"Maya, stop sniveling and hurry up!"
"I'm not sniveling, ma'am, I just…I mean…I don't know why you need me there," Maya stuttered, gripping her tablet like a life preserver. She tried to keep pace with the long-legged Misato, who was practically striding down the hallway with intent. Maya was jogging to keep pace.
"I already told you why, and it doesn't bear repeating," Misato grumped. "Why is this making you so nervous, anyway? You aren't asking any questions."
"It's just that the Commander, you know, he's intimidating, and we did overthrow him, so I imagine he's feeling a bit grumpy—"
"I'm grumpy. What does that count for?"
"Yeah, but you're you…ma'am."
Misato came to an abrupt stop, and Maya practically ran into her. "I'm 'me?'" Misato asked. "What the hell does that mean?"
"That…I guess…you're more approachable?" Maya suggested. "I mean, there's no disrespect meant, ma'am: you are my superior, but I feel a lot more at ease with you than with him." Maya waited patiently for Misato's response as the older woman mulled it over.
"Approachable…okay, I can live with that," she mumbled. "At least somebody finds me approachable."
"We all do!" Maya protested as Misato spun on her heel and began her sturdy march towards the Commander's holding area. Maya grunted as she hurried to keep up. "Who is it that doesn't find you approachable?"
"Maybe that's not the best word for it," Misato said. "Just something on my mind, is all."
"Is it okay if I ask?" Maya reasoned.
"No."
"Just checking, ma'am," Maya murmured as the approached the interrogation cell. It was a converted lab room in the upper levels of the GeoFront, designed for handling samples from Angelic entities. It seemed appropriate to place the Commander, with whatever was grafted to his hand, in this room. Here, he could be contained, and kept as far from Adam while still being secured in the GeoFront.
Two guards with rifles stood outside the door. One of them turned to the door's console, chiming it open. There were two more guards in the cell, staring at its sole occupant. Misato stepped in, flanked by Maya. The guards left, leaving the three of them alone: Misato, Maya…and the Commander.
"This is hardly necessary," Gendo mumbled, raising his hand. It was encased in a hastily made containment jar, strands of Bakelite caked on the exterior. "And my knuckles itch."
"That's unfortunate, sir," Misato said, pulling up a chair and sitting at the table. Maya took a place next to her, activating a recording program on her tablet. Misato crossed her arms. "Still not going to tell us what that thing is?"
"I already told you: it's a key," Gendo murmured.
"A key to what?"
"That's not the reason you're here."
"…and what is the reason I'm here?"
"You are wondering what Seele's counter-stroke will be," Gendo said. Misato cocked an eyebrow.
"Well…you said it, not me," she replied.
"Still walking among the reeds?"
"Some…guidance…would be nice."
"And why should I do that? You have me locked in the basement," Gendo grumped.
"You're aren't exactly the model of trust, are you? You abandoned your son for ten years, you conspired with men to end the world, you…cloned your wife. What's up with that, anyways?" Misato leaned forward. "You're close to her, I can see that, but I don't see the sort of hentai behavior I would expect with an old man dragging around a fourteen-year-old clone of his wife. Explain that to me."
"Who said I created her?" Gendo asked.
"…the Vice-Commander," Misato answered, after a moment's worth of consideration. Gendo closed his eyes.
"He said that, did he? Interesting." He opened his eyes, looking tired. "You have quite a list going there, Major. I suppose you could call me an evil bastard for any one of those things…except, of course, the clone issue: is giving life to Rei so evil? And is it wrong that she happens to share a likeness with my wife?"
"What purpose does she serve?" Misato asked. "Why Rei? Why create her?"
"I thought you wanted to know about Seele's plans," Gendo scolded. Misato glared at him for a moment, but relaxed.
"It would be helpful."
"Why should help?"
"Because it sounds like you and Seele don't see eye to eye on things, if certain people are to be believed," Misato stated. Gendo chewed on his tongue in thought, and then shrugged.
"True. I see no reason why I should help you, though. What makes you think I want you to succeed?" He scratched at his wrist, dislodging a piece of Bakelite.
"You want to be with your wife again, right?" Misato asked. Gendo narrowed his eyes, and glanced at Maya. The younger woman stared back silently. "Only a few people know, and she's one of them," Misato said.
"And the Third Child?"
"Your son?" Misato asked. The Commander did not rise to the bait, and she continued. "No, he doesn't. I haven't found the right way to tell him, and I'm afraid that it would…well…."
"Hinder his abilities to Pilot. Because you still need him, don't you?" Gendo's words had a tone of triumph, but his expression seemed eminently weary. "Hnn…well, it might. And it might not. I don't know myself, really."
