Chapter 28 - The Golden Doom, Part 1 of 2
In a secret area of cyberspace accessible only to a certain group of people, the 12 holographic monoliths were present as those behind them-the 12-member SEELE council-had been in conference over two things: the progress on their ominous Human Instrumentality Project, and now how to deal with an unforeseen element threatening their ambitions-the Shadow. They were, in fact, wrapping up their next steps in regards to the latter.
"It is agreed then," SEELE-01, Lorenz Kihl, stated. "We shall deploy our special wet works operatives to Tokyo-3 to hopefully snuff the Shadow out before they have the opportunity to uncover our plans for the Project." Kihl directed his words specifically towards SEELE-03. "You shall deliver them our orders the moment our meeting adjourns."
"Understood," SEELE-03 replied. With that, the holograms blinked out, one-by-one, as the meeting came to a close. It was then that SEELE-03-real name Nigel Gannaford-went to his phone and called up one of his assistants. Gannaford was looking forward to this, considering the long-awaited chance to avenge his late cousin Basil, a criminal mastermind known as the Wasp who frequently faced off with the Shadow on multiple occasions. "Get me our head of covert operations," he commanded his assistant in a voice with a slight buzz to it. "Let them know operatives Golden Vulture, Red Blot, Silver Skull, and Green Terror are to be sent to Tokyo-3. I have a special assignment for all of them..."
Tokyo-3 Municipal Middle School, lunchtime...
"A cosplay party?"
That particular question is what left the mouth of one Hikari Horaki, upon hearing the idea Kensuke had just presented.
"Yep!" the otaku replied. "I was going over some amateur footage on the web of that new hero, the Rocketeer, and it hit me, why not? There's been a resurgence in popularity for superheroes and 'mystery men', so why not join in on the hype? I've gotten to work on most of the details, but I've already got a theme in mind."
"Which is...?" Shinji asked.
Kensuke grinned before he answered. "It's right there in what I said earlier-'mystery' men, and women! Everyone dresses up like a detective character or whatever's close to one, and the best part is the main event: a 'murder mystery' for the guests to try and crack! It'll be like a real-life game of Clue!"
"Clue, huh?" Asuka chimed in. "Haven't played that since Misato was looking after me at the Third Branch."
"Uh..." Toji started to say. "Fill a guy in?"
Rei volunteered an explanation. "A murder mystery game involves one party guest secretly playing the part of a killer, while the other guests must figure out who among them is the criminal. The style of the game varies-the player portraying the killer may already be aware of their role or they may discover it alongside the other guests. Traditionally, the game opens with a 'death' having already occurred while the rest of the time spent is based around investigating."
"Really?" Hikari asked, a small but eager smile beginning to appear on her face. "That sounds pretty exciting!"
Toji, a bit skeptical at first, reconsidered when he saw Hikari showing interest. "All right, I'll bite," he said. "When's it gonna be?"
"Two weeks' time," Kensuke answered. "That way, it'd give everyone invited enough time to come up with who they'd go as and get their costumes ready. Seems simple enough, right?"
"For once, Geek-stooge, you're making sense," Asuka stated. "So where are you planning on having this? From what Shinji's told me, I doubt your place could hold the amount of people you're thinking of inviting, us included."
Kensuke blanked before he could come up with a proper retort, realizing, reluctantly, that the redhead was right. "Uh, yeah...didn't think that far ahead."
"Tell you what," Asuka started to offer, a sly grin emerging on her face. "Me and Wundergirl's place should be big enough for everyone, and I'll see if Maria and Mari can use theirs for any overflow."
Rei nodded in agreement. "Additionally, the presence of Section-2 would provide adequate adult supervision."
Kensuke had to admit, it actually was ideal. Yet still..."Let me guess-there's a catch."
Asuka's grin grew even wider before she answered him. "Let me just preface this by saying that for a self-professed military geek, you suck at being covert, so I know all about your little 'side business', and how me, Maria, and Mari have all wound up captured in your camera lens. (Though why you opted for more tasteful shots, I have no clue.) SO, in return for 'renting out' the party venue out to you...you shutter your little shutterbug operation and fork over 50% of your remaining profits to me and the other two. THEN, at Hikari's suggestion, you donate half your cut to a worthwhile cause. Be grateful she didn't come up with an even harsher punishment." She shot Rei a quick glance. "Sound fair, Wundergirl?"
"I believe that would be acceptable," Rei replied as she took a sip of her tea.
Kensuke gaped at the two girls, utterly speechless. The shock on his face grew more pronounced once Rei vocally did a quick calculation of just what the amounts for each cut would round out to; if Toji, just as dumbstruck, didn't know any better, he could swear Kensuke would faint right then and there. The otaku in question, instead, hung his head low, let out quite a groan, and reluctantly shook Asuka's hand, agreeing to the deal.
