"Get REAL!" exclaimed Misato. "Madripoor? Could you IMAGINE?"
"Or so I heard anyway," Donna replied, briefly pausing to take off her red beret and let her hair down. As she shook her hair free, she continued "word has it that Madripoor is going to file its bid for NERV world headquarters to the UN Security Council any time now. I guess that makes it, fourteen? fifteen? countries now that wants to have Officer Cadet Katsuragi rampaging through their bars," Donna said with a sly smile at her friend.
Misato punched her friend in the arm. "Quit it! Madripoor is a stinkhole! It's all hot and muggy, and it's full of murderers and mean people. NO place for a delicate young woman like myself," she smugly finished.
Despite herself, Donna couldn't help but giggle. "Delicate young women don't challenge those Americans from Atsugi to drinking contests.." Misato punched her arm again. Wincing, she turned to face Misato. "Well, if you think the rest of the world isn't your kind of place, you could always apply to be stationed in Japan," Donna said.
"I guess...."
The two women fell silent, and continued to walk through the streets of Tokyo-02, the incessant sound of piling and construction seeming to match their footsteps as they made their way to the rebuilding campus of Tokyo University. Unlike the stubborn Dutch, building a New Amsterdam on floating platforms over the submerged ruins of the old one, the New Tokyo was a smaller replica of the old taking shape inland.
"You read the latest making rounds on the Internet?" Misato asked. "The one about Tokyo Three?". Donna merely shook her head, then wiped the sweat from her brow. "Tokyo-03? National agency headquarters? What about it?"
Misato lowered her head, lowering her voice to a whisper "They say there's a human cloning project going on there, and the clone's running around among the scientists and construction workers, but no one knows exactly who it is."
Donna laughed. "Goddamn, girl, you'll believe anything! Next you'll tell me you believe the cover story about the Impact, too!" Misato shook her head, solemnly. "No. Never." Misato ran her hand along the jacket of her uniform. She could almost feel the scar that ran from her chest to belly under the heavy khakis. The scar came from Antartica, she'd first realized it when the navy ships rescued her. The scar she has kept, despite offers to remove it by surgery. It served as a reminder of what she must do the rest of her life.
"What'd you think of today's weapons drill?" Misato asked, abruptly changing the subject. Her eyes briefly wandered to a baker's window, mentally making a note to try out the imported English pudding so prominently displayed. "Bleh" replied Donna, sticking her tounge out briefly, in the cartoon style to emphasize her point. "Not like they expect us to attack Angels with small arms, do they?". "Wouldn't it be cool if they let us weapons drill with those Eva robots I hear they're working on?" Misato asked, as they stopped at a junction. The cars were fewer than there used to be. A warm breeze gently lapped at their jackets and blew across Donna's hair, sending strands lapping against her collar.
"You wouldn't want that. I heard most Eva test pilots went mad. One got disintegrated right in the cockpit a few years back, so I'm told. Right in front of her husband and son, too." Donna said. Misato shook her head disbelievingly. "Where the hell do you get so much scuttlebutt?" she asked. "I tend to stay sober long enough to pick up scuttlebutt, Misato," as Donna sidestepped another punch to the arm.
"Well, there's my apartment," Donna said. "See you after classes tomorrow?". Misato sighed. "Wanna go drinking? It's not like I have anything to do, Kaji's off to Kyoto..." her voice trailed off "I'll be alone tonight."
"Alone? Aren't you supposed to meet up with Tomoe and Ikeda about that term paper due Wednesday? Like," glancing at her watch "..now?" asked Donna, as Misato's cellular phone went off like an angry hornet. As Donna went up the stairs, the sounds of Misato tendering profuse apologies to her classmates slowly faded away.
He had watched the two young women take their evening walk. He had to admit, he was ogling the Japanese one with the residual stink of cheap beer on her. The Latin-looking one wasn't half bad either, but the Japanese girl had the stink of yesterday's beer on her that suggested that she was a serious heavy drinker , yet her body was taut and muscular under the shapeless khaki jacket ,suggesting to his mind that this woman was simultaneously abusing herself while trying hard to keep her body strong and ready to spring like the cocked hammer of a gun. The woman was a study in contradictions, much like himself.
