EVANGELION - CAESIUM
Chapter 1
"How did it get so late so soon?" - Dr. Seuss
Ryoji Kaji parked his car between a rusty minivan and a blue sports car, expertly guiding it in a perfect parallel park. He turned his head to the back seat of the car, and looked at the manilla folder that lay there. He picked it up, softly, and let his finger glide along the edge. There was a white sticker on the tab of the folder, written on with a permanent marker. Smudged slightly, but still easy enough to read, the kanji spelled out "Instrumentality." Although he had heard the whispers about the project for months, he finally had the information in his hands, but he couldn't bear to read it. Not by himself, at least.
The door of the Elan swung swiftly on its hinges, and Ryoji stood up and closed the door behind him. He patted his pockets, making sure he had his wallet and his keys, then moved around his car on his way to the meeting point. He stopped right as he stepped onto the sidewalk, surveying the area. A playground was nearby, completely empty, the rusty swings creaking and swaying loudly, and the slides were rusted away. An unfortunate result of the 14th Angel's destruction, thought Ryoji to himself, saddened by the state of Tokyo-3.
He looked back into his car, and his eyes strayed to the passenger seat. His handgun sat there, laying unloaded in the holster. He hadn't planned on taking it. He knew what his fate was to be, yet a part of him yearned to deny it. Giving in, Kaji took the weapon from the holster and laid it to rest on the dash, then struggled to get the concealed holster on. He finally managed to slip the small leather holster on the inside of his belt, and opened the glovebox. He grabbed two of the slender metal magazines that laid inside, and placed one in his pocket. He fit the other one into the grip of the pistol, and gave it a slap. He pulled back the slide, checking inside to make sure it was loaded properly, then he flicked the release. The quiet snap of the slide locking into place echoed out into the abandoned street, magnified by the silent void he found himself standing in. He placed the American-made pistol in the holster, then began walking to his destination.
As he strode through the playground, Kaji couldn't help but look around at the sadness the war NERV fought against the Angels brought to the people who lived in Tokyo-3. A hedgehog's dilemma, he thought quietly to himself as he passed the outside edge of the playground and began climbing the short set of metal stairs to his destination. Just as NERV grows closer to saving them, there's less people to save.
As he reached the top of the staircase, he turned through the small outline of a door set into the metal wall, and found himself in a small hallway, with two large fans bringing the cold air from outside and blowing it into the power plant. Kaji walked cautiously, checking to see if he was the first one here. A quick glimpse through the small space showed him that he was, and so he walked over to one of the railings next to one of the fans, and let the cold air wash over him. The fans made almost no noise as they sliced through the air. He knew this plant helped supply this entire section of the city with power, and these fans were high-tech, even though they didn't look it. He looked off to his left, fondly wishing he could get back into his car and leave this place behind. But he couldn't. Not unless he wished to anger SEELE.
As he stared longingly at his bright red Elan sitting on the street, knowing it might never start again, he heard a door open quietly in front of him. Taking one last glance at the object he spent two whole years in college saving up for, Kaji turned to face the door in front of him. He saw two tall figures walking towards him, wearing military gear. One wore a gas mask and a heavy ballistic vest over a creased and wrinkled cargo shirt, while the second wore a simple white dress shirt, collar popped up, with a black tie pinned behind the lightweight vest he was wearing. The first was armed with a rifle, while the second was armed with only a pistol. They both walked until they were about three meters away from him, then the man wielding the rifle stopped, while the man in white took a few paces more. Ryoji didn't need to look at the purple badge on the man's shirt to know who sent him, but he glimpsed at it anyway. The seven eyes, overlaid on top of a triangle, seemed to look into his soul. He lifted his eyes, and looked at the man in front of him, who had now lifted his pistol so that it was pointed at Kaji's head. He met the man's gaze.
