DC Evangelion

Chapter 11: Misato's Mission

She needed a drink.

Unfortunately she was on duty (not that would have normally stopped her) and in the presence of several JSSDF officers who might frown upon that (which did prevent her from indulging). Or even worse, might report it to her superior officer. Who was one of the strictest, humorless, By-the-Book-Or-Die jerks she had ever had the misfortune of serving under—

BREE-DEEP!

Misato Katsuragi blinked as she looked down at her pocket and extracted her chirping cell phone. She flipped it open and brought it up to her ear, "Yeah?"

"Captain Katsuragi, this is Air Marshal Luo Zhang."

Misato stared at her phone in mild shock. Oh crap. That was damn scary. Was the bastard telepathic or something?

"Captain Katsuragi are you there?"

"Uh er, yes sir!" Misato blurted out, reflexively stiffening into attention and saluting before she belatedly realized that he couldn't see her anyways. She cursed under her breath. Zhang always made her feel like she was unfit to be wearing a uniform or alternatively like she still needed potty training.

"Very good. I have a job for you," Zhang remarked dryly in a tone of voice that didn't quite say 'I severely doubt you are competent enough to handle it' but sure came close, Misato reflected.

Shinji staggered towards the rear of the compartment. One of his feet kicked something hard and metallic. He winced at his stubbed toes and glanced downward. Resting at his feet lay the body of the servitor droid. There was a faint clicking noise and a buzzing coming from it's prone body. Spasmodically, it twitched then stopped.

Crouching down, Shinji turned it over and examined it. It's optic sensors blinked on and off in a weird pattern. He looked over its somewhat rotund body but didn't find any kind of recessed panels or reset buttons or anything. Just smooth metal. He shrugged and got back up, dusting off his pants and continued walking towards the rear door of the first class passenger car.

He tried the door handle. It twisted and he heard the pressure seal pop open and then grind to a halt. He tried the handle again. This time it didn't even budge. Shinji examined the door and found a small unobtrusive panel. In the dim light, he saw EMERGENCY EXIT HANDLE ACCESS stenciled in bold letters on the panel and red coding stripes encircling it.

He yanked the panel open and saw a lever with a rubberized hand grip. It was accompanied by a flashing arrow sign indicating the direction he was suppose to pull the thing or so he assumed. Shinji gripped the lever and yanked it upward. Slowly the door creaked open about an inch or two and the lever retracted to it's former position. Another yank was accompanied by the door sliding another inch.

Shinji sighed and started cranking the lever as he kept one eye on the ever so slowly widening opening. This, he reflected, was going to take a while. Lucky for him, he didn't have anywhere else to be.

Misato jogged to her sports car, "I don't understand sir, why was I chosen to locate the Pilot Candidate?" she asked as she unlocked the door and jumped into the seat and began strapping herself in, "Aren't there more suitable personnel for this task?" she asked while mentally stating the real question, Why am I the lucky one?

Deep within Fortress 1, Luo Zhang folded his arms behind his back and turned away from the scrolling holographic screen displaying an image of an unsmiling and slightly grumpy looking Misato Katsuragi followed by her personal data and service record. "Nonsense Captain, you are ideally suited for this task," he said smoothly. "We need someone who is attached to the JSA and is in the general vicinity of the mag-lev train and is not directly involved in the ongoing tactical operation. You are the JSA liaison officer at the JSSDF forward observation post and only peripherally involved."

Translation, we need somebody and you're the closest, Misato unflatteringly decoded.

"In addition you are clearly well versed in operating ground vehicles at high speeds and evasion tactics," Zhang remarked.

Misato blinked. She smiled slightly, "Uh thank you, sir. I wasn't aware that was in my military records—"

"Indeed," Zhang continued in an unemotional, clipped tone of voice, "a most impressive record. Thirty-seven moving violations, fifty-two citations for speeding, twenty-three for reckless driving, and another seventeen for various traffic code infractions. Discounting of course, the other eighty-four parking tickets."

Misato cringed from her phone. Oh crap, he knew about her driving record? She sunk lower into her seat, "Er yes, well, I uh … I just mailed a check for those parking tickets sir," Misato said lamely and thumped her forehead against the steering wheel.

