Interludes After the Eleventh Angel, Part 5
Note, the parenthesis indicates languages other than Japanese, in this case, English and German,
Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I am doing wrong (to correct it).
Undisclosed Location
Somewhere in the Nevada Desert
USA
NERV 2nd Branch
Commander's Office
"(Commander Hazzard? We are not completely sure it's going to work.)" Lt. Jackie Burns tapped nervously at his clipboard, always full of papers.
"(Well, then. Get the gearheads to run another batch of simulations, Burns. The old men are breathing down my neck and there's only so much I can do to keep them at bay.)" Colonel Ulyses Hazzard the Second, Commander of NERV-2, waved away his subordinate's worries.
"(Ah, yes, Sir. I'll schedule the next batch immediately. It will take the MAGI a few days to run the complete simulation.)"
"(Good. The Problem Child?)" Hazzard made a ball of a sheet of paper, and threw it into the waste basket at the other side of his office.
"(She has approved her new plugsuit. I am quite surprised she loved the color! Anyway, Miss Tekka (1) managed to develop a better material for the main suit itself. It will last a lot longer, even if Makinami has another growth spurt. She said there was a full array of sensors to measure the user's body before depressurization. The suit can adjust its size by itself. Instead of making individualized suits and replace them every three months, we can make one-size-fits-all now. About the only restriction is the user's gender. The need for hard protection on sensitive areas… ahem!)" the man coughed and blushed immediately. (Once the prototypes clear testing, the basic model will be sent to Japan, for in-field testing.)
"(Really? That would be a nice budget saving measure. Those damn suits are expensive as hell.)" Col. Hazzard arched an eyebrow. He really disliked bean-counters. Burns was one, but he was on his side, so he got a pass. Usually.
"(Indeed. Having Tekka around has been a gift. The girl has a way with gizmos and gadgets as you can't believe it. Pity her clearance doesn't allow her to even see the S2 Engine. I bet she could make it work at the first try. She did the preliminary work on the EVA Armor back when she was barely out of high-school. (2) That's good enough for me.)"
"(Yeah, quite the little genius. Even if she got stuck in the 1960s! I wonder how much she spends in burgundy hair dye…)" Burns coult help but wonder. "(Anyway, her consultations with Gurutech (3) are killing our bandwith!)"
"(Will she stay for the test?)"
"(No, the big guys at Cadmus want her back at Metropolis. Something about repairing a Judging Mountain (4)… Must be some kind of code.)"
"(Meh, there are more codewords here than in the regular Armed Forces, anyway. I've been in the Army long enough I even think in acronyms…)"
NERV Holochamber
"(So, do we even lend any credence to Ikari?)"
"(I have no doubt he has covered his tracks well enough.)"
"(I hate to play the Devil's Advocate, but there is a small possibility he is actually telling the truth.)"
"(Explain your reasoning, then.)"
"(There are no real hints in the Dead Sea Scrolls to imply Iruel should even manifest in Tokyo-3. At this point, the S2 Engine is about to be tested in NERV-2, in Nevada. This is a critical part of the MPE development. I think Iruel could be another outlier in the series, much like Gaghiel, Sandalphon, and Sahaquiel.)"
"(They didn't appear near Tokyo-3. I see what you mean. Hmm… Good thing NERV-2 has a fully operational EVA Unit and a fully trained pilot then.)"
"(Do you think the Fourth Child is able to neutralize an Angel?)"
"(I think she's certainly capable. She's willing and eager to prove her worth, despite her eccentricities.)"
"(Very similar to the Second Child. Both revel in combat.)"
"(The Second uses confrontation as a mechanism to cover her deficiencies. According to the psych-evals, the Fourth prefers to use deflection and humor to the same ends. However, she really enjoys a good fight. For her, it is mere fun. Still, we must keep an eye on both the Second Branch and the S2E test.)"
