Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies
Launch Forty-Four
"You have NO IDEA how much I want to jump in an extended range jet fighter and go to Japan," Maria Vincennes admitted as they read the reports.
"I'm right there with you," Sumire Nagara agreed, the head tech at US NERV sitting in the office with her,
"HOW can Arael be generating an Angel AT Field but still appear to be biologically human?" Maria demanded.
Sumire rubbed her eyes tiredly. "You have to understand, we don't really understand Angel biology," she pointed out.
"Hmm. Right," Maria sighed.
"My senpais in Tokyo-3 might disagree with me, but we barely understand the Evangelion," Sumire added. She sighed, "We're just lucky Yui Ikari and Naoko Akagi worked out enough bits and pieces that we can do this."
Taking in her odd tone of voice, Maria peered at her as she asked worriedly, "How long have you been up?"
Sumire blinked then yawned. "I've been pushing the emergency retrofit for the two Mass Production Evangelions. Ripping out the dummy plug systems is a bitch," she admitted. "It's been... two days?"
"Go home, or go crash in your office," Maria ordered. "If you screw up due to lack of sleep, we'll all regret it."
"Yes ma'am," Sumire got up, stretching tiredly. "We finished, by the way," she added, "both Units designation 05 and 06 are pilotable."
"Damn..," Maria muttered, checking her computer and seeing that both were listed as 'ready.' They still needed to synch test the pilots with both units, but at least they were operational.
"Boss, Miss Hilde is here," her secretary called.
"Send her in," Maria ordered.
Hilde strode in, the former flight attendant filling out a NERV uniform very well. Which Maria tried very hard not to notice. "I heard the two Evangelions are ready?" she asked.
"Yes and no," Maria answered her, "we still have to synch test the pilots. Are both Kaworu and Mayumi ready?"
"Kaworu is eager to go, Mayumi not so much," Hilde said frankly.
"Not unexpected," Maria nodded, "I'll mobilize the techs and we'll get started."
As they left her office, Maria found herself wondering what trouble Arael was getting into at Tokyo-3...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Oooh, ice cream is nummy!" Arael said as she ate.
Shinji Ikari was taking a turn with the young woman/Angel. The pretty blonde had recognized him immediately from their shared dream, crazily enough.
(Ritsuko had quized him about it, but seemed perplexed by how or why. She had also identified the pretty boy Shinji had interacted with: fellow pilot Kaworu Nagisa.)
"You're supposed to be a boy," Arael noted as she ate.
"Really?" Shinji asked.
"Hmm," Arael nodded and ate. "It's thrown things out of order. We no longer have a basic knowledge of events."
"Oh," Shinji said quietly.
Arael finished off the ice cream. "I THINK this is better than pudding," she decided with a very serious expression.
"Good?" Shinji said, still trying to grasp her earlier comment.
"Can I have more?" Arael asked.
"Sure," Shinji said, "what flavour?"
"THERE'S OTHER FLAVOURS?!" Arael blurted.
Shinji smiled wryly, "We'll start with one or two..."
Under the guard's supervision they got strawberry and chocolate ice cream cups, and each ate. Arael interestingly found the chocolate kind of bitter, but clearly enjoyed the strawberry.
"If my being a girl derailed things," Shinji suggested, "doesn't that mean you and the other Angels don't have to do... whatever you were going to do?"
"If I do not (ALIEN SCRIPT) and (ALIEN SCRIPT) what reason do I have to exist?" Arael asked, tilting her head to the side.
"To make friends, eat ice cream and other deserts?" Shinji offered.
Arael paused, looking thoughtful.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"You don't seem surprised?" Visha noted to Tanya as they watched the video feed.
"I'm not," Tanya admitted, "the Committee has known SOMETHING was off for awhile. And the chairman informed me."
"Huh," Visha nodded.
The two were in an office that Gendo had set aside for them. And bugged, interestingly, though Tanya had used a bug sweeper to clear all those out. Mind you, it was unlikely that Gendo didn't know everything Tanya did already, but no reason to take chances.
"It's going to be hard for Shinji to deal with," Visha added. She frowned, "Do the pilots have someone to talk to?"
"Not that I know of," Tanya admitted. She rather suspected that was deliberate...
"I'll talk to her later," Visha decided. They watched the two teens interact, and blinked as they talked. "Is Shinji convincing her to stop attacking humanity for food?"
"Could work," Tanya noted, then her phone rang.
"Grab that," Visha shrugged, "we're recording them, anyway."
"Dugurechaff," Tanya identified herself, "This is not a secure line."
"Ma'am," a familiar voice said, "there's been a serious development at the US branch."
Tanya sat up, listening intently.
"They've successfully converted two Mass Production units to piloted," the voice continued, "they're ready to go other than synch tests."
"Confirmed?" Tanya demanded.
"Yes. I've got to go," and they hung up.
"Trouble?" Visha asked, seeing the look on her face.
"Potentially," Tanya sighed, "it depends on if we can rely on the US branches."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"We haven't gotten any secret messages from our mystery contact lately," Misato noted quietly to Ritsuko.
"No, one wonders why?" Ritsuko mused.
The two women were in Ritsuko's private office in the labs, grabbing a coffee. The room was monitored by cameras and mics, but the blonde scientist had designed methods to evade them.
"Their source for information dried up?" Rirsuko offered.
Misato sighed as she drank her coffee. Glumly she said, "We could use some new information right now."
"Well, Arael and Shinji are bonding," Ritsuko noted.
"Here's hoping she doesn't have to kill the Angel eventually," Misato pointed out.
"There's a happy thought," Ritsuko passed her a plate of snacks, "Have a cookie. You get cranky when your blood sugar drops."
Misato ate, then had more coffee.
"Is Maya being a problem for you?" Ritsuko had to ask.
"Generally, no," Misato noted. "Despite her being Gendo's right hand woman, she hasn't jumped into command issues."
"Hmm," Ritsuko nodded. "I'm beginning to wonder if we misunderstood her intentions in working for Gendo."
Misato shrugged, "We can't really risk trusting her, though. If we're wrong, we could be shot. At minimum."
Ritsuko sighed, "You're right. Damn it."
Misato added, "It'd be nice if we knew where Dugurechaff stood in all this."
"Is she behind what SEELE is up to," Ritsuko nodded, "or like us, working on the inside to find out what's going on?"
"Or a third option," Misato added.
"Whatever that might be," Ritsuko sighed and finished her drink.
To be continued...
Notes: I'm not sure how much Naoko had to do with developing the Evangelion, canon wise. My assumption for this fic is that Yui developed the biological side, while Naoko created the tech interface that lets it be piloted.
While in canon the lack of psychiatric help for pilots is never explained, I assume it's deliberate. The various traumas would likely just increase the synch between pilots and Evangelions.