Part 10
"So why do ya need to strip us naked, exactly?" Bianca queried, her fleshy form concealed behind curtains from Shinji's eyes. It wasn't like he'd try to catch a peak at her nude appearance anyway, but the simple fact of the matter was that she was, indeed, naked. His ears picked up on the whistling air flowing between her legs, her breasts, her limbs. It almost sounded as though angels were blowing through their little flutes, only the instruments were fleshier, more organic and filled with bodily fluids.
"This is just a test to see how your synchronization rates change without your plug suits on," Dr. Akagi said, her voice echoing into their ears through numerous loud speakers.
"Okay, I got that, but why the hell are we butt-stinking naked!" the German girl said, Shinji's view of her, unfortunately, out of Shinji's sight. His mind could see through the curtains and walls, see straight at her svelte form, scale up her slender calves that sprouted out from tight, pert thighs. He could visualize her toned belly, no, not toned, flat. All Asuka did was sit around the house and nibble on potato chips. She didn't work out, though Shinji always saw her as a behemoth of power. It was odd how nothing about her body was necessarily physically imposing. It was all her mind, all her passionate, flaming heart.
Shinji never saw the other pilot's forms. Just their shadows against the wall and ceiling. Ever slowly, he progressed down the claustrophobic hallway, down toward the entrance to the entry plug. He tossed his body into the seat, relaxing into the soft, comforting throne of power. He felt his mind ease gently into the LCL that surrounded him, letting it soak into his pores. He felt his mind drift away from worldly matters, away from terrestrial concerns, away from material surroundings.
Just friends?
His breathing slowed down to a crawl as the LCL oxygenated his blood directly. There was no need to collect air now. It was beautiful how simple the process of living was when you were surrounded by life fluid, the primordial soup of life.
That's all we are.
"This feels weird." Shinji heard from another plug, only for Ritsuko's voice to echo throughout their chambers, ordering Asuka to hold her tongue. He imagined what she looked like naked, her strands of hair drifting in the liquid as the seconds passed, her nude form caressed by the liquid, thicker than water, but thinner than blood. It was a beautiful, gentle-
"Shinji! Focus on your synch ratio!"
"Right! Sorry, Ritsuko!"
#
"It's right this way, ladies," Kaji declared, glancing over his shoulder to examine the two beautiful women at his rear. Due to numerous delays at the station, it took them a tad longer than expected to arrive in Japan. However, if Kaji wasn't very much mistaken, the delays weren't just due to the airport having trouble. There were only so many times something could go wrong with a highly maintained vehicle of astounding caliber. Gendo arrived in Japan a full half a day before him, so why was it that he, Kaji, and two other NERV employees were delayed so frequently?
Seele had a hand in this.
He knew it.
"This is my place of zen, right here," Haruka mumbled, examining the austere machinery surrounding them as they stood on one of the conveyer belt bridges.
"Figured you'd say that. Could use a few more flowers," Michiru said, smirking.
"More flowers? That'd throw off the beautiful clanging clanking gears's melody," Haruka laughed.
"Melody? If you want melody, listen to my violin sometime."
"Yeah, I do."
"You play violin?" Kaji butted in, glancing over, "Hey, Asuka played violin. Perhaps you can get her to pick up the habit again."
"Oh, are you asking if I could tutor your ward?" Michiru asked, smirking.
"Yeah, maybe."
"I might give it a shot," Michiru said, with a pleasant smile.
"Does your girl like running?" Haruka asked, smirking.
"Uh, no, not particularly."
"Fast cars?"
"Don't believe so."
"Sex?"
"My area of expertise."
"Fair enough."
#
"It would appear that you were right, Dr. Akagi," Maya said, frowning, "No clothing does reduce the level of synchronization the pilots have."
"Can we just end this experiment now?" Aoba said, glancing at one of the monitors, specifically averting his gaze from Bianca's monitor, "I'm getting a little grossed out looking at that gut."
"That's a little mean," Misato mumbled, irritated.