"(We will. In case Iruel attacks there, we will not take action against Ikari. Same if it appears at Tokyo-3 and Ikari deals with it before the Twelfth Angel appears.)"
"(Very well, we will keep the current numbering of the Angels. Tentatively, let's consider Iruel will manifest itself at NERV-2. After Iruel has been dealt with, either in Nevada or in Tokyo-3, Leliel will be the next.)" (5)
Tokyo-3
GeoFront
Testing Cage-03
Observation Room
"What is it?" Major Katsuragi screamed.
Quickly, Lt. Aoba reported, "We've got a problem occurring with the pilot's nerve pulse!" His screen was full of alarm messages. The long-haired tech tried frantically to isolate the cause.
Lt. Ibuki got there first, "Mental contamination is taking place, Dr. Akagi!"
"Impossible! That can't happen at this plug depth! It's too far from the core!"
"It's not the plug. It's the EVA itself! The intrusion is coming directly from the EVA!"
Tokyo-3
GeoFront
Testing Cage-03
EVA-00 strained against its moorings. The muscles under the armor swelled as they tensed, struggling to rip the anchoring points attached to shoulders, forearms, hips, and ankles.
A low growl emerged from the mechanoid's throat. The most primal part in the tech's brains screamed danger to the humans present at Observation Room. Still, not a single one left their post.
With a thunderous sound, EVA-00 arms freed themselves from the wall. The anchoring plates lost the connection to the hydraulic hoses that kept the pressure on the arms' plates, dropping to the floor with a crash that was felt all over the GeoFront. The shoulder and legs anchoring fell a moment later, freeing EVA-00 from its chains.
Tokyo-3
GeoFront
Testing Cage-03
Observation Room
"Unit-00 is out of control!" Though it was evident to anybody present, Lt. Ibuki relayed the news.
"Shut off all circuits!" Dr. Akagi ordered, "Cut the power supply!"
Immediately, the umbilical cable detached itself from the EVA's back. It fell a few meters, until the rocket brakes fired, slowing the fall so it wouldn't damage itself or the floor.
Now, Unit-00 only had its internal energy supply. Hopefully, it would run out of power before causing serious damage to the place.
"EVA has switched to back-up power."
While the tech crew frantically inputted commands in their computer terminals, a figure watched the events, standing alone, close to the reinforced glass.
Rei Ayanami watched her EVA Unit at the other side of the glass.
"Robin." She whispered.
"The EVA is still active!" Lt. Hyuga looked back at his superior officer.
Major Katsuragi grabbed his shoulder. "How's Robin? How's Shinji?"
"The circuit is closed. We can't get a signal from the plug!" In his screen, the diagram showed the nerve connections breaking apart. EVA and pilot were losing synch rate with terrifying speed.
"Unit-00 is rejecting Robin?" Dr. Akagi asked, not believing her eyes. "But they were synching without any problem!"
Lt. Ibuki turned back "Negative! It is… It is trying to absorb him! The auto-ejection is not working! I can't get him out!"
"Almost like before…" Dr. Akagi mumbled. "But why?"
Testing Cage-03
Unit-00's plug
Shinji looked at the small figure, her eyes darted from one side to the other. He kept his nerves under control as much as possible, he was very aware he was not in control of the blue EVA unit anymore. He felt every movement as if he were moving himself. For a fleeting moment, he wondered if that was how the EVAs felt when their pilots moved them. He pushed the thought aside. This was not the moment for such thoughts.
Tokyo-3
GeoFront
Testing Cage-03
Observation Room
(Spiritual Plane)
Deadman shook his surprise away, and flew through the thick shatter-proof glass.
Shouting "Geronimoooo!" he dove into the berserking giant.
Tokyo-3
GeoFront
Testing Cage-03
Observation Room
Unit-00 grabbed at its head. Shinji knew it was in horrible pain. Not just physical, but emotional too. He himself felt the same pain.
"Rei! Rei! You have to calm down! Please! Calm down!" he sent the thought into the core.
