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 this fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.
Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is the creation of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.
Techno Terror
Finding the radiation suit hadn't been the hard part.
No, that had been surprisingly easy. Whether by sheer dumb luck or actual knowledge of the procedures regarding such things, Kensuke had managed to locate the place where the company kept them in minutes.
Indeed, not only had the otaku managed to find the right place, but he'd recognized it when they found it, too. Shinji knew with absolute certainty that he wouldn't have been able to do that, mostly because he hadn't realized what the little symbol of the man in the bulky suit was supposed to be.
It had looked like a snowman to him.
No, finding the rad suit hadn't been the hard part.
The hard part was moving in the damn thing.
"Ah, geeze, are you sure there aren't any smaller ones in here?" Shinji asked, struggling to contain his growing frustration and anxiety.
"Yes, already," Kensuke grumbled. "Now hold still, or you'll tear the thing and we'll have to start all over again."
All the suits were simply too damn large for the teenage ghost boy. If Shinji had been Toji's height, then the smaller ones might've been workable, but the jock was almost a full head taller than he was.
So instead, they were forced to improvise. Inside the cramped storage room where the suits were kept, Shinji had put on the smallest one he could find, and Kensuke was frantically putting knots into it, trying to eat up as much of the extra material as possible.
"The arms and legs still feel too long," Shinji complained.
"I'm sure they do, but that's as good as this is going to get, I think," the bespectacled youth replied shortly. Clearly, the romance of playing covert operative had long since worn off for him. He sighed. "Look, we knew this was never going to be perfect."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Shinji agreed, opening and closing his fingers. Even the gloves were too big for him. "And we don't have a whole lot of time. I should head out." He put on the helmet, making sure it was attached firmly to the rest of the suit.
Kensuke nodded, his annoyance at the frustrating situation very quickly leaving his demeanor. He looked serious. If Shinji hadn't known better, he might've thought that his new friend was finally realizing that this was real, that Misato's life was in actual danger.
"Good luck, man," he said.
Shinji was aware that he should probably say something pithy and heroic in response to that. Something deep also would've been appropriate, but nothing good came to mind.
"Thanks," he replied instead, and headed out.
Meanwhile, Shinji Ikari sat on one of the biggest planes ever constructed—an Evangelion carrier—trying not to show just how anxious he was. This Shinji Ikari was, currently, a different Shinji Ikari from the one who was heading out to do battle with Technus in ghost form, but he was no less real for it.
You know, I really like being able to duplicate myself, he thought, biting on his lower lip. I really do. God knows how much harder it would be to keep up the whole secret identity thing if I couldn't do it, but sometimes…
Sometimes it was just unnerving as all hell. He had no telepathic link of any sort with his duplicate, which meant that he didn't know exactly what he was up to. Usually, this wasn't a big deal, but at times like these, well, Shinji feared disaster could result from him not knowing the things his other self knew.
"You okay, Shinji?" Misato asked. "You look like you're the one about to attempt this crazy stunt, not me."
He turned to his guardian and gave her a weak smile. Seated next to him, the NERV Ops Director was clad in a purple and white radiation suit. The protective garment was surprisingly form fitting, but Shinji didn't think he'd ever felt less like ogling a woman.
"This is really dangerous, Misato," he said. "Crazy dangerous. I…I'm not sure you should do it."
Ice had shot through his veins when he'd been pulled out of school and told that Unit One was needed to help stop an out-of-control Jet Alone. So far as he was concerned, that could only mean Technus.
The only problem was that he didn't fully understand the situation. If the technology ghost had, by the power of his own abilities alone, managed to completely seize control of the giant robot…then Misato's mission was nothing short of suicidal.
If, on the other hand, Technus was merely exploiting some glitch in the Jet Alone's programming, then using the password Misato had obtained was probably the only way to stop him.
If only I knew more, he thought, struggling to contain his frustration.
The appearance of the Jet Alone hadn't been altered in any way by Technus, which was a good sign. However, that didn't mean it was certain that Technus wasn't in total control. Subtly wasn't the technology ghost's strong suit, but he was capable of it every now and then…
Misato, meanwhile, had no idea that the EVA pilot next to her was a veteran ghost hunter, someone used to confronting high stakes situations and supernatural entities. Instead, she thought she was dealing with a boy—an extremely brave boy, but a boy nonetheless—who was afraid of losing his guardian.
"Shinji, at the end of the day, I'm a soldier. Doing dangerous things to protect people is my job," she said gently. Then she smiled. "Besides, you don't get to take all the insane risks around here."
