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" " : Indicates spoken words.
italics : Indicate thoughts.
] [ : Indicates radio transmissions.
Aberrant Impact
Chapter 8
Munich, German Republic, 2015; 1:43 A.M. (10:43 A.M. Tokyo-3 time) Selee World Headquarters, Subterrenean Level 5, Thaumaturgy Room 4
Within the lower levels of Selee World Headquarters were rooms that almost no one, even those within the corporation known as Sellee, knew about. They were a total of sixty four rooms, four rooms for each of the members of the twelve members of the Selee Council. The rooms were special rooms, very special indeed. For within these rooms were practiced arts that many considered to be quite forbidden. The arts of thaumaturgy, and of hermetic and religious prediction were practiced, all in the name of bringing fruition to Selee's grand design for the world. All to confirm that the scenario that had been hundreds of years in planning would come to pass, and that any aberrations would be reported and dealt with accordingly. Among these rooms stood one of no real, discernable difference from the others. And truth be told, there was no real difference, at least on the outside. It was the person who used the room that made the difference. The room was denoted with the identification of being the "First Room of Predictions". It was so named because its regular occupant was able to most accurately, and reliable see possible problems within the plan. The room she was in was exactly five meters across all three directions of axis, with the entrance door at the bottom center of one wall. It was a well lit room, considering the light source. It was lit by candles, the total number being forty seven. There were ten candles each of red, blue, orange, and green, one color set up at the four lowest corners of the room. Within the room was a circle, perfectly round and carved into the floor. Within the circle was inscribed a hexagram, a pointed star within a hexagon. At the point that the star met the hexagon were circles. At each of these points was a candle, with one color representing each of the three primary colors of the color spectrum, one each of the secondary colors of the spectrum. In the exact center of the room was placed a candle that was a spiral of white, gray, and black. All had been lit by the subordinates of the lone occupant of the room at very specific intervals designed by the young woman standing just inside the outer edge of the circle. Just a meter in front of her was another circle, with arcane symbols of power and protection surrounding it, as well as a small writing desk with a laptop and a few bits of esoteric components for various rituals that could be performed in this place.
To anyone looking in upon the single inhabitant of the room, they would have presumed that the person was in some kind of odd religious ritual, or offering some kind of penance. The room's occupant, Helen Lorentz, smiled at this thought, standing with her arms akimbo, in preparation for the trances that allowed her to perform as she did. Her moderately wide, naturally ruby red lips parting slightly in a rare, self indulgent smile, revealing naturally perfect white teeth. So many people would think me some kind of magician or wizard for my abilities, or that perhaps that my father and his name allowed me to attain my position here… But he wouldn't allow that, not at the risk of everything he has worked so hard to accomplish. She didn't love her father, but she did respect him. She had loved her mother, but her mother had died in Paris during Second Impact. That was the way of life, and she had long ago accepted the loss of her mother. It's so hard for others to do this, because they don't understand that it's just a simple matter of focus… Focus and logic, and a good degree of mathematical knowledge as well, but that can be compensated for…. So simple, but I'm one of the very few that can do it… She forced her thoughts to calm as she laughed lightly.
Helen moved her hands from their resting place on her shapely, slightly narrow hips to her knees as she slowly knelt, then sat on smooth marble of the floor. She folded her long, athletic legs in front of her, sitting cross legged. She then moved her hands from her knees to smooth her simple robes to her body before replacing them on her knees. If not for the fact that these damn robs are actually comfortable for sitting here, I'd probably wear spandex. She almost laughed aloud at her comment, but kept her face schooled into a neutrally pleased expression. Wouldn't that make some of the old men have a conniption… Her torso was athletically thin, and she had somewhat wide, smoothly muscled shoulders. Her breasts, while not particularly large, were esthetically perfect in shape and she had never heard complaints from the men she had known about their size. Her face was one of classic European beauty, with a narrow, thin nose, wide, high cheeks, a narrow chin and gracefully angular jaw line. Here eyes were attractively wide set, and were a piercing light blue, the kind that seemed to look into ones soul, and what she considered to be her most attractive feature. The time is almost perfect. she thought. To clear her mind, she started to hum randomly until a tune settled into her head. When the woman realized what song she had started to hum, she changed to singing the song softly in her native German language. The words of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" filled the room, the song flowing perfectly, and without any misstep, as well they should from a twenty nine year old woman who had known the song since she was four years old.