For a moment, the Evangelion stilled, but only for a moment, its single eye focused on the observation deck. On the single figure standing at the center of the window.
It slapped its hand on the wall, as if trying to grab at her. The glass held on, though the metal next to it buckled under the impact. Unit-00 began to rake the wall with its fingers.
Tokyo-3
GeoFront
Testing Cage-03
Unit-00 Core
(Spiritual Plane)
Deadman swam desperately into the violent currents surrounding the core. Far away, he glimpsed at two souls, both looking at each other. One was Shinji, the other looked like… like…
"Oh, damn!" he gritted his teeth. "The Stranger was right. It is her!"
Tokyo-3
GeoFront
Testing Cage-03
Observation Room
Unit-00's hand scratched at the wall, as if trying to rip the metal away. Rei stood there, not moving a single muscle. Just watching as her own EVA Unit tried to open the wall with its fingers. Some forgotten instinct made her take a single step back.
"Rei! Get Back! Rei!" Major Katsuragi grabbed Rei's arm, and pulled the pilot back away from the glass, before it shattered. Big cracks appeared on the armored glass panes, growing gradually. One moment more, and they would blow out in huge pieces.
Tokyo-3
GeoFront
Testing Cage-03
Unit-00 Core
(Spiritual Plane)
The red ghost dodged the worst emotional currents, getting closer and closer to his target.
After a subjective eternity, he finally reached the eye of the storm.
"Boston-san! Help her, please! I can't reach her!" Shinji's mind yelled in the maelstrom.
"On it, kid! Be ready."
The small shape floated at the center of the storm; carefully, the former aerialist approached. "Hello. I am Boston. What's your name?"
The original Rei tilted her head. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at Deadman.
"Ghost-face." She croaked. Her voice rough from years of silence.
Deadman touched his face. "Oh. This? Not my face, sorry. It was just a costume." The ghost opened his shirt even more, and looked for the edge of the mask he wore. Slowly, he lifted it with both hands, until his own face was revealed. "Better?"
Rei looked at him with renewed curiosity. So did Shinji. He had not even thought Deadman was simply a disguise. Though he should have done so.
Boston Brand was a Caucasian male in his late 20s, with wavy black hair, a broken nose and a warm smile.
Hesitatingly, Rei extended a hand, until she touched Deadman's face. "Sad?" her fingers traced the man's features, her face puzzled.
"Yes, sometimes."
Tokyo-3
GeoFront
Testing Cage-03
Observation Room
Down at the floor of the cage, Unit-00 knelt, arching its back and grabbing its head with both hands. It howled at the ceiling for what seemed a long time, but in reality, had been only a few seconds. Then, its arms relaxed, falling over its thighs, its shoulders shook repeatedly, as if sobbing.
"Activation will be terminated in 10…"
The EVAs arms wrapped themselves around its torso. It looked absolutely miserable.
Tokyo-3
GeoFront
Testing Cage-03
Unit-00 Core
(Spiritual Plane)
Rei grabbed at Deadman, hugging him desperately. "I'm sad too." She said.
Boston hugged her back. "Yes. But I try not to be sad." He whispered. "Can you try, Rei?"
"You know me?"
"We have some of the same friends. That kid behind me? He is your brother."
"He is? I don't know him?"
"He was sent away, he couldn't come."
"Will he go away?"
"Not because he wants to go."
"I wish I could take you with me, Rei." Shinji said, his voice almost cracking.
"See? He can't stay."
"I don't wanna be alone."
"I know. I'll come visit. It's that okay?"
Rei nodded.
Tokyo-3
GeoFront
Testing Cage-03
Observation Room
"3… 2… 1…"
Unit-00 deactivated itself with a sound like a death-rattle. It stayed still as a statue.
