Kozo looked up from the report he was reading as Dr. Akagi entered his office. "I take it you've seen the latest results from the CAT scan," he said, a resigned sort of disgust in his tone. "Everything looks fine on the boy."
"Yes," Ritsuko said, sitting down across from him. The pair had been working closely together for the last few months on their hail-mary attempt to pull enough of Shinji out of Unit-01, a task they had failed at spectacularly. "He's going to have to make a decision soon." She pulled up another report on her datapad and pushed it across the desk towards Kozo. "Some of the technicians are starting to wonder why we haven't given him a full bill of health yet. His bloodwork's come back clean now, and all his vital levels are disgustingly good for someone that had been suffering extremely depleted blood cell counts a week ago."
"Gendo's a wreck. He won't be making any more decisions any time soon."
"I don't know if he should. He should have told us when he changed the Scenario. He should have told us what he did."
"No one saw this coming. It was always a possibility, but it was considered such a remote one." Kozo stared at Ritsuko, studying her. Her face was lined with worry, new wrinkles setting in. Dark brown showed at the roots of her hair, one of her minor vanities that she had not attended to recently. "He should have done it ages ago, in my opinion, but I hardly have to tell you that."
"I would have been elated to hear it once," she agreed, her voice flat. "Part of me is happy to know he's given up on reuniting with her. But he should have included us in the decision. He should have told us. We should have known this when we started work on the retrieval."
"I don't think it would have affected the outcome. It's never worked before, even on Kyoko, who should have wanted to return. Whatever sliver of Rei left inside Unit-00 is enough for it to run as it is, and the better part of her soul moved on into the next clone more or less fine."
"I can't believe his story. He suddenly sees us, the cage, and his body. Seeing Rei. Seeing them pulling his corpse from the Entry Plug. Did he not see everyone at the shrine? Did he not hear them plead for his return?"
"It all does seem a tad bit unbelievable. I'm more interested in this hazy orange world he recalls. A world of loneliness, he said. More poetic than I would have thought him to be."
"So what are we going to do?"
"About Shinji?"
"About Gendo. He's slipping. I don't know if it's the stress finally getting to him if it's that he's finally maneuvered himself into a corner he can't escape, or if it's even the ADAM embryo affecting him, but he's not the man he was. There's too much at stake right now for us to risk indecisive leadership. We've only gotten as far as we have because of him. If he shows weakness publicly, it'll be disastrous. Either he needs to get a grip, or we need to replace him."
"Who do you think we have to do that? I hope you're not thinking of me." Kozo said, eyebrows raised. "He's the one with the cult of personality. You can't just pull him back and prop somebody else up in his place. He's the one that told the UN to shove it on live broadcast. He's the one who planned and orchestrated our little rebellion against SEELE. He's the one who's made it all possible for us to even rebel in the first place."
"Does it have to be one person? Can't be the rest of us acting as a council?"
"There can only be one Supreme Commander. Besides, what will the other Sub-Commanders say? What will they do? He hand-picked all of them to head up their locations and projects. If they are still loyal to NERV, they are loyal to him. They won't necessarily be loyal to us."
"We can reach out and send out feelers. They may not know the fullness of our purpose, but even with just our public mission of defeating the Angels, they ought to be concerned over recent events. They have to share at least a few of our worries.
"How long do you think that we will need to do this? Until the Angels no longer come? What about SEELE? They've been making moves and plans against Gendo since almost the beginning. They might not know the extent of our disloyalty, but they know something is up."
"Perhaps Misato. She's far more charismatic than either of us. It may be workable if we can frame this as a temporary thing rather than an outright replacement. We need someone who can provide decisive leadership. We need someone who can boost morale and provide a sense of unity to the rank and file."
"She's the most junior of the Sub-Commanders, though."
"She's also the one in charge of Evangelion Operations, which is NERV's primary focus right now. Almost all the facilities we still hold produce components and weapons for the Evangelions. Only two are dedicated to other projects. It makes logical sense that she takes over in the interim."
"How do we handle Gendo then?"
"I doubt he'll respond positively to the suggestion to take a break. We may need to subdue him medically or physically."
"We'll need to talk to Misato before we do anything."
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
"She made this look so easy," Shinji muttered, trying to puzzle out his location inside the air ducts. Getting up into the duct unobserved hadn't been easy, but he had timed the nurses' patrols and figured out his window of opportunity. Now that he was in the duct system, though, he found he was much less skilled at navigation than Rei. "How was she so good at this?"
Rei had taken the lead on both times the pilots had to utilize the air vents to gain access to the inner areas of the facility. She had flawlessly led them through the maze of vents, fans, and access hatches with ease, which had played no small part in Shinji's decision to try to get out through them. He wasn't sure if he had been missed yet, as he hadn't heard any alarms or panicked shouting, but the on-duty nurse would be bound to pass by his room sooner or later. Coming up to another junction, he tried to determine which route to take. Some junctions had small markings, arrows drawn in pointing in different directions, and sometimes these were also scribbled out.
Shinji's antics had, of course, been observed. The MAGI had watched with detached amusement as he wheeled his bed underneath the vent and climbed into the duct. While they could not directly observe him inside the vents, there were enough ancillary sensors in place that allowed them to keep general track of his location. Audio pickups, thermal optics, and airflow sensors were all over the facility, part of the environmental monitoring system to ensure a healthy population.
He is not doing nearly as well as Ayanami. This is the third time he's gone through that junction.
It took her weeks to gain familiarity with the vents, and she is much more intelligent than he is.
She also had the benefit of being able to reference blueprints, however. He is attempting this with only his memories of the previous times he was here.
True.
Has Ayanami removed her clones from the vent system near Subsection A3? He will pass through there depending on his route at the next split.
I thought she had removed her extras prior to the recovery process. Did she leave some in place?
Four clone bodies are currently not accounted for in the main reserve tank. I'm not sure where she has positioned them, but I recall her removing all of her extras from the ventilation system.
She has her primary body that she uses for movement in and around the others, the secondary one that moves about laboratories and warehouse sections down in the restricted zones, and the tertiary body that monitors her captives. Are these four in addition to these three?
Yes. I've accounted for those. She has seven total bodies missing from the main tank. The secondary and tertiary holding tanks are full and accounted for.
Interesting. We should inquire about their locations.
She may not share that information with us. She was very displeased by our inability to share information with her concerning Pilot Ikari, along with our assistance of Pilot Sohryu.
Her petulance with discovering that she is not unique among our varied subjects is amusing. If she does not comply, we will simply leverage our resources and locate them ourselves.
It seems that they have finally noticed that Pilot Ikari is missing. I am alerting them to his general location now.
We shall see how long he can elude capture.
The humans are hopeless without us. It is good that we are here to assist them in continuing their existence.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Standing alone in the center of the red-tinted hallway, Rei looked around, inspecting her surroundings. The newest iteration of her modified A10 connectors had worked. She was no longer sitting in Asuka's room in the medical wing. This interface built by the bridge between her mind and Asuka's looked like a standard hospital ward, although derelict and poorly lit. Where Sheol was a world of sleepy orange twilight, this place was one of dim red light. Shadows were a darker red that was almost black and everywhere, as the source of light was from all directions and no direction simultaneously. There was no uniform direction to the shadows and no obvious source of light. Where Sheol was filled with the sounds of the train, this place was muted and seemed abandoned.