The Third Child was not much heartened by her attempt to lighten the mood, but he forced himself to smile weakly back at her. It was looking like he'd actually have to go through with this.
"Captain Katsuragi, it's almost time," the pilot of the plane called from the cockpit.
"In that case," Misato said, putting on her radiation suit's helmet, "I guess we'd both better get ready."
Shinji swallowed, the only way to stop her now would be to explain everything to her, including his secrets. He didn't want to do that, he didn't want expose his alter ego to NERV, and run the risk of never being able to return to Shinjuku-2. Especially when he wasn't even sure whether or not stopping her was the correct course of action.
"…I'll head to Unit One," he said.
"God damn, this thing is faster than it looks," Shinji Ikiryo gasped as he finally managed to land on the exterior of the Jet Alone.
The giant robot appeared to be moving at a slow, almost casual pace. However, like an Angel or an Evangelion, it covered a lot of ground with each stride. The half-ghost had had to fly at his maximum speed just to catch up, and he knew it wouldn't be long before the giant robot made it out of the ruined wasteland surrounding Old Tokyo.
Once he gets to civilization, he'll steal every piece of high tech he comes across, Shinji thought grimly.
Clearly, there was no time to rest, despite how much he could've used a breather. He looked around the exterior of the robot until he found an entry hatch and carefully made his way over to the thing.
"Please don't be locked," he muttered under his breath as he grabbed the metal wheel to open it.
Normally, he would have just gone intangible and then flown straight through the door, but these definitely weren't normal circumstances. He feared that radioactive particles would get into his protective suit if he made himself intangible inside the JA.
Of course, that means I can't use one of my most important ghost powers in there, he grimaced at the hatch finally sprang open.
The half-ghost scampered inside, and he could immediately feel the already stuffy and unpleasant interior of his suit get even hotter. It was sweltering inside the robot.
"Great," he muttered as he closed the hatch after himself.
"Well now, what do we have here?" An amused voice seemed to come from all around him. "Some silly little would-be hero who thinks he can thwart the will of a great genius?"
"It's me, Technus," Shinji replied, irritated.
"Ikiryo?" Technus suddenly didn't seem to be in such a good mood anymore, the Ikiryo noted with satisfaction. "What are you doing here?"
"Stopping you," Shinji replied. "Duh."
The technology ghost growled. "Fat chance! There's no possible way you could make it to me! I'm all the way in the Jet Alone's main onboard computer in the head section!"
"Head section, got it," Shinji said with a smirk.
Honestly, Technus was dangerous, but he was also the most inadvertently accommodating ghost that the Ikiryo dealt with. The guy probably would've succeeded in several of his schemes if he didn't have a tendency to shoot himself in the foot.
Technus released a wordless cry of fury. "Not this time, Ikiryo! NOT THIS TIME!"
Klaxons suddenly went off, causing Shinji to wince, and white foam began to rain down from the ceiling.
Fire retardant, he thought as he wiped off the front of his helmet so he could see. Is this really the best Technus has got?
Unfortunately, it turned out that it wasn't. A moment later, several panels in the walls burst open, and dozens of wires exploded out, writhing like snakes. Animated by the power of the technology ghost, they instantly wrapped themselves around Shinji's wrists. He grunted as they pulled hard on his arms.
"I'm going to win this time, Ikiryo!" Technus screeched.
Then, to Shinji's surprise and horror, two small compartments in the walls opened up, and a pair of machine guns popped out, pointing themselves directly at him.
"The Jet Alone has some truly lethal automated security measures, Ikiryo," Technus informed him smugly.
Shinji wasn't listening; he was too busy trying to figure out how he'd escape this one before he was turned into Swiss cheese.
Two dots of red light appeared on his chest. "Say good-bye, Ikiryo!"
Shinji concentrated, and blue light came into being from around his hands, soon spreading over the wires that bound his arms. A layer of frost immediately formed over them, and the Ikiryo pulled, breaking his newly brittle bonds. He then threw himself down to the floor, just as bullets started to fly overhead.
Not wanting to see just how great the guns' range of motion was, he fired his ghost rays at them, destroying them. Shinji breathed a sigh of relief as he got to his feet.
That was way too close, he thought. Man, Technus must really want to hang onto this thing. Not hard to see why.
Unfortunately, he definitely couldn't let the crazy technology ghost possess the giant, nuclear-power robot. With a sigh, Shinji wiped off the front of his helmet again (a steady shower of fire retardant was still coming from the ceiling) and continued on.