Tokyo-3
GeoFront
Testing Cage-03
Unit-00 Core
(Spiritual Plane)
Rei vanished from Deadman's arms. Just before the last few drops of energy were spent, Shinji saw Deadman wipe his eyes, and heard the ghost's mumble back in his mother tongue. His voice heavy with barely contained anger and sadness, "(I'm gonna kill those bastards.)"
Tokyo-3
GeoFront
Testing Cage-03
Observation Room
"Unit-00 has ceased activation." Lt. Ibuki almost sighed in relief as she announced the latest development.
Without a pause, Major Katsuragi ordered. "Hurry up and rescue the pilot!" Once she saw the extraction team scrambling to obey, she thought. "I don't believe this. What happened? Did Unit-00 reach for Rei? Was it trying to kill her? Or was it something else?"
A Possible XXVIth Century
Ruins of Tokyo.
12:38 AM, local time
A light storm lit up over the irradiated ruins of an ancient city. All over the place, Tanuki (6) tribes raised their hand to the sky, begging for an abundant season of hunting, scavenging and gathering.
Centuries before, a dirty atomic bomb had exploded in the city, only the intervention of three heroes had saved the place form becoming a molten ruin. Two of the heroes had not survived the ordeal. The original Flash had been collected by the Black Flash, an anthropomorphic incarnation of Death. One that only took speedsters.
Flash III, Wally West, had returned from Tokyo, carrying the old and battered helmet the original speedster wore.
But the third hero, Captain Atom (7), had not died then. His powers didn't work that way. Absorbing so much nuclear energy only made him jump forward in time.
The Tanuki tribe closest to the falling star hurried to reach the place. Hoping to collect the star, and carry it back to their town.
Instead of a chunk of rock, they found a shiny humanlike figure lying at the bottom of the crater
The human statue struggled to stand, extended a hand towards the Tanuki, and said something no one could understand. Then it fell down again, face planting on the still smoking ground.
"Well, I didn't see that coming." The Tanuki chief said, scratching his head. "I guess we do the same thing anyway." He shrugged to himself, and ordered the strongest males around. "Hurry, make a stretcher, we carry this living statue back to the village!"
New York
S.T.A.R. Labs
January the 1st, 2016
Third Impact/Great Disaster
"(Buddy! Buddy! Something happened back in Japan! Third Impact occurred!)" Dr. Myra Forest screamed in the microphone. "(Grab Andy and run to the bunker! I'll clear the way for you!)"
"(yes, doctor forest.)" the janitor answered with a detached calm he didn't really feel. It was as if he was looking at himself from a movie screen. "(come, andi.)"
"(Should I engage the stasis pods, Dr. Forest?) an electronic voice asked.
"(Yes, Brother Eye! Do it, keep recording the events in Japan, be ready to analyze everything!)" she said, almost automatically. Force of habit, as she didn't really believe she would survive to see the analysis results.
"(What about you, Dr. Forest?)"
"(I'm too far from the pods. At the speed that whatever that is, is covering the world, I don't have time enough to get there.) She sobbed, "(I don't know what's happening, but the images are… That's Third Impact, isn't it?)"
"(Yes. Is there anything I can do for you?)"
"(Just make sure they survive, Brother Eye, please.)"
"(I will do my best.)"
Meanwhile, down at the basements at the deepest part of the building, a figure ran, carrying a smaller figure in his arms.
"(Mom! Mom!)" the child screamed. "(Gramps, Mom!)"
"(come, andi. mom said we go down. we go down.)" the man explained patiently, still running as fast as he could. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, old instincts began to make themselves known. A man struggled to make himself heard in the fog that wrapped his brain. Somehow, he managed to guide the janitor, navigating the labyrinth in the lower levels of the S.T.A.R. Labs building.
Years before, a bunker had been built there, a place for high level politicians to seek refuge in case of a nuclear attack. Dr Myra Forest had obtained access to the place, and updated it to the latest standards. Not only canned food and water; but also recyclers, a complete hydroponic farm, many robots programmed to maintain the place in the best possible shape. Plus lots and lots of books, both in paper and in digital form. Even weapons and tools. But the most advanced piece of equipment in the bunker was a full set of stasis pods. Enough for a small army.