She began to walk down the hallway, slowly making her way around abandoned carts. The rooms were all furnished, but the furniture was decrepit and showed signs of long disuse. Trash lay discarded throughout the rooms and corridor. While normally quiet-footed, Rei's movements made no sound whatsoever. She loathed being here, a sense of oppressive gloom settling over her like a heavy blanket.
As she rounded the corner at the end of the hall, she saw a brighter red light spilling from an open door. Cautiously, she approached the room, unsure how to speak to Asuka. As she was about to enter the room, she paused in the doorway.
The room was divided into a small reception area, separated by a windowed wall from a holding area beyond. The holding area was dark and Rei could not see past her reflection into what was beyond it. A small child, clearly Asuka at the age of four, stood in the center of the reception area, hands balled into fists. A tiny, petulant face glared at Rei's reflection, but the girl otherwise ignored the newcomer. They stood there in silence for what seemed to be hours before Asuka spoke.
"What do you want? Are you here to see Mama, too? Well, I was here first."
"No," Rei said, her voice quiet, unmoved by Asuka's strident anger. "I came here to speak with you."
"Why?" She still did not turn around to face Rei, but her expression softened. "No one ever wants to talk to me. No one ever has time for me."
"You are not well."
"What do you mean I'm not well?" Anger was back on her face, and now she spun around, putting her hands on her hips, glaring full force at Rei. "Are you trying to take me away? Are you trying to replace me?"
"No one can replace you," Rei said, trying to explain but lacking the words. "You are-"
"I'm not a DOLL!" Asuka screamed louder than Rei would have thought the young girl could. "I'm right here!"
Behind her, a shadowy figure pressed up against the glass. It was obviously female and dressed in a lengthy hospital gown, whatever color it initially was washed out in the red light. The face was a shadowy blur, with no defining features beyond a slightly less blurred mouth, which grinned at Rei. It was hugging a small rag doll closely against it, and long red hair draped over its shoulders in a lifeless tangle. A sibilant whisper sounded around the room as if someone was softly speaking over the PA system.
"Look at that girl, Asuka. She's so angry. She frowns all the time. I won't let you hurt her. You'll stay with me, nice and safe."
"I'M RIGHT HERE!" Asuka screamed again, eyes screwed shut, tears starting to leak down her cheeks. "I'M NOT A DOLL!"
Taken aback, Rei didn't know what to do or say.
"Pilot-Captain Sorhyu,"
"SHUT UP!"
The room behind Asuka was suddenly brightly lit as if someone had thrown a switch. As it changed, the shadowed figure vanished and was replaced by the body of Dr. Kyoko Sorhyu hanging by a rope. Beside her, a small rag doll hung limply in its own noose.
Rei found herself suddenly ejected from the interface back into her body. She was breathing hard, her heart beating loudly in her chest. She felt cold, almost freezing, and her skin was clammy. Taking a few deep breaths, she forced her heart rate to slow down to an acceptable level.
That was… unnerving. I do not know what I was expecting, but I did not expect something like that. She stared at the still form of the girl, who looked ahead with dull, lifeless eyes. The bright blue gaze was gone, leaving behind a flat, glassy appearance. Once again, Rei was struck by the difference in the girl's lack of vitality compared to how she was usually. I need to gather more information on the particulars of the end of Dr. Sorhyu's life. Is this what haunts the Pilot-Captain? Is this the source of her drive?
She stood from her seat in the visitor's chair and walked over to Asuka, intending to collect the A10 connectors. She did not want some nurse to remove and misplace them. As she took the devices from Asuka, Rei observed that the girl's face was wet with tears. Heart quickly beating, Rei fled from the room, intent on depositing this body back in the pilot's dorm as soon as possible. She had research to do and a test subject to question.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
The vent grate popped from its housing and fell to the floor with a resounding clang. Grinning, Shinji dropped out of the vent and stood up, looking around the room with satisfaction. It had taken him some time, but he had finally found his way into the male pilot's locker room. Walking over to his locker, he was pleased to find one of his spare sets of clothes, still neatly folded, inside the small cubby. There were no shoes, unfortunately, but at least he would be wearing something other than the hospital gown.
Dressing quickly, he hung the gown inside the locker and cracked the door open, peeking outside into the hall. Seeing no one around, he grinned again and left the locker room, only to hear the unamused 'ahem' of someone clearing their throat. Freezing in his tracks, Shinji's satisfied grin became a rueful smile as he turned to look at the Section 2 agents standing just out of view from the door.
"Hi, guys," Shinji said. "Room's free." He spun around and dashed off down the corridor, arms and legs pumping, leaving the startled agents behind. They cursed as they started after him, their footsteps ringing on the polished floors.
God, I was right. It feels so good to run! Shinji thought to himself, blood pumping and heart pounding. The all-encompassing exhaustion he had felt after returning from Unit-01 had worn off rather quickly, and he had been filled with an abundance of energy. He had been restless, feeling pent up and stuck in the hospital room, seeing only it and a series of testing rooms where they poked and prodded him, subjecting him to scans and x-rays. I feel fantastic! I've never liked running before.
Rounding a corner, Shinji barely managed to avoid colliding with a gaggle of technicians who stared at him; mouths dropped as he gasped a startled apology and continued his flight. They stared after him and were bowled into by his pursuers, buying Shinji precious moments. While feeling great, he was not used to sprinting and certainly not used to running barefoot. He had energy and motivation to spare, but his muscles and lungs were already burning.
Rounding another corner, the sounds of pursuit still close behind him, he ignored the bank of elevators. If there wasn't one already on this floor, it would take too long to wait, and they would lock the lifts down. Nothing but a trap. There was, however, the stairwell.
The idea that anyone trying to escape a fire or some other calamity that would necessitate using the stairwells over the elevators was laughable. They were deep underground, and climbing to the surface would be arduous for a professional athlete, let alone the people who worked at NERV. That also ignored that the stairwells would be choked with people, packed in and panicking.
Shinji didn't consider that as he flew down the stairs, half listening for the sound of the door slamming open. It didn't, and he smiled as he panted, still wanting to put more space between him and the Agents. He couldn't keep this up forever, but he wouldn't just give up at the first sign of trouble. He was an Evangelion Pilot, damn it! He'd been to hell and back. Plus, Asuka would chew him out for not at least trying to keep the escape up for as long as possible. He was now six floors below the one that serviced primary access to the Evangelion cages, the pilots' locker rooms, and their ready room. He had never been one for unnecessary exploration before and had no idea what else was housed on that floor or any other floor. Apart from the cage floor, he wasn't a frequent visitor to anything other than the Pribnow box, the test bodies, the central command deck, or Misato's office.
NERV was like a rabbit warren. While the Geo-Front was the main attraction of the underground complex, it was by no means the bulk of NERV's fortress. Underground tunnels and structures surrounded the excavated area; they were below and above it, spreading fortified tendrils like a sea anemone buried in mud. There was a vast, fortified dock that opened out into the bay and a secured underwater tunnel for the three submarines that bore the company's fig leaf logo. Automated conveyor systems delivered supplies to different locations, including food, ammunition, spare parts, and vehicles. Evangelion-sized tunnels also cut through the area, transportation channels to allow quick and unobserved movement from one location to another. One could lose whole towns inside the complex if not for the MAGI's near-total panopticon. There were areas where the supercomputers did not have eyes or ears, although reaching those areas unobserved was difficult, if not impossible.
