Disclaimer – Don't own Eva or Armored Core, but you know that, don't you.
A/n Thanks to those who sent in Ravens and AC designs…keep them coming there are plenty of spaces left. And thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed thus far, sorry if the Arena match is to short, its suppose to be
But anyway…on we go
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Quote the Raven
Chapter 8
AC Evangel
Shinji, Misato and Rei sat in Requiems living room waiting for him to bring them their drinks. His house was a modest affair. It had 2 bed rooms and 2 bathrooms, a normal sized kitchen, a deck like front porch, and the living room in which they now sat which in and of its self was just a bit bigger than Misato's. On the far wall was a 24 inch plasma TV, in the center of the room sat a rectangular coffee table with a couch on the other side of it and two chairs on either side of it. Misato sat in one of the chairs while Shinji and Rei sat on the couch.
Rei and Shinji had agreed to share a room while they were here. Misato would sleep on the couch. Though Requiem had volunteered his room for her, she had declined.
While they were waiting Misato's cell phone rang…it was Nerv
"Hang on guys I gota take this, it's from Nerv"
Shinji sighed
"I hope it's not an Angel"
Misato stepped out side to taker the call and Requiem came back in with their drinks
"Ok, here are the sodas for me and Zero, here's your tea Orchid and…where's Misato"
The pair thanked him for the drinks. Rei told him Misato had received a call from Nerv she had to take. The three sat conversing for a bit until a very sullen and shaken Misato came back onto the living room. Rei scooted over as Misato sat between them
"Listen kids, I just got a call from Nerv, I've got bad news. A Raven attacked headquarters, the commander appears to have been its target, he's been killed"
Rei's face went blank; she didn't know how to feel. Sure this man had been her provider for the first years of her life but she had tried to distance her self from him, but that still didn't stop a few tears.
Shinji immediately began to deny it, and then broke down sobbing once it soaked in; though he didn't have a good relationship with his father, it still hurt. He latched onto Misato and sobbed until he finally cried himself to sleep. Misato carried him to his and Rei's room and laid him on the bed. She then walked back down stairs to talk with Rei, only to find she didn't need to. There on the couch sat Requiem holding Rei while she cried softly. He stroked her hair comforting her the best he could.
She walked up to the pair and sat back in her chair. They immediately separated and looked at her, Rei spoke first
"How is he?"
"Resting, you should probably be there when he wakes up"
Rei nodded and headed up stairs, Requiem stopped her at their base
"If you need anything let us know ok, and if he wakes up in time ask if he still wants to go with us today. If not, and you and Misato want to stay with him you can"
Rei nodded
"I will ask him once he awakens…and thank you for earlier"
"Anytime"
Rei headed upstairs to be with her brother when he awakened while Requiem and Misato stayed behind. Misato sat drinking her drink until she decided to break the ice
"You like Rei don't you"
He nodded
"Yeah, Orchid's a great girl"
"But do you love her"
He thought for a moment
"I think so"
"Than why not tell her"
"Because in our line of work everything can end in an instant, I don't want to hurt her"
Misato was about to say something when Requiem stopped her
"Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be with her, but I'm going after 9-Ball for the second time, I barely survived it the first time. I don't want her to go through that kind of pain"
Misato sighed
"Did you ever think she may go through that anyway, that she may love you to?"
He nodded
"Yeah, I did, I just don't want to hurt her"
"It'll hurt her anyway"
He thought about it for a moment
"We'll see, I can't promise anything. But I'll think about it"
"Good"
Neither knew Rei and a now awake and Shinji were standing at the top of the stairs and had heard everything. Both smiled, Shinji at the though that his sister would be taken care of, and Rei at the thought that some one she herself cared deeply for, cared deeply for her as well.
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Shinji decided he would go with them to see Requiem fight in the Arena. He hoped it would get his mind off of what had happened, it didn't help much. But Rei was there with him, now his only living blood relation.
Shinji Misato and Rei found their way to the observation deck above the Arena floor; it was an opened dome with 2 pillars running all the way to the roof, each as wide as an AC. So should one of the opponents seek cover, they would have it. The viewing windows were made of double pane reinforced bullet proof glass, no round; laser or rocket would go through them. They found their seats; Shinji and Rei being Ravens got the front row, and sat down. The opponents would be out soon.
