Top Girls!

Chapter 17

NERV chartered a private plane, the group flying from Tokyo-2 to the city of Old San Francisco, in sunny California. They set up in a hotel that night, while all the last minute arrangements were carried out.

"So about a third of the city was submerged after Impact?" Misato asked.

"Roughly," Ritsuko agreed, "they've preserved a lot of the city as an underwater park, interestingly enough."

Misato and Ritsuko were sharing a room, as NERV was too cheap to pay for singles for everyone. Amusingly, Gendo and Kaji were also sharing... along with poor Shinji himself, sleeping on an inflatable futon.

"Ah, ma'am," Maya Ibuki was a little tentative, "can I go out and see the sights?"

"Sure, I don't see a problem," Misato shrugged.

"I wasn't sure if we were filming any 'behind the scenes' stuff or something tonight," Maya explained.

"Go ahead," Ritsuko nodded.

"And don't tell Gendo that filming idea, or he'll film us visiting Stonewall or something," Misato noted.

Ritsuko chuckled at that.

"Want to go out and get some food?" Misato suggested after Maya had left.

"Why not, I could eat," Ritsuko agreed and they headed out too.

"Maybe we'll get picked up at a gay bar or something," Misato added cheerfully.

"Don't tease some poor lesbian," Ritsuko deadpanned.

"Hey, I swing both ways," Misato protested. "Remember that night...?" she started.

"Hush," Ritsuko ordered, "We said we would never bring that up again."

Misato just laughed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"THIS SUCKS," Mari Illustrious Makinami complained, the brown haired woman stuck back at Tokyo-3 NERV.

"I wanted to go to the US too," Kaede agreed, the young woman one of the alternate bridge bunnies at NERV. She was monitoring Mari as she ran simulator tests for Unit-02.

"Start the simulator up again," Mari told her grimly, "the mood I'm in, I REALLY wanna just kill something."

"Any preferences?" Kaede asked as she punched buttons.

"Military attack on NERV. I feel like a massacre," Mari gave a slasher grin.

"Aye aye," Kaede sighed as she brought up that program.

Meanwhile, up on the bridge, Aoba and Makoto were keeping an eye on things as well as monitoring Mari's training session. If you could call it 'training' since she was just gleefully wrecking small armies of attacking troops. The projected casualties were already in the low hundreds, and she had barely started.

"Do you ever worry that Mari isn't all that tightly wound?" Makoto asked as Mari grabbed a tank and used it to bludgeon attackers.

"Every day," Aoba deadpanned.

"Seriously," Makoto sighed.

With a weary sigh Aoba pointed out, "She's no crazier than any of the OTHER pilots. Shinji is an overly clingy Momma's boy, Rei is emotionless, and Asuka is an overachiever with an intense need for approval."

"Oh," Makoto blinked.

"Yeah," Aoba shrugged, "the human race's survival depends on a group of hugely fucked up kids. What do you do?" He shrugged.

They watched Mari casually stomping troops with her Evangelion, both men feeling more than a bit disturbed.

"Hi everyone," one of the lab techs came in, "uhm, can I get you coffee or anything?"

"Yes please," Motoko sighed.

Once coffee was delivered, both men went back to monitoring for Angels and watching Mari be a maniac in the simulator.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"All right, the cars you'll be driving are sorted," Gendo noted as the group met up for coffee in the morning.

"There was some doubt?" Ritsuko had to ask.

"We DO tend to be hard on US cars in our reviews," Gendo pointed out. "I was concerned one of the companies might back out."

Everyone sort of looked at Misato.

"Hey!" Misato pouted.

"Anyway," Maya said, "I'm looking forward to my muscle car."

"You would," Ritsuko sighed.

Satsuki Oou looked annoyed as she said, "I DO wish we had been organized enough to get some footage of us arriving yesterday. Or going out last night."

All three hosts looked sheepish, interestingly.

Gendo decided he didn't want to know.

"Okay, so we'll be having a pace car with each host' vehicle," Kaji noted. "Along with a truck to transport equipment and remaining staff."

"That's the plan," Misato agreed and added, "we're also booking a helicopter for some overhead or fly-by shots."

"Any issues with permissions and such?" Ritsuko checked.

"Everything has been cleared," Gendo said, "though I understand we'll have a police escort along at times."

"Wait, what?" Misato started.

"It's a requirement to film on certain highways and such," Gendo explained.

"Hopefully it won't be a problem," Maya offered.

"Huh," Misato still looked unhappy.

"We'll start filming this afternoon, leaving the city and heading east," Satsuki noted, "the police will meet us out there. Will the pilots be riding with the hosts or...?"

"Good question," Gendo admitted. He looked at the three ladies, "Which would you rather do?"

"I'm OK with it," Maya nodded.

"I'm good," Misato nodded.

"Well, why not?" Ritsuko shrugged.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Welcome to a Top Gear Special!" Misato declared, the three standing at the parking lot nearby the highway on the east end of town.

"We are in the United States," Maya said.

"San Francisco, not far from the old city," Ritsuko added.

"We'll be travelling east to the testing grounds in Nevada and the mysterious Area 51," Misato added dramatically.

"They're not THAT mysterious," Ritsuko muttered.

"Hush," Misato ordered.

Maya cleared her throat, "Well, let's check out the cars!"

The camera panned over to reveal a 'supercar' a 'supercar/muscle car' hybrid and a muscle car, all gleaming as they waited for their drivers.

"I of course picked the supercar," Ritsuko said primly as she waved to the sleek red car, "A Shelby GT599, based on the Ford Mustang, but heavily rebuilt and lightened. It's fast, powerful AND gives a comfortable ride."

"Ha," Misato barked, "doesn't FORD stand for Fixed Or Repaired Daily?" She continued, "I picked the hybrid. This started out as a Camaro from Chrystler, and was rebuilt by a US customizer. It has a top engine, AND superchargers."

"I decided to go with the muscle car," Maya said cheerfully, "a seventh generation Ford Mustang. Unlike Ritsuko's poor rebuilt version, it has all traditional styling and mechanicals. It even has the minimal amount of computer assistance, unlike both other cars."

"I can't wait to leave you both in the dust once we get to the testing grounds," Misato said to them smugly.

"Just wait and see," Ritsuko drawled.

"We'll also have the Evangelion Pilots along as co-pilots," Maya jumped in as all three kids appeared and waved.

"All right," Misato said, "mount up and let's go!"

Rei got in with Ritsuko, Asuka with Maya and Shinji nervously climbed in with Misato.

"Buckle up," Misato ordered as they raced off the lot in a squeal of tires.

To be continued...

Notes: I have to decide which fictional cops they end up having as escorts. I'm VAGUELY tempted to use the cast of You're Under Arrest. We'll see.