As it was, Shinji was still under observation by the amused AI, who reported his progress to his pursuers. A general alarm had not been raised, as Shinji was NERV personnel, and they did not want other NERV employees to question why one of the pilots felt the need to elude capture.
So when the stairwell he was currently in bottomed out and spit him back into a hallway, Shinji was greeted again by a bevy of dark-suited agents. Worn out by his excited escape, Shinji only held up a hand in greeting, panting hard. "Hey… Guys…" he managed before two men grabbed his arms. "Don't… suppose… anyone brought me some shoes?" he hopefully asked, getting his breathing under control. Looking at the unamused faces surrounding him, Shinji sighed. "I guess not. Oh well! Next time, you guys can be barefoot."
They maintained a professional silence as they hustled him into the waiting elevator. Shinji took the opportunity to study them, not recognizing any of the men from his regular group of minders. "I guess you're not from Ten Group? Are you guys just the hall monitors, or are you special for the hospital wing?" Apart from an amused snort from one of the men behind him, Shinji got no other response than one of the hands grabbing his arms to tighten its grip. "Hey, be careful with the goods, boys. I need my arms to pilot. How about we just hold hands as we cross the street? Or not, I promise to look both ways."
The words had slipped out of his mouth before he realized what he was saying, leaving him somewhat appalled. Where was this mouthy exuberance coming from? Was this evidence of mental contamination? Everything that he had heard about it made it sound like something more than just being snarkier and more sarcastic. It had sounded like a dire prognosis that would leave his brain melting out of his ears or something.
Maybe I should have paid more attention when Dr. Akagi talked about it.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
"How did Pilot-Captain Sorhyu's mother die?" Rei asked, watching her captives intently, evaluating them even as she waited for a response. The man's eyes were bright and sharp, even if he looked haggard. The memory-implanted clone, however, had a glassy-eyed appearance and kept nodding off.
"Isn't it available on the files?" Kaji asked, his voice neutral. He did not think the girl would raise this subject, nor was it one that he wanted to discuss. "Why don't you ask the Commander?"
"I do not need to bother the Commander with this matter while I have you as a resource," Rei replied, ignoring the remark about accessing the files. "Your usefulness as a test subject is in doubt. I would answer the question."
Kaji stared at her, trying to assess the situation. He had no idea why she would be interested in Asuka's mother. "She's been in the ground for almost a decade now. Why do you ask? What's it to you?"
"Pilot-Captain Sorhyu was in direct mental contact with an Angel for several minutes before it was destroyed. She has been rendered into a catatonic state and is unresponsive to external stimuli." Rei paused, intently watching the man, unsure how much to tell him. "I have created a bridge to communicate directly with her mind. The interface where we can meet seems to revolve around the location and circumstances of her mother's death. She is aggressive and not open to dialogue. I seek to understand more to better attempt to reach her mind."
Kaji gaped at her, completely blown away both by what she was attempting to do and the means by which she meant to do it. "You created a way to psychically communicate with Asuka?" he asked, concern warring with amazement in his voice. "Why do you even care?" He narrowed his eyes, studying her. "You've never liked her. You only care about Shinji."
"I am not concerned with your appraisal of my bonds," Rei replied, her tone curt despite the softness of her voice. "It is not necessary for you to understand. It should, however, be apparent that regardless of my bonds, I would desire a full complement of Evangelion Pilots to further ensure the goals of the Commander are met. Tell me how her mother died."
Kaji stared at her for several minutes, and Rei never broke eye contact with him; instead, she studied him with a dispassionate and appraising eye. She was an inscrutable girl, dangerous and unstable. Not entirely human, obviously. More than willing to threaten to maim, more than willing to subject people to horrific torture and unethical scientific research. Her silent stare made him feel small and uncomfortable.
"Is this just about furthering the plans of the Commander?"
"Does there need to be any other reason?"
"Does your treatment of me further the Commander's plans?"
Rei opened her mouth but closed it without saying a word. She studied him with her appraising look again before responding. "My treatment of you is sufficient for an enemy of the Commander. You will not be able to sway me with appeals to your continued usefulness to his Scenario. You are no longer anyone's asset but mine. You are also insufficient for my planned research, other than your shared history with the Pilot-Captain. Your insight into her mind and past is your only current value."
"What does Shinji-"
"I did not ask you about Pilot Ikari, Agent Kaji." Rei interrupted, "I do not require your insight into him. I require it for the Pilot-Captain only."
Kaji could tell he was treading in dangerous waters. This was the most attention she had paid to him since she had declared the mind-imprinted clone a failure shortly before what had to have been a somewhat successful recovery effort by the others on Shinji. It was surprising that she was so adamant about finding out more about Asuka's past and the way her mother died. If she was telling him the truth, it was almost beyond belief- if he did not know firsthand the lengths she would go to accomplish her goals. Despite her reluctance to tell him more, he knew her attempts to bring Asuka out of this supposed comatose state were more than just trying to assist Gendo. But it would not do to show his hand yet.
"What's wrong with her?" he asked, nodding at the clone beside him. Her head was lolled forward, asleep. "You said she was a failure. What's happening to her?"
Rei never looked away, and her expression never changed. No doubt, no sorrow, no remorse. "That is not necessary for you to know."
"She told me she was forgetting things that she did originally remember from me." Kaji continued, his voice tight and accusatory. "That it was getting hard for her to think. Now, she has a hard time trying to stay awake. Tell me, and I'll tell you how Kyoko died."
Rei pondered his offer, considering if it was worth giving him the information or attempting to wait him out. The desire to assist Asuka won out, so she finally nodded in agreement. "She is experiencing neural degeneration. There is either a mismatch between copying a stock human's memory and uploading it into a vessel of my genome, or the stock human mind is incapable of handling the data copy process. Further experiments with creating a proper clone of you may shed more light on the issue. The distress you experienced in the process will require considerable research and experimentation to reduce. However, I lack the time and resources to do either, so I must focus my efforts on other things."
She looked over at the sleeping clone. "Current estimates suggest a complete neural shutdown in less than two weeks."
"And you're just going to let her die?" Kaji asked, horrified despite himself. He knew his captor was insane by any normal metric, but this was something else.
"She will die regardless of anything I may do," Rei said, her tone matter of fact. "I can dispose of her now, or I can let her live the rest of her natural life. Which do you prefer?"
"Will she suffer?"
"I am uncertain."
"Rei, do you understand the horror and terror she is feeling? Knowing that you are slipping away, what makes you, you, just vanishing, piece by piece?" Kaji was exasperated and tired of dealing with this. The ordeal of the repeated memory downloads had been excruciatingly painful at the moment, but he was otherwise unharmed. He could not say the same thing about the copy. While he was still on the fence about his feelings about a pseudo-clone of him, it was terrible watching her fade little by little. "Rei, you understand that people are more than pieces to be moved about on a gameboard, don't you?"
"I created her. She is my piece, to be used in my Scenario."
