Reprisal 0:6
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War Room
"MAGI Casper,"
"MAGI Balthasar"
"MAGI Melchior"
"Look at them, Ritsuko," her mother had told her that night. Her hands indicated with a wave the huge metal casings that housed the MAGI supercomputers as they were lowered into the floor of the War Room. "Three organic neural networks, working independently yet seeking consensus.Natural chaotic, illogical processes trying to create order."
"Imprinted with my brain patterns as a mother," Naoko said, glancing at the Melchior subsystem
"Scientist," Ritsuko saw the last of the Balthasar subsystem disappear into the floor.
"and woman," Naoko finished, as techs placed floorboards over the sunken Casper subsystem.
"Congratulations, mother. And everything finished one day before the merger too," Ritsuko had said to Naoko then. "Well, I'm going to pay Misato a visit before her big day tomorrow," Ritsuko smiled happily.
"All right. I have some last calibrations to do here," Naoko said. Her last words to her daughter.
Four hours later, Ritsuko stood on the floor of the War Room alone, softly weeping over a chalk outline of a human form. Naoko had jumped almost forty feet to her death. There were no witnesses. Ritsuko remembered Ikari Gendo was uncharacteristically furious then.
Even as her grandmother was making her way from Fukushima to claim the body, Ritsuko was in her mother's office, clearing away her personal effects, while glancing at some of her old files. Clearing away the personal effects took only a few minutes. There was only that photo of Naoko, Ritsuko and Ikari taken a few months back.
Glancing at old files took a little more time.
She was in Naoko's office until dawn, when she discovered the old reports, from Canadian and American scientists at one of the affiliated labs. A place called Alkali Lake. Something about a super-soldier program. She was reading halfway through it, disgusted at some of the experiments conducted on the poor test subjects, yet, as a scientist, she felt that there was some potential in the results. Particularly that freak, unreplicable success with bonding adamantium to the human skeleton. It would have some application in Project E.
Whoever that Weapon X was, she thought, as she packed the file away, to be archived inside the MAGI later, she would hate to be upsetting it. Or be in a confined space with it.
Geofront Gate 3
"Misato! Slow down! You'll hit the..."
Misato slammed her foot hard on the brake pedal, the car screeching in protest and continued to move forwards towards the metal bar, stopping six inches from a broken windshield.
"See, Ritsuko? I know what I'm doing. I AM the one with real driving skills, you know," she gloated.
Ritsuko regretted filling up the fuel tank before she returned the car keys. Logan sat in the back seat, slowly shaking his head, but smiling to himself at the incident. He couldn't really blame Misato for driving her blue Renault Alpine the way she did. It was, after all, a sports car. He motioned towards the large, one meter wide metal bar that stood in the way.
"What about that thing?"
Misato flashed her ID card at no-one in particular, to no response.
She waved her ID card frantically all over, as if trying to attract someone's attention. She moved her card up and down, sideways, diagonally, flipped it several times, and even frantically fanned herself with it. The metal bar stood still.
"What... is wrong...with.. this...thing?!" Misato yelled in frustration.
"Oh for God's sake," Ritsuko said, producing her own ID card. With a flick of the wrist, she had her card scanned by the overhead reader. The metal bar silently drew back into the walls of the tunnel.
"I swear, the MAGI computers hate me, " Misato said.
"It's a computer. Computers do not hate. Computers do not feel anything. Not even pain," Ritsuko calmly reminded her.
Misato drove the car down a long, downhill tunnel to one of the underground parking lots, wickedly parallel parking along a wall. Logan followed the two women along a well-lit corridor, till the came face to face with several shuttered gates. Much like the turnstiles at a railway station, Ritsuko swiped her ID card, gaining access. The gates shut themselves behind her.
"Welcome to the Geofront, Logan. The last hope of mankind," Misato said in mockingly serious tones. She punched in several numbers in the ID card reader, taking care to cover her hand so he can't see the numbers. The shutters slid open. "Come with me," Misato said. "Nobody's going to bother us in my office," she said, a sly grin crossing her face as they both stepped beyond the treshold and entered the headquarters proper.
It had been almost ten minutes. He grew impatient. "We're going round in circles, girl," he snarled in irritation.
"Nonsense!" Misato replied. "I'm the one who works here, I'll tell you when we're lost,"
The narrow tunnels and corridors in the Geofront that Misato often used as a shortcut were deserted They took left turns, climbed down stairs, rode lonely escalators that Misato often had to start with a swift kick to the "on" switch. After all that, he knew that he saw the same empty soda machine three times. Some sense of direction that this woman had.
"I'm telling ya, you're lost!" Logan reiterated.
"Look, my office is just round the corner here," Misato protested.
Fifteen minutes more of this and they reached one of the main corridors. Misato's office door stood before them. "Told you it wasn't far," Misato triumphally exclaimed, while opening the door with a swipe of her ID card. Logan saw that her office, while bare, was rather spacious, dark but not disruptively so. He sat down in one of the hard wooden chairs, dusty from disuse, while Misato opened up one of her desk drawers, first of all, producing her gun. She strapped the holster around the bare skin of her thigh, shaking her leg to make sure the gun was secure. It seemed like she was planning to use the gun very soon. The next thing she brought out was a plastic credit card that looked exactly like her own ID card. She tossed it to Logan. It had the NERV logo of half a red maple leaf and the agency initials. There was a barcode and magnetic stripe, but otherwise the card was white and featureless.
"Visitor's card," she said, noticing his puzzled expression. "Opens all the unsecured doors inside the Geofront,"
"You're trusting me with this?" He asked, incredulous. Nick Fury at SHIELD would never be so lax with security. And Nick was more times than not, a friend. She was still very much a stranger to him.
"I trust you, Logan," Misato said, smiling. And just in case, the MAGI will take note of every door you open, she thought to herself. But she felt she needed a little test. "I'm going to check up on Ritsuko," she said. "Stay here and don't wander till I get back," she finished, and as she stepped out the door, she blew him a kiss. "See you later, OK?"
The door remained open behind her. She was obviously tempting him.
He sat in his chair, surveying her empty office. There were no cameras that he was aware of, and she may actually know something he doesn't, so he began to casually walk over to her desk. He scanned through some of the papers on her desk. He glanced at the computer screen on her desk, half-hoping to find something useful.
