Hmm. Didn't get that many reviews from the last chapter. Guess I better do something drastic. And ff.net messed with my formatting again...........

Reprise of Humanity

Chapter 6: Shockwaves

The phone ran and Shinji almost knocked it over as he reached for it.

"Hello?" He was only half-awake and not too happy about it.

"Captain Ikari, we need you to report to the base immediately."

That woke him up. "What's wrong?"

"We'll brief you when you arrive sir."

Shinji hung up and started getting dressed. One thing was for sure; it was serious but he wasn't in trouble. Japanese officers weren't usually polite to those that were in trouble. Mana rolled over and awakened, not feeling Shinji beside her.

"Shinji?"

"It's okay. I just have to go out and take care of something."

"Something go wrong?"

"I'll find out. Just sleep. I'll try to be back before breakfast."

Reluctantly Mana watched Shinji leave and laid back down. It was hard loving a man with so many secrets, despite that being necessary. After they married, hopefully things would work out smoother.

Shinji walked down the corridors and came up to a large conference room. To his surprise the German ambassador was present, along with the foreign minister, the head of the Tokyo 4 base, and the JSSDF chief general.

"Is something the matter sirs?" he asked.

"Take a seat, Captain Ikari," General Terakata ordered. He currently held the position of base commander of the research base. If he still called Shinji a captain, it meant nothing was wrong. Or at least not yet.

Once Shinji sat down it was the German ambassador that began speaking.

"There was an assassination attempt on Dr. Asuka Langely Soryu approximately six hours ago."

Whatever exhaustion Shinji had felt before evaporated like ice under a laser.

"You said attempt," he said uneasily.

Heinrich Paulus nodded. "The attempt nearly succeeded but NERV's physicians have stabilized her. What interests us the most is the bullet they used."

Terakata pressed several keys to bring up an image. Almost immediately Shinji recognized the bullet.

"I designed that. It was for use by the JSSDF Special Ops units."

A nod from General Hikoto. "Captain Ikari, we know that you would never attempt to murder your fellow pilot, or even have a part in it. What we want to know is how different are the two weapons. You're the one that designed it and the information you provide could help us track down a leak as well as whoever executed this."

"What was it made out of?" Shinji asked immediately.

"Lead, steel tip, and that's about it."

"Too simple. If they had made it properly it would have a depleted uranium shell, titanium point to punch through armor, and the casing would have ruptured completely, sending shrapnel all over."

"The bullet was mostly intact, though the point had burst forward and the end had shattered and there were small pieces in her," said Paulus. "She's on pain medication right now and the doctors have removed the bullet and small amounts of shrapnel."

"They didn't do a very good job in copying the design," Shinji noted. "If they really wanted her dead, they would have tried harder. A normal bullet would have worked just as well if they got a headshot."

"True enough," Paulus conceded. "However, the fact is that it was used against Dr. Soryu. She is a very important part of the German nation as well as the international community. We are taking this very seriously."

"Who has access to the schematics?" Shinji asked.

"Too many," Terakata admitted. "We have people who tested the prototypes to those that build them for our forces."

"We still have to track it down," said Hikoto. "We can't let weapon technology like this get out onto the black market."

Shinji was looking over the bullet they had pulled from Asuka when he thought of something.

"We can set a trap," he said. "We can add variations into the bullet design and say it's an upgrade. Then if they use it again, we match it to which variation we used."

"An interesting idea," said Terakata. "We'll try it."

The others nodded in agreement.

"The German government thanks you for your assistance," said Paulus. "This is very important to us and we do not wish for Dr. Soryu to be harmed in any way. I'm sure you'll agree that she's suffered more than need be."

Shinji conceded a nod and stood. After a salute he walked out, much to the surprise of the ambassador.

"Did you signal a dismissal?" he asked the Japanese officers.

"Hardly," the foreign minister said, joining the conversation. "However, we must make one thing clear. Do not assume to be able to use this to gain access to Captain Ikari any more. This incident is becoming embarrassing for both our nations and we want it put to a stop."