"Is there validity to him remaining a Pilot?" Misato asked. "Will he be needed in Unit One?"
"…those are Ryoji Kaji's cigarettes, aren't they?" Misato began to say something, and the words seemed to clutter in her throat. She snapped her mouth shut, and leaned back from the table. "I can smell the smoke, you see. You reek of it. You must have gone through half of the pack. It's the same tobacco." Gendo tapped his nose with his free hand. "Scent is a fundamental sense in provoking memory. Much more for women than men, of course: your minds are wired for much more rapid recall, in concern to colors and scent and events. I warrant, then, that you find some comfort in the smell."
Misato had done a monumental job of holding it together for the night, and the morning, but that was surprisingly deep. She tried to talk, but no sound came out, and her heart and eyes burned. All she could see, and hear, and smell, and taste, in that moment…just a phantom. Someone who wasn't there anymore. The vividness of the memories were upon her, and she trembled at them.
"It must be hard," Maya said quietly. Her first words in the interview. Misato let her eyes drift to the table, as Gendo fixed his gaze on the younger woman.
"Excuse me?"
"What perfume did your wife wear?" Maya asked.
"…what?"
"What perfume did she wear?" Gendo closed his mouth, and said nothing. Maya waited, and then asked, "What was the smell of her shampoo? What conditioner did she use? Did she use a hand lotion? A lot of women do, especially scented ones. Do you remember the smell of that lotion?" Maya leaned forward. "Was there a way she cocked her head when she turned to look at you, or something in the back of her eyes that you hoped was for you alone? Do you remember the…patterns her hair made when wind hit it? Or…what was the tension in her fingers when she held your hand? Was it tight, like she wanted to possess you and was afraid you would leave if she left go? Or were they loose and easy, like you made her comfortable and relaxed?
"Was there a taste when you kissed—"
"Stop." It wasn't loud, and the tone was flat, but Maya did stop. Gendo seemed to have retreated into himself, and his eyes narrowed. "I will not play that game."
"…what color were her eyes?" Maya asked. "Do you even remember?" Gendo didn't reply. "She's…right out there. Inside of Unit One. And you can't see her, or touch her. All you have are these…memories of her, in pieces. Smells, and tastes, and…all of that. And you can't see her, even when she's right in front of you." Maya cocked her head, looking strangely sympathetic and curious. "It must be hard."
"…yes," Gendo murmured, studying the container on his corrupted hand. "I suppose so."
"And it must be harder knowing that you won't be able to do what you planned on doing to see her again. Because…that is what your goal is, right? To see her again?"
"I feel this interview is over," he mumbled.
"If Seele wins, you won't have your chance," Maya said. "She's out of your reach now, but she'll be gone forever if they win."
"…hum." He settled deeper into his seat, like a balloon losing air. "…the Mass Production models."
"What?" Maya asked. Misato shook the spell that seemed to have come over her, and sat up.
"The MPs are in the planning stages," she said. "They haven't even begun production."
"They should have finished five by now," Gendo said. "And they can produce more when needed…last I checked, they had fine-tuned the fabrication process down to a matter of weeks."
"…weeks!?" Misato practically rose from her chair. "How? I mean…never mind that. What about Pilots? Do they have Pilots on standby that they can man the MPs with?"
"They don't need Pilots. I gave them that," Gendo murmured. "We proved the success of the Dummy Plugs, remember? Why use Pilots when the Evas are capable of handling themselves?"
"…I suppose you'll tell me that they have independent power sources, as well," Misato mumbled, "Just to make my day better. N2 batteries?"
"S2 engines. Not as efficient as the one in Unit One, but…they are there." He smiled. "Another contribution of mine: I sent them the readings and all of Dr. Akagi's findings on Unit One's engine. I had to…quell suspicion, somehow." He closed his eyes, still smiling. He rubbed his forehead, and his hand trembled slightly. "Of course, I thought it wouldn't matter in the end."
"…thank you, Commander," Misato said. The man's hand lowered, and he stared at her in mild surprise. "I mean that," Misato said, standing. "You may have saved your son's life with that information." Maya stood with her and, the two women headed towards the door. Misato knocked, and the door slid open. As the guards entered, she turned to her former boss.
"In your opinion…between Unit One and the Mass Production model…what are the odds?" The man smiled again, a surprisingly feral grin.
"Ah…Major," he said. "Unit One is the most perfect being in known existence at the moment…my bias notwithstanding." He leaned back. "I'll let you write the odds."