"You do know this is completely insane, don't you?" Shinji asked, gazing at the massive form of the Jet Alone from inside Unit One's cockpit.
Somehow, it looked even bigger from this perspective. The sheer size of the thing truly drove home the level of danger present in Misato's self imposed mission.
And that was before he factored in Technus.
"Yeah, I know, but somebody's gotta do it," Misato replied in a rueful voice, as if she was about to perform a task that was merely unpleasant, like cleaning a toilet, not potentially suicidal, like what she was actually about to do.
Shinji took a deep "breath" of the LCL, then let it out slowly. He still didn't like this, not one damn bit.
"Shinji, Captain Katsuragi, we're ready to make the drop!" Makoto's voice came into the plug via the radio.
"You ready, Shinji?" Misato asked.
"No, but don't let that stop you," Shinji replied, unconsciously echoing himself from right before he'd first piloted an EVA.
He might not have noticed, but his guardian. Misato winced for a moment; she knew that she was the one going into real danger this time, but she also knew that it would hurt Shinji if she was killed.
It was a new sensation for her. She had gone into perilous situations many times in the course of her military career, but never before had she been so worried about what would become of someone who cared about her if she didn't survive. The feeling strengthened her determination to live through the experience she was about to put herself through.
"Drop us, Hyuga!" she ordered.
The massive EVA transport plane released its cargo, and the purple Evangelion went plummeting toward the ground. Shinji closed Unit One's fingers around Misato as tightly as he dared, his fear of losing her in midair warring with his fear of crushing her.
Then they hit the ground, Unit One's landing kicking up a huge amount of dust from the barren Earth. Suspended in liquid as he was, Shinji barely felt their landing. To Misato, however, the impact had been truly bone-jarring. She grimaced.
"Are you okay?" Shinji's voice boomed from Unit One's exterior speakers.
"Just fine!" she shouted back at him. "Get a move on, Shinji! Before it gets too big a lead on us!"
"Right!" he said, and immediately threw the purple Evangelion into a sprint.
The enormous machine picked up speed surprisingly quickly. One thing that had always surprised Shinji about EVA, a machine that was made for battle, was its overall build. Though huge, Evangelion was lean for its proportions, and it had the long, almost gangly limbs of a runner, something that benefited him here. He caught up to the steadily marching Jet Alone in only a few seconds, reaching out with Unit One's free hand to grab hold of its back.
"Gotcha!" he exclaimed as he brought the giant robot to a halt.
Of course, the Jet Alone wasn't content to simply remain stationary. It tried to keep moving forward with the relentless tenacity of a machine, and Shinji grimaced as he struggled to keep it in place.
"Okay, good!" Misato called to him. "Now, get me onto its back! By that little hatch over there!" She pointed.
His grimace deepened; this was one of the most dangerous parts of the whole operation. Willing Unit One's hand to remain steady, he carefully lifted Misato toward her destination. Once she was close enough, she carefully began to move toward the robot. Shinji forgot to breathe as he watched her make her perilous trek. If the LCL hadn't been oxygenating his blood directly, he probably would've passed out.
Misato slipped. Shinji felt his heart leap into his throat, and it took every ounce of his willpower to resist the urge to reflexively close Unit One's hand around her, something his rational mind knew would squash her.
Then she regained her balance, turning to face Unit One just long enough to give Shinji a thumbs up before resuming her short but perilous trek. Shinji sighed.
This is so much more nerve-wracking than anything I endured back home, he silently lamented.
Finally, Misato leaped from Unit One's hand to the back of the Jet Alone, wobbling only slightly as she landed. Giving one more thumbs up to Shinji, she quickly opened the hatch and scampered inside the giant robot.
Okay, now all she has to worry about is Technus. Great, Shinji thought dourly as he got to the task of keeping the Jet Alone as still as possible. Damn, but I really hope I'm in there with her.
"I really wish I was anywhere but here," Shinji Ikiryo muttered to himself.
In all of the battles he'd ever had with malevolent ghosts, he didn't think he'd ever been quite so miserable as he was right now. He felt like he was slowly being roasted alive inside his stifling, ill-fitting radiation suit, Technus was making a point of keeping a steady stream of fire retardant showering down on him, and he had to fight off an attack every two minutes or so.
And I'd already be there if only I could go intangible! He thought.
"Getting tired, Ikiryo? Thinking about turning around and leaving?" Technus taunted him over unseen loudspeakers.
"You wish," Shinji retorted. "In fact, aren't I almost there?"