"We would never do such a thing," Paulus said, sounding offended. "You have my word on it."

"Good. Now then, let's move onto this proposal of yours. What was it, the reconstruction of NERV in Japan?"

"Yes. Despite the fact that the Japanese government has already promised to consider it, the German government feels the need to emphasize the request again. There is a threat in the horizon and the UN can see it. They brought back NERV to try to hold it back."

"Which we understand," said Minister Yukita. "However, the Japanese government has already found ways to deal with it and we will continue to do so in our way. I am sorry, but my government will not allow NERV to have a branch on our soil for the time being."

"You propose what!" That was the outraged cry of the German UN ambassador, Gerhard Luther.

"We simply propose that an organization be set up to watch over NERV," said Michael Hayracks. "Just in case NERV tries anything, we might actually catch it before a disaster occurs again."

"Are you saying that we cannot control NERV?" Luther demanded. "We are perfectly capable of watching over NERV headquarters and might I remind you that the majority of the security forces within NERV are German soldiers. If we had to, we could lockdown and contain the entire facility without firing a shot."

"Do we even have the funding for it?" asked the Chinese ambassador Lao.

Hernandez shook his head. "At the moment we don't have enough extra funds to support such an organization anyways."

"The US is willing to create such an organization, as long the UN sanctions it to go through all of NERV's documentation, files, reports, and other activities," Hayracks stated.

"Absolutely not!" Hernandez nearly shouted. "The UN will not allow that kind of interference with one of its branches."

"We have an alternative," Ambassador Sato suddenly said. "My government has invested a fortune in developing a special warfare division that Captain Ikari is a part of. If this division were to be used, as you Americans would put it, as NERV's watchdogs, it would seem more acceptable. Also, funding would not be as difficult as the UN has to provide only a fraction of the cost."

The other Security Council members all were silent as they considered it. Hayracks didn't seem too happy as it was apparent his objective was to get the US access to NERV's database. Still, if he objected it would be hypocritical and would embarrass him. At times Americans were as prideful as Asians.

"What exactly does Captain Ikari do in this division?" Luther asked. "I thought he was in the reserve forces."

"At the moment Captain Ikari serves in an advisory role," Sato admitted. "However, he is still involved with the research projects the special warfare division runs, along with the continual development of our JA units."

Hernandez leaned forward a bit, curious to see what influence Ikari did have in regards to the Japanese military and government.

"Is this a reason why the Japanese government has been so reluctant to allow Captain Ikari to join NERV?" Hayracks asked.

"Captain Ikari's loyalties are to the Japanese government, not to NERV," Sato stated loudly. "He has already made his distaste of the organization quite clear and those views are similar to what you have presented yourself, Ambassador Hayracks. I wonder why you would press someone who holds a moral objection to NERV to join the organization."

Again Hayracks refrained from replying.

"How would this Japanese division handle matters inside Germany?" Luther asked. "You're on the other side of the world and don't expect us to allow Japanese soldiers into our territories."

"That matter is easily resolved," said Sato. "We said we would monitor NERV. If action needs to be taken, UN forces based in Germany will have to execute it."

"There is an armored division inside Germany along with two air wings," Hernandez suddenly said. "It should not be difficult to force NERV to stand down if necessary."

Luther carefully considered his options at the moment. Like Japan before her, Germany had made a great investment in NERV and interference was starting to become a problem earlier than they had anticipated. However, because the UN units were German, it wasn't a problem yet.

"We will consider this carefully," he allowed.

"There is another matter," Lao began. "The attempted assassination of Dr. Soryu. How was this allowed to happen?"

"Section 2 and our own intelligence service are working on it as we speak," Luther assured them. "The BND and BfV are already patching together information we've gathered."

"Do we have a shooter?" Hernandez asked.

Luther shook his head. "No. Also, we are having trouble identifying the weapon used. The bullet was of a custom design so finding the rifle will be difficult."