As Helen found the center of her self and her mind cleared, she remembered the last time she had heard the song hummed. It had been done by a young man whom her father had been speaking to. He had been quite handsome for his young age. He held his lithe, attractive body, a body that had just started to grow into its maturity, with a grace and bearing that was very regal, something unusual for one of his age. His face had been quite pleasant, with softly angular lines framed by his tousled gray hair, and soft, alluring pink eyes. After she had given her father her report, the young man had asked to speak to her. He had introduced himself as Kawaru Nagisa. They had shared several long, interesting conversations after that, and she had considered him a friend. He had even told her who he truly was, that he was Tabris, the Angel of Free Will. She had been shocked, to say the least, but she had accepted it with his explanation that he was of no harm to her or those she cared for. That had been a great relief to her, for the only person she truly loved was her eight year old daughter, Estelle. It was a pity that you had to leave here, you're presence was quite soothing, and I enjoyed the conversations we shared together. Had you been older, perhaps there would have been more between us than friendship. I wonder what you're doing now, Kawaru, are you comfortable? Are you even alive?
Although it would seem strange to anyone unfamiliar with the techniques she used to think of an attractive young man at such a time, Helen knew to follow her instincts after clearing her mind and finding her center of self. The fact that she had thought of the boy led her to believe that she may be receiving a revelation somehow be related to him. She sighed softly as she opened her eyes, her focus both external and internal now. She saw a very slight variation in the form of refraction of light around her and she knew that she was in a revelation was forthcoming. My soul's barrier is now projecting externally. she thought, her smile widening slightly. Soon a little bit of destiny will be revealed to me, a small piece of the future… Her techniques would have boggled the more traditionalist members of the elite group of Selee personnel. She was part of a small, very adept group of individuals, capable of seeing the path of destiny and the near future. And she was the best. Not because she had studied as long the thaumaturgic ways, or that she knew inherently what was going to happen next, but because she used what she had found to work. A little bit of kabbalistic ritualism, a bit of hermetic symbology, mathematics and applied numerology, and even something as seemingly unrelated as staring into a candle lit room. I shouldn't be so damn melodramatic though... She sighed a soft laugh, and focused upon the distortions of the room. Her ability to externally focus her AT field was her most prized ability, the only thing that made her predictions as accurate as they were. For some reason, within the structure of this room, and with proper candle placement, she was able to see images through her AT field of events happening and those about to happen. It was how Selee had been able to seemingly keep one step ahead of those that would stop the will of Selee. The only ones who had been able to stay ahead of them had been NERV and their very subtle machinations against Selee. Why are they so against us? We're not trying to destroy the world… We're trying to help Humanity…
As Helen stared into the hazy, indistinct pattern provided by the faintly glowing outline of her AT field, she began to see an image form. Ah, here we are… She smiled lightly as she saw Kawaru and another young boy, whom she knew to be Shinji Ikari, the Third Child. They were talking amiably about Shinji's friends, though Shinji seemed to be a bit depressed, yet they seemed so comfortable together. She realized that she was seeing the past, within the past two months. She saw a few more scenes of Kawaru's interaction with Shinji, on up until the last one. She watched in horror as the battle between Unit-01 and Tabris unfolded before her very eyes. She saw the final, fateful moment of Tabris' life in clear detail. His statement that Selee's plans were clever, but he would not destroy the world for them. She saw Shini enclosing Unit-01's hand around Tabris, begging for a different way, and Tabris saying that the only way was by his death. Then his soft, forgiving smile as Shinji ended his life. She also saw a vision of her father, smiling in relief as he received the news of the death of the seventeenth angel. I do not understand this! What did he mean destroy the world? We're trying to save the world, aren't we? She could not ask any more questions, because she was seeing another scene, which was the present, or very close to it. She saw Shinji walking towards a young woman Helen recognized immediately. Shinji was moving very slowly, as if terrified of something. The she saw a small bit of movement, near the head of Asuka's bed, a woman wearing what appeared to be a cloak. Just as she was about to speak, the vision faded. And as the vision faded, Helen's AT field crashed back into her, as if forced back to where it's supposed to be. For an instant, she thought she had heard a voice, telling her something, but with the exhaustion of having projected her AT field externally she could not be sure.