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Requiem looked up at the now brown Wraith. Truth be told, it didn't look to bad with the 2 different tones of brown and the gray, or the new core. The Karasawa would be a big help today even though this was probably the first time his opponent had fought in the arena, or against another AC. He walked over to the lift which took him to the catwalk and the Wraiths cockpit hatch. It was time
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Ritsuko sat at her terminal in the command center. Though commander Ikari had been killed just the day before everything was as it should be, though the rumor mill was running as to why that girl from the Tech Department was in his office. Her assistant Maya Ibuki walked up to her
"Here's your coffee Sempai"
"Thank you Maya"
"Did you enjoy your day off yesterday?"
"Yeah actually I did, too bad I got called in today. How was it here, other than the attack of course?"
"Slow, did they find out why we were attacked?"
"Actually from what anyone can tell, it was a contracted attack; who ever it was that issued the contract we may never know. We can't do anything to the Raven though"
"I know, I just wish we could find out more about 9-Ball though"
Ritsuko shook her head, if only Maya knew; she turned to the main screen where Aoba had put up an image of the current AC fight in the Arena
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The Wraith had just been raised into the Arena and stood across from the AC known as Joker; its colors matched its name as it was painted to look like a Joker. He waited for the word to begin.
It came only seconds later
Both units immediately strafed in opposite directions and began to fire their rifles. Joker's pilot hadn't gotten a good look at the Karasawa, or known what it was, until it was pointed directly at him. He shot to the side desperately trying to dodge the fire from the superior energy weapon. He lowered his rocket launcher and fired, sending a hail of rockets toward the Wraith
Requiem hit his boosters and jumped airborne, he fired a missile volley which hit home on the other AC's chest. He landed on the ground and aimed his Karasawa
Joker's pilot Prank was terrified, seeing it as his only option he immediately hit his over boost and shot off toward the Wraith. He began to fire his rifle as he flew, wanting to take Requiem down all at once.
Requiem waited until he was right up on him to activate his over boost and shoot to the right, he leveled his Karasawa and fired, the energy blast missed the main body. But it shot strait through Jokers Rocket launcher and clipped it's over boosters which promptly exploded. Now unable to boost at all Joker turned and fired his plasma rifle at the wraith, Requiem thrusted left, then right, then into the air to dodge. After he landed he leveled the Karasawa at jokers head and fired. The energy round removed the jokers head dropping it unceremoniously onto its back, unable to move, out of the match.
Requiem had won…
That was how most low level Arena fights went, quick and painful, though this was more so as Prank had only basic experience and Requiem should have been in the A Ranks by now.
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Fuyutsuki sat at his desk attending to his paper work, in light of commander Ikari's death he had been named Supreme Commander, much to the ire of the Germany branch commander who was up for the position. The SEELE committee however didn't trust the German commander. That's not saying the totally trusted Fuyutsuki, but he was better than all the other choices.
Fuyutsuki's intercom beeped
"Commander, Dr Akagi is here to see you"
"Send her in"
Ritsuko strode confidently into the new command office, which was the old vice command office. She stopped in front of the older mans desk
"What can I help you with doctor?"
"There's something you need to see"
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Fuyutsuki followed Ritsuko deep into terminal dogma, to where he didn't know, but it was taking a while. But with the time he decided to ask something he had been curious about
"How goes things with Unit 03"
After the Nerv US 2nd branch had been destroyed along with Unit 04, Unit 03 had been sent strait to Nerv HQ for testing
"About as well as can be expected, you're sure the committee bought the story"
"They would have attacked Nerv already if they hadn't, plus you provided them with all the evidence they could ever have wanted"
What happened was simple, not wanting to even activate Unit 03, Fuyutsuki ordered Ritsuko to fake the test and have the data show the Magi scrubbed the activation when unit 03 began to emit a blue wave form pattern.
SEELE had bought the story. Believing, not falsely mind you, that the Magi computers were capable of such a thing, the commander then had Unit 03 dismantled for cleansing and decontamination, effectively killing the 13th angel with out a fight.
