Neon Genesis Evangelion:
The Genesis Crisis
The fourth day:
Forget about Tomorrow
"I'll never be happy," Misato said to herself, repeating Shinji's statement. His words the previous night had shaken her, and they had stayed with her all through the night. She sat back in her chair around the small table in the room, idly watching the rice boil on the other side of the kitchen. She had dug out an old cookbook somebody had given her when she had moved to Tokyo-3. She suspected it was from Ritsuko, as some kind of joke, but there was no signature on the book to say who it was from so she couldn't be sure. She had found a recipe for a traditional Japanese breakfast of steamed rice, miso soup, and saké. However she had decided to forego the saké. It had been a long while since she had eaten a good breakfast, especially due to everything that had occurred over the last few days. She had decided to treat herself, even in such a small way, in the hopes it would help lift her spirits. Of course in order to have enough time to prepare the meal she had forced herself to get up early. The early rise, coupled with the little sleep she had got, had meant that she was in worse shape than she had been the previous night. Her hair had seemed very unhealthy, greasy and tangled, when she woke. So she had taken a shower early in the hopes of trying to improve her image. It had helped, but not much. Her face was beginning to look haggard, and she was finding it hard to keep concentrated on one thing for too long. The stresses of home and work were beginning to take their tolls on the NERV operations director.
"Black skin?" she thought aloud. 'Why had the commander been so interested in the black skin? Maya's explanation that it was caused by the artificial S2 engine sounds plausible, but there is definitely something that is going on here which the Commander wants to keep secret.' She thought back over all the information she had gathered since receiving the information Kaji had already discovered.
"Kaji…" she whispered his name. She had tried to forget that man, but it had proved nearly impossible. Every time she pushed his memory to the back of her mind, it always resurfaced somehow. So she blocked the memory once again, knowing full well it would return to haunt her sometime.
She didn't know too much about the exact process of third impact, but what she did know was that NERV seemed to have everything it needed to start the event. But for some reason no action had been taken towards it. 'Is that why SEELE is attacking NERV? Has the Commander decided not to go through with Third Impact after all?' The thought seemed to make sense, but if he had truly abandoned third impact why had he not destroyed everything that could cause it? Was it because he couldn't destroy them? She knew that in order to stave off SEELE's assault the Evangelions were needed. But what of the gigantic white creature in the lower levels of the Geofront? That seemed to be critical to instrumentality, and yet it had not been destroyed, and in its current condition it would not be hard to eliminate it. At the minute she didn't have the information she needed to answer any of these questions. Only time would provide the answers she wanted.
The sound of furious bubbling broke her from her reverie. Her eyes focused on the pan sitting on top of the oven just in time to see water was boiling over the sides. She cried out in panic and quickly made for the knobs on the oven to turn the flame down, just as the phone began to ring. "Crap!" she cursed, as she hurried to turn the heat off and rushed over to the phone in the living room.
"Hello?" she said, as she answered the phone.
"Major Katsuragi?" A timid female voice on the other end asked.
"Yes?" Misato asked, wondering why NERV would be calling this early in the morning. Her instincts told her that something big must be going on.
"Um, we have urgent need for you at the Geofront, m-ma'am," the woman on the other end began, trying to break the news as painlessly as she could.
"What is it?" she asked, trying to hide her disappointment of being robbed out of her breakfast.
"We have reports of, um… activity, at the other NERV bases, ma'am."
"What kind of activity?"
"I don't know ma'am, that's all the information I have been given. But Lieutenant Ibuki says it's urgent, ma'am." There was silence from Misato for a long while.
"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can," she answered. She put the phone down, and looked into the kitchen. She could still hear slight bubbling sounds coming from the pan full of rice. She sighed to herself. 'Looks like there's going to be no breakfast for me this morning.' She was about to go to the pan and throw out its contents when a thought struck her. 'Maybe Shinji would want it?' Her eyes drifted to the room marked 'Shinji's Lovely Suite.' He was still in his room. Shinji had never been out of his room in the mornings for a long while. Misato didn't know if he was just sleeping, or if he was trying to avoid her. She tried to put the thoughts from her mind and get ready to leave. After grabbing her jacket she hastily scribbled a note to Shinji, telling him the food was there if he wanted it, and left it on the table in the living room. She didn't know whether he would want it, but maybe if he accepted it would go some way towards patching up their relationship. She sighed once again, and then scooped up her car keys from the table and headed out of the apartment.
***
"We've just received a report from the NERV branch in Hamburg," Hyuga reported.
"What are they saying?" Maya asked.
"The same as the others. They are under attack from an unknown enemy and require urgent assistance."
'Where is Major Katsuragi? I can't handle all this,' Maya thought, trying to hide her panic.
"Beijing branch has just transmitted a distress call also," Aoba informed Maya.