He could hear bits and pieces of what the two soldier women were talking about, their voices were carried on the wind and arriving in his ears along with the rustling of leaves, the roaring buzz of flies and other sounds that the two women either filtered out or were just unable to hear. It wasn't their fault they couldn't hear the things only he could. They were only human. He was the best at what he did.
Logan drew his fedora to shade his eye, the supposedly good one that's not covered up by his Patch persona's eyepatch. The setting sun was getting in his eye, a thousand shades of red, some that only he could see competing with themselves for his attention. He really didn't like this new city much. He had preferred the old Tokyo, with its crushing crowds of humanity surging this way and that under the unmerciful gaze of the lights of the Neon City. It had charm. This new city was a depopulated, empty shell. He supposed that the Tokyo-3 the women were talking about would be even worse.
The smell of stale beer came stronger to him now, mixed with breaking sweat and a thundering of boot on concrete. He looked up to see Misato running madly in his direction. Cute, he thought. The babes were still running to him, after all these years.
"Excuse me sir, coming through , thank you!!" Misato waved at the strange-looking gaijin as she ran down the street trying to reach the University. He had stepped aside almost before she had finished yelling, and as she passed him, she could have sworn there was the beginnings of a smile underneath that grim countenance. She sped on, with every step forgetting the man she passed, her mind focused on how many times she would have to bow in apology to Tomoe and Ikeda for not making it in time. Maybe she shouldn't have walked Donna home today, but it seemed like a nicer idea than just walking alone to the university to meet them. Cursing her student life, Misato's scent rapidly faded as Logan turned and continued walking to his destination.
Logan savored the stench of the woman. It was, strangely,pleasant to him. It was the sheer honesty of the smell, unmasked by perfume. In a world of lies, deceit and silence, even stinking honesty was good by him.He went on his way, unhurriedly turning into a side street, his eyes scanning for the address he wanted. He quickly opened the door to the apartment, his eyes narrowing, the better to find his quarry. His body slightly tensed out of habit as his hands clamped down on the handle, and with a rough, heavy handed twist, opened the door.
"Kindly close the door, Logan-san. My eyes do not like the light" "Katsuya. Long time," Logan said, as he slowly closed the door. "We have much to talk about, old friend. How goes the Xavier dream in this cursed, dead world?" the old man asked, his voice cracking with age. "Thing with dreams," Logan sighed, wistfully. "they get faded real fast." "I understand, " Katsuya said, simply.
"Tell me, how could someone like you lose an eye?" Katsuya calmly asked, his hands pouring warm water into a beer mug. "This? You really believe the eyepatch, bub? Yer slipping, old man," Logan said, a lighthearted mixture of a laugh and a growl escaping his lips. Katsuya took long slow sips of the water, the dim rays of the setting sun creeping in from one of the windows, evading the heavy curtains. It illuminated his silver hair, once jet black like Logan's own. Katsuya then set down his mug, the water level barely lower than when he started to drink it.
Logan sat down on a tatami mat, his eyes slowly scanning the room, finally gazing at Katsuya. In his days in the spook business, they had worked together, and against each other, enough times for each man to develop a healthy respect for the other. Even in retirement, Katsuya's presence was still felt in the Japanese spy community. He served as a bulletin board of sorts, facilitating exchanges of messages and information from people who would normally be duty bound to kill each other. Logan had tried to pay him a visit whenever he was in town. He would be hard put to call Katsuya a friend, but it he always made the visits. Perhaps it was a sign of old age, this habitual seeking of the familiar.
He slowly reached inside his pockets for his cigar and lighter. Despite
himself, it was rather nice to have a few minutes of quiet. Katsuya
spoke again as he lit it. "I do have information for you this time, if
you choose to believe it." Logan's eyebrows lifted in a quizzical expression.
"You have heard of the latest ..... spook shop in town?" Katsuya asked
the obvious. "NERV," Logan replied. "Annoying little gits far as I can
see. Snooping for more than little green men, and not caring much 'bout
doing it quiet." Logan briefly recalled the two women. "But at least,
they're recruiting some nice looking skirts. Got to give 'em that, eh?"
he asked, blowing smoke rings, watching impassively as the drifted upwards,
swirling into nothingness.
"And their choice of hatchet job girl has its merits too, " he said.
Then proceeded to blow his mind away.
Tokyo University
"Misato! Misato!"