NERV HQ, main computer lab...
Ritsuko was supervising the annual 'checkup' of the MAGI, and Maya was among the techs working on the efforts. She had just finished some swift coding maintenance, something that Ritsuko did not fail to notice. "Way to go, Maya-that was fast."
Maya, lost in the moment, reacted with a slight start at her sempai's praise. "Oh! O-of course, you did train me for this." Maya was still a bit uneasy around her mentor, since part of her was still pondering what else she could be up to her neck in-if not just the sabotage of Jet Alone, what other dirty jobs could she be doing at the behest of NERV's higher-ups?
Speaking of her mentor, Ritsuko noticed a particular detail on Maya's screen. "Wait a second-A-8 would be faster there. Let me see that." Ritsuko's right hand was immediately doing its work all over Maya's keyboard as she quickly readjusted the sequencing.
Maya's unease was temporarily replaced by the admiration for her mentor she was usually known for. "Impressive as ever, sempai!"
Just as Ritsuko resumed taking down data in her notebook, Misato walked up from the lower level. "How's the patient today, Doctor? Will they ever play piano again?"
Ritsuko slightly rolled her eyes. "They pretty much will be able to play a full concerto, thankfully. And we managed to finish in time for today's round of tests."
"Well, that's why you're the big brain of this whole outfit," Misato remarked as she reached for a cup of coffee sitting on Ritsuko's desk. "Especially considering it's a tall order with the three components."
"Might want to get a fresh cup," Ritsuko warned before Misato brought the rim of the mug to her lips. "That one's cold." Misato, upon hearing this, slowly held the cup away from her face and set it carefully back down. Just as she did, the screen labeled 'Balthasar-2' had two remaining black spaces filled in, causing the screen to change from blue to green, in line with Melchior-1 and Caspar-3.
"127th routine maintenance, all normal," Maya reported.
"Right then-good work, everyone," Ritsuko said as she addressed the techs. "All of you, take a break until the tests begin."
Moments later, both Ritsuko and Misato were freshening up in the ladies' room, chatting idly.
"How are things on the home front?" the bottle blonde asked.
"Well, it seems I'll be chaperoning a costume party in a couple of weeks," Misato answered.
"The kids' idea, I take it?" Ritsuko followed up with a slight wry grin.
Misato nodded. "One of their friends' ideas. Apparently he was inspired by seeing the Rocketeer flying around. And it's not going to be just a costume party, but a murder mystery one."
"Sounds like fun," Ritsuko said. "Will you be dressed for the occasion?"
"Undecided," Misato replied. "Speaking of states of dress or undress...*Sigh* I'm dreading how the kids are going to react to what this test has in store for them."
"You and me both, Katsuragi," Ritsuko concurred with a slight shudder. "You and me both..."
NERV HQ testing lab, minutes later...
"Tell me if I heard this right," Asuka said, the level of irritation in her voice rising with each sentence. "You want us, all of us, to take off our clothes again?"
Ritsuko maintained a nonplussed demeanor as she responded to Asuka's appalled reaction to the test's parameters. "Yes. The next chamber you'll be entering is an ultra-clean environment that we've taken painstaking measures to sterilize and ready for you. Simply taking a shower and changing underwear won't be sufficient enough."
Maria echoed Asuka's sentiments, if the furrowed brows of her annoyed expression were any indicator. "And we have to go through all that, for a simple autopilot test?"
"Correct," Ritsuko affirmed.
"Time isn't just passing us by here," Hitomi explained as she backed her colleague up. "EVA technology is continually progressing, which means we need new data constantly."
With mainly just Asuka and Maria grumbling, the five pilots entered their designated walkways that led to the test plugs, with tinted panes of glass hiding their bare selves. Thankfully, the other sides of their entryways were opaque and gave them some measure of privacy from one another.
"All right, here we are, just as you asked, having been run through the wash cycle seventeen times," Asuka barked out with a hint of a groan. Maria, arms folded, tapped her foot, looking a bit impatient. Rei seemed to be nonplussed by her state of nudity, Shinji appeared to be a bit apprehensive, and Mari had a slight grin on her face.
"And I thought my plugsuit fitting was unflattering..." Shinji quietly mused.
Ritsuko soon spoke over the PA system. "Now then, all five of you are to stay that way and head across the walkways to board your respective test plugs."
Hearing this made Shinji, Asuka, and Maria slightly blush with surprise.
"Wait, WHAT?!" Asuka voiced, aghast at what they'd been ordered to do.
"You can relax," Ritsuko said reassuringly. "All the video monitors have been shut off, we do respect your privacy."
"But that's not the point!" Maria pouted. "This is a matter of emotional dignity, can't you see that?!"
"Geez, don't be such a prude," Mari coyly chimed in. "If you got it, flaunt it, right?"
"What would be the purpose?" Rei asked. "As Dr. Akagi mentioned, the monitors are off."