"I've lost all transmission from NERV-04 in Massachusetts," Hyuga reported.
"Do you want us to reply to the distress calls?" Aoba asked, turning around in his chair to look at Maya. Maya was standing behind the two analysts watching the situation unfold on the large holographic displays in the centre of the Geofront's command tower. The longhaired technician knew that Maya would be finding it hard to cope with the situation so he and Hyuga were trying their best to help her out.
'What would Major Katsuragi do now? And where is the Commander, or the sub-Commander?'
"What's the situation?" Misato Katsuragi demanded as she strode into the control room. Maya seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at the sight of the major. In fact she seemed so relieved at the older woman's appearance that she hadn't paid attention to what she had said.
"Approximately an hour ago we received a distress call from our branch in Marseilles," Hyuga said quickly, sparing Maya from having to be asked for a report again. "Since then all the other major NERV branches, excluding Matsushiro, have also sent out distress calls."
"Why are they sending distress calls to us?" Misato asked, wondering why the other SEELE loyal branches would be asking for help from the traitorous Tokyo-3 branch.
"It appears to be a general broadcast to all NERV installations and nearby military bases," Maya answered, managing to compose herself. "They aren't asking specifically for our help."
"So what problems are they reporting?" Misato asked. Her military training dictated that she should find out as much as she could about the situation before acting on it.
"They have all reported their MAGI's being infiltrated and then their locations being physically assaulted by Mass Production model Evangelions."
'Hmm, a textbook infiltration tactic,' Misato concluded. "It could simply be a trap, in order to lure our forces from the Geofront. Have we received confirmation on any of the information received?"
"Well we have received information that forces are being sent to each of the NERV bases from nearby military installations."
'Idiots,' Misato thought. 'What good can soldiers do against an Eva? If it were a hoax then SEELE would realise that sending troops to fight Eva's would look unrealistic. But then again why would SEELE come up with such an elaborate hoax, surely there has to be easier ways to try and force our hand?'
"We've recently lost all contact with branches in Massachusetts and Marseilles, ma'am," Maya reported, seeing that her superior was unlikely to say anything soon.
'But, if this was genuine, why would SEELE be attacking its own bases?' Misato wondered, making a mental note of Maya's information. "Just sit tight for the minute. At the speed those bases are falling I don't think we could get there in time to help them anyway. The best thing to do is to send a message to Matsushiro, tell them to expect a similar attack, and prepare ourselves for an attack. If this was some attempt at a trap then we have nothing really to worry about."
"And if it wasn't a trap?" Maya asked tentatively.
"Then we had better be ready for an attack when this mysterious force comes for us," Misato stated grimly.
***
"You are Gendo Ikari, are you not?" the monolith marked SEELE-01 asked. Gendo simply remained silent. "I know of you Ikari, and I know that you will most likely know who I am," Keel continued. Fuyutsuki looked at his friend and commanding officer, hoping to get an explanation for these odd events.
"So, you have taken over SEELE," Gendo stated.
"Indeed, I know all their secrets now. I know you harbour what I seek, and you must surely know that I will come for it eventually. Even as we speak I am growing in strength."
"You know I will fight you, though," Gendo replied calmly.
"Of course, it would be against your nature not too. However your colleagues also fought, and they fell. They had weapons greater than yours, so what chance do you believe you stand?"
"But we know what you are, and we know what you are after," Gendo stated.
"That information will do you no good. The members of SEELE knew what I was…" Keel's voice trailed off. Suddenly all the monoliths in the room became active.
"And look at them now," all the members of SEELE spoke in unison.
"The old men of SEELE we're fools. They had no back up plan in case Operation Nagisa failed," Gendo stated.
"I know that you have no such plan Ikari. And even if you did, nothing could stand up to the might of eight mass produced Evangelions," the collective voices retorted.
"You cannot yet have eight," Gendo countered.
"No, but I soon will," the voices answered, a confident tone in each of their voices. "Know this Ikari, I am your destruction, and there is nothing you can do." The members of SEELE broke out into manic laughter, almost deafening the two figures standing in the centre of the circle of monoliths. And then the laughing abruptly stopped as all the monoliths disappeared into the shadows of the room simultaneously. There was silence in the dark room for a long while, before Fuyutsuki voiced his thoughts.
"Was that it then?" he asked.
"Yes, I believe that was the last. If it has taken SEELE already, then we are at a disadvantage, for it knows more about us, than we it."
"So it was what attacked us three days ago?"
Gendo nodded.
"If it does acquire all the remaining Eva series, how will we be able to fight it?"
"We must make sure it does not acquire the other mass produced Eva's. Send a message to Matsushiro. Tell them to self-destruct their Eva's," Gendo ordered.
"Why would they listen to us?"
"Tell them that it is the Evangelions the enemy is after, and that they will be left alone if they destroy theirs."
