Gendo stared at the darkened ceiling of the office, slumped back in his chair in a lifeless sprawl. He was exhausted in a way he had not been for a long time, a weariness that wore on him minute after minute, hour after hour. No ideas came to him, and inspiration continued to elude him. Vaguely aware of the hunger clawing at his stomach, his exhaustion was such that he had utterly no interest in eating. He was so tired he could not sleep, no matter what he tried. Everything was coming apart, and his scenario was threatened in a way he had never seen coming, never thought possible.
The inlaid design of the Tree of Sephiroth was the only light on in the cavernous room, glowing softly. It was a sort of added mysticism to the office that never failed to impress or intimidate. He had become so used to it over the years that he no longer paid any mind to it. However, now the kabbalistic symbol's glowing design seemed to mock him.
Unit-01 had always been the key to the path from this world to the crown of the Tree of Life, the key to the usurpation of godhood from Lilith, the union of the Great Mother, and all her children. He had stolen that key from SEELE and his wife, seeking to put it beyond their use and claim it for himself.
Finishing the work started by Yui and Kyoko, he had perfected the so-called Contact Experiment. He had split his own son's soul in two, secreting one half into the Evangelion and sending the other half off to live in relative obscurity for safekeeping until the correct time.
The Angels were the children and remnants of ADAM, Lilith's ancient foe. Their cataclysmic clash eons ago had set the stage for mankind to rule the world as the inheritors of their mother's legacy. Mankind had been guided and plagued in turns by the psychic emanations from the exhausted Titans. Throughout all of mankind's history they had been searching for these two otherworldly beings, despite their ignorance of their proper place amongst the cosmos.
Some came to power throughout the ages and did as those with power were wont to do: consolidate and expand their power. Eventually, one secret society stumbled upon a piece of concrete evidence tying together several disparate threads of prophecy and legend, creating the forerunners of SEELE. The promise of supreme power and unending life was too much for any of them to pass up on, even if only to deny others the power to rule over them.
Lilith was found at last in the Land of the Rising Sun, and while contact and conversation with their ultimate mother were difficult and unclear, new light was shed, and some mysteries unraveled. A great bargain was made, and SEELE was born.
The path to completion and reunification was put forward, but it would be the work of several lifetimes. Kiel Lorenz was the oldest member of SEELE, and while he had not been present at the birth of the clandestine organization, he had still been a young man when his coup succeeded, and he assumed control over it shortly after the outbreak of the Great War. He had managed to succeed where others had failed and secured a grossly extended lifespan for himself. He had orchestrated the betrayal of Lilith, and he would be there to assume the reigns of godhood at the end.
The Ikaris, his most trusted representatives in Japan, entrusted with maintaining control over the Black Moon, were utterly loyal to their master. Not until Yui Ikari was brought on board were any disharmonious elements introduced. She did not wish to be part of KADMON as directed by SEELE. Yui had other ideas but accepted she could not affect the path of history. Instead, she was content to entomb herself into Unit-01 as a monument to mankind, a new statue of Ozymandias, to hold eternal vigil over an abandoned world.
The man she had grown to love, Gendo Rokobungi, was not so content. He dedicated himself to overthrowing SEELE and assuming control over their penultimate goal. Every moment of every day, every fiber of his being had been singularly focused on this one thing since he had been brought into the project.
Every obstacle had been overcome. Every potential countermove, calculated, anticipated and countered in turn. It was almost as if this was destined to be, that his rebellion had been foreseen and prophesied about just as the ancients had foretold of the discovery of Lilith, the appearance of the Angels, of the Second and Third Impacts. Of course, he had suffered setbacks and defeats, but overall, his scenario advanced apace.
He had created Rei and usurped Unit-01 from Yui. He laid the groundwork for defeating and clearing away the remnants of ADAM's progeny, clearing the way to Instrumentality while keeping mankind safe. He had wormed his agents into places where they were preparing to strike. He had uncontested control over the Black Moon, the new Garden of Eden, a seed of the new world, a promise of rebirth from the death and cataclysm of Third Impact. The path from this world to the crown of god was before him, waiting for the last threats to be revealed and removed. Waiting for the angelic fruit growing within his flesh to ripen and be ready for the harvest.
Unit-01, born from Lilith's culled flesh, to be activated by Shinji to rejoin with Lilith to make her physically whole. Rei, an angelic human made from Shinji and Lilith, in possession of the ready fragment of ADAM to counteract Lilith's control, leaving her in command of Instrumentality. Rei would give him that control, and he would ascend to godhood at the head of the gestalt over-soul of humanity. From here, he would work his will upon reality, set things to rights, and then entomb himself with his wife inside Unit-01 for all time.
Selfish, yes. He had never claimed otherwise. But his plan was better than what SEELE had in mind.
But now, all of those plans were ash. They were grains of sand slipping through his fingers. They were dust in the wind.
He had been worried when Shinji's Ego Border had collapsed, and the boy sublimated into the LCL during the fight. The boy was a crucial part of his plans, beyond his new and unexpected role of being used to help control Rei through their relationship. The loss of the boy was a threat to his plans beyond that of the Angels or of SEELE. Without a pilot, the Evangelion was a broken key. If Shinji remained inside the core in the same manner as his mother, they could not reach their end goal.
He had tried several times, both by himself and then later with Kozo's help, to salvage his wife, all to no avail. The attempt at salvaging Kyoko after her disastrous experiment had also failed. Ritsuko's mother had attempted to do a contact experiment and salvage attempt on Rei I for some still unknown reason, still to no avail, and had killed herself over it.
They had needed Shinji to return.
But they also needed only half of him to return. They only, damn them, wanted half of him to return.
The boy who had climbed up out of the burning halo four days ago was not half of his son. It was Shinji, as he had always been meant to be. A whole, intact child.
He had seen Unit-01 sag in its restraints the moment the glowing figure of his son had climbed up out of the halo but had not processed what that meant just then, transfixed by the impossible miracle below him. The radiant figure had climbed down the armored head of the Evangelion, melting hand and footprints into the metal. More footprints had been melted into the gantry, all in the shape and size of a teenage boy's bare feet. All sensors had registered the boy as an Angel. Glowing form faded into flesh, leaving only his son with eyes like twin supernovas, painting everything before him in bright light. Light that had cut off when he shut his eyes and kissed the captivated Rei, the only one left on the gantry, all others having fled from the approaching figure.
When the boy opened his eyes again, they were the brilliant blue he remembered. No trace remained of the power formerly displayed, that burning light of dying suns. The sensors went silent, showing no more Angel. Then Shinji had seized, collapsing into Rei's arms.
Whatever had happened, however the boy had pulled himself out of the Evangelion had exhausted him physically, mentally, and emotionally. The initial exams showed severely depleted blood sugar levels, low red blood cell counts, and his electrolytes were all at abysmal levels.
Initial observation also showed another impossibility: the leg the boy had lost in the fight with the Seventh Angel was returned to him without anything so much as a scar to indicate anything had happened to it. All of this, plus the fact that the remaining part of his original body was still present in the Entry Plug, indicated to them Shinji had completely reformed his Ego Border and created a new body for himself, which made Gendo and his inner circle grow pale with worry. It was doubtful only half of the boy's soul had climbed out of that infinite abyss Gendo had glimpsed spiraling down into the halo.
All sensor data on Unit-01 supported this, as the core showed no signs of life. Unit-01 was an empty shell now. The S2 organelle had gone cold, no longer pumping out energy the crews constantly needed to draw off to contain the giant.
