See earlier chapter for disclaimer.
Only for Them
Misato hated performing for the press. Since the reformation of NERV the United Nations had invoked even stricter sanctions on their activities such as almost daily inspections of the facilities and a full psychological evaluation of the members almost weekly. In truth the only thing that Misato hated more was that she was dying her hair almost as often as she had her evaluation.
Today the press was to receive a full tour of the facilities, at least a tour of the unclassified areas. Somehow the Commander had decided that the Operations Director was the perfect person to give this tour. 'Rei might have grown a bit,' she thought, 'so maybe she's also grown to like watching me go through hoops for her.'
"Greetings ladies and gentlemen of the press," Misato greeted the room where they had been waiting, "I'm the head of Ops here Colonel Misato Katsuragi, I'll be showing you around our little facility." Misato put on her best act for the press, fearing that this was another U.N. plan to see if NERV was hiding something from them.
As Misato guided the press through the halls of the headquarters, she spoke about various points of interest all the while making sure that she stuck to the scripted lines that she had prepared. The U.N. officials were likely to throw a fit if the press had heard something different then them, she spoke carefully making sure that she told them exactly what she told the inspectors during their visits.
"The New NERV facility houses a number of interesting components," she felt more like a tour guide at Disneyland then a Military Strategist, she was going to make Rei pay for this. "In addition to the four Evangelion holding cages the facility holds three runways for the more than twenty deployment aircraft that the support the EVAs during a deployment."
"When can we see-" one of the more ambitious reporters began before he was cut off.
"Save all questions for after the tour." She spoke without missing a beat.
Over the course of the tour Misato told them all about the base, the Evangelions and the battle in Taiwan. When it was over they convened in a press room where she told them she would answer any questions that they might have. It was then that she was bombarded. Using all her patience Misato informed them to ask one at a time.
"When will the next Angel attack?" One asked.
"We don't know," Misato answered, elaborating, " we just intercept them as soon as we can."
"Hanako Doskoi," one of the reporters introduced themselves, "Tokyo-3 Across, when can we meet the pilots?"
"That's not going to happen," Misato answered, "the identities of the Children are classified Codeword Clearance, the Commander initiated this after the incident involving the Second." It was then that she was glad Karen had class today. She didn't want some over zealous reporter snooping around and finding her.
"Usagi Tsukino, Tokyo Moon," another introduced herself, "is it true that Unit Two will be shipped here soon?"
"Yes." Misato answered not elaborating any further.
"Satsuki Yatouji, Tokyo-3 Tech, why are the Angels appearing now twenty years after the aversion of Third Impact?"
"We don't know." The Questioning went on like that for some time, several times the reporters would try to learn more about the pilots themselves. It reminded Misato that she still had to tell Karen about the new pilot. She hoped for a little more time to get that.
****************
****************
"You know," Kaworu said behind his commanding officer, the elevator taking them further down, "you could have had Dr. Ibuki lead that conference tour, she seems more like the type to do that sort of thing anyway."
"I know."
"Do you enjoy watching her squirm or something?" Kaworu's brows quirked.
"Something like that."
"Now what?" Kaworu spoke of more pressing matters. "From what we know the old men are just lashing out now that they have lost their means of achieving Instrumentality."
"I don't think that they are." She said, barely looking over to acknowledge him. "There is something more to this than we now know."
"You think that they found another way?"
"Possibly."
"But, without Shinji there can't be an Instrumentality."
"From what we know yes," softly Rei sighed, "Shinji is the main component, without him there will be no chance at it for at least another two thousand years."
"Unless they found another way."
"Yes." As Rei said this the visage of Unit One became plain to see, from the elevator. Seeing this Rei's own visage relaxed noticeably.
"You felt the same thing I did when we saw the image didn't you."
"Yes," had Kaworu been looking at her face, he would have noticed the slight hardening of her eyes, "whatever these new creatures are, they aren't true Angels." As Unit One's sight left them, the rest of Rei's features hardened noticeably to Kaworu.
"Only for them," Kaworu smiled off handedly as he left the elevator at his desired floor, "see you tonight."
"Yes," Rei confirmed, her voice becoming the monotone she had used fifteen years ago, "only for them."
****************
****************
It had been about a week since the Angel attack, but there was no respite for the illustrious Sixth Child. She had an English language paper due in four days, two papers on Shakespeare due next week and some calculus problems to have finished by tomorrow. It was hell, but in the end it was what she wanted.
"College," she whispered to herself as she left the Tokyo-3 University campus on the metropolitan bus. If she kept up this the current work load she would finish her second term in a few months. Karen smiled brightly to herself, it wasn't that she was in her second term or that she had just received an A+ on her report of the Post Post Second Impact economy that she wrote for her Social Sciences class. It wasn't even for the one hundred percent score she got on her Physics test, it was because Misato had finally broke down. Saturday night, tomorrow night, she would finally get her slumber party.
