Lights faded into the pitch-black room, illuminating seven giant columns. They glowed, basking in the light that seemed to originate from nowhere. On their fronts they displayed nothing more than numbers, which were ordered from zero to seven in their circular formation. In the middle of them, standing tall and ready, was Dr. Akagi.
"Tell us of Ikari's position", a voice rumbled from the monolith titled '00'.
"Subject Shinji Ikari was evaluated by a team of two which told him of ZWEITE's plan to use him to test pilot Contingency Evangelion Unit 00. He didn't take it well, and reportedly had a mental breakdown, resulting in the two left without his company." Akagi paused to catch her breath, as she had all just made this statement up in her mind with no papers ready to present.
"Just as we had planned," The zero monolith chuckled to himself. "We want to have Ikari transported to the ZWEITE base in Osaka-2 as quickly as possible."
"What? But he's obviously not even remotely ready to pilot an eva." Akagi seemed confused, figuring the boy was a lost cause.
"Nonsense. His ego is as broken as the day he attempted to start the Third Impact. We're lucky to have him in such a perfect state; it will be easier to enact our plans further with him like this." The monolith titled '04' spoke up.
"Are you sure? I mean, Ikari was declaring he'd never pilot an Eva again. I'm sure if we put him in the eva plug he wouldn't do anything we say."
"All the more reason to have him transported to Osaka-2 as quickly as possible." Monolith '07' declared.
"That's right. We mustn't take our time with this perfect subject. The more unstable he becomes the more chances we have to initiate the true Third Impact. Have your staff ready, Dr. Akagi. I want everyone working in ZWEITE to set up Contingency Eva Unit 00 as quickly as possible for Ikari's arrival. You are to still refer to this as the Aftermath Cleanup Project. Do you understand?" Monolith zero, even though he was speaking through what was just a slab of black, still intimidated the doctor.
"I do."
"Then see to it that you do not fail. We've set up every step and you must now climb them. ZWEITE will not fail as NERV did; we will not have our control over you leaked to the public once more. Now go, Doctor. Meeting adjourned." And with that, the monoliths disappeared into the darkness of the vast room, and all that was left was Akagi. She nodded to herself and turned to leave the chamber.
…
"That fucking kid," Shinichi slammed his fist on the table. "He'll be the death of us all, I swear."
"Don't swear on things you don't know enough about." Monika sipped on her coffee.
"I know enough about him- hell I've seen enough about him to know he's insane."
"Just go back to eating, Shinichi. I'm not in the mood for arguing."
Shinichi took a bite out of his donut, grumbling to himself in between bites. The two sat in the large lounging area of ZWEITE, where a cafe and eating area were positioned on an overlook just above the main entrance to the facility. It was mostly empty except for the few guards scattered around the room. A giant clock sat positioned above both the main doors and cafeteria. On them, the time was displayed as 5:37 AM.
Monika was staring at the doors and the guards surrounding them. Usually, people didn't arrive to work this early, but because of their visit to the Death-Site, Shinichi and Monika would have gotten home right at the time they needed to leave for work. As Monika drank more of her coffee, she saw a car pull up from the parking lot. Out came Dr. Akagi from the back, and the car drove off. She walked into the building and headed up the escalator to the cafe.
"Morning, Doctor." Shinichi acted all polite, even though he had been horribly grumpy just a minute before.
"Good morning you two." She smiled back.
"Did you receive our digital report, Doctor?" Monika asked just as she finished her drink.
"Yes, I did. I already went over it in detail to myself." Akagi walked up to the nearby cafe and waited for the barista behind the counter to take her order.
"So what do you think we're going to do?" Shinichi asked her.
"I can't exactly discuss that here, but it's… a fine report. I'm sure we can work with the prisoner." Akagi assured them. She turned around and began ordering.
'The prisoner,' Monika thought, 'I guess we're still calling him that.
Akagi received her beverage and paid for it there. She sat down at the table with Shinichi and Monika, in between them. They sat in silence for a while, with Shinichi reading his magazine and both Monika and Akagi typing away on their laptops. Slowly, more staff members began to come through the front doors, and the ZWEITE base started to become lively just as it did every day around the morning hours. ZWEITE employees rushed in, and work started just as usual.
"I'll be holding a meeting today at 1700 hours. We'll be discussing the transportation of Prisoner a1. You will be there, won't you?" Akagi looked over at Monika.
"Oh, yes, yes I will."
"Good. This whole matter is extremely important for the AC Project."
"So we're really gonna use that crazy guy?" Shinichi looked up from his magazine, glaring at Akagi.
"Well… yes. We need to use him for it; he's a perfect fit." Akagi seemed confused on what to say to deflect Shinichi's questions. Others in the cafeteria now started to look over at the three arguing.
"Ok, well I guess he'll just end up killing us all."
"Please, Shinichi. Just keep your goddamn mouth shut." Monika butted in.
"Yes, please. I'm having the meeting later so we can discuss this in private," Akagi looked around for a moment at the people around her. They all turned their heads, not wanting to be caught by the highest level person in all of ZWEITE overhearing, "and I don't think you're allowed to come now."
"Fine. Fine. Whatever you say, doctor." Shinichi backed away, got up, and walked off. He left his magazine on the table in his frustration.
"I apologize, doctor. You know he's just uptight is all."
"No, I understand," Akagi got up, collecting her things and putting her laptop back into her work bag. "I'll see you at the meeting. I'll message you the room number securely. I'll see you then."