She looked up from the magazine she was reading. She had just bought the issue of Auto Sports Monthly, seduced by the photo feature on the new model Renaults. Too poor to afford anything of the sort now, but a girl can dream, and she knew she had guaranteed employment when she finally gets out of university. She let out a muffled noise in acknowledgement at Kei. Kei was one of the NERV officer cadets, a lousy soldier in Misato's opinion, but well liked by the others. "Yes, Kei-chan?" she asked, folding the magazine in her lap. The student center was winding down for the night, and soon the normal students would be gone, to be replaced by the crammers, the lovey-dovey couples and the truly weird.She was done with Ikeda and Tomoe, and the student center seemed a good place to wait for the campus bus home. Better than the stuffy library building anyway, she thought.
"You know that the JSDF cadets are going to have an inspection parade tomorrow morning? On our parade grounds?" Kei asked, her voice suddenly lowering to conspiratorial tones. "Uh-huh," Misato grunted, noncommitally. "Well, Michiru, Gerde and some of us are planning to get even with the army boys for that smoke-shell stunt they pulled last semester." Without waiting for Misato's reaction, Kei excitedly whispered "They're going to pour tar on the entire parade ground! Let them march through wet tar and see them all get stuck!" Misato could barely suppress an evil laugh. Kei asked, "you in, Misato?"
"And just what kind of evil do you have planned for the Emperor's finest, hmmm?" asked a deep, serious woman's voice.
"Ritsuko?!" exclaimed Misato "How long have you been standing there?" Ritsuko just smiled as her right hand adjusted her glasses, the left arm holding the latest draft of her thesis close to her chest. "Oh, long enough to worry about my safety when they let you carry guns fulltime," she said in the famous sarcastic tones that she always ended up using on Misato; sooner more often than later. "But I wasn't even in on it!" Misato protested. "Tut-tut, Misato-chan," Ritsuko said, "nobody on campus would believe you, you know."
"Misato-chan?!, Akagi Ritsuko, remember you are only one lousy year older than me?" protested Misato. Given the age difference, Ritsuko's achievements were prodigal. She was finishing up her doctoral thesis, and Misato was still a struggling undergraduate. The differences didn't end there. While Ritsuko was aloof, giving little more than a polite nod or greeting to anyone she knew that passed by, preferring to spend almost all her time in the labs, Misato was always ready to buy someone a drink, when she wasn't daring people to beat her in drinking contests, or she was always arguing with the men over cars, baseball, soldiering,anything. It was perhaps true that opposites attract, as they have been firm friends since the moment they met.
"Hello, Ritsuko," Kei said politely."Where are you going?"
Ritsuko turned towards her, as if noticing her for the first time, and gave Kei a polite smile. "Materials Lab." "Oh?" Misato asked. "I thought your Frankenstein lab was at the Biotechsomething, well, you know, your scientist building. Thing, Whatever," she mumbled as she picked up her magazine again. If Ritsuko was offended by her words, she didn't show it. Turning to Kei, she continued "They're bringing in some adamantium for nuclear resonance spectroscopy. We've got the only working NRS lab in Asia, so.. " Kei's eyebrows arched out from academic interest. Kei was supposed to be an engineer, after all. "Hai, Ritsuko. The profs were talking about it in class just last week. Hardest metal on earth, right?" Ritsuko nodded. "And I plan to do a comparative study on just how hard that sample is compared to Misato's head."
"I'm too ladylike to give you the finger, Ritsuko," Misato's muffled voice came from behind the pages of the magazine. Both Kei and Ritsuko laughed. "I'll see you later, Misato. Kei, I think we'll release the test results to the students next week or so if you're interested. Much safer than petty mischief." Ritsuko's heels made echoing clicking sounds as she made her way along one of the corridors.
"So you in, Misato?"
"Nah, no mood tonight. Avenge NERV honor on my behalf, will you?"
"Whoa"
"What is it, Kei?" Misato asked in bored tones, her attention again focused on a photo of a shiny Renault Alpine. It'd look pretty good in blue, she thought.
"That is one ugly gaijin"
"Where?"
"Down the corridor, 9 o'clock. Came in through the side doors, went the same way as Ritsuko."
Misato looked up. She briefly saw the fedora, the battered leather jacket, the muttonchop sideburns, the lit tip of a cigarette. He was short for a gaijin, but the skin tone still gave him away. He quickened up his pace to a fast walk, sidestepping a slowmoving geekish person struggling under the weight of several thick books. Then he got mixed up with the shadows and was gone.