When her AT field had been forced back into her, Helen had fallen onto her back. She lay there for several minutes, her body barely within the confines of the circle she had been sitting in. With a pained, tired breath, she levered herself up, breathing slowly and concentrating upon her own form, making sure her AT field was fully surrounding her soul. Satisfied that it was, she moved towards her door, her stride purposeful. She opened the door carefully, so as not to disturb the candles that were already lit. When she closed the door, she almost ran down the hall, towards her study chamber. After a left turn at the end of the hall and a several dozen meter walk, she was at her destination. She opened the door and entered, the door almost slamming behind her. Upon seeing Helen enter in this manner, her head assistant, who had been watching a world news channel, jumped to his feet, his handsome Japanese features clouded in concern. "Miss Lor-…" he began, only to be cut off by an annoyed slash of Helen's arm.
"No time… I need you to prepare a few things for me." Her voice was not harsh, but instead fairly distant, lost in thought. Her assistant took out a data pad, preparing to jot down notes of what she would need. "First, have my daughter brought to my private chambers here, I wish to speak to her before attempting to scry again…"
"Um, yes ma'am, but… Why do you need to see your daughter, Miss Lorentz?" he said with impeccable politeness.
Helen smiled at his tone and looked intently at him, her eyes warm. "Because something interfered with the scrying… And if that happens again it could kill me and there's a few things I want to tell my daughter before I try it again…" She saw the look in his eyes as he heard her reasons, concern being replaced by fear. More fear than a normal assistant, even a close one, should have had. So you do care about me above and beyond your position, eh Shoji? And all this time I merely thought you felt of me as a lover… I'm… Her face fell for a moment as she thought about how she felt about her lover and assistant falling in love with her. It's been long enough since Fredrich died… I believe that I am happy with this development… She smiled lovingly at him, her eyes speaking volumes about how she felt at that moment. She reached out with her right hand, cupping his left cheek softly. "You're getting quite open with me, you might want to be careful… I might start to believe you love more than my body, Shoji…"
Shoji smiled a bit sheepishly, and clasped her hand in his, kissing her knuckles lightly. "I'm sorry if it bothers you, Helen… It's something I've only recently realized… If it bothers you, I could stop feeling it… Or you could get someone else…"
She gasped at him for speaking like that, her face taking an expression of honest hurt. When he smiled at her in a teasing manner, she slapped him playfully on his shoulder, and looked deeply into his eyes. "Shoji… I… I am finally starting to realize that there's more to life than this," she pointed around them, indicating the area around the both of them. "And my daughter does like you… I… I care for you as well… But I have to do this, you know how I am…" She smiled as he nodded and rolled his eyes, then gasped as he took her in his arms, kissing her lips gently, so unlike how he normally kissed her. She melted into the slow, but intensely passionate kiss, moaning softly with both passion and newfound love.
As Shoji broke the kiss, she looked up into his deep, almost black colored eyes. "Helen, just be careful… I'll get whatever you need, and I'll bring Estelle here for you. Just be honest with her, OK?"
