Darkness, Part 3
Note, the parenthesis indicate languages other than Japanese, in this case, English.
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).
Somewhere in the ocean, near Tokyo-3 Bay
Five Days After Sandalphon
7:52 A.M.
The little box buried in the silt lit up again, and a sound carried through the dark waters.
"Ping! Ping! Ping!"
Tokyo-3
Katsuragi-Ikari Apartment
Same time
"So, feeling better, Boy Wonder?" Asuka asked, quite worried, today was her turn to stay under Dr. Akagistein and Igoruki's tender mercies. She shuddered for a moment, before her pride reminded her she, the Great Asuka Langley Soryu soldn't show any hint of weakness.
"Yeah…" he drawled, barely stiffling a yawn. "It was just a combo of boredom and having to concentrate for too long on a single thing."
"Sheesh… You had us worried when you opened the door all Night of the Living Dead. By the way, how did you manage to get here in that pitiful state?"
Shinji started to work on breakfast. Just seeing him work at the kitchen was a source of hope for Asuka. Last night Misato's Special (Last) Meal had been weighting heavily on her belly. She was amazed to even be functional. Maybe the ice-cream had settled her stomach… 'Note to myself, buy more ice-cream.' she thought.
After a short pause, Shinji answered. "I didn't, Lt. Ibuki took pity on me after she saw me bumping against a wall on the way out the GeoFront, and offered to bring me here. I just had to take the lift and that was it. I guess I've come here so many times I can do it in autopilot."
Misato came out her bedroom at that moment, smartly dressed with her NERV uniform. "Ready, Asuka?" she said as she sat at the table. She didn't lose any time in downing a mug of coffee in a few gulps. How she managed to drink the hot beverage so fast without scalding her throat was as big a mistery as to where did she put all those beer-calories she drank everyday.
"Sure. Just let me eat something and we can go." The redhead began to eat with proper manners. No hurry. The tests couldn't begin without her anyway.
"Let me prepare a couple of bentos for you two. Frankly, the food at the mess hall…" Shinji shook his head and left the rest unsaid.
"No objections on my part, Boy Wonder." Asuka smiled sweetly at him. 'For a pervert, the Boy Wonder is quite the gentleman.' she thought.
A short while later, both Asuka and Misato had gone to NERV. Shinji was busy preparing breakfast for himself and Rei. She wouldn't take long to arrive. Misato had asked Asuka to be ready at an earlier hour than usual, just so the pilot could eat something before the tests.
As he was finishing with their own bentos, Shinji noticed the color shift that preceded the arrival of the Phantom Stranger. Immediately he put everything down, and wiped his hands on a kitchen cloth.
"Good morning, Shinji."
"Good morning, Stranger. Is there a problem?"
The mysterious man nodded, "Yes, and I fear it is my fault." His voice sounded... worried.
Shinji furrowed his brow. "What happened? Can I do something to help?"
"Yes, but not before you know exactly what happened. It was during the fight with the Eight Angel. Miss Soryu lost consciousness for close to half a minute, and it was necessary to take some urgent measures to help her."
"Wait, she was out for only a few seconds."
"So it seemed, but the truth of the matter is more complex than it appeared." He extended a hand towards Shinji, palm up.
After a second of hesitation, Shinji took it. "Where are we going?" as their hands made contact, a slight greenish glow covered Shinji for a moment, then it disappeared, absorbed by Shinji's body.
"We will stay here this time, I need to introduce you to a friend and ally. He has been helping me to help you. He is our ace in the sleeve, a spy in NERV, and a back-up for you and your fellow pilots. In fact, if it wasn't for him, Commander Ikari and SEELE's plans would proceed as they intended." A chill went up and down Shinji's spine.
"Hey, kid." A new voice joined them. Shinji turned around, still holding the Stranger's hand. The voice belonged to a strange apparition. A tall, thin man, clad in red; with a face like a ghost. "Boston Brand, AKA Deadman, at your service." The man was sitting indian style, over the flat screen TV; there was no way a human being could sit there, there was too little space, and his weight should either tip or crush the screen.
Shinji took half a step back, but a moment later he gathered his wits, and bowed deeply to the man, releasing the Phantom Stranger's soft grip on his own hand. "Nice to meet you, Brand-san. I thank you for your help."
