Not much to say this chapter. We do progress some events a little and get ready for more action. Disclaimer: I don't own Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Evangelion, or Anarchy Reigns.
Cruel Angel's Thesis Chapter 17: As The Tide Turns
Lorenz and his inner circle addressed the rest of their member agents. The outer members were only there to monitor progress on the Instrumentality project, but they were considered part of the group anyway due to how important that project was. "Thank you for joining us on such short notice gentlemen," Lorenz said, "As you have been informed, NERV is still holding out from merging with our organization. The Tenth Angel has just been eliminated, leaving very few obstacles in our path. But what obstacles remain… Are proving difficult to negotiate."
He turned to the holograms. Unlike the four members of his inner circle, whom he had absolute trust in and wanted to speak with face-to-face, metaphorically speaking, the outer circle appeared as black monoliths. Of course, they saw the inner circle as the same using special filtering technology. "SEELE-06," Lorenz said, "What's the status on studying Adam?" "We believe we have enough information to start manufacturing our own S2 engines," SEELE-06 responded. "But we're short a test subject," SEELE-11 chimed in, "During the confusion of the recent attack on the metropolis, we found that Unit-00 had been stolen. And not recently."
"We still have enough EVAs and pilots to create the Tree of Life," SEELE-07 noted, "All we need to do is put the dummy plug through the simulations." Lorenz nodded. There was no need to sacrifice their precious resources when it would be so much more fulfilling to offer them a slice of the pie instead. "The main problem is that while we have found the Lance of Longinus," SEELE-12 chimed in, "It's already been removed. We suspect NERV got to it first." "This is troubling news," Lorenz said, "We need eyes on NERV. And we need them soon." "But who can we send?," SEELE-08 asked, "With the jungle lab raided, most of our agents are compromised." Lorenz raised an eyebrow. "What exceptions can you think of?"
Meanwhile, the pilots and the Dashell couple were working their way through the metropolis, only to hear the sounds of fighting up ahead. They hurried over to see a young woman in an orange plug suit, electricity surrounding her as she battled the escaped agents. Cadence gasped. "I think that's Mari." "So she's a Stand user too, is she?," Aigis asked. Shining nodded. "And one who was born with her Stand, no less. It's called Beautiful World, and it surrounds Mari in an electrical field that can power up her body or block out outside forces for defense."
It was certainly proving effective as Mari finished dealing with the last of the agents, letting her field drop. She then noticed the others. "Sorry, I was expecting the party to be in full swing when you showed up. But while my Stand is active I tend to wind up going a little overboard." Shinji looked at the downed agents. They were unconscious but were only suffering bruises and dents. "If this what you call overboard, I shudder to think what you call going all out." "Why the plug suit?," Asuka asked, "I thought there were only five EVAs."
"Technically there are six if you count Unit-00," Cadence pointed out. "Which was already swiped from SEELE without them realizing," Mari said with a smirk, "Little job by some agents of Speedwagon." "But Unit-00 is incompatible with the current EVA system," Kaworu noted. "Was," Mari clarified, "NERV is currently having the best engineers in the world working on modifying Unit-00 to make it work with the current armor type. But there are only so many templates to work with. Luckily, given the present Super Sentai theme going on, a second bird model is feasible." Shinji raised an eyebrow.
The engineers turned out to be Kazuichi and Miu. Kazuichi had been getting some major engineering contracts since his graduation, turning the small bike shop he used to work at with his family into a major automotive company in only a few short months. Miu was still attending Hope's Peak Academy, but her inventive genius was still getting her plenty of patents for new and innovative designs. "The real issue was getting around the incompatibility," Kazuichi noted to Yui, "Luckily I was able to find a solution by modifying the organic creature using Carpenters."
"From there designing the new armor was easy," Miu said, "But are you sure you want to reuse the eagle template? I could easily think up a number of new designs." Yui shook her head. "It turns out an extra flying EVA would still fit the normal them we have going on here. Though I am grateful for the less harsh shade of orange. The previous coloring was rather garish." "Yui!," Mari said as she came in. Yui turned around and smiled. "Hey, Mari. Good of you arrive." "We also had Chihiro called in like you asked," Kazuichi noted.
"Good," Ritsuko replied, "We know the next Angel, Iruel, is meant to attack while we're busy with the new updates to the MAGI, and her ability let's her take over anything computerized like a virus. We can't risk losing our main source of data. Luckily Aigis and Keebo are hard-wired against viruses. We made sure to do the same with Jet Alone, just in case." Kazuichi nodded. "I was part of the main engineering team for that battle mech, so I'd hate for it to get lost on us. It's kinda like a son to me."
"It will take a bit to properly condition her," SEELE-08 admitted, "But it will be an excellent chance to get close to the pilots and learn their weaknesses and strengths. Anything to help us stay on top." "And fortunately NERV doesn't have everything on us," SEELE-02 noted, "We still have the facility in the factory region. Thus far it has remained untouched." Lorenz rubbed his chin. "That won't hold true forever. Send our agents to…" He was interrupted by a sudden call. He frowned. "Slight change of plans. All of the agents we managed to free were recaptured, and most of the others are on assignment elsewhere. We only have Durga and Garuda to rely on. Luckily, they are a nearly unbeatable team." He smiled, thinking on how the NERV team would soon meet its match.
Meanwhile, Gendo watched as Unit-01 plunged the lance into Lilith's chest, causing her lower half to shrivel up. "Will that stop her, Dad?," Shinji asked. "Only for a while," Gendo admitted, "Long enough for Adam to recover and finish the job personally. At the very least she will be staying put until the remaining Angels have been neutralized." "Iruel is supposed to be microscopic, right?," Shinji realized, "How are we supposed to retrieve her core?" "Her own power will provide us with a solution," Gendo assured his son, "Given what we know from the Dead Sea Scrolls, it should be possible to download Iruel's core like any other computer program. But only time will tell if that theory holds true."
Yep, plans are being made for the next Angel to show up. Things are starting to accelerate as we get into the second half of the story. Read and review.