"But that will leave them defenceless," Fuyutsuki informed his commanding officer. He knew that Gendo would be fully aware of this fact, but he had to attempt to dissuade him from this action, no matter how futile the attempt was, if only to soothe his own conscience.
"They stand little chance as it is. This way we will stand a better chance when it comes for us."
"How much should we tell them about the situation?" Fuyutsuki inquired.
"No more than we must. It would do them no good to learn more."
"Very well, sir," Fuyutsuki replied, acknowledging his orders, knowing full well they would send many men and women to their deaths.
***
Alarms wailed in Terminal Dogma.
"What's going on?" Misato asked.
"We have detected an intrusive force within the MAGI," Maya Ibuki reported. She had returned to her workstation to keep watch on the events that were unfolding.
"It's being hacked?" Misato asked for conformation of her deduction.
"Yes ma'am," Maya replied. She and the other analysts in the room busily began working to expel the electronic intruder.
"I thought you had erected a firewall?" Misato asked.
"Yes ma'am, a type 666 firewall. It is a complex barrier, whatever program they are using must be advanced to break through it as fast as it did."
"Can you stop the hack?"
"I'll try but- uh!" Maya grunted in frustration. "As soon as I'm erecting blocks the hack just breaks straight through them!"
"How are you two faring?" Misato asked the other two analysts, hoping they were having some luck.
"Not good, Major," Aoba replied.
"We're having the same problems as Lieutenant Ibuki," Hyuga explained. "We just don't have the skills to cope with this level of infiltration."
"We need Dr. Akagi's help," Maya said.
"No we don't, you've studied under her for a long while. You know the workings of the MAGI nearly as well as she does, you can do it Maya," Misato replied. 'Does she really not have the skills, or is she just desperate to get Ritsu out of the brig?' Misato wondered. 'I can't afford to lose time over some idol worship.'
"But, ma'am-" Maya tried to protest.
"Damn it Maya!" Misato blurted out. "We can't afford to lose time arguing over this! How much time do we have left?"
"About, five or six minutes," Hyuga answered.
"Can you stop the hack in that time?" Misato asked, turning back to Maya.
"I don't know if I can stop the hack at all. The best I can manage is to maybe slow it down by a minute or two," Maya answered. Misato looked up at the display which showed a diagram of the three computers which composed the MAGI. Nearly all we're illuminated in blue, showing that everything with the computer was fine. However a red glow was slowly creeping over the diagram of Balthasar, covering more than half of it.
'Shit!' Misato cursed inwardly. 'We can't afford to lose the MAGI.'
"What is the current situation?" a level voice asked. Misato turned round to see Gendo Ikari standing on the top level of the command tower, staring down at her. As always Kozo Fuyutsuki was by his side.
"An outside force is attempting to hack into the MAGI," Misato reported, using her best business voice.
"Is the incursion being contained?" Gendo asked, his eyes boring down into the purple haired major from behind his orange tinted glasses.
"Not with any success, sir."
"Do we expect to be able to stop it?" Gendo asked.
"Lieutenant Ibuki does not believe she will be able to stop the incursion, sir."
"What are our options?" Gendo asked. His tone seemed to convey that he already knew the options, but was checking to make sure if Misato did.
"Lieutenant Ibuki believes that Dr, Akagi would be able to prevent the loss of the MAGI, sir," she answered. She hated it when Gendo spoke to her in that manner, as if she was some rookie fresh out of training. He seemed to ponder the information for a moment.
"Very well, send word to the brig to have Dr. Akagi brought here," Gendo ordered after a while. Misato paused for a moment, considering whether or not to question his orders. Certainly, Ritsuko was her friend, but in her current condition she wondered whether she would do more harm than good. She looked back at Maya, a look of almost pleading on the woman's face.
"Do your best to slow it down. I'll send word to the brig for Dr. Akagi to be brought up here," Misato finally gave in. A smile seemed to appear on Maya's face for a moment, before a look of concentration replaced it and the Lieutenant returned back to her work. 'Damn it, the last thing we need right now is a loose cannon like Ritsuko running around free.'
***
A shaft of light punctuated the darkness of the prison cell as the door opened. A figure stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the lights from the corridor outside. Ritsuko Akagi knew it was nobody important, just some pawn of Gendo's sent to do his bidding.
"Let me guess," she began, before the guard had even opened his mouth to speak. "They need help with the MAGI's self defence system?"
"That's right," the guard replied, seemingly irritated by the accuracy of Ritsuko's prediction. "Report to Terminal Dogma where you will be briefed by Lieutenant Ibuki."
"He expects the woman he abandoned to jump when he calls?" Ritsuko said scornfully, mainly to herself but loud enough for the guard to hear. She obviously felt no fear of Gendo, or speaking her mind about him. "Arrogant bastard."
