Focus Pt.2
"…and then I told her that getting married was a big mistake and see wh-"
"Ok Ritsuko…stop evading my questions…where are you taking me…"
"Shh"
The NERV head technical scientist pushed Misato into an empty janitors closet to ensure privacy….
"Come on Misato…stop complaining."
"What do you mean….you just suddenly tell me that you need to show me something and I'm just supposed to come along."
"Look I told you this will be worth you're while…"
"Yeah we-"
But Misato was prevented from finishing her sentence by a head poking around the now re-opened door…
"Oh sorry…"
The head spoke on noticing the two inside.
"I do hope I'm interrupting something…"
His grin was uncontainable…
"Edward!!!"
Misato charged out of the closet pushing the young captain outside, a wide grin across her face as well.
"You're all right, I heard you took a rather nasty blow this morning?"
Edward's smile faltered slightly…
"Erm yeah…you know how these tests can get…"
"I heard you got injured while testing the heavy weapons for the AP Eva…"
"Yeah, something like that…but I'm fine now…all patched up…now on to more important things…"
Edward went on before Misato or Ritsuko could pester him further about his injuries.
"You'll have to take care of the synch tests this afternoon I-"
"Its all right Edward, we cancelled the tests for today…you go home and rest…"
"N-no its not that…"
Edward quickly added
"I need to go meet an old friend of mine…Gendo's orders."
Edward finished before Misato could complain. Without another word, he walked away towards the employee parking leaving Misato and Ritsuko alone in the hallway once again.
"Either he's really lucky…or."
"Yeah…"
Misato added rather absentmindedly before being dragged down the hall once again by Ritsuko, this time though she decided not to put up a fight…her thoughts elsewhere. Diving down another passage the two finally entered a small room usually used by the technical maintenance staff. Inside, huddled about two computer workstations and a desk were first lieutenants Shigeru Aoba, Maya Ibuki and Makoto Hyuga.
On acknowledging each other's presence Misato found herself seated in front of a computer screen surrounded by the other four. The screen was completely blank save for a small folder labeled
2002 A.D
"You called me here for this?"
Misato found it hard to keep the annoyed tone out of her voice.
"Come on now…"
Misato stared at Ritsuko for a long time before slumping her shoulders in submission.
"Good, well I think Hyuga should start of…it was you're find after all."
"Um…ya…well."
Hyuga shakily stood up, clearly caught unaware by Ritsuko…
"Well yes, as you remember, a few months ago the a hotel in Panama in which we were residing was attacked by terrorists…"
Misato nodded,
"Erm yes, well so we've been doing some pretty deep searching to find whoever was behind the attack."
Misato suddenly perked up, now this was news she was eager to hear.
"As you could expect, our search turned up hundreds of hits…none of them even remotely related to the panama incident…"
"So??"
"Erm…well, we decided to broaden our search."
Hyuga said with a slight grin…
"We began hacking the panama governments mainframes to get to the bottom of the problem."
"You w-"
"I authorized it Misato, and don't worry it was worth it."
Misato sat back into her chair, though still not thoroughly convinced she continued to hear Hyuga out.
"Even the government's files shed no light on the matter what so ever, so I decided to tap into the next best pool of information on panama…the United Sates mainframes, the search yielded…interesting results."
Misato was now paying very close attention to Hyuga's words.
"The search gave us nothing on the panama attack, but I did find a file on an attack on a U.S military outpost in Alaska, the attack happened on the same day as the Panama incident and it never turned up on any of the normal searches."
Hyuga went on, it seemed they were coming closer to the point.
"So, just out of curiosity, I decided to look into the report…an attack in Alaska is rather odd. The attack itself was…well really weird as well. No human casualties were suffered, the only thing that was hit was the outpost mainframe."
"I'll take it from here Hyuga."
Ritsuko interjected and took the first lieutenants place stepping in front of Misato.
"The mainframe acted as a databank for a U.S satellite IC102, Gendo had asked me to hack the entire MAGI network in any case, so I used MAGI to hack the main control station for the satellite in east Florida to find out what the mainframe in Alaska was hiding. It seems that the last operation that the satellite performed was to take pictures of the northern Russian sea borders. All the pictures that were taken were destroyed with the Alaskan mainframe, but I did get all the co-ordinates of the pictures."
"Ritsuko, what does this have to do with the atta-"
"Just listen Misato it has nothing to do with the attack…but the end is far more interesting"
Misato submitted once again.
"The surveillance mission was carried out by Major Roland Turner and clearance was given by Hector William Fitzgerald the director of the UN sub office in the U.S. All the pictures were ordinary surveillance photos except for one which seemed a little out of place, it was a picture of the central part of the arctic."
"So…I mean its strange…but what's so groundbreaking about that."
"Well Misato, all you have to do is remember what that father Pollock of the Manus told us on the day of the Panama project."
It took only seconds for realization to dawn on Misato…
'…charities to Alaska and the Arctic…'
"That's right."
Was the response to Misato's expression.
"I used MAGI again to check for any incidents in Alaska and this is what I dug out of the SEELE databank no less."