"The bullet also apparently shattered," the British representative, Charles Winston suddenly added. He had been absent for some time and had finally returned to New York. His deputy had been sitting in for him for the past several meetings. "Still, there should be something to go on. Obviously this was a high-powered rifle and an expert shot. This suggests many things."

It was clear what Winston meant and several of the other members looked at him angrily. Out of the major governments present, Great Britain was one of the few that had not protested too loudly in regards to the formation of NERV. Thus, in the eyes of the public, it was slightly above the rest in terms of suspicion. That is, if the attempt was sanctioned by a nation- state.

"There is a thriving black market of illegal weapons, need I remind our British comrade," said Hernandez. "The weapon could have been from anywhere and with practice even an amateur could become an expert sniper."

"Of course," Winston said in a neutral tone.

Two aides walked in as the rest of the Security Council continued chatting and handed several more papers to Hernandez. He glanced over them quickly before rejoining the discussion. This time it was budget issues for the UN military. Hernandez sighed as he tried to make the other Council members act more sensibly. Sometimes it was almost impossible as they argued amongst one another.

Because of the disruption in the morning, a sub had to be found for Shinji's class, much to the disappointment of Mari Suzuhara. She had found Shinji to be very interesting and smart, possibly brilliant considering his radical ideas. It had been good fortune that she had managed to get in the class and now Mari was determined to make the best of it.

Once all the other students had left Mari made her way to the laboratory in the basement. It was to be used for demonstrations and such but so far Shinji hadn't touched anything down here. The students were allowed to use some of the equipment, though the laser and some of the more dangerous tools were off limits. That wasn't a problem as Mari didn't need anything like that. Slowly the young scientist went to work, spinning the electromagnetic disk. It was an expensive piece of equipment, but if used properly could do many things. Now Mari would see if her ideas had any merit. Creating artificial gravity was still beyond the current science and technology, but just maybe she could figure this out.

Not wanting to waste too much time, Shinji went straight back to the research complex after breakfast. Because Mana's class was in the afternoon they were able to share a breakfast together, though lunch would be separate today. Once down in the labs he went straight to work down at the particle accelerator.

"You know, sometimes I wonder why we even try out your crazy concepts," one of the scientists said.

Shinji smiled at Dr. Mizuki and shook his head.

"I wouldn't call them crazy, Mizuki. I'd just call them farfetched."

"Either way, I just hope you don't blow us up one day."

The accelerator powered up as they prepared the experiment. Normally a particle accelerator only fired one atom at a time, but with some changes in the magnetic field and the accelerator design itself, it was now manipulating a constant stream. Still, they were only hydrogen atoms. Shooting something bigger at such speeds and in such numbers would be far trickier.

"It works," Mizuki said, sounding amazed.

Shinji grinned. "Did you really doubt me? Now we have the capability to create a true particle cannon."

"But why do this when we already have a positron cannon?" Mizuki asked. "That's what I never understood."

"This is actually for the positron cannon," said Shinji. "During the days of the Angel Wars, we had difficulty maintaining a constant stream of positrons. The positron rifle was originally designed to fire spheres of positrons, guided by magnetic fields. This of course took great deals of energy and thus we used cartridges filled with positrons instead."

"A positron beam would be more powerful," Mizuki allowed. "I believe it was done once."

Shinji nodded. "Only once against the 5th Angel, Ramiel."

"What exactly was the problem?"

"Controlling and tuning the electromagnetic field," said Shinji. "It took a ridiculous amount of energy to ensure that there was a total vacuum within the particle's path so nothing would interfere. Thus the beam had to be extremely tight. Also, keeping the positrons inside that field was difficult at best."

"Captain Ikari, please report to the level 9 bio-lab. Captain Ikari, please report to the level 9 bio-lab."

"I wonder what they messed up this time," Shinji said aloud.

