Top Girls!

Chapter 14

"What are they doing?!" the head of the secret conspiracy SEELE demanded, all the members represented by monoliths with numbers on them.

Conversationally one of the monoliths noted, "Apparently making a popular TV show while fighting Angels."

"We know that!"

"It's not that we can criticize what they're doing," another monolith noted, "as long as they keep beating Angels."

"And it's a good show! Did you see the Across Japan Race?" a cheerful monolith asked.

"NOT THE TIME," the leader growled.

"NERV has also been reaching out to the military. That could be an issue for us, later," another monolith added.

Almost all of the scenarios they were working with involved the military securing NERV headquarters. By force if needed. It would make such a thing much harder if they sympathized with them too much.

"We need to bring Ikari under control," a monolith said.

"Just cancelling the show is out of the question. And similarly we can't just disappear him, either," the monolith noted sourly.

"Nor do we have much leverage. His son is needed as a pilot," a monolith sighed.

"We will monitor the situation," the leader sighed. Ominously they added, "When they finally fail... there will be consequences."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"The Committee is NOT happy with you," Ryoji Kaji noted mildly as he reported in to Gendo in the other man's office.

"My heart bleeds," Gendo answered wryly.

Kaji passed over the transcript they had gotten from a leak in the committee. He suspected it was the Top Gear fan...

Gendo skimmed it, "Nice to see they're still confused."

"I have to admit, it's a genius move," Kaji admitted. "Do you really think you need the public support Top Gear generates?"

"Eventually, the public will find out the Evangelion is biological, not a mecha. And, of course, the Instrumentality Project and other SEELE plots," Gendo said. "I'm hoping the show will help us appear to be the good guys."

"Point," Kaji agreed. He changed the subject and asked him, "How are the pilots doing after the Angel attack?"

Asuka and Mari had taken out Unit -02 and Unit-00 to oppose the Angel. They had dealt with the Angel successfully, but there had been damage to both the city and the Evangelions.

"They're a bit battered but otherwise fine," Gendo noted.

Kaji nodded, "Shinji is apparently feeling a bit guilty that he wasn't able to help."

"Understandable," Gendo said, "I think that Misato will be taking them out, or something."

Shinji had, actually, been hit with a bad cold not too long after the Across Japan Race. Being ill could hit synch rates unpredictably, plus there was the whole sneezing in an entry plug. It was messy, and extremely unpleasant.

Gendo got up, and he and Kaji walked out. "Well, thank you for the information." he said.

"Just doing my job," Kaji waved as he walked off.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Satsuki Ooi was doing interviews for the webshow and bonus features. "How was the boat?" she asked Misato.

"Better than I expected," Misato admitted. "Once we got out away from shore anyway."

"Do you think you could have won is you hadn't hit the body?" Satsuki asked.

Misato made a so-so gesture. "Maybe," she shrugged, "on paper it's doable, but I don't know if it's really practical."

"Not that Top Gear has ever worried about practical," Satsuki noted.

"Ha!" Misato smiled, "Point."

"Maya, Ritsuko, congratulations on your win," Satsuki smiled.

"Thanks," Maya replied cheerfully.

"Thank you," Ritsuko nodded.

"What was the hardest thing in the race?" Satsuki asked.

"Running between the trains," Ritsuko sighed.

"Agreed," Maya nodded. She explained, "Some of the connections were far, far too close, timing wise."

"I saw the footage," Satsuki chuckled, "you lost your sound guy."

"Poor guy," Maya chuckled.

"I really enjoyed the bullet train," Ritsuko added. She mused, "Comfortable, fast, and the food service was nice."

"What did you most like?" Satsuki asked Maya.

"Also the bullet train," Maya added, "and the gondola up the mountain. Nice views!"

"Thank you for your time," Satsuki finished.

The Stig was sitting straight in a chair, looking straight ahead.

"Stig, what did you think of the race?" Satsuki asked.

The Stig just looked at her.

"I see," Satsuki responded, "Where do you think you had trouble?"

For a beat the Stig just sat there.

"Of course, perfectly understandable," Satsuki concluded.

"Shinji," Satsuki moved on, "hope you're feeling better?"

Shinji sniffled, "I'm getting there."

"How did you enjoy the race?" Satsuki asked brightly.

"It was pretty fun, actually," Shinji agreed. Thoughtfully he added, "Admittedly, I didn't have the worry of being the driver."

"We just had to be worried as passengers," Satsuki joked.

Shinji laughed, then sneezed. "Yeah," he agreed.

Amusingly they could kind of feel the Stig scowling at them.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Later that day, the staff got together for a production meeting.

"How are the repairs to the Evangelions going?" Misato quietly asked.

"Mostly cosmetic and armor," Ritsuko shrugged. "Fairly standard."

"All right everyone," Gendo waved everyone to sit.

"Did we hear back from the US?" Satsuki asked.

"Finally," Gendo nodded, "we've got permission for a US special for Top Gear."

"About time!" Misato blurted.

"Do we know where we'll be allowed to go?" Maya asked curiously.

"We're still negotiating with the US State Department," Gendo noted, "I'm expecting we'll mostly be confined to the west coats."

"The east coast got hit hard," Ritsuko nodded. "I guess we can't plan a route, yet?"

"Not until we're certain where we'll go," Gendo admitted.

"Maybe run from Seattle down the coast into California. See Hollywood and San Francisco-2?" Misato suggested.

"Moving on," Gendo said.

Ritsuko noted, "We're STILL getting requests for another Evangelion race."

"The Japanese government is scared of property damage," Gendo noted.

"Do it in old Tokyo?" Maya suggested. "The area is already wrecked."

"We can try to suggest that," Satsuki agreed.

"Do we know which cars we're going to do next?" Misato asked.

Gendo smirked, "We actually got a US muscle car for you."

"Oooh," Maya grinned.

"Oh god," Ritsuko groaned.

Misato grinned, "That'll be fun to trash."

"Now, now, don't go in with a bias," Ritsuko chided.

Misato just laughed.

To be continued...