Chapter 9: Through a Glass, Darkly
You know as well as I do that playing at being a secret agent was never really what I wanted to do. But in a world as wrapped up in secrets as this one, it made having learned to do so all the more useful. Not only in how to keep myself hidden… but in making others reveal themselves.
And as much as I wish I could have prepared the kids for all of what would come next, at the moment, it would end with them in more danger than they were already in. For the time being, they would protect the world from its own threats, and I would stand against what had come from beyond.
- Where I've Been, 28th Entry
Tokyo-3, April 20th, 2015
Shinji Ikari looked at the moon, hanging full and large over Tokyo-3, and was fairly sure he wasn't going to school tomorrow.
He and Rei were well into the mountains now, looking out over a city that had gone dark, its buildings now long, almost skeletal shadows. If he'd heard Misato right, the whole of Japan was like this now, made dark for the express purpose of their operation.
It almost boggled the mind for him, an entire country's power grid rerouted for a single weapon. A weapon he was expected to fire from this mountaintop at his target.
His target, the third Angel, was perhaps one of the strangest beings he'd ever seen. It didn't even seem to be alive, whatever flesh and blood it might have had concealed by an octahedron of blue crystal that hummed and almost seemed to sing.
It held itself above the Geofront, Shinji unable to see from here the comparatively tiny drilling appendage that extended down from the lowest tip of the Angel.
He looked out at the Angel, and found himself on the phone, relying as always on a man half a world away.
"And how is school going?" Daniel asked. "I understand that Toji and Kensuke are starting to warm up to you."
"Kind of," Shinji replied. "Toji's… kind of weird. But no one's really tried to bully me since."
"They shouldn't!" another voice intruded. "You're one of the most important people in the world! When you know that, everyone else should too!"
Shinji sighed quietly, as he found himself often doing at Asuka. "It's not like I can just go blabbing about some of these things, Asuka."
"Maybe not," Asuka admitted after a moment, "but you can use that to be confident. Square your shoulders and stand tall! You're the closest thing the world has to a superhero!"
'Much as I don't want to be,' Shinji thought with a slightly weary sigh.
"As grandiose as Asuka makes it sound," Daniel interjected, "she's got a point. Regardless of how terrifying everything is, you are an exceptionally brave man for being willing to do what you do. It never hurts to have a little confidence because of that."
Shinji nodded. "I guess so," he said somewhat uncertainly.
"And I know so," Daniel said earnestly. "If nothing else, you can rely on that. Even if or when you don't believe yourself, believe in the me that believes in you."
"That… seems a little convoluted," Shinji said, trying to wrap his head around the English and how that might translate.
"Give it some time and thought," Daniel replied, and Shinji thought he could hear the smile in the man's voice. "It'll make sense."
After a brief moment, Daniel began again. "So, do you think you're ready for some long-range fire?"
"Kind of…" Shinji said, looking over at the massive site, and the equally massive gun, that Unit-01 would be connected to in order to pierce this Angel's defenses. "I do appreciate the training you've been sending over. It makes this a little easier, at least."
"If the target's stationary, it's one of the easier shots to make," Daniel said. "Of course, this Angel probably has some nonsense with its AT Field to try and throw you off. Just trust your gut and take the shot when it presents itself."
Shinji nodded. "Alright," he said.
"Good luck, Shinji," Asuka chimed in. "You've got this! You and your copilot both."
"Thanks, Asuka," Shinji replied.
"I've got to go and figure some things out here in Germany," Daniel said. "I'll let you go so you can get ready for your operation. We'll probably be seeing you pretty soon."
"That sounds good," Shinji said, smiling slightly. "I'm looking forward to that."
"You and me both. Again, good luck," Daniel said. "Love you, Shinji."
"I… love you too," Shinji replied, still not fully used to saying that to Daniel. It felt… nice, though.
With that, the call ended, and Shinji set his phone into a bag that he set aside. It was remarkably annoying to not have pockets in the Plugsuit. Then again, something told him his phone would not survive really any amount of time in LCL.
"Talking to anyone we should be worried about?"
Shinji looked back to see who was now Captain Flynn, smiling slightly as she came to stand by Shinji's side, leaning on the railing of their platform. Standing beside her, and going to Shinji's left, was Rei, in her almost pure white Plugsuit that, in his opinion, revealed far too much, and reminded him far too much of what had transpired earlier in the week.