***
Shinji stared down at the frail form of the girl on the hospital bed. It hurt him to look at her like this. She had once been so proud and full of life. She had been like this for weeks, lying on her side as if in some peaceful slumber. But Shinji knew her slumber would be far from peaceful. Like him she had suffered great pain in her short life, and like him it had got to be too much for her to bear. He had spent nearly a year of his life living with this girl, so before he left he felt he should say goodbye. Even if she might not be able to hear or understand him.
"Asuka?" he began tentatively. "Asuka, I'm going to be leaving soon. I'm sorry we won't be able to talk anymore, but I have to get away from this place. From all of this. It hurts too much to stay here, all the memories this place holds. I'm sure you know what I mean," he said sadly. He looked away for a moment, as if not wanting to remind the girl of those memories. But he couldn't help reminding himself of those memories. The tears she had shed when she had learned of the death of Ryoji Kaji, the man she had admired for so long. Her agonised screams and pleas for help as the fifteenth angel had invaded her mind, exposing all the memories she had buried many years ago. Certainly they had shared good times, the two Eva pilots. But, like any happy memory Shinji had, it all seemed so long ago.
"I'm sorry I won't be waiting here for you when you wake, Asuka. But I have to thank you, you gave me the strength to do what I needed to do." A small smile appeared on Shinji's face for a moment before disappearing again. "I hope one day, that I'll see you again Asuka. Goodbye."
***
"What's the situation?" Ritsuko Akagi asked, as she walked onto the lower floor of the control tower. She was wearing her white labcoat once again, looking completely at home in the environment of high-tech computers that was the Geofront's control centre. She walked towards the three blocky structures that housed the MAGI supercomputer that ran the Geofront, and the woman who stood waiting by them.
"Dr. Akagi," Maya addressed her, some degree of happiness evident in her voice. "The MAGI is being invaded by an external force," she informed her mentor, returning to a more matter-of-fact tone of voice.
"Where is the hack coming from?" the blonde haired scientist asked.
"We have detected several computers working together. The MAGI's from Beijing, Massachusetts, Hamburg, Berlin and Marseilles, ma'am."
"What's your prediction for how long we have until the MAGI is completely taken over?" she asked, already starting up her laptop and preparing the necessary connections for interfacing with the MAGI.
"We believe we have approximately three minutes twenty seconds left," Maya replied, as she watched in fascination as her mentor worked with practised ease to prepare her equipment.
"I'm assuming the hack is of a high level if you are bringing me in to fix the problem," she remarked. She tucked her laptop under her arm, kneeled down and began to make her way through the small access tunnel into the centre of the Caspar MAGI unit.
"Y-Yes ma'am," Maya replied, bending over to peer down the small tunnel. "I had already installed a type 666 firewall beforehand, and that was broken down within a few seconds."
"Hmm," the computer expert pondered this for a moment. "Have you attempted to modulate the encryption codes?" she groaned slightly as she worked herself round into a sitting position within the confines of the tunnel.
"Yes, ma'am, that only slowed down the incursion by about half a minute ma'am," Maya reported.
'Hmm, she really has been paying attention to what I had taught her,' Ritsuko realised, as she thought of how many other NERV employees would have overlooked that option. "Has there been any attempt at a direct interface with the MAGI so far?"
"No ma'am, I thought I had best wait until you arrived to attempt that. You do have a better knowledge of the MAGI than anybody else," Maya commented.
'No, there was one person who knew it better than I did,' she thought, looking around at the many notes pinned along the walls of the access tunnel. "How much has already been infected?"
"All of Balthasar, and seventy five percent of Melchior, ma'am."
'Not long until Caspar is compromised then,' Ritsuko noted. "Are you still working at attempting to slow down the incursion?" she asked, as she plugged wires into the exposed synthetic brain of Caspar.
"Yes, ma'am." Maya nodded to emphasise her answer.
"Good, keep on it. I'm going to attempt to erect a Jericho firewall around Caspar and purge the system from there, I'll need as much time as I can get."
"How long will it take ma'am?" Maya asked.
"I'm not sure," Ritsuko replied as she began to work on the complex codes needed to install the firewall. "But as I said I will need as much time as I can get."
"Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am," Maya hastily apologised before heading back to the computers on the next floor of the control tower.
'I'm going to need as much time as I can get,' Ritsuko thought. 'Especially since a firewall isn't the only thing I intend to program into the MAGI.' A small smile appeared on the woman's face.
***
"What's Dr. Akagi's plan?" Misato asked, looking over her shoulder at Maya as she returned to the main floor of the control tower. The purple haired Major stood with arms folded in front of the other two analysts, who were still working to slow down the infection.
"She is attempting to seal Caspar and then purge the system," Maya repeated, as she halted next to the Major.
"How long will that take?"
