Chapter 36: Entstehen
"This is unacceptable," SEELE 03 declared. "The sacrilege committed by Unit 01 jeopardizes all that we have worked for."
"The loss of an EVA is bad enough," SEELE 04 grumbled, "but the repair costs for the other four are astronomical."
"We cannot continue diverting funds from the UN, the system of control we have is already near breaking from the expenditures for the EVA series," SEELE 02 stated.
"Perhaps our confidence was misplaced," SEELE 09 said darkly.
Throughout it all Soren and Amanda remained silent, letting the old men vent. Until they were done no amount of reason would reach them.
"Amanda," SEELE 01 finally spoke up, ending the grumbling of the others. "What say you?"
"Our current status is actually quite good," Amanda said, eliciting gasps of disbelief from the monoliths. She did not give them time to verbalize any disagreement. "Let us consider the basic facts. Only three Angels remain before the promised time, one of which you control and Soren can terminate personally should the need arise. Zeruel was listed as the most powerful Angel we were to face, with its defeat we have likely overcome the greatest direct challenge to our ultimate ascension. The second Ayanami clone has been removed from play and should we decide to bring a new one online she is unlikely to retain the former's attachment to Ikari, thus reducing his ability to use her to hijack Instrumentality. The tunnel carved by the positron cannon and the damage Zeruel inflicted on the city's fixed defenses should make it considerably more vulnerable to a JSSDF incursion should that need actually arise. And finally, the reduced number of operational EVAs should offer ample justification for completing the EVA series." Amanda shrugged. "All things considered we came out of the battle against Zeruel in a considerably stronger position for achieving Instrumentality than we had any right to expect. Let us not forget that that is the ultimate goal. Defeating the Angels is merely one step in the path to achieving it."
The men that made up SEELE were not fools and as Amanda rattled off her points they quickly realized that she was, more or less, right. It was a grudging admission on their parts, for if there was one sin that SEELE seemed incapable of overcoming, it was pride. Still they were pragmatic enough to see the advantages that Amanda's position offered.
"Are we to presume that NERV will not need funds to repair the EVAs?" SEELE 04 asked.
"Not all of them," Amanda replied. "Unit 02 is already regenerating its internal damage, all we need is to replace some armor and we have spares for that. Unit 04 will require a modest sum to bring back to operational capacity, though whether it is actually necessary anymore with the Mark 06's arrival is debatable. Unit 05 can be written off, Mari pushed it so hard when she went into Beast mode that it would take weeks if not months to regenerate the internal trauma. And Unit 01, assuming we can extract its pilot, is in about the same situation as Unit 02. It is regenerating the damage it suffered by itself and will likely only need replacement of armor."
Amanda imagined she could see the grimaces of the old men at the mention of Unit 01. That was the real wildcard in their plans, the one thing that might yet derail their plans for Instrumentality. As far as they knew at least.
"And how many EVAs do you believe will be necessary to ensure victory against the last three Angels, Colonel Reimer?" SEELE 05 asked.
Soren cocked his head aside. "The Mark 06 cannot be counted as under NERV's control. Assuming a need to defeat it, at minimum we would want two-to-one odds, preferably three-to-one. If Unit 05 is not salvageable within the limited window we have, then the necessary funds should be allocated to make repairs to Units 01, 02, and 04. We could forego repairing Unit 04 if you wish to reduce our redundancy, though doing so would also entail explaining to its pilot why that course of action was taken."
That last was said with a glance in SEELE 04's direction. Amanda fought back the urge to smirk. Soren was really playing dirty here.
"We will consider what resources are available," SEELE 04 said flatly. "In the meantime use what is currently available in Tokyo-3 to bring Unit 02 back up to operational readiness."
Soren nodded.
"A point," SEELE 07 said. "Why is Gendo Ikari still alive?"
Soren regarded the former commander's own father-in-law. That he be the one to raise the point was in some ways even amusing.
"Shall I execute him after the meeting?" Soren asked.
"Consider us curious as to why you have not already," SEELE 02 said.
Soren shrugged. "Death is permanent. Better that we keep him alive until our vision for Instrumentality becomes inevitable than execute him prematurely and discover his death places a crucial piece out of our reach."
Simple silence answered Soren.
"There is also the matter of the satisfaction of denying him the Instrumentality that he so desperately desires," Soren added almost as an afterthought.
Kiel snorted in amusement. "You seem to possess a vendetta against Ikari."
Soren looked up at the monolith marked 01. It should have been impossible but Kiel thought he felt a chill run down his nonexistent spine at the younger man's smile.
"Herr Ikari thought himself untouchable because of his ruthlessness. Such hubris warrants a demonstration of what distinguishes genuine ruthlessness and the petty-minded facsimile he has been engaged in."
The mood in Tokyo-3 was subdued. Everyone knew that a titanic battle had been fought against the last Angel and there were plenty of eyewitnesses thanks to the speed with which Zeruel invaded the city. Not since Sachiel had the people felt so terrified by the appearance of an Angel. NERV's effectiveness since that first climactic battle had assuaged much of the population's doubts and the minimal damage suffered by the city in subsequent battles had made people complacent. The battle against Zeruel was different however. Several blocks were trashed outright and then there was the massive tunnel carved into the ground just inside the city limits. And if that was not enough there were the rumors that even with five Evangelions deployed the Angel had still nearly emerged victorious. The people of Tokyo-3 grasped that the margin of victory had been razor thin this time around and it scared them.