"You don't seem like the sort to kiss and tell," Flynn continued as her smile started to become a grin.
"No," Shinji replied, blushing slightly. "Just the pilot and head engineer of Unit-02, over in Germany."
"Is that so?" Flynn said. "Who might they be?"
"Well, the pilot is Asuka Langley," Shinji said, "and the engineer is Daniel Theisman."
Flynn, who had been considering the moon as they spoke, looked at Shinji intently. "Is that so? How do you know him?"
Shinji blinked at Flynn's sudden interest. "He lived in Japan for a little while and took me in while he was here. He's… well, he's the closest thing I have to an actual father. Honestly, his training before I came here is one of the only things keeping my head above water."
"Really?" Flynn said softly, the interest in her eyes replaced with something else. Something Shinji caught only for a moment before she looked back out over Tokyo-3. "Interesting."
Shinji glanced over at Rei, and found her regarding him with that consistently mysterious expression. In her eyes, however, he saw a spark of curiosity.
"Do you know him?" Shinji asked as he looked back at Flynn.
"I might have," Flynn replied, her tone somewhat… melancholic. "Long ago."
Shinji wondered what, exactly, that meant.
"We're almost ready to start Operation Yashima," Flynn said after long moments. "Unit-00 is already set up with her shield a little down the hill. Unit-01 will need to get into position with the Positron Rifle."
Shinji nodded. "Alright," he said after a deep breath.
Flynn nodded, a confident smile on her face. "Aim true, Shinji. You've got this."
With that, Flynn made her way back to Unit-01, leaving Shinji and Rei standing in the moonlight.
After long moments of silence, Shinji looked over at Rei. "Rei… why do you pilot the Eva?"
Rei was silent in her contemplation. "Because I am bound to it."
"Bound? How? To my father?"
"To all people," Rei replied matter-of-factly.
Shinji hummed softly. "You're strong, Ayanami. Stronger than I am sometimes."
"Because I have nothing else."
"Nothing else…" Shinji said quietly. 'Not even an actually decent father.'
Rei nodded, stepping back from the railing. "It's time. Let's go."
She paused for a moment and looked at Shinji. "Goodbye."
Shinji's brow furrowed slightly as she walked away. 'Goodbye?' he thought incredulously. Did she expect to… die?
'No. Not if I can help it.'
She may only have been his co-pilot… but for now, she was the closest he might ever get to having a sister. And with what he knew, Father seemed to care more about her than… anyone.
'Maybe if I keep her safe,' he thought, 'Father will finally actually start thinking about me.'
Right now, there was only one place to start. In the Entry Plug of Unit-01.
. . .
Daniel went over the reports of the latest Angel attack, the crystalline being now code-named 'Ramiel'. The report, unsurprisingly, was rather distant and sanitized about the details of Operation Yashima. He had Shinji fill him in on those parts that the reports either left out or missed completely.
"She seems… more friendly, now that I actually risked myself to save her. Her smile… it's kind of nice. But I think… I think I reminded her of Father, somehow. I managed to get my hands on the reports Doctor Akagi made of what happened to her before I came. I'm not going to lie… it makes me a little jealous, I think."
With knowledge like that, Daniel couldn't help but wonder how he might see Rei now. Would he see her as a friend? A sister? Someone closer?
Questions to ask when next he called. Even still, things had changed. That much was certain.
"Hey, Daniel?"
Daniel's thoughts returned to the present as he looked over at Asuka, who was staying over with him while Ryoji took a brief trip out into Neuberlin proper, and hard at work drawing… something in a sketchbook. As she had been for the past few minutes. "What's up?"
"I've been working on something," Asuka began.
"I hope it isn't late homework," Daniel replied with a slight grin.
Asuka rolled her eyes, not deigning to give that a response. "With the last two Angels, Sachiel and Shamshel, I've been making a few design drafts for potential engineering projects that could bolster the Eva's combat effectiveness. Here, have a look."
She handed Daniel the sketchpad, and he flipped between a few of the pages she'd been working on. What he found was remarkably detailed, with potential form factors laid out across the top and sides of two weapons that could be attached to the Eva's arm. Taking up much of the center was what could likely be the initial concepts, one a piston-driven spike, a pile bunker writ large. The other, at its core, was an adaptation of Shamshel's whiplike appendages, various methods for the main body, interlinked chains of various constructions and alloyed nanotubes, considered and either underlined or crossed out.