The other physicists chuckled as he walked out. They'd keep working on the magnetic field problem so he wasn't worried. Shinji entered the elevator and punched in the security code. He descended and walked through several corridors before entering the genetics facility. A large hologram of nucleic acids coming together was playing in the center. No, it wasn't a replay. The scientists were apparently projecting the actual experiment as they worked.

"What's the problem?" Shinji asked Ozaki, the head of the department.

"There's an instability factor in this genome," Ozaki informed him.

Shinji took the papers and looked over the sequences. A frown quickly appeared on his face.

"This is a problem."

"There are several ways to compensate, but it entails compromising the core genetic material," said Ozaki. "It's your decision whether stability would be worth the risk."

"Worse case scenario if we don't fix it?" Shinji asked.

"Total breakdown of the genome," Ozaki answered. "However, that's not the most dangerous possibility. It might trigger behavior that we don't want to see."

Shinji nodded. "Then we're going to have to fix it. However, ensure that a copy of everything is made before attempting the procedure."

"That'll add another two months to the project," Ozaki pointed out.

"I'll smooth it over with the brass. If we're going to go ahead, we need something that works, not rush blindly and cause problems down the line."

Ozaki nodded and went back to work. Shinji looked at the papers again and glanced at the file name. Azrael. It would obviously be behind the Metatron Project.

"If I ever get my hands on the bastard that shot me, I'll-"

Asuka then went on to describe in very colorful language exactly how she would vivisect the genitals of that unlucky person.

"Umm, Asuka? Is that really necessary?" Maya asked, slightly pale.

"No, probably not," Asuka said with a sigh. "I'm just venting. So, how long am I stuck here for?"

"Two weeks," Maya answered.

"Two weeks!" Asuka exploded. "What the fucking hell am I supposed to do while I'm here for two weeks!"

"Umm, rest. They had to do reconstructive surgery on your shoulder. The wound was rather severe."

Asuka let out another string of curses before calming down.

"All right. How much will this set back the projects I'm running?"

"Umm, do you really want me to answer that?" Maya asked.

Asuka looked at her subordinate and finally shook her head.

"No, I'm mad enough as it is. I'll deal with it when I get back. God, I'm already bored."

"Well, you could use the time to catch up on the paperwork you've been putting off," Maya suggested.

"I said I was already bored," Asuka replied. "I don't need anything else to increase it."

"Of course ma'am."

Asuka slumped down on the bed, tired from her ranting. Maya saw this and left so her boss could have some peace. Many of the projects at NERV would ground to a halt as Asuka had been the main force pushing them, with her energy and her mental abilities. The girl hadn't graduated college at 13 for nothing.

Unfortunately for Maya, she was still learning German so she got lost a few times in the hospital. She checked the time and headed back to the main compound. This hospital was another extension of NERV, very similar to the layout in Tokyo. Even if Asuka was down, work still could be done.

Back in the room Asuka looked at the laptop Maya had left behind and slid it over. While one arm was basically useless, she could still manage with her working arm. Most of the stuff was progress reports and such about the many projects running. She skipped the minor ones and came to the main reason NERV had been resurrected.

"Project: Marienkind."

If the general public found out about this, there would be a great deal of outrage. An artificial Messiah project? The entire Christian population would revolt against NERV, not to mention the Muslims and Jews that dotted the globe. Unfortunately, time was running out for humanity and this might just be their saving grace.

Genetic data flowed in and Asuka almost immediately saw the flaws. Humanity had breed in far too much weakness and the genes that might have helped were now recessive and dormant. Genetic breakdown was inevitable, especially with the radiation damage done by Second and Third Impact. However, this project might spawn an actual series of mutations, allowing humanity to survive and possibly get evolution going again. Sometimes peace did more to impede progress than accelerate it.

More genetic data flowed onscreen and Asuka smiled. This was the progress of remaking the entire human genome. They had ignored physical details like eye and hair color, instead concentrating on the brain and how much access Marienkind would have. Simulations showed that this particular sequence would all near infinite access to the many regions of the brain, providing enhanced interpretations of the senses, a photographic memory, and possibly awareness of one's AT-Field. That was the key, the AT-Field. It was the one thing that separated humans from Angels.