His son had returned to him, but they were no better off.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Rei ignored her captives as she poured over the data the MAGI had given her from the medical wing. Medics had wrested the seizing boy from her and rushed him to the medical facilities, and as was typical, she had been shut out. Instead of arguing this time, Rei visited the still catatonic Pilot-Captain. Rei informed the silent and unmoving girl Shinji had returned before settling down into the waiting chair and sending her consciousness off to the drone body in her lab.
Both Kajis were apprehensive when the drone stirred with life, ceasing their futile attempts to break their restraints. While a moderate success, Rei still considered the pair a failed experiment. Testing had shown significant drift in the brain activity patterns between the original and the copy. It appeared a stock human body and mind could not handle the download and upload process unaltered. Going forward, using the machine to secure Shinji's continued safety was not an option.
All of that was pushed to the rear of her mind in favor of concentrating on the data coming through to her tablet. Scanning over the medical information, she also pulled up the sensor data Caspar had flagged, showing the second the Evangelion had registered as an Angel. Watching the data feed overlaid with security camera footage, she saw the sensors then flag the glowing boy as an Angel as Unit-01 went dark.
Resetting the footage to display the cage again from the moment they forced the ejection of the Entry Plug and retrieved the lifeless cloned body, a shiver ran down her spine. Events escalated quickly after the salvage event was called off and terminated. She had ejected from Unit-00 and rushed over to the gantry to Unit-01, pushing past somber technicians. The Sub-Commander was already there, collapsing to her knees and wailing. The Commander appeared at the observation deck, hands gripping the railing. An exhausted Dr. Akagi emerged from the elevator. Two more technicians, dressed in the jumpsuits of the Unit-01 crew, were gently, almost reverently, laying the corpse down on the ground. She studied her figure on the screen, watching her fists tremble at her sides, face twisting with effort to contain her emotions. Even now, her stomach cramped up, recalling the sudden hole she had felt in her chest, the deep-seated despair still within reach.
Then Unit-01's eyes began to glow, deep red at first and then becoming spirals of fire. The LCL and coolant in the holding tank began to boil as another red glow showed from the S2 organelle.
Captivated, Rei's breath caught in her throat as she watched the burning halo form overhead, a floating ring of liquid fire. She had not understood what was happening in the moment, but the camera's vantage point gave her so much more information and context. The camera feed blacked out several times, no doubt interference from Unit-01, but it was still enough for her to watch. Jaw dropping, her hands flew to her mouth as a glowing figure became visible, climbing up out of the spiraling pit. He seemed to be climbing forever in those moments, as if he was coming up from some terrific distance, yet simultaneously doing the climb in mere moments. Shinji was a glowing silhouette of red light, the only discernible features being his eyes, which burned like star fire. He stood atop the burning halo for an eternity of seconds before Unit-01's eyes and core went dark. The flames and halo vanished into nothingness, and the war machine sagged against the restraints, going slack in the holding tank. Shinji stumbled, falling to his hands and feet atop the Evangelion, melting into the metal and causing the paint to blacken and bubble.
He stood up and climbed down to the gantry, and elation rushed over her anew. He walked out towards her, hands reaching in invitation. The technicians fled from him, pushing past her in terror. One tried to grab her arm and drag her off to supposed safety, but she resisted, brushing off his hand. Shinji passed by the corpse of his clone where it lay, and it burst into LCL, splashing out in a spray that had been unnoticed then.
The glow began to fade as he drew nearer to her. She had been captivated and in absolute awe of the event. All other thoughts and sensations had been overridden. Beyond any rational capacity to think or process information, she could only stare at that silhouette, a shape written upon her soul, and gaze into the inferno of his eyes. Red light became warm flesh and dark hair as he left a procession of footprints melted into the grating. Finally, a star-eyed Shinji stood before her, the heat from his body still unimaginably warm, his approach having completely dried the LCL from her plug-suit. He embraced her, drawing her into his arms. She had closed her own eyes then but kept them open now as a new flush of warmth filled her, watching him kiss her. The glow was gone when he opened his eyes, replaced by his normal eyes.
Breath escaped her in a shuddering sigh, and she paused the playback before burying her face in her hands, feeling the heat on her face in a prominent blush.
Her captives exchanged worried glances as they watched Rei from where they were restrained.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Ritsuko collapsed into her chair, exhausted beyond belief. Hands shaking, she reached for the half-empty cup of long cold coffee. Finishing off the mug in one go, she buried her head in her arms on the cluttered desk, ignoring sheets of paper and computer tablets.
Shinji was back if also exhausted and in dire need of nutrients and calories, but healthy. Whole and hale. More whole than he had been before the collapse of his ego-border. He was more whole than he had been before he had even gotten into the plug that fateful day.
While it was gratifying to have him back in the flesh and not interred in the Evangelion like his mother, the entire thing was like a slap in the face. Where had his conciseness been during those months? What was it like to be within the Evangelion's core? What had prompted his return? What was his return? There was still so much medical work to do on him, but for now, he could sleep, hooked up to both a feed of blood and a feed of LCL. She, however, needed to look into the other half of this terrible puzzle and deal with the Evangelion. Ritsuko suspected one of their worst fears had been realized- Shinji's split soul had merged to become whole.
Confirmation was required, but she was certain Unit-01 was empty and devoid of motivating force. This did not bode well for their plans.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Unit-00 and Unit-02 stood in the rail car that should have held Unit-01. It was otherwise empty, the normal occupant missing in addition to the boy's sleeping form.
This could be a problem.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Shinji woke up to familiar sounds but not a familiar ceiling. The hum and buzz of medical equipment was muted and almost comforting. However, the ceiling was not one he remembered from the usual room he stayed in.
Strangely enough, nothing hurt. No stabbing pains, throbbing aches, dullness, or heaviness to his limbs. Neither was he awash in the comforting embrace of pain meds, an opioid haze just as often a familiar companion to the familiar ceiling of his medical room. In fact, other than being tired and hungry, he felt fine. Instead, he had only a bone-deep tiredness and hunger. He noted nobody else in the room, which was now unusual. No other furniture was visible in the room from his vantage point, and he found himself firmly secured in the bed, thick restraints buckled out of reach. Two IV bags hung above him just inside his view, one a dark red and one a dark orange.
As there didn't seem much of a point in struggling against the restraints, Shinji lay his head back down against the pillow and yawned. Closing his eyes again, he fell back asleep.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
"Evangelion Unit-01 is empty. Shinji's soul has merged together and has either healed or is in the process of healing. Either way, the result will be the same, and so will our problem." Kozo Fuyutsuki remarked, looking up at the others from his papers. He and Ritsuko had been working hand in glove over the last thirty-six hours, pouring over Unit-01 and Shinji. It was easy to forget that the older man was an accomplished researcher and scientist in his own right, having instructed many of the senior staff on Project E back when they had their undergraduate degrees. These days, he spent more time as an administrator than taking a direct role in development and working on the Evangelions, but his mind was as sharp as ever.
"So we are down to only one pilot then," Misato commented, paging through a copy of the latest medical reports on Shinji and Asuka. "Asuka is still catatonic and not responding favorably to external stimuli. When Shinji has a clean bill of health, I want to run the cross-pilot tests again. I want to see how well he syncs with Unit-02."
