Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies
Launch Forty-Nine
Kaworu Nagisa found himself rather enjoying being at the US branch of NERV and posing as a 'normal' pilot.
"What do you MEAN, they caught Sumire and Hilde having sex?" Maria Vincennes yelped, as several sheepish figures stood.
"Mayumi kind of.. walked in on them," Kaworu noted mildly.
"I'm SO embarrassed," Mayumi Yamagashi groaned, the young teen blushing furiously.
Maria sat back with a groan.
Kaworu struggled to hide his amusement at the situation. "As Hilde is a civilian contractor, at least Chain of Command issues are avoided," he offered.
"I'm not sure that really helped," Mayumi noted.
"Argh," Maria sighed. "Where are they now?"
There was a brisk knock on the office door. "That's probably them now," Kaworu noted.
"Enter," Maria ordered.
Both extremely sheepish looking women entered. Once again Kaworu was struck by how attractive Hilde was... if he was interested in sex at all, he'd be into her.
(While he had told Mayumi once he was 'gay', it was fair to say he didn't have a sense of human sexuality. If he was pushed, he might say he was asexual.)
Sumire Nagara, the slightly older head of research, wasn't QUITE as good looking but had a sort of 'sexy nerd' vibe going.
"Really?" Maria sighed.
"It was my fault," Hilde took the fall, "if you have to, fire me."
"Hey!" Sumire yelped.
"No one is getting fired," Maria sighed, then realized the two kids were still in her office. "You two, out."
"Yes ma'am," Mayumi squeaked, and fled.
Kaworu followed, but listened as Sumire explained that she and Hilde had flirted, she had been exhausted after a twelve hour shift, and things just HAPPENED.
"Kaworu?" Mayumi asked as he paused.
"Coming," he followed as he mused, 'Yes, humans really are interesting.'
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"You think Ryoki Kaji was the leak?" Tanya Dugurechaff asked, the slim blond frowning thoughtfully as they held a semi-formal meeting.
Mary Sioux made a face, "Yes, but I can't confirm it 100 percent."
"Really," Misato sounded really dubious.
"He had access to the data," Mary said, "and we have video of his going to and from the terminal that was used to leak it."
"But no camera footage of the terminal itself," Ritsuko noted.
"Which is why I'm not saying it's confirmed," Mary admitted. "It's remotely possible someone got there via the air-ducts or something."
Tanya snorted, "Seriously?"
"We have seen crazier things," Mary shrugged.
"Hmm," Ritsuko agreed,
"We'll need to bring him in for questioning," Tanya addressed Misato, who oversaw the security forces assigned to NERV.
"That's going to be harder than I'd like," Misato admitted.
"Huh?" Mary looked at her.
"He was apparently snatched from his apartment yesterday night," Misato told them.
"WHAT," Tanya yelped.
"Fuck," Ritsuko cursed softly.
Mary leaned forward, "Did he go willingly, or was he taken? Was there evidence of a struggle?"
"We got some camera stills... it appears he was shot with a taser and taken," Misato noted with a tired sigh. "By an old lady, apparently," she added.
"What?" Ritsuko blinked and Misato shrugged.
"Damn," Tanya muttered, "the timing is interesting."
Ritsuko got where she was going as she mused, "His allies grabbed him before we could arrest him and make him talk?"
"Exactly," Tanya agreed.
"Or it's a third faction," Mary added, well aware of the secret group SEELE and their involvement in the whole situation.
"Either way, we need to find him," Misato sighed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"I'm not surprised, he always was a slippery one," Gendo sighed as he read the report on Kaji. He poured himself a vodka, then sipped.
"Day-drinking again?" Kozo chided tiredly, the older man sitting across from him.
Gendo pushed the bottle to him, "Go ahead."
Kozo also poured and drank. "This is completely screwing with Yui's plans," he muttered.
Gendo sighed, "I'm begining to wonder if either our or the old men's scenarios are even viable any more."
"No sign of any other Angels?" Kozo checked.
"Apparently no. Well, other than Kaworu," Gendo sighed. "It looks like things can't continue until she's defeated or combines with Adam."
"So we could, in theory, keep everything on hold," Kozo noted.
"SEELE will never go with that," Gendo sighed. "They want immortality, even if it's as a pool of Tang."
"Speaking of aging," Kozo sighed.
"You want to retire," Gendo guessed.
Kozo nodded, "With Dugurechaff here, you don't need me. And I'm... tired, too."
Gendo felt a twinge of sympathy. The other man hadn't been young back when he had been his and Yui's professor.
"You'll need to sign non-disclosure agreements," Gendo cautioned, "and SEELE will be watching you like a hawk."
Kozo shrugged wearily, "So what else is new?"
"Point," Gendo agreed.
Kozo got up, "I'll start making the arrangements."
"It's been good working with you, old man," Gendo added.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Huh, Kaji is gone?" Shinji Ikari asked as she took a guard shift, sitting and watching in the Evangelion cockpit.
"Yeah, no one will tell me what's going on," Asuka Langley agreed.
"You could try asking Tanya," Shinji suggested, knowing the woman was fond of Asuka.
"Or I'll get it out of Aunt Visha," Asuka agreed.
"I have lunch for everyone," Satsuki Ooi said as she trotted up the walkway, carrying bags from the NERV cafeteria.
"Thank you," Asuka smiled. As she watched the... very well developed woman leave, she sighed enviously.
Shinji, who was still pretty much flat, also sighed.
"We should plug into the Magi and do some training," Asuka suggested, "it's been so long between Angels we're getting rusty."
"I'd be happy if we never fought another Angel again," Shinji noted as she climbed out of the Entry Plug to get some food.
"I suppose," Asuka shrugged slightly. Other than fighting the Angels, she really didn't know what to do with her life.
Shinji nodded, being in a similar boat.
"Arael doing anything?" Asuka asked as they ate.
Shinji checked the tablet she had with her as she snacked, "No, she's playing a console game."
"Really?" Asuka blinked.
"She's apparently maxed out Tetris, several AI Chess games and a couple of others. The staff are also letting her read ebooks," Shinji noted.
Asuka looked concerned, "Should we really be training her like this?"
"I think the hope is she'll like us and not want to wipe us all out," Shinji noted.
"Here's hoping."
To be continued...
Notes: I literally forgot Kozo as a character, so... writing him out. We'll find out who kidnapped Kaji next chapter.