"Have you seen that blubber ball?" Aoba laughed, "All I need is a knife, just to cut off all that flub. Probably wouldn't even hurt her. Her nerve endings probably don't reach as far as that gut of hers."
"Aoba, the pilot's physical concern isn't your priority," Ritsuko sighed, running a hand up her forehead. Honestly, the girl could afford to lose a few pounds, and she couldn't deny she felt slight distaste toward the girl. After all, she was a sadist. She derived sexual pleasure from watching others suffer. It was unprofessional for her to regard her pilot as anything short of a useful utensil, not to favor one over the other. She also knew, from a psychological standpoint, that, despite being sadistic, Bianca wasn't a sociopath. She didn't have that lack of concern for others.
Not like Ritsuko.
Still, she had to wait for Bianca's moral guardians to come to make a final deduction.
That might not sponge away the distaste.
"Finish the exam. I have everything we need," Ritsuko said, "Eject the pilots." A few seconds of typing passed, slowly at first, but soon it expanded, dragged out, never ending. Ritsuko glanced at the bunnies on the bridge, her eyebrows raised in confusion. "What's keeping you? I said eject the pilots."
"Ritsuko," Maya stammered, typing more frantically than before, "It's not responding! The entry plugs aren't responding!"
"We're being closed off!" Hyuuga stammered, "Dr. Akagi, your orders?"
Ritsuko took a second to appreciate her seat of control. Since Misato was taking a sick day, which Ritsuko assumed was taken to tend to her overwhelming hang over, the doctor was now in complete control. Still, this was a problem she had to deal with. She took a few steps forward, lips pulled tightly as she said, her voice betraying her inner confusion, "Maya, I want you use the emergency exit codes."
Maya's fingers pushed down on the keys, in alternating patterns, but, alas, all it created was a loud, echoing howl in the air that sent shivers up Ritsuko's spine. That siren was the sound of an Angel. Their pilots were stuck in their entry plugs, and the newest angel chose now to strike. Clearly the events correlated in some way. But how?
"The angel is in the mainframe!" Hyuuga cried out.
"What do you mean it's IN the mainframe?" Ritsuko stammered, her eyes widening in horror.
"I mean it's literally inside of the system, hacking into all our files!" Hyuuga stammered.
Ritsuko felt her body tremble in one sudden tremor. Hacking into the data? An angel composed of digital binaries? No, it had to be organic. Had to have a physical form in some way. If this creature was composed of digital code, there was surely a way to delete this bastard quickly. Everything depended on the contents in the depths of Nerv headquarters to remain untouched by the angelic hands of those monsters. "Alright, the pilot's lives are our second highest priority. We need the angel to stay out of Terminal Dogma. Get on it!"
#
The excalator froze sharply. Kaji stumbled forward, catching himself on the railing. Haruka had the grace to remain erect, and, had it not been for her quick reactions, Michiru would've fallen flat on her face as well. She smiled up at her partner before words returned to Kaji's mouth, words that were surprised, confused, dare he even say it anxious.
"What just happened?"
"The electronics must be messed up or something," Haruka mumbled, "Only thing I can think of."
#
"The Angel's powering down out systems!" Maya shrieked, glancing over her shoulder at Ritsuko, her eyes wide with terror, "It's blocking us out!"
"The Angel must be located by one of our power cores, or at least has access to the power lines. We need to isolate it somewhere before we're completely blocked out," Ritsuko stammered, anxiously.
A few moments of silence passed, all the while Ritsuko trembled to herself, her fingers tightening on her arms, digging into the fabric of her lab coat. If she messed this up, they were all going to die. There'd be ho hope for them, not even the semblance of salvation. She trembled from head to toe as the seconds passed, the sounds of hundred of keys being pushed at once. Finally, Hyuuga spoke. "We've located the angel!"
"Where is it?" Ritsuko stammered.
"My God," Hyuuga shrieked, "It's hacking into our defense systems!"