He found reports on drunken fights, gambling, disorderly conduct, stolen equipment. Nothing unusual. Then he saw the recent file. Assigned to her by a Subcommander Fuyutsuki. It was a complete dossier on the recent murder attempts on NERV personnel. He leafed through them, trying to detect a pattern. Gassings in trains. Slit throats in bed. Gunshots on the way to the supermarkets. Missile technicians. Enginees. Scientists.
He read the names of the dead scientists. One name, Kusumadewi, rang bells. He had seen that name before, and it had connections to Alkali Lake. He cursed his bad luck. Another dead end, literally. The people behind his past are disappearing one way or another.
He put the files back. He tried to make her desk look undisturbed. As he did so, he caught the residual whiff of lavender perfume from her chair, which brought his train of thought to Misato. He shook his head, trying to shake some sense into his mind. He knew he didn't come to Japan for her, but now he felt reluctant to leave Tokyo-3 without her.
Project E Lab Subcomplex
"Good Morning, Doctor Akagi,"
"Morning, Myers." Ritsuko locked the lab door behind her, then scanned through the results of last night's experiments. Project E was progressing well on schedule. Myers, one of her many assistants, often kept vigil in the project E labs after everyone else has left., keeping an eye over some ongoing experiments.
"Any news?" Myers asked, handing an empty cup of coffee to Ritsuko. "I'm uhh.. sorry about using your mug..."
"Never mind my mug," Ritsuko replied. "Someone tried to kill me last night."
Myers's eyes went wide. "Say what?" he asked, eyes wide open in shock.
"That's right," Ritsuko sighed. "Sniper tried to get me at Katsuragi's place. Right when I was standing next to her. I guess if she hadn't pushed me out the way.. "
"Wow." Myers was amazed. Ritsuko often spoke about Misato, enough to leave an impression in his mind of an incompetent, irresponsible woman who worked in one of the sub-levels pushing papers, and getting drunk at the end of the day. This was the first time he heard her speak of Misato with respect.
"What happened after that?" he asked.
"I told her to get me back to the Geofront, but she said it was too dangerous to move me at night, so I had to spend the night in her house, with her and that new boyfriend of hers. I think he's her boyfriend, for the next week or so, as usual. Hairy white guy, calls himself Logan. From Madripoor. All the people she brings in..." she shook her head in disapproval.
"Doctor Akagi..." Myers asked, nervous.
"Yes, Myers?"
"Did you just say you spent the whole night at Katsuragi's house?" he asked, uncertain.
"Against my better judgement and free will, yes, could you believe the stench of beer all over the place?" Ritsuko said, smiling.
"So you never came to the labs at all last night, Doctor?"
"No! I told you, Misato wouldn't let me leave!"
Myer's face slowly paled as the blood drained from his face. He took slow, unsteady steps to a lab bench, handing Ritsuko a clipboard. She recognized the documents as an inventory check printout.
"So you didn't sign this?" Myers asked, barely a hoarse whisper.
Ritsuko held the clipboard, her eyes carefully reading the statement line by line. The MAGI printout was timestamped at 4 a.m. It authorized the transfer of several handheld sonic oscillators, half a meter of platinum ribbon, and the adamantium slag from the Lance replica project from the Geofront to the Matsushiro testing grounds. At the bottom, in her favourite dark blue ink, was her signature.
"Impossible... I..I never signed this!" Ritsuko gasped. "How did this happen?" she barked, rapidly gaining some composure.
"You.. you came in here at 4 am, I let you in myself!" Myers said. Ritsuko found a chair and plunked her body on it, she was getting dizzy from the shock. "You had the Operations staff take out the inventory, then signed the inventory check yourself!"
Ritsuko cradled her head with both hands. How was this possible? She couldn't have possibly sleepwalked from Misato's place. The security systems wouldn't have let unauthorized persons in.
"Myers," she said softly. " I want to see all the project scientists in this lab, then triple check everything related to the Evangelion project for sabotage and .."
"Yes, Doctor?"
"Put the Commander on the phone for me," Ritsuko sighed. She should have jumped in front of that bullet last night.
Aichi
The NERV helicopter made a quick landing at an open field. Three men and a box got off. The helicopter took off again. They carried the heavy box with them.
"Easy! Easier than stealing candy from the dead!"
Kaji couldn't help but chuckle. His partner in crime was right. They'd been thinking for months on how to liberate the adamantium from NERV, without being able to come up with anything workable. Then they had a massive stroke of good luck. They found someone who could pull off the ultimate inside job. She even signed the paperwork.
"You sure it's smart, not telling her the hit on Ritsuko failed?" asked Creed, his mane of blond hair blowing wildly from the backdraft of the departing chopper. Kaji shrugged, nonchalantly. "She's tough. She's smart. She'll figure out a way."
"She doesn't know the real Ritsuko ain't dead."
"She'll live, Creed. We won't, if we can't get this adamantium to Jasmine Falls before they figure out it's ..."
"Missing?! How can you allow it to go missing?!"
"Subcommander, I've already told you everything I know," Ritsuko initially felt panic at the initial discovery, but now it has been replaced with cold rage. How dare whoever it was, steal from her labs? Who dared fake her signature?
"I suppose asking for your resignation would not help matters," Fuyutsuki said, in a cold, formal tone. "I will discuss our next course of action with the Commander. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Chief Scientist Akagi."
"Kaji you little bastard...."
"What?"
"You're not really helping us move this are you? You're just parking your hands under the damn box..." cursed Creed.
"Oh. My apologies. I was just thinking how we could tell our darling Ritsuko to bail," Kaji said. The real Ritsuko, he silenty muterred to himself.
"Get this crate to Jasmine Falls first, then think," reprimanded the third man. "Brother Pierce will have an answer," he said.
Central Dogma
A large central shaft under the pyramid headquarters of NERV led straight down almost four kilometers deep. It was called the Central Dogma. It housed many things that Misato never bothered to find out. Access became more and more restricted the deeper down one goes. Nobody she knows has even seen the door to Terminal Dogma, the large vault at the end of the shaft. Ritsuko once commented that it was like the mouth of Hell itself.