The eyes were also modified to see into other spectrums, very useful if a visual cloak of some sort was created. The ears were also sharper, capable of picking up sounds that were at too high of a pitch or too low for normal humans to hear. This way, Marienkind would be able to sense danger or anything else for that matter long before it approached him.

A thought ran through Asuka's head and she decided to investigate something else. She scrolled down and found the marker. Two other enhanced senses were touch and smell. She wondered how that would work out. Besides these, there were many genetic markers that were complete mysteries. Even though there was a great deal of information available to them, genetic engineering was still a delicate field.

Asuka closed the laptop and sighed. This would give her some time to finish the calculations in another project. Project: Adam. After all that had happened at NERV, she thought she would never want to hear that name again. However, somehow it was in her hands again. It was time to make some use of it, despite how dangerous the thing was. If only the physics research was going as smoothly, then they'd have the final piece of the puzzle. Asuka ran the calculations again. The answer was still the same. How long would it take to develop something that could generate that much power? God only knows. But she wouldn't give up and would press on no matter what.

Toji looked at the papers filled with math equations and groaned.

"I already went through physics once, why do I have to relearn all this?"

"Because the JAs don't behave like other air units," Mana replied. "If you pull out of a dive too sharply, you might knock yourself out and that'd look great on the letter to Hikari."

"Right, right," Toji mumbled as the other pilots laughed.

Mana watched as the class worked on the physics equations. They probably hadn't seen them since flight school, but she was going to make sure they understood them before even letting them into simulators, much less the real JAs. Besides, the JA units were extremely expensive.

"Fine, I'm done."

Mana looked up in surprise as Toji handed in his paper. The other students gapped too, none of them even halfway done. As she looked over the answers Mana found that all of them were correct. Toji was obviously a lot sharper than people gave him credit for.

"All right then, do these."

Toji frowned but took the sheet. "How many of these do you have?"

"Ten. Now I suggest you get to work."

When the rest of the class heard this it was obvious they weren't happy either. But mathematics played a vital role in flying anything so she wasn't about to relent. Once the others were done Mana started lecturing about the new engines that were being added on the JAs.

"Originally we used jet engines so maneuverability was limited by how much thrust we got," said Mana. "Of course, these engines were the most advanced available and thus provided enough so that we could move quickly. Thanks to the United Nations however, we have secured the designs to the pulse-detonation engine, something that will allow the JA to turn faster, fly faster, and even stop faster. This is of course limited by how much the inertial dampeners can absorb.

"The engines work on the principal of firing off explosions in cycles and doing so at an extremely fast rate, several thousand per minute. This provides the thrust needed to move and is much better than jet engines. The only issue is fuel consumption but we'll cover that later. When in a JA you have to understand that maneuvers are limited to how much stress the structure of the JA can endure. If you pull out of a turn too quickly, the ceramic alloy might shatter. Thus, a sensor has been laid into the superstructure to watch the stress levels. If the indicator starts going into the red, lay off a bit. These things aren't invincible."

"What about the magnetic shield?" Toji asked. "Shouldn't we be able to use that to compensate?"

"If it were only that easy. When activated, the magnetic shield will help hold the unit together, but at a certain point the shield will either run out of power or will fail completely because of the force pulling on it. We're at the limits of our technology here, so don't push it too much."

A shot of the engine design appeared on the screen and Mana walked over.

"Now what you see is a ring of thrusters, each about three inches in diameter. There are ten of them and each fire about two hundred times per minute. The combined force is capable of propelling even something that weighs as much as a JA. When using them to turn, some of the thrusters might not fire for a few seconds until the position is righted again."

"Have there been any problems with these engines?" a student asked.

Mana shrugged. "You're the first group of JA pilots that are going to use them. I wouldn't know."