In fact the battle against Zeruel had resulted in perhaps the first large numbers of civilian casualties ever. Not even the battle against Sachiel had seen so many dead or wounded. The initial surge of criticism that rose up, much of it from local Japanese politicians itching for some payback over the humiliation handed to them over the Trident scandal, died out very quickly after Amanda sent an unofficial note detailing the attempts of certain politicians to rig the bidding for the reconstruction work that Tokyo-3 required. More heads rolled and the German woman was again cursed as that foreigner who was sticking her nose into places where she had no right to. To rub it in Amanda made no secret of how much she was enjoying hanging the Japanese government's dirty laundry out for them to see. More than one politician and bureaucrat was beginning to suspect the UN auditor held a grudge against the Japanese government. None of them knew how right they were.
Despite the fear however there was also a sense of triumph, a sense of hope. The mightiest Angel yet to appear had still been laid low by the power of man. Surely the worst was over, the remaining Angels would be defeated with NERV's usual efficiency. Surely the end was in sight and this long, grinding war would be over with mankind victorious. Or so the thinking went. The only question was what the final cost would be, the final tally in blood and treasure. For some it was already too high.
Toji took a deep breath. He was standing vigil over Hikari, having finally received clearance to enter and leave the Geofront at will. Once again he owed Asuka for helping make it happen, a debt that the boy found himself less and less bothered about. Sure the redhead could still be a bitch at times but deep down she was a nice person. She cared a lot about her friends and someone like that Toji could live with being in debt to.
Hikari herself had been moved out of the climate controlled ward, her injuries having been sufficiently healed that she could breathe naturally without artificial assistance. She had also been taken off the sedatives and all that was left to do was wait for her to wake up. Toji was determined that she would not do so alone, a determination shared by her family. The end result was effectively rotating shifts between himself, Kodama, and Hikari's father. Asuka would likely have joined in as well save for the fact that her attention was focused on Shinji and Rei's situation. Still between the three of them they were able to keep the sleeping Hikari company throughout the day. Toji had even chatted with Hikari's father, formally introducing himself to the man. To his relief the man seemed willing to accept him as his daughter's boyfriend and had asked the boy to stay by Hikari's side. That was an easy promise to make, one Toji would rather die than break.
A moan escaped the girl. Toji leapt to his feet before falling to her knees at her bedside.
"Hikari?"
The girl shifted and ever so slowly her eyes opened.
"Hikari!" Toji exclaimed in joy and relief.
Hikari's head rolled toward him, her eyes muddy but recognition flashing within them.
"Toji?"
The girl's right shoulder twitched and Toji immediately discerned what she was trying to do. She was trying to reach out to him. He quickly grabbed hold of her left hand and squeezed.
"I'm right here Hikari," he said. "I'm right here."
The girl blinked, her attention drawn to the lack of feeling in her right arm and she peered down. Her eyes widened before tears welled up.
"No," she whispered. "No…"
"It's alright Hikari," Toji tried to soothe her.
"No," the girl began sobbing. "Don't, don't look at me, I'm-I'm-I'm not whole anymore, please, don't look!"
The boy's chest tightened in pain as he watched his first love break down.
"That doesn't matter!" he cried. "You're still you Hikari! You're the most beautiful, kindest, greatest girl I've ever met! Nothing's ever going to change that!"
"But I-I," Hikari hiccupped. Words failed her as more tears poured forth.
Toji grimaced. His words weren't reaching her. Maybe his actions would. He reached down and pulled Hikari up, embracing the girl in a tight hug.
"I'm never letting ya go Hikari," he said. "I don't care what's happened to ya, I'll always be by your side. If you ever feel there's something you can't do, I'll be right there to help ya do it. Alright? So don't cry like that, or yer gonna make me cry too. And a man can't let his girl see him cry when she needs him, aight?"
The tears did not stop but Hikari buried her face in her boyfriend's chest. She gripped his shoulder with her one good hand before wrapping her arm around his neck. Toji cradled her gently, offering a bedrock to steady her trembling. She did not stop crying but she held onto him tightly. For now that was good enough.
Misato regarded the teal and yellow striped EVA locked in the cages.
"How many more EVAs are out there?" the woman muttered to herself.
"Including or excluding the Mass Production series?" a voice said next to her.
The woman started and looked over to see Amanda suddenly next to her.
"Bloody hell Amanda, you nearly gave me a heart attack."
Amanda offered an apologetic smile. "You've been coming down here quite a bit."
Misato grimaced and looked over to another cage. "You know why."
The German woman nodded. "Yes. They're down here."
Unit 01 was presently heavily restrained even as technicians crawled over it, connecting wires and other instruments. They were still trying to access the telemetry feeds from the entry plug to ascertain Shinji's status. Unit 01 was being even less cooperative than usual however and the embedded electronics seemed to be randomly crashing and resetting every few commands.
"What exactly is an EVA?" Misato asked.
Technically the two were in a semipublic locale what with the engineers and technicians bustling about. The two were however given a wide berth by the men and women working down here and thanks to all the noise being overheard was likely a minimal concern. As such Amanda answered her friend frankly.
"At a basic level? Clones of Adam."
Misato's eyes narrowed. "Clones of Adam? The First Angel?"
Amanda nodded. "SEELE knew that when the time came, they would need the means to defeat the Angels. To do so required getting around an Angel's AT-field. Humans cannot naturally manifest an AT-field, but Angels could, so they basically took some of Adam's cells, made some modifications to eliminate the possibility of them going rogue, and grew the EVAs from those cells. In effect, they created a slave race."
Disgust twisted Misato's face. "That, that's abhorrent."
The auditor chuckled. "I suppose it is. Yet we cannot discard the EVAs until we destroy the Angels."
"Would we ever be able to?" Misato asked. "How many places around the world know how to manufacture EVAs? What's to stop them from continuing to do so after all this is over?"