"Took you long enough." said Ryoji, deciding now was not the time to give into fear. He closed his eyes. A thundering crash echoed out from in front of him, and Kaji tensed. His breaths came in shallow gasps for a second, but no pain came. He opened his eyes, and saw a smoking barrel of a rifle. The man in white lay face down in a pool of blood, a gaping hole visible in the back of his head. He looked up at the soldier carrying the rifle, who moved his hands to remove his gas mask, revealing a shock of blonde hair Kaji had never thought he'd see again.
The man was young, with a handsome but narrow face. His bright green eyes shone out like beacons from his tanned face, and a smattering of freckles graced his lower face. A face altogether too familiar to Kaji.
"Ryoma?" he sputtered, in shock that he wasn't dead, but not out of it enough to not recognize his old friend.
"You very much owe me one, Ryoji." said Ryoma with a chuckle, as he slung the rifle over his back. "Put that on top of the dozen you owe me from college."
"How? I thought…didn't you… JSSDF?" stammered Ryoji, clearly speechless for the first time in ages.
"You know that SEELE controls most of Japan. Many of the JSSDF elites are in their pockets." said Ryoma, clearly not bothered by the dead body laying in between them, nor by the shocked nature of his old college friend. "You're just lucky I called in a favor when you arrived in Tokyo-3 months ago to have your name scrubbed out of my bio. I knew you would pull something, Ryoji-san."
"Well, thank you." said Kaji, glad that he had regained at least some of his composure, but not enough to be back to his old self. After all, an hour ago he had thought he was coming here to die. "How did you know that they were sending someone to kill me?"
"It was an accident, honestly." Ryoma said, incredulity creeping into his voice. "I walked in one of my captains complaining about having to escort an agent for the Japanese government. I asked him what for, and he said that apparently the agent had a meeting with a man named Kaji to 'iron him out.' I told him I would take his place, since I was free that day, and now here I am.
Kaji couldn't believe that he wasn't dead, but he felt no strong elation either. He knew SEELE would get to him eventually. They always saw to their enemies. He kneeled down, and patted down the dead agent until he located the man's wallet. He flipped it open, and pulled out a black ID card.
"What are you doing, Kaj?" Ryoma inquired, using the nickname he christened for Ryoji the first time they ever met.
"Finding our ticket" Kaji said, busily scribbling down the numbers on the ID.
"Our ticket to what?"
"Our lives." responded Kaji.
The red car rolled to a stop inside an open garage, as Kaji turned the key to shut down the engine. He got out cautiously, as did Ryoma. He had taken off his military gear in the passenger sheet while instructing Ryoji on where to go, and now simply wore a black t-shirt with cargo pants and combat books. His rifle and the rest of his gear sat in a duffle bag in the back of Ryoji's car. He still carried his pistol on his hip, and as the garage door quietly creaked shut, he drew it from the holster and moved towards the door out of the garage.
"I thought you said this place was safe, Ryoma-san." hissed Kaji, clearly confused as to why the blonde-haired soldier had drawn his weapon, as he reluctantly did the same.
"I'm sure it is," responded Ryoma, "but when playing games against Seele, one can never be too careful."
The door opened with a creak, and Ryoma went inside. They entered into a somewhat spacious living room, and although it was darkened by the closed curtains, it was still bright enough for Ryoji to see that it was well-furnished. He followed his college friend as the two of them cleared the attached kitchen and bathroom, then two bedrooms.
"Alright, I think we're safe." Ryoma whispered, and he placed his handgun back into his holster. Ryoji did the same, and the two of them returned to the living room, where he sat down in a leather chair. It stuck to him unpleasantly, but before he could move to a different seat, Ryoma sat down in the seat opposite him.
"Well, Ryoji, pat yourself on the back. You live to defy the Council another day." said Ryoma, a hint of humor in his voice.
"If I keep doing this, they might send a real soldier after me." retorted Kaji, and the tension dissolved as the two men laughed together at the mockery.