"Glad to help, kid." Deadman jumped down from his perch, and floated towards the two. "Wish I could shake your hand, but there's the little problem I am really dead, you know. Just a wandering ghost" He shrugged and smiled sadly. "Thing is, we need to get you up to speed, and fast. The next Angel is about to appear; and this time, the redhead gal will have to sit on the bench."
"Wait, why?"
"Let us start at the beginning." The Phantom Stranger motioned for both to sit. Shinji sat on the couch, while the Stranger occupied a chair. "During the battle with Sandalphon, Miss Soryu was knocked unconscious. Deadman had to intervene."
"Wait, Stranger, Ikari doesn't know what I do." The ghost turned towards Shinji. "Ahem," he coughed into his left hand and then flew around Shinji; the young pilot's eyes following him. "I am... a body snatcher; that's my power, I go into people's bodies and control them for a little while. If you see somebody acting strangely around here, it's probably me. I'll let you know whenever that happens." He added.
For a moment, Shinji just stared at him, thinking. He nodded at Deadman.
The Stranger continued. "With Miss Soryu unconscious, Deadman hijacked her body to help in the battle. That had two unforeseen effects. One, he isn't able to pilot an Evangelion, at least Unit-02, it is very resistant to having him in control. Dr. Soryu won't let it synch with him."
"Go on." Shinji's brow furrowed in thought.
"I had to go deep into Unit-02's core, and um... chat with Dr. Soryu, both of her. Meanwhile, Asuka woke up."
"It seemed to be the end of it. Miss Soryu resynched with EVA-02 and you both finished the battle. However, Dr. Akagi and Lt. Ibuki checked the readings taken from EVA-02's sensors, and found out that Asuka's brain-waves had changed."
Shinji's eyes opened wide in surprise. Inner Robin had worked out the problem. "They don't match because they aren't Asuka's! The readings are of Brand-san's mind!"
The Stranger nodded solemnly. "Commander Ikari has decided to sideline Miss Soryu for the moment. Until the cause of the glitch is found. At the moment, he suspects a previously undiagnosed mental disorder."
"Oh, gods..." Shinji put a hand on his forehead, eyes wide. His mouth felt like he had a ball of cotton in it. "So that´s the reason for all those tests!"
"We have an idea, but we will need your consent. Hijacking Miss Soryu was an emergency measure, but to resolve the situation, we need you to be aware of what we need to do."
Shinji pressed his lips together in a sharp line.
Somewhere outside the Material Dimension
Same time
A dark shape stretched in her energy cocoon. It was time to start her mission.
Matarael pinged back at the beacon. A booming noise crossed the void between worlds, a bright segmented cylinder opened in the void, and the chrysalid traveled through it into the Earth dimension.
The 9th Angel had arrived.
With a little push of her will, Matarael's outer skin began to harden. It would take a little while to be ready to walk back to her source. She decided to spend the time reviewing her plans. She leaned towards simple plans, anyway.
Tokyo-3
A lonely cabin, Somewhere in the Outskirts of the City
Same Time
"(Here we are, my good sir. Just as promised, I deliver. Lucly me, I've had this one in reserve for a little while, and my boys worked all night long to get it ready for your inspection.)" The short man tapped the white truck with a gloved hand. "(Untrackable and in perfect working order. You'll notice it has been painted to look like a service truck from a well known company. My crew made sure it has authentic decals and paint patterns. It won't be noticeable in any street of Tokyo-3. They are everywhere.)" The truck looked well mantained, but somewhat beaten. It would not attract any attention from the authorities, as long as the driver commited no traffic violations. "(This is just the test model, if you approve it, we will get two more in similar, but not identical, colors. Each one will transport two of the containers as you asked for.)"
The thin man examined the vehicle with a critical eye. He removed his sunglasses to see better. "(Very good. The rest of the items?)"
The short man opened the back of the truck, "(Acquired and installed as you wanted. Heavy duty winches and loading platforms, cleared space for transport of the items, according to the measures you gave me, plus a couple extra inches, just in case. Anyway, the safety webs can handle the weight, plus a couple hundred kilos extra. The electronic countermeasures equipment for each truck will be like this one.)" He opened the heavy steel case in the back of the truck. It contained a sophisticated device, plus a little book in japanese and english. "(The operational manual, just in case you need them.)" He put it in his client´s hands.
