Pressure, Part 3
Note, the parenthesis indicate languages other than Japanese, in this case, English and German.
Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).
SEELE Holographic Chamber
Monday, Mid Morning (Tokyo-3 Local time)
Once the Tokyo-3 caller had been dismissed, the five SEELE members were free to actually discuss the events of the last few hours.
"(Ikari's performance is acceptable. So far.)" Lorenz Kiehl leaned back into his chair, the cybernetic visor that covered his eyes gleamed eerily.
"(Yes. It's a win-win situation for us. Once he manages to capture Sandalphon, we will be able to accelerate the timetable. Studying a live Angel will allow us to complete the MPEs much faster.)" Added a man with a long, pointy nose, SEELE 05. The eagerness in his voice was clear to all.
"(Unless, of course, Ikari botches the job...)" A man with a bushy moustache interjected, SEELE-03, the American member. "(The risk of unleashing Third Impact prematurely is very much present. We shouldn't take victory for granted.)"
"(Enough. I shall tolerate no doubts at this stage. I shall retire and pray for guidance. I'll contact you all in six hours.)" Kiehl pushed a button, disconecting the rest of SEELE from his end. He tapped a complex set of numbers into a secret keyboard, hidden under the surface of the holodesk he occupied, a secret compartment opened, and he extracted a little package, about the size of a deck of cards.
A couple of lights shone from the surface, and the object emitted a single "Ping!"
Tokyo-3
GeoFront, Projection Room
Monday, Early Afternoon
'Man, that thing is really ugly...' that was Shinji's first thought at seeing the images transmitted by the volcano probe at Mt. Asama. The thing looked like the skeleton of the Third Angel... But with a bigger head and shorter, or at least, thicker limbs..
Dr. Akagi explained the situation, while the pilots watched the image projected on the floor. He was confident about this sortie, the Phantom Stranger had already told him about the Angel. Shinji had no idea how the Stranger knew all about the situation; but so far, his advice had been absolutely sound.
Dr. Akagi's words clicked exactly with the info the Stranger had shared with him. Plus, thanks to the Phantom Stranger's time delay, the Angel would not emerge in the volcano itself. So Asuka was is no real danger.
And speaking of Asuka... "Hey, let me! I dive!" The redhead's hand shot up in the air.
Dr. Akagi nodded, aproving Asuka's suggestion. "Very well. Asuka, You are the designated pilot."
"Sure! It will be easy!" At last! The chance to prove herself as the better pilot! She wanted, no, she needed, a solo mission to establish her worth in NERV.
Hesitantly, Shinji raised his hand. "Uh... not to be pessimist or anything, but... what are the risks?"
It was Maya who answered. "Mainly, heat and pressure; there's some radiation, but it's insignificant. We have all that already handled. The D-Type equipment is being fitted to Unit-02 as we speak." A chime sounded in her watch. "Ah, they are done."
Akagi continued. "The D-Eq will protect you and Unit-02 from heat, pressure and radiation. Basically, anything you could find in the volcano, except for the Angel."
Asuka turned towards Shinji, and slapped him in the chest with the back of her hand. "Relax, Boy Wonder. Everything is under control!"
Rei asked, in her particular even voice. "What about us?"
"You and Shinji will be in a support role. Shinji and Unit-01 will be deployed at Mt. Asama. You will stay here at Tokyp-3 as a last line of defense."
Rei nodded. "Understood."
Asuka's enthusiasm went down a few notches. "Uh... Dr. Akagi... Could it be the other way? I'd prefer to have Wonder Girl here backing me up." To her own surprise, she meant it.
Akagi looked at Misato. The Chief of Operations answered for her. "Unit-01 has a higher armor rating than Unit-00, Asuka. The Fifth Angel melted many layers of its armor, that's why it wasn't deployed against the Seventh. We just finished updating the armor, now it´s closer to the specs Unit-01 and 02 have. Rits and Maya haven't had the chance to do all the tests. So, Unit-00 stays in reserve unless there's an emergency."
"Oh. Sorry, Rei. I did what I could."
"It's okay." Asuka almost expected a shrug from the bluenette, but it didn't come.
Maya tapped her pen twice against the clipboard. "Now, suit up. We'll wait for you at Unit-02's cage for a final debriefing.
Tokyo-3
GeoFront, Evangelion Unit-02 Cage
Monday, Ten Minutes Later
The three pilots entered the cage, all dressed in the distinctive plugsuits, finding that the red Evangelion wasn't standing at its usual place. Asuka looked around, until she found it slumped at the other end of the chamber. It looked like a marshmellow man, or a white teddy bear set down at a corner to think about what it had done. "Nooo! What is this? What have you done to my beautiful EVA? It looks like… like..."
Misato intervened, "Like an old-time diver? Well, yes. We made sure it won't get damaged in the magma." She nodded, satisfied.
