1 Angel - II

"I wonder what they're talking about," said Makoto.

Shigeru looked up from his air-guitar, and followed Makoto's furtive glance to where Commander Ikari and Vice-Commander Fuyutski stood, talking quietly. He snorted.

"Who cares? They'll tell us, if we needa know. S'not like we're bein' paid ta ask questions." Shigeru returned to his chords. Makoto glanced irritatedly at him, then shrugged and turned back to his console. Shigeru followed suit, after a moment. The two men worked on in silence, attending to the ever-present problems of Nerv HQ. Occasionally, one would curse or mutter to himself.

Time passed. Makoto looked up as Ibuki walked into Central Dogma, holding a cup of coffee. She looked upset. She returned to her station, shakily setting the cup down on the edge of her console. Ibuki nodded at him, and he said, "You were gone a while."

She nodded again. "The check took longer than expected. I think Commander Ikari asked Akagi-Sempai to be even more thorough than usual, this time."

It was Shigeru who responded, "I woulda." He was silent a moment, then said, "Can't be too careful, right? Not with the Test Type." He shook his head. "I thought it looked bad after that Zakeeyel Angel, but last week..." He stopped.

There was an uncomfortable silence. This was the first time anybody had had the courage to bring up the events of the past week. The same image was seared into their minds: Evangelion Unit 01, bloodily tearing its way out of the Angel Leliel's breast, covered in gore, as an entire city watched in shock. Leliel's writhing as it was torn apart from within had caused more than one person in Central Dogma to become violently sick. Even now, a week after the operation, there were some streets in Tokyo-3 where the stink of alien blood lingered.

Ibuki was the first to speak. Her voice trembled as she said, "It...it looked like a monster. A demon! I thought it would go berserk and kill everyone."

Makoto nodded. "The Angels frighten me, but Eva-01 terrified me, then. If it went berserk during training..."

The rumors had made the rounds in Nerv, leaving disquiet in their wake. The Prototype Unit had gone insane during a routine test, severely injuring its pilot and damaging its hibernation chamber. Only its limited power supply had stopped it from further destruction.

The Test Type's battle with the Angel Zachiel had proved that Evangelion Units could function without power. Nobody admitted it, but the spectre of a berserk Evangelion loose in Nerv haunted the thoughts of everyone in it.

Ibuki said, "I once overheard Akagi-Sempai talking to Commander Ikari. I heard her say that 'the Evangelions might hate us.'"

Shigeru blinked. "What? Nah. No way. They're robots. They don't feel anything. How can they?"

Ibuki shook her head. "I don't know. All I know is that even being near them scares me."

Makoto was silent for a moment, then he said, "There's talk that the Evangelions might not be entirely robotic."

Ibuki nodded, while Shigeru smiled. "Ha! Good one. What are they, then?" he said.

Makoto looked around before replying. When he did, it was with a lowerd voice. "It's not common knowledge, but I've heard that there's a graveyard of experimental Evangelions somewhere in Nerv. I haven't seen it myself, but I know someone who did."

Ibuki said, "I can believe that. The HQ is enormous, and there's a lot of of places here none of us here have clearance to enter. And we've got level A3 passes."

Shigeru was chuckling at them. "Better and better! What else?"

They ignored him. Makoto said, "The man I knew was shaking when he told me about it. He said that the Evangelions..." He faltered. "What was left of them..."

Ibuki's eyes widened, and even Shigeru looked interested. Though the technicians worked with the giant robots every day, they knew very little about them. Shigeru said, "What?"

Makoto lowered his eyes and tapped at his console distractedly. When he spoke, it was in a whisper.

"There was nothing left but bones, he said. Gigantic bones, bigger than anything the National Natural History Museum has. It was dark, and he only saw a glimpse - he wasn't even supposed to be there - but he said they looked...they looked like human bones."