#
The sounds of metal clinking and clanging around them alerted Kaji to the world around him. He felt fear enter his heart, his blood rushing throughout his body. What was going on here? Why did the entire center just freeze up on them? Had something happened to the power? No, it was more than that. Something was certainly moving. He had just left a murder scene, leaving the corpse of a Seele executive. Surely, that was what this was about.
Justice was coming for him.
No, this couldn't be justice.
This was cruel vengeance.
Kaji withdrew his pistol, holding it out before him, pointing it in all directions. Haruka glanced over at him, cocking her eyebrows in confusion. "Surely you don't think we'll actually need-"
The sounds of bullets obstructed her words as the trio ducked down. The rounds soared over their heads, the rails buckling and tearing to shreds as the spiraling projectiles slashed across the surface of the electronic stairs. They were firing at him. He glanced over at his surroundings, machinery piloting firearms at his head, aiming bullets directly at their skulls and bodies.
"Oh, fuck this shit!" Haruka snapped, reaching into her suit, withdrawing two pistols she held out before her. If Kaji wasn't very much mistaken, those pistols she held like squirt guns in front of her, pistols she fired out into the air, had more force each than the traditional 10-guage shot gun. Their destructive potential became apparent when the projectiles launched straight into their targets, ripping the machines apart, their bullets spraying out in all directions. Bullets collided in mid air, sparks flying. The other guns on the walls became riddled with holes as Haruka fired shell after shell into the defense systems, leaving little left of them in a few seconds.
"Was THAT your defense system?" Haruka laughed, resting the barrels of her guns on her shoulders, a smirk crawling on her face.
"I guess so," laughed Kaji, remembering how much he loved breathing after a quick brush with death.
"That can't be your idea of a welcome, can it?" laughed Michiru, rising to her feet as she withdrew firearms from her coat.
"Well, it isn't," Kaji said, frowning, "I don't think that Nerv would give us this sort of welcoming. This is probably something Seele cooked up."
"Yeah, I figured that," Haruka chuckled, "The delays on the flight? Seemed a little suspicious."
"So you're not on Seele's favorable side either?"
"What did you do to piss them off?" Michiru asked.
"I killed one of their fold. You?"
"We made Bianca the pilot of Unit-04," Haruka replied, "They didn't want her to even be considered for the position, but we fought for her. Less talking, though. We may need to do some more shooting."
#
"Isolate that angel! Cut it off from the rest of the security systems!" Ritsuko stammered, "No, wait, channel it's data flow into one of the security robots."
"Security robots?" Maya queried, confused, "Since when did we have those?"
"Since it became convenient," Ritsuko spat, recalling how frustrating it was when Ondorf suggested to them, no, commanded that they added in a security system. Nerv wasn't supposed to defend against human targets, and bullets seemed to have little to no effect on the Angels. Now, however, the defense systems were a key instrument to aiding them in the destruction of the angel. "I want you to channel the entire angel's being into one of the security bots, and then command the other bots to shoot it to ribbons. Alright?"
"Got ya!" Aoba chuckled, hastily typing away.
#
Bullets soared through the air like carrier pigeons in a hurricane. Haruka and Michiru were hidden behind columns of powerful steel, the bullets bouncing off its surface rather violently. The walls buckled and dented under its great force. Kaji, however, was pinned behind a column, and, with each successive shot, another fragment soared off of its reflective surface, the material not strong enough to supply more than temporary reprieve from death's grasp.
Another bullet rocketed out from Haruka's gun, firing a droid stuck to the wall that would've blown Kaji's head off. The machine was torn asunder, gears bouncing off the wall in devastated fragments. The man smiled, grateful he wasn't in this alone. He aimed his gun, and fired at another gun, knocking it from the droid's fingers. Now, there were but a few defense mechanisms in this chamber, but there was enough fire to keep them pinned down for some time. And there were chambers elsewhere that probably were firing bullets at defenseless members of Nerv from all sides. He wondered how many had been riddled with bullets already.
Or perhaps they were the only ones being targeted.
#
"The machines are being focused on individually and specifically in specific chambers. Our security cameras cannot detect anything, but we know they are targeting a specific group of individuals. We pray they make it," Hyuuga stammered, "If they don't, the Angel may lose interest in that area, and may migrate elsewhere."