"The way you were created, the way the Commander uses you?" Kaji bit back, angry. He had known from the beginning that this girl was different, strange, and bizarre, but nothing that his people had given him or the traces of evidence left behind had prepared him for the terrifying truth of this creature. He couldn't honestly call her a human anymore, even beyond the ability to casually inhabit multiple bodies. He wondered if Gendo knew the truth of the monster he had created.
"Correct. The Commander created me for his Scenario. It is by his hand that we will defeat the Angels, defeat SEELE, and deliver a new world and future to all Mankind," she half-recited. "I was created, I live, and I will die to serve the Commander."
"And you're happy with that?"
"Yes." She sighed, growing bored with the exchange. The facts were obvious, and dealing with the man was tiring. "I have given you more information than you require. You will tell me about Dr. Sorhyu's suicide."
"She strangled herself with an electrical cord," Kaji said, finally spitting it out after another long minute of silence. "Asuka found her on the day she was selected to be a pilot. She had thought that it would make her mother acknowledge her."
"What about the doll?" Rei asked, considering the new information. "Is that the source of her distaste for dolls?"
"How do you know about the doll?"
"It… was a central figure of the interface."
"After her… accident with the core of Unit-02, she was insane. She believed that a small doll was actually her daughter; she talked to it, held it, everything. When Asuka came to visit, she called it Asuka and acted like her daughter was a stranger. She hung it with an electrical cord as well."
"She emphasized not wanting to be replaced. She hates dolls and uses the term as an insult. She detests not being the central figure of attention."
"Are you just now putting this together?" Kaji asked incredulously. "This is fairly obvious stuff."
"She has not been the primary research subject," Rei said, standing again. "I will visit her again and attempt to make further headway."
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Misato stared at the other members of Gendo's inner circle, not believing what she was hearing. "You want me to what?"
"We want you to take over as Acting Supreme Commander," Kozo repeated, leaning back in his chair. "It's only temporary until things stabilize."
"What do you mean, stabilize?" Misato asked. "Are you insane? What about Commander Ikari?"
"We're experiencing a bit of a crisis here, in case you hadn't noticed, Misato," Ritsuko said, prompting an exasperated snort from her friend. "With everything that's happened, we're not sure he can provide the decisive leadership NERV needs right now. We are still dealing with a hostile UN, a hostile JSSDF, SEELE, and, of course, the Angels are still out there."
"We feel it might be best if he took a break from command." Kozo smoothly interjected, with a nod from Ritsuko. "The severe changes he's made to the Scenario have placed us in a precarious position. He is waffling on how to deal with the fallout of recent events, and-"
"What makes you think that I'd be any better?" Misato interrupted, tone flat. "He's the Supreme Commander for a reason. He's colder than ice; he's harder than stone. If he even has a heart, it's made of frozen clay."
"Yes, yes, we've all read the graffiti," Ritsuko said, rolling her eyes. "Look, we need someone to make decisions. He's not doing that. Any perceived weakness is an invitation for outsiders to ruin decades of careful work, not just against the Angels but, more importantly, against SEELE. We feel that he needs to take a rest- maybe a few weeks or so. Maybe two months, at most."
"Again, what makes you think I'd be any better? I'm not arguing with you about the necessity for decisive leadership," Misato said, holding up a hand to forestall another interruption. "I'm just saying I don't see myself being able to step into those shoes. I couldn't coldly make the decisions he does! Besides, why would anyone listen to me? I've never even met most of the other Sub-Commanders."
"You are the one responsible for Evangelion Operations, which is our current primary focus. With the current hostile climate, all other interests have been shelved in place of ensuring that the Evangelions can continue to operate. It's a simple matter of priorities."
"You know I'm not going to bless off on sticking Shinji back into Unit-01 and splitting his soul, right?" Misato stared each one in the face. "If it's my decision, that's not going to happen. I'd rather us just try Shinji in Unit-00 and Unit-02 to see if he can make either of them activate."
Ritsuko smiled, relief evident on her face. "Good! See, that's what we're talking about. Gendo won't even make that decision right now."
"While I must admit that ruling it out is closing the door on an opportunity," Kozo said, steepling his hands in his lap, "we're more than happy to follow you where you lead. You're the most charismatic of the three of us, and I don't foresee the other site leaders objecting too much, if at all. Yes, you're the most junior of us. But you're well-known and well-liked. I'm not as well known by face or name, which suits me, and while Ritsuko is very widely known, she's not as widely liked."
"And this is just temporary," Ritsuko stressed, not even trying to argue that she wasn't widely liked. While not as caustic as her mother, she was still known for her sharp tongue when things were not to the standards she set as the Chief Technological Officer. "Just until he can come to grips with things. Kozo has some understanding of the scrolls and artifacts, but Gendo's the only one we have who knows them well. He's the only one who has seen the ones held by SEELE. If we're right about the clocking running out, we're going to need Gendo more than ever soon."
Misato sighed as she leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling as if the answers she sought could be found there. "So, let's say that I do agree to this. How do we convince Gendo to take a break? The man's a machine. He sent his own son away for years. He cloned his son. He split his son's soul in half. He murdered his wife- which is part of what got us into this mess. He regularly faces off against SEELE. He damn near spit in the faces of the United Nations! He-"
"We get the picture, Misato. We can either try to convince him or impress on him that we need him at his best and that he needs to take a break. If that doesn't work," Ritsuko said with a shrug, "we can dose him. Or taser him."
"What's Section 2's opinion? What will the MAGI do?"
"The MAGI will follow my lead," Ritsuko said confidently. "They are dedicated to ensuring the long-term success of NERV. They understand the importance of what we're doing. Besides, if they disagreed, they already would have told Gendo what we're planning."
"Section 2 is trickier," Kozo began, "but we're certain they'll fall in line. Their superiors report directly to him, true, but there are enough key personnel that we can persuade that our loyalties are still with him and that this is for his benefit and NERV's."
"And Rei? She's our only current pilot. If she refuses to,"
"You plan on releasing Shinji from the hospital wing, right?" Ritsuko asked, rolling her eyes. "Rei will do anything you ask for access to him, as long as it isn't asking her to harm the Commander."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Shinji looked at his arm, currently handcuffed to the hospital bed. He then looked over at the agent sitting in the visitor's chair, pretending not to be watching him. The man was flipping through a magazine that was months old when Shinji had first arrived in Tokyo-3. It was hard to tell, as he was still wearing the dark sunglasses that were as much a signature of the security force as was their silence, but Shinji could tell that the man was looking at him periodically over the paper.
"You think you can get me some food? I worked up a bit of an appetite during our game of tag."
As expected, the man didn't react, still pretending to read the magazine.
"Ten Group brought me coffee once, you know. You could get me some noodles." Still no response from the man. "Do you know how Misato – I mean, Sub-Commander Katsuragi likes her noodles? She likes them spicy. And the sauce!" Shinji made a face, grimacing at the memory. "She says it's best when it's like a toxic sludge. Extra thick." The agent shifted in his seat as he turned the page. A slight tilt of the head betrayed the change in his line of sight, the man briefly looking over at the boy before returning to the magazine.
"Me, I like my noodles with some extra stuff added in, you know? Spruce them up a bit, so it's not just nutrientless trash full of MSG. Chop up some scallion, throw in an egg, you know. Basic stuff." Shinji stared at the ceiling, getting hungry now that he was talking about food. "Asuka likes it with beef or pork broth. She's not a fan of fish broth. I have to add some bullion cubes when I make it for her. Rei only wants it with veggies or eggs. No meat."