Mana smiled at their reactions. As cocky as pilots were, even they disliked being guinea pigs.

"Don't worry about it. Our techs have been running checks and simulations ever since we started installing these things. Besides, they've added to the original and they're fielding testing the engines right now."

"The JSSDF does supply insurance, right?" Toji joked.

"Why of course, Mr. Suzuhara. But I don't know if they'll cover the replacement of a biomechanical arm."

Toji's arm had become a sort of joke around the base and he didn't mind. Unlike the old prosthetics of the twentieth century, the new ones were machines, receiving nerve impulses and acting according to what it sensed. It also sent some information back to the brain, but was hardly a replacement for a biological arm.

"The biggest worry you'll have will probably be going too fast," Mana continued. "We aren't sure how fast the engines can take a JA, but it might exceed the pressure that a human body can endure, despite the new pressure suits. So don't do anything stupid."

A pity that warning would probably be disregarded.

"Remember to keep in mind that some of your weapons will lag when you fire them," said Mana. "Even if the railgun fires bullets at supersonic speeds doesn't mean it'll keep up if you go max burn."

"What about the positron cannon?" another student asked.

Mana shrugged. "That we're not sure of. We haven't done a test of it, but since the positrons are going at nearly the speed of light, they probably will remain unaffected. Aim, on the other hand, will become more difficult at such speeds."

After going through more basics the class ended. Tomorrow she'd go over the weapons once again, something the class would probably enjoy. As the other students exited Toji walked over and handed her a note.

"Give this to Shinji. It's from Mari."

"Oh? Why didn't she give this to him in class?"

"Apparently he wasn't there today," said Toji. "Something came up in the morning so they had a sub."

Mana nodded, knowing why he hadn't been present, though not exactly what had happened.

"I'll pass it along."

She opened the note and found it filed with some physics equations and questions. Mari was extremely intelligent and would go a long way. With Shinji's guidance, she might even join the research staff at the base outside of and under Tokyo 4.

Shinji washed his hands and the biological material was rinsed off the gloves. One had to be careful, especially when working with such materials. The remains of the Angels were considered biohazards despite the fact that they were just a collection of dead cells. Sill, it didn't hurt to have precautions.

"It's unfortunate we don't have remains from Arael," Ozaki said. "It would have been interesting to look at its genetic structure."

"Indeed," Shinji agreed. "We'll make do with what we have. We do have Lilith's, and it should be enough."

Extracting genes from dead Angels was one thing they had managed to do successfully, though mapping their genome was extremely difficult. Even though Angels and humans were similar, pieces of genetic code made no sense. But that was his job; unravel the mystery that surrounded the Angels and use it to the benefit of mankind.

"Has the material been contaminated in any way?" Shinji asked.

"No sir. NERV kept their samples under strict quarantine and no outside materials were allowed into contact. This might be the first time they've been taken out since the initial research efforts."

"Good, good. I'll expect a progress report by next week."

He walked out of the decon area and into the lockers. After getting out of the suit and dumping it in the used containers, Shinji changed back into a regular uniform. It had been a rather long day but much had been accomplished. Every project could be broken up into little steps that had to be taken, and they had just taken a giant leap as far as Shinji was concerned.

The subway leading back to the city was already waiting and Shinji was the last one on. Many of the scientists lived off base in a specific area of the city. There large condos had been built specifically for housing the many people that worked on the base. They were comfortable and affordable, and rather exclusive. Some of the soldiers and researchers lived in other areas of town but the majority was situated here. Besides, it was an easier commute with the subway there.

Shinji got off at the main stop and walked up onto the streets. The sun was just starting to set and it was about five. Just in time for dinner. He walked back home to his loving fiancée and smiled. And yet on the horizon a darkness approached.

End of Chapter 6

This was far shorter than the others. Anyways, for those of you that don't know, Marienkind means Son of Mary. I'll leave the rest of the names for you people to figure out.

Z98