"But, but… it looks so ugly!" Asuka threw her hands in the air.
Dr. Akagi stood between the EVA's legs. "This is the D-Type Equipment, Asuka. As I said, it IS the best protection we can give you in the volcanic environment the Angel chrysalid is hidden at the moment. Aesthetics were not considered when designing it."
"It's the most ludicrous thing I've ever seen!"
"Worse than the dancing outfits?" Shinji asked, raising an eyebrow.
Asuka turned towards him. "No one saw us in those! This time, all NERV will be watching!" Shinji was about to ask about the guy at the store, but decided to shut up.
Right then, the clear voice of Ryoji Kaji souded from a catwalk, far above their heads. "Including me. I'm anticipating seeing you in action again."
Her happy squeak almost deafened Shinji. "Kaji!" She waved enthusiastically at him. Not even realizing the man's location had been carefully chosen to maximize the distance between them. The catwalk couldn't even be accessed from the EVA-02's cage, so he was quite safe from being glomped by Asuka.
Meanwhile, Misato arrived at the cages. "Okay, everybody, we are ready to load the EVAs on the planes. Makoto has been itching to fly one of those birds again."
"Um, Misato, I know this is a capture mission, but I think Asuka deserves a full kill mark once she has captured the Angel."
"Oh, no, Boy Wonder! I deserve full credit for a capture!" She blinked slowly, once she realized Shinji had proposed exactly that; so she decided to go ahead and cover her mistake. "Misato? Is that allowed?"
"Yep. As soon as the Angel is loaded on the transport, you'll get the kill."
"Count on it. I'll bring it back by the book." She slammed her right fist against her left palm. Generously, she nodded at Shinji.
"OK, kids, go to your EVAs! Starting now, you three switch to your call-signs. It's showtime!" she clapped once and rubbed her hands together.
Just before the pilots exited the chamber, Dr. Akagi spoke. "Asuka," she shook her head, realizing her mistake. "I mean, Huntress; your plugsuit is a variant, made to give you extra protection. Just press the button on your right wrist."
Asuka obeyed, and her plugsuit inflated to grotesque proportions, she was almost as wide as she was tall! The hissing gurgling sound of the heatsuit was followed shortly by a chuckle from the hall, and a string of German expelitives. "(Come back here, you BAKA! I'm gonna wring that chicken neck of yours! Misato! Help me! I can't move with this thing!)"
Shinji abstained from pointing that pressing the button again would probably deflate the suit. He was too busy running towards Unit-01's cage.
Tokyo-3
GeoFront, Commander's Lair
"He actually took the name of a bird? A small one?" Commander Ikari asked, disbelieving.
"Not exactly." The Vice-Commander answered. "According to Captain Katsuragi, the name was chosen by the other two pilots. He didn't argue against it, though."
"Hmm... I doubt Rei had a hand in that." Fujutsuki added, while Commander Ikari tented his hands, hiding the lower half of his face.
"Most probably. The girl has a penchant for nicknames. Rei informed me she calls her Wonder Girl. Mildly amusing. Still, that points at both a tendency of the Second Child to humiliate the Third, and the Third's acceptance of the same. It is acceptable. In any case, inform me if he tries to change it to something more impressive or assertive, like Eagle or Hawk."
"Very well. I'll make sure Captain Katsuragi informs me about any changes."
Tokyo-3
GeoFront, Commander's Lair
Spiritual Plane
Deadman simply sniggered. '(Hey! Just so you know it, the original Robin kicked ass and took serious names! In short pants!)' He paused mid-rant and shook his head. '(Man… I'm glad no one can hear me, that sounded way better in my head.)' He sighed. "(Anyway, I must go. I´ll see you two villains later!)"
In route to Mt. Asama's Temporal NERV HQ
An Hour Later
Two enormous planes carried both Unit-01 and 02 to the Mt. Asama site. One of them had to carry the hanging form of Unit-02, burdened as it was with the bulky D-Type equipment; Lt. Hyuga had to be especially careful, the change in aerodynamics turned the smooth flying the plane was designed to perform, into an unpredictable dance with a storm.
Asuka's anger was somewhat down by then. Mostly because she knew it would be useless to act on her anger at the moment. Argh! The Third Child was an idiot! She hated that the wiry little guy could be so... so... argh! She didn't even knew a word for that! One moment, he was absolutely dumb, the next, totally nice, then he seemed to play with her; then he would be nice again only to mock her for a moment and go back to being nice! She just didn't knew how to manage him!
Meanwhile, in Unit-01's plug, Shinji was busy, both making last minute check-ups, and holding a one-sided mental talk with Yui Ikari.
'Mom? Are you there?' A feeling of eagerness responded, tinged with some curiosity. 'Hi! Here's the situation at the moment. I think we might manage to just stay out of Asuka's was this time.'