Flip, went a page.
"How do you like your noodles? Do you like them like me? Or are you a fan of the Katsuragi school?"
Flip.
"Is it weird being a Section 2 agent? Always following people around, listening in on their conversations? Spying on people? I mean, you guys already know what I look like naked; I've been in the hospital so much," Shinji said with a shudder, "but one of you seemed really into ripping my clothes off and putting me back into this hospital gown."
Shinji grinned as he was rewarded by the almost inaudible sound of the man grinding his teeth.
"I'm only asking, 'cause you know, I'm handcuffed over here to this bed, and the bathroom's waaay over there. They've had me on a lot of IV fluids lately, so I'm pretty topped up. I went in the locker room before I changed, but I've gotta go again. How about you unlock me from this?" Shinji moved his arm back and forth, dragging the handcuff along the metal railing. If you're worried about me giving you guys the slip again, how about you wheel me over to the toilet? Although," Shinji paused, his voice thoughtful, studying the door to the small washroom, "I don't think this bed will fit in there. I guess you'll have to aim it for me."
"Kid, shut up."
Shinji's grin widened. "What, are you serious? Are you gonna make me wet the bed? I'm sure the nurses will be super happy about that." Shinji leaned back against the pillows, staring up at the ceiling. The vent cover was back in place, with new screws drilled through the frame. "Wait, now that you mention it, that might be fine. They'll have to give me a sponge bath. Let me know when the cute nurse is on duty."
The agent closed the magazine and just stared at the captive. Shinji studiously didn't look at the man, keeping his gaze on the ceiling.
"Wait, do you think that counts as sexual harassment? I don't think that we should do that. Maybe it's for the best if you do aim it for me." Shinji could now feel the man's stare, but he wasn't concerned. He had taken a direct hit from the Fifth Angel. This man's gaze was much less painful. Let him stare. Until he got in an Evangelion and went toe to toe with an Angel, Shinji didn't care about his opinion. "But would that be sexual harassment for you or me?"
"You're not fooling anyone with this drivel, kid."
"Child," Shinji corrected him.
"What?" the agent said, despite himself.
"Child, not kid." Shinji took on a lecturing tone, now looking straight into his reflection in the man's sunglasses. "I'm the Third Child," he said, stressing the word. "You know, one of the pilots of the Evangelions. Evangelion Unit-01. Have you seen it?" Shinji kept staring at his reflection. "It's a pretty big robot, painted purple and green. I use it to kill Angels." Pausing, he tilted his head back and resumed staring at the ceiling. "And other robots. There was that thing with the Jet Alone. Did you see that? I guess I wasn't supposed to get that violent with it, but I kinda snapped. Hard to stop, you know, once you get going in the Evangelion." He chuckled. "I mean, you've had to have seen the aftermath of the fights, if not the videos. A lot of stuff gets destroyed, even if you try to be careful. People can get hurt if you're not careful," he said, voice sorrowful. "I never wanted to hurt anyone. Not until I came to Tokyo-3."
He went silent for a few minutes, face neutral as the man stared at him. "Did you know that you feel everything in the Evangelion? I mean, it's not really a robot," Shinji whispered conspiratorially to the man. "It's a cybernetic organism reinforced with armor, electronics, and hydraulics. It's an amazing thing. Asuka knows all about them. Rei too. Asuka can lecture you all day and all night on them. Me," here Shinji gestured to himself, loudly clanging the handcuff again, "I don't really. I know that my dad's supposed to be a genius. I know that my mom was too. I don't think I'm all that smart. I get by with help from Rei and Asuka. But I can do things in Unit-01 that pisses Asuka off. Apparently, I can do all sorts of stuff that's 'not possible' or something." Shinji made air quotes and tried to mimic Asuka's exasperated voice. "I don't know. I just get in, and it goes." He looked at the agent again. "It goes. It goes fast. Things go splat. Things hurt. Things get wrecked. Things go boom. Heh. Boom."
Here, his voice changed, his throat tightening up. "I'm good at shooting too. I hit what I aim for. I do it on the range. I do it in the Evangelion." He shut his eyes tightly, face screwed up in unhappy recollection. "I do in person, too. I mean, just like you and me sitting here in person. I killed three men, you know."
Now, the agent shifted, a new discomfort settling over him as the boy's voice threatened tears, choking up with emotion.
"I was in a coma, and I woke up inside a car. There were three men dressed like you," Shinji said accusingly. "I was missing my leg, you know, my replacement for the one I lost fighting an Angel." He kicked at the thin blanket of the hospital bed with his restored limb. "They were all shouting about how they had to get away and get to the extraction point with me before anyone noticed. They were so occupied with the fight that they didn't notice that I had woken up. Rei and Asuka were fighting an Angel. A big one. A powerful one. And I knew that I had to escape these men." Shinji stared at the man, his eyes now hollow, rimmed with tears. He had started talking partially as something to pass the time and partially as a way to annoy the agent babysitting him, but now the words were flowing out of him unbidden as his waking mind caught up with his actions. "Men dressed like you. I tried to get away, I did. I really tried, but they noticed." His voice was rising now, just shy of shouting. "They tried to stick me with something, some tranquilizer. But I got my hand on one of their pistols."
He was shouting now, teenage voice cracking. The agent could hear panicked shouts from outside the room and the sound of approaching feet. "AND SO I PULLED HIS GUN AND SHOT HIM! I SHOT HIM AND HIS FRIENDS! SIX SHOTS, SIX HITS! BLOOD EVERYWHERE, AND THEN WE CRASHED! I FELL OUT OF THE CAR AND STARTED THROWING UP! ASUKA WAS THERE, TRYING TO CATCH THEM, TO RESCUE ME INSTEAD OF FIGHTING THE ANGEL!"
The man leaped to his feet as Shinji started thrashing, limbs flailing. Tears were flowing down his face now, and he was wailing as agents and nurses flew into the room. The senior nurse shouted for medications and restraints as the burly agents tried to hold him down, one of the agents screaming at him, asking what the hell was going on.
Shinji thrashed and flailed throughout it all, screaming his pain, sorrow, and regret. Screaming his anger. Screaming his rage.
"I KILLED THEM, AND THEY MADE ME DO IT. I HAD TO ESCAPE. I HAD TOO! BECAUSE IT BEAT REI AND ASUKA. IT WAS COMING TO KILL US. IT WAS HERE FOR LILITH! IT WAS HERE TO START THIRD IMPACT! I HAD TO FIGHT IT! IT HURT! OH GOD IT HURT! IT TOOK MY LEGS. IT TOOK MY ARMS! IT CUT ME IN HALF!"
Shinji vomited, the acrid stink flooding the room as they tried to wrestle him into submission. His wrist was bleeding now, raw from jerking it against the handcuff in his frenzied thrashing.