"She doesn't know, but she wants us to keep working to slow the spread of the hack," Maya informed her.
"Very well. You had probably better get back to your work, Lieutenant."
"Yes, ma'am," Maya nodded her agreement before taking her place in front of one of the computers arrayed on that level.
"Is the situation being brought under control?" Misato turned to face the source of the questioning voice. She saw that Commander Ikari was still standing at the edge of the top floor of the control tower. His hands were clasped behind him and his seemingly unblinking eyes still staring down at her.
"Yes, sir. But it still remains to be seen whether the operation will be successful," she answered, not wanting to promise something she might not be able to deliver.
"I trust you can handle this situation by yourself from now on," Gendo concluded. "Tell the First Child to report to my office, I will need to talk to her about the current situation," he said, not allowing Misato enough time to reply to his first statement. He then turned and walked out of view, disappearing behind the lip of the short wall surrounding the top floor.
'By myself?' Misato thought angrily. 'He didn't even do anything! And what would he need to speak to Rei personally about?' Misato pondered these questions for a moment before pushing them to the back of her mind to focus on the task at hand. "What's the current condition of the MAGI?"
"Melchior is now ninety five percent infected. The infection will spread to Caspar within the next thirty seconds," Maya reported calmly.
"What happens if Caspar is infected before it is sealed?" Misato asked, wanting to know the true extent of the threat.
"So long as it is not fully infected it shouldn't matter. Once the infected areas are cut off from the source they should become dormant. Dr. Akagi would have to remove any infection from Caspar before purging the rest of the system however," Maya answered, keeping her eyes fixed on the screen in front of her as her fingers worked furiously on the keyboard in front of her.
"Damn it!" Aoba suddenly shouted.
"What's the problem?" Misato asked, looking over at the analyst she could see the frustration clearly showing on his face.
"I just spent about thirty seconds programming that block, and it only held for about three seconds!" he said, frustration evident in his voice.
"We're finding it hard to come up with anything that's effective, ma'am," Hyuga added.
"Just stay calm and keep trying," Misato told the pair. Aoba grumbled slightly before returning to begin typing once again on his keyboard. Misato turned back to what Maya was doing. Her eyes watched in fascination as lines of code appeared faster than she could follow on the screen, all designed to slow down the other MAGI from taking control over the original. "I had no idea that the MAGI's could be so powerful," she commented.
"They shouldn't be," Maya replied.
"Huh?"
"Not even ten MAGI working together should be this good," she answered. "It's one of the things that has been worrying me. I don't know whether SEELE has developed a new infiltration program, or secretly upgraded the MAGI, but they shouldn't be dealing with our blocks this easily. The last time I saw an infiltration of such magnitude it was the eleventh Angel."
"Could this be the eleventh Angel?" Misato suddenly blurted out. Maya stared at her Major in slight shock at her unexpected outburst.
"I'm sure it was destroyed, ma'am," Maya replied, her eyes still wide with surprise.
"Caspar has been penetrated," Hyuga announced. "Five percent infection detected."
"But I remember Dr. Akagi saying that it could simply co-exist with the MAGI, instead of being destroyed. And there is still the possibility that some of it has remained dormant somewhere within the Geofront."
"It's possible ma'am," Maya said. "However the source of the hack has been confirmed as the five MAGI."
"Hmm, I guess you're right. I suppose I was just worried that we had another Angel to battle," Misato said, finally realising the logic in Maya's words.
"I understand," Maya replied, empathising with the Major's dislike of Angels. The shorthaired woman stared up at her superior, waiting to see if she would say something else. Misato noticed the woman's expectant look.
"Sorry for interrupting you," she apologised, hiding her embarrassment. "You should return to your work." The brown haired woman then turned round and resumed her work.
'I had better not disturb her any more,' Misato thought. 'We need all the help we can to get through this.' Misato thought over Maya's words once more. 'Another Angel?' she wondered. 'Could it be?'
***
"Rei, as you know NERV is currently threatened by SEELE," Gendo began. He stared at the blue haired girl standing on the other side of his desk. She was dressed in her usual attire of a school uniform. Her red eyes stared back at him, as he sat in his usual pose, fingers steepled, behind his desk. "That threat has grown recently as SEELE are currently attempting to take over the MAGI. We expect a physical assault within the next twenty-four hours. I want to brief you personally on your priorities when the enemy comes." Rei continued to stare at the head of NERV. Although she remained silent Gendo Ikari knew she was taking in every word he was saying.
"Your priority is to ensure the enemy does not reach Lilith or Unit-01," Gendo continued. "All other concerns are to be considered secondary. Do you understand?" The girl nodded although there seemed to be some hesitation. "Is there a problem?" Gendo asked, noticing her slight pause.
"Will these orders apply to pilot Ikari?" she asked, her voice as quiet as ever.