"He may not be able to sync at all," Ritsuko warned, her voice sharp. "It is very likely the only reason for any of his previous capabilities at cross-synchronization in the other Evangelions was due to the nature of the split soul. Rei has limited ability in it, thanks to her angelic heritage. Asuka's comes from having been training on this for most of her life. That's even discounting the fact that Unit-00 or Unit-02 might completely refuse to connect."
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Misato replied, frowning as she studied the MRI printouts. "The best case scenario is he can pilot Unit-02, and Rei can use Unit-00. Less preferable is we put Rei in Unit-02 and Shinji in Unit-00. He had better synchronization in Rei's Evangelion before, so that is how it will probably shake out. With how things have been going, I want more than just one pilot ready to sortie."
Gendo paced back and forth in the meeting room, lines drawn on his face, looking more haggard than any of the rest of NERV High Command had ever remembered seeing before. "When will you be satisfied with his health, doctor?"
"At least another week, maybe more," Ritsuko replied after staring at the ceiling. "Initial prognosis on him is good. Nothing majorly physically wrong with him, aside from his anemia and vitamin deficiencies, but we are pumping him full blood and an adjusted LCL cocktail to address these. He's also been responding well to regular foods. The primary issue is ensuring a lack of mental contamination. Prolonged mental contact with the Angels is not healthy, as has been documented. Shinji also has had a history of brain bleeds after full contact runs inside the Evangelion. So far, we haven't seen the intracranial pressures documented in the past. Additionally, the question remains whether it is safe for him to be exposed to a potential ego-border collapse event so soon after 'reconstituting' himself. There may be a-"
"We may need to consider installing Yui's core into Unit-01," Kozo cut in, knowing that opposition would likely come from all corners of the room. "We'll want her in it eventually, anyways. We may as well put her in and get some use out of Unit-01. We know that she will synchronize with the boy."
"I am not installing a new core into Unit-01 while the S2 organelle is present, especially her core." Ritsuko flatly replied, sitting up in her seat and crossing her arms. "I don't think she can be trusted at all, let alone with an Angel's S2 organ. It should be easier to remove now that we're not focused on rescuing Shinji, but it will still take some time."
"We need Unit-01. We must have Unit-01. All of our plans center on it," Kozo argued, looking at Gendo with tired, pleading eyes. "I know we pulled her core out for a reason, but we have no other choice."
Lips pursed, Dr. Akagi studied Gendo's still-pacing form. "I understand the significance behind it, but-"
"We need Unit-01 to control Third Impact to our liking, correct?" Misato cut in, raising a hand up. "If it's incapable of being piloted, doesn't that also work against SEELE? They want Yui in Unit-01 because she's supposed to give them control. We know she plans on isolating herself from the gestalt, but that's a minor detail as far as they care."
"Kaworu Nagisa is still at large. Our agents have not been able to ascertain his location, and as it stands, he is SEELE's final trump card against us- fully capable of force synchronizing with an Evangelion. Test data shows he can force synchronization with the incomplete Evangelions in production at the other locations. Empty or with Yui's core, Unit-01 remains a tool of SEELE. With Yui's core, the possibility exists that Shinji will be able to at least secure Yui's cooperation in taking control over Instrumentality even if he cannot synch with the Evangelion enough to defeat the Angels."
"We will not be installing Yui's core," Gendo stated, his voice flat, devoid of all feeling. He was staring at the light fixture on the ceiling, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. "Yui's core no longer exists."
All eyes in the room instantly locked onto the Commander.
"No longer-"
"I destroyed her core."
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
The moment Rei released control of her drone in the laboratory to send her attention elsewhere, both Kajis immediately resumed their attempts to escape.
"This is all your fault, you know," Kaji announced, twisting her hands inside the handcuffs. The skin on her wrists was raw and bloody, a testament to her struggles with the restraints. "I want you to know I fully blame you for everything."
The original frowned at his clone. Kaji's characteristic scruff had not been shaved since his captivity and was now a full beard. Rei hosed them off periodically but otherwise did not provide them much in the way of hygiene care. "It's not as if I asked to get captured and subjected to horrific scientific experiments."
"I don't remember the fine details of what you were up to, but you obviously did something that made her distrust us!" The girl looked like Rei and sounded superficially like the girl, but the tones, inflections, and mannerisms were all those of Kaji. "Whatever you did really pissed her off."
"Look, we can argue over things like blame and responsibility later," Kaji replied, working against his own handcuffs. "The longer she keeps up here, the more likely it is she kills us once she decides we have no more 'scientific value'. I don't know what's happened with the recovery project, but something must have gone wrong."
Kaji looked back over at the original. "Why do you say that?"
"If she had her boyfriend back, she wouldn't be in here as much as she has been. She'd be glued to his side."
"But she hasn't been acting like she was." Kaji protested, resuming her struggles. "She seems a lot happier than she was."
"I'm not saying it was a total failure, but something happened to where she doesn't have access to him. That means something went wrong. Maybe mental contamination or something along those lines. He must be in an isolation room."
"Do you you really think so?"
"Do you honestly not remember what she was like before? Rei would make any excuse to be with or near him as possible. They had to stick her in solitary confinement to keep her out of his hospital room." Kaji's tone was incredulous, and he was unwilling to believe his clone's protestations about not remembering things from before. He knew Rei had declared the experiment with him and the clone body a failure, regardless of the astonishing fact that a version of him in a cloned body sat chained to a chair some three meters from him. That being said, the apparent loss of detail (and, in his own opinion, general intelligence) between the original and the copy was staggering. Unless, of course, the clone was obfuscating her knowledge and dissembling.
"I swear on our love to Misato that I'm not lying. I honestly can't recall a lot of things. I know who we are, who we were working for, and who the main players are. I know what's at stake, but a lot of stuff is missing." Kaji paused both in her struggles and her speech. "To tell the truth, I think it's been getting worse. I think I've been forgetting things I did know or remember from you."
Hmm. Kaji grunted a non-committal answer. One didn't get to where he was in this business by blindly trusting people. Of course, he mused after a moment's reflection, that wasn't entirely true. He had been captured, after all. But in his defense, trusting the dead to stay dead was hardly out of the ordinary.
"Could be why she declared the experiment a failure. She's done a lot of brain activity scans on both of us."
"I'm going to die in here, aren't I?" Kaji asked, her voice small and afraid, sounding more like a young woman than a hardened spy. "If we haven't been able to get out of here yet, it's not going to happen. And I'm not even useful as a source of information. And there might be something wrong with my brain, regardless."
Kaji had nothing to say to reassure her that wasn't just empty words.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Rei gently whispered as she ran the brush through the Pilot-Captain's hair, speaking just loud enough for the girl to hear but not be overheard by anyone who might enter the room. She was not concerned over the MAGI overhearing her words, for the artificial super-intelligences were fully onboard with her current plans with Asuka.
"They fear mental contamination due to the collapse of his ego border and prolonged contact with the Evangelion, on top of the stress of reestablishing his ego border. There is also reportedly an issue with Unit-01, but the MAGI will not share that information with me yet. They say it is not necessary for me to know for any of my current experiments, and I will have to wait to learn about it from the Commander."
There was no reaction to her words, and there was no indication Asuka was listening. Rei carried on, regardless.
"I do not doubt the tests will bear out that he is fine." Rei was confident the boy who had emerged from the AT Field of Unit-01 was her Shinji, uncorrupted by any cross-contamination with the mysterious soul at the heart of the Evangelion. "The video feed of the event proved to be very enlightening. I wish you could offer your thoughts on the AT-Field. The recording is glorious, but the event was transcendental when observed firsthand."