She pulled him close, hugging him tightly for a moment before releasing him. "Thank you, Shoji… I haven't felt like this for several years, don't go taking this feeling away from me, promise?" He nodded slightly, and kissed her forehead before turning away and picking up his data pad which had been dropped earlier. She smiled and shook her head, then dictated what she needed to him. After a few minutes he was leaving, to get her daughter, then the supplies she would need. In about fifteen minutes, I'll be telling my daughter that I may be dieing soon. She's strong enough, and I know that Shoji will take care of her if I do die… In a half hour I'll be searching for the one that forced me out of that vision, and I'll find out what's going on… With everything that I've heard today… I will know what's going on, even if it kills me…
Elsewhere, Somewhen. Asuka Langley Sohryu's Mindscape.
Shinji Ikari was standing in a house, a fairly large house, compared to the standards he had from living in Japan all of his life. Specifically, he was standing at the entrance of a hallway. With what looked to be a living room at the opposite end. He heard a voice, laughing out an unintelligible string of happy sounding words, at the opposite end of the hallway. It was not Evanna's, or any voice he was immediately familiar with. Then he saw a young girl running in his direction, calling out excitedly and waving something that looked like a writing tablet in her hand. She looked somehow familiar, though he couldn't place where, as she was still too far away to make any details out. She apparently didn't see him, even though he was well lit by the room behind him. As she approached, he could make out more detail, such as that she looked European, and that she had longish hair that fell past her shoulders, and that she seemed to be about four years of age.
In what seemed like less than half a second, she was upon him, close enough for him to see the details that he had missed before, and make her words out clearly. The eyes were a clear, sparkling blue, full of happiness and life. Her hair was pulled back into a neat, tidy pony tail, and was a subtle brownish auburn color. The voice, though younger than the one he was most familiar with, was none the less one he knew immediately. His heart almost literally skipped a beat as the blur of a little girl ran past him. It was in this moment that he realized who she was. "Asuka…?" He whispered, his voice filled with wonder and trepidation at once, even though he had already known it was Asuka. There was no mistaking her eyes, and their clear, deep cobalt blue color. As he followed the path of the younger version of Asuka, he saw that he was in a den that had been converted into a kind of office. He didn't understand how he was here, but he decided to merely accept it for the time being, and let events unfold as they would.
"Look, Mommy, I can write sentences now!" The young girl said, holding a simple child's tabled in front of her. A woman in her mid twenties looked over from the room's computer terminal; her eyes were alight with both pride and happiness, though mildly disapproving. "See? I wrote it just for you, mommy!" She barely let the woman see what was on the paper before launching herself into her mother's arms, hugging her mother tightly.
"Asuka! It's after your bedtime, you know!" her mother scolded gently, but firmly, returning Asuka's hug lightly.
"I know, but daddy said it would be OK with you if I stayed up just a little bit if I was doing studies!" the young girl said defensively. Shinji felt another presence and looked to the side, seeing a handsome man in his late twenties walk into the room and lean against the doorjamb. He face was relaxed, and a happy, honest smile lit his face. Kyouko looked at the man, glowering slightly as if trying to be angry, but her face slowly melted from serious to tender as the girl in her arms called out. "Daddy, I was doing studies, wasn't I!" she cried, almost drawing a laugh from both parents.
"Yes, Asuka, you were. Haven't you shown your momma what you wrote?" he asked, teasingly, as he walked forward, to stand across the desk from his wife.
"I was about to…" the young girl said, her face was stuck between a pout and a happy grin as she handed her mother the notebook.
"Ok, let's see what you have here, Asuka!" she said softly, looking at the top page of the notebook. She laughed lightly as Asuka dropped down from her lap to stand before her, almost bouncing with excitement. "Now you did this all by yourself, and didn't cheat by getting your father to help you, right?"
"Nope! I did it all by myself, Momma!" Asuka spoke, both happiness and pride in her voice. Kyouko looked up at her husband, who nodded in agreement with his daughter.
"OK, I believe you." She said, almost solemnly, then looked at the simple words on the notebook. Shinji moved so he could see what was on the notebook as Kyouko brought it up in position to read the words written on it. He craned his neck, seeing the text written in German 'Ich liebe dich Mamma! Sie sind die beste Mutter in der Welt!'