"We eliminate the temptation by making the EVAs obsolete," Amanda replied. "The EVAs are powerful because they too possess an AT-field, which protects them from most conventional weapons. On the other hand if a way is found to easily bypass an AT-field, then EVAs become basically sitting ducks against things like antimatter weapons or even kinetic weapons like railguns."
Misato blinked. "Wait, if you have the ability to do that, then doesn't that also apply to Angels?"
Amanda once again reminded herself not to underestimate her friend's intelligence. "Yes and no. We've been working on it for the past fifteen years and we're just getting the initial prototypes into production. To be frank I'm not even sure they'll be ready for another year or so, but once they are in production an EVA becomes nothing more than a giant white elephant."
"Are you sure they'll work?" Misato pressed.
"Soren used a scaled down version to take out Commander Wesker at the Second Branch," Amanda said, "so we know they can punch through AT-fields. We haven't done full-scale tests because, well, we haven't exactly had the opportunity to run a test on an actual EVA without attracting SEELE's attention."
"I see," Misato said, obviously not completely assured but satisfied for the time being. "And what about the EVAs here at NERV? Do you also intend to destroy them?"
"Of course. Hanging onto them will just give other countries even greater motivation to build their own."
"And Unit 02?"
Amanda grimaced, a reaction not lost upon Misato. "That, will be something of a wildcard."
The collective had never considered the possibility of an Angel willingly merging with an EVA. That was so outside of established conventions that even now there was a debate on just what to do about the thing. What was scarier however was how the fixed points the collective had structured this score around continued to resonate, as if everything was going according to plan. If that really was the case it meant the merger of Leliel and Unit 02 was integral to the score and that a resolution had already been predetermined. Just what sort of insane scenario had the collective accidentally birthed? Amanda sighed and shook her head.
"We're considering contingencies, but to be frank Unit 01 is the more immediate concern so that's what I'm focusing on right now."
Misato grimaced. "So what exactly happened with it?"
"All indications are it's grown its own S2 organ," Amanda said with a grimace. "We're not entirely sure how that's even possible but it might have something to do with it absorbing Unit 00's core after that core had originally merged with Zeruel's."
"A two-step hop?"
"Maybe. But as I said, we're in uncharted territory with Unit 01. Right now priority is on seeing if we can get Shinji, and just possibly, Rei out of there."
"And keep Asuka from trying something herself," Misato said dryly as she looked down at the catwalks below.
Following the woman's gaze Amanda saw that indeed the redhead was present again, staring at Unit 01. The personnel working on the EVA gave the girl a wide berth, not surprising considering the impressive scowl she had on her face.
"I'll go talk to her again," Amanda said with a sigh.
"No, I'll do it," Misato said with a wiry smile. "She is dating my son after all."
Amanda snorted. "Is that what we're calling it now?"
Before Misato could get down there the PA sounded.
"Colonel Katsuragi, Colonel Sommer, Colonel Reimer, please report to the primary observation bay, Dr. Akagi requests your presence."
The two women exchanged looks before hurrying towards the specified location. Down before Asuka also broke out into a run. She even beat the two older women there. Soren of course beat all of them.
"Good, you're all here," Ritsuko said as Amanda and Misato entered. "We've finished plugging in external overrides to Unit 01's embedded system and we're getting telemetry again."
"What about the internal camera?" Misato asked immediately.
"Resetting it now ma'am," Maya said as she typed away at her console diligently. "And, there."
The main monitor lit up to reveal a muddy image inside the entry plug. Gasps sounded as a blue and white plug suit floated listlessly in the LCL. There remained no sign of either pilots. Asuka stumbled back into Amanda and the other woman took hold of her by the shoulders.
"Whe-where the hell is he?" the girl demanded softly. Her face twisted in grief. "Where the hell is he!"
It took several minutes for Asuka to calm, both from the initial outburst and then from the sobbing as the girl continued to demand to know where Shinji was. Soren was the one that ultimately carried her out of the room, the girl clinging to him even as she continued weeping. The German man ultimately took her to one of NERV's sleeping quarters and laid her into the bed. Asuka's energy was spent, all the worry and stress from the past day or so finally crashing down on her. Her body demanded rest and finally got its way. After posting a guard outside the room Soren returned to the observation deck. Misato looked over worriedly as he entered.
"How is she?" she asked.
"Asleep," Soren replied flatly. "It would appear the Fraulein has not been sleeping well since the battle."
Misato grimaced. "I caught her sneaking into Shinji's room yesterday. I started kicking her out but she kicked up such a fuss I let her stay."
"I think her nightmares might be rearing up again," Amanda said. "She seemed to have gotten them under control since coming to Tokyo-3, but now…"
"One of you may need to keep her company when she sleeps," Soren stated.
The two women nodded. At 13 one might think that Asuka was a bit old to need to share a bed with a parental figure. When one considered how she had lacked such figures for a critical period of her childhood it became a given.
"Any progress on determining what is going on inside Unit 01?" Soren asked, getting back to the matter at hand.
"The current hypothesis is that Shinji-kun has lost the ability to distinguish between himself and Unit 01," Ritsuko said. "We're detecting traces of organic molecules in the LCL so it's likely that the elements that composed his body are still present, but without his soul giving it form his body has basically collapsed."
Soren frowned. "This has happened before."
"Yes," Ritsuko said. "The contact experiment carried out by Ikari Yui."
Misato furrowed her brow. She remembered the recording of that experiment all too well, including the image of a desperate Shinji banging at the window as his mother was taken away from him. More pressing however was the fact that Yui Ikari never came back.
"Options?" Soren asked.
"A salvage attempt was made to try to extract Dr. Ikari," Ritsuko said. "It ultimately failed but it should at least serve as a foundation for our own attempt. Our understanding of EVA technology and metaphysical biology has improved considerably since as well, so our chances should also be much improved."