"The Third Child is no longer a pilot," he replied. His voice carried a hint of the anger he felt at hearing Rei ask about his son. Rei nodded her acknowledgement of the information. "As a result you are now the only active Evangelion pilot. You shall report to Lieutenant Ibuki for a series of intensive synchronisation tests, once the current situation has been resolved. You must be at your best when you are required to pilot Unit-02 in combat." Whereas from anybody else this may have sounded like a request, coming from Gendo Ikari it was obvious that this was an order. Once again Rei's silence showed her acknowledgement. "You are dismissed," he said flatly. The girl turned and walked towards the door, her footsteps echoing in the cavernous room. Once she had left Kozo Fuyutsuki entered the room. The grey haired man made his way over to his superior's desk. Gendo raised an eyebrow in curiosity at the man's sudden appearance.
"Ikari, we have just received word that Matsushiro has fallen," Fuyutsuki reported. There was an odd tone to the older man's voice, almost like guilt.
"I see," Gendo answered. He appeared totally unaffected by the information.
"We have also received word that smaller NERV sites, and NERV affiliated installations are being attacked."
"So the enemy is targeting all of NERV? How very methodical."
"How are we to proceed?" Fuyutsuki asked. He seemed to be worried at the information, perhaps more than he was letting on.
"It appears our enemy has been frustrated by its failed first attack on the Geofront. I suspect it will only attack the Geofront again once it has neutralised all other NERV installations."
"I see, so we still have time left," Fuyutsuki commented. "But if we let it assault all other NERV installations surely its power would have grown considerably by then?"
"Indeed," Gendo stated. "That is why we must attempt to salvage what we can from the nearby installations. I want you to organise a force to be sent to the Choshi facility."
"The Choshi facility, but I thought that was closed several years ago, due to the failure of Project-N?" Fuyutsuki asked. Worry had once more crept back into his voice.
"It was. But never the less some of the products of Project-N would still be useful to us. And they could pose a serious threat should they fall into the hands of the enemy."
"But surely the enemy will know of the existence of the facility."
"Most likely. However I doubt they are expecting us to make such a bold move. We may be able to reach the facility before the enemy does," Gendo told his second in command, although his words did little to improve the man's confidence.
"And if the enemy arrives at the facility while our forces are still there?" "Unit-02 should be sent with the expeditionary force. Although I doubt it would be able to repel a full attack, it should sufficiently delay the enemy."
"But that will leave the Geofront nearly defenceless," Fuyutsuki pointed out.
"If the Geofront is attacked while Unit-02 is away our defences should be able hold the enemy until our forces return. The Geofront is more heavily defended than any other NERV base." Irritation was beginning to creep into Gendo's voice at his friend's constant vocalising of his worries. "Now I suggest you begin planning the operation. I want it to be underway as soon as possible."
"Of course Ikari," Fuyutsuki finally relented. He turned to leave the office.
"And make sure Dr. Akagi is part of this force," Gendo told the man, temporarily halting his progress towards the room's exit. "We may yet need her abilities in order to gain access to the facility," Gendo explained. Fuyutsuki left the room, pondering the addition to the team. A computer expert in the field would be a prudent measure, however he couldn't shake the feeling that it was simply an excuse.
***
"Fifteen percent infection detected in Caspar," Hyuga reported.
'Damn it Ritsuko, hurry up,' Misato mentally urged the woman. Once again Misato Katsuragi was left with a feeling of helplessness as she watched the red glow slowly creep along the display of the MAGI. All her military training and experience in co-ordinating offensives and defensives meant nothing in such a situation. Certainly she did know something of computers. Having friends who were experts with computers, and working in NERV all these years had allowed Misato to pick up on many computer skills. But her meagre skills would do no good in the current situation. She had been reduced to a messenger now, delivering reports to and from the Commander. She also suspected that she would fulfil the role of fall guy should this operation be unsuccessful.
"The firewall has been installed!" a voice called up from the lower level of the control tower. Misato looked over the edge of the middle floor to see Ritsuko Akagi leaning out of the access tunnel that led into the heart of Caspar. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the satisfied look on her face.
"Twenty percent infection detected in Caspar!" Hyuga shouted in panic. "It's still spreading," he emphasised as he turned to look at Misato, his eyes wide in horror.
"Ritsuko, the infection is still spreading!" the Major shouted down to her old friend.
"Impossible," Ritsuko said incredulously. She checked her laptop again. "The firewall is holding, the infected portion of Caspar should have became dormant. It can't be operating independently!"
"What can we do now?" Misato asked, she needed options, and fast.
"Perform an emergency shutdown!" Ritsuko shouted up.
"What? But, ma'am, that could permanently damage the MAGI's data core!" Maya protested, looking down at her mentor on the lower level.
"It's our only option if we don't want to lose the MAGI!" Ritsuko explained, almost grudgingly. She seemed just as enthusiastic about the manoeuvre as Maya was.