An image of the Phantom Stranger appeared in Shinji's mind, along with a wave of curiosity. 'Yes, he told me about what's going to happen. If everything goes right, Asuka will capture the Angel, we will escort it to the Matsuhiro site.'
Alarm! Denial!
"Robin? What's going on there?" Misato asked.
"Nothing, Misato, just my check-up."
"Rits got a spike in your readings. If you don't control it, we'll have to abort the mission."
"It's okay, Control. I got it." Mentally, he sent calm feelings into EVA-01's core. 'Easy, Mom. We won't deliver the Angel at Matsuhiro.'
Question. Relief.
Quickly, Shinji explained about the Stranger's plan.
Humor, Relief.
Mt. Asama
Temporal NERV HQ
One Hour Later
Shinji was always amazed at the speed NERV's tech crews organized every aspect of their temporal quarters. Once the EVAs had been deposited on ground, the techs had conected each Evangelion to their own umbilical cables. In EVA-02's case, it was connected to an umbilical array. Cooling lines, hanglines, and reinforced umbilical power cables. All in all, everything it needed to go where no one had gone before. And survive the trip.
From her plug, Asuka looked for Kaji. "Was ist? Where's Kaji?"
Misato opened a comm-vid. "Kaji has no autorization to come, Asuka. Commander's orders."
"Oh... At least can I show him a recording? I wouldn't want to disappoint him. He wanted to see me in action."
Misato sighed. "Okay, okay. He does have clearance for that. "
Next to the edge of the crater, a titanic crane was anchored by seven lenghts of ultra-reinforced cable. From the air, it looked like some kaiju-sized spider had spun the beginnings of a titanic web. Next to the crane, the life-support special spool was ready for the descent.
Mt. Asama
Temporal NERV HQ
Spiritual Plane
Hidden from mortal eyes, the Phantom Stranger walked calmly among the crews and equipment deployed. He also was reviewing every possibility at hand. If everything went according to his Scenario, the Angel would be extracted without a hitch. But in case it wasn't...
An Undisclosed Location
High in a Cable Car.
Actually, Kaji was relieved about Commander Ikari's denial of clearance. It gave him the chance to update with one of his contacts, a middle age woman he only knew as Puppy Lady. The woman had the habit of always carrying a pup with her. It was quite an effective cover. Only the most paranoid would suspect of a middle aged, somewhat chubby woman, with a cute pup.
Their talk ended up running in circles quite fast. Basically, they both reached the same conclusion. Their bosses were idiots.
Mt. Asama
Evangelion Units
Both Shinji and Asuka felt very unconfortable with the idea that the three planes flying over them had a single, easy to describe mission: "If NERV Fails, N-2 Everything To Oblivion."
"How dare they?" Asuka almost screamed her outrage.
"Let me guess, Dr. Akagi. Commander Ikari ordered that?" Shinji's voice carried a note of bitter disappointment.
"Yes, although he has complete faith on both of you, he isn't one to leave anything to chance."
'Oh, I see..' Shinji thought. 'A big motivational stick, and a little carrot of aproval for me.'
A ferocious wave of anger hit him for a split second. 'Easy, Mom. I won't let it get to me. Let's do our job and let him think he has me where he wants.'
Angry Agreement.
Mt. Asama
Evangelion Units
Unit-02 hanged from the umbilical array like the biggest Christmas ornament ever made. The biomech held a magnetic cage in the claws the D-Type had instead of anything resembling hands. The cage was barely a frame, but according to Dr. Akagi and the tech crew it would be enough to hold immobile the Angel until it was moved into a more permanent arrangement.
The heavily armored Eva hung down the cables. swinging like a giant piñata. Shinji shook his head to rid himself of the image.
EVA-02 descended slowly into the molten rock. Huntress' voice shook him out of his thoughts.
"Hey! Robin! Watch this!" The titan entered the magma posing like a ballerina. Shinji smiled at his partner antics.
After a little while, the diving giant disappeared into the volcano.
Author Notes
I thought it would be nice to check on our friends in SEELE, without that pesky Gendo messing things up. SEELE doesn't need him to mess things up.
I know, I know, they are speaking Japanese, so the bird should be called by a Japanese name. Still, I stick to the idea that the top echelons of NERV speak several languages. So, they wouldn't be averse to using words from other languages. Starting with German, of course.
I want to aknowledge I´m using a variant of the way Panther2G/Strygpia manages communications from the EVA´s cores (about the only difference is the underlining). His story Advice and Trust has been a major source of inspiration for me to start writing. Is you haven´t read A&T, go check it out right now!
Originally, I had planned to conclude the fight in this chapter, but real life issues interfered. My writing time is a bit limited at the moment. Next chapter will conclude Evangelion 10th episode, and after that, we go back to the interludes.