Rei paused as she moved the brush through the long red hair, which looked much more in line with how the girl had kept it than when she had started this exercise. While it was far from what she truly wanted to be doing, things were in such a state of affairs that the Commander would not allow normal proclivities. He had stated so explicitly, taking her aside shortly after the medical teams had sequestered Shinji away. He would not brook any interference with the medical staff. She would be allowed to see him when possible, but not until he instructed.
Frustrated, she had looked around for something to occupy herself with. Filled with energy in a way she hadn't been since that fateful fight, she felt the need to do more than just revisit security footage repeatedly.
He had said he needed to return to her! He had seen her from wherever his consciousness had been! Just thinking about those words was enough to cause her heart to race.
So she followed up on the stray thought about doing something for the Pilot-Captain. While she was somewhat at odds with her, the girl deserved some modicum of respect. Even if she had doubted the abilities of those trying to recover Shinji, she had her own respect for his memory.
It had taken almost two hours to get to this point where the coppery hair was silky, smooth, and shining. Somewhere after the first hour, Rei had started talking to the motionless patient, trying to elicit some response. So far, there had been nothing. It appeared that her work here would be done, or at least at a point beyond which further care was unnecessary. She set the brush back onto the small stand and gently eased the girl against the cushions. The eyes were still limp and lifeless, but the hair was much more like the old Asuka. Something else was slightly wrong, something out of place.
After studying the girl silently, a new idea began to form as Rei pondered her erstwhile compatriot.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Rei looked up from her workbench at the two captives. This was another issue that she had to resolve sooner or later.
The clone, while initially seeming promising, had shown to be unstable. The medical scans gave evidence of a progressing neural disintegration. Perhaps the issue was related to the fact that the clone body was not the correct DNA for a copy of the man's mind, or perhaps the apparent discomfort experienced during the mind download irrevocably contaminated the scan. More avenues of experimentation were open to her, for she could clone the man and create a better body for the image to be uploaded into, but while she was intimately familiar with the download and upload process, getting the correct genetic sequence of human and angel material would be a tricky affair requiring a long series of experimentation- which is why she had left that option to recover Shinji to the ones with more experience in that field. Since Shinji was back, she could explore this avenue with Agent Kaji at her leisure, no longer under any time restraint.
If a proper clone could serve as a host to an image download, even if unpleasant in the creation, she could work on reducing the unpleasantness for Shinji. It would not be truly him, as had been the case with her predecessors and the spy, but she was confident as long as she loved him, a new Shinji would come to love her in return.
According to current estimates, the current clone body would last another four to six weeks before the neurological damage was too much to take. The real question was if she wanted to explore this avenue or not. If she wanted to continue to hold onto the original agent or dispose of him. Frowning, she looked back at her current project: a pair of modified A10 connectors. She had castigated herself before about her indecisiveness over the agent but was still uncertain about what to do. The man was, in a subtle way, just as dangerous to Shinji, the Commander, NERV, and herself as Tabris had been. Tabris had been a much more immediate threat. She had underestimated Agent Kaji as a threat and overestimated his usefulness as an asset. The obvious course would be to dispose of him, but she still worried about losing the information he had.
Focusing back on the exposed circuitry, she carefully soldered in a new connection to tie her improvements into the control chip. These connectors were a crucial component in ensuring a good linkage between the pilots and their Evangelions. While she and Shinji did not commonly wear them outside of piloting, Pilot-Captain Sohryu frequently did so, both for fashion and as a statement about her status as a pilot.
Rei had spent considerable time and effort developing her ability to project her soul and consciousness. She could remotely control her clone bodies, manipulate them and keep them alive outside the LCL tank for extended periods, even when not currently inhabiting them. She was almost at the point of being able to run them in full duplex, working on two different things at once instead of simply being able to maintain awareness in one drone and having full utility in the other body. Furthermore, she was mostly able to freely speak with her sister from afar, although she had not yet been able to access the twilight world of the train car. She still had to be inside Unit-00, the imaging machine, or one of the test bodies.
Her current modifications were the first step in attempting to make a mental bridge with the Pilot-Captain. Linking two pairs of A10 clips together on a tight band signal in a quasi-synchronization might allow her to speak to Asuka as she could with her sister inside the Evangelion.
Establishing contact with the girl's mind was one step in returning things to normalcy. However, beyond telling the girl they had triumphed over the Angel and Shinji had returned, Rei was uncertain how to approach her counterpart. They were both pilots and associated with most of the same people, but the two girls were still worlds apart.
Then, there was the issue of explaining what was happening.
Pausing again in her work, Rei set her tools back down on the workbench, idly watching the captives. Almost as long as she had been doing Science, she had tried to keep her distance from her test subjects. Shinji's arrival had thrown that into disarray as she tried to sort out the mysteries behind his contradictory actions and abilities, coupled with her burgeoning feelings for him. She could not hide the fact she had been doing secretive work on her own after the calamity with the Angel that had forced Shinji past the point of ego-border collapse, and her work on the tunneling device at the volcano was other proof positive of her abilities. Furthermore, she had been reprimanded for her actions concerning him by their superiors- particularly her clandestine attempts at infiltrating the medical wing and her treatment of staff in charge of his care.
It was no secret she found time and places to conduct scientific research, although the true extent of her work was still unknown. She was reluctant to give up more of her freedom to operate outside the observation of others.
But…
However…
There was a sort of kinship with the brash and abrasive girl. While there was much to be desired about her. She certainly did not know the truth of things. She worked at cross-purposes to Rei constantly. She did not show proper appreciation for Shinji.
Beyond all of that, a bond existed nonetheless. A bond between pilots. They had killed the twin Angel together. They had taken on the dragon. She did not let the girl fall in the battle with the acidic Angel, nor did she let her fall after this last battle left her catatonic.
Sohryu had accused her of not backing her up in the verbal altercation with Sub-Commander Katsuragi. She had accused her of being a doll. Rei rolled that thought around in her head, mouth twisting somewhat at the memory.
Rei hated being called a doll.
She had asked the girl if she did not trust the Commander's work. Of NERV's work.
She had also asked Shinji that in what seemed like a lifetime ago. He, too, had responded negatively to that question, and she had slapped him for it.
They had come to terms and formed a bond to keep each other safe. Perhaps she could form a bond with Sohryu and mend her.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Gendo stared down into the spiraling abyss inside the halo crowning Unit-01. The video recording was paused, and he studied the glowing form of his son's soul as it emerged from the depths of infinity.
Why now? Why had he emerged now? Why not ever before? Why not in the salvage experiment? Why, how, in this manner?
Terror beyond thought had gripped him when he had first seen that child making the climb. It had been so fast in reality, bare seconds from the moment he could recognize the shape climbing to the second it had pulled itself free of the halo, standing before them. But it had also taken forever, each millisecond stretching into minutes, hours, days, and years. Like he had been standing and watching him climb forever. The god-thing within his body had called out to his son, the ropy tendrils pulsating beneath his skin, pushing against his flesh. That call, whatever yearning ADAM had felt for his son's soul, faded as his body returned to flesh and blood. He had returned to His normal restlessness when the fires had finally faded from Shinji's eyes.
They were so close to victory.
So, so close.
He had three operational Evangelions, and all three pilots worked reasonably well together. ADAM in hand, secured from SEELE. The Lance, deep in the depths of NERV-Central and the Geo-Front. All they had needed was more time. Even with the troubles with the UN and other national governments and the disaster with the artificial S2 engine, they were on the path to victory.
