Chapter 7: Focus pt.1

"Thank you"

The commander muttered as he took the folder from a NERV technician…but poor little Kaede Agano seemed far from thanked as she hastily retreated from the commander back to her station.

Sighing, Gendo Ikari continued to walk up towards his command center…once a monster always a monster no…

His recent actions were creating a dent on his older visage, but…

Looking at the contents of the folder he couldn't help but be slightly amazed. He'd seen its contents before, but it always seemed to shock any who saw it. The A.T. field ratings of the subject were absolutely off the charts, why, the field power was almost one third of an angel's.

Reaching the observation level of NERV's testing chamber he began to move towards his desk beside the large viewing window. The testing chamber was almost an exact replica of the chamber in the Geofront…built merely for nostalgic purposes, oh yes and perhaps for efficiency to.

"Good morning Fuyutsuki, I-uh"

Gendo suddenly took a step back, his glasses almost falling off in shock. There, on his desk, sat Yui Ikari, her eyes staring into the chamber in mock concentration…her fingers interlocked before her face.

"Uh…Y-Yui."

Hearing his quivering voice caused Yui to loose all self-control she had, surrendering her posture the woman fell to the floor…doubled over in laughter.

"Aha…oh you should hear your self dear."

Even Fuyutsuki was having trouble containing the giggles…though if he had laughed, he would have done it with dignity…of course.

"T-that wasn't funny Yui."

Gendo hesitantly sat down behind his desk and readied for the experiment as Yui got up and caught her breath. Slowly the support staff around them began to return to their duties…such bizarre happenings were becoming more and more frequent around the commander.

Calming down Gendo's hands began to snake their way towards each other above the desk. Once again catching Yui's glances the commander of NERV stopped dead in his tracks. Recovering, Gendo clapped his hands together instead and announced to the room in a flourish.

"Begin the experiment!!!!"

As the technicians began to scurry about Yui bent low and whispered into Gendo's ear,

"Do you really think this is necessary dear?"

'S2 engine within stable levels.'

"You've see the files Yui, this is just proving my point."

'Eva uplink online…dummy plug intelligence levels set at low.'

"But what if you're wrong."

'Ready to input orders.'

"I won't be wrong, even then…he agreed to go through with it."

"Oh I don't know dear."

"Wh-"

"HEY!!!! GENDO!!!! I mean, COMMANDER!!!!!"

I voice echoed up from the bottom of the test chamber.

"I think I'm having second thoughts about this whole thing!!!"

Edward screamed at the roof of the massive white chamber. In front of him towered a massive form of an A.P Eva or Automotive piloting Eva…an Eva rifle in hand. Behind him was the giant one-way glass that took up an entire wall of the chamber. It was mirrored on one side as to conserve heat. On the other side were various viewing stations were data for the tests were collected. Edward was well aware that Gendo usually sat at his station at the very top level.

"Hey…this is not cool. If I wanted to get shot at by giant soul sucking robots…hey I'd piss Misato of or something…I don't know."

"Don't worry Edward…you'll be fine."

Yui's voice boomed over the chambers PA system, clearly she'd lost the argument to Gendo.

"Prepare of testing."

An all to familiar, gruff voice echoed over the PA this time.

"Hey come on Gendo…just think this through."

Edward rambled as the A.P Eva prepared to fire.

"Fire in three"

"Gendo."

"…two."

"Hey are you listening."

"…one."

"GENDO!!!!"

"Fire."

"Oh bugger this is gonna sting…"

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Bullets ripped the air as they flew all around a crouching Edward, many hitting the glass behind.

Above, the test crew present all stuck to the glass in awe as they gazed upon the sight of a man cowering before a trigger happy Eva…cowering yes, but injured no.

Even Yui and Deputy commander Fuyutsuki walked over to the glass to have a better view, their worry-laden frames in stark contrast to that of Gendo's who sat quietly behind his desk, not even looking up to see he startled reactions of the others…in fact he was concentrating on something entirely different.

Re-reading the letter once more, he hit the enter button, it was the second one he was sending this morning. After a few minutes he got the conformation he was awaiting.

Message sent to edvalcosNER-

was startled out of his concentration when he heard the technicians all let out gasps and low screams. Far below Edward slowly turned to face the glass, his head slowly looking up towards the others. As he did he felt a bullet hit the mark…he crumpled to the floor as blood flew everywhere…


"…yes and good day to you."

The lanky figure pocketed the pack of cigarettes and walked towards the train station, it had been awhile since he used his Japanese.

'…this is the final call for train number 1406, from Tokyo-3 to Osak…'

The man stood on the platform wearing a hat and a tweed jacket which covered any of his face and arms. With a slight air of uncertainty the man checked his watch one last time. Finally throwing caution to the wind, Hector William Fitzgerald boarded the waiting train. The walk down the center isle was easy enough; most of the passengers had already taken their seats. Looking at his ticket again, he sat down in his designated seat that was in the last coach…it lay completely deserted but for two men. He was relieved to see that there was already someone sitting opposite him.