Shinji was surprised when he couldn't read the German words. Then he understood Evanna's statement about being able to understand Asuka. He could understand anything he heard, but not what he saw written in a language he didn't know. Am I inside of Asuka's mind? Are these her memories? He didn't expect an answer, but he felt that somehow, he was right. It's almost like the times when I've been inside of the Eva...
His attention was returned to the events unfolding before him as Kyouko spoke again, "Should I read it aloud, Asuka?" At Asuka's affirmative nod, she looked at the notebook and drew in a breath. "I love you mommy! You're the best mother in the world!" She read, her voice almost catching in her throat while, tears pooling slightly in her eyes.
Asuka saw this, and a worried look took to her face, as this wasn't the reaction she'd expected. "Momma, are you alright, what's wrong?" she pleaded, her tone sounding almost scared. Her mother didn't answer right away, and because of this, Asuka seemed to fear the worst, and quickly launched into an apology, her words barely separated enough to be intelligible. "I'm sorry if I did something wrong, Momma, I just wanted you to be proud of me!"
Kyouko recovered quickly upon hearing her daughter's words, and, smiling reassuringly, she reached out to enfold her daughter in a hug. "Nothing's wrong, Asuka!" she cried, her voice clouded with tears, but her tone happy. "I love you too, with all of my heart." Asuka's eyes opened wide in surprise at her mother's sudden change of attitude. After a moment, her face exploded into an uninhibited display of happiness, and she giggled happily as her mother released the hug. The joy that lit Asuka's face and the sound of her childhood giggle filled Shinji with an almost unearthly joy, and he felt a smile tugging at his lips, despite his despondence over the worst of the recent events in his life. "You are the best daughter a mother could ask for, Asuka! I love you, and I'm very, very proud of you!" Shinji did smile then, though it was filled with a touch of melancholy, knowing that Asuka had lost so much. Was that what caused you to change, Asuka? Shinji wondered, wishing he could find her and ask her himself. As he continued to watch, Kyouko lowered her head, kissing the Asuka's forehead. Then Kyouko released Asuka from the hug, holding her lightly at arms length by the shoulders, looking deep into Asuka's eyes, the look on her face serious but displaying all of her love for her daughter. "I will always love you, and I'll always be proud of you, my little Wondergirl, I promise!"
Shinji felt his heart freeze, as if the entire world surrounding him had stopped. He ran the last statement that Kyouko had made through his head, and shock descended upon his features. Wondergirl? But isn't that what Asuka always called Rei...? His internal question was quite rhetorical, but necessary for him to accept what he had just heard. He could scarcely believe it, that Asuka had used a term of such endearment from her mother as such a powerful insult for Rei. He felt anger at Asuka rising within him, that she could do such a thing. How could you do something like that Asuka? Did you forget your life before Eva Asuka? Shinji's anger faded slightly at the latter thought, slowly giving way to sorrow. Are your memories of your mother as blurry as mine are? Did you truly forget her? He drew in a breath, calming his anger and refocused his attention upon the scene in front of him.
Asuka held her hands out, and was pulled close by her mother. Asuka hugged her mother around the neck, her eyes brimming with happiness, and even a few quickly blinked away tears. "I love you too mommy, I promise!" Her parents laughed softly to this, as did Shinji, though his soft, happy smile was tainted by a mix of bitterness and sorrow as he watched the family in front of him.
Asuka pulled away from her mother, then squealed in delight as her father picked her up and sat her on his right shoulder. "Should I take you up to your room and tell you a story while we wait for your mamma to finish her work and come tuck you in, or should we wait down here?" he asked, his voice happy, his eyes glowing with pride in his little girl. What tore you away from this, Asuka? Why was this happiness taken from you? You deserve this happiness, and so much more, not what happened to you...