So it strangely made sense for Misato to look for Ritsuko there. She found her friend after almot two hours of searching, at one of the lower levels of the Dogma, resting against the metal safety railings, staring down into the darkness of the shaft. She was glad to have found Ritsuko, some parts of the Dogma were practically deserted, and dark. She liked neither the darkness nor the silence.
"Ritsuko!" she cried out. "Ritsuko!"
Ritsuko turned, faintly smiling when she saw Misato approach. She beckoned her to come closer.
"Hello, Misato."
"You're a long way down," Misato said. "Two levels deeper and I'd run out of access."
Ritsuko chuckled softly. "So they don't trust either one of us going down there." She stared at the shadows dancing across the walls of the Dogma. "So what brings you to me?" Ritsuko asked, her hands slowly coming to rest on her hips.
"I'm checking up on you, silly! Most people don't act normal just after someone tries to kill them, so I thought I'd keep an eye on you," she said, cheerfully.
"Tried... " the word echoed softly in the dark shaft. Tried, she thought to herself. "How long since the ...attempt?" Ritsuko asked her friend.
"Almost 16 hours ago now.. I guess whoever it was is too far away to catch now. Gee, Ritsuko, I really think you should see one of the shrinks. Post-traumatic stress disorder's got you bad," Misato said, smiling reassuringly at Ritsuko.
"No! I'm fine. " Ritsuko protested.
Misato stared at the floor, suddenly pensive. "Look Ritsuko, I'm really sorry about what happened. I know you think I've failed you again.."
Ritsuko stood still, betraying no emotion.
"I'm supposed to be keeping you safe and all, me being the big bad MP, but I can't even find the piece of @#%$ that hit you on the head back in university. Now we can't even track down who tried to kill you. I know you're mad at me for not chasing after the sniper, but..."
Ritsuko stared at her friend's bowed head. "But?.." she asked.
"I have to take care of the civilian too. I mean, Logan's pretty much an innocent here, and I .."
"Logan... " Ritsuko hissed in thinly veiled contempt.
"Yeah, I noticed your distaste," Misato said, then added "he's not that bad, Ritsuko. I think he's got potential,"
"Potential..." sneered Ritsuko, in a hostile tone that was somehow different from her usual sarcasm. "Where is he anyway?"
"My office. Oh relax, Ritsuko, the MAGI are keeping track of his movements. How'd you think I found you? I checked the MAGI for all the doors you opened," Misato smiled. "See, you're not the only person with computer skills," she said, proud of herself in a small way.
Ritsuko eyed her up and down. "Does he know you're here?" she asked, turning to face Misato.
"Of course not...."
Ritsuko smiled, before launching a spinning heel kick that landed square on Misato's head. She reeled from the impact, her body slamming on the metal safety rails, before she slumped down, dazed. Before she could react to the shock of the betrayal,. Ritsuko had managed to twist her gun out of its holster. She then laid a hand on Misato's chest and pushed her down, trying to use her own body weight to keep Misato down on the floor, as her free right hand then pointed Misato's own service automatic handgun to her forehead. The cold steel pressed hard into her skull.
Misato had managed to register the thought that something was horribly, horribly wrong. As she sat there, Ritsuko nudged the barrel of the gun harder against her head, the barrel making an impression on the skin of her fae.. This is impossible, Misato thought. Ritsuko was just a scientist. There was no way Ritsuko could move faster than she did.
"The access codes for Terminal Dogma," Ritsuko hissed. "Give them to me or die.."
"What are you, stupid?!" Misato snarled back at her erstwhile friend. "You already know the damn access codes. This isn't funny, Ritsuko. Give me my gun back before I decide to kick your ass for that cheap stunt." Her head throbbed with pain. Ritsuko wasn't playing around with that kick.
"Pity," Ritsuko said. "Well, I suppose I'll just kill you now. You're a little lower on the hit list, but I think I'll speed it up..." her finger began to exert pressure on the trigger. Misato saw, with mounting horror, the hammer of her own gun beginning to draw back.She had to act fast if she wanted to live, but any sudden movement might make Ritsuko reflexively pull the trigger.
"Uh-hum." The two women were startled by the deep growl of some large animal. There were no animals this deep in the Dogma.
Misato saw Ritsuko waver a bit, as if recognizing the sound, and associating the sound with a lot of pain. But the gun remained fast against her skull.
"Back off, Wolverine!!," Ritsuko shouted, in a voice not her own. "Or you're going to have to find another NERV slut.. Back off, you hear me you hairy bastard?!" Ritsuko shouted.
Misato took the opportunity to slap the gun away from her head. Ritsuko had fired instinctively, but the bullet harmlessly made its way through Misato's hair, doing her no real harm. A swift knee to the gut, and Misato had managed to throw her former friend off her. The gun flew away and landed some distance away with a clattering sound. Ritsuko quickly rolled away from Misato and stood up in a defensive fighting stance. Out of the corner of her eye, Misato saw something running fast approaching Ritsuko.
It was Logan, charging out of the shadows. There was something that he was holding in his hand. It had looked like knives. Logan made hard slashing motions with those knives at Ritsuko, which she ducked under, and turned the momentum by a leg sweep that staggered the sturdy Logan , but wasn't enough to drop him. He jumped away from Ritsuko, and the two combatants began to circle each other, each looking for an opportunity to strike.
Misato quickly tried to make her way to her gun. Logan made another jump at Ritsuko, trying to stab her with those knives he had, but Ritsuko was ready, grabbing him by the wrist, and skillfully throwing him against a solid steel support beam. He hit with a thud, the aid quickly being knocked out of his lungs. Ritsuko took the opportunity to run, rapidly tearing away her highly visible lab coat and trying to make it to the shadows.
Misato found her gun precariously perched on the lip of the Dogma. Logan gave chase to Ritsuko, or whoever it was, snarling like an animal. Misato quickly turned her body around, trying to find Logan and Ritsuko.
"Come out, Mystique," Logan taunted his opponent. "I ain't finished chopping out your guts," he said, eyes carefully scanning the shadows for any movement. Misato quickly tried to make her way to him, but a shot rang out from nowhere, making a small indentation in the floor a few inches away from her foot.Misato cursed, and ducked and rolled her way to hide behind a support pillar. She couldn't pinpoint the direction the shot came from.