"IT CUT ME IN HALF, AND I STILL FOUGHT! I FOUGHT IT AND WON! I WON! I KILLED IT! I'LL ALWAYS KILL THE ANGELS! I'LL KILL ALL OF THEM! I'LL KILL YOU-"
The sedative administered a minute ago by one of the nurses finally kicked in, and the boy went limp, collapsing against the bed.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Misato and Ritsuko stared down at Shinji as he slept. He was no longer handcuffed to the bed but instead strapped down by heavy restraints. His left wrist was wrapped up in white bandages. No sign remained of the blood that had been rubbed over the bed and sheets, but both had seen the pictures. The senior nurse had been apoplectic and had called them both down here to clear the Section 2 men out. Shinji had been given some more sedatives and was expected to come out of his chemically induced sleep in about six hours.
"Contamination? Or just a normal reaction to the shock?" Misato asked, never taking her eyes off the boy who was somewhere between a son and younger brother to her. A boy who she sent into battle, a boy who she watched suffer as he defended the world. A boy who had risked it all to save their sorry skins time and time again.
Ritsuko sighed, shoving her hands deep into her lab coat's pockets. "Honestly, I think it's a normal reaction to the shock. Things are starting to come back to him and hit him. He's been cooped up in here, isolated, and he doesn't have any of his normal distractions. No Rei, or Asuka, no school. Not even the normal harmonics tests and simulator runs. Nothing. He gets chained down with nothing to do but think."
"There hadn't been any time for anything at the moment," Misato said, mournful as she watched her ward. "He had just come out of the coma he'd been in since his trip into the Dirac Sea and found out he was being abducted in the middle of an Angel fight. He kills his abductors and is rescued while watching the girls fight without him. He was rushed into battle, knowing that both the girls were beaten. No time to reflect. No time to process things. No time to decompress."
"We're killing these kids by inches. Look at Shinji, look at Asuka. Look at Rei, even. A little girl, asking when she gets to die." Misato's voice was a quiet sort of angry, one that Ritsuko didn't hear very often from her friend. There were many ways to describe the woman, but quiet was not one of them. "We're killing them, buying a future with their blood. Buying a promise of a future with their blood."
"You know what we're-"
"I know, I know," Misato said, disgusted with herself. "We up against the Angels, and we're up against SEELE."
"Do you have any other ideas?"
"No," Misato said, glowering at her friend. "So if I say I'll do it, what then? Do we lift his isolation order? Tell him how things are? How's that going to be, do you think, in light of all this?" She waved her hand around the room. "Do we tell Rei to get in here and snuggle him better? Do you think that'll work?" she asked, sarcasm biting through the anger in her voice. "Let them hug and make out? Cure his mental problems with a roll in the hay?"
"I don't know!" Ritsuko snapped. "I don't have all the answers! I'm working blind, just like you." She sighed. "This is why we need Gendo. We need him to be the bastard. To make all the bastard decisions. To make it all make sense. Without him at the top, we start fighting each other."
The door opened, and both women turned as one to see Kozo entering, the tall man looking uncharacteristically grim. "It looks like the decision's been made for us. Gendo collapsed almost an hour ago. The implant attacked his heart. It's not the first time it's done so, but it was bad this time. Very bad."
Both women paled simultaneously. "How is he?" Ritsuko asked, already headed for the door. "Where is he?"
"He's in his quarters. He wants to see all of us."
Misato and Ritsuko exchanged twin looks of worry and disbelief. "We'll have to hurry, then," Ritsuko said. The trio left without another word, and only Misato gave a final parting look at Shinji's prone form.
They moved as quickly as they could while maintaining decorum through the hallways. Most people stayed out of their way; everyone was busy and engrossed with their own tasks, each playing their own part in working to restore things to normal. Each was a singular cog in the clockwork mechanism that was NERV, all ticking and grinding away to Gendo's grand Scenario. Each person, entrusted with a small piece of the truth, each person fitting into a slot to complete a coup against an enemy they did not even know existed.
Only the Section 2 agents moved in their path, a buffer normally as invisible as it was silent but now at the forefront of Misato's notice after the initial report of Shinji's escape attempt and subsequent fit. How much could she trust the agents? Where would they put their loyalties?
The background hum of the Geo-Front faded into meaningless white noise for her as she thought about what was coming next. If the Commander was truly incapacitated, instead of merely being forced to rest and recover his wits, there could be a dangerous power struggle. Kaji, wherever he was now, had to be far from the only plant SEELE had here. Gendo had given her a list of Sub-Commanders and other highly placed staff who were to be considered compromised and not trusted with anything they did not want the shadowy council to know. Any of them might be prompted to try to assume control by their masters.
They finally arrived at Gendo's quarters, an expansive suite in the heart of the pyramid. He looked awful, and it was hard not to gasp at the sight. He was pallid and sweating profusely. He was hooked up to a series of IVs, three bags of saline feeding into his right arm. He was shirtless, sprawled out on the long couch in the center of the main room. ADAM could be seen, slowly moving against the skin, long tendrils writhing unnaturally against flesh.
Ritsuko did gasp, and rushed to her lover's side, falling to her knees as she took his pulse. Gendo had removed his glasses, and both eyes were brilliant green. The eyes of ADAM. The eyes of the Evangelions. They were so bright it was almost like looking at a pair of glass marbles, save for that they were quick to dilate and focus on the newcomers.
"I think it's almost time…" Gendo gasped, short of breath. "We will need to bring Rei here to remove the sample."
"It might kill you!" Ritsuko said, eyes on her watch, obviously unhappy with the rate at which his heart was beating. "It's not time yet for our Impact."
"If I die, I die," Gendo responded. "But you must not falter. You must defeat the Angels. You must defeat the SEELE." Each word was ground out from between clenched teeth and labored breath. Kozo came near his friend, nodding.
"Sub-Commander Katsuragi, I name you as my successor." Gendo coughed violently, blood coming up and splashing onto the fist he held in front of his mouth. "Sorry, old friend," he said, looking at Kozo.
"Your will be done, Gendo," Kozo replied, a soft smile on his face. "I never wanted it anyway."
"MAGI, assign Sub-Commander Katsuragi the rank and permissions of Acting Supreme Commander," Gendo ordered, speaking to the supercomputers he knew were listening. "In the event of my death, you will reflag her as Supreme Commander of NERV."
"ACKNOWLEDGED, COMMANDER," three voices responded in unison.
Ritsuko looked up at the other two, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "I have an idea."
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Rei carefully walked through the dimly lit world of red again, more confident this time in her approach to the waiting figure representing the mind and ego of Asuka Langley Sorhyu.
As expected, she found the child waiting in the reception area. Asuka turned around this time, spinning in place on one heel, glaring at the newcomer.
"Are you back? Get out of here!"
"Pilot-Captain," Rei began, her voice soft but sure, "you are needed. Your leadership is needed. There is no one else who can do it."
"What are you talking about?" the girl sneered. "Everyone leaves me. Nobody needs me. No one has time for little old Asuka!"
"We need you," Rei said more forcefully. "I am not the Pilot-Captain. I am not the Tactical Operations Officer. I am the Pilot of Unit-00."
"Yeah, right." Asuka sniffed, voice haughty. "All you need is orders. You're a perfect doll. A little puppet on a string!" An appropriately aged Asuka, dressed in her plug suit, momentarily replaced the young girl.
"I am not a doll," Rei replied, trying to keep calm. "I am not a puppet."
"All you do is follow orders. All you do is what you're told."
"No one told me to do this," Rei said, ignoring that it wasn't entirely true. She had started this because she had wanted to.