Daniel couldn't help but be impressed not only at how much thought had been put into it, but how well-presented it was as well. "You have been a busy bee outside of the sims," he said as he studied the sketches in more detailed. "I hope we've got the funds to put some of these things into practice."
"With a threat as big as the Angels," Asuka said, "I don't think money's going to be too big of a concern."
"Maybe not money," Daniel admitted, "but we might only have the time and capacity to work on one or the other. I hope you've got a favorite."
Before Daniel could continue, he felt his phone buzz with a notification, pulling it out to see a text from, of all people, Ryoji.
'Call me'.
Daniel frowned slightly as he did as the text asked. After a moment, the other end of the line picked up.
"Hey, Dan," Ryoji. "Sorry I was so mysterious. I was just wondering if you wanted to go out and get a drink, catch up on things. You know how out of the loop I am, even with being Asuka's guardian."
Daniel's frown became a quirked brow. "That's all? No need to act out being a secret agent for that," he replied. "I'll go ahead and forewarn you, I don't really drink alcohol."
"Fine by me," Ryoji said. "The drinks are just one part of it, anyway. Sometime this evening work for you?"
"5:30 works," Daniel replied. "And I've got a place in mind already."
"Is that so?"
"A nice little place that Misato showed me," Daniel replied. "I'll send you the address and the name."
"Misato always had a good nose for those sorts of places, didn't she?" Ryoji said, his tone tinged with contemplation. "Alright, I'll see you then."
The call finished, and Daniel looked over at a remarkably attentive Asuka. "Now," she said with a forced casualness, "was that who I think it was?"
"I think you're smart enough to guess," Daniel replied. "Think it could be an opening move?"
"Just… be casual if you go there, okay?" Asuka replied. "We wouldn't want to tip our hand too soon now, would we?"
. . .
Daniel made his way to the Fröhliche Zeitverschwender as the day finished up, pausing at its entrance to wait for his company.
It wasn't long before Ryoji came into sight, making his way over to Daniel and pausing to look at the facade of the establishment.
"Not bad on the outside, at least," Ryoji said, looking at Daniel as they entered. "But I suppose we both know that outside appearances can conceal something pretty great. Or terrible. One way or another."
They took their seats at a nice, tucked-away booth in the far corner of the building, and made their orders, taking a moment to enjoy their beverages of choice. "So," Ryoji began after long moments, "I've only heard a little about the latest Angel attack from Asuka. What went on?"
"Misato, unsurprisingly, came up with a wild plan to channel all of Japan's power into a single sniper rifle for Shinji, the Third Child, to shoot at the thing. And, thanks to everyone's efforts, it worked. Left them with a massive, dead chunk of crystal to deal with, though."
Ryoji chuckled as he shook his head. "Sounds about right," he replied before taking a sip of a drink that was rather more fruity than Daniel expected. "She always was a risk-taker, whether it was tests or martial arts or something else entirely. She had a lot of life to live, after all."
"After Antarctica?" Daniel asked quietly, his expression somber. "She told me a little about what happened there."
"Yeah," Ryoji said, equally quiet. "She never really said much, but… I did a little digging around after she broke things off with me, nosy as I can be. I'm surprised she decided to go with her father, rocky as their relationship apparently was."
"Really?" Daniel said. "She never really talked about her family."
"Yeah…" Ryoji said. "Looking at what family pictures I could find… it makes me wonder…"
He was silent for a moment before shaking his head. "But enough about that. As I recall, you briefly talked about how there were people siphoning off LCL from the storage tanks. Any luck on finding them?"
Daniel sighed quietly. "Not since they magically escaped while Misato was here," he replied. We've got faces, but names that are probably fake, no other records that they match to from anywhere, really, and more questions than we have answers."
"Really?" Ryoji asked. "Not even a few cameras in the rooms themselves?"
"The red tape surrounding doing anything in or to those rooms could be considered legendary," Daniel said wearily. "Both Captain Ybarra and I have been trying to get more security cameras in there for months to no avail."
"So no eavesdropping on whatever conversations they might have been having, then," Ryoji said with a slight grimace.
Daniel found himself a little suspicious at that remark. 'That's a little specific. Were you…'
He decided to test the waters a little after a draught of his Bundaberg. "Not from our cameras at least. But…"
He paused as he leaned forward a bit. "I found something that they left behind. I haven't taken it to Ybarra or Löwenherz yet because… well…"
"You found something," Ryoji echoed as he leaned forward. "Some sort of device?"