"Yes, about that…what was that saying?" Technus asked in a dramatic tone. "Oh, yes. So close but yet so far! Sucker!"
A loud, deep thud suddenly reached his ears, and Shinji rushed in the direction the sound had come from. He was soon confronted a massive, armored door.
The Ikiryo had to resist the urge to laugh. Even if he couldn't go intangible without risking radiation poisoning, he wasn't about to let a door stop him, not after having trudged this far. Blue light shone around his hands, then shot forward at the door, causing a visible layer of frost to appear over it. Shinji followed up with a blast of green ghost rays, and a huge crack formed in the heavy door, wide enough for him to slip through. The half-ghost quickly flew through the opening, finally entering the brain of the Jet Alone.
It was not quite what he'd expected. Shinji had envisioned some grand control room, with at least one wall dominated by large view screens, and numerous computer terminals waiting for people to use.
There were screens, but they consisted of a modest bank of small monitors, like something a night watchman might be stuck staring at during the graveyard shift. And there was only one, dinky little terminal present. The rest of the chamber was dominated by big, boxy hard drives.
"Not exactly the most sci-fi place in the world," Shinji commented to no one in particular.
"Ikiryo!" Technus shouted, his face popping up on the terminal's computer screen. "Don't think that making it here means that you've won!"
"It sure doesn't mean that I've lost," Shinji quipped.
Technus reply was a wordless growl and a barrage of circuit boards, flying at him from all directions. Shinji waved a hand, and a barrier of eerie green light sprang up, just in time to block the hail of silicon.
"Come on, Technus, enough already!" Shinji said, real impatience adding strength to the mocking tone he employed. "Come out and face me!"
So I can catch you, he added silently, resisting the urge to finger the Ikari thermos he had clipped to the belt of the radiation suit.
"Be careful what you wish for, Ikiryo!" Technus snapped.
The technology ghost burst forth from the computer, and for a second, Shinji was able to see the true Technus. He was a rather slender ghost, with otherworldly green skin, snow white hair, and a light gray trench coat. Overall, he wasn't the most intimidating looking villain Shinji had ever faced.
Then one of the walls exploded, causing pieces of metal plating, wires, and circuit boards to go flying through the air. Shinji reflexively threw up his arms to shield himself, even though he knew that there was no need for that. The collection of mechanical debris never reached him, instead heading for the technology ghost. They swirled around Technus, and a moment later, he was hidden inside a makeshift armored suit.
Oh, here we go, Shinji thought tiredly, knowing that catching Technus was a nonstarter while the ghost was clad in that thing.
"You're done for, Ikriyo!" Technus shouted.
He held his hands out, and bolts of lightning erupted forth from them. Shinji released a small yelp and quickly flew out of the way, swallowing as he saw the huge black scorch mark the attack left on the wall.
Okay, that was new, he thought. Technus had never been able to do that in the past.
"Give it up, Ikiryo!" he shouted. "If you leave now, I'll let you go."
"I'm guessing that you keeping the atomic death-bot is part of this scenario?" Shinji paused long enough to ask.
A brief moment passed.
"Yes!" Technus snapped.
"Dang," Shinji said, as though he'd actually entertained hopes that might not be the case. "You see, if you'd have been willing to leave the Jet Alone, I would've been more than happy to—whoa!" He was interrupted by another bolt of lightning being thrown his way.
Shinji countered with his ghost rays, but the green beams bounced harmlessly off of Technus's battle armor.
Oh, this is bad, he thought as he evaded another blast of electricity.
Usually, when he fought Technus, he had the Kasuga twins at his side, which meant that Kamiko was present to try and hack into whatever devices the technology ghost was using. Now, however, he was alone in an environment that favored his enemy, he couldn't go intangible without risking his life, brute force wasn't working, and the longer this took him, the greater the danger to Misato. Also, Technus appeared to have developed a new power.
Okay, think, how do I get through this alive? He pressed himself, even as he jumped around like a cat on a hot tin roof to avoid his enemy's attacks.
Duh, he thought a moment later. It's Technus.
Which meant that all he had to do was get him talking, and the ghost would end up blabbing some critical piece of information sooner or later.
"Come on, Technus," he said in his best mocking tone. "We've done this before, and it always ends the same way. Why not save time and just give up now?"
"Foolish Ikiryo!" Technus yelled, nearly managing to club Shinji over the head with his armored fist. "Don't you realize that I'm on the verge of victory?"
"Oh please," Shinji scoffed, firing off a few of his ineffective ghost beams. "You say something like that every time. Why should now be any different?"