The door slid shut, and Maya released a shudder. Misato put a hand on her shoulder. "That was amazing," she said. "Where did that come from!?"
"It just seemed the right thing to ask," Maya said, allowing the last of her simmering, nervous tension to dissipate. "I…felt like I recognized something in him. Something I could empathize with. And…it just…came naturally."
"…you put yourself in a place where he is," Misato said.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Well…it worked. And that was a tremendous help. We can begin planning for possible Eva attacks, and without them using live Pilots…Shinji should be able to fight."
"Yes," Maya said, sounding distant.
"Is something wrong?" Misato asked.
"I'm sorry…I think I put more of myself into that interview than I planned on, ma'am," the younger woman murmured.
"It…did see like you were referring to something you were familiar with…if you don't mind me prying," Misato said.
"It's nothing." Maya waved at the air, turning away from the door. "Nothing to be concerned about."
"Maya," Misato said, and the younger woman turned in surprise. The Major rarely used first names, at least as far as Maya knew. "I…have been in a bad mood for reasons that have nothing to do with you. You said I'm approachable…I want to be. So if you or any of the others have issues…you can tell me. I won't judge, and I'll try to help."
"…I'll remember that, ma'am."
"Good. Now, for a defense plan, we need our aerial—"
The phone in Misato's pocket rang. She blinked, and pulled it out. Their Mysterious Benefactor was calling. She answered. "Yes?" she asked.
"Perhaps you could enlighten me to the reason why you're moving one of your communication satellites," he said.
"…I'm sorry?" Misato asked.
"I'm not suspecting duplicity, mind you," the Voice said. "I know, of course, that you probably have some self-destruct switch set up just in case: that's common sense, and I can respect that. The satellite, however…that's just a courtesy."
"I'm still lost, what are you talking about?" There was a momentary silence, the sound of what Misato could only assume were grinding teeth.
"…Are you saying that you did not, in fact, issue orders to your command team to reposition GAMA-02 from its previous orbit?" he asked.
"I don't even know what that is," Misato said. "That's not one of ours."
"Then why is it listed in the inventory of specially assigned satellites linked to the Nerv-Tokyo space net?"
"It's not," Misato insisted, "I have the complete inventory committed to memory. There is no GAMA-02."
"…that's not on the inventory I am reading right now."
"…what inventory?"
"The one the Ministry of Defense has in record, provided by Nerv for our defense purposes."
"So…you see a satellite on a list that I have no awareness of existing? A list provided by…Nerv?" Misato felt very nervous, and felt Maya's eyes boring into her. "Where is that satellite now?"
"Assuming a stationary low orbit above Tokyo-3," he said. "To confirm: you aren't lying to me? Because if you are, that could damage future arrangements."
"I have no clue what—" The other line began buzzing. "Hang on," she murmured, and switched over. "Hyuga?"
"Major!" he snapped. "Our low-orbit watch satellites are issuing a warning: something just began a descent into the atmosphere."
"What was the source!?" Misato demanded.
"Some satellite: it's IFF identifies it as a communication satellite, but I don't recognize the model." Something seemed to click in Misato's brain, and her eyes widened.
"Tell the CRF to get inside right now, and bring the civilians with them! Prepare for immediate impact!" she screamed into the phone, and hung up. She turned to Maya. "We have to get back to the—"
The lights went out, the the Earth heaved in agony.
Misato had only the vaguest memory of what happened. She remembered the floor disappearing from beneath her, actually flying up to the meet the ceiling, before falling hitting the floor and going foggy. She slowly sat up, feeling something off in her back, and whimpered from the sensation. It wasn't a pain, just a wrongness. Something that made her feel queasy and afraid inside. She fought the feeling down, and turned to look for Maya. She saw the guards at Gendo's cell door slowly dragging themselves up the wall, dazed and fuzzy.
"Open that door, and check on the prisoner!" she ordered. She turned, and saw Maya lying pressed into the corner between the wall and the floor. She looked like a cat that had been struck by a car, and Misato could clearly see one of the woman's arms was twisted at a crude and unnatural angle. Slowly, she crawled across the floor to the lieutenant. The young woman began moving, slowly turning away from the wall.
"It…hurts…," she whimpered.
"Where?"
"Arm…knee. Left knee…." She laid her head down. "Chest."
"What was that?" Misato murmured, slowly trying to reposition Maya. The woman grimaced and whined as she was moved.
"N…N2 mine," Maya said.
"Impossible. We've been hit with N2 warheads before. Harder hits than that, even. We've been hit with AT discharges."