"Performing shutdown!" Maya announced, sitting back on her seat, although a hint of sadness showed in her voice. "Shutdown in five… four… three…" Maya's voiced trailed off. Two seconds later the lights, computers, and everything electrical within the Geofront switched off.
***
"So what you are telling me, is that the MAGI could not be saved?" Gendo asked. He knew that was exactly what she meant, he just wanted her to confirm it, to admit her 'guilt.' He, and the other occupant of the room, were currently bathed in the red glow of the emergency lighting.
"Yes, sir," Misato replied clearly. She was trying not to show her irritation at being spoken to as if she were some disobedient school pupil. "Dr. Akagi succeeded in erecting a firewall, which contained the infection in both Balthasar and Melchior. However the infected segment of Caspar began to spread independently. Dr. Akagi believed that an emergency shutdown was the only way to prevent the MAGI falling into enemy hands, sir." Misato knew she had done everything she could, however little that was, which made her resent her Commander's implications of incompetence even more.
"When will the MAGI be operational again?" he asked, staring across at the Major standing at ease on the other side of his desk.
"Dr. Akagi doesn't recommend restarting the MAGI until the current situation has been resolved, sir. Also the emergency shutdown may have damaged the MAGI. It still may not be useable once it is restarted." She noticed Gendo's eyes narrow behind his glasses.
"So you are telling me the MAGI may never be fully operational again?"
"Well, it will most likely require extensive repairs, sir," she informed him. He seemed to run this information through his head for a few seconds. During which time the dull red glow of the emergency lighting was replaced by the standard lights of the Geofront as the emergency power was switched on. Misato blinked rapidly, trying to grow accustomed to the sudden increase in brightness in the room.
"As disappointed as I am at this," he began. "I do not believe that this was such a great loss. And I do not blame you entirely for the failure."
'Yeah, you just blame me mostly for the failure,' Misato thought angrily, although deep down part of her agreed with him. It was bad enough that she believed she was partly to blame for the failure, but to be told that by her superiors did nothing to improve her confidence in her abilities. She had always been driven to succeed at whatever task she had been given, so she had always taken failure personally.
"We should also focus more on our next task," he said ominously.
"What next task is that, sir?" she asked, intrigued.
"I want you to co-ordinate a salvage operation that will go ahead tomorrow. Commander Fuyutsuki has already put together the force that will be sent out into the field. You, however, will simply need to co-ordinate this force should they come under attack."
"If I may ask, sir, what exactly are we attempting to salvage?" Misato pressed for information.
"That is not your concern," Gendo replied. "That will be all, Major," he said, with finality.
"Yes, sir," she responded, before turning to leave the room.
***
Rei's crimson eyes stared out of her window again. This time fixed on the moon, visible between clouds high up in the dark night sky. It wasn't a full moon, but it was close to it. A few more days' maybe and it would reach the apex of its lunar cycle. She didn't know what it was about the moon that fascinated her so. Perhaps it was its distance from humanity, a feeling she shared. Or perhaps it was just its existence as an opposite to the sun, a fascination perhaps with the duality of the world. Everything had its opposites. The Eva's had their Angels. NERV now had SEELE. It was interesting to spot these patterns in the world. Or perhaps it was just her boredom winning out. She had not done much for the past few weeks, and now all of a sudden she was beginning to become fascinated with the moon. It could just be her looking for something to keep herself interested.
She hadn't long arrived back from the Geofront. She had spent several hours in the test dummy plug for Unit-02, trying to raise her synch ratio with the fighting machine. Matters had been complicated by the loss of the MAGI, making analysing and cataloguing results from the tests a much lengthier process. However she had succeeded in improving her synchronisation rate. Higher even than her average synch ratio with Unit-00, which had surprised Lieutenant Ibuki. What had come as even more of a surprise was the news that she was to pilot Unit-02, possibly in combat, as early as tomorrow.
She realised she would need to rest, in order to pilot her Eva to the best of her abilities the next day. She closed her window and took off her school uniform, putting on the old T-shirt she wore for bed. Gendo Ikari made his way into her thoughts as she climbed into bed. 'Am I just someone who can pilot Eva to him?' she thought. She remembered her feeling of disappointment when she had left his office. The slight feeling of sadness as he had talked to her like he would to any subordinate, instead of to the girl he had raised. She pulled the bedsheets over her and tried to push those thoughts from her mind. But she remembered what else she had felt sad about when she had left Gendo Ikari's office.
"Ikari…" she quietly said the boy's name. Why had he decided to leave NERV? Was that the reason why he hadn't talked to her yesterday in the elevator? Would she ever speak to him again? She realised that thinking about it wouldn't do anything about it, so she tried once again to push those thoughts to the back of her mind. She pulled the bedsheets tighter around herself and tried to get some sleep.