"Any estimate on those chances?" Amanda asked.
Ritsuko frowned thoughtfully. "I can't give any definite numbers without working out the details of the operation, but I'm optimistic that we can achieve a 50/50 ratio."
The doctor's words were a pointed reminder that improved did not necessarily equate to good.
"Anything you need just say the word," Amanda said.
Ritsuko smiled wirily. "And if I asked for a miracle?"
"I'll ring up God and arrange for one," Amanda said in a deadpan tone.
The doctor was not the only one to stare at Amanda. There was no humor in the woman's eyes however and Ritsuko finally nodded.
"I'll let you know if it comes up."
The door slid open at that moment and the operator hurried over to Soren and snapped a salute.
"Colonel Reimer, Horaki-san has woken up."
A sense of relief rippled through the room. Finally, some good news.
"Has her father-never mind," Soren said as he watched a tech down in the cages suddenly charge out. "Has her siblings been informed yet?"
"We have passed the message along to their respective schools sir."
"Arrange for transportation in case they wish to come see her."
"Yes sir!" The man snapped another salute and rushed out.
Soren turned about to see he was the center of attention once more. He raised an eyebrow.
"As you were," he said before making his own exit.
"Mama…Mama…Mama…Mama!"
Asuka shot up and slammed her skull into another girl leaning over her. Both cried out in pain and clutched their throbbing heads.
"Owwwww," a pitiful voice groaned. "That was uncalled for princess."
Asuka looked over and glared at the other girl. "What the hell were you doing that close to me anyway four-eyes?"
Mari rubbed the point of impact but offered a slight smile as she responded. "Just checking up on you. Heard you had a little breakdown when they finally got the video feed going."
The glare lessened before Asuka looked away sheepishly. "You didn't need to do that."
"Nope, but I wanted to," Mari said as she settled back into the chair next to Asuka's bed. "How ya holding up?"
"I'm, not fine," Asuka said, slumping back down onto the bed. "Rei's gone. Baka-Shinji's gone. All I have left are you and that Maria girl and that creepy albino guy."
"Ah, Kaworu," Mari said. "He smells weird."
Asuka gave Mari a pointed look.
"What?"
The redhead sighed and slumped back down again. "Nothing."
Mari chuckled. "Well don't worry, Dr. Akagi's already working on a plan to get pup out of Unit 01."
This time it was Asuka with the quizzical look. "What?"
"That's the current hypothesis," Mari said, using the correct word for a scientific guess. A theory after all represented an agreed upon principle that was as close to an immutable fact as science ever got. "He's trapped in Unit 01 because he became too synchronized with it. They think they can get him out, reform his body, if they can get him to disassociate from the EVA and self-identify as Shinji Ikari again."
"So they think they can get him out?" Asuka said, sitting up.
"They're going to give it a shot at least," Mari said.
The redhead got to her feet and headed for the door.
"Where you headed?" Mari called after her.
"To lend a hand," Asuka said. "Like hell I'm just sitting around like a crybaby!"
The door slid shut behind Asuka, leaving Mari alone. The girl chuckled.
"Well, she just might be able to help. Ain't that right, me?"
Deep within Central Dogma in the secondary command center, Madison grinned.
Soren entered the commander's office, his office, at least for the time being. Lounging around inside was Kaworu Nagisa, officially designated the Seventh Child and pilot of the Mark 06.
"Welcome back Colonel," Kaworu said with his ever present smile. "Or should I say, onii-san?"
Soren regarded the being that possessed the form of a pale, red-eyed bow. "Tabris."
"It seems things are settling down a bit," Kaworu said. "I wonder what will happen next?"
Soren said nothing in response, instead walking over to the desk and pulling out the documents he came for. Kaworu watched him intently, eyes never blinking. If that disturbed the German he did not let on.
"Avoid interfering with NERV's operations, otherwise you are free to spend your time as you see fit," Soren said as he finished gathering up the documents into a folder. "Remain on base in case an Angel attack occurs."
Kaworu cocked his head to the side. "You are not concerned about the threat I may pose?"
"If you wish me to deem you a threat then let me know and I will see to your termination," Soren said as he headed for the door. "Otherwise your life is yours to do with what you will." The German paused at the door. "Just remember that free will does not mean freedom from the consequences of your decisions."
The First and Seventeenth Angel watched the door close behind the German man. Not for the first time Kaworu found himself confused by Soren's attitude. It was as if the man did not consider Kaworu to be of any relevance to his goals, quite the departure from how SEELE and most of their other operatives and associates treated him. Was it because Soren considered Kaworu outside his purview and thus someone else's problem, or did the German have some objective that truly did not have a part for Kaworu to play? Now that he was in Tokyo-3 the boy might actually have a chance to find out. He chuckled. Maria Vincennes. Yes, she would be a good starting point to test the limits of what humans termed free will.
Hikari clutched at her right side again. She was still not entirely over the loss of her arm but she was adjusting. The nurses and doctors assigned to her care had all been very kind and accommodating, both in helping her but in also letting Hikari do some things for herself. They seemed to understand that being pampered too much could be as soul crushing as being ignored. Toji on the other hand was still trying to figure out that balance. Whenever he was around her boyfriend insisted on doing everything for her. Hikari let him, not because she was that helpless but because a part of her drew strength and reassurance from his display of affection for her. That was more important to her self-confidence right now than not being treated as a complete invalid. Presently however she was simply resting in her bed, letting the boy fill her in on current events.
"-and apparently Shin-man's stuck inside his EVA or something," Toji said. "Shikinami-san's been skipping school, supposedly she's helping somehow with the plan to try to get him out, but Makinami-san's still been attending regularly. According to her NERV's not gonna try repairing her EVA, so she doesn't have much ta do here anymore."
