Chapter 28
"The assassin was not successful."
"General Ikari is not an easy target."
"We shouldn't worry about her. Her mission is doomed to failure."
From the oval conference table in a dark room, eleven people looked in the direction of the voice.
Footsteps sounded as a large, white haired man with a white mustache, wearing a United States Army uniform with three silver stars on each shoulder board, smirked. "You are all fools." He said as he smirked and shook his head. "We have nothing to fear." He told the room. "You may have failed in your botched assassination attempt of General Ikari but we succeeded in hitting her where it counted. We were able to successfully infiltrate the hospital where Shinji Ikari was receiving his cancer treatment and thereby, thanks to the good, world-renowned Dr. Ushida, giving Mr. Ikari a fair send-off in an appropriate timeframe. The best weapon is not necessarily physical. It can be mental and emotional. You mindless morons would be well to remember that."
"I still think having General Ikari dead is a better option!"
"Kill General Ikari! Kill General Ikari!" He mocked. "That is all you have talked about for years! Give up that damned dream of yours! It wont' happen. General Ikari is too protected." The man said. "However, now that her beloved Shinji has passed on I can almost guarantee you that this operation will be doomed to failure. General Ikari is an emotional wreck at the current timeframe. Between her anger of SEELE and her grief, I doubt she could command this mission successfully. Best of all she has doomed it with introducing the handsome Sawyer Dell to her virtuous, emotional basket case of a daughter. The two of them are so completely absorbed in getting into bed with each other, that they've lost sight of what's important."
"You seem to be too sure of yourself, General Harris." One of the people said
It is your conceit that caused you to lose control of the very operation you stated General Ikari would not be entrusted with!"
"General Ikari is not a problem! Neither is Hope Ikari! Hope Ikari is acting like a high school cheerleader with a crush on the quarterback. Her last test in the EVA failed. Unit 1 rejected her. I have been supplying the CIA false information about the location of our base. While they think it is in a certain location, they forget to look the other way. So, when the great General Ikari storms the very building and finds out there is no SEELE that is when we will unleash our weapon and cleanse humanity. We will gain control of Unit 1, merge it with our creation, set Instrumentality on its correct course and the world will be once again restored to perfection."
"When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is." An Eastern European woman said.
"Oh please." Harris stated. "How many people would have believed that I, General Nathaniel Harris of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, would be a member of SEELE? Let us not forget, it was my idea to give Shinji Ikari a long drawn out ending so to purposely distract General Ikari. Let us also not forget that to kill Isao Katsumoto and send their brave, little hope of the world into a straight jacket was my idea as well! How many people would have ever believed that I could manipulate a President so well? You owe everything to me!" Harris said as he looked around the room. "Your assassination attempt on General Ikari's life was sloppy! Of all things, you sent in an assassin with an affinity for a knife! You did it at the funeral of Shinji Ikari! That was incompetence above all else! Now, granted you shook them all up but still, you were sloppy! You sent an amateur in and her son, a former police officer, caught wind of it and capped him!"
"I thought you stated that Souke Ikari was stupid and naïve."
"To be an EVA pilot. However, he knew that his mother was in danger and reacted. Either way, you were sloppy! There will be no more assassination attempts. Now, we'll just let things play out."
"YOU ARE NOT THE LEADER OF THIS ORGANIZATION!" One of the members shouted.
"No, I'm not." He said. "However, this organization owes almost all of its success due to me! You would have never succeeded in your plans if I had not been the one to conduct Instrumentality! General Ikari's operation will fail…its really doomed to failure. We have the best weapons at our disposal and with our Third world friends, we have the resources as well.. You tried for years to eliminate the threats. First, you went after Gendo Ikari and you succeeded. Then, it was me who suggested Misato Katsuragi. So, we got her liquored up and we made it seem like she crashed her car after she retired. Why did you stop though? You didn't look at the future. It wasn't until I targeted Hope Ikari that you listened. Hope Ikari was always a candidate for the EVA in the event Shinji couldn't do it. So, first we decided to eliminate the love of her life and we had Isao Katsumoto's plane explode while she was able to see it for herself.. Only, you again were careless and hired the wrong people. Shortly after the accident, they were found and then interrogated. It was then they said everything. Luckily, no names were mentioned and we were able to, how shall I put it, plug up the leaks before they spilled into our plans.." Harris chuckled and continued to walk around the room as he spoke. "Then I gave you the best solution of all, target Shinji Ikari. Target the one true pilot for EVA Unit 1. Target the man who is the source of Asuka Ikari's strength and the heart of that family. Kill the one who stopped Instrumentality in the first place and make him suffer for his insolence! Now he is but a memory. Without him, that family is doomed. Without him, Asuka will fall to pieces. So that's what we did. An accidental bump in a supermarket and boom, Shinji was done for. So slowly and painfully Asuka's watched him deteriorate and we've seen the effects of his problematic health on her. As I told you, we didn't have to bother with an assassination attempt on General Ikari's life…the fact that her idiot Shinji is now dead…. is the best weapon we need to destroy her. Ikari will not be successful. She'll fail. Even if she does conduct the mission, her focus will be off. Her strike team will wander into our hands, we will unleash our weapon, she will be made to look incompetent and best of all, she will be blamed for the end of humanity. We will aspire to greatness and bring to the world to a new beginning where we will dictate the course of humanity."
"You are way too confident."
"Why shouldn't I be?" Harris asked. "This plan is flawless. I control the intelligence the US receives. I can undermine this whole operation. I just want to be there to see the look on brave General Ikari's face as her strike team walks straight into a trap! It will be a glorious day."
( I REALLY really hate SEELE. Okay, so you've found out Harris is a traitor. What do you think is going to happen next? Stay tuned….I've got more to come. See ya soon. As always, thanks to all of you for all of your support. Keep writing. I'm listening and if I use your suggestion, I'll credit you in the next update. Nic, thanks again for all your reviews, kind words and support. Let me know when your update is posted. PS. My site is going through a maintenance cycle right now its going to be down for a little while but stay tuned for special After Impact and Destiny of One sections. I think you'll like them. See ya on the next vid….oops, I meant fic. Peace. J..)