"Something like that, yeah," Daniel nodded. "Hidden pretty damn well, too. It was pointed squarely at this section of wall, like they were trying to see if there was some sort of secret passage. And, from what I saw… it looked like there was."
Daniel watched Ryoji intently for his reaction. Unsurprisingly, the only outward sign of anything catching the man off-guard was an arched brow as he sat back in his seat and took a drink of his beer. "Damn…" he said quietly. "Somebody hiding something in that secret passage?"
Daniel shrugged. "It'd have to be someone connected to NERV somehow. You don't make a passage like that in a high-security area without someone knowing about it unless you're building it from the ground up. Someone with something to hide from us as much as the world."
"Sounds like it," Ryoji said, his tone somewhat guarded. "Anything else you managed to find?"
"Something…" Daniel considered his answer for a moment. "Something I still need to clarify. But if it is what I think it is, then it goes beyond any threat here. Bigger than the Angels. Bigger than S…"
He purposefully cut himself off, watching for Ryoji's reaction. As expected, it was minute, but telling, the man's eyes darting to Daniel's and narrowing slightly before he relaxed. "That big, huh?" he said quietly.
"That big," Daniel admitted with a nod.
After long moments spent in contemplation, and more than a few sips of their drinks, Daniel decided to make his next move. "There's something else I noticed from the footage from that camera," he mentioned casually.
"What would that be?" Ryoji said, his eyes narrowing slightly again.
"That secret passage in LCL storage," Daniel said, "I only caught a few people going in and out of it. You were one of them. Right on the day when I found the thing. Not even an hour before."
Ryoji's brows rose slightly. "Really?"
Daniel nodded. "I talked to Asuka about if you came home different that day, and she mentioned catching a briefcase in the corner of her eye during one of her games. A pretty beefy one too."
Ryoji, this time, was still, his only action to sip his beer. "Got a delivery from work," he said after what was likely far too long for the man's liking. "I've got to make sure it gets to the right people."
"Just so," Daniel replied. "Any chance work is behind that secret passage?"
Silence fell over them again, Ryoji slowly tensing as Daniel wondered where one of his hands had gone under the table.
"Tell you what," Daniel said, "we'll keep each other's secrets. As far as anyone's concerned, no one entered or left that day, and whatever you might have seen doesn't reach anyone else's ears for the moment. Fair?"
Ryoji considered the offer silently for a moment before shrugging, his right hand coming back up from under the table. "Sounds fair enough to me," he said casually.
Daniel nodded. While he couldn't trust that the truth wouldn't come out of Ryoji eventually, he was sure that, for the moment, he'd be willing to keep his cards close to his chest. One didn't navigate the tangled web of alliances Ryoji sat squarely in the center of without such a skill being finely honed.
"So," Ryoji said after a moment, "Asuka tells me you guys at the top are considering plans on moving Unit-02 to Tokyo-3, seeing as the Angels seem to be focused there."
Daniel nodded. "That we are. We've got a few plans…"
. . .
Daniel and Asuka, who was now separately in contact with Shinji, still got together to chat over the video call concerning any number of topics. After the looming discussion of the Angels and Shinji's training as a pilot, of course.
In recent days, another face had joined in the 'tactical meetings', as Asuka had decided to christen them.
"I've got to say," Misato said, Shinji's phone set up a little ways away to capture both of them, "you've managed to snag some impressive phones. These must have cost you a real pretty penny, Daniel."
Daniel shrugged. "For keeping in touch long-distance with such a good kid as Shinji? It was worth every single yen."
Shinji glanced away bashfully as Misato chuckled. "I just wish I would have known about this when Shinji got here," Misato said. "But being his guardian has been an adjustment for both of us."
"So it is for the best of us," Daniel replied. "Did you get the sketches that I sent you?"
Misato nodded. "I did. Asuka's got quite the ideas for a weapons program. I'll run them past Ritsuko, our head of the Science Division here. She can tell you how feasible they are more than I can."
"She's got a pretty good start," Asuka said, almost haughtily. "All she has to worry about is putting them into action."
"No, that wouldn't be her worrying about that," Misato said with a slight smile. "That would be Captain Flynn's job after Ritsuko gives her the green light."