Asuka's face crumpled into a look of pure concentration, the look so serious that it drew a startled laugh from Shinji, bringing him out of his depressing reverie. She held this pose for several seconds, then looked at her father, her face relaxing into a giddy smile. "I'll wait for mommy in my room, because I know what she's doing is really important, and like your stories, Daddy!" she exclaimed to her father, drawing a chuckle from her father, and a warm, loving smile from her mother. Asuka then looked at her mother, "Hurry up mommy, so you can tuck me in!"
"I'll be right along, Asuka, I just have to sign a couple of things and I'll be done, OK?" She blew a kiss to her daughter, and winked at her husband as he looked back to her, now carrying their daughter in his arms as he took her to her room. She then turned back to her computer terminal, her face relaxing into a business-like posture, and did exactly as she told her daughter she would; signing a total of two documents, and closing her computer terminal down. She stood and stretched, looking at the simple words written carefully on the top page of her daughter's notebook. Her smile returned, soft and loving. "I love you, my little Wondergirl." She looked at a photograph, one of her husband, Asuka, and herself, sitting in a small park. She picked it up, her face hardening, and her lips curling in a feral grimace. "I'll always protect you… No matter what..." She growled softly, her eyes cold and hard. She clenched her left hand tightly, calming herself as she took the notebook into the living room and placed it with her daughter's school belongings. Slowly Kyouko calmed herself, her smile returning, and she went into her daughter's room to tuck her in.
Shinji stood for a few minutes, hearing the faint voices of Asuka's parents, then her childhood voice, drift to him from her room. He heard her mother and father bid her goodnight, then as they entered their room, silence descended, leaving stillness throughout the house. So this is what you were like when you were this young, Asuka? Shinji thought, looking around. What happened to change you, I wonder? So quiet, and even comfortable was the silence, that Shinji almost jumped out of his skin as a heartbroken sob shattered the near total silence in the small room. He spun around, locating the source of the sob in an instant. "Asuka? Is... Is that you?" Shinji breathed, barely trusting his own voice to speak...
Tokyo 3, 2015; 10:52 A.M. Tokyo 3 Scenic Overlook
Misato Katsuragi looked over the edge of the cliff, her dark eyes hooded, her expression brooding. I don't believe they called me in after three hours of sleep. She laughed humorlessly as she thought about that. I would have had almost five if I'd actually slept when I got home. I was just too worried when I found Shinji's note, then I got to reading this information... She blushed slightly as she remembered falling asleep and later waking up to a phone call from NERV Central Command and having the hardcopy she now held in her hands sitting in her printer. Then she'd found Shinji's note stating that he'd be visiting Asuka that day. "Dammit, Shinji, why didn't you wait for me you idiot?" She regretted the words as soon as she had spoken, even though it had only been to herself. I shouldn't be so damn hard on him... She looked up, a small, regretful smile on her face. I mean, he's been through enough, right? I guess I'm just worried about him... And Asuka...
She looked at the hardcopy printout in her hand, the one that she had found within the information she had found on the MAGI storage server. Her smile brightened slightly, as she thought at how organized the information had been, as if it had been set there for her to find. Was that your doing, Kaji, or someone else's...? She thought about the different but thorough organizational styles and knew that about a third of the information had been added by someone else after Kaji's assassination, someone with more access to top secret files than she had. Ritsuko? Maya? Makoto? All three of you, maybe? Why are you all risking yourselves to help me?
She looked back down to the final page, the document that had been sent less than twelve hours earlier, and scowled. It was the document that proved everything that Kaji had predicted, and the information that had been added had supported. The page consisted in a few terse, but illuminating lines of text. It had been a communiqué from one Selee Committee member to the head of the head of the Committee, Keel Lorentz. Misato read the words aloud, shaking her head softly in disbelief, even though she had read it to herself several times already.