"Alright, Ritsuko, tell me when you want the Angel stuck in there," Aoba said, smiling as he glanced over at his superior.
"What? You mean you haven't done it yet?" Ritsuko stammered, "Are you stupid! Ya should've done it the moment you suggested it!"
"Right," Aoba chuckled.
#
Michiru's gun blew away the head of another drone, leaving it defenseless against a second round. There were two machines left in this room, and then Kaji would be free to advance. What if Misato was caught in the crossfire? What if she were in danger? No, he mustn't think of that, mustn't think of the worst. He had to focus on living, on kicking Seele's ass now. Whatever, or worse yet whoever, was attacking them couldn't be invincible. Clearly Kaji would survive.
He had to learn the truth.
The two drones froze for a second. Kaji took a second to draw breath before bullets rung through the air. The two drones had turned on one another, firing bullets against their kin. One was faster than the other, alas, as one was left riddled with holes after a few moments of open fire. The other, however, was not unharmed. The blasts fired against the wall it was attached to, and, after several dozen rounds of blankly fired rounds, the attacking drone's head blown clean off, the target fell off the wall, slamming with a loud rattle against the floor. For a moment, it remained still, before firing rounds straight at the column.
How the hell was that thing still firing if it wasn't attached to its power source?
#
"The target has been removed from the circuitry, ma'am!" Hyuuga laughed, cheerfully.
"Cameras back on!" Maya cheered.
Ritsuko stared at the monitors as a horrible sight came before her eyes. Kaji was stuck, pinned down under rapid fire like a bug under a glass jar. Her eyes widened with fear as the bullets rang dangerously close to his skull, too close. His defense, a damaged column, wouldn't last much longer. A bullet cleared straight through the stone, soaring just over his shoulder. Another shattered the middle of the column, a good distance above the crown of Kaji's skull.
#
Kaji's pulse quickened as the seconds passed. Bullet shells waltzed across the floor as the drone dragged itself forward, its mechanical hands piercing the tiles of the floor to pull it forward, inch by inch, slowly having a better aim on its target. A strand of hair fell to the ground as a stray bullet drew far too close for comfort. Another inch, and Kaji's temple would've been ripped open by a stray, flaming hot bullet. He couldn't dare move, or else risk having a limb, or worse yet organ, blown away. He couldn't stay where he was, unless he had a death wish. He was, for all intents and purposes, trapped like a rat!
A bullet rang through the air, louder than any other. The gun in the drone's hands were blown apart as Haruka Tenoh rose to her feet, aiming her pistols straight at the drone's skull as she loaded them both full of bullets. A grin on her lips, blood from her cut forehead oozing slowly over her gloriously furious eyes, she said, cold and softly, "Fuck off, you bitch."
Sixteen bullets later, all that remained of the drone was fragmented scrap metal.
#
"The Angel has been wiped out," Hyuuga stammered, "Killed by a human being. Without an AT Field."
"The AT Field probably manifested in the form of its digital body. It didn't function like other Angels," Ritsuko sighed, running a hand up her forehead yet again, "Maya?"
"Yes, Dr. Akagi?"
"Eject the pilots, please."
#
"Haruka! Michiru!"
That was the first thing that Asuka heard Bianca shout after leaving the entry plug. After hearing odd, incoherent sounds from outside of her entry plug, sounds muffled due to layers of soundproof material yet still somehow audible, Asuka had been afraid. However, the moment she was released from her metallic chamber, she realized she had little to fear. No one was dead, though Kaji, who she could see at the end of her ramp, was a little sweaty.
She still hugged him.
Only to realize everyone could see her bare skin.
Bianca had a similar reaction after hugging a pair of Japanese women, both of whom regarded the girl with a broad smile, a laugh on their lips, but soon drew attention to Bianca's naked form. "Look, Bianca," the tall blonde said, smiling a strained, perhaps even pained, chuckle as the chubbette squeezed her, "I love the feeling of your breasts rubbing up against me too, but maybe you should put some clothing on, first." Upon being reminded of her nudity, the round faced pilot hid her womanhood behind her arms and pudgy fingers.