She softly cursed, her ears trying hard to detect movement. What was going on? What was wrong with Ritsuko that made her try to kill me? she thought to herself. And what was that that she called Logan?
He made his way slowly, carefully, through the shadows, his claws caught the ambient light and glinted with a cold light, giving his position away. He didn't care. This ends here, now.
Misato heard a running sound. She peeked out from behind the pillar she was hiding behind. She saw Ritsuko charging towards her, and Logan was giving chase, but Ritsuko had too much of a lead. She pointed her gun at Ritsuko's knee, thinking that she should try for a non-lethal target.
"Ritsuko! Stop!" she yelled in warning. Ritsuko paid her no heed.
"Damn it! Stop! Stop or I'll...." do what? fire? actually shoot a friend? Ritsuko kept on running, easily outpacing Logan.
Ritsuko reached the safety railing, then to Misato's numb horror, vaulted over the railing, laughing maniacally as she fell.
"Damn. She keeps running places I can't reach," Logan cursed as he walked over to catch a glimpse of the falling form.
Misato saw, through the horror she felt, that it wasn't knives that he held in his hand.
"Who.. what are you?" she stammered, slowly pointing her gun at Logan. "And whatever those things are, drop them. Now."
"Like I told you before, darlin'. Name's Logan, and as for these," he said, indicating his claws, "'fraid I can't quite do that." He retracted his claws, and with a snickt sound, they slid back into his arm. "Uh.. you can put the gun down, Misato."
"Not till you tell me what I want to hear! " Misato snarled back, her hands slightly trembling from the horror she just witnessed."What the hell just happened there? Did you force Ritsuko to jump?! Answer me!"
Logan raised in arms in a mock gesture of surrender. "That really wasn't your pal Ritsuko,"
"Oh? Really? " she asked, bitterly.
"I know her. Mutant shapechanger, name of Mystique. Pain in the ass, that scaly blue bitch."
"Mutant.." Misato thought to herself. She knew one mutant working in the agency, a technician named Imagawa who had superhuman strength. It was quite a sight to the uninitiated, seeing him carry equipment that must have weighted tons. "So I guess you'd be one too.. those things in your hands..." She lowered her bead on him.
"Wasn't born with them.. Someone put them in."
"Who?" Misato asked, curious.
"That's why I came to this town. Seems that one of your scientists were among the ones that put them in me," he said, carefully skipping over the details.
Misato peered into the dark shaft. She could see some of the red warning lights, but nothing else. The Dogma wasn't installed with lights yet. "How'd you follow me to the Dogma? I told you to stay put!" she said, a little disappointment discernible in her voice.
Logan tapped his nose. "Your scent's kinda easy to follow. I just followed the trail of beer,"
Misato suppressed a laugh. "show some respect for beer. That's how we met," she smiled at him. "So that wasn't Ritsuko? The real Ritsuko's safe?" Logan nodded, casting a glance at the darkened pit where he knew, he just knew, that his opponent was hiding down there somewhere.
"Why don't you check up on her yourself?" Logan suggested.
"Hey Logan," Misato said, in a completely different tone of voice.
"What?"
"You understand Japanese perfectly well, don't you?"
"Well,yeah, I do know a couple of words here and there, " he bluffed. He understood the language perfectly.
"So you heard..."
"Yup" was Logan's simple reply.
"Oh no," Misato blushed slightly. "Well, come on up with me to the upper levels, mister potential,"
Logan grinned at the last remark. This had potential, he thought.
"This is a potential disaster, ladies and gentlemen," Ritsuko said to the assembled senior scientists. "Construction of the prototype Evangelion unit is still behind schedule, and now we've lost the adamantium sample that was supposed to be for the replica Lance." Her eyes scanned every face in the room for any hint of worry.
"Has there been any demands by the thieves?" asked someone.
Ritsuko shook her head. "I wish there was," she said. "We believe whoever stole the adamantium knew what to do with it. They stole some of the oscillators as well," murmurs of knowing dread rippled throughout the lab.
"Come on, come on you stupid door, open up!" Misato practically yelled at the door, Logan standing behind her as she repeatedly swiped her ID card throught the card reader, only to get a pleasant computer voice say "No Access" to her over and over again. He wisely stood aside as Misato continued her frantic begging and cursing at the MAGI computers to let her in.
"Which means," Ritsuko said with a sigh, "that we'll be refocusing our research goals for the short term. The Prog Knife system will now have top priority in weapons systems ......"
"Damn you, stupid computer!" Misato yelled at the door. "I know the labs are restricted but it's important! I need to check on Ritsuko..." The sudden opening of the door surprised her, especially as she had given up swiping her card and was about to pound on the door until someone opened up.
Ritsuko was interrupted before she could end the sentence. Several heads, including her own, turned to one of the doors which had inexplicably opened, despite her personally locking all the doors electronically. Misato stood on the other side, a look of relief on her face appearing as soon as she saw Ritsuko's own, less than amused expression.
"How did you open that door?" Ritsuko asked. "It's supposed to be off limits to uniformed personnel. Especially civillians," she said, nudging an eyebrow at Logan's direction. "That's gratitude for you," Misato muttered under her breath. "Just checking on you, Ritsuko, making sure you didn't jump off the Dogma .. or something"
"What are you babbling about? I'm conducting a meeting! We can discuss this later, Lieutenant Katsuragi," Ritsuko said, dismissing her friend with a wave of her hand. Misato took the obvious signal to go away, taking Logan by the hand as she made her way to her office.
"She just ain't your type, is she?" Logan asked, as Misato made a beeline for her office, stomping away in anger, and miraculously, not getting lost in the process. "She's been my friend since University, Logan. I know her better than I do you."
"So, now what?" he asked.
"We're going to my office. I'm taking you home."
"You don't want to protect me here anymore?" he asked.
"I think you can take care of yourself. Besides, Ritsuko's right. You're not supposed to be here," Misato said as she opened her office door.
On the way back to her apartment, she asked him the question. "Where are you staying, Logan?"
"This little hotel downtown, right by those weird buildings with no doors," he said.
"Ah, why not stay here with me? Saves you a few thousand yen and I can keep an eye on you better," Misato said.
"I'll make it worth your while, Logan," she added, in a different tone of voice.