Major Katsuragi would assume the position of Sub-Commander once she returned and Fuyutsuki had arranged for a small Garage capable of holding up to 4 AC's be built in the empty lot beside of the Major's apartment.
They arrived at a large set of double doors; Ritsuko slid her access card into the reader slot
"I had to change all the password locks in this section to get in here, your not going to believe this"
The large, AC sized doors slid opened. Inside was a giant production facility with every piece of robotic manufacturing equipment imaginable, Fuyutsuki looked around as he and Ritsuko walked through
"What is all of this?"
"From what I can tell, Gendo was planning for if third impact was either stopped or failed"
Ritsuko and Fuyutsuki stopped at the wall at the far end and took a lift up to a catwalk which led to an observation room like office. She walked over to a panel and flipped a small switch which activated the lights and revealed the full facility to them.
"Its an AC and MT production facility, from what I've read in his paperwork, he was planning on transforming Nerv into a corporate entity should third impact fail, the most likely scenario he had thought of involved unit 01 being destroyed beyond repair. You know him, if he couldn't get what he wanted…"
Fuyutsuki nodded
"Had he failed he would have made certain SEELE did as well"
"Exactly, the papers also mentioned destroying Adam and Lilith but didn't go into detail"
Fuyutsuki looked around for a moment
"What's the condition of this equipment?"
"Just powered down, with about 10 people from the tech department I could get it all up and running again why"
"Do it, we can use this as a way to cut the committee's strangle hold on us"
"You mean the budget"
"Yes, if we supply the Ravens with superior weapons and AC parts we're guaranteed to get their attentions, how long until we could get something going"
"Well, there are a few designs in the data base, so about 2 weeks"
"Good, what kind of designs"
"Well there are 3 types of MT's and 2 new types of AC heads, arms, legs, and FCS. One new type of core, 4 new FCS types, 5 new hand weapons, 2 new back weapons and a new model of laser blade"
"Bring who ever you need, but keep it quiet, I don't want anyone finding out until we've already gone private funded"
Ritsuko nodded; maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to bring Fuyutsuki here. Especially since he had done exactly what she had wanted. The first person she knew she would need was Maya.
"There's one more thing, apparently Gendo had an AC built for his own use"
Fuyutsuki didn't know what to think
"Gendo…had an AC"
Ritsuko led Fuyutsuki into a small Garage built to service about 10 AC's or MT's at a time. In one of the stalls stood an all gray AC, designed to look similar to an Eva it carried a laser rifle that the commander recognized as one of the Nerv designs, actually all of the parts used were of Nerv design. The back weapons were another story though, they consisted of 2 wings like structures with what looked like 3 slender energy cannons hanging from each. The cannons hung on mounts which looked like they would rotate and flip over the wing binders to fire
(The back weapons on the AC in the Armored Core 4 trailer)
Fuyutsuki shook his head at the similarity between the head of this AC and Unit 01's head, though the most of the head looked like unit 00's, it still had a face similar to Unit 01 and a horn on the front of its head. It had a prototype Nerv laser blade on its left arm, but, it had a set of standard reverse boosters as its extensions. Ritsuko looked up what data she had on it
"From what the records indicate Gendo called this Project Evangeline, 98 percent of the parts are in the new parts registry, though from what I can tell those wing-like weapons are a one of a kind"
Suddenly Ritsuko's phone rang
"Akagi…what….Maya slow down…uh huh…uh huh…WHAT, where are they now…medical ward…right meet us at the elevator in section 3 were on our way"
Fuyutsuki looked over at her
"What happened?"
"There's been an incident with Unit 01, I'll explain on the way"
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Everyone sat around the dinner table in the kitchen at Requiems eating dinner. Shinji had cooked steak and rice as a congratulations dinner for Requiem winning his first match. Misato sat with the others whiffing down her food
"This is really good Shinji"
Everyone agreed, the food was very good. Requiem turned to Shinji
"So Zero, you nervous about your training starting tomorrow"
Shinji thought for a moment
"Well…a little bit…but it should be easier than the training for Eva…at least with this, I wont feel anything if I get hit"
Requiem nodded, Rei had told him about the differences between Eva's and AC's
"True, plus you have me and Orchid to help when were not busy"
Everyone went back to eating and afterward turned in for the night. Rei set up the spare cot beside of Shinji's and laid a pillow and blanket over it, she then lay down and folded the blanket over herself, a few moments later, she was sound asleep. Shinji came in a moment later to find Rei asleep, he walked over and kissed her on the forehead
"Sleep well little sister"
Shinji then turned in himself; Misato had passed out on the couch just after dinner and Requiem had turned in as well. Tomorrow would be his first day as a Raven.