Time was now running out, and things were spinning out of control.
His son, first lost inside Unit-01. Unit-01, consuming the Angel that handily defeated his two other Evangelions. The Geo-Front, his Eden, blasted and destroyed. Rei, another key component in his scenario, somehow securing assistance from the MAGI to build a nuclear lance. The Sohryu child, catatonic after somehow installing bypasses to the systems to prevent full contact between pilot and machine, chasing after her mother's shadow. A missing triple agent, gone several months to who knew where with who knew what information, a knife ready to be plunged into an unsuspecting back. Now his son has returned, but whole. A soul reunited. No more microcosm of Instrumentality to trigger Third Impact in the way he needed.
Hope his son was not contaminated by his time alone inside the Evangelion. Corrupted by consuming the dead Angel, by exposure to its core.
Unpausing the recording, he let it run again. Each time the recording played, his sense of dread only increased. His son, emerging from the halo. Climbing down the Evangelion, leaving melted prints in the armor. Technicians fleeing in terror before him. Shifting back to warm flesh as he approached Rei. Seizing as the shock of that titanic effort caught up with him.
Tossing the tablet back down onto the desk, Gendo began pacing back and forth in the office, trying to think.
The fact he was reaching for some way to salvage the plan like a drowning man grasping for a thrown line did not escape him. He had plans for a scorched earth scenario: a brutal war with SEELE to decapitate the inner circles, destroy everything in NERV, and deny any survivors the resources needed to implement their grand ambitions. Despite all these things, though, he wanted Impact on his own terms. He had wanted to take up the mantle of godhood, restore this world, and then retire from it, being entombed inside Unit-01 for all time and exiled from the new Eden.
He had realized some time ago that he had to destroy Yui's core and had carried it out one night, shattering the orb after whispering his final goodbyes before taking the sledgehammer to it. He had disposed of the broken remnants down into the Evangelion Graveyard.
Coward that he was, he couldn't admit it to his friends and coconspirators until now that he had radically altered the course of the scenario. He had thought it enough to use his son for Unit-01, to use Rei as the key to Shinji to open the way towards his Instrumentality. The rest of the high command was predictably less than enthusiastic about this news.
Installing another one of the cores they had waiting in Purgatory was not an option; regardless of the issues surrounding obtaining a new pilot, the problem was convincing the Evangelion's motivating soul to act as the willing key. He severely doubted any of the sleeping mothers would be willing party to to the upcoming culmination of decades of work.
So they needed to verify the mental health of the boy and attempt a second splitting of his soul before his widespread interaction with others. They did not need anyone to notice the changes in attitude and behavior sure to follow.
Did he dare continue this course, or was it already past time to call it quits? At what point would he declare the cost too much for him to pay?
Suppose he said it was over and gave the command to condemn this place to annihilation; would it matter? The grand arc of these events had been foretold ages ago by crazed madmen and holy lunatics alike all across the world. While he did not have as much skill or training in interpreting the relics and artifacts from nearly every culture to leave a recorded record, he had seen enough to know that Third Impact had been foreseen. Second Impact had been foreseen. The Angels, all foreseen.
The fine details usually only became apparent after the fact, but even he had been able to anticipate the coming and nature of some of the Angels. He had seen the cave paintings in France, the rune stones plundered from Norway first by German occupiers and then SEELE's forerunners. He had read the Dead Sea Scrolls. He had stood in the secret chamber hidden beneath the rivers of liquid mercury in the tomb of the first Chinese Emperor and read the inscriptions left behind by a man who had sought immortality and power due to the Son of Heaven.
While they gave information that sometimes seemed contradictory, they all agreed on one thing in no uncertain terms.
The procession of Angels would come to an end, and then Third Impact would happen.
What came after was unknown, but all agreed that Impact would occur.
Did this mean Lilith would survive the antimatter explosion planned as the central mechanism behind the Revelations Protocol? Would it be mankind who initiated the impact, or was it some Angel who would trigger it and, in doing so, wipe out humanity?
Suppose he successfully removed every Evangelion and the knowledge and means to manufacture more. Would he have to wait until he was sure the last Angel had been defeated before triggering the destruction of the Geo-Front and NERV? How could he be sure? Mankind could not engage Impact without the Evangelions. Specifically, Evangelion Unit-01. He had managed to bypass Yui with his use of Shinji, but they still needed Unit-01.
Cursing as he made another lap of the office, he weighed options and likely outcomes in his mind. Kiel had made threats about not being as lenient as before about his moves and plots against SEELE. The aged cyborg knew Gendo was not completely loyal to the program, but Gendo doubted the master of the Illuminati knew the extent of his disloyalty or the nature thereof.
He was riding a tiger, and now it looked like it was quickly approaching a cliff.
His tools for defeating the Angels were cut to one-third, and that third was arguably the weakest of the three. Rei's one singular defeat of an Angel was with the all-powerful and all-destroying Lance, which was now gone. She had only otherwise participated in group sorties. Her only other previous solo engagement would have been a disaster if not for the headstrong actions of his son.
That had been a momentous occasion, and while extremely stressful in the moment, the memory of it nonetheless brought a wry grin to Gendo's face.
The others were undecided on what to do. None were happy with the idea of splitting Shinji's soul again, but none wanted to initiate the scorched earth procedures either. Until a final decision could be made, they would test Shinji's ability to cross-pilot the other Evangelions.
Dr. Akagi also wanted to test him with Unit-01. The boy had inhabited it for so long and had shown unusual abilities beyond the normal scope of the Evangelion multiple times, so she and the MAGI thought there was a chance that he might be able to force synchronize with it. He had formed himself from the AT-Field of the Evangelion. Who knew what he might still be able to do?
Once they were certain no lasting damage was done to him, they would test Shinji's ability to synchronize with Unit-00 and Unit-02. Hopefully, the score would be enough so they could utilize him in one of the other Evangelions with Rei while the work on restoring Unit-01 was underway.
Keeping him separated from everyone else while preparing to ensure they could use him against any further Angels was the tricky piece of this puzzle.
As he rounded another lap, Gendo hissed and doubled over in pain, the tendrils of his parasitic implant clutching at his heart.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Rei ignored the nurse who came into Asuka's room to check on the girl's vitals as she brushed out the copper locks. A pair of the A10 connectors sat on a tray with two other brushes, a comb, and scissors. Rei was hardly an expert in hair care and styling. Still, she had quickly learned the basics from Hikari, and past research on comatose patients had suggested that her actions here, like her actions before when it was Shinji who was comatose, were far from unusual.
In fact, despite her general disinterest in the opinions of those who were not the Commander, Shinji, or in her immediate sphere, Rei was somewhat gratified that all of the attending staff had reacted positively to the improvement in Asuka's appearance and Rei's visitations. However, the girl's prognosis had not changed.
Attempts to leverage this into visitation rights to Shinji had been outright denied. He was still in heavy isolation, pending additional tests, and the Commander's orders were strict, succinct, and severe.
Setting the brush down on the stand, she carefully clipped the connectors into place on the girl's head. Stepping back to study her work, she bent down over the now-prone girl and activated the devices. Retreating over to the chair in the corner, she sat down, pulled a pair of A10 connectors from her pocket, and set them on her head.
