Chapter 4 – Agent Ayanami
Ritsuko Akagi sat staring at the computer screen in front of her, not really seeing the data there, no matter how fast his bastardness wanted the 'Drive' up and running.
No, what Ritsuko saw was more along the lines of Rei's apartment, and the general shambles it was kept in. It disturbed, and confused, her to no end that Gendo would keep something (someone she reminded herself) in such squalid conditions, just pretending it didn't exist. He'd likely continue to ignore it unless it interrupted his precious 'scenario'…
Except that with Shinji gone and Unit 01 destroyed during the attack of the fourteenth angel, the scenario she was aware of was forever compromised.
She frowned. So in all likelyhood, unless Rei's apartment entered into whatever the new scenario was, he'd never get around to realizing it, or just stop ignoring it.
The frown deepened. That was the way Gendo dealt with every problem. It was ignored unless it posed a threat to his plans, and then it was dealt with with extreme prejudice. And everyone else was expected to ignore it along with him.
The blonde scientist snorted. As if Yui would go along with that and simply ignore the blood of untold billions on Gendo's hands when they were reunited. She'd met Yui Ikari a few times in the early days of the project when her mother had been alive. She'd honestly believed that it was for the good of mankind, and had known nothing about SEELE's original scenario, or Gendo's subtle alterations.
She sighed. She was straying from the point. She had a problem, and she didn't know what to do about it. She had motherly instincts awakening in response to Rei's plight, instincts she hadn't known she possessed. Certainly her mother hadn't instilled them into her, seducing and sleeping with Gendo even while Yui was still alive, never mind after.
The question was what to do about those instincts. The girl's place was in shambles, and she did have that spare room in her apartment, but the real trick of the matter was slipping it by the Great Bastard King.
Ritsuko paused and considered that last thought. She'd certainly started thinking about Gendo in a very derogatory fashion lately, not that she blamed herself. It was just that she couldn't afford to let herself slip out loud, and slipping in her thoughts was the first step towards that. Well, she couldn't let herself slip as long as she wanted to live at any rate. With 'Plan A' failing, Gendo would likely be twice as ruthless with the rest of them now.
She shrugged silently. So be it. It wasn't like there weren't other ways to keep herself safe from him. She frowned a little. Maybe she'd better start up one of those plans just to be safe…
Damn it! She'd let herself slip off topic again. What the hell was she going to do about Rei, and the nagging feeling that just wouldn't leave her alone?
Well, no she knew that. She'd simply have to follow up on the earlier thought and take the girl in. Or, even better, have Misato take her in. Rei and Asuka were actually getting along now. And it was better than nothing. Or at least better than where she was now.
Well, where Rei went would likely be left up to Gendo. The trick was to slip it by Gendo. That'd certainly take a minor miracle in and of itself.
Then she remembered her earlier thought about self-defense. She grimaced a little. There was no reason said self defense couldn't be brought to Rei's defense with a little ingenuity. I mean, that building's so close to condemned, I'd be surprised it nothing happened to it anyways, even without me helping it along.
---
Ritsuko smiled. A brief peek into Section 2's roster had revealed a period of time in the dead of night when there was no one on duty. Rei herself was conveniently sleeping in Misato's apartment for the night. The security on Rei was always a little lax, mostly because Rei was 'replaceable'.
She gave the arm mounted plasma cannon, with optional plasma blade setting, a semi-loving stroke, before pressing the switch to dematerialize it back into a small, contained Sea of Driac, leaving nothing but a slightly odd wristband that was easily concealed by her lab coat.
Her smile brightened again in the cheery blaze of what was left of Rei's rapidly self consuming apartment building. With all the people pulling out from angel attacks, property was so cheap Rei was only there because she'd been ordered. Everyone else had had the better sense to move out months ago. So, she was essentially guilt free about her act of arson. She'd taken a look at the plans for the building, and carefully aimed her shot through the boarded up window into the power circuit for the place. Hopefully, the police would realize the dilapidated state of the building and not suspect arson. Or, even if they did, they likely wouldn't realize exactly what had happened.
She shrugged and turned to leave. It wasn't like this level of technology was something the police would consider anyways.
---
Gendo Ikari looked at the three people in front of him wearily. He did not need this at the moment.
SEELE was all over him for a viable back up plan. It wasn't that he didn't have one (and with the exception of this little hick up was proceeding smoothly) but that he had to make the plan he had go with what he presented to them, so that those old men wouldn't know what was going on until it was too late.
And now he had to deal with this. He shifted his outwardly cool gaze towards the only other male in the room, the soon-to-be former Commander of Section 2. "Please state what occurred for the record, Commander."