"Couldn't see him," she said, returning to her magazine.
"May I speak with you, Dr Akagi?" Logan asked, trying hard to sound polite.
Ritsuko stopped dead in mid-step, her left foot seemingly levitating in mid air, as her body instinctively performs a delicate balancing act for a fraction of a second, before she regained her balance ,and turned her body to face him. Not a bad looker for an ice queen type, thought Logan. While her eyes were slightly red and puffy from the short hours of sleep she allowed herself, he could see the cold light of a powerful intellect shine through. Her dark brown hair looked like a mass of spikes barely held into a semblance of order using clips. He smelt the residues of coffee and tobacco on her, which briefly reminded him of the other woman he had met this very afternoon. It was almost sad, the way the young abuse themselves. No healing factors on them, either, he thought. He glanced at her long white lab coat. It was covered all over with creases, suggesting to him that she probably did sleep in them. Yet she kept a proud demeanour about herself, and her thin, almost cruel lips quickly broke into a smile of amusement, the cold light in her eyes dimming slightly.
"I'm sorry, sir. I think you have me mistaken for my mother, Akagi Naoko. I'm Akagi Ritsuko, not-quite-Doctor," she said, unconsciously tightening her grip on her thesis, bringing it closer to her chest. "Name's Logan. Call me Patch. Let's just say I'm interested in the scrap metal of yours." The smile faded, her eyes narrowed to dark slits. She kept her gaze on him as she said "If you mean you're interested in buying it, the sample belongs to Gehirn Laboratories, not us, Patch. I suggest you talk to the project leader about this."
"That would be? " her evasive answer piqued him.
"Dr. Akagi. You won't find her here."
Logan growled an "oh?"
"Tokyo 3. She's .." Ritsuko paused, hissing the next word, "busy developing a project for the proposed alien defense agency, she tenders her regrets but is unable to personally," as she paused, she exhaled deeply, the words escaping her lips along with the last of the air in her lungs; "supervise this round of tests."
"I see"
"Yes. We're releasing the results to the public next week or so," as she started to leave, he could swear her eyes went just a bit redder. Ritsuko bowed her head low and walked away, her eyes fixed on the floortiles as her mind kept finding strange new patterns in the grout.
Anomalous Materials
'"Well this is a surprise," Ritsuko said as she reached the door of the Materials Lab. It was locked, and her cardkey wasn't of any use here. Before she could look for the intercom, or even knock, the door slid open with a whooshing sound. The face of her supervisor greeted her. She stepped into the lab, squinting involuntarily at the brightness inside. They had substituted halogen lamps for the usual florescent ones, she noted.
"Welcome, Ritsuko. Most people here you know, but, " her supervisor waved his hand towards a tallish man with short cropped red hair and thick, rimmed glasses, "Dr Freeman here is from America, and Ms.Mortenisson here is an observer from NERV," he finished, as she noticed a raven-haired, fair skinned woman standing unobstrusively in a corner. She smiled at Ritsuko, and she could only nod in polite greeting.
"So, what interests NERV in this experiment?" Ritsuko asked, her idle
curiosity was beginning to stir. The woman merely smiled as her supervisor
told her "It seems that NERV and Gehirn Labs will be working very closely
in the future, so I'm told."
Ritsuko stiffened slightly. Her mother hadn't indicated this in her
emails to her. What else, she wondered, was she keeping from me?
"Let's not waste time, shall we?" Dr. Freeman said. "I'm anxious to run the sample through the machine". Ritsuko's supervisor turned in her direction "we've already got the connection up between the machines here and our MAGI types, theoretically, we should get analysis results a few minutes before the computers are done with it." She hoped that would be the case. There were many things about the design and functions of the new MAGI supercomputers that bothered her. While she had based her work on the discoveries of her mother, there were too many things about them that were classified. She knew that her work on them is but a pale shadow of her mother's pioneering efforts. Yet, even working blind, she designed and implemented a computer system that actually replicated the human brain's abilities at inference and deduction and married it to the blinding speed of a supercomputer. She felt justifiable proud of her work as she walked over to an innocent-looking monitor. It was connected to her MAGI, the large red letters framed in red stating "READY".