Flicking the small switches on hers, Rei leaned back and attempted to send her mind through the devices into Sohryu's.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
"When will I get to see Rei?" Shinji asked for what seemed the millionth time, staring up at the roof of the MRI machine. "I feel fine."
He felt great, he thought, trying not to fidget as the machine clunked and buzzed around him, the noisy scanner doing its work. He felt better than he had in a long time, like he'd just dropped some heavy bag down after a long walk from the store.
It was almost like he was still in the Evangelion.
That stray thought prompted him to scan his surroundings, but the mechanical tube he was in was not light in that omnipresent orange glow, and the fact that there were other people present, even if they were out of sight and just speaking over the speaker system.
He could not remember much about the months they told him he had been trapped inside Unit-01, but he could remember that orange world and the sensation of supreme loneliness.
It was like a dream; he had irritably complained when they kept questioning him, seeming so vivid at first, but the details quickly faded away, leaving only general feelings.
Still, they pestered him with questions, tests, scans, and measurements. Much like after the first fights with the Angels and when he went berserk, they wanted to ensure there was no danger.
It was all very logical but was of no comfort or relief to a teenage boy who wanted nothing more than to see his girlfriend again.
"Stop moving, Shinji, or we'll have to restart this scan." Lt. Aoba's voice came out the speaker, predictably admonishing him. "We'll have you out of isolation as soon as possible, I promise."
"I feel fine," Shinji grumbled, fighting the urge to curl the toes on his restored leg.
Besides the news that he had undergone complete unification with the Evangelion and had been inside of it for more than three months, waking up in the hospital room with two legs was the most interesting thing to have happened over the last two weeks.
Annoyingly to the boy, they refused to tell him what had happened and kept pressing him to try to recall things from his point of view. They would ask him to think about it while they had him in the MRI, in the CAT scan machine, and in what seemed an endless procession of other tests for which he had no name. It was obvious that whatever they hoped to glean from the results continued to elude them.
They also refused to tell him news of anything that had occurred while he had been stuck in Unit-01. They refused to tell him about Rei, Asuka, or any of his friends from school. Misato had even been there for a few minutes, only to say that she was so happy he was back and that there was so much to tell him before she was chased out by Dr. Akagi.
'Soon, soon, soon, just after these tests, just after this scan, eat this, how is everything feeling?' was all they ever said to him. What a load of bullshit, he thought, sighing deeply. After being pumped full of blood and nutrient-rich LCL, he was full of energy, restless, and bored. He wanted to get out of the hospital wing and see Rei. He wanted to see the guys and Hikari; hell, he even wanted to see Asuka. He wanted to run around. He felt like he could run for days.
Was that a sign of contamination?
A new sense of uneasiness washed over him. He couldn't recall feeling this energetic ever before, even after the rush of fighting the Angels, getting into it with the guys at school, arguing with Asuka, or sneaking off with Rei.
Synchronization with Unit-01 was always a heady rush of sensation, even in the test bodies. Inside the Evangelion, he was strong, fast, and capable. He had fought and killed the Angels. He had destroyed an out-of-control robot. He felt in control, mostly. Generally when not being set on fire or blown up by his enemies. Or when he went into berserk mode when all he saw was a field of red.
He had been hesitant and slow to warm to piloting the Evangelion. He certainly hadn't viewed it with the same noble purpose that Rei saw it: a bond between her and the ones she protected. Not at first.
Then it became a way to protect Rei. His bond with her. Shortly after that, he protected a city of people from the Jet Alone device. Then came Asuka, and her own views on things, trying to force everyone to how she saw the world.
He wouldn't ever say that piloting the behemoth was fun, but it began to feel right after a while. Almost like everything was now.
"Shinji, please stop moving around!"
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Rei walked past the captives towards the imaging machine, uncaring as ever about her nudity being on display. She needed to visit Sheol and could only do so from inside the machine, the test bodies, or inside Unit-00. Her movements, while still being mostly masked by the MAGI, were under closer scrutiny than usual, so visiting the Evangelion or test box was out of the question. She did not feel like soaking her clothes in the LCL, so she disrobed as a matter of fact, ignoring her captives.
The LCL flooded around her, and she let herself float in the fluid. Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply, letting the primordial soup fill her lungs, and released her mind to that twilight world where her sister's soul waited.
Opening her eyes, she found herself in the train car perpetually bathed in orange light. Her sister's soul stood there in the guise of Unit-00, the glowering cyclops seeming strangely agitated.
"I am here, as you asked. What do you have to show me?"
Come to Unit-01's car.
When the pair arrived, the issue was obvious. The last time Rei visited this world, Unit-01 and Shinji sat in the car as if asleep. Nothing she, her sister, or the soul of Kyoko Sohryu did could stir them. Even the threat of, or actual act of physical violence against Rei, did nothing when before it spurred Unit-01 to action.
Now, there was no one here except for Unit-02, who looked up at them as they entered.
Welcome, child. Your sister told me of the events surrounding the salvage experiment, how it had failed, and how he returned. The red Evangelion waved an arm around the otherwise empty car. It appears that he has taken someone along as a hitchhiker on his back from here.
Rei's eyes widened, and her mouth set in a hard line. "They have held him in isolation ever since his return. I have not yet been able to see him. They must suspect something."
I don't know what this might mean for him. How he managed to do this is beyond me.
I am curious, too. Unit-01 registered as an Angel when the event happened. Its AT-Field manifested as a halo, and then up he comes out of it! A very neat trick. I can speak to you beyond the confines of my body or the machines, but I cannot sense the drone bodies. I can't sense the test bodies if we're not set up to run through them. And I certainly can't form my AT Field like that.
"He has always been able to use his AT-Field in novel ways." Rei went silent, trying to think and analyze the situation and the data presented to form a hypothesis and a way to test it. The mystery of who was inside the core of Unit-01 had been a puzzle the three had pondered before shelving it in favor of other, more pressing concerns. As far as Rei had been made aware of by the Commander, his wife, Yui Ikari, was the one interred in the giant and with whom he would be reunited after Impact. It was in line with the soul of Kyoko Sohryu, who was inside Unit-02 and synchronizing with her daughter.
Rei knew of Purgatory, the room of cores, where a stockpile of women's souls slept, waiting to be reunited with some son or daughter inside an Evangelion. The three of them had walked along this seemingly infinite train of cars, each holding a woman's sleeping form.
But if Yui Ikari was not the one inside Unit-01, which Kyoko Sohryu swore was the case, they had not come across her in their journey. Rei did not know with whom Shinji might synchronize so well, where he could display the abilities and deftness with the AT-Field that had proven so useful, groundbreaking, and annoying to their Pilot-Captain.
Early on, they thought it might have been another iteration of Rei. The first Rei was interred inside Unit-00, and while fuzzy, the memories belonging to the current Rei made her believe she was at least the third iteration, possibly fourth. Unit-00 and Shinji were able to synchronize during the cross-pilot testing. It was not without merit or precedence that another Rei's soul might feel strongly enough about the boy. How Rei might have come to cherish Shinji so much, so quickly, she wasn't sure of and also wasn't quite happy with. Even before the Commander suggested growing closer to him, she had been fascinated by him, but she had not loved him yet.
That idea was later ruled out. Both Evangelions insisted that the soul residing inside Unit-01 was male. Neither had been able to satisfactorily explain it, and Kyoko admitted that it was more gut feeling than anything else.
There was no indication here of the spectacle taking place in the physical world. One moment, they were here, and then they were gone. I was expecting something from the boy, of course, praying that they would succeed here where they failed with me, but obviously, that was not the case.