"*Sigh* Look, it's very simple," Hitomi said in an attempt to placate the pilots. "The purpose of the test is to take harmonics readings from your bodies without the interference and support of your plugsuits."
Misato chose that moment to utilize her authority. "Asuka, Maria-san, we've given you all our assurances that your privacy remains safe. What we're asking you to do isn't a request, it's an order. Now please, head to the test plugs."
Both Maria and Asuka huffed a bit, before releasing sighs of defeat simultaneously.
"All right, FINE," Asuka said before facing the wall shared with Shinji's entryway. "Shinji, you go first. And don't think about looking back towards us!"
"All right," Shinji said, a small grin starting to appear on his face. "But only if you ladies promise not to stare at my keister."
Asuka's eyes went wide and her face turned bright red after he said that, before she responded with a series of sputtering gibberish.
Reminds me of a certain couple of people, Ritsuko bemusedly thought to herself as she briefly looked towards Misato, thinking of hers and Kaji's usual dynamic.
"Oof," Mari said with a slight shake of her head. "Looks like you broke her."
"Not like I meant to," Shinji nonchalantly said as he began walking towards his test plug. Rei politely looked upward, as did Maria and Asuka. Mari, while appearing to do so, stole a few peeks at Shinji. A Cheshire Cat-like grin on her face still, Mari began softly singing a certain tune:
"I'm, too sexy for my shirt,
too sexy for my shirt,
so sexy it hurts..."
Again Asuka became a slight sputtering mess, though she tried to hold it back. Not all of her willpower prevented her from stealing a few peeks at Shinji. She had to admit, the boy was built a bit nicely, with his rear looking quite-
Asuka quickly gave herself a slap upside the head. *Grrr* Why did Mari have to show me that verdammt Nightwing tumblr feed...
Shinji made it to his plug and entered, and with that, the girls followed, eventually reaching and entering their own plugs. Once all five were seated and ready, Ritsuko gave the order to start the test, and soon it was under way as the test plugs were inserted into the simulation EVA bodies.
"Test plugs inserted, and are now under MAGI control," Maya reported.
"Huh, that was fast," Misato noted. "Thank god for the MAGI. (No pun intended.) Hard to believe the first experiment took a whole week."
Off to the side, a male tech announced the test was set to conclude in about three hours.
"How does it feel in there?" Ritsuko asked the pilots over the comms.
"It is a little different," Rei answered first.
"Same here," Shinji followed. "Can't quite put my finger on it, but there's a slight difference."
"Sensations are kind of weird," Asuka chimed in.
"Ditto on that," Maria added. "My right arm's all I can clearly feel-the rest is a bit fuzzy."
"Same goes for me," Mari stated. "Only it's my left foot."
Ritsuko pondered their reactions for a moment. "Rei, imagine moving your right hand."
"Yes, Ma'am," Rei responded as she took hold of her right control stick and flexed the simulation EVA's fingers.
"Hmm," Ritsuko sounded to herself at first. "Doesn't seem to be any problems so far." She then faced the other techs. "Return the MAGI to their normal state."
Misato, looking at a screen to the side, saw that the squares marked Balthasar-2 and Caspar-3 flashed briefly, only to blink out while Melchior-1 flashed on.
"Looks like there's a dilemma brewing," she noted.
Ritsuko nodded. "Definitely shows the creator's personality, doesn't it?"
Misato seemed confused by her friend's words. "What're you talking about? Aren't you the one who created them?"
"That's actually not the case," Hitomi said, before regarding Misato curiously. "You really don't know?"
"It's because unlike me, Ritsuko doesn't babble to herself," Misato pointed out.
"True," Ritsuko said in turn. "The fact is, I merely brought the system up-the one who developed the fundamental theory and the mainframe for the MAGI was my mother."
Meanwhile, up on the bridge, Shigeru, Makoto, and Aoi had brought something peculiar to Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki's attention.
"You've been double-checking this?" the former professor asked.
"Definitely, just in case," Shigeru affirmed as he pointed to certain areas on-screen. "These are how the parts looked when they were brought in three days ago, and this is how the area looks right now, currently deteriorating."
"The 87th protein wall..." Fuyutsuki noted.
"Magnified, what we've got here looks like weird stains," Shigeru elaborated. "So far, no idea what they could be."
"Maybe it's corrosion," Makoto theorized. "There's slight variations in the temperature and conduction rates, and deterioration of sterilized rooms has been going on a lot, as of late."
"Not to mention the construction schedule was cut by about sixty days," Aoi pointed out, "which would have facilitated the conditions for air bubbles to be mixed in again. B Wing's construction alone is pretty shoddy. Then again, it was built just after the Angels began appearing."
"Indeed," Fuyutsuki agreed.
"Also not surprising," Makoto said, "considering how exhausted everyone is."