The girl had already been told about the near-disaster that was the battle against Zeruel and though she had yet to lay eyes upon the actual damage the Angel had wrought Toji's descriptions were vivid enough for her to get the basic picture. That it attacked so soon after the Angel that hijacked her own EVA must have pushed the pilots to the near breaking point.
"Speaking of which, have you thanked Asuka-san for helping you sneak into the base?" Hikari asked.
"Yeah, yeah," Toji said. "Ya don't need ta nag me bout that, it's already taken care of."
Hikari raised an eyebrow.
"By proxy!" Toji admitted quickly. "I haven't seen her since I first came to visit you, she's been holed up down here ever since and I'm only cleared for this part of the base."
"Well, fair enough," Hikari said. "Though I expect you to convey your gratitude directly once the opportunity arises."
The boy sighed. "If you say so."
"I do," Hikari said with a slight smile.
She was doing a bit more of that with each day, smiling. For that Toji was more than prepared to put up with her nagging.
The door opened and the two teens looked over to see Soren and another foreigner enter. Toji immediately stood and bowed.
"Reimer-san."
"Herr Suzuhara," Soren greeted, then nodded to Hikari. "Fraulein Horaki."
Hikari returned the nod. "Reimer-san. Thank you for everything."
"You answered the call of duty when NERV issued it," Soren said. "It is now our turn to reciprocate." Soren gestured to the woman accompanying him. "This is Dr. Erica Simmons of Morgenroete, she is a cybernetics and prosthetics expert and will be working with you to design and tune your new arm."
Hikari's eyes went wide. Toji added a hanging jaw to his reaction. Erica smiled at the two.
"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances," the woman said in flawless Japanese. "Though I'm sure all of us here wish my services had not been required, I will do my best to ensure that you are restored what you have lost to the best of my ability, Horaki-san."
Soren nodded to Erica. "I will leave you to your patient, Frau Doktor."
The German man stepped out from the room, his smartphone ringing just as the door closed.
"Yes?"
"Soren, get down here to Ritsuko's lab, she has something to show us," Amanda said without preamble.
"On my way," the man said, hanging up without waiting for further acknowledgment.
A few minutes later Soren entered the room to find Misato, Maya, and Madison also present.
"Good, you're here," Ritsuko said. "I'll try to make this quick, but it pertains to what happened to Pilot Horaki. Maya, if you would start?"
"Yes sempai," Maya said, bringing up an image of what looked to be some cells on the terminal she was sitting at. "After Pilot Horaki was extracted from the entry plug, the doctors found that her right arm was necrotizing for unexplained reasons. They amputated but preserved the arm for further examination. These are what the cells making up her arm looked like, at least some of the more intact ones. I thought they looked familiar so I pulled up our records from when Ireul infected Shinji-kun and did a comparison." Another image opened up next to the first. "There was a partial match, Bardiel's cellular structure definitely has similarities to Ireul's."
"That would make sense," Amanda said. "Both Angels were parasitic in nature."
"That's what I thought as well," Maya said. "It appears that the Angel had partially assimilated Horaki-san's arm but when the entry plug was removed, or the Angel's core destroyed, its cells died."
Amanda hissed. "We got damn lucky there."
Maya nodded. "Yes. If it had managed to assimilate more of Horaki-san's body…"
Nothing more needed to be said. As Amanda had verbalized, they had been very, very luck with Hikari.
"Anyway, I showed these results to sempai and she had an idea," Maya moved the conversation along.
"We keep stocks of the pilots' blood for emergency transfusions as necessary," Ritsuko said. "Some of the more recent samples from Shinji-kun include, well, Ireul's reprogrammed cells, and I mixed some of the dead cells from Bardiel into one of those samples to see what would happen." Ritsuko clicked open a file on her own computer. "This is a recording, sped up somewhat, of what happened at the microscopic level. I had dyed the cells from Bardiel blue to make them easier to pick out."
The others leaned in over Ritsuko's shoulder to get a better view. As they watched over the span of the minute or so the video ran the blue cells from Bardiel ruptured one after the other before they completely disappeared.
"What did I just watch there?" Misato asked.
"It would appear that Shinji-kun, after Ireul integrated with his body, acquired a supercharged immune system," Ritsuko said. "My current hypothesis is that Ireul's cells now identify themselves as Shinji and so will destroy any foreign substance that they encounter, including cells of other Angels."
"Interesting," Amanda said. "Would this have protected Shinji if he had been inside Unit 03 instead of Hikari?"
"Possibly," Ritsuko said. "This test was done with dead cells from Bardiel after all, we would need living cells to determine just how effective Shinji's immune system really is, assuming we wanted to even risk it."
"Which we're not," Misato stated coldly.
Ritsuko nodded. "There is also the question of whether, assuming the salvage operation works, Shinji-kun's restored body will still have Ireul's cells."
Amanda frowned. "Ritsuko, what about Asuka?"
"I thought of that as well," Ritsuko said, "and as far as I can tell Asuka is completely clean. The Angel merged with Unit 02, not with her."
"Good," Misato declared.
"Maybe," Amanda said. "This is the second parasitic Angel we've encountered and I'm not willing to rule out us having to deal with more. If there's a way to develop some kind of defense against them I think it's something worth pursuing."
Ritsuko leaned back with a thoughtful look. "That could prove tricky. Assuming Shinji retains his Angelic aspect, Ireul's cells would still be attuned to him. I can't exactly reprogram them to think they're someone else, despite their discrete nature those cells make up a single entity and can't be split."
"I'm not sure I like where this conversation is going," Misato cut in. "Why should we have to rely on Angels to protect our pilots from other Angels? We should try to minimize our dependency on them and rely on human created defenses."