Everything had multiple redundancies.
They could live there for decades, learn and train; and be the foundation to a new start for civilization.
However, now that Third Impact was upon them and only Buddy Blank and Andy Forest, her son, would occupy the bunker. The building was empty.
And she was too far.
Buddy opened a pod, and put Andy inside.
"(Mommy!)" Scared, the boy screamed.
"(she will come later, andi.)"
Buddy closed the pod, and jumped into another. His old personality made itself felt more and more.
Dr. Myra Forest confronted a strange apparition, a blue-haired girl with a blue dress and white blouse. The ghostly girl extended a hand towards her. Somehow, she was replaced by somebody else. "(Andrew? Is that you?)"
She extended her own hand, touching the hand of her late husband.
Then, she was no more.
Down at the bunker, two similar girls appeared for a moment, just before the stasis pods activated, putting their occupants into a complete molecular immobility.
Their souls disappeared from the face of the Earth.
A moment later, so did the two blue-haired girls.
For the next centuries, the bunker would deteriorate gradually. The robots would begin to fail, one by one.
By the time the stasis pods opened again, the two occupants of the bunker would be very alone.
The last survivors.
Author Notes
1. Tekka is not exactly human. She is a DNAlien, using human DNA as a base. As one of the Hairies, she is a genius by default, her specialty seems to be mechanics. She debuted in Superboy issue 60 (Mar, 1999), as a young girl, and apprentice to Gadget Guru. Both Tekka and the Gadget Guru were unofficial advisors to the Cadmus Project. The Hairies themselves were also created by Jack Kirby, debuting in Jimmy Olsen, Superman's Pal, issue issue 134 (Dec, 1970).
2. Official version, anyway. The Hairies have a very loose approach to teaching. Tekka herself was apprenticed to the Gizmo Guru. They have no official records either. Any official documents were managed by the Cadmus Project administrative branch. In Tekka's case, they simply tested her against regular school tests and her own age.
3. Gurutech, of course, is simply the codename for Gadget Guru.
4. The Mountain of Judgement. The mobile base the Hairies use and live in. it's an enormous vehicle that travels along the Zoomway; a labyrinth created by the Hairies around the Cadmus Project area. There are rumours that the Zoomway extends all over the USA.
5. It bothers me that SEELE accepted Ikari's version, and yet, the next angel to appear is still number 12. If SEELE didn't believe him, as implied in the conference in chapter 14, then Leliel would have been the 11th Angel.
6. I don't know if Kamandi ever got to Japan. So I thought of a fitting enhanced animal for the country. Of course they would be the Racoons!
7. Captain Atom is a curious character in the DCU. It is one of the characters DC bought with the Charlton Comics properties, and who debuted around the time Crisis on Infinite Earths. Back to the point, he debuted in Space Adventures issue 33 (Mar, 1960), with a very 1960's origin. Basically, he was in a nuclear explosion, and got powers. Unlike the other Charlton characters, like Blue Beetle or the Question, Captain Atom's origin was considered incompatible with the post-Crisis universe, and got the most strange retcon I know of. All his adventures in Charton Comics were actually nothing but government propaganda! The real story was that Captain Nathaniel Adam was framed of a crime, and railroaded into volunteering for a weird experiment. So he was put inside an alien craft, and subject to a nuclear explosion. (Captain Atom issue 1, Mar 1987). He was seemingly vaporized, only to return 18 years later, covered with the alien alloy and with energy powers. Turns out he fused with the alloy, and the sudden influx of energy made him jump forwards in time. I won't get into much detail on his career, I just want to point out that the bomb on Tokyo (check chapter 24, Brothers in Lightning), sent him forward in time, to the XXVIth Century, into the Kamandi timeline.