She didn't hide much.
"Ah! Kaji!" Shinji stammered, hastily wrapping a towel around his genitalia. Asuka followed suit, noticing towels had been supplied for them alongside the makeshift walls they had traveled between to reach their respective entry plugs. Having concealed her womanhood, Asuka noticed that Rei was standing out in the middle of the room, lacking the common decency to just put something on to hide her breasts! Was that slut trying to appeal to Shinji's stupid hormones by showing to the world that she did, indeed, have a pair of breasts? That bitch!
As though Asuka couldn't tell she had boobs.
She even caught Shinji glancing at Rei's breasts.
Somehow, Asuka wished he was looking at her own.
"Quite a story about how we got here, too," Kaji chuckled, "Quite a welcoming, if I do say so myself."
"We heard weird sounds. What was that?" Bianca said, having hidden herself as best she could behind her towels. For better or worse, it was a tight squeeze, and her breasts were pushed up against one another, forming a distinct line of cleavage. Asuka noticed that blonde haired woman unabashedly taking peeks at her breasts. That was mildly more uncomfortable than her paranoia of Maya catching glimpses of her naked just then and there.
"The newest angel appeared," Ritsuko explained through loud speakers, "It took the form of digitized data, and attacked. I'm sorry we couldn't go into more detail."
#
"You can't exactly conceal this from Seele now," Fuyutsuki sighed, running a hand through his hair.
Gendo's hands were tightly pressed together, his fingers clamping one another as he locked his own jaw. He knew Ondorf knew when the angel was going to strike and how he was going to do it. That's probably why he installed the security drones, to ensure that Seele knew that the Angel attacked. If Gendo denied it now, denied that the newest angel had appeared to attempt a total take-over of Nerv and, eventually, reach Lilith, then the obvious result would've been that the old men saw through Gendo's deceit and found reason to kick him out of his position. Now Gendo would have to tell Seele what happened, which threw off his own scenario.
It depended on Seele not knowing the precise number of the angels to have appeared at this point.
Now he had to change the plot.
"Ondorf is playing on all the fields, Commander," Fuyutsuki said, through tight lips, "I'm afraid he's a bigger threat than I anticipated. Chairman Keel sure knows who to give the tough jobs to."
"Ondorf isn't just Keel's puppet," Gendo said, tensely, "No, there's more to this than just that. He wants something."
"What do you mean, exactly?" Fuyutsuki asked.
"Isn't it obvious, Fuyutsuki?" Gendo queried, "Keel wants the Angels dead, and he wants them dead a certain way. However, I have data that shows that it was Ondorf himself who manipulated the airlines to keep Kaji from returning home until this precise moment, the moment the new angel was going to attack. Don't you find it a bit odd how he knew the exact moment the angel would attack and not merely the general time period like we do thanks to our interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls?"
"I find it a bit odd, yeah," Fuyutsuki said, frowning, "But what're you saying? That Ondorf planned on trying to kill Kaji and the other two Nerv members with him?"
"Precisely," Gendo said, "But he had no way of knowing what Kaji just did. All he knows about Kaji is that he works for Nerv, was with me on a trip, AND is the Second Child's supervisor."
"What are you implying with that last one?" Fuyutsuki asked, his voice slow and cautious.
"I'm implying nothing. I'm only speculating. There is no evidence to show he'd kill Kaji because he was connected to Asuka, none except the fact that he continues to bring her up in interrogations, like with my son."
"I figured that was odd of him, but I guess it's just because Asuka-well, let's not kid ourselves-she has a way of making herself stand out."
"Really? I thought she was awfully unremarkable," Gendo replied, honestly, "Anyway, the point of the matter is that Ondorf wanted to kill Kaji, and his only motivation I can determine is that he is connected to Asuka."
"But that's not a motivation. That's a connection."
"But what if Ondorf wanted to possess the Second Child for his own? What if we made it impossible for him to possess her?"