"Yeah, well make sure to thank any real soldiers you come across for putting a bullet in your head" chortled Ryoma, as he reached down into a nightstand and pulled out two glasses, and a bottle of wine with a purple label. Purple. The color of her hair…
Ryoji fought back tears, trying not to let an outpouring of grief be one of the first reactions to his life being extended once again. Ryoma offered him one of the glasses, and Kaji drank deeply. He could tell it was cheap, but he didn't care. He emptied the entire glass, and reached for the bottle. He filled his glass to the top again, but this time began to sip it.
"Don't go getting tipsy on me already." Ryoma chided. "We've still got to formulate a plan on what to do next."
"Wait a minute," Kaji retorted, "You shot a SEELE agent in the head and you have no idea what you're going to do next? Seems like poor planning."
"Planning was never really my strong point." responded Ryoma. "I made it to Major on the merits of having a loud voice and many years of good service."
"Can't argue with that. You always did fail your business homework." Kaji said, reminiscing about how easy it used to be back then, when they didn't have to worry about the fate of the world resting on the shoulders of a handful of scared children.
"You know as well as I do that Professor Kimura failed me on purpose. I was seeing his daughter at the time, and he wasn't a fan of my gentlemanly ways." Ryoma responded, and he took a deep swig of the cheap wine. "I might have failed business, but from the look on your face I think you know exactly what kind of business we need to get into.
Letting out a deep breath, Ryoji pulled the small notepad out of his pocket, the name and numbers of the SEELE agent's ID card written upon it. He set it on the table, then set his cell phone and handgun next to it.
"I may not have been SEELE's main enemy, but after they find out about this, I just might skyrocket up the list." Ryoji said, attempting to make a joke, but he instead sounded scathingly sarcastic. At least Gendo Ikari's existence prevents me from ever taking the top spot, thought Kaji, trying not to indulge in the intermittent loathing he had for the commander. "There's only one way we get out of this alive, and it's the longest shot I've ever heard of."
Ryoma scooted forward in his chair, and put a hand to his chin. "And that is?"
Kaji prepared himself for the ridiculousness of what he was about to say. "We take down SEELE. Or at very least, the Council."
Shockingly, Ryoma didn't laugh, but simply looked at Kaji for a moment, then replied. "Taking down SEELE is impossible." He paused for a moment, then added. "But that doesn't mean we can't try."
Confused by how accepting the man who Kaji once, hell even still, considered his best friend was of his hare-brained scheme, Ryoji took another sip of his wine. "You'd seriously put your life on the line for me? I know you saved me, but two of us against all of SEELE? Most would say even impossible doesn't sufficiently describe the idea."
"I've heard crazier things. Done crazier things too" Ryoma replied, as he stared into the depths of his glass. "I haven't seen you in a couple years, Kaji, but you're still the best friend I have. The only friend, I may add."
"You know how likely you are to die?" Kaji asked, although he already knew the answer Ryoma would likely give.
"I've made my choice, Ryoji. I was dead the moment I assigned myself to to escort that agent. It's just a matter of when."
Ryoji couldn't argue with that. He had an inkling of what to do next, but would need some time to figure it out.
"Do you have a laptop I could borrow, Ryoma?" Kaji asked, as he let his gaze fall on the notepad laying on the coffee table in front of him.
"Yeah, of course I do. What do you need it for?" Ryoma inquired, as he assessed the look of determination on Kaji's face.
"I know SEELE is hiding many things. But I've got a suspicion I need to confirm." Ryoji said, as he scribbled down a few more notes onto the pad. "If it turns out to be correct, we'll know what to do next."
"Then I'll grab my laptop, and get started on dinner." Ryoma replied. "It's going to be a long night."