"Having reached its limit as a colony of flawed, separate entities," she intoned softly, her voice filled with growing fear and revulsion. "The artificial evolution of all humanity is to be achieved by being evolved into one perfect, single being." Misato sighed, pulling a Zippo lighter that Kaji had given her in college from her pocket. It had actually been a joke on Ritsuko more than a gift since Misato was not a smoker, yet it was the only thing of Kaji's that Misato had kept from college, and now it held a special place in her heart. "I guess there were more reasons for me to have this than Ritsuko not needing to carry a spare lighter when we went out drinking together, eh Kaji?" Her smile fell into a mournful grimace as she looked at the lighter, a lone tear sliding unnoticed down her face. I was so stupid, Kaji. You offered yourself completely to me, and when I realized that I loved you, you were gone. She sighed heavily, and the late morning sunlight glittered off of the cross etched into the surface of the lighter, bathing her face in light The cross matched the proportions of the one on her neck pendant, causing another tear to slide down her cheek, again unnoticed. No time for those thoughts now, Misato, you have business to attend to... Misato's face hardened into a very business like expression at this thought, and she returned her attention to the task at hand.
Misato walked calmly to the edge of the turnout, and squatted down and picked up a rock from just off of the asphalt, setting it next to her feet. Flipping the top of the lighter open, she rolled the striker, the wick catching immediately. She held up the lighter to the hardcopy papers in her hand, running the lighter's flame under bottom of the pages until she was certain they would stay lit. She carefully set the papers on the asphalt, and placed the rock she had set by her feet atop the burning sheets of paper. "The Instrumentality Project, using the eighteenth angel, called Humanity..." she whispered, her voice clouded with angry irony. "An ideal world... And to achieve this the Committee had planned to use not Adam, or NERV, but Eva itself... Just as you predicted, Kaji."
Misato closed her eyes, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her left thumb and forefinger. And here I am, going to work at NERV looking for an angel that may be a MAGI system bug, or a hacker from the outside... But, wait a minute. She looked out over the remains of Tokyo-3, her face hardening in concentration. The committee needed seventeen angels to appear before Humanity could ascend as the eighteenth. The seventeenth came, when Nagisa revealed himself as Tabris... But now there might be another angel, an eighteenth angel that isn't Humanity, and if this is an actual angel and not a computer glitch or hacker... A small, savage smile broke through her hardened features, her eyes lighting like a predator just before the killing moment as realization struck her. "Then that means that none of you bastards can do anything!"
Misato stared into the flames caused by the burning papers, her eyes alight with intense determination. She watched the flames slowly devour the paper, until about five minutes later the pages were completely destroyed by the flames. Then she looked up, shaking herself as if out of a trance, and slowly stood, stretching out her legs as they attempted to cramp. "If that was an angel, and if they're still hostile... Then all of the plans of the Committee, and even of NERV, will be for nothing. No more Instrumentality..." A ironic, mirthless bark of a laugh escaped her, as she looked up into a beautiful morning sky, watching a few puffy, cheerful clouds drift lazily across the sky. "I never thought I'd be happy to have an angel come around..." she whispered softly as she walked back to her car. She opened her car door and sat down, starting the engine as she closed her door. A small, ironic smile slowly spread across her face, as she pulled away from the turnout.
Author's notes: Well, it's taken a bit longer than I planned, but I finally got this chapter up. I would have had it up sooner, but my pre-reader, Pyper, was busy until very recently. He is a part of the Wyoming Pipe and Drum Band (he plays bagpipes! Lol!), and has been very busy since the Fourth of July, and I have to give him a lot of thanks for taking the time to pre read this chapter and the next… Speaking of next, the next chapter should be up sometime late this week or early next week at the latest, and yes, it's going to have the meeting between Asuka and Shinji! ^_^ Also, I have another fic up, entitled NGE Angel Opposition Agency, so if you're interested, go ahead and take a look, just be warned, its rated "R"(though you can jump right to it if you go through my profile! ~_^ )! If you read it, I hope that you like it! At any rate, I'll stop rambling now. Have a good one, everybody!
-Ciao for now!
Kriegsherr