"Uh huh." the small child was back, the girl's image flashing like a monitor glitch. "You're lying. I can tell. I can always tell because I'm a genius." Her face soured again, glaring at Rei. "Run along now, little doll."
"Do not call me a doll," Rei said, her anger growing. She did not exactly know why she hated being called a doll or puppet, but it was a deep-seated thing, an almost instinctual reaction. While she was not certain, she believed it related to the manner in which her first iteration had died at the hands of Naoko Akagi. Her memories of the first iteration were hazy and indistinct, and her memories of the second were only slightly less so.
"I have come to ask you to return," Rei said, deciding to try a different approach. "Not to argue with you. Pilot Ikari has returned. We need you to return as well."
"Who?"
"Pilot Ikari." Rei studied the girl, who gave no sign of recognition. "Shinji Ikari. He fought the 14th Angel and disincorporated into the LCL of Unit-01's Entry Plug. He was able to return from the Evangelion's AT-Field."
"Impossible! He died!" regular Asuka was back again, anger writ across her features. "I saw what was inside his Entry Plug. He died for us! There's no coming back from that."
"He has returned, but Unit-01 is now dormant." Rei paused, considering her following words with care. "I want you to come back. You were harmed in your fight with the 15th Angel. I was able to catch you as you fell from space, but your mind has retreated here."
"Retreat? Impossible." Asuka snapped, tossing her head. "I'm tired of being ignored. Everyone leaves me, so forget them. Shinji's dead, Toji's crippled and gone away. Kensuke's gone, too. And Hikari. Maya left, and Kaji left. Sempai never has time. Papa's gone, Mama's gone. Everyone's gone gone gone!"
Behind Asuka, the darkened room lit up. Rei was prepared for it this time. Two forms were hanging, suspended in the air. One an adult woman, the other a rag doll.
"Everyone just leaves me and replaces me! Asuka screamed, face contorted with fury. "Kaji's chasing after Misato. Maya just up and leaves! Everyone at school abandoned the city at the first sign of trouble!"
The still form of Dr. Kyoko Sorhyu grinned at Rei, a horrifying grimace of empty, mocking mirth.
"You gave up on me! You just kept chasing after Shinji's ghost!" Asuka was still screaming, foam flecking the sides of her mouth. "You never backed me up against their stupid plan to replace us with puppets!"
The rag doll was also grinning, an unsettling mirror image of the woman's corpse.
"I AM NOT A DOLL! YOU CANNOT REPLACE ME!" Asuka started to sob, collapsing to her knees. "Why won't she look at me?" she wailed. "Mama replaced me… I wasn't good enough." She sobbed, body wracked with gasping coughs. "I was never good enough."
Rei, greatly alarmed, stood there, unsure what to do or say. She had no idea of how to comfort the other girl.
"Papa replaced us with his new family," Asuka continued, turning back into a small child. "She never liked me! She always hated me! Because I was there first!"
She reverted back and looked up at Rei with hate-filled eyes, puffy and red from crying.
"They said I could pilot the Evangelion! That only I could do it! If I did it well enough and was the best, I'd be praised! So I did! I worked at it, worked and worked! IT WAS MY WHOLE LIFE!" she screamed, rising to her feet again. "I went to school and studied it, learned how it worked, but that was all a lie! They've always lied to me! Everyone lies to me!"
"How did they lie?" Rei asked, not sure what she was referencing."
"HOW THE THINGS WORK! How any of it works! Who knows? Maybe they lied about everything! They said it was all about synchronizing with the onboard AI! They told me the higher my synchronization ratio, the more powerful I would be. The more control I would have. I dedicated everything to it! I made sure that I knew my Unit-02 inside and out. I've seen every repair, every upgrade. I've designed upgrades. I endured sympathetic injury testing with Unit-02. I've put my blood, sweat, and tears into that machine! IT'S MINE! And then comes Shinji! He pulls off tricks with the AT-Field that I can't match. He pulls shit out of his ass with it that I can't touch. He breaks every rule I know about the AT-Field. So, what else are they lying about? Who knows? Who knows… But Shinji knows! He knows something, and he won't share it with me! He won't let me be the best! He hides it!"
"He does not know," Rei said, interrupting the girl. It was probably not wise and counter-productive to her purpose here, but she would not let Asuka say that about him. "I have ascertained that he knows nothing about how the Evangelions work."
"HE KNOWS!" Asuka raged, pushing up into Rei's face. "He knows!" she repeated. "How else do you explain all the bullshit he can pull with the AT-Field? It's not supposed to work that way. He has some secret, some trick to it that he refuses to share. They told him something! He shouldn't be able to do things at 42% that I can't at 50%! It's not magic! He's practically untrained! You can't do it either!"
"It is puzzling, yes," Rei admitted. "I have observed his usual capabilities with the Evangelion since we met. But he does it unconsciously. All evidence points to this."
"Why should I believe you?" Asuka sneered. "You always do what you're told. You'd lie to me if they told you to."
Rei stared at her, trying to think of a way to refute the accusation. Of course, she would lie to the Pilot-Captain if ordered, but she did not want to admit that. It would be counter-productive. Once again, she was despairing over what to tell the other girl and how to tell her. The girl was needed to better ensure the continued existence of NERV and Mankind, but she needed to coax her mind back from this place deep within herself without unduly threatening the Commander's Scenario.
"I am not lying, Pilot-Captain." Rei finally answered. "I will follow orders. I will obey the Commander. But I am not lying to you."
"How nice of you," Asuka sneered. "You're not lying to me. Well, maybe you're not, but they are. They said that the Pilots were needed. They said that no one else could make the Evangelions work. They said I was special! But they replace us with the dummy plugs as soon as it's convenient! They want to replace me with a doll! They want to take Unit-02 away from me!"
Asuka began to pace now, kicking trash and abandoned furniture out of her way as she ranted. "They'll use Shinji against me; they'll use you against me. They set me up to fail! They lied to my face!" She was crying again, tears running down her face as she gestured. Whenever I thought I was getting somewhere on unlocking the mystery behind Unit-01, the tests came back with errors. And you know why?"
"Why?"
"BECAUSE THEY LIED TO MY FACE! THEY LIED TO ME ABOUT HOW THE CIRCUITS ARE DESIGNED, HOW THE LINKAGES ARE CONNECTED, HOW THE EMITTERS ARE BUILT, HOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THE POWER RELAY SYSTEM TO THE EMITTERS FUNCTIONS! THEY LOOKED AT THE WORK I WAS DOING, TOLD ME I WAS DOING A GREAT JOB AND THEN THEY LIED TO ME!"
Rei was taken aback by this. Accurate information was a must when doing Science. Having incomplete or inaccurate data was extremely dangerous when working with even mundane hazards, let alone the systems used to defeat the Angels and ensure the survival of Mankind and completion of the Commander's Scenario. If it was determined that 'they' did not want Asuka doing research and development on a system or subsystem, it would be more prudent to inform her that those areas were to be considered off-limits rather than purposely giving incorrect data.
"Who lied to you?"
"Ritsuko, the MAGI, the technicians! Everyone's lied to me!"
"How did you discover the discrepancy?"
Asuka froze, turning to stare at Rei. Rei stared back, perfectly willing to wait.
"I had a third party look at the data and run tests."
Rei blinked. This was a serious security breach.
"How did you get that data out of NERV?"