The irony of the woman's words was not lost on several of those present, including Misato herself. But she did have a point.
"Nanotechnology is still in something of an infancy right now," Ritsuko said, "so I'm not sure we could come up with a viable defense in the short term. At least not quickly enough to do us any good against the remaining Angels."
"I suppose for now we'll file this away for things to consider after we win," Amanda said with a sigh.
Unfortunate, that. Such a defense would have come in very handy when Armisael arrived.
"Unit 02 already has an Angel merged with it," Soren suddenly said. "Would that not offer some defense, at least if the target is the EVA instead of the pilot?"
"Possibly," Ritsuko said with a shrug. "Ultimately we won't know unless we actually do encounter another parasite type."
"I'd just as rather we not find out," Maya muttered.
To the woman's surprise that earned her a clap on the back from Madison.
"Truer words have never been spoken," Madison said with a smile. "Why invite trouble when we could just as well do without it?"
Because it would becoming whether it was invited or not, Amanda thought glumly. But unfortunately Ritsuko was right, they would not know if it would work or not until Armisael itself did show up. Hopefully it would not be too late by then.
Dr. Wilhelm Langley was by any measure a highly intelligent man. His work in quantum mechanics was what originally attracted GEHIRN's attention and played at least a part in his relationship with Kyoko Zeppelin Shikinami, an equally brilliant scientist in the field of metaphysical biology. There was no doubt in Wilhelm's mind that their daughter Asuka would surpass both her parents once she came of age and he felt a not small amount of pride at what his daughter was already doing. A great deal of fear and guilt as well considering the dangers and the traumas her duties inflicted upon her. Still, since the thawing of emotions that had occurred over the past few months Wilhelm had felt more and more like he and Asuka were becoming like the father and daughter they should have been. As such he had been looking forward to a trip to NERV-Tokyo.
His arrival however was not how he had imagined it. HQ was still dealing with the aftermath of Zeruel's attack. The combined deployment of five EVA units had barely stopped the Angel though the end result saw the number of effectives reduced to just two EVAs. Unit 00 was destroyed outright while Unit 05 had been effectively written off. Unit 04 would require extensive though fortunately not time consuming repair while Unit 02 was more or less already ready to go. With the Mark 06 present in theory that gave NERV two EVAs to deploy in case another angel attacked. Unit 01 however was another matter entirely and was what ultimately led to Wilhelm's long belated trip to Tokyo-3 as it was felt his expertise in quantum mechanics might help in the recovery operation of Unit 01's pilot. A pilot who apparently his daughter had fallen in love with.
Like many fathers Wilhelm was uneasy with the notion of his little girl growing up and settling down with some man. But when he arrived at the Geofront and his daughter's first act upon their meeting was to latch onto him and plead with him that he was going to get the younger Ikari back, Wilhelm knew that if he put anything less than all his ability and will into the recovery attempt he would have utterly failed as a father. Again. And so he spent most of his working hours down in the labs running simulations, consulting with Dr. Akagi and her team, and doing his best to refine the brilliant but almost certainly long shot procedure created by the elder Akagi a decade ago for a very similar situation. He tried not to linger on the fact that that attempt had not been a success.
The door slid open and another fellow German entered but Wilhelm was so fixated on the monitor that he did not even notice.
"Dr. Langley."
With a start he spun about on his chair. "Oh! Captain-no, Colonel Sommer, my apologies. I was-"
"Burning your eyes out looking at the screen," Amanda finished for him. "When was the last time you slept in a proper bed?"
Wilhelm scratched his head. "I'm, not sure."
Amanda looked at her watch and then back at Wilhelm. "Doctor. It's 6AM right now and something tells me that you haven't left this office since 10 last night when I last checked up on you. Go back to your room and get some actual sleep."
"No, I'm okay," Wilhelm insisted. "I managed to get in some naps so…"
Amanda sighed. "Doctor. Don't make me tell Asuka that you're neglecting your health."
Wilhelm blinked. Not too long ago that would not have been much of a threat. Now though it really meant something. The man smiled wirily and nodded.
"Alright colonel, you win, even if you don't fight fair. I'll go get some sleep."
"I also have tranq rounds for the truly hopeless cases," Amanda said with a beatific smile.
"That, is more than a tad frightening," Wilhelm admitted as he headed for the door.
It slid open just as he reached it and Asuka nearly barreled into her father.
"Papa!"
"Oh, Asuka. What are you doing here?"
"Checking up on you," the girl said, her eyes narrowing. "Papa, did you stay up all last night?"
"Oh uh, I was actually just about to go get some sleep," Wilhelm said quickly. "I kind of lost track of time so uh…"
Asuka rolled her eyes. "Why are all the men in my life idiots." She grabbed hold of her father's arm. "C'mon, you need to go take a shower and get a change of others, otherwise you'll wake up all itchy."
Wilhelm smiled as he was led away by his daughter. This was not how he had expected his visit to Tokyo-3 to go, but right now that was just fine.
"Asuka," he spoke up.
"Yes Papa?"
"After this is over, do you think you'll come back to Germany, or do you intend to stay here in Japan?"
The girl's grip tightened ever so slightly. "I don't know yet. I'll definitely come back for a while, there's a lot of time to make up for. But, Tokyo-3 is as much my home now as Berlin."
"I see," Wilhelm said. "Well Asuka, I just want you to know, wherever you do decide to make your home, you'll always have a place to come back to in Berlin."
Asuka looked back and beamed her father a smile. "I know Papa. And thanks."
Wilhelm felt his heart ache a bit. How long had it been since he saw a genuine smile on his daughter's face? Too long. He smiled back. He was going to make damn sure she never had reason to lose it again.
"Pilot Vincennes."