Misato saw Dr.Akagi click on the so far unmentioned file on the screen; there within it was yet another folder, it read…
Arctic incident
"And." Misato added,
"It doesn't go any further, it just says this…"
Ritsuko once again clicked on the file, all that appeared was a small paragraph of writing, it seemed messy and badly written.
On March 24th 2002 A.D the harmonizing experiment on subject T.G in SEELE outpost 77 encountered technical difficulties resulting in the death of all five scientists and two junior members of the technical staff posted there. Emergency quarantine measures were taken, sadly there were no survivors.
What followed was something that seemed to be bad poetry.
Six Came to bless the child
Each in turn did speak
Speak a word of freedom
To spread his folded wings
All did speak but one…
And his words forever
Are written on her science
The garbled poetry didn't bother Misato as much as the final line of the on the screen.
Among the dead was head scientist Mrs. Irene Valcos…
"I can't believe this…we're eighteen, there's no school, our synch tests have been cancelled…and we have nothing to do, what kind of a pathetic life is this."
"ooh…devil girl's getting all wound up because she can't find any souls to crush…"
"One more word Kensuke and your soul isn't the only thing ill crush."
The bespectacled adolescent took smiled at Asuka and went back to staring at the cars passing bye, he seemed especially interested in a black BMW parked on the other side of the road, It was rare to see such an expensive car in this, one of Tokyo's fairly 'shady-er' areas. But better living as it were was just down the road.
The four Eva pilots plus Hikari and Kensuke had been wandering around downtown Neo-Tokyo having nothing better to occupy their time.
The group had stopped down the road to one of Tokyo's larger malls wondering whether it was worth entering or not.
"We'll we could always watch a movie…"
"Ah yes Shinji, we could immerse ourselves in the magic of the big screen, a fantastic world where completely fabricated and imaginary worlds become almost a reality."
The air around Touji could almost have reeked of drama as Rei gave him a slightly saddened and pensive look…
"Ah we've seen all of the good ones anyway…I'm in no mood to watch crap."
Asuka's shoulders slumped as she saw no hopes of entertainment heading there way…
"You guys are so booooooring, I can't believe I hang out with you morons…"
"Erm we could go for dinner, I'm pretty hungry…"
Asuka gave her best friend a weird look, half said 'what the hell' and the other warned 'oh don't you do it.'
"Hikari it's only seven, no one has dinner no-"
"Hey Touji, you wanna come find something to eat."
Touji looked around nervously scratching his head, as Asuka's jaw remained open in mid interrupted sentence. Finally taking the bull by the horns…
"Sure Hikari, whatever…but not in there, lets find a quieter place."
"hm"
With that, and without offering invitation to anyone else, the two headed off down the street towards a small side street full of smaller more 'homely' shops. Before turning in Hikari gave Asuka an apologetic smile…Asuka who was shaking her head from side to side as slowly but with as much intensity as was possible.
"What-the-hell-is-wrong-with-that-woman."
Asuka groaned as the others seemed to ignore her. Shinji was trying to stay as far away from this conversation as possible, Rei stared blankly at the looming mall down the road, her mind racing through her own memories. Kensuke was busy with the decision of 'whether to cross the road and touch the shiny car or not'.
For a long time there after, all of them tried to busy themselves with something…sadly Asuka and Shinji were not as successful as the other two
Staring around at the others one last time Asuka glanced back towards where Hikari disappeared almost longingly.
"Uhhhh…great now even I'm hungry, come on baka, these two seem to be busy in their own worlds, lets grab a bite somewhere."
Asuka stormed of past Shinji away from the alley of shops Hikari and Touji went down and headed in the direction of the mall…clearly expecting a completely baffled Shinji to follow.
"Err right Asuka…ermm you guys wanna c-come along"
Shinji added after taking a few steps behind Asuka
"Ahh BAKA you're so frustrating."
Asuka ranted as Kensuka continued to stare at the car. Shinji though stopped to wait for the two to catch up as the red head went on…grumbling under her breath.
"Hey there pretty girl…where you goin on a night like this."
Kensuke turned his gaze away from the car to see a car pull up next to Asuka and a tall gangly man step out of the driver's seat."
"Get out of my face moron, hey Shinji!! Be a man as help me out here."
The statement wasn't plea for help or anything, far from it actually; it was merely Asuka bashing Shinji once again.
"Erm what should I d-do Asuka."
Asuka groaned as the man now tried to grab her arm.
"Hey let go of me you fat pig…you're not worth my time."
"Oh but I'm sure you're gonna be worth every second of mine."
The man said brandishing a switchblade from his pocket.
"Heh" Asuka retorted, "You don't scare me."
But much of her cocky bite seemed to have disappeared from her voice.
"You know Touji, I've had a crush on you for a while."
Touji nearly chocked on his cool blue drink…but he didn't let anyone else notice. The two had picked a nice small café at the end of the street and had been discussing things like school and life after the third impact…now it was time to drop the bomb he guessed…so he decided to play it cool.
"Uh huh."