It had only been a few hours since Ryoji Kaji almost lost his life, and already the memory of the incident had faded into the back of his mind. He was currently busy typing away on Ryoma's laptop, with a half-eaten slice of pizza and a bottle of cola on the nightstand next to him. He decided to drink pop instead of more wine since he needed to focus on his work, and to his surprise the soda was much better than the cheap wine he had been drinking earlier. Ryoma told him that he had the stuff imported from America, and that it was one of the few creature comforts he indulged in.
"The soda they have here in Japan just isn't quite the same." Ryoma had said with a laugh as he cracked open the lid of the blue soda bottle. Now, Ryoma was busy with something upstairs, though what was anyone's guess. Kaji turned his focus back to the computer. He had used the Agent's ID to access the NERV mainframe and from there was reverse hacking his way into the SEELE data system. It was slow going, as he was taking every precaution to not get caught, not to mention Ryoji had never been particularly speedy at this. Hyuga had shown him a few techniques and backdoors that had been useful on occasion, but SEELE's security was far too high for something like that to work. Unfortunately, Kaji was stuck reading through the lines of code one by one to try and patch together an access code, something that could take another few hours if they were lucky, and potentially a week if they weren't.
As he rubbed the tiredness from his eyes, Ryoji Kaji grabbed the bottle of cola and took a big swig, thankful for the coolness as it soothed his aching throat. He looked back down at the laptop, looking for anything that could possibly give him an idea on where or what he and Ryoma needed to do next. A password, an access code, anything. He just needed something. As he continued to absentmindedly scroll, he saw an entry that intrigued him.
Rk_ = deleted - 2015.x.x - AUTH Ikari G.
That's my bio, thought Kaji to himself, and Commander Ikari deleted it. It had scarcely been more than six or seven hours since the incident at the power plant, and Kaji knew there was almost no way the Commander could know about his passing. Sure, a Section 2 Agent could've tracked him, but the likelihood was ridiculous. He had been losing followers from NERV, SEELE, and the German government for years, and he had become an expert. No, this was something else. The Commander knew SEELE was going to have me killed. That had to have been the case.
As he pondered in thought for a second, he shook away his musings and looked down at the lines that followed. Most of them were meaningless drivel, strings of code generated by the MAJI confirming the deletion of the file, but at the end of the string he found what he was looking for.
Rk_ = deleted - 2015.x.x - AUTH Akagi R.
Access - confirmed - pass - confirmed - hashed - following
Kaji grinned; he may not be an expert hacker, but one thing he did know for sure was that NERV's security was top notch. They would never use anything less than the maximum possible encryption to protect their precious data, but Ryoji knew when he first arrived at Tokyo-3 he might need the keys. So he went to Ritsuko, and wrapped his arms around her in a sarcastic flirting manner. Of course, Misato had shown up and put a stop to his good fun, but he wasn't just there to frustrate her. He had glanced over Ritsuko's shoulder, at a sticky note attached to one of her monitors. In a swarm of yellow, a handful of them were orange, and it was on one of the orange sticky notes that a code was written hastily, with more writing below it. "Re-encrypt hash - use code 'emerald'" it said, and Kaji knew that he at least had something back then. He never knew it might help him today.
He took great care typing his inquiry into the command line; one misclick or slip-up, and Ritsuko would be rudely awoken by the fact that someone was trying to breach into the MAGI's data files from a small house on the edge of Tokyo-3, and then it would be over before they had a chance. Kaji typed the last handful of brackets, then took a deep breath. He pressed the enter key, and instead of flashing a bunch of codes and alerts, it simply returned with a single line of text.
hash key []
Nervous, but with no other options, Kaji painstakingly typed in the code, making sure to format it correctly. He checked it over twice, making sure that it was right. Mistakes couldn't be allowed, not now. Not now that they had decided to take on the Serpent itself. After spending a few minutes checking over the code to make sure it was absolutely perfect, Kaji pressed the enter button nervously, for the second time It worked, and the numbers and letters dissolved and reformatted until he was left with a password string he assumed belonged to either the Commander or Ritsuko. Breathing a sigh of relief, he set the laptop down while it decrypted the hash, and went upstairs to check up on Ryoma.