Why not, he thought.
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War Room
"MAGI Casper,"
"MAGI Balthasar"
"MAGI Melchior"
"Look at them, Ritsuko," her mother had told her that night. Her hands indicated with a wave the huge metal casings that housed the MAGI supercomputers as they were lowered into the floor of the War Room. "Three organic neural networks, working independently yet seeking consensus.Natural chaotic, illogical processes trying to create order."
"Imprinted with my brain patterns as a mother," Naoko said, glancing at the Melchior subsystem
"Scientist," Ritsuko saw the last of the Balthasar subsystem disappear into the floor.
"and woman," Naoko finished, as techs placed floorboards over the sunken Casper subsystem.
"Congratulations, mother. And everything finished one day before the merger too," Ritsuko had said to Naoko then. "Well, I'm going to pay Misato a visit before her big day tomorrow," Ritsuko smiled happily.
"All right. I have some last calibrations to do here," Naoko said. Her last words to her daughter.
Four hours later, Ritsuko stood on the floor of the War Room alone, softly weeping over a chalk outline of a human form. Naoko had jumped almost forty feet to her death. There were no witnesses. Ritsuko remembered Ikari Gendo was uncharacteristically furious then.
Even as her grandmother was making her way from Fukushima to claim the body, Ritsuko was in her mother's office, clearing away her personal effects, while glancing at some of her old files. Clearing away the personal effects took only a few minutes. There was only that photo of Naoko, Ritsuko and Ikari taken a few months back.
Glancing at old files took a little more time.
She was in Naoko's office until dawn, when she discovered the old reports, from Canadian and American scientists at one of the affiliated labs. A place called Alkali Lake. Something about a super-soldier program. She was reading halfway through it, disgusted at some of the experiments conducted on the poor test subjects, yet, as a scientist, she felt that there was some potential in the results. Particularly that freak, unreplicable success with bonding adamantium to the human skeleton. It would have some application in Project E.
Whoever that Weapon X was, she thought, as she packed the file away, to be archived inside the MAGI later, she would hate to be upsetting it. Or be in a confined space with it.
Geofront Gate 3
"Misato! Slow down! You'll hit the..."
Misato slammed her foot hard on the brake pedal, the car screeching in protest and continued to move forwards towards the metal bar, stopping six inches from a broken windshield.
"See, Ritsuko? I know what I'm doing. I AM the one with real driving skills, you know," she gloated.
Ritsuko regretted filling up the fuel tank before she returned the car keys. Logan sat in the back seat, slowly shaking his head, but smiling to himself at the incident. He couldn't really blame Misato for driving her blue Renault Alpine the way she did. It was, after all, a sports car. He motioned towards the large, one meter wide metal bar that stood in the way.
"What about that thing?"
Misato flashed her ID card at no-one in particular, to no response.
She waved her ID card frantically all over, as if trying to attract someone's attention. She moved her card up and down, sideways, diagonally, flipped it several times, and even frantically fanned herself with it. The metal bar stood still.
"What... is wrong...with.. this...thing?!" Misato yelled in frustration.
"Oh for God's sake," Ritsuko said, producing her own ID card. With a flick of the wrist, she had her card scanned by the overhead reader. The metal bar silently drew back into the walls of the tunnel.
"I swear, the MAGI computers hate me, " Misato said.
"It's a computer. Computers do not hate. Computers do not feel anything. Not even pain," Ritsuko calmly reminded her.
Misato drove the car down a long, downhill tunnel to one of the underground parking lots, wickedly parallel parking along a wall. Logan followed the two women along a well-lit corridor, till the came face to face with several shuttered gates. Much like the turnstiles at a railway station, Ritsuko swiped her ID card, gaining access. The gates shut themselves behind her.
"Welcome to the Geofront, Logan. The last hope of mankind," Misato said in mockingly serious tones. She punched in several numbers in the ID card reader, taking care to cover her hand so he can't see the numbers. The shutters slid open. "Come with me," Misato said. "Nobody's going to bother us in my office," she said, a sly grin crossing her face as they both stepped beyond the treshold and entered the headquarters proper.
It had been almost ten minutes. He grew impatient. "We're going round in circles, girl," he snarled in irritation.
"Nonsense!" Misato replied. "I'm the one who works here, I'll tell you when we're lost,"
The narrow tunnels and corridors in the Geofront that Misato often used as a shortcut were deserted They took left turns, climbed down stairs, rode lonely escalators that Misato often had to start with a swift kick to the "on" switch. After all that, he knew that he saw the same empty soda machine three times. Some sense of direction that this woman had.
"I'm telling ya, you're lost!" Logan reiterated.
"Look, my office is just round the corner here," Misato protested.
Fifteen minutes more of this and they reached one of the main corridors. Misato's office door stood before them. "Told you it wasn't far," Misato triumphally exclaimed, while opening the door with a swipe of her ID card. Logan saw that her office, while bare, was rather spacious, dark but not disruptively so. He sat down in one of the hard wooden chairs, dusty from disuse, while Misato opened up one of her desk drawers, first of all, producing her gun. She strapped the holster around the bare skin of her thigh, shaking her leg to make sure the gun was secure. It seemed like she was planning to use the gun very soon. The next thing she brought out was a plastic credit card that looked exactly like her own ID card. She tossed it to Logan. It had the NERV logo of half a red maple leaf and the agency initials. There was a barcode and magnetic stripe, but otherwise the card was white and featureless.
"Visitor's card," she said, noticing his puzzled expression. "Opens all the unsecured doors inside the Geofront,"
"You're trusting me with this?" He asked, incredulous. Nick Fury at SHIELD would never be so lax with security. And Nick was more times than not, a friend. She was still very much a stranger to him.
"I trust you, Logan," Misato said, smiling. And just in case, the MAGI will take note of every door you open, she thought to herself. But she felt she needed a little test. "I'm going to check up on Ritsuko," she said. "Stay here and don't wander till I get back," she finished, and as she stepped out the door, she blew him a kiss. "See you later, OK?"
The door remained open behind her. She was obviously tempting him.
He sat in his chair, surveying her empty office. There were no cameras that he was aware of, and she may actually know something he doesn't, so he began to casually walk over to her desk. He scanned through some of the papers on her desk. He glanced at the computer screen on her desk, half-hoping to find something useful.