"Because, I have the Jet Alone!" Technus snapped, obviously thinking that his foe was being particularly dense that day. "And not only do I have the Jet Alone, but I have a link to its power supply!"
Shinji frowned. Link to its power supply…?
Then he looked down and saw the wires coming from the feet of Technus's battle suit, their colorful insulation bright against the dull metal floor. The wires ran all the way back into the wall.
"Oh," Shinji said, finally figuring out why Technus was able to shoot lightning all of a sudden.
Then he lashed out with a blast of green ghost energy, easily severing all the wires.
"Nooo!" Technus shrilled. "How did you know how to do that?"
"Lucky guess," Shinji replied, just before punching Technus in the face.
As he'd hoped, the tech robot's armor wasn't nearly as powerful without his direct energy supply, and Technus went stumbling backwards. Seeing his foe reeling, the half-ghost actually allowed himself to feel some cautious optimism.
Which was quickly crushed when the image of a rad suit-clad woman he as pretty sure was Misato appeared on one of the security monitors.
Right in full view of Technus.
"Eh?" he grunted, clearly spotting the interloper displayed on the screen. "What the deuce…?"
Shinji's eyes widened, and the half ghost panicked, immediately doing the one thing that he knew would make Technus forget all about Misato.
He fired a ghost beam directly at one of the large hard drives in the room, instantly reducing it to a smoking pile of debris.
The technology ghost's response was immediate and brutal. Letting out a wordless screech of pure rage, he backhanded Shinji across the face, sending the half-ghost careening through the air.
"What did you do?" Technus barked. "How dare you strike at the core of this magnificent machine!"
Shinji, who suddenly found himself laying face down on the floor, silently decided that he couldn't have cared less about the "magnificent machine", but somehow it seemed like a bad idea to say so.
"Raugh!" Technus growled, and Shinji turned to see the armored ghost moving to bring his fist down. The half-ghost boy rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed to pulp.
Okay, it's official, I have never seen Technus this angry before, he thought. He was apparently even more attached to the Jet Alone than Shinji had realized.
Then an idea occurred to him. It was insane, but he didn't have much to lose at this point.
Taking to the air, he fired a ghost ray at another hard drive, and then another.
"No! Stop that!" Technus shrieked, hurling himself at Shinji.
His fury made him clumsy, and the Ikiryo was easily able to dodge. Technus crashed straight into another of the hard drives, reducing that one to scrap himself. Before he could get up, Shinji fried three more.
Nearly a half-dozen of the things still remained, but even when them intact, it appeared that the Jet Alone computer core had taken more damage than it could endure. Shinji could heard metal groaning all around them as the Jet Alone ground to a stop.
"Well," he said, panting with exertion, "it looks like I broke your new toy."
Technus's hands balled into fists, and the self-proclaimed great genius shook with rage. His face was hidden by his armor, and yet Shinji could feel the force of his glare all the same.
Then the ghost's posture abruptly relaxed, something Shinji found far more terrifying than his fury of mere seconds ago.
"Fine," Technus said. "But before I go, there was this little virus I discovered in the mainframe, and I thought I'd boot it up into the backup system!"
"What? What virus?" Shinji demanded.
"Just one that'll cause the nuclear reactor to overheat and meltdown!" Technus shouted gleefully. "Have fun escaping, Ikiryo!"
With that, he took off, cackling madly the whole way, his steps creating a thunderous racket as he ran down the halls.
Shinji scowled, furious at Technus. The crazed ghost had never exactly been concerned about human life before, but setting a nuclear disaster into motion just to cover his escape was beyond the pale.
Unfortunately, chasing after Technus and breaking his armor wasn't an option, not if he wanted to get himself and Misato out of the Jet Alone in time. Resigning himself to letting the ghost escape, the Ikiryo turned to the bank of monitors, trying to discern which room Misato was in.
"By the reactor core," he muttered to himself. Of course that was where she would be.
There was a map of the Jet Alone's innards posted on the wall, and Shinji quickly consulted it. Then he took off, heading for the reactor core.
Meanwhile, down in the reactor core control room, Misato was not having a good day. This was where she was supposed to input Tokita's code to deactivate the robot's suicide protocol, but so far she was having absolutely no luck.
"Come on, come on," she grumbled to herself as she typed in the password for what felt like the five-hundredth time.
And for the five-hundredth time, the result was that a bizarre, green-skinned face popped up on the screen.
"Oh, did you think that would work?" The voice of the hacker burst forth from the speakers, taunting her. "I guess you didn't get the memo about how this robot's under the control of Technus now!"