Flynn. The name struck Daniel in a way that he hadn't experienced in… ages. Quite literal ones.
"Flynn?" Daniel asked. "What's she like?"
"She's head of the Engineering Division. Apparently, she arrived here about a year before Sachiel did," Shinji said. "She helped me get prepared for that first fight. Then she helped me feel welcome here."
Daniel nodded slightly. "I see," he said quietly. "She's working out for you guys and your Evas, I'd presume?"
"She's been tireless in keeping Unit-01 and Unit-00 in working order," Misato said with a smile. "We even managed to get Unit-00 out of reserve status several weeks early because of her and her teams."
"If she's even half as good as Daniel is at this job, then she's probably amazing," Asuka said.
'No,' Daniel mused. 'She's even better.'
"We might be getting to meet soon," Daniel said. "We're finalizing plans here to move Unit-02 and its support structure over to HQ. You'll have three Evas and two head engineers soon enough."
Shinji and Misato's eyes lit up, Misato's smile becoming a grin. "We'll become downright unstoppable after that, won't we?"
"Of course we will!" Asuka said with a slight scoff. "I'm going to be there to be the best pilot in the world!"
She leaned towards the screen. "Which means, rookie, that I'm going to be there to personally supervise the rest of your training! You've been decent enough on the theory, and Misato says you've been doing alright at what we've sent over, but once I get there, we get to start putting things into practice. You'd better be ready!"
Shinji, much as Daniel expected, seemed to wilt somewhat under the energetic barrage leveled at him. "Yes, Lehrerin," he said somewhat hesitantly after a moment.
Asuka nodded. "Good."
After a moment, she looked over at Daniel. "Anything you got for the rookie to hear before we get there?"
Daniel was silent for a moment. "Just remember your training thus far. And whatever exercises Asuka and I have you doing over there… don't let up on them. It'll prepare you for what comes next."
Shinji nodded as Misato pulled out a ringing phone, standing out of view. "I've got a call to take. See you later Daniel. See ya, Asuka."
With that, she walked off, leaving Shinji to regard Daniel intently. "Flynn said she also might have known you," Shinji said quietly. "Do you know her?"
Daniel was silent for long moments, Asuka looking at him intently. "That's not a question I think I'm fully prepared to answer, Shinji," he finally said. "Not right at this moment. I'm sorry if that's not the answer you wanted to hear."
It was silent for long moments before Shinji nodded. "Alright. Well, I should get back to my homework. It was good talking to you."
With that, the call ended with the usual goodbyes and well wishes (or at least, what well wishes Asuka designed to bestow upon her rookie at this time).
Putting the phone back in his pocket, Daniel stood. Asuka stood alongside him, barring his path. "I'm not stupid, you know. I remember when you slipped up and told Misato your heart was spoken for. Is this Ms. Flynn an old girlfriend of yours?"
'More than that,' Daniel thought. 'She was everything.'
"Like I said to Shinji," he said aloud, "I'm not ready to answer that sort of question yet. Not without a lot of thinking on my part."
Asuka's expression twisted slightly into a grimace, but she ultimately nodded. "Alright," she said. "But I'm going to hear an answer, one way or another."
Daniel smiled slightly. "You'll be one of the first to know."
. . .
1 Week Later
Daniel found himself walking into Karl's office, a file of recommendations and potential proposals in hand. Today was a rather momentous day, all told.
Karl was waiting for him, his desk something of a mess of papers at the moment, a rather stark contrast to the usual cleanliness that it had.
"Daniel," Karl said with a slight smile. "What do you have for us today?"
"The last two solid options we have for transporting Unit-02 to Japan, now that the order has come from on high," Daniel replied, taking a seat in front of Karl's desk as it was cleared for him to place the packet down on.
"Alright," Karl said as he opened the file, beginning to peruse through the papers. "What are your thoughts?"
"To be honest, the question really boiled down to whether we wanted to have the majority of our transit on land or over the ocean," Daniel replied. "We'd take the air option, but the only air-lifters NERV has are based in America and in Japan, assigned to other Evas. The red tape we'd have to cut through to try and requisition them, even for a nominally quick run, would likely end up wasting vital weeks."
Karl nodded as he separated the two travel itineraries. "What you have for us doesn't seem that much better in terms of bureaucracy, quite frankly. A sea voyage either through the Suez Channel or around the Cape of Good Hope, or a train ride across the Trans-Siberian Railway? What prompted either recourse?"