O.K not the coolest thing to say, but…
"But I didn't know what to say, and well you kept dating those other girls."
"Yeah…but you dated some guys to…h-how, w-what was I supposed to do…I bet it was Soryu, musta told you to stay away from me huh."
Touji said with a victorious look on his face.
"Actually no…she was on…well 'our' side I guess, why do you think she gave you so much flack for you girlfriends."
"Oh"
Touji's victorious expression crumbled under his sudden acceptance of a slow growing respect for the German he'd always had, but always shunned.
"But, I'm not dating anyone now…"
Touji let the sentence trail off…it was the worst line he'd ever heard…but he' doubted whether Hikari cared.
"S-so you think we should start going out."
"Yeah…definitely."
An odd silence ensued while the waiter served their main course. Hadn't it been easier than this with the other girls…but Touji couldn't really remember.
"So how long have you liked me for?"
Touji spoke trying to still the 'dragon of awkwardness' as anyone too creative would dare to call it.
"Oh, I was pretty sure since the time you got injured when Eva 03 got destroyed by the dummy plug. How is your leg now anyway?"
"Oh its fine its just…"
Unconsciously massaging his synthetic leg Touji jumped on the change of topic, the rest of the night played out much in the same awkward yet peacefully amusing manner…a sharp contrast to what their friend's were experiencing.
"Hey let go of me."
"…and none of you hero's try a thing you hear."
The man waved the knife in front of Kensuke, Rei and Shinji as he attempted to push a struggling Asuka into his car. After successfully throwing her into the back seat, the man was about get inside himself when Asuka saw him suddenly stare in the other's direction with a look of confusion and fear.
Asuka looked out through the rear windscreen with a surprised smile across her face half expecting to see Shinji attempting some act of…well something. But of course, the others were still standing were they were, each turning around to see what the fat man saw.
There moving towards the car with mechanically efficient speed was a man, of average height and medium slicked back blonde hair and a face that was distinctly European…a silenced pistol pointed straight at the fat man.
"Get a way from car."
The blonde ordered from a distance in slightly broken Japanese. The fat man hastily complied, and Asuka got out of the car immediately. Seeing that she was safely back with her friends he continued to speak walking right up to the man.
"Now, get in car and go."
The man once again complied. As he tore of into the distance the blonde took casual aim and took a solitary shot taking of the guy's number plate causing him to screech and swerve in panic. Smiling to himself, he bid the baffled children good night and returned to the black BMW parked a ways behind them. Once in the front passenger seat, the car drove off down the road with its rear tinted windows now rolled down.
As Asuka assaulted Shinji with insults and he in tern retorted with feeble apologies, as Kensuke still gawked at the passing car, only Rei, who till then had been in quiet introspection bothered to notice the man sitting in the back staring back at them.
He had short well-combed hair, slightly dark brown skin, a black power suit and a shallow smirk, which altogether, Rei had never seen before…yet seemed distantly familiar.
The images before them looked nothing like the arctic that they'd seen in national geographic. The earth seemed charred and warped…almost hellish.
"So we behold the very seed of all this chaos."
"hmm"
Gendo mumbled his silent agreement to Fuyutsuki's words.
"Rebirth shall enter stage two soon."
"Whatever its result…the backlash will be violent."
"It seems it shall come down to a savage race to the North Pole, eh Ikari"
"It is where the infernal mess started, and the frigid roof of the world is where it shall end."
The two and Yui were at Gendo's desk looking at images Edward had handed the commander some time ago.
"I'm still curious as to how he got these images dear."
Gendo filled Yui in on Edward's initial string pulling to acquire the images…but the story went on.
"Just prior to the attack, we had the package delivered anonymously to the residence of a NERV employee."
Now Fuyutsuki continued.
"If you remember, at the time of the Panama project, there was a break-in in Misato's residence."
"That was."
"Yes Edward returned hastily to Japan and stole the package from her house before anyone really knew that it had been delivered there. Since Misato's residence lies outside the NERV compound no one could ever join the dots."
"But what was his alibi and how did he break in, the report said nothing was broken or stolen…that's why no one ever bothered afterwards."
"That's exactly the point, Edward's alibi was that he was filing progress reports in Washington…actually those reports have my signature on them. As for breaking in, him and Misato switched rooms during their stay and the hotel there allowed the NERV id cards to double up as keycards. So Edward had her card…he used it and returned to Panama and switched them back."
Yui sighed, none of them…including Gendo were comfortable with such secrecy…especially from their own people…but, she thought, as she stared at the computer screen.
'If any of them knew what was up there…'
OOOOOOHHHH boy its been a long time…but we are getting there. s-l-o-w-l-y.
and if you read death pt 1 you'll see that it was revealed then and there that the cards double up as keys…
To the fifth:
Well this chapter is no medical anti lice shampoo…but I promise by the end of the story you wont be scratching your head…or you will in which case ive failed and were going to burn burn I say….burn for an etern- anyway thank you for the reviews…keep them comin…
Ginny…
what to say…im blank so yeah…but there was a little flash into the very weird and soon to be revealed past of the ever mysterious Edward Valcos.