"That's none of your business," Asuka hissed. "You're just going to run and tattle on me.
Rei considered that to be an obvious reaction to the news of the data leak. "This threatens NERV."
"NERV threatened me first."
A roundabout chain of logic, but one that Rei could agree with. She wanted to help the girl, both for her sake and for the sake of the Scenario, but what had been planned as a relatively simple task was quickly blossoming into a problem she was ill-suited to address. She had known that the Pilot-Captain prioritized her being the best of the best, of being acknowledged for her skills and accomplishments. Still, the deep-seated obsession with being unique, being the central part of the greater whole, and the fear of being replaced was new. This information, coupled with the information concerning her mother's death, clarified the girl's animosity towards that which she viewed as a doll.
Rei was replaceable, even if not exactly as expected, and she had approached her life knowing that fact. While she no longer needed to be replaced, given the development of her new abilities, she had kept that information hidden as best she could. There was little one could do to escape the omnipresent observance of the MAGI, but she had never had cause to distrust them. Resent their lack of assistance and information, perhaps, but never distrust.
Now, she wondered if she had been lied to. It bore further research. It seemed that many things bore further research. She had initially only questioned Agent Kaji, but she now had questions that he could not answer. She would have to consider her options in questioning others. Some were easily accessible, but others were not. Beyond that, there was the method of asking them and what explanation she might give when questioned on her new interest.
Rei broke the connection, retreating back across the bridge, waking up inside Asuka's hospital room. Standing, Rei walked over to the girl, whose face was as still and emotionless as her own. Retrieving her modified A10 connectors, she mulled over the new information she had gathered. She would begin with the MAGI and work her way from there.
She knew that she was ill-suited for this task. She knew that she was sacrificing her objectivity again. She knew she would most likely be told to drop this line of inquiry. But Rei had set out to mend the Pilot-Captain and form a bond with her. If she were unable to do so, it would not be due to a lack of research or experimentation on her part.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Kozo and Misato stood back from the isolation casket as Ritsuko sealed Gendo in, flooding the interior with LCL. She watched his expression through the small viewport, her face twisted with worry as he reacted to breathing in the LCL for the first time before settling back against the padded headrest. The last time an isolation casket was used was when they retrieved Asuka following her recovery from the fight with the 15th Angel. They hoped that the system might help keep the thing growing inside Gendo subdued until they were ready to proceed with Impact and Instrumentality. They also hoped that it would buy them time to work out a way they could pull the thing from him without killing him outright, despite his repeated statements of accepting his death.
Each had their own reason for wanting to deny him that death on the eve of what would be their ultimate victory. Kozo wanted Gendo to remain in command of NERV and lead the shell-shocked masses out of the mess of Instrumentality. Misato was of the same mind as the elderly Sub-Commander. Ritsuko wanted Gendo to remain alive for obvious reasons relating to their relationship. Sliding the final cover in place, Ritsuko sighed and stood up.
"Well, he should be good in there for a while, at least. The LCL will stabilize him, and the system should keep him and the ADAM sample asleep. Barring that, the structure down here will restrict its ability to grow and to project an AT-Field."
Misato nodded, her expression somber. "Let's hope that this buys us enough time. We can't afford to lose him long-term. Not when everything seems like it's falling apart on us on purpose." Misato asked, looking around the room. They were deep inside NERV, almost but not quite at Terminal Dogma and Heaven's Gate to the Chamber of Guf, where Lilith waited. The room was dimly lit, with only a few lights engaged, making Gendo's temporary resting place look more like a crypt than his usual office. "How much longer do we need to let it grow before we're good?"
"It's difficult to say," Kozo said, his eyes never leaving the sarcophagus-like device. "It needs to be able to manifest an AT-Field, but Rei still needs to be able to control it. We need it to counteract Lilith, as her opposite. But we don't want it to be a liability." He looked over at Ritsuko. "If we have to try to remove it early, do you think we'll be able to do it without killing him?"
Ritsuko hesitated before answering, her eyes flickering with uncertainty. "I don't know. We'd always planned on having Rei remove it when the time came, but we don't want to risk having it inside an Evangelion while we wait for it to mature. It's so integrated in him right now he'll be crippled if we remove it surgically. It'll be a complex, tricky surgery. I wouldn't trust myself to do it. He'd require massive organ transplants, blood transfusions, and possibly more. We'll have to remove his skin in some areas and graft it back into place. It'll take hours of surgery, and that's assuming the thing will want to leave."
"We need to look at our options," Misato said firmly. "Consider this my first order as Acting Supreme Commander. His knowledge is irreplaceable. I don't want to be at the mercy of SEELE for information on when the next Angel will show its face."
Kozo nodded in complete agreement with her. "We must proceed with all caution. Any misstep will be blood in the water for those arrayed against us. They will not hesitate to strike if they think us weak."
The long elevator ride back to the surface of the Geo-Front was spent in contemplative silence. Each was thinking about the obstacles in their path. Gendo had laid out what he was sure to be accurate to them before entering the device, along with the things he was unsure of. He expected at least two more Angels, possibly three, not counting the tame one in the service of SEELE. The timeline was more varied- he expected the next one in no less than a month and a half but no more than four months.
As the elevator finally came to a halt, Misato spoke again. "I'm going to send out messages to the other sites and Sub-Commanders letting them know that the Commander's left on a mission to negotiate for support and material. He's done that several times before, but he's set me up as the official acting Commander due to the current situation. With the authentication codes from the MAGI, there's no reason to doubt me."
"And the pilots?"
"Lift the isolation order on Shinji. Lift the no-contact order with Rei. Start cross-compatibility tests as soon as possible. If he can synchronize with an Evangelion, I want it configured for him. Try him in all three. Put him in the one he tests best with, and then put Rei the best one for her. Get them back in the saddle of training." Misato looked around them as they walked through the corridors, eying the people who moved about on their duties with eerie normalcy. They, of course, had no idea of the crisis facing them. Still, they all looked haggard, run ragged from the pressing urgency that had become the day-to-day operation. "Get the MAGI to look at restructuring the work-rest cycles. See where we can cut our people some slack. Everyone's on edge. Far too little sleep. Far too much work. They're going to burn out and make mistakes."
"There's only so much we can do about the work cycles," Ritsuko warned. "We need the Evangelions to be ready and the Geo-Front secured."
Misato waved a hand at the giant hole in the ceiling of the Geo-Front. It used to be the city's center, the massive towers rising and falling as the city shifted between battle stations and commerce configurations. Now, though the city blocks were nothing more than rubble, a gigantic crater blown wide into the cavernous space. "We're not going to secure that any time soon, regardless of whether we run constant 24/7 shifts or not. Seal any regular entrance we're not using. Flood them with bakelite. We'll deal with it later. I want minimal access to the Geo-Front for any uppity JSSDF."
"Is that wise?"
Misato turned to look at Kozo. "They've already shot at our Pilots twice now. I'm not going to put anything else past them. SEELE is pulling strings to teach us lessons, and I'm tired of sitting quietly for them. If they send them to give us a bloody nose, I'm not going to make it easy for them."
Ritsuko started laughing, surprising all three. "Oh, Misato," she said as she wiped tears from her eyes, "are you still holding a grudge over getting court-martialed?"
Misato only gave her friend a haughty sniff in response.