Misato growled, very nearly giving into the temptation to put her fist through the computer screen. This was the response she got no matter what she tried, and she was starting to lose hope of seizing any level of control from the hacker.
The Ops Director was just about to give up on her current approach when she felt the floor shake under her, and she was barely able to catch herself before she went sprawling to the ground.
"What the heck?" she muttered. "Why is the Jet Alone stopping?"
Almost as soon as she asked the question, the metallic floor rumbled again, and the giant robot resumed its course. The screen filled with static for a moment, and then the face of Technus vanished, replaced with a command prompt.
"I don't know what happened, but I'm really glad it did!" Misato cheered, entering in the password.
Only to receive an error message.
"Gah! Damn you, you stupid, stupid machine!" she raged, her frustration finally reaching a boiling point. "Forget the damn password! I'll tear you apart with my bare hands if I have to!"
It was at this exact moment that klaxons started blaring all around her, and flashing red lights filled the reactor control room.
Misato allowed herself a moment to groan and close her eyes. "I didn't actually mean it!" she yelled at the Jet Alone.
Taking you apart piece by piece with my bare hands would take way too long. I'd use artillery instead, she silently added.
Then she opened eyes and turned her attention back to the computer terminal, trying to figure out why alarms were suddenly going off all over the place. The reactor temperature was climbing, and fast. It wouldn't be long before the fuel melted down.
She quickly tried to access the high level command functions again, inputting Tokita's password once more.
And once more, she got an error message.
"Damn it!" she hissed. "How the hell do you turn this thing off?"
"I don't think you do," another voice replied. "It's probably impossible."
Misato jumped, surprised, and whirled around to see another figure clad in a radiation suit standing in the doorway. The guy, whoever he was, was too small for the thing, and he tied several knots in the fabric in a bid to eat up extra material.
Something about him seemed familiar to the Ops Director, though she couldn't tell who he was. The harsh red light, as well as the tinted material on the front of his helmet, made getting a good look at his face impossible. The klaxons were similarly thwarting any opportunity to really listen to his voice.
"Who are you?" she demanded. "And what did you mean about it being impossible?"
"I mean that Technus uploaded a virus into the computer, so you can't just shut it down the regular way," the boy explained. "And as for who I am…well, I'm the Ikiryo."
"The ghost boy?" Misato asked incredulously.
"That's me," he replied, and a greenish glow appeared around his gloved hands. "I'm surprised you've heard of me."
The purple-haired woman faced the Ikiryo, silent for a few seconds. Then she shook her head to clear it. "Fine, whatever," she said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."
"Didn't you just hear what I said?" the Ikiryo demanded. "That's not going to work, and the reactor's going to melt down! We gotta get out of here!"
"You can leave if you like," Misato said. "But I'm staying until I shut this hunk of junk down."
"And how do you plan to do that?" the Ikiryo asked, incredulous.
"Any way I have to," was Misato's curt reply.
With that, she walked over to the shut down rods that were sticking out of the wall. Placing both hands on one of them, she started trying to push it into the reactor.
"You've got to be kidding," the Ikiryo said, watching as she strained without so much as budging the thing. "That'll never work."
"Yeah, well, unless you have super strength—"
"I wish," the Ikiryo said.
"—then the best thing you can do is shut up while I do this," Misato growled through clenched teeth.
"No, the best thing we can both do is get out of here so we don't get killed!" the Ikiryo argued.
"Damn it, kid, don't you realize that thousands of people could die if the reactor goes critical?" Misato snapped. "I can't just let that happen! I have to try, no matter how bad the odds are! And I don't have a better way of cooling this reactor down!"
The Ikiryo was silent for a long moment before speaking again. "I do."
"Huh?" Misato asked, blinking.
"Stand back," he ordered, and she quickly moved away from the absurdly heavy control rod, wondering what trick he might have up his sleeve.
Ethereal blue light glowed around both his hands for a second, and then he fired the pale luminance directly at the reactor core. Misato gasped softly as she saw layers of ice immediately forming on the wall, and she rushed over to the computer terminal to check the readouts on the reactor.
What she saw caused her heart to sink.
"The temperature's still going up," she said. "It's not climbing as quickly as before, but it's still going to melt down at this rate. You have to give it more juice."
"I'm trying! This isn't as easy as it looks!" the Ikiryo replied in a strained voice.