***
Misato Katsuragi walked into her apartment and slipped off her shoes and jacket in her usual ritual. It had been a hard few hours at the end of her shift at the Geofront. She had been looking over the brief for the planned operation tomorrow and attempting to think up possible scenarios. Due to her limited knowledge of the size and power of the enemy's forces she had ended up thinking up many possibilities. Ranging from where everything went smoothly, with no interruptions, to where everything went wrong, with massive casualties. Needless to say she wasn't very optimistic about the success of the mission, especially after the failure to protect the MAGI.
She had also tried to avoid Ritsuko as much as she could. Thankfully her old friend seemed to be trying to avoid her as well. Certainly she had went to see the woman for help, but that was in a guarded cell. She had seen the extent of the woman's condition when she had broken down in the Chamber of Gauf, and she would prefer to not have somebody in Ritsuko's condition have free reign within the Geofront. Part of her was secretly thankful that the MAGI had been lost. There was no telling what the woman could have done to it while she was installing the firewall. The fact that Ritsuko seemed very irritated at losing the MAGI also served to heighten the woman's suspicions.
And now she had to return home, which she had mixed feelings about. If Shinji had left during the day she would of course be sad. But if he had stayed, then she would still not know what to say to him. She felt guilty thinking it herself, but part of her wished that he would just leave, so she could try to forget about him. She could hear the television as she entered her apartment and guessed he hadn't left yet. She walked to the living room and saw Shinji sitting cross-legged in front of the television. It seemed odd seeing him like that. It was almost like the old times they spent together, before any of the bad things had happened.
"Hi there Shinji," she said, a caring tone in her voice. She sat down on the couch, and looked at what was on the TV. There were lots of frenzied cries of panic as the shaky camera work showed a massive creature attacking a large complex.
"What the hell is that?" somebody cried. Misato knew exactly what it was. It was one of the Eva series, its skin jet black, just like the others they had encountered. And the location it was attacking was obviously the Matsushiro NERV branch.
'I guess it was too much to hope that nobody would notice the attacks,' Misato thought.
"It's been on the news all day," Shinji explained. "They have been talking about attacks all around the world like this. So NERV has to fight these then?"
"It looks that way," Misato replied. She was feeling happy that she was having a relatively normal conversation with the boy.
"I guess you're going to ask me to pilot Eva again," Shinji said, keeping his eyes on the TV screen.
"No, Shinji, I wasn't going to do that. But with you gone, you know Rei has to fight those things all by herself don't you?" She knew she never should have said that last part, but she wanted to know if Shinji realised the implications of his actions.
"I'm not going to pilot Eva," he stated.
"But surely you care what happens to Rei?" Misato pushed him, trying to get a response.
"Why should I?" he asked quietly, still staring at the television screen. "Nobody cares about me."
"Of course people care about you Shinji," Misato replied.
"No they don't," he said, as if it were a fact. "If any of you really cared about me you would have never made me pilot Eva."
"Shinji I've said I'm sorry about that. I know it won't fix anything, but what more can I do?" she said to him. 'All he ever seems to do these days is wallow in self-pity,' she thought angrily. 'If he really hates it so much here, why has he not left yet?'
"You don't understand what I've been through," Shinji said, looking across at his guardian. "You just apologise to make you feel better."
"How can I understand if you never tell me anything?" Misato said angrily, her voice raised. She was getting irritated at how he was talking about her.
"You could never understand all the pain I've been through. How much it hurts to be here."
"Then what's keeping you here!" Misato shouted back, standing up. "Why are you still here Shinji? Ask yourself that. There has to be something you care about!" Her breathing had become heavy due to the exertion of shouting at the boy. She immediately felt guilty as she saw the boy turn his eyes down towards the ground and then turn round to face the television again. He looked very upset at her outburst. "Shinji I'm sorry," she began.
"I'll leave then," he said. His voice was very quiet, but it startled Misato just as much as if he had shouted. "I'll leave, tomorrow." She stared at the boy, trying to think of something to say. She wanted to say something, anything, to make him change his mind. But she knew it was hopeless.
"If that's what you want Shinji," she finally managed.
"And… thank you Misato. For everything you've done for me." She nodded, although she knew he couldn't see her. Her throat felt too tight to even utter a word. She left Shinji in front of the television and went into the kitchen. She made herself some food, and wiped the tears from her eyes.
End of the fourth day
Authors Notes:
Okay, there has been a big leap forward in plot in this chapter, I hope it intrigues you, and I hope I haven't given away too much!
Anyway, thanks and such to anybody who's reading this, and all involved in its creation.
I'll try to get part 5 out as soon as possible, sorry this took so long but I ended up doing several drafts and went on holiday for two weeks while I was writing it. But hey, it didn't take as long as part 2.