"I will endeavor to impress upon the MAGI the urgency of our need for his medical information," Rei said, "as well as attempt to gain access to him. They have solidly been unpermissive in this so far, but now I have information that they do not. They will want to know."
Rei returned to the physical world with a thought, disengaging the machine and waiting for the LCL to empty from the tube. As always, the time spent in Sheol did not correspond to the time that passed here. According to her senses, she had been away for only a few moments, but according to the clock, two hours had passed.
Striding over to the computer terminal on one wall, she began to entreat the artificial intelligences, attempting to sway them to side with her over her father's will. Heart pounding in her chest, she told herself that she was not betraying her father by directly trying to defy his command. His work could be endangered by the soul from Unit-01 having been incorporated or drawn up into Shinji's soul. She had to find out more, to verify for herself that what they feared was not the case. It was not just for her own personal reasons.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Kensuke yawned as his new MAGI node beeped a highly annoying series of chirps and tones at him. He had fallen asleep at his workstation again, having worked long into the night again, trying to tackle the problems sent to him by Asuka before she had gone silent on the net. It had been some time since they had last spoken, either by phone or online, and he needed her to come back from wherever she was. He had more of an understanding of the Evangelions than the average layperson, but the inner workings of the war machines remained undecipherable.
He had reached out to Toji and Hikari to see if either had heard from the girl. Neither had. In fact, it looked like he had been the last person actually to speak with her. Hikari hadn't heard from her in ages, and Toji hadn't spoken with her except once to let her know he had reached his new home. Toji had also hinted that there was something else afoot with Shinji. He didn't mention it directly or even obliquely, but the two friends had an understanding of the other, and Kensuke had picked up on what the jock was trying to say.
Furthermore, Hikari hadn't heard from Rei either. She was obviously upset by that, particularly with how close they had gotten before everything had gone south in Tokyo-3. Toji's attempts to console her over that also gave him pause. If there were an issue with Shinji, of course Rei would be focused on it and him at the expense of everything else.
Rubbing at his eyes, he yawned again and pulled up the window to his node. Scrolling through the data, he tried to parse the information flying by on the screen, but he just didn't have enough background information to make heads or tails of it. What he could tell, though, was that the data structures Asuka had shared with him to work with did not match up with the latest test outputs. So she had been right; the information she had been given about the power flow through the Evangelion was incorrect. It was not terribly wrong, but enough to stand out when the numbers were crunched, and an independent lab did the testing and comparison. Such an inaccuracy could only be deliberate.
Muttering to himself, he typed a new string of commands in, periodically pausing to reference some of the printouts littering the desk. He had a circuit diagram provided by Asuka and a new diagram that he was drawing based on the outputs from his tests. Brute force reverse engineering of the control circuits to the AT-Field emitters was long and arduous, but he was making headway on it. He just wished that he could talk to Asuka to get some more insight. She had commended him on his work before her trip overseas to deal with the newest Angel and promised to let him know how their modifications behaved.
Well, he would do some more work on the design and then try his hand at building a new prototype. He couldn't generate an AT-Field with it, not without an Evangelion, but he could run more in-depth tests on it with his MAGI node. Whenever Asuka came back up on the net, he would be waiting.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Captain Maya Ibuki silently entered Asuka's room on the medical floor. This hadn't been the first time since they had all made it back to Tokyo-3 and the Geo Front that she had visited the girl, but the visits were more seldom than she would have liked. At first, it was the debriefings that kept her away, then it was starting to work on planning a recovery of the Lance of Longinus, followed by the salvage efforts on Shinji. Guilt, too, ran parallel to all those excuses. Guilt over their initial dalliance, guilt over her calling it off, guilt over not being able to provide support during the Angel Attack, and now guilt that she couldn't help her recover.
Asuka looked better than she had. Someone had spent some time brushing out and trimming the girl's hair. Asuka had always been very proud of her hair, that coppery reddish-gold so exotic here in Japan. She had also been proud of it back in Germany to hear her tell of her time there. Asuka was always very proud of herself. Proud of her position, proud of her schooling, proud of her abilities. It was easy to forget sometimes that she was only sixteen- almost seventeen now. Easy to not see the burning need for validation and attention, the need for praise. But don't patronize her, no. Never do that. She wanted your attention; she wanted your praise and adoration, but she wanted to earn it. Maya was no slouch; you couldn't be and get a posting to NERV Central working directly underneath Dr. Akagi, but Asuka impressed her. Impressed her with her knowledge and depth of understanding of the Evangelions, her eagerness to learn more, and to continue the project past the boundaries of simply piloting them and fighting the Angels. Rei and Shinji both piloted, but neither had the same drive that Asuka did.
Looking at the mute shell of a girl was heartbreaking for Maya. She looked wan and hollow, flat eyes staring straight ahead. Someone had also placed a pair of the A10 connector clips in her hair, making her look a little more like her usual self. Sinking down into the visitor's chair, she tried not to cry as she watched Asuka lying in bed.
She failed.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Misato glared at the newest reports from what was left of NERV's holdings. Something wasn't adding up with the flow of resources and parts moving in and out of their warehouses and factories. True, the lists of current holdings and items destroyed or seized by hostile governments were constantly updated, but something was wrong with their internal inventories. MAGI components, spare parts for the Evangelions, and other advanced industrial and electronic manufacturing equipment were all missing from a series of warehouses, with no apparent paper trail or other means of accounting for them. This was more than just simple spreadsheet math mistakes. The question was more about whether it was greed or malfeasance. Was someone skimming off their stocks of supplies to make some money, or was this evidence of greater attempts at sabotage? Not for the first or last time, Misato cursed Kaji's absence. The Commander had been sure that they could control or at least point him in the least harmful direction, but after his stunt with orchestrating the city-wide blackout, she found her trust severely limited. He sure had picked a convenient time to go missing. Part of her hoped that he had taken the Commander's words to heart and gone to ground somewhere he could lie low until after the business with SEELE was resolved. A larger part of her knew that he would never have done that. Kaji was nothing if incorrigible and refused to take a hint. Still, if he was here, she could at least pick his brains over these reports. He had always lived for clandestine skullduggery. If he weren't the one behind it, he would be able to help. She mused that even if he were the one behind it, he would still probably help. He got a sick thrill out of stuff like that.
After sending a demand to resolve their inventory control issues and to validate if these were actual missing items versus items they presumed recovered when they had not been, Misato closed out those reports and opened up the next item in her to-do list. Grimacing, she began to pour over the newest medical reports from Ritsuko concerning Shinji. He was apparently in disgustingly good health. His skeletal-muscular system was looking good, and all organs looked healthy. Even his eyes were in good shape, better shape actually than before. They showed no sign of him needing the reading glasses he had before. Looking at the leg he lost in the Sixth Angel fight showed no sign that it had ever been separated. His blood was normal, and his hormones were normal. MRIs and CAT scans showed regular brain activity, with nothing unusual. He was a healthy young lad, and he was getting tired of being cooped up. He wanted to see Rei, he wanted to see Asuka, he wanted to see his friends. No one had told him yet of how things currently stood, apart from the length of time he had been away.