The man visibly cringed. "Yes sir. As was said previously, the First Child's apartment building was burnt to the ground. The fire department has issued a statement confirming it to be a freak accident."
Gendo held up his hand to stop the man. "We are aware of that much. I am referring to the part where you and your men showed up only after several hours had passed. Are you not supposed to be on guard outside the residences of all of the children at all times?"
"Well, we were on watch outside the domicile of Captain Katsuragi, where the First Child slept for the night."
Gendo, in a rare show of humanity, groaned and cradled his head in one hand, and the other groped blindly for a desk drawer. Whether for painkillers, alcohol, or a gun, no one could tell.
Finally he gave up, and glared at the man. "You are aware that anyone intending harm to one of the children would likely sneak in when no one was there?" He sighed, apparently upset at the futileness of the question, then continued. "Right. You're fired. Be gone within the hour." As the man quickly vacated the room, he addressed the other two people in the room, Ritsuko and Misato. "This issue now is to get the First Child a new dweling."
Ritsuko shrugged. "I don't see why there's even an issue here. Misato has handled the other children just fine. Let her handle Rei. Especially now that Shinji's gone."
Gendo's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, the only indication of his current frustration. "There are… complications with that Dr. Akagi. As you well know."
Misato raised an eyebrow. "Complications?"
Ritsuko grimaced a little. "Rei has certain… dietary needs. But certainly nothing you shouldn't be able to handle with a little forethought."
Gendo grunted. "Be that as it may, doctor, you will be assuming guardianship of the First Child until further notice. That is all."
Knowing the conversation was over with, both women rose and exited. Misato smirked. "Well, that went well. What are you going to do with her?"
Ritsuko scowled at her friend. "I have the room, but some of the things in my apartment are… sensitive."
Misato shrugged. "So you'll have to clean up a little bit. Big deal."
Ritsuko smirked. "Oh, like you're one to talk."
---
Dr. Akagi was out… doing something for NERV in her labs, making this the perfect time for Rei to attempt to access the Doctor's computer, now that six months had passed.
More than enough time to let her feel more comfortable with Rei's presence during her absence.
Coming up on a password sequence, Rei frowned ever so slightly, before trying something. An error message appeared, before the password screen came up again. She had two more tries to get the password, or it would lock down, and not even the correct sequence would open it until NERV had verified who had tried to access it.
Rei glanced around the room, looking at everything in it. Then a slight smile came to her face and she entered a second sequence.
The computer paused for several seconds, then began normal operations. Rei allowed herself a small smirk before looking into the Doctor's recent files.
Several things had been accessed recently. Opening the first, she saw a description of LCL and its affect on the human body. Skimming over it briefly, she noted the LCL had no real effects on the body, but as stated conducted her thoughts more easily to her unit.
Surprisingly, this document also stated that emotional state was critical to this process, that the pilot's emotional state should match the Evangelion's for best results. She pondered this for a moment before moving on.
She went through several other documents, before she found something interesting.
Drive, it was called.
A drug the document noted, that in its pure form would reach deep down inside and bring out all the untapped potential inside a person. It couldn't add things a person wasn't capable of, but it could temporarily bring out hidden skills a person wasn't aware they had.
When mixed with LCL in the right ratios, however, it had the additional effect, that of raising synchronization rates.
There were however downsides. Drive in its pure form gave a person an extreme personality shift, usually towards megalomaniacal end of the spectrum. It was also a highly addictive substance.
The reason for the increased sync rate however was because of the personality shift, as the substance affected both Pilot and Evangelion, shifting them both to the same state.
Rei closed the file after reading that and pondered it for a few moments.
Then, as her cell phone began to ring, she deftly logged out and restarted the computer before answering as she hurried out of the house and towards NERV.
---
In his command room in Terminal Dogma, Gendo Ikari watched the screen on his desk quietly, pondering.
The screen itself showed Rei sitting at Dr. Akagi's home computer. The computer security that was secretly placed in every employee computer had paid off. It had noted that Someone was logged in that the Doctor's residence when she was quite obviously doing her job in the lab. It had notified him personally, and quietly. Then it was a simple matter to access the hidden cameras placed in the room.
Now he had only to decide what to do about this.
Then the alarms started going off, and he stood, heading for the command center.
---
Asuka, in her entry plug, stared at the angel. It just… hovered there, like it was waiting for something. She noted Rei off to the side, 00 armed with its customary rifle. She shifted the pole arm in her grip absently, trying to get a better feel for it. She seethed at it, willing it to die. Her mind snapped back to the last battle.
She'd been… helpless. Afraid. Crying.
She snapped, and charged the angel, ignoring the shouts that came from the com systems.