"Right." Monika nodded and went back to typing on her computer. Akagi walked off rather quickly.
…
Monika walked down the long halls of the building, finding her meeting room desperately. The entire labyrinth that was ZWEITE's HQ was as if it was a maze; it was nearly impossible to find the location of a room you hadn't yet visited. The complex was large and vast. It was no wonder it took up nearly a quarter of Osaka-2.
Down a narrow hall, Monika went, with one side being fully glass and the other being a line of doors for different meeting rooms. Every ten feet there was another door, and each one had metal plating that read a number followed by a random letter. Outside the window, Monika could see the ongoing construction of Osaka-2. All of the skyscrapers and what was still being built of them loomed over the slums and dirty houses on the edges of the city, which met a giant wall that protected all citizens of the city from the outside. Just barely over the height of the wall, Monika could see the red hills and mountains, colored in such a way because of the blood of the evas that had painted the land.
But, above everything else, was the ZWEITE base.
Bigger than anything else in the city, the headquarters was massive. It served as the entire reason Osaka-2 existed and had such a grand design that there was a rumor that many of the city's citizens had moved to the area just to marvel at the amazing architecture.
Monika was on the 74th floor, which was already above any other building in the complex's vicinity. But, far above her, the building didn't stop until the 177th floor. Luckily, she had never had a reason to go up that high.
The building was shaped like a cube at its base, and it slowly shifted into a pyramid shape into a four-way section down the middle forming the upper half of the facility, eventually reaching far into the sky with the east and west lines of the building being shortened. From above, ZWEITE's base looked like a cross.
After nearly twenty minutes of searching, Monika finally found her meeting room: '777RTW'. She stood in front of the metal door, which swooshed up to reveal a room with a long glass table and four people sitting across from each other on the closest end.
"Good evening, Ms. Norman." Said the head of self-defense Junji Okada. Next to him sat the silent Dr. Mori. Across from them sat Dr. Ibuki and at the very front of the table was Dr. Akagi.
"Take a seat next to Dr. Ibuki, please," Akagi guided Monika. As she did, Akagi pulled out a file from her bag and stood up from her chair.
"Alright. Now that we're all here, let's start. First, I want to state that it was set in stone the day the AC Project was founded that Prisoner a1 will be used to pilot a Contingency Eva. However, we are not sure how his performance will be during our initial tests with him. Seeing as he was not in a good mental state when Norman visited him, we may run into trouble with him. I propose that we ready the overall self-defense of ZWEITE and have his test take place in Testing Site T1. That leads us into Mr. Okada's proposal." Akagi sat back down, and Okada rose.
"Well, Dr. Akagi summed up perfectly what the basis of Prisoner a1's first tests will be like. They'll be unpredictable, dangerous, and probably not as successful as we'd like them to be. In order to prepare for that, I will have 3 MPEs on standby during testing. We will also have the ZWEITE Self Defense Fleet at the ready incase of emergency. It's important we get this right, as the AC Project depends on Ika-" Okada stopped himself mid-sentence, knowing that speaking of the man's name in public was forbidden. Akagi stared at him, disapproving, "Uhm… wi- Prisoner a1 will be our one shot at this. Uhm, Dr. Mori. It- it's your turn to speak." Okada sat down quickly.
Mori didn't stand up. Instead, he sat in his seat, reading from his files.
"Well, because of Prisoner a1's experience in piloting evas, he is our top pick for the Contingency Evas. While he isn't technically our only choice, both me and Akagi know too well that he is the only choice right for the betterment of humanity. The Pilot Council has picked Prisoner a1 specifically. We do have other choices, however, in the form of the ZWEITE private school system. As you all already know, they've been hand-selected for their potential in piloting Evas. That's all I have to say. I think that just leaves you, Dr. Ibuki." Mori finished, putting down his dossier and staring right at Monika quite oddly. She didn't notice him, as she was facing Ibuki.
"Oh, okay! So, I guess that means I just need to discuss transportation for Prisoner a1. It won't be hard, considering his cell is detachable from the main Death Site building, but we're still going to need soldiers present just in case anything out of the ordinary happens. Ms. Norman will be present to help soothe Prisoner a1 with company on his journey to Osaka-2. From there, he's all your responsibility, Dr. Akagi." Ibuki finished, and let Akagi finish the meeting. Monika turned back and saw Mori sitting across from her, staring at her breasts like a pervert. He quickly looked away once he locked eyes with her.
"Right. Well, that leaves this meeting done. I'll message you all further details about the transportation of Prisoner a1. In the meantime, let's all work to continue the AC Project. Have a good evening everyone." With that, everyone got up from their seats, gathered their things, and headed back out into the hall.
"Have a good rest of your night, Monika!" Ibuki gleefully said goodbye to her friend.
"You too, Maya!"
As Monika walked away, she was unaware of the creepy old man Mori staring at her. She continued down the hall to the elevator and pressed the button to go down. As she did, Mori entered the room. She noticed him then but was hesitant to say anything. He didn't speak up either, and they waited in silence. Monika felt a tense feeling in the air and wanted the elevator to get to her floor quickly. As soon as it did, she jumped in.
She turned to press the button to go to the ground floor, but she saw Mori approaching her. She rapidly pressed on it, and with luck the door shut quickly, leaving Mori stranded in the elevator lobby alone.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Aren't there enough perverts in this place?" She exclaimed to herself.