"Well, what if we did?"
"I don't know. It might be a venture worth taking."
"You're going out on a guess. Do you want Kaji to investigate the matter?"
"No, I want him killing the members of Seele, one by one. The sooner the old men are dead, the sooner my plans can come to be," Gendo sighed, glancing at his desk. He claimed to have burned all her photographs, but, alas, within the confines of one of his drawers, remained a single photograph, a single picture of the woman named Yui Ikari. Her angelic face was now hidden under layers of dust, but the all-consuming desire to lay his eyes on her face, the overwhelming desire to feel her fingers probe his flesh, that was his sole drive.
That was all he wanted.
Ondorf was in his way.
He had to be eliminated.
#
"Maybe you can finally shed some light on this whole dilemma," Ritsuko said, folding her arms over her chest as she stared back at Michiru and Haruka. At her side was Misato, who had to be dragged out of her bed, her eyes still slightly out of focus as she sipped on her coffee. Caffeine wasn't going to do much to aid her hangover, but, even years after she first told Misato something they taught most people in school, she still tried this idiotic remedy of drunkenness.
"So, I take it you realized our little Bianca has a few-how to put it-odd interests?" Michiru asked, smiling sadly.
"Let's just cut to the chase: is Bianca's sadism dangerous?" Misato asked, her voice heavy, but not slurred. She was physically impaired, but her heart refused to be swayed. Ritsuko had to admire that about her friend: that die hard nature. Sometimes she wished she had that sort of drive in her, the drive to make a point even if she physically wasn't up to the task at hand. Still, for her, she'd always remember her limitations, and would psych herself out of doing whatever it was she wanted to do. That was the weakness with being a doctor: she knew her limits all too well.
"No, she isn't going to attack you in the night if that's what you're worried about," Michiru replied, "However, if you're concerned about her psychological well-being, yes, it is a danger."
"Bianca isn't a sadist out of choice or environmental trauma, though she has had a pretty rocky past," Haruka replied, frowning, "The simple fact is that she has a strange chemical imbalance where her body confuses images that would normally horrify or disturb us with something sexual. Think of it like staring at a beautiful, completely naked ballerina with beautiful, soft C-cup breasts, and-"
"Haruka," Michiru mumbled, reproachfully.
"Well, this girl at least knows what I'm talking about," Haruka said, gesturing over to the mousey-haired Maya. Maya, who was writing down notes in a clipboard, for whatever reason, began trembling to herself, her cheeks completely scarlet. What was her deal? Was she embarrassed to be in Haruka's company? Or was it to be falsely accused of being a lesbian?
"Well, uh, in any event, what do you think we should do?" Misato said, composing herself.
"Bianca takes her sadism out on the Angels. It's what motivates her to fight: sexual pleasure," Haruka replied, "If you want to keep Bianca as a docile pilot, you can just let her be."
"But if you don't try to offer Bianca psychological help for the trauma of dealing with these confusing emotions, we will never forgive you," Michiru said, her eyes narrowed.
"I hope you're aware we don't have the finances to give Bianca special support," Ritsuko said, coldly, "Look, all the children have issues, but we can't just afford a shrink, or-"
"Then we'll pay for it," Haruka said, tensely, "But just face facts: these kids NEED a psychologist! And you better deliver."
"I don't see anything I can object to there," Misato said, smiling, "I mean, Shinji needs someone to talk to, and Asuka-well, she needs to just get all her inner demons out on the table, or else she'll explode on the inside. I agree."
"If you want, I know of a psychologist that I used to go to in college. I'm sure she'd be perfect," Maya said, "She's well within our payroll, and she's only an hour away. I'm sure she'd be perfect."
Ritsuko couldn't really argue any more. "Look, you handle that paper work, and I'll explain it to Commander Ikari. I guess I can say it'll help improve their synch ratios or something."
"Thanks for cooperating," Michiru said.
"Yeah, because, if ya didn't, I'd have to shot my foot up your ass," Haruka said, "Just saying. I would."