As he entered the upstairs living room, he stopped a few feet in, and cleared his throat. The room had a large leather couch and two smaller leather chairs, as well as a few beanbags. There was a large coffee table, and arranged across it was an impressive array of firearms, some that Ryoji had never even seen before. Ryoma was cleaning the barrel of a strange looking weapon, a black and tan rifle with a strange device on the muzzle and the magazine tilted off several degrees. After hearing Kaji, he set the strange rifle down, and set the cloth on top of it.
"Did you find something?" Ryoma asked, cleaning some of the dirt and grease from his hands with a napkin.
"I did, and I think it might just be big." Ryoji responded, then he chuckled. "However, you neglected to mention that you found a stash of weapons that would make NERV's security blush with envy, Ryoma-san."
Ryoma let out a small bark that sounded almost like a laugh, and he tossed the napkin onto the couch. "These are all Russian weapons. Not the kind the JSSDF usually uses, but as a Major I get my selections of weaponry for my unit, and these weapons are reliable as it gets."
Kaji gestured to the one he had been cleaning. "Apparently, the Russians are just as much in the habit of making abominations as Gendo Ikari."
"Don't say it too loud, poor Nikonov might just roll over in his grave." said Ryoma, though who this Nikonov person may have been was lost on Kaji. "Besides, it isn't even the most impressive weapon I own."
"I'd expect no less from you, Ryo." said Kaji with a chuckle, and he gestured to Ryoma to stand up and follow him. As they came down the stairs, Ryoma strayed into the kitchen to grab a slice of pizza, and quickly returned to stand over Kaji's shoulder. The string had decrypted itself now, and a passcode was left blinking on the screen.
Hash decrypted - [PANDORA]
Kaji's brow furrowed. He knew almost every one of the higher ups at nerve, and the name Pandora wasn't involved with any of them. It was none of their code names or usernames, and he couldn't think of anyone that the name was tied to. He jabbed away at the keyboard for a few seconds, then did a search function to find the login location. He entered the code, and the laptop changed to show a massive digital archive, with a name beeping at the top.
Welcome, Y. Ikari
"Yui Ikari… is she of some relation to the Commander?" Ryoma asked, as he moved from standing over Ryoji's shoulder and instead sat down on the couch next to him.
"Yes. It's his wife."
"Won't she be outraged if she finds someone hacked into her account?"
Ryoji let out a deep sigh.
"I don't think that'll be a problem." he said, and he saw recognition bloom on Ryoma's face as he realized what he meant. The blonde soldier returned to nursing his bottle of soda, and Ryoji started browsing the archive.
"What exactly are you looking for?" Ryoma inquired, as he took the last swig of his bottle, then tossed it in a waste receptacle.
"I know someone in the depths of SEELE. Someone that might be convinced to turn, but I have no way of getting into contact with him without access to these databanks." Kaji said, not looking up from his computer.
"You really think you could get someone inside SEELE to turn traitor? They're the most powerful organization on this planet, with the possible exception of NERV." Ryoma commented, and although he seemed almost inquisitive, Kaji could hear that his friend was having trouble believing him.
"I don't just think so." said Ryoji, as he picked up his cell phone and began dialing a number.
"I know so."
Whew! We're through the first chapter! It's not terribly long compared to some other fanfiction stories, especially in the NGE community. Ryoma is an interesting character to write, as in some respects he's exactly like Kaji, yet there are many subtle differences. I chose to use a new character, instead of finding someone from the anime, as I wasn't sure if I could find someone that fit the bill properly to be Kaji's best friend, since other than Ritsuko and Misato, he was never described as having any friends in college. Regardless, the next chapter will begin with us in the United States, though not from Ryoji's point of view. I'm drawing a bit from Fanon, as the "Seele Dudes" don't have real names, but the fans were kind enough to come up with some. Enjoy! :)