Major Hikaru Goro tightened his grip on his throttle as he half-listened to Lieutenant Sora Kurosawa speaking swiftly and softly into her throat mike. "—and I want multiple concerted fire, watch your beams, and follow your targeting computers op plans exactly or I'll have your goddamn heads!"

She studied her tactical status readouts for a moment and then looked up. "Ready," she reported.

Goro nodded and keyed his own mike, "Blackhawks advance!"

He glanced at the HUDS and watched a holographic representation of his remaining fighters moving into their prearranged positions. Along with Kenichi and Sanada's not-quite-suicidal-but-damn-near stupid idea to boost the plasma laser output, Sora had come up with a few new wrinkles to the idea. He grinned wolfishly. He hoped the XT liked them.

"Arm plasma lasers. Cut all software interlocks," Sora commanded and stabbed a few control keys. Almost immediately a crimson alert panel began flashing and an annoying audio alarm began blaring.

"Fire Control Master Alarm off," Sora snapped, thumbing the disable switch on the panel. "And cross your fingers," she murmured.

Hell, cross your toes too if you can, Goro silently added. Despite all of Sora's computer projections and modeling, they were still fooling around with four miniature sub-nuclear reactors. Deliberately causing them to overload. Deliberately.

It was incredibly risky.

Hell, risky didn't really adequately describe this plan. It was akin to running across a minefield while juggling several live hand grenades and blindfolded and just to make things interesting, doing it while being shot at from all sides.

If you wanted to kill yourself, it would be a lot easier and simpler to just stick a gun to your head and pull the trigger.

But I didn't choose a life in the military just to play it safe, Goro thought as Sora bellowed, "OPEN FIRE!" and then it was as if a miniature sun had ignited, flooding the entire cockpit with intense white light.

"SHIT! ARE WE DEAD?" Goro screamed, blinded and alarmed. He imagined for a second that Kenichi and Sanada had overestimated things and that the prefire chamber could NOT take a maxed out plasma emitter after all.

"Not yet we aren't."

Sora's matter of fact voice cut through the sudden burst of panic, "Exterior cameras were temporarily overloaded by the glare," and Goro heard her rapidly clicking computer keys, "polarizing cameras, resetting visual parameters, dampening brightness … now."

Instantly the HUDS shifted, darkening and Goro felt a surge of relief that the exterior view came back albeit with a darker tint to the viewscreens.

Dammit, I knew that those stupid cameras were a bad idea, Goro mentally cursed. We were fucking blind for a few seconds there. If the XT had attacked—! he mentally cut off his fulminating cursing at idiot engineers who weren't risking their lives on their shoddy design work and refocused on his instruments.

He flicked a look at his screens. The rest of the Blackhawks were still in the air which meant that Kenichi and Sanada were right and the prefire chambers had held. Which upgraded their not-quite-suicidal-but-damn-near stupid idea to just being merely stupid.

Part of him debated on whether or not to commend them for their brilliant originality or reprimand them for sheer idiocy. He made a note that if he did have to give them any medals for this stunt, he'd combine it with his admonishment by hammering said medals into their thick skulls.

"Talk to me Sora!" Goro barked.

His tac officer nodded, "Replaying video."

A miniature holo-screen popped open. He glanced sidewise at it to see a replay of the plasma lasers firing and whistled soundlessly. It wasn't like before with several dozen streamers of light. Those beams were more like a damn torrent of blazing fury that lashed out to smote their wrath on the XT's forcefield.

He watched as the carefully sequenced and staggered fire that Sora had meticulously worked out to strike the field at separate points simultaneously. The AT Field couldn't take it. Goro watched as several of the beams punched through to smash into the body of the XT. The massive transfer of energy was more like an explosion and the creature went down.

He looked up and saw the XT getting back up to its feet gracelessly. They hurt it. Goro's eyes narrowed as they focused on the blackened, burnt torso that wasn't healing as rapidly as before. They had hurt it!

"Do it again!" he barked.

Sora began tapping keys, "Roger!"

Sunlight dazzled him as he stuck his head out of the train car and shaded his eyes with one hand. Giving his eyes a moment to adjust, he peered around. Nothing. Shinji Ikari frowned as he examined the woods and leaned over the railing to peek ahead. There appeared to be nothing but endless miles of track ahead.