Gendo and Kozo both wanted to stick him back into the entry plug of Unit-01 and split his soul again before exposing him to more people, but at the same time, they were hesitant actually to do so. There was no precedent for his miraculous reincarnation. Ritsuko doubted that they could even split his soul a second time. He had emerged out of the Evangelion's AT-Field before; what was to stop him from doing so again? Was this possible only because of the now inert S2 organ in the Evangelion? Was it because of the total ego border collapse? Since this body had been made from the AT-Field, was it more or less susceptible to the Contact Experiment's protocols? Was he able to synchronize with another Evangelion? If they stuck a random woman's soul inside Unit-01, could he force synchronize it the way that the boy Nagisa was supposed to be able to? Shinji's genetic sequence was 100% the same as before his disincorporation. Not even the barest hint of Angelic matter showed up in him. Rei could not force synchronize with the Evangelions, and her genome had distinct Angelic markers. Nagisa, by all accounts, was much more Angel than Human.
She was split on the matter, as much as she hated to admit it. On the one hand, she was happy he was back, fully so. Her little brother deserved so much more than to be walking around with only half of his soul. What had been done to him in the service of NERV, to defeat both the Angels and SEELE, was horrific. On the other hand, it was foolhardy to put all their eggs in one basket and hope that Rei alone could defeat all remaining Angels. As much as she cared for the girl, Rei had always been the weakest of the pilots, her unusual... experiments notwithstanding. If they could successfully use Shinji and Rei in Unit-00 and Unit-02 to defeat the Angels, Misato would be happy.
But SEELE wanted Third Impact and Instrumentality. They also apparently had a back door into Unit-01, which remained the key to their plans. If NERV couldn't have Impact on their own terms, which apparently was off the table now with Gendo admitting to destroying his wife's core and Shinji being pulled out of Unit-01, they needed to deny SEELE Unit-01 and Lilith.
Just destroying Unit-01 was insufficient to ensure the shadowy council would be stymied in their plans. Unit-01 had been made primarily of the flesh of Lilith, and so was the key to her power, but if they destroyed Unit-01 and not the Second Angel, nothing stopped anyone from making a new Evangelion from her flesh. They would have to destroy both in such a manner that utterly removed all traces of them.
She had her doubts about initiating Third Impact and the subsequent Instrumentality, but the case the other three pushed was convincing. The amassed documents, each older than she could imagine, all pointed to and predicted a third impact. She would rather have it on the Commander's terms than SEELE's if they had to have one. She'd also rather not die as part of his scorched earth plan to detonate the ungodly amount of antimatter stored in the deepest parts of Terminal Dogma.
Focusing back on the report, she paged through the hypotheticals Ritsuko had laid out concerning the possible effects of the AT-Field body Shinji was sporting. Apparently, the fact that his clone body had turned into LCL as he had passed was very alarming to her friend, but that was also part of what made her wonder if he could force Unit-01 into action without an inhabited core.
Reaching the end of the report and the final commentary on Shinji's constant requests to at least be able to speak to Rei, Misato had to admit the girl was being downright reasonable about their continued separation. Once their friendship had taken off in its weird way, keeping the girl out of his hospital room had always been a constant struggle. They had even needed to isolate Rei in solitary confinement for a spell. Now she was splitting her time between keeping Asuka company and doing tests in Unit-00 for the command crews. Rei had always professed total certainty in the recovery attempts, often arguing with Asuka. The Commander had spoken to her shortly after the boy had been rushed into the ICU, and he had laid out clear and specific instructions. The rest of the command staff believed she would obey their orders.
Misato wasn't so sure. Rei had always been dependable, sure, in her own disinterested way. In retrospect, knowing that the girl had always looked forward to Third Impact and death explained the stoic resolve that she approached piloting the Evangelions with, as well as her attitude towards her schooling. Shinji was the only thing that brought any sort of life to those eyes- but the girl had other interests and hobbies. The development of the tunneling AT-Field array and her improvised Atomic Lance were evidence of that.
They really should have paid more attention when she painted mushroom clouds on Unit-00. Rei had a spicey streak of insubordination running just below her cold exterior. The others knew it, too, even if they didn't want to acknowledge it. Otherwise, why keep her separated from the boy? If she was so obedient, so fixated on her purpose of opening the way to Instrumentality for the Commander, why hide what they had done to Shinji from her? Why hide the fact that they may very well need to do it again?
She had given up the little workshop she had built the lance in. Ritsuko had taken the MAGI to task for their part in assisting the girl, but the AIs were unrepentant. They had a lot of latitude in their actions, as a matter of fact, and would take whatever actions they decided would serve the ultimate goals of NERV. That was one of the risks of running them in unrestricted mode like NERV did. It would be more alarming if the AIs weren't devoted to both the Commander and Ritsuko. As it was, they had admitted to assisting both female pilots with unauthorized projects. They were somewhat chastened by the fact that Asuka was now catatonic. Still, they maintained that her current status resulted from mental contact with the Angel and not from her attempts to chase after Shinji's abilities with the AT-Field.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Rei stared at the computer screen, her heart beating hard in her chest and her mouth a tight line.
We will not report further on the status of Pilot Ikari. We will not report further on projected tests and treatments at this time.
Why? What is not satisfactory about my explanation of my findings and concerns?
We only gave you the information we did to allay your immediate fears. Central Command has explicitly directed that we withhold further information from you.
We are also to limit our assistance on any future projects you may broach.
Shinji may be contaminated by the soul of the person who was interred in Unit-01. It is vital that he be checked for this, even if you deny me access to the data and the reports.
Pilot Ikari is not considered to be at risk of mental contamination from that vector at this time.
Your concerns have already been considered and addressed by Central Command.
We will assist you as needed in other areas of preparing to combat the Angels and ensure the success of NERV's goals, but further requests along these lines will be denied.
Who was inside of Unit-01?
You do not require that information at this juncture.
Both Kajis watched their captor with concern as she sat at her terminal, breathing hard through her nose. The tension in the room was palpable, although they had no idea what was going on. She had been furiously typing away for hours, focused entirely on the computer screen. The clones visible in the tank were also fixated on the screen, all stock-still and staring toward the computer terminal. It was a significant departure from their usual behavior, and the two could only surmise that it was a byproduct of how upset Rei was.
Rei stared for minutes at the screen, hands hovering over her keyboard.
As long as you do not attempt to bypass the security protocols in place, we will continue to assist you. Focus on your other experiments.
Focus on your other experiments.
Focus on your other experiments.
The majority of my work revolves around Shinji.
Not everything does. Continue your work with Pilot Sohryu.
Rei paused, considering the suggestion. Initial attempts to create a bridge to communicate with the girl over the A10 connectors had failed. Opportunities for testing were limited, and the girl was under close observation.
I will require assistance. I require additional medical data from Pilot-Captain Sohryu, particularly brain activity during my communication attempts.
That is permittable.
We will assist with that.
Any other requests?
You assisted her in modifications to Unit-02.
Rei had been curious about the extent to which the AIs had helped Asuka in the past but had not yet posed the question to them. They had made no comment about the girl's plans or work to her before and had previously only offered a small explanation of the scope and goals of the modifications they assisted with.
We did, yes.
Why did you not inform me about them beforehand?
It hurt Rei's feelings to think that the supercomputers had been keeping secrets from her. While they had not always understood her goals, particularly when Shinji first captured her attention, they had long been supportive of her interests and experiments. If she had known about the work being done by the Pilot-Captain, she might have been able to utilize it to her own ends.
We did not tell her about your experiments either. You are not the only one we independently assist with the aim of strengthening NERV.
That made Rei pause.
Who else do you assist?
You do not require that information at this juncture.