Maria almost jumped as she turned to face the speaker. It was Kaworu, the creepy new pilot of the Mark 06, an EVA she had not even known existed.
"Pilot Nagisa," Maria replied in the same formal tone.
The mysterious EVA's pilot was even more of an enigma and the existence of the two indicated that there were things Maria was not privy to even as the granddaughter of a SEELE councilmember. She had made some inquiries to Soren and the German man had actually be somewhat forthcoming. At this point Maria knew that Kaworu was another hybrid, like the Colonel himself but slightly more refined. Seeing as how lethally competent the Colonel was Maria became a bit more curious as to just what this Kaworu Nagisa was capable of.
Interestingly the other pilots seemed to be avoiding him. Asuka, Maria knew was actively involving herself with the Unit 01 salvage operation because of some romantic inclination for the Third Child, so was not so much as avoiding Kaworu as she was too busy to pay him any attention. That and she seemed to resent the boy for having impaled Unit 01 with the Spear of Cassius, even if that was the only thing that had prevented a premature triggering of Third Impact. Not that the German girl was aware of the true purpose of NERV but her ignorance did not excuse her rudeness in Maria's opinion.
Mari on the other hand had sniffed Kaworu once, made a comment about him not being normal, and proceeded to actively turn away every time he might approach her. The British girl's actions were, in Maria's opinion, even more inexplicable than Asuka's. It was almost as if she really could determine a character's attributes by smell alone. Maria doubted that to be the case but at this point the other girl was creeping her out almost as Kaworu.
Maria on the other hand had remained open to Kaworu's approaches and they had spoken on a number of occasions. Not that she could claim to understand him any better.
"I have come across a most interesting work," Kaworu said. "It was by a German philosopher called Nietzsche. Have you heard of him?"
Maria frowned. "Only in passing."
"He presented a most interesting thesis regarding the path humanity must take after the death of your Gods. To affirm the live you have now instead of pining for the nothingness that comes with death. Interesting, no, that his fellow German Kiel Lorenz would seek the very antithesis of that ideal."
"Mr. Lorenz seeks to unit all humanity, to have us discard our differences and end the suffering that these differences spawn."
"A most, Asiatic notion, subliming the self into the masses and conforming instead of rising," Kaworu said. "I find it curious that the ones spearheading Instrumentality are those from cultures that praise the concept of individuality and self-determination. Have you grown tired of such gifts?"
"Those gifts have costs," Maria said. "Costs that humanity has proven unable to bear not once, but twice."
"Your World Wars. How close did humanity come to extinction due to the second? How close have you come in your quest for Instrumentality? What is the difference between preserving and ending free will if the cost is the same?"
"The difference is that the cost must only be paid once for the final peace," Maria said confidently, "whereas the price in blood and suffering will never end for the preservation of free will."
"Some seem to believe that cost worth it," Kaworu said. "But whomever they might be, are you not concerned it will be your blood they use for the toll?"
Maria flinched. That struck far closer to home than she would have liked. Her family did not know this but Maria had heard whisperings, rumors of a sacrifice being necessary for Instrumentality. A sacrifice that needed to be an EVA pilot. Previously Maria had been confident that it would be one of the others. There were supposed to be six of them after all so the chances of Maria herself ending up as the sacrifice would only have been about 16%. It went up to 20% if one took into account the First Child's status as a catalyst. But still Maria had been certain it would be one of the others. She was a Vincennes after all and the only pilot privileged enough to know the true purpose of NERV and the EVAs. Now though the number of active pilots had been reduced to four, three of whom might be viable sacrifices. Two if the rumors about Unit 01 also being a necessary catalyst was true. A 50% chance was a lot less comforting than even a 20% chance.
"I have no doubt that I will see Instrumentality's fruition," Maria finally stated.
The smile on Kaworu's face did not disappear. "You choose to hold to your conviction. That will be the difference between now and after. Well, should you ever find an interest in alternative thoughts, I am sure Colonel Sommer would be happy to lend you her copy of Nietzsche's nachlass."
The girl froze.
"Good day to you, Pilot Vincennes," Kaworu said.
Maria barely heard him as her mind raced. Why would Amanda Sommer, the favored granddaughter and agent of Kiel Lorenz, have a copy of Nietzsche's works? From what Kaworu had just said the German philosopher was obviously opposed to the goal Amanda had dedicated her life to. Was Kaworu telling her the truth? Or was he just screwing with her mind? The unease in Maria grew.
Fuyutsuki groaned as he pulled himself out of bed.
"Take it easy," Ritsuko advised. "A man your age will not bounce back as quickly from such injuries."
"I am, painfully aware of this point," the former teacher said with a slight smile.
The injuries in question were the result of him being caught in a tunnel collapse when Zeruel attacked, effectively taking him out of play for not just the battle but the month that followed. Only now was he getting back on his feet.
"Well you've been cleared for return to active duty," Ritsuko said, jotting something down on the clipboard before hanging it back on the bed frame. "If you need anything else one of the other nurses or doctors will see to it, I need to get back to the cages."
"The salvage operation is today, is it not?" Fuyutsuki asked.
Ritsuko nodded. "It's been a busy month, but quite a lot has been done."
Fuyutsuki chuckled. "Remarkable at how, efficient, everything has run."
The doctor regarded the elderly man, knowing exactly what he meant. "People are moving with purpose again. They nearly lost it after Bardiel. It's been given back to them."
"By Colonel Rimer and Colonel Sommer," Fuyutsuki noted dryly.
"Indeed," Ritsuko said. "You might want to think about whether they could give some to you as well."