"Sympathetic as I am to the situation," Fuyutsuki began, "I want this problem taken care of by tomorrow, otherwise Ikari will never let us live it down."
"Roger," all three techs replied.
Back in the testing lab, unnoticed by everyone else, those same strange 'stains' began to cover more of the wall in the tank.
[Suggested music: "The Jumper", Jerry Goldsmith, The Shadow OST.]
Eventually, it spurred a notification that appeared on Ritsuko's screen. "Another water leak?"
"No, it's apparently some kind of corrosion in the protein wall above us," Kaede replied from her station next to Maya's.
"Wonderful," Ritsuko said ruefully as she shook her head.
"Any effect on this test?" Hitomi asked.
"Not at the moment," Maya replied.
"We'll continue on, then," Ritsuko stated.
"You sure about this?" Hitomi asked.
"We can't abort this test over minor technical issues," Ritsuko insisted. "Otherwise, we'd never hear the end of it from Commander Ikari."
"Right," Hitomi replied, as did Maya and Kaede.
"Synchronization value's normal," Kaede reported.
While they talked, the stains, at one point, glimmered. A nanosecond later, the alarms began blaring.
"What's happening?!" Ritsuko asked concernedly.
"According to our readings, we've got a contamination alert on Floor A in the Sigma unit," Hitomi replied as she looked over her tablet.
"Corrosion area of the protein wall increasing at an explosive rate!" Maya reported.
Seeing the spread in real-time on the main monitor proved to be enough for Ritsuko. "Abort the experiment and initiate emergency shutoff of the sixth pipe."
"Yes, Ma'am!" Kaede responded as she hit the emergency shutoff switch. Unfortunately, even with the closures, the 'corrosion' continued its spread.
"No effect!" Maya confirmed. "Corrosion's spreading along the walls still!"
"Prepare the polysomes," Hitomi ordered. Soon, a hatch in the tank opened, and a group of robots resembling miniature versions of NERV's VTOL crafts emerged, headed towards the site of the corrosion. "Set laser power at maximum."
"Fire upon contact," Ritsuko added.
As Maya continued monitoring the corrosion's progress, it became readily apparent where it was headed. "Corrosion's reached 6-58-it's coming here!"
Out of the corner of their eyes, Ritsuko and Misato noticed some abrupt movement coming from one of the simulation EVA bodies.
"Rei!" she noted with slight alarm. Sure enough, the arm on Rei's sim-EVA was moving on its own. "Impossible!" She quickly rushed over to Maya's station and observed the progress of the contamination.
"Not good," Maya noted. "The corrosion's spread further-it's invading the suspension system of the sim-bodies!"
Misato, awestruck, warily watched as more emergency notices flashed on the screens that doubled as the observation windows for the pribnow box of the testing lab. With great surprise, she watched as the hand of the sim-EVA suddenly reached out towards her. It would fail in its goal as Ritsuko quickly used the emergency blast bolt to sever the arm, causing it to break off and sink to the bottom of the tank. It was enough to get Misato to join up with the others on the upper level. "How's Rei?" she asked.
"She's all right," Kaede noted.
"Activate all emergency eject mechanisms for the plugs!" Hitomi ordered alarmingly.
"Hurry up with the lasers!" Ritsuko commanded.
Soon, simultaneously, all five test plugs were ejected and rocketed out of the tank, while the polysomes fired their lasers full-blast at the corrosion on the wall...only for the lasers to be deflected by a familiar, hexagonal-pattered barrier, one that bore a slight golden glow. The sight of this wasn't lost on those watching in the pribnow box.
"An AT-Field?!" Misato posed with great surprise.
Ritsuko was even more shocked. "It can't be!"
Yet it was-this was no mere corrosion NERV was dealing with: an Angel was within its walls.
End Chapter 28.
**Author's Note(s)**
The chapter's title (and that of its second part) comes from July 1943's Shadow Magazine #269.
SEELE-03's late cousin, the Wasp, was one of the Shadow's more semi-recurring foes, who first debuted in October 1940's Shadow Magazine #207. He is described as having a bulbous head on a tall frail body whose grasp contained an electric sting and spoke in a buzzing voice. The operatives SEELE-03 mentions are all based on one-shot villains of the Shadow appearing in self-titled stories: the Golden Vulture (July 1938's Shadow Magazine #154), the Red Blot (June 1933's #31), the Silver Skull (January 1939's #165), and the Green Terror (January 1941's #214).
Murder mystery are actually played in real-life at parties, and is a type of game whose origins date back to at least the early 20th century with 'wink murder' party games.
Mari sings the opening lyrics of the 1991 one-hit wonder "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred.
Asuka refers to how, for some reason or another, DC's Nightwing (aka Dick Grayson, formerly Robin #1 to Batman) is extremely popular on tumblr, especially when it comes to a certain asset of the character's.