She struck, her pole-axe lunging toward the angel, which bent itself out of the way before arching towards her.
Not quite incapacitated with rage, Asuka managed to dodge out of the way, letting the flowing circle fly past her like a rubber band.
She cursed under her breath and readied herself for the next charge.
---
In the attack shelter, Hikari stood with Chu-Chu in her arms. Her parents had been caught at work, and the rest of her building had been cleared out with everyone leaving Tokyo 3, so no one could comment on why she had thought it necessary to bring a stuffed animal with her down to the shelter.
She clutched her friend a little tighter as she watched Asuka's Evangelion be savagely hit by the angel. A few bursts by Rei off to the side got the angel to back off momentarily, but that was all.
Chu-Chu watched with wide eyes as it all happened. Hikari didn't notice when the set look came into her friend's face, but did notice when the pink hairball squirmed out of her arms. "Chu-Chu?"
Her fiend looked up at her, eyes huge. "Chu-Chu's going to help!"
Hikari took an involuntary step back. "…? Going to help…? Chu-Chu, no you'll be killed. Be a good girl and stay here, okay?"
Chu-Chu thought for a moment. "Uh hmmm... " Then she grinned at Hikari. "Chu-Chu's not a good girl. I'm in that dangerous age right now. And Chu-Chu can help! She's going to help her friends!"
Then she took off out the door. Hikari paused only for a second before following.
---
Asuka growled and charged once more. Her pole arm having been sliced in half by just the angel's AT field, she now only had her progressive knife to defend herself. By concentrating on survival first, she'd managed avoid any solid hits to her Evangelion's body, thankfully.
It came in again, and Asuka resigned her self to the role of playing bait, hoping Rei could pick it off from a distance, as the flowing circle hadn't yet revealed a core. She dodged and struck, but both her knife and several rounds from 00's rifle glanced harmlessly off the angel's impossibly strong AT field.
The angel moved back, and then did something completely unexpected. It separated, becoming like a string as it unwound in mid air.
No, Asuka thought then, it's not a string it's a snake.
She'd barely finished the thought before one end snapped back at her faster than she could bring her knife up to defend herself.
---
Hikari chased Chu-Chu up the stairs of her building, rapidly approaching the surface, which was where the 'roof' was given all the buildings were suspended below the surface during an angel attack. "Chu-Chu! Please, wait!"
Chu-Chu did stop this time, and smiled at Hikari, before turning serious. "I'm going."
Hikari started. "But Chu-Chu…"
Chu-Chu gave her a soft smile, like the one she'd given that day in the alley. "So… please let me go along. No problem. I'll be fine."
Hikari collapsed and started sobbing. "No Chu-Chu! Don't!"
Chu-Chu walked back to where Hikari was, and gave the girl a hug. "Leave it up chu me, Hikari. No sweat."
Chu-Chu turned around again and ran up to the roof hatch. Hikari staggered to her feet and followed.
---
Asuka staggered back fighting with angel for control of her Eva. On the other side of the battlefield, Rei waited, partly obscured by the raised building she'd obtained her current rifle from. She'd taken aim, but was obviously unwilling to fire on Asuka while there was still a struggle taking place.
The voice of the commander came over her com once again. "Rei. Destroy the angel."
On screen, Rei shook her head. "Negative. Pilot Sorhyu is still engaged."
The voice came as a growl. "The eva has been compromised. It's only a matter of time."
Rei shook her head. "Negative." Taking her hand from the controls for a moment, she then disabled the direct com from Gendo's terminal.
Asuka's flailing then hit a building, knocking off the top portion, sending it on its way to the ground. Eyeing the likely landing zone of the debris, Rei showed a sudden burst of emotion as she saw movement underneath where it would land.
She quickly zoomed her camera in just in time to see Hikari exit the roof hatch and freeze, obviously having caught sight of the falling portion of building.
---
Neverwhere: Chaos Mode – Wow. Finally got a chapter out. Well, for the foreseeable future, chapters will be out regularly on Saturdays, once every other week.
No, really.
I can actually guarantee this, as the next seven chapters are already written. Of course, six of those chapters were written about six months before we actually posted the prologue, so it's not like too much of that time was spent on this… but we did write two of them in the time we've taken!
So… see you in two weeks.
It's our hope that Classic will be able to churn out an additional chapter or two in the remaining time between now and then, but we'll see what happens. Procrastination and writer's block and all that.
C. Cowboy: Procrastination, writers block, new jobs, school, women, food, lots of things to get in the way but I shall not be diverted, I shall not be delayed, I SHALL PRODUCE GOOD FICTION WITHOUT DISTRACTION ... is that cake?