually don't, but…"
"Wow, Rits, you have definitely been working out," Misato commented as she looked at her friend's body. Then he eyes went over to the blonde's bust. "And taking all your vitamins, I see!"
Ritsuko sweat dropped. "Uh, thanks," she said. "Now, not that it hasn't been great seeing you, but I've kind of got a little problem and should get going."
Misato looked behind her friend to see the rapidly advancing crowd of Ritsuko's drooling fans.
"Oh my gosh, Rits! You've got crazy stalkers!" Misato said, as though this was some amusing rite of passage her friend was going through.
"Um, yeah," Ritsuko said. "Hey, I don't suppose you know how to get rid of them, would you?"
"Oh, that's easy," Misato said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Watch and learn!"
As the horde drew near, Misato whipped out a can of pepper spray and fired several blasts of noxious fumes at the crowd. "Back!" the purple haired woman shouted. "Back, I say! Back!"
Reluctantly, the horde did so, quickly dispersing and wandering off.
"See?" Misato said. "Piece of cake!"
"Where were you keeping that pepper spray?" Ritsuko asked. "You're as naked as I am."
With a smirk, Misato took the small can and put it between Ritsuko's breasts. It soon disappeared into the blonde's considerable cleavage.
"You can keep that," Misato said magnanimously.
"Thanks," Ritsuko said, "but I don't think I'll be coming back here anytime soon."
"Oh, being nude only makes that whole 'hentai horde' thing happen faster, it doesn't cause it," Misato cheerfully informed her friend, "not when you're that hot."
Damn it, scarab! Ritsuko thought.
(There's just no pleasing some people…) The scarab grumbled in reply.