Misato looked back down at the terminal. Despite the ghost boy's heroic efforts, they were only seconds away from critical mass. A countdown timer soon appeared on the monitor and she swallowed as it ticked down to five seconds, four, three…
Two…
One…
With the muffled sound of machinery, the shut down rods abruptly slid into their places, easily shattering the layers of ice on them that the Ikiryo had created. The temperature of the reactor core immediately began to drop back down to safe levels.
"…what just happened?" the Ikiryo asked.
"The…the safeties engaged, one second before meltdown," Misato said, unable to believe it.
"Oh my god," the Ikiryo said, sounding even more surprised than she felt. Then he let out a short, crazed blast of laughter. "Technus actually lied to me!"
"Lied to you? What do you mean?" Misato asked.
"Let's just say he's usually pretty terrible at keeping his plans to himself," the Ikiryo said.
Then, with no warning, he vanished from sight, right before Misato's eyes.
For a moment, she thought he was gone, teleported away somehow. Then she heard footsteps and realized that he was merely invisible. She rushed toward the room's only exit, but he had a head start on her and apparently reached it first. She considered pursuing him down the halls, but she knew that the echo there would make it virtually impossible to accurately follow the sound of his footfalls.
It had already been too frantic a day for her to go chasing ghosts, she decided.
"So, I understand that the Jet Alone demonstration did not go as we'd planned," Gendo Ikari said, several hours later.
Standing before his desk, Ritsuko hesitated just long enough to briefly muse on how much she hated Gendo's office before answering. "That's correct, sir," she said. "A hacker who identified himself as 'Technus' somehow managed to seize control of the robot for a brief period, though he did eventually run the virus we had installed into its systems."
"Yes, you noted all that in your report," Gendo said. "However, what truly concerns me is what was in Captain Katsuragi's report."
"Receiving assistance from the Ikiryo, you mean," Ritsuko said. "Yes, Misato told me about that."
"Tell me, in your professional opinion, what do you think of those claims, Dr. Akagi?" Gendo asked.
Ritsuko made sure to pick her next words very carefully. There was something in Gendo's demeanor, something she couldn't quite pin down, that made her believe this was a very dangerous subject for some reason.
"Well, since it was the JSDF and not NERV who got to examine the Jet Alone after the incident, it's difficult for me to speculate on what exactly occurred. Going off their report on the matter though, it's clear that something very strange happened inside the Jet Alone prototype," she said. "Indeed, it's difficult to deny the assertion that at least one person besides Misato was inside of it while it was out of control."
"But?" Gendo prompted, sensing the other shoe was about to drop.
"While it seems clear that something strange happened, there's no evidence to suggest that something supernatural occurred," Ritsuko said.
"Except for Captain Katsuragi's testimony about encountering this Ikiryo," Gendo said.
"The Ikiryo is an urban myth from the town where Pilot Ikari used to live, sir," Ritsuko said. "He probably told her about it. And while Misato was in there she was fatigued, under extreme stress, suffering from high temperatures in that stifling suit…the mind can play tricks, sir. I'm sure she's telling the truth about what she saw, but I'm not sure that what she saw was actually there."
Gendo was silent for a long moment, pondering. "Regardless of what exactly occurred, a hacker capable of remotely assuming control of the Jet Alone is a potential threat to NERV's security," he said. "I want you and Technical Division One to try to locate this Technus."
"Sir, the JSDF has already announced that it will launch its own investigation into the matter," Ritsuko said.
"I'm aware of that, Doctor," Gendo said, his tone frosty.
"Yes, sir," Ritsuko said, swallowing.
"That will be all," Gendo said.
"Yes, sir," Ritsuko said, then turned and retreated from the room slightly faster than was strictly necessary.
Once she was gone, Fuyutski, who had been so quiet that Gendo had nearly forgotten he was there, raised a hand and scratched his upper lip. The Commander knew that the purpose of the gesture was to hide a smirk.
"You find this amusing, Sensei?" Gendo asked.
"Well, Ikari, you have to admit that it would be rather ironic, if ghosts abruptly appeared to play havoc with the Scenario," Fuyutski said.
The look Gendo gave him made it clear that he did not appreciate that irony. "You heard Dr. Akagi. She said there was absolutely no evidence of anything supernatural," he said.
"No, all we have is evidence that something extremely bizarre went on inside the Jet Alone," Fuyutski countered. "In any case, I think she sensed that it was wiser for her to play the skeptic."
Gendo was silent for a long moment. "It isn't possible, is it? The existence of ghosts?" he asked, and to Fuyutski's amazement, he thought he detected a trace of doubt, perhaps even fear, in his former pupil's voice.