"At the end of the day, it boils down to the travel time of whatever cargo vessel we have carrying Unit-02," Daniel replied. "If it's available here in the Atlantic, we can put the Eva onboard at Porto Salvo and sail her through the Suez, should we slot into the schedule with enough time. Otherwise, it's a long trip around Africa that'll be waiting for us."
"And that's where our first problem comes up," Karl said ruefully as he shook his head slightly. "In its graciousness, the United Nations has offered its First Task Fleet, led by the Over the Rainbow, to escort Unit-02 on its journey to Japan. The same task fleet that's currently based at Dry Mount Naval Base on the island off Los Angeles. I doubt they'd be up to a weeks-long cruise through both oceans just to meet up with us at Porto Salvo."
Daniel grimaced. "Alright, then. That leaves us with our second option. Granted, we'd need to lift Unit-02's container a third of the way traditionally, and we've found a solution with what we've got on hand and what the Luftwaffe's likely willing to spare, but the rest of the Railway's tracks are cleared for the sort of loadbearing that can allow Unit-02 to go all the way to the port at Magadan in about a week and a half, where the Task Fleet can just take a day or two's cruise to New Yokosuka."
Karl took a deep breath as he considered the proposition. "It's going to be tricky… but I have some connections in the North Asian Coalition's Transport Authority that could help us cut through the red tape in a timely manner. It looks like you're in for a long train ride."
Karl put the file back together, and Daniel stood to collect it. "I'll go ahead and inform my team so that we can get started immediately," he said as he picked up the file.
"And I'll start with getting in touch with a few old colleagues to reminisce for a while," Karl said with a quiet sigh. "Leading into the more exasperating parts of this job."
Daniel nodded, and as he did, he caught sight of a file, left perhaps carelessly on the desk next to where the transport file had landed and partially hidden. It was a simple thing, stamped with ink that, in three separate languages, partially said 'Human Instrument'. Clipped to it was a family photo, a somewhat older one of what must have been happier days for Karl and what appeared to be his family.
His gaze lingered on it for perhaps a moment more than he should have, Karl noticing and regarding him intently. "A picture of my family," he said rather somberly. "From before Third Impact."
Daniel nodded slightly. "How fitting," he said quietly, then straightened fully as he turned and began to walk to the door.
"So you know what that is?"
Karl's simple question, his cooling voice, held Daniel in place for a moment. "Yes," Daniel replied quietly. There was little use in lying now.
"Then," Karl continued, almost deathly quiet, "do you know what must happen for it to succeed?"
Daniel considered bolting for the door, or tapping into his power to make his way out, or at least preparing to defend himself. But such things would only be a temporary solution to extend his life. Perhaps…
"Yes," Daniel replied, his tone matching Karl's.
It was silent for long, tense moments.
The silence was broken only by the click of a safety disengaging.
Daniel finally turned, slowly, to see Karl, standing and aiming a Beretta squarely at his head.
"Then you know I can't let you leave this room alive, Daniel," Karl said, his eyes level and taken up with a practiced emptiness that nevertheless failed to fully conceal the sorrow within them.
Daniel slowly raised his hands. "Karl," he said calmly as he took a step forward. "Killing me won't solve anything."
"It will ensure you do not interfere," Karl replied. "No one must be allowed to interfere."
"Because you've been promised that you'll be reunited with your family?" Daniel asked as he continued to close the distance.
Karl's jaw clenched for a moment. "Second Impact and the Impact Wars took everything from me," he began, his voice starting to tremble slightly. "Sofia was in South Africa with Albert when Adam awoke. They didn't find their bodies in the rubble for three months. Leon was deployed to Colombia, captured, and tortured before he was sent home in a wooden box. And Anna…"
The Beretta started to tremble as tears welled in Karl's eyes. "My darling Anna was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a riot over martial law broke out. Her punishment for being there and trying to get away was to get swept up in it, raped, and trampled to death!"
The tears fell freely now. "And SEELE has promised to rebuild the world, return it to how it was, reunite everyone with those they've lost! How could any sane man stand in the way of that?"
"I wish it were true, Karl," Daniel said, lowering his hands. "But SEELE can't rebuild anything. Nor do they want to. They can only offer you an illusion."
Karl's eyes went wide with anger as his knuckles went white in his effort to steady his aim. "And how could you possibly know that?"