"(Appreciated. My crew knows how to use the devices, but having the manuals at hand could be useful.)"
"(Next item on your list, a full set of cutters and picklocks, including electronic picks for any lock in use currently. I trust you'll find everything is in order.)"
The thin man nodded. "(My people will check the truck and depending on my tech chief approval, we will make the second payment.)"
"(Great! In the meanwhile, would you care to join me for breakfast? My staff took the liberty of preparing a small but tasty buffet.)"
The thin man smiled. "(Now that you mention it, I would be honored to accompany you.)"
He grinned, this were proceeding according to the escenario. Even better. With some luck, the job could be completed even sooner than originally planned.
Tokyo-3
Geo-Front, Dr. Akagi's Lab
11:48 A.M.
"Okay, Asuka," Dr. Akagi's voice startled Asuka. "You can come out the sensor array, time for lunch."
'Blessed be all the gods in Heaven and Earth!' she thought, 'The Boy Wonder wasn't exagerating! This is supremely boring and tiring...' She rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of the spiderweb feeling she had in her frontal lobes. Picking up the first bento, she sat to eat.
Meanwhile, Dr. Akagi and Lt. Ibuki checked the readings. "So far, it seems her brainwaves are completely normal. Just like Shinji's." Maya commented.
"Hmm... yes... Let's see how she responds when we introduce some variables in the testing. Maya, make sure the secondary battery of tests is ready. Once Asuka re-enters the array, let's give her, say... an hour to settle in a routine and then we start with the new tests."
"At once, Dr. Akagi."
At the other side of the wall, Asuka felt a chill run all over her spine. She shrugged, thinking it must have been a cold draft. After all, the lab was usually a cold place.
Seen her on the CCTV screen, as she ate the food Shinji had prepared reminded Ritsuko of her own hunger. "Okay, Maya; let's take half an hour to eat something."
"I'll call the kitchens to get something sent here, Dr. Akagi."
Dr. Akagi nodded, still studying the readings they had collected so far. They were absolutely normal. Not even a single hint of a drastic deviation from Asuka's usual readings.
'Could it be a problem with the sensors themselves?' she mused. "I'll have to run a diagnosis on the whole net..." She dreaded the idea. That would mean hundreds of work hours, chasing the glitch around until it could be found and eliminated.
Author Notes
This chapter was quite hard to write, for some reason, my muse insisted on working on Tokyo-3 Arcana for a while. One more chapter to go, and Matarael will be done with. (I hope).
To Mythfan: Oh, yes, Young Justice was a very good show, pity CN didn't realize the potential it had, I especially liked that although the major focus was on the Team, there were events happening out of the frame. I hope there's more episodes, someday.
I'm more of a fan of the original comic book version, and I will use them in the future. Still, I may use a few elements of the TV show for the next generation of heroes. Kaldur will definitively be around, along with Aquaman's daughter (from Batman of the Future, including some of her extra background from the Batman/Superman/JLU Beyond comics), but that will be quite ahead in the story.
Robin will be underwhelmed at some things once he takes the mantle.
To TheOkWriter: Ralph and Sue are among my favorite characters (yep, I do have a lot of favorites!), and their fates in both Identity Crisis and 52 just weren't how I would have liked them to go (the alternate version of them in I Can't Believe it's Not the Justice League would have been preferable; and I'm including Maxwell Lord in that statement). So, I'll take the chance to give them a nice retirement. The Dibnys will make an appearance soon, not only Ralph and Sue, but a few new Dibnys will be around.
At the moment, Ralph is the only known survivor of the JLA; meaning, on Earth. Superman is in Almerac, Batman is dead, Zatanna is helping to keep Maya alive. I have plans for the others, but I'll be revealing them in future interludes. Wonder Woman and Green Lantern (Kyle) are kinda busy now. Martian Manhunter and Plastic Man disappeared at different times.
The box in the ocean ties with very important elements in the background of the story. I'd like to say more, but those are major spoilers!
Feel free to speculate, please. :D
I've been dropping little hints for a long while! And this is not even the first box, BTW.
I will reveal it all when the story catches up with The Origin of NERV episode. Not only this version of NERV and SEELE (as partly seen in some of the Interludes so far), but also the Angels and their how and why. At this point in the story, the Phantom Stranger knows, but he likes to be mysterious that way.