He found reports on drunken fights, gambling, disorderly conduct, stolen equipment. Nothing unusual. Then he saw the recent file. Assigned to her by a Subcommander Fuyutsuki. It was a complete dossier on the recent murder attempts on NERV personnel. He leafed through them, trying to detect a pattern. Gassings in trains. Slit throats in bed. Gunshots on the way to the supermarkets. Missile technicians. Enginees. Scientists.
He read the names of the dead scientists. One name, Kusumadewi, rang bells. He had seen that name before, and it had connections to Alkali Lake. He cursed his bad luck. Another dead end, literally. The people behind his past are disappearing one way or another.
He put the files back. He tried to make her desk look undisturbed. As he did so, he caught the residual whiff of lavender perfume from her chair, which brought his train of thought to Misato. He shook his head, trying to shake some sense into his mind. He knew he didn't come to Japan for her, but now he felt reluctant to leave Tokyo-3 without her.
Project E Lab Subcomplex
"Good Morning, Doctor Akagi,"
"Morning, Myers." Ritsuko locked the lab door behind her, then scanned through the results of last night's experiments. Project E was progressing well on schedule. Myers, one of her many assistants, often kept vigil in the project E labs after everyone else has left., keeping an eye over some ongoing experiments.
"Any news?" Myers asked, handing an empty cup of coffee to Ritsuko. "I'm uhh.. sorry about using your mug..."
"Never mind my mug," Ritsuko replied. "Someone tried to kill me last night."
Myers's eyes went wide. "Say what?" he asked, eyes wide open in shock.
"That's right," Ritsuko sighed. "Sniper tried to get me at Katsuragi's place. Right when I was standing next to her. I guess if she hadn't pushed me out the way.. "
"Wow." Myers was amazed. Ritsuko often spoke about Misato, enough to leave an impression in his mind of an incompetent, irresponsible woman who worked in one of the sub-levels pushing papers, and getting drunk at the end of the day. This was the first time he heard her speak of Misato with respect.
"What happened after that?" he asked.
"I told her to get me back to the Geofront, but she said it was too dangerous to move me at night, so I had to spend the night in her house, with her and that new boyfriend of hers. I think he's her boyfriend, for the next week or so, as usual. Hairy white guy, calls himself Logan. From Madripoor. All the people she brings in..." she shook her head in disapproval.
"Doctor Akagi..." Myers asked, nervous.
"Yes, Myers?"
"Did you just say you spent the whole night at Katsuragi's house?" he asked, uncertain.
"Against my better judgement and free will, yes, could you believe the stench of beer all over the place?" Ritsuko said, smiling.
"So you never came to the labs at all last night, Doctor?"
"No! I told you, Misato wouldn't let me leave!"
Myer's face slowly paled as the blood drained from his face. He took slow, unsteady steps to a lab bench, handing Ritsuko a clipboard. She recognized the documents as an inventory check printout.
"So you didn't sign this?" Myers asked, barely a hoarse whisper.
Ritsuko held the clipboard, her eyes carefully reading the statement line by line. The MAGI printout was timestamped at 4 a.m. It authorized the transfer of several handheld sonic oscillators, half a meter of platinum ribbon, and the adamantium slag from the Lance replica project from the Geofront to the Matsushiro testing grounds. At the bottom, in her favourite dark blue ink, was her signature.
"Impossible... I..I never signed this!" Ritsuko gasped. "How did this happen?" she barked, rapidly gaining some composure.
"You.. you came in here at 4 am, I let you in myself!" Myers said. Ritsuko found a chair and plunked her body on it, she was getting dizzy from the shock. "You had the Operations staff take out the inventory, then signed the inventory check yourself!"
Ritsuko cradled her head with both hands. How was this possible? She couldn't have possibly sleepwalked from Misato's place. The security systems wouldn't have let unauthorized persons in.
"Myers," she said softly. " I want to see all the project scientists in this lab, then triple check everything related to the Evangelion project for sabotage and .."
"Yes, Doctor?"
"Put the Commander on the phone for me," Ritsuko sighed. She should have jumped in front of that bullet last night.
Aichi
The NERV helicopter made a quick landing at an open field. Three men and a box got off. The helicopter took off again. They carried the heavy box with them.
"Easy! Easier than stealing candy from the dead!"
Kaji couldn't help but chuckle. His partner in crime was right. They'd been thinking for months on how to liberate the adamantium from NERV, without being able to come up with anything workable. Then they had a massive stroke of good luck. They found someone who could pull off the ultimate inside job. She even signed the paperwork.
"You sure it's smart, not telling her the hit on Ritsuko failed?" asked Creed, his mane of blond hair blowing wildly from the backdraft of the departing chopper. Kaji shrugged, nonchalantly. "She's tough. She's smart. She'll figure out a way."
"She doesn't know the real Ritsuko ain't dead."
"She'll live, Creed. We won't, if we can't get this adamantium to Jasmine Falls before they figure out it's ..."
"Missing?! How can you allow it to go missing?!"
"Subcommander, I've already told you everything I know," Ritsuko initially felt panic at the initial discovery, but now it has been replaced with cold rage. How dare whoever it was, steal from her labs? Who dared fake her signature?
"I suppose asking for your resignation would not help matters," Fuyutsuki said, in a cold, formal tone. "I will discuss our next course of action with the Commander. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Chief Scientist Akagi."
"Kaji you little bastard...."
"What?"
"You're not really helping us move this are you? You're just parking your hands under the damn box..." cursed Creed.
"Oh. My apologies. I was just thinking how we could tell our darling Ritsuko to bail," Kaji said. The real Ritsuko, he silenty muterred to himself.
"Get this crate to Jasmine Falls first, then think," reprimanded the third man. "Brother Pierce will have an answer," he said.
Central Dogma
A large central shaft under the pyramid headquarters of NERV led straight down almost four kilometers deep. It was called the Central Dogma. It housed many things that Misato never bothered to find out. Access became more and more restricted the deeper down one goes. Nobody she knows has even seen the door to Terminal Dogma, the large vault at the end of the shaft. Ritsuko once commented that it was like the mouth of Hell itself.