"N2…had to…had to be," Maya murmured. Misato tried to run all known N2 type devices through her head, but none of them registered in her mind as being able to produce the violent reaction she had just experienced from under something as fortified as the GeoFront. She tried to stand, and couldn't. She fell forward on her hands, and stayed there on all fours, her head hanging low.
"…Major?"
"I can't stand up," she mumbled. "Something's wrong."
"Major," one of the guards said, returning from the cell. "The prisoner is unconscious, but stable."
"And you?"
"Bruised. So are the others, except Saido." He shook his head. "He broke his neck against the ceiling."
"Is he breathing?"
"No, ma'am. Can you stand?"
"No. Get a medic up here when able. Uh…my phone, where is it?" As if on cue, the familiar ring chimed from five feet away. "Get that, right now," Misato ordered, pointing at the device. The guard grabbed it, and handed it to her. It was Hyuga's phone.
"Hyuga," she croaked. "What the hell was that?"
"I don't know," he replied back, sounding disoriented himself. "All our sensors are off-line. We're blind on the surface, and Magi is currently restarting."
"Restarting?"
"Shock of the blast, ma'am: it wasn't designed for that sort of jarring. The best I can say is that the biological components of Magi suffered a concussion."
"That's fine, just get it back up as soon as possible." She suddenly jerked up, a movement that brought a spasm of discomfort throughout her body. Not pain…just that strange, awful feeling she couldn't describe. She grunted, and fell on to her side.
"Ma'am? Are you okay?"
"Hyuga, I just remembered the kids!" she grunted, fighting through the sensation. "In the Ready Room…I need you to go see to them personally. Go make sure they're okay."
"Professor Fuyutsuki is already on his way there now," Hyuga said.
"Is he able to move?" she asked, incredulously.
"We were bumped around a bit down here, but not too bad. Just shaken. What about you?"
"The Commander is unconscious, one of his guards is dead, Maya is a mess, and I think there's something wrong with my back," Misato grumbled. "Other than that, it's chocolate and sunshine up here."
"Have you already requested medics?"
"Yes."
"Okay. We'll try and get our systems back up as soon as possible, ma'am."
"Get it done, Lieutenant," she croaked. She heard the line click as Hyuga hung up. She dropped the phone, and gasped. What was wrong with her? There should be pain if she was injured, right? Stabbing pain? Dull pain? Achy pain?
None. There was no pain, just that maddening, infuriating, sense of wrongness in her body. She trembled, feeling one of the guards place their hands on her shoulders. She waved them off. "The lieutenant," she snapped, hanging her head and gesturing furiously towards Maya. "Help her. I can wait."
The phone rang again. She didn't check the number, just answered. "What?" she gasped.
"Still alive, Major?"
"You sound surprised," she muttered, trying to sound defiant but not quite managing it.
"I frankly am," the Voice replied, and she realized that the normal mocking tone wasn't there.
"This is the part where you tell me what happened, because I have no clue," she said. "Our sensors are still off-line."
"I shouldn't be surprised: they don't exist anymore."
"What?"
"Major, the entire upper portion of the GeoFront is gone."
"Gone!?" Misato tried to wrap her mind around that. If the upper portion was gone, so were the Nerv personnel on standby there. And the entire CRF unit with its SOF contingent. And the media presence. And at least some of the JSSDF troops parked on the upper mantle of the GeoFront. All those bodies were pushed out of her mind, however, by the realization that the GeoFront's interior was now exposed. "How…how is it gone?"
"We're still tracing the origin of the device, because it happened rather quickly," the Voice said, "But that 'communication' satellite seemed to have a little more in it than just a transmitter. I would not be surprised if there was an N2 warhead on-board: one specifically designed to penetrate the defenses of the GeoFront."
"How? It…never mind. It doesn't matter." She rubbed at her forehead. An N2 warhead. One designed to bring down the GeoFront. Did Seele actually anticipate the possibility of having to destroy one of their own facilities? "We're…we're blind here. What are the JSSDF doing?"
"Picking themselves up, I warrant: we're still receiving casualty reports from them in a…roundabout way."
"What do you mean?"
"We don't exactly have a direct line to their command, you know."
"Never mind. Listen: are you familiar with the heavy-lift aircraft we use to transport our Evas."
"Yes."
"Their size? Radar signature, all of that?"
"Again, yes."
"You need to be looking for any aircraft of that size heading towards Japan."
"Do you want us to shoot them down?"
"It wouldn't matter if you did. Feel free to try, but it won't stop what's coming." Misato tried once more to stand, and couldn't. "It's about to get worse."