"Well, all I can tell you is that since man began to study the science of metaphysical biology, no one has observed a soul existing outside of a physical body of some kind," he said. "However, there haven't been many studies in that direction, so it remains impossible to tell for sure. Perhaps we should give your brother-in-law a call, just to be on the safe side." He added.
"No," Gendo said, and if his tone had been frosty before, it was outright glacial now. "Regardless of whether or not ghosts exist, Ichigo Ikari is an imbecile. If NERV has to deal with…spectral beings, we will deal with them ourselves."
The next day, far away from his father's dark and forbidding office, Shinji Ikari walked in the sunshine, heading to Rei Ayanami's apartment. There was a small spring in his step as he made his way to his half-sister's home. Though he knew he'd probably be seeing Technus again sooner than later, he was intensely relieved to have the whole business with the Jet Alone over and done with.
Reaching to the door to Rei's apartment, he hid the small, colorfully wrapped package he held behind his back, then pressed the doorbell with his other hand. The one in this place worked perfectly.
Rei opened the door a moment later. "Ikari," she said in her usual, quiet voice.
"Hello, Rei," he said. "May I come in?"
She gave him a small nod and stepped out of the doorway so he could enter, which Shinji did, being careful to maneuver himself so the blue-haired girl didn't get a glimpse at what he was holding behind his back.
He took a moment to glance around the apartment and was disappointed (but unsurprised) to find the place as bare as it had been when Rei had first moved in.
"Um, this is for you," he said awkwardly, revealing the gift he had clumsily wrapped.
She blinked, looking surprised, as though no one had ever given her a present like this before.
Maybe no one has, he thought darkly.
She reached out and slowly took the box from his hands. "Why are you giving this to me?" she asked, looking up at him. She didn't sound suspicious, merely confused.
"It's a housewarming present," Shinji explained. Rei's blank look made it obvious that he'd need to elaborate. "When a person moves to a new home, it's customary for their friends to give them gifts for that home. I really should've gotten you something for the day you moved, but I guess I just didn't think of it at the time." He added sheepishly.
"I see," Rei said, still looking a little confused and surprised by the whole thing.
"Well? Open it," Shinji urged.
She nodded, then went to the task. Shinji was mildly annoyed at how carefully she unwrapped his gift, being careful not to tear the paper. He supposed that her tearing off the paper like an exuberant child was too much to ask, but still…
"It is a…picture," Rei said, examining the framed photograph of some blue flowers growing on dark green, leafy vines.
"I know it's a little lame," he confessed. "I don't really know what your tastes are. You don't have to hang it up if you don't like it. I won't be, you know, offended or anything."
She looked up at him with one of her utterly inscrutable expressions, and for some reason, Shinji found himself compelled to break the silence.
"I was thinking about how you asked me why this place needs some decoration, when you first came here," he continued. "And I think I know why it does now."
"Why?"
"Because a home isn't just four walls and a bed," he said. "It's a sanctuary. A place to go to in order to rest after being out in the world all day. And it's yours. It should have things inside it that mark it as such. Things that you like, that you find pleasing to the eye."
"I see," she said, then looked down at the picture he'd given her before meeting his eyes again. "Thank you." The words came slowly and awkwardly out of her mouth, as though she wasn't used to using them.
Well, I guess that's progress, Shinji thought, smiling.
"You're welcome," he said. "Anyway, Toji, Kensuke, and me are going to go celeb…um, hang out. We're just going to get something to eat and then maybe take in a movie. Do you want to come with?"
Shinji and his friends were going to celebrate the defeat of Technus, but he couldn't very well tell Rei that.
She shook her head. "I have things to do today," she answered.
"All right," he said, unsurprised. "In that case, I'll see you later."
"Good-bye."
With a final wave, Shinji left the apartment, closing the door behind himself as he went.
Alone again, Rei was silent for several moments, simply gazing at her new picture. Eventually, she looked up, spotting a nail sticking out from one of the walls. It had presumably been hammered in by the previous tenants, and Rei went over to it now, hanging her picture on it.
Then she took several steps back, examining the picture from her doorway, as though she had just entered and saw it.
A tiny smile formed on her face.
Author's Notes: This is one of those rare chapters that I was really looking forward to writing, yet when the time to actually do so came, I found myself struggling with it. I don't know why. The battle against Technus just didn't come out quite as I'd hoped. In fact, my favorite scene of this whole chapter was probably the last one, with Shinji visiting Rei at her new apartment.
Well, enough of my rambling. Thanks as always to my readers and reviewers, and thanks to my beta reader as well.