He could wait here for a rescue team who were surely rushing over to save him. Yeah. Right, he mentally snorted.

More likely he was going to be hoofing it. He examined his options. He could backtrack. But quite frankly he couldn't remember passing any stations for the last few hours. Of course he had been napping for a while there. Or he could hike through the forest and get lost, wander around, and starve to death. Or die of dehydration. Not likely. He didn't even own a compass.

Which left going forward. He was reasonably sure that there had to be a station somewhere at his destination ahead. Or a phone at least. He took a step and then stopped and then shrugging, went back inside the car and collected his carry-on bag.

He slung the strap across his chest and paused as he gazed at the still twitching servitor robot lying in a crumpled heap. It looked so pitiful. So helpless. Abandoned. Just like him. He bit his lip and sighed.

Shinji leaped down from the train, cradling the robot in his arms as he began walking. Towards Tokyo-3.

It appeared to a gigantic humanoid robot.

Looks however can be deceiving.

It was not a machine but rather a blending of bio-organics and robotics.

It was EXO-Frame 01. The most powerful of the Enhancing Xenological Organisms Frames built by the Japanese Scientific Analysis and Advisory Board and was a hybrid of both human and Kryptonian DNA.

It was also one of their greatest failures for it had refused all attempts at activating it. Again.

There was a loud thrumming sound echoing throughout the chamber as tremendous power was being built up.

"Nerve synchronization at 12 percent … harmonics stable …" BRAINIAC announced over the public address system.

EXO-Frame 01 was not quite intelligent. But it wasn't sentient either. It was however much more than simply hard-wired biological instincts. It fell into the hazy category of being alive and partially aware. It could sense the other part of itself. The part that was not there. And it called to that half.

Ritsuko Akagi drummed her fingers absently as she stared at the flashing screens.

"Nerve synchro at 16 percent similarity … 18 percent …" Maya Ibuki reported as a trickle of sweat ran down her forehead.

Twenty percent. That was all Ritsuko was asking for. A lousy twenty percentage. That was all that was required for a minimal neural synchronization. For an activation of EXO-Frame 01. The drumming of her fingers increased in speed and intensity as she examined the screens and thought, Almost there…

"19 percent!" Maya blurted out, her voice cracking in excitement.

Ritsuko held her breath. This was it. Now or never.

"Approaching neural synchronicity," BRAINIAC remarked calmly. The quantum computer and artificial intelligence wasn't sweating, Ritsuko reflected.

EXO-Frame 01 was also aware of another presence. One that was attempting to bond with it. It felt familiar to it. There was a definite connection of that presence and itself. It tentatively touched it and felt the similarity.

The thrumming sound peaked, reaching a crescendo.

"Brainwave form patterns are stable, harmonics are good, pulse rates and repetition ratios are uniform," Maya continued to report, her eyes locked on her displays.

"Nerve synchro at threshold levels…" BRAINIAC remarked matter of factually. "Harmonics are at borderline, neural link engaging in 5 seconds…"

Similar.

"…4…"

But different.

"…3…"

It wasn't quite right.

"…2…"

It wasn't what the EXO-Frame wanted. What it needed.

"…1…"

It broke the connection.

There was a loud sputtering and harsh crimson lights blinked on, overpowering the normal white lights and casting the entire chamber into a darkish red illumination and high-pitched sirens began blaring.

"System Error," BRAINIAC observed evenly, ignoring the agitated reactions of the various organic life forms. "Neural synchronization failed. Brainwave form patterns are disrupted."

Rei Ayanami screamed in pain and clutched her head as she was forcibly thrown back out of EXO-Frame's neural net. She felt like someone had successfully thrust a red hot poker into her forebrain.

Various workers and uniformed technicians scrambled and scurried around the catwalks and on the floor of the chamber. Ritsuko Akagi swore.

None of them noticed that the optic arrays of EXO-Frame 01 continued to glow faintly, illuminated with their own internal light.

Dimly, EXO-Frame 01 could sense the other part that it needed. For completion. To be joined with it to be whole. It could sense the other half to itself. And it was coming closer…