Since the Angel attack there was nothing she was looking forward to more, Misato had to work late that night and would not be around to bother her, also her friends would not have to worry about getting up early for school because there was none. She sighed, it had been a long time since she had the chance to be with Chi and Reika, too long in fact. Between her EVA tests and college she had little time for a personal life.
She thought of what she would do tonight. Misato would be late since she had the press tour to conduct, the calculus would take her only a short while to finish and everything was already in place for the sleepover. Tonight would be somewhat boring, which all things considered, wasn't a bad thing. Silently Karen prayed that there would be no emergency sync tests, that her cell would remain silent.
The digitized playing of Queen's 'We are the Champions' quickly dashed those hopes.
Had anyone on the bus paid attention to her they would have seen her cringe like a splinter was being removed from (or inserted into) her finger. Karen knew that it had to be a test of some kind, otherwise the rest of the city would have erupted in a flood of activity as well. Mentally she prepared herself for any kind of scenario. Except the one that had come to pass.
"Hello," she answered the ring, a little confused, "this is Ikari."
"Ah, Karen," the familiar voice spoke, "it's Hikari."
"Mrs. Suzuhara," the apprehension in her voice disappeared noticeably, "what's wrong?"
"I need a favor."
"What?"
"Can you watch Souske tonight for us."
'Us,' that could only mean one thing, both she and her husband wanted some 'personal' time. Karen didn't want a further elaboration. She would have in fact refused if she had gotten one, but no explanation was forthcoming.
"Sure, I don't mind." In truth she didn't, she liked the young Souske Suzuhara very much. Like his big sister almost, it also didn't hurt that he referred to her as such. This was also just the distraction that she needed to keep her pleasantly busy.
"Great please meet at our house at six." There was a sign on the other end, barely discernable, but she heard it.
After ending the conversation Karen checked the time on her phone. It was Three forty, that gave her just enough time to shower change and be at the Suzuhara's before the appointed time. Apparently tonight wouldn't be as bad as she thought it would.
~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Big Apple Anime Fest was fun, sung 'Mystic Eyes,' gobbled like a turkey and bought numerous anime parapahnelia.
Anyway, please review (is anyone even reading this thing?) I don't want this one to go unfinished, I want to know where the readers think I should really go from here.
Ryuhiko@hotmail.com
Only for Them
Misato hated performing for the press. Since the reformation of NERV the United Nations had invoked even stricter sanctions on their activities such as almost daily inspections of the facilities and a full psychological evaluation of the members almost weekly. In truth the only thing that Misato hated more was that she was dying her hair almost as often as she had her evaluation.
Today the press was to receive a full tour of the facilities, at least a tour of the unclassified areas. Somehow the Commander had decided that the Operations Director was the perfect person to give this tour. 'Rei might have grown a bit,' she thought, 'so maybe she's also grown to like watching me go through hoops for her.'
"Greetings ladies and gentlemen of the press," Misato greeted the room where they had been waiting, "I'm the head of Ops here Colonel Misato Katsuragi, I'll be showing you around our little facility." Misato put on her best act for the press, fearing that this was another U.N. plan to see if NERV was hiding something from them.
As Misato guided the press through the halls of the headquarters, she spoke about various points of interest all the while making sure that she stuck to the scripted lines that she had prepared. The U.N. officials were likely to throw a fit if the press had heard something different then them, she spoke carefully making sure that she told them exactly what she told the inspectors during their visits.
"The New NERV facility houses a number of interesting components," she felt more like a tour guide at Disneyland then a Military Strategist, she was going to make Rei pay for this. "In addition to the four Evangelion holding cages the facility holds three runways for the more than twenty deployment aircraft that the support the EVAs during a deployment."
"When can we see-" one of the more ambitious reporters began before he was cut off.
"Save all questions for after the tour." She spoke without missing a beat.
Over the course of the tour Misato told them all about the base, the Evangelions and the battle in Taiwan. When it was over they convened in a press room where she told them she would answer any questions that they might have. It was then that she was bombarded. Using all her patience Misato informed them to ask one at a time.
"When will the next Angel attack?" One asked.
"We don't know," Misato answered, elaborating, " we just intercept them as soon as we can."
"Hanako Doskoi," one of the reporters introduced themselves, "Tokyo-3 Across, when can we meet the pilots?"
"That's not going to happen," Misato answered, "the identities of the Children are classified Codeword Clearance, the Commander initiated this after the incident involving the Second." It was then that she was glad Karen had class today. She didn't want some over zealous reporter snooping around and finding her.
"Usagi Tsukino, Tokyo Moon," another introduced herself, "is it true that Unit Two will be shipped here soon?"