Daniel regarded Karl with a weary weight behind his eyes. A weight that rivaled, even exceeded, a world on his shoulders. "Because I've seen the fruits of Instrumentality, Karl."
The anger in Karl's eyes drained away, shock filling their place. "How?" he nearly whispered.
"Look into my eyes, Karl," Daniel said, looking upon the man's soul with his spectral Sight. Karl was afraid, uncertain of what might come next as he saw the incredible sight of the night sky fill the eyes of the man in front of him.
He was right to be afraid.
"Look into my eyes and see."
And Daniel connected their souls, showing Karl Löwenherz the truth of things concerning the end of the world.
It was over in an instant, even as the vision took its sweet, agonizing time within the mind-space. But it finished all the same, and Daniel's eyes returned to their usual complexion as the vista of apocalypse faded back into being Karl's office.
Karl, his eyes now truly hollow even as tears streamed down his face, slowly sank back into his seat, looking down at his gun. "And there is no other way," he whispered huskily, the weapon starting to tilt just so…
"Not that SEELE knows or cares about," Daniel said firmly. "But there are ways. I swear that much."
Karl looked back up at Daniel, confusion flickering in his eyes. "What… what are you?"
Daniel wondered, as he always did, how best to answer that question. "Someone who's here to help," he finally decided as he took a seat again. "The Children may be the key to SEELE's plans, and I have been working with them to help avert such a fate, but I can't do it all alone. I've tried. As much as I'm here to help… I'll need yours."
Karl regarded Daniel in silence for long moments, then looked down at the file again, pulling the picture of his family off and holding it in front of him. "They used them," he said after a moment, his jaw clenching. "The bastards used my love as… leverage."
The photo dropped, and Daniel saw a resolve in his eyes that couldn't help but relieve him. "What do you need from me?"
"For one, a copy of the Instrumentality Project would be useful," Daniel began. "Without it, I've only been able to go on intuition thus far. What they put down, how they think, will allow me to be that much more purposeful."
Karl nodded. "And the LCL thieves? Are they connected to SEELE in some way? You'd think that if they wanted it, they'd just take it directly from… the source and keep our shipments intact."
Daniel clenched his jaw slightly. "They aren't SEELE. If anything, they're far more dangerous. They have my sort of power, and very little moral compunction to use it in trying to help anyone other than themselves and their goals. If SEELE tried to go against them somehow… I doubt they'd exist afterward."
Karl blanched. "Then… what do we do about them?"
"Leave them to me," Daniel replied. "They're going to be content to skulk in the shadows, and I am far more aware of how they work than perhaps even they are. For now, I'll watch and wait. Our focus together should be on dismantling SEELE."
Karl took a deep breath and nodded. "Fair enough. You've been working on the Children?"
"They are the lynchpin in multiple parties' plans concerning Instrumentality," Daniel replied. "The more isolated and emotionally stunted they are, the easier they are to manipulate. Change that, and the Children become a sledgehammer that sends the whole rotten building down around them. And that's just those immediately connected to the Evangelions."
He paused for a moment as he leaned forward. "Think about it. You, me, Misato, everyone in some position of authority or command, are there because there are levers that SEELE believes they can pull. Family, friends, or even just simple vengeance. All to advance SEELE's plans, whether they know about it or not. But knowing what we do…"
"We turn their weaponization of ignorance against them," Karl said with a nod. "Counterintelligence was never my strongest suit, but for the sake of this world, and for the chance to keep it from ending in illusions, I think I can brush up."
Daniel smiled slightly as he nodded. "First potential problem. Is this room under surveillance?"
Karl smiled slightly, somewhat unsteadily, in turn. "As much as it might frustrate the MAGI technicians, I made sure this room was one of the few that wasn't under constant surveillance. I have to manually activate it. Which, for a meeting as boring as this was supposed to be, I didn't."
Daniel nodded as he stood. "Good. Then for now, our secret remains with us."
He paused as he turned, chuckling slightly as he looked over at Karl. "Nothing quite like some secret combinations to spice up a day before the busywork starts, eh?"
Karl chuckled in turn. "We'll see how much more bearable it makes my calls."
Daniel shrugged slightly, walking back to the door. Before he opened it, he paused and looked back. "And Karl… if you ever need to talk, you know where I am."
With that, Daniel exited the room, leaving Karl to look down at his family again. "That I do, Daniel," he said quietly. "That I do."