So it strangely made sense for Misato to look for Ritsuko there. She found her friend after almot two hours of searching, at one of the lower levels of the Dogma, resting against the metal safety railings, staring down into the darkness of the shaft. She was glad to have found Ritsuko, some parts of the Dogma were practically deserted, and dark. She liked neither the darkness nor the silence.
"Ritsuko!" she cried out. "Ritsuko!"
Ritsuko turned, faintly smiling when she saw Misato approach. She beckoned her to come closer.
"Hello, Misato."
"You're a long way down," Misato said. "Two levels deeper and I'd run out of access."
Ritsuko chuckled softly. "So they don't trust either one of us going down there." She stared at the shadows dancing across the walls of the Dogma. "So what brings you to me?" Ritsuko asked, her hands slowly coming to rest on her hips.
"I'm checking up on you, silly! Most people don't act normal just after someone tries to kill them, so I thought I'd keep an eye on you," she said, cheerfully.
"Tried... " the word echoed softly in the dark shaft. Tried, she thought to herself. "How long since the ...attempt?" Ritsuko asked her friend.
"Almost 16 hours ago now.. I guess whoever it was is too far away to catch now. Gee, Ritsuko, I really think you should see one of the shrinks. Post-traumatic stress disorder's got you bad," Misato said, smiling reassuringly at Ritsuko.
"No! I'm fine. " Ritsuko protested.
Misato stared at the floor, suddenly pensive. "Look Ritsuko, I'm really sorry about what happened. I know you think I've failed you again.."
Ritsuko stood still, betraying no emotion.
"I'm supposed to be keeping you safe and all, me being the big bad MP, but I can't even find the piece of @#%$ that hit you on the head back in university. Now we can't even track down who tried to kill you. I know you're mad at me for not chasing after the sniper, but..."
Ritsuko stared at her friend's bowed head. "But?.." she asked.
"I have to take care of the civilian too. I mean, Logan's pretty much an innocent here, and I .."
"Logan... " Ritsuko hissed in thinly veiled contempt.
"Yeah, I noticed your distaste," Misato said, then added "he's not that bad, Ritsuko. I think he's got potential,"
"Potential..." sneered Ritsuko, in a hostile tone that was somehow different from her usual sarcasm. "Where is he anyway?"
"My office. Oh relax, Ritsuko, the MAGI are keeping track of his movements. How'd you think I found you? I checked the MAGI for all the doors you opened," Misato smiled. "See, you're not the only person with computer skills," she said, proud of herself in a small way.
Ritsuko eyed her up and down. "Does he know you're here?" she asked, turning to face Misato.
"Of course not...."
Ritsuko smiled, before launching a spinning heel kick that landed square on Misato's head. She reeled from the impact, her body slamming on the metal safety rails, before she slumped down, dazed. Before she could react to the shock of the betrayal,. Ritsuko had managed to twist her gun out of its holster. She then laid a hand on Misato's chest and pushed her down, trying to use her own body weight to keep Misato down on the floor, as her free right hand then pointed Misato's own service automatic handgun to her forehead. The cold steel pressed hard into her skull.
Misato had managed to register the thought that something was horribly, horribly wrong. As she sat there, Ritsuko nudged the barrel of the gun harder against her head, the barrel making an impression on the skin of her fae.. This is impossible, Misato thought. Ritsuko was just a scientist. There was no way Ritsuko could move faster than she did.
"The access codes for Terminal Dogma," Ritsuko hissed. "Give them to me or die.."
"What are you, stupid?!" Misato snarled back at her erstwhile friend. "You already know the damn access codes. This isn't funny, Ritsuko. Give me my gun back before I decide to kick your ass for that cheap stunt." Her head throbbed with pain. Ritsuko wasn't playing around with that kick.
"Pity," Ritsuko said. "Well, I suppose I'll just kill you now. You're a little lower on the hit list, but I think I'll speed it up..." her finger began to exert pressure on the trigger. Misato saw, with mounting horror, the hammer of her own gun beginning to draw back.She had to act fast if she wanted to live, but any sudden movement might make Ritsuko reflexively pull the trigger.
"Uh-hum." The two women were startled by the deep growl of some large animal. There were no animals this deep in the Dogma.
Misato saw Ritsuko waver a bit, as if recognizing the sound, and associating the sound with a lot of pain. But the gun remained fast against her skull.
"Back off, Wolverine!!," Ritsuko shouted, in a voice not her own. "Or you're going to have to find another NERV slut.. Back off, you hear me you hairy bastard?!" Ritsuko shouted.
Misato took the opportunity to slap the gun away from her head. Ritsuko had fired instinctively, but the bullet harmlessly made its way through Misato's hair, doing her no real harm. A swift knee to the gut, and Misato had managed to throw her former friend off her. The gun flew away and landed some distance away with a clattering sound. Ritsuko quickly rolled away from Misato and stood up in a defensive fighting stance. Out of the corner of her eye, Misato saw something running fast approaching Ritsuko.
It was Logan, charging out of the shadows. There was something that he was holding in his hand. It had looked like knives. Logan made hard slashing motions with those knives at Ritsuko, which she ducked under, and turned the momentum by a leg sweep that staggered the sturdy Logan , but wasn't enough to drop him. He jumped away from Ritsuko, and the two combatants began to circle each other, each looking for an opportunity to strike.
Misato quickly tried to make her way to her gun. Logan made another jump at Ritsuko, trying to stab her with those knives he had, but Ritsuko was ready, grabbing him by the wrist, and skillfully throwing him against a solid steel support beam. He hit with a thud, the aid quickly being knocked out of his lungs. Ritsuko took the opportunity to run, rapidly tearing away her highly visible lab coat and trying to make it to the shadows.
Misato found her gun precariously perched on the lip of the Dogma. Logan gave chase to Ritsuko, or whoever it was, snarling like an animal. Misato quickly turned her body around, trying to find Logan and Ritsuko.
"Come out, Mystique," Logan taunted his opponent. "I ain't finished chopping out your guts," he said, eyes carefully scanning the shadows for any movement. Misato quickly tried to make her way to him, but a shot rang out from nowhere, making a small indentation in the floor a few inches away from her foot.Misato cursed, and ducked and rolled her way to hide behind a support pillar. She couldn't pinpoint the direction the shot came from.