Not even acknowledging the others presence, hector went on to gaze blankly out of the window at the Tokyo station. The man opposite him appeared to be reading a paper…uncaring for his presence in return.

With a gentle lurch, the train slowly pulled out of the station…steadily gaining speed as the outskirts of Tokyo-3 now whizzed by.

Feeling a little more comfortable, Hector now began to stare blatantly at the man opposite him…waiting for some response.

"You know, that's rather rude."

Hector almost jumped at hearing the slick British accent. The shocking thing was that it had come from the man sitting in the chair behind him, the one sharing a backrest.

"You startled me."

Hector replied without turning to look upon the speaker, his accent American.

"Do you have any cigarettes?"

The voice spoke once again.

"Huh…not this."

Hector was far to exasperated to play games…so he reluctantly pulled out the pre-specified pack and handed it over.

"Those are prohibited in the train you know."

"Yes…"

The British voice paused as the man checked for the right brand.

"Yes, but since when have we cared for rules."

Hector relaxed a little after hearing the final line.

"Don't you think all this secrecy is a bit much?"

"Eh, you know how it is Bill, Gendo doesn't want the Manus getting event the slightest breeze about what were up to."

"Sure Edward, whatever…why the hell did he call me here?"

"Yeah, I got his message just this morning…at the time I was on my way to the medical wing."

"Medical wing, you Ok man?"

The American sounded concerned…mildly.

"It was nothing, got a pretty deep cut just below my lung…hit me right in the stomach."

"What?"

"Steel rod…while I was trying to jump a low fence."

"A low fence huh."

"Yeah."

But Hector knew all to well about the ways of politely telling people 'none of your fucking business', understanding Edward, Hector chose not to pursue the subject.

"So, why am I here?"

His voice carried a light hue of apprehension. Edward too let out a deep sigh before answering.

"You know why Bill."

Hector had guessed as much.

"Rebirth huh?"

"Yeah…"

He could tell Edward was scratching his head as he answered…

"So getting do-"

"Wait Edward…you're gonna answer a few questions first before you want anything from me."

There was a pause…

"Yeah sure, whatever you want…"

"Ok…firstly, who the fuck is that?"

Even with his back turned Hector could tell the question had disarmed him. Finally he realized that Hector was referring to the man sitting opposite him.

"Oh him, he's section two…yeah and he can't understand English the poor guy. So we can talk as much as we want."

"Right, and as for my second question…what the fuck were you doin' up in Alaska. Chris was a good friend of mine."

Abandoning all attempts at secrecy, Edward rose from his chair and came to sit down right beside hector, a childish smile upon his face.

"Whatever are you talking about Bill…"

"Stop fuckin' around Edward, Chris was livid after what happened."

"What…I paid the man."

"I'm not talking about the money…I'm talking about those terrorists that attacked the place Edward…or as Chris referred to you…Mr. Smith."

Edward didn't say anything, he continued to stare blankly at the passing Japanese landscape as it whizzed by…the childhood pseudonym brought back stirring memories…

"Ed-"

"Oooooooh, those terrorists…"

Edward finally spoke as if coming out of a trance.

"Yes Edward…'those' terrorists."

"Well, if you check the reports you'll see that there were no fatalities and minimum casualties."

"That's not the point Edward…you're twenty for god's sake…and here you are making deals with freggin' terrorists. You're not mature enough for thi-"

"I've seen enough in my life…"

Edward's once friendly hyper energetic tone was gone. The words had been delivered with an unforgiving finality…the image of a woman cowering beneath a man flashed across Valcos' mind as it had done so often.

"I think we should discuss rebirth Bill…"

"Y-yeah…sure man whatever you want."

Hector quickly snapped back to attention at hearing Edwards's softer tone return slowly.

"Can you swing it our way?"

Hector sighed,

"All Gendo wants from me is-"

"Yeah."

"It's going to be really hard, you're asking a lot from one man."

"Look Gendo's already pulling some pretty high strings-"

"But you're up against the Manus man, their reach goes far…who knows how many people with my power they've already roped in."

"I know Bill, I can understand the dangers of getting in the Manus' way…but we have to stop these bastards."

'The train will be arriving in Osaka shortly please gather your bel…'

"But why…what do you have against them. They have one project left before rebirth moves to stage two…they've completed all their other projects with flying colors."

The train began to grind to a halt.

"What is so important about the second stage of rebirth…what, why is it so imperative that it goes your way???"

By now Edward had risen from his seat and was already making for the door, the hefty section two man had risen to follow. Edward turned to face Hector Fitzgerald one last time.

"Secrets…secrets Bill. Se ya around old man."

"Yeah…"

Hector spoke while still sitting in his seat…more to himself than to an already departed Edward.

"See you around kid…see you around."


sorry for the short chapter…sorry for the long wait….my college has begun and chapters are going to be many but far between…and probably a lot shorter…this was a little to oc know but the other characters will come in part 2