"Ready whenever you are," Ritsuko shouted to the others, who wasted no time going through the procedures. Dr Freeman wheeled in a cart with the sample prepped and ready to be inserted into the resonance spectroscope. It appeared more like slag to Ritsuko than a proper sample of metal, but she wasn't really concerned What mattered to her was the proving of her claim. Her MAGI would be able to output an accurate reading and analysis of the sample faster than anyone else. She continued to stare intently at the monitor as the machine hummed into life.
"What the hell?"
"Freeman? What's going on?" someone asked, alarmed.
"Resonance cascade reaction on the sample!" Freeman shouted. Then there were many explosions. The terminal Ritsuko was montitoring ejected a shower of sparks followed by black smoke. "Shutting down.. attempting shutdown.. it's not.. it's not shutting down!" Freeman shouted. As if to illustrate the utter futility of the scientists' efforts, a series of explosions tore through the lab, and in the smoke, fire and confusion, she didn't even see the blow coming to the back of her head.
Then everything went dark.
Ms. Mortenisson went to work quickly, attacking the panicking scientists.
There were only a few of them, and being caught in such chaos, it was easy
to put them out of commission in a short time. She retrieved the sample,
opened the door, and started running, her skin seemingly crawling under
the khaki uniform she wore. As she ran her skin grew rougher, scales appearing
on dark blue skin. Her eyes changed from brown into an inhuman yellow as
her hair magically shortened itself and turned red. The mutant shapeshifter
known as Mystique has struck again. The sample was weighing her down, but
she was a strong woman. She kept running, out of the building, across darkened
lawns , making steady progress towards an unguarded gate.Sweat made her
reptilian skin glisten, adrenaline pumping as she made her way.
A small rock landed at her feet, barely missing her ankle. She immediately stopped, her eyes and ears open and searching the deserted area for the attacker. The heavy, confident footsteps were what she registered first. Then came the voice.
"So, big fancy world savers reduced to stealing to meet the budget?"
Logan stepped out from behind a pillar. He blocked the only unguarded gate. This was bad news for her. Deciding that violence was the proper solution to this problem, she chucked aside the heavy sample. She then took a running start and made a strong leap, changing her body into that of someone more suited to fighting someone like Logan. Logan cursed as Mystique changed into Sabretooth, dodging her sharp claws before they could slice his chest.
"My kinda game," he growled through gritted teeth. He brought his fists forward, the distinctive snickt sound broke the silence as he unleashed his claws. "You been here before, bub," snarled Logan, the moonlight reflecting off his razor sharp adamantium claws. Mystique flinched. She got stabbed by those very same claws the last time they fought, in the bowels of the Statue of Liberty. Mystique, in her Sabretooth guise, snarled, mentally vowing revenge. She made a diving tackle, trying to claw Logan in the gut. He dodged, bringing his own claws down to bear on her back, but missed himself as she rolled away. Both combatants got up, circling each other warily, Logan keeping himself between Mystique and the open gate.
They both stared each other down, trying to anticipate what the other was planning. Logan was the better combatant but Mystique has always fought using her head. Trickery and shapeshifting could turn the situation to her favour.
Mystique planned her attack more carefull this time, lunging forward in a feint, only to roll away as his claws struck empty air. Concentrating, she willed her body to remold itself. As the Toad, her legs were now strong enough to simply leap over him, across the open gate. It meant she was forced to leave the prize behind, but she had no other choice. The explosion had alerted campus security, and it was only a matter of time before the city police got involved as well. The chances for her escape diminished by the second, and as she turned to see Logan attempt to give chase, she laughed, changing again into the mutant flyer Angel. She couldn't entirely emulate mutant powers, and wasn't used to having wings, her clumsy attempts at flight caused her to bob up and down in the sky like a cork in water. It was not a major problem to her. She can always change into something more discreet, and besides, Logan can't fly.
Logan, indeed, could not fly. Cursing bitterly at the rapidly fading form of his opponent, he could only marvel at how accurate Katsuya's information was. Not bad for such an old timer. He had accurately identified Mystique as some sort of merc for NERV, and he knew that Gehirn had experiments planned in the university. However, it was strange, and even Katsuya couldn't figure out the reason. While NERV had a more visible presence and Gehirn was just another anonymous scientist shop, they were both United Nations agencies. NERV could have simply asked them for the sample. He didn't much care for the wheelings and dealings of these people, but the chance to gut Mystique as payback was just too good to miss. He looked up in the sky again, but failed to find any trace of her.