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Fuyutsuki stood at the bed side of the person found in Unit 01's cage, she was still unconscious, and the doctors had said she would awaken in the next few days. He looked down at his former student; she looked as though she hadn't aged a day.
"Welcome back old friend"
Fuyutsuki left to let her rest, he didn't know how much she knew of what had happened over the past 10 years, but she would need all of her strength when he told her.
Yui lay resting in her bed, now away from Unit 01 for the first time in ten years
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The SEELE committee had convened yet again; disturbing information had come to light
SEELE 02 What is the current situation
SEELE 05 we have confirmed that Ikari had Adam with him at the time he was killed
SEELE 06 was the operator able to find it
SEELE 05 he confirmed that it had been…Vaporized…I believe is what he said
The chairman sat back in his seat at his terminal
SEELE 01 is there any way to salvage the Scenario as it stands
SEELE 12 no, Adam was a vital component, with out it, we have nothing. The loss of Lilith or even Eva 01 would have been acceptable, we could have simply replaced one for the other. But not Adam, he was the key to it.
The whole room fell silent as the committee members let the information sink in, finally 07 spoke
SEELE 07 so that's it then, humanity will fade away
SEELE 01 unfortunately, but, we will deal with the problem at hand
SEELE 10 yes the angels. Some new information has just been handed to me
The whole of SEELE stopped to listen
SEELE 03 do tell
SEELE 10 Yui Ikari has been freed from Unit 01; it happened a mere hour ago from what my sources say
The whole committee stopped, unsure of what to do or think, they were now in uncharted waters, the only usable info the scrolls could provide now would be toward the defeat of the angels. Keel finally spoke.
SEELE 01 her condition
SEELE 10 stable and recovering nicely, though she has yet to regain consciousness that is expected in the next few days.
SEELE 06 what do we do
SEELE 01 nothing, with out Adam, Unit 01 was useless anyway. Order our facility in Europe to halt production of all Pulverizer units except 01, give it to Tabris when the time comes.
SEELE 09 of course
SEELE 01 and call Fuyutsuki, we will hold a meeting and inform him of our position in 3 days, adjourned
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Keel sat back in his chair, his dream had just gone up in flames. Well maybe today hadn't been a total loss
(A/N in this story chairman Keel will be, more fit than he was in the series, like Fuyutsuki)
Keel detached the visor that covered his eyes and laid it on his desk, he looked into the small black mirror on his desk, and his blue gray eyes studied the face they saw there. Most people who had seen him in person believed the visor had replaced his eyes after he had gone blind, the truth however was that the visor allowed his eyes to heal themselves naturally, he no longer needed it at this point.
He leaned back again and thought on the events of the past few days. Yes humans would continue on now, unchanged. They would progress naturally as they were meant to though he wondered some times just where that would lead. He looked to the only other object, other than his computer and the mirror that sat on the desk, a picture of himself and his daughter when she was younger.
"Perhaps we can still have a chance to be family…Yui"
Keel and his wife had, had their daughter Yui out of wedlock. Thus she took on her mother's name, Ikari. The only reason Keel had backed Gendo, other than he knew Gendo was the only one who would actually go through with the Scenario, was because he had been his son in law for a time.
Keel also had to seriously consider for the first time that he was also a grandfather. Technically to two children, both of which were now, or would soon be Ravens. He could at least take solace in that fact
"At least it will be them to shape our future"
Keel left that night for Tokyo 3, he would no longer hide from his responsibilities as he had in the past, he would embrace them, and the new era mankind would create for itself.
A/n I didn't have to do much to this one
I'll see you all at chapter 9