"Yes." Misato answered not elaborating any further.
"Satsuki Yatouji, Tokyo-3 Tech, why are the Angels appearing now twenty years after the aversion of Third Impact?"
"We don't know." The Questioning went on like that for some time, several times the reporters would try to learn more about the pilots themselves. It reminded Misato that she still had to tell Karen about the new pilot. She hoped for a little more time to get that.
****************
****************
"You know," Kaworu said behind his commanding officer, the elevator taking them further down, "you could have had Dr. Ibuki lead that conference tour, she seems more like the type to do that sort of thing anyway."
"I know."
"Do you enjoy watching her squirm or something?" Kaworu's brows quirked.
"Something like that."
"Now what?" Kaworu spoke of more pressing matters. "From what we know the old men are just lashing out now that they have lost their means of achieving Instrumentality."
"I don't think that they are." She said, barely looking over to acknowledge him. "There is something more to this than we now know."
"You think that they found another way?"
"Possibly."
"But, without Shinji there can't be an Instrumentality."
"From what we know yes," softly Rei sighed, "Shinji is the main component, without him there will be no chance at it for at least another two thousand years."
"Unless they found another way."
"Yes." As Rei said this the visage of Unit One became plain to see, from the elevator. Seeing this Rei's own visage relaxed noticeably.
"You felt the same thing I did when we saw the image didn't you."
"Yes," had Kaworu been looking at her face, he would have noticed the slight hardening of her eyes, "whatever these new creatures are, they aren't true Angels." As Unit One's sight left them, the rest of Rei's features hardened noticeably to Kaworu.
"Only for them," Kaworu smiled off handedly as he left the elevator at his desired floor, "see you tonight."
"Yes," Rei confirmed, her voice becoming the monotone she had used fifteen years ago, "only for them."
****************
****************
It had been about a week since the Angel attack, but there was no respite for the illustrious Sixth Child. She had an English language paper due in four days, two papers on Shakespeare due next week and some calculus problems to have finished by tomorrow. It was hell, but in the end it was what she wanted.
"College," she whispered to herself as she left the Tokyo-3 University campus on the metropolitan bus. If she kept up this the current work load she would finish her second term in a few months. Karen smiled brightly to herself, it wasn't that she was in her second term or that she had just received an A+ on her report of the Post Post Second Impact economy that she wrote for her Social Sciences class. It wasn't even for the one hundred percent score she got on her Physics test, it was because Misato had finally broke down. Saturday night, tomorrow night, she would finally get her slumber party.
Since the Angel attack there was nothing she was looking forward to more, Misato had to work late that night and would not be around to bother her, also her friends would not have to worry about getting up early for school because there was none. She sighed, it had been a long time since she had the chance to be with Chi and Reika, too long in fact. Between her EVA tests and college she had little time for a personal life.
She thought of what she would do tonight. Misato would be late since she had the press tour to conduct, the calculus would take her only a short while to finish and everything was already in place for the sleepover. Tonight would be somewhat boring, which all things considered, wasn't a bad thing. Silently Karen prayed that there would be no emergency sync tests, that her cell would remain silent.
The digitized playing of Queen's 'We are the Champions' quickly dashed those hopes.
Had anyone on the bus paid attention to her they would have seen her cringe like a splinter was being removed from (or inserted into) her finger. Karen knew that it had to be a test of some kind, otherwise the rest of the city would have erupted in a flood of activity as well. Mentally she prepared herself for any kind of scenario. Except the one that had come to pass.
"Hello," she answered the ring, a little confused, "this is Ikari."
"Ah, Karen," the familiar voice spoke, "it's Hikari."
"Mrs. Suzuhara," the apprehension in her voice disappeared noticeably, "what's wrong?"
"I need a favor."
"What?"
"Can you watch Souske tonight for us."
'Us,' that could only mean one thing, both she and her husband wanted some 'personal' time. Karen didn't want a further elaboration. She would have in fact refused if she had gotten one, but no explanation was forthcoming.
"Sure, I don't mind." In truth she didn't, she liked the young Souske Suzuhara very much. Like his big sister almost, it also didn't hurt that he referred to her as such. This was also just the distraction that she needed to keep her pleasantly busy.
"Great please meet at our house at six." There was a sign on the other end, barely discernable, but she heard it.
After ending the conversation Karen checked the time on her phone. It was Three forty, that gave her just enough time to shower change and be at the Suzuhara's before the appointed time. Apparently tonight wouldn't be as bad as she thought it would.
~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Big Apple Anime Fest was fun, sung 'Mystic Eyes,' gobbled like a turkey and bought numerous anime parapahnelia.
Anyway, please review (is anyone even reading this thing?) I don't want this one to go unfinished, I want to know where the readers think I should really go from here.
Ryuhiko@hotmail.com