She softly cursed, her ears trying hard to detect movement. What was going on? What was wrong with Ritsuko that made her try to kill me? she thought to herself. And what was that that she called Logan?
He made his way slowly, carefully, through the shadows, his claws caught the ambient light and glinted with a cold light, giving his position away. He didn't care. This ends here, now.
Misato heard a running sound. She peeked out from behind the pillar she was hiding behind. She saw Ritsuko charging towards her, and Logan was giving chase, but Ritsuko had too much of a lead. She pointed her gun at Ritsuko's knee, thinking that she should try for a non-lethal target.
"Ritsuko! Stop!" she yelled in warning. Ritsuko paid her no heed.
"Damn it! Stop! Stop or I'll...." do what? fire? actually shoot a friend? Ritsuko kept on running, easily outpacing Logan.
Ritsuko reached the safety railing, then to Misato's numb horror, vaulted over the railing, laughing maniacally as she fell.
"Damn. She keeps running places I can't reach," Logan cursed as he walked over to catch a glimpse of the falling form.
Misato saw, through the horror she felt, that it wasn't knives that he held in his hand.
"Who.. what are you?" she stammered, slowly pointing her gun at Logan. "And whatever those things are, drop them. Now."
"Like I told you before, darlin'. Name's Logan, and as for these," he said, indicating his claws, "'fraid I can't quite do that." He retracted his claws, and with a snickt sound, they slid back into his arm. "Uh.. you can put the gun down, Misato."
"Not till you tell me what I want to hear! " Misato snarled back, her hands slightly trembling from the horror she just witnessed."What the hell just happened there? Did you force Ritsuko to jump?! Answer me!"
Logan raised in arms in a mock gesture of surrender. "That really wasn't your pal Ritsuko,"
"Oh? Really? " she asked, bitterly.
"I know her. Mutant shapechanger, name of Mystique. Pain in the ass, that scaly blue bitch."
"Mutant.." Misato thought to herself. She knew one mutant working in the agency, a technician named Imagawa who had superhuman strength. It was quite a sight to the uninitiated, seeing him carry equipment that must have weighted tons. "So I guess you'd be one too.. those things in your hands..." She lowered her bead on him.
"Wasn't born with them.. Someone put them in."
"Who?" Misato asked, curious.
"That's why I came to this town. Seems that one of your scientists were among the ones that put them in me," he said, carefully skipping over the details.
Misato peered into the dark shaft. She could see some of the red warning lights, but nothing else. The Dogma wasn't installed with lights yet. "How'd you follow me to the Dogma? I told you to stay put!" she said, a little disappointment discernible in her voice.
Logan tapped his nose. "Your scent's kinda easy to follow. I just followed the trail of beer,"
Misato suppressed a laugh. "show some respect for beer. That's how we met," she smiled at him. "So that wasn't Ritsuko? The real Ritsuko's safe?" Logan nodded, casting a glance at the darkened pit where he knew, he just knew, that his opponent was hiding down there somewhere.
"Why don't you check up on her yourself?" Logan suggested.
"Hey Logan," Misato said, in a completely different tone of voice.
"What?"
"You understand Japanese perfectly well, don't you?"
"Well,yeah, I do know a couple of words here and there, " he bluffed. He understood the language perfectly.
"So you heard..."
"Yup" was Logan's simple reply.
"Oh no," Misato blushed slightly. "Well, come on up with me to the upper levels, mister potential,"
Logan grinned at the last remark. This had potential, he thought.
"This is a potential disaster, ladies and gentlemen," Ritsuko said to the assembled senior scientists. "Construction of the prototype Evangelion unit is still behind schedule, and now we've lost the adamantium sample that was supposed to be for the replica Lance." Her eyes scanned every face in the room for any hint of worry.
"Has there been any demands by the thieves?" asked someone.
Ritsuko shook her head. "I wish there was," she said. "We believe whoever stole the adamantium knew what to do with it. They stole some of the oscillators as well," murmurs of knowing dread rippled throughout the lab.
"Come on, come on you stupid door, open up!" Misato practically yelled at the door, Logan standing behind her as she repeatedly swiped her ID card throught the card reader, only to get a pleasant computer voice say "No Access" to her over and over again. He wisely stood aside as Misato continued her frantic begging and cursing at the MAGI computers to let her in.
"Which means," Ritsuko said with a sigh, "that we'll be refocusing our research goals for the short term. The Prog Knife system will now have top priority in weapons systems ......"
"Damn you, stupid computer!" Misato yelled at the door. "I know the labs are restricted but it's important! I need to check on Ritsuko..." The sudden opening of the door surprised her, especially as she had given up swiping her card and was about to pound on the door until someone opened up.
Ritsuko was interrupted before she could end the sentence. Several heads, including her own, turned to one of the doors which had inexplicably opened, despite her personally locking all the doors electronically. Misato stood on the other side, a look of relief on her face appearing as soon as she saw Ritsuko's own, less than amused expression.
"How did you open that door?" Ritsuko asked. "It's supposed to be off limits to uniformed personnel. Especially civillians," she said, nudging an eyebrow at Logan's direction. "That's gratitude for you," Misato muttered under her breath. "Just checking on you, Ritsuko, making sure you didn't jump off the Dogma .. or something"
"What are you babbling about? I'm conducting a meeting! We can discuss this later, Lieutenant Katsuragi," Ritsuko said, dismissing her friend with a wave of her hand. Misato took the obvious signal to go away, taking Logan by the hand as she made her way to her office.
"She just ain't your type, is she?" Logan asked, as Misato made a beeline for her office, stomping away in anger, and miraculously, not getting lost in the process. "She's been my friend since University, Logan. I know her better than I do you."
"So, now what?" he asked.
"We're going to my office. I'm taking you home."
"You don't want to protect me here anymore?" he asked.
"I think you can take care of yourself. Besides, Ritsuko's right. You're not supposed to be here," Misato said as she opened her office door.
On the way back to her apartment, she asked him the question. "Where are you staying, Logan?"
"This little hotel downtown, right by those weird buildings with no doors," he said.
"Ah, why not stay here with me? Saves you a few thousand yen and I can keep an eye on you better," Misato said.
"I'll make it worth your while, Logan," she added, in a different tone of voice.
Why not, he thought.