Fuyutsuki watched Ritsuko leave with furrowed brows. Somehow the German couple had managed to win Ritsuko over to their side, something he would have thought impossible considering the psychological hold Ikari had had on the woman. What had they offered her that could break that hold? And could they offer the same to him, releasing him from the shackles that were Yui's ghost? Fuyutsuki grimaced. He was too old for change, even if for the better.
The old man finished dressing himself, once more in the brown uniform of NERV's deputy commander. As far as he knew that position was still his, neither Reimer nor Sommer making any moves to strip him of the post. Their inaction was more than a little puzzling but so long as he continued holding the position he would carry out his duties.
Fuyutsuki made his way down to the secondary command center, the primary one in the upper levels of Central Dogma likely out of commission until after the Angels were all defeated. As he entered however he saw the men and women normally manning the stations all standing at attention. Fuyutsuki looked on curiously. He doubted they were doing this for him.
"Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki," Amanda greeted. "If you would please stand over here."
Fuyutsuki nodded and moved over to the designated location. He had apparently walked in on something preplanned, something his participation had not been expected or asked for. Now that he was here however the auditor seemed fine with letting him stay. That likely meant it was nothing untoward and so Fuyutsuki contented himself to wait. There was enough time for him to take note of the other people around. Not just the operators but the junior command officers, but Colonel Kayabuki and Major Kudo were also present. Interesting. A few minutes later Fuyutsuki could hear the voice of a confused and slightly irate woman closing on the command center.
"Aren't we supposed to be preparing for the salvage op?" Misato could be heard complaining. "What do they need me in the command center for?"
"You'll see," Ritsuko's voice answered back.
"Is this going to take long?" the petulant tone of the Second Child echoed her commanding officer's impatience. "I want to do another review of the parameters before we try reflashing Unit 01's firmware."
A chuckle sounded. "I've already reviewed your code Asuka, and you did very well. In fact after all this is over, you should look into a career in the software industry."
"Hah, no thanks, it's all a bunch of dweebs that haven't seen a real woman…in…ages…"
The girl's complaints trailed off as they finally entered the command center and caught sight of the very thing that had taken Fuyutsuki by surprise. By now it was evident that not just the Second Child but also the Fourth and Fifth were also accompanying the doctor and major. Misato looked about and then back at her friend.
"Ritsuko, what's this about?"
"Attention to orders!" Amanda cried out, causing Misato, Asuka, Mari, and Maria to all snap rigid.
Soren stepped out from next to Amanda. "Colonel Katsuragi, step forth."
Misato did so, falling in line in front of the German man.
"Colonel Sommer."
Amanda stepped forth and presented Soren with a red folder. The man accepted and opened it.
"The United Nations Security Council and the General Assembly has reposed trust and confidence in the valor, integrity, and honor of Katsuragi, Misato," Soren read. "In view of these qualities and her demonstrated leadership abilities and dedication to the service of humanity, she is therefore promoted from the rank of major to colonel."
Misato's eyes widened. So did the eyes of the pilots. That was a jump of two grades, even if Misato had been acting with that rank's authority for some time now.
"Promotion is effective 01 December, 2015 with a date of rank of 01, December, 2015." Soren closed the folder. "Colonel Katsuragi is furthermore hereby appointed as Commander of NERV-Tokyo, with the acting authority of brigadier general."
Misato managed a slight squeak. Soren's mouth twitched into a slight smile as he saluted.
"Congratulations, General Katsuragi."
All the other men and women present raised their hands as well. The newly minted colonel/general managed to snap a salute in response, one she held for way longer than she really needed to as she absorbed the shock of what had happened. Soren took a step back as Amanda and Madison came forth, removing the major insignias on Misato's field jacket before sticking on the cross-winged eagle of a full UN colonel. They each saluted in turn before Amanda threw her arms around Misato, eliciting a cry of surprise from the woman. Madison wasted no time coming in from the other side, cackling as she did so. Applause and laughter rippled through the room. They all needed this. And if the attempt to save the Third and just possibly the First Child succeeded, today would be a very good day indeed.
End of Chapter 36
I'm pretty sure I've made clear that any holes in information are almost always intentional on my part and is because I intend to employ the filling in of said hole at a later date for plot purposes. And some will be left hanging for use in a potential sequel.
I've ending up having to split up the chapter. We're almost at 9000 words and the actual extraction process and aftermath is likely to take another two or three thousand words. I generally try to keep my chapters between six and eight thousand words. Anything less and I don't feel like I've made it worth my reader's while to bother with a chapter and anything more and I feel like I'm risking people getting too drained. So I decided to end it on a slight high note before things get to the messy stage. Let's see if I can actually keep within my self-imposed limit of 50 chapters.
If I ever do a remastered version of this fic, one of the things that I am almost certainly going to change is introducing Nietzsche's philosophy (the original one, not the twisted version that was hijacked by the Nazis) much, much earlier. In retrospect it's almost perfect as an antithesis to what SEELE is trying to achieve and I really should have sprinkled it around the entire story. I had read up on it in the past but had forgotten about it until like this week. I'll definitely be working it into future chapters/conversations.
The promotion spiel Soren read was a modified version of what the US army does for promoting its officers. And yes, I am aware that she just got jumped two grades after barely spending any time in grade as a major. I'm, stretching the realism here a bit but to be frank I'm still not abusing it nearly as badly as say the Evangelion Anima series did by jumping her to a major general. My Misato at least is still formally a colonel with only the acting authority of a general. And I think I've built in enough justifications and foreshadowing for her promotion.
Anyway, drop a review with your thoughts if you have any. Oh and no, I did not introduce another sidestepper this chapter. Just wanted to make that explicit.
I'll be in New York for the rest of the week and so won't be getting much writing done, so next update will be a while. Well, a while relative to my usual update schedule. And also I'm switching back to A Cold Calculus for the next chapter I'm writing.