This was an... interesting chapter to write, and it took me a while to fully get my head around it. I think my pace has been slowing down in general, not because I'm losing interest or anything but just because it's getting a lot more complex as I try to introduce more characters and make everything work. I have a lot of exciting plans, of course, but it's a lot to make everything play ball. If I need to slow the pace of uploading chapters down, I'll probably say so, but that isn't happening juuust yet.
This is also going to be a pretty lore-flavoured chapter. It isn't like late episodes of Evangelion where it just tells you everything, but this chapter sort of had to happen so everything can start coming together. Don't worry, the robots still fight, though.
Junko and Gendo were in his office, with Gendo taking the desk. Junko was stood across from him, with the harsh, magenta light of sunset pouring through the office's wraparound window doing little to illuminate the two of them. They seemed to almost blend together into the shadows surrounding them. It was Junko who broke the silence.
"A contest?"
"Quite." It wasn't Gendo's voice that responded, though. Obscured by the darkness and by their bodies surrounding it, a phone lay face-up on their desk. Speakerphone. "It looks like 'classified object - Jet Alone' was cancelled when NERV was rolled into the JSSDF and they no longer needed to deal in private companies, and doesn't actually exist. They've been replaced with these... things, which seem all-too familiar, don't they?"
Neither commander seemed all-too cavalier in responding to the phone's speaker. He seemed to at least acknowledge the frosty 'reception'. "Anyways, I handled the materials that they've been bothering you over using the Freedom of Information Act. False information has been mixed in. I'm sure the government will be preparing legal action, but…"
But nothing. As in, nothing will happen. TOUHOU won't be shaken. Junko tried not to react to Gendo's brief, almost unnoticeable smile. It was good to see him smiling, even as he ended the call with a stern "Good. Proceed according to the scenario. We will discuss how to respond to the JSSDF's prodding shortly."
"You got-"
Click. Gendo made a point of holding down the hook with a finger for a solid second, as if banishing the man's attitude from the almost-sacred office along with his voice. "You were right. Our friends in NERV weren't so happy to step down after the divorce."
Junko nodded. "Hell has no fury like a woman scorned. And mankind certainly has a way of outperforming hell."
"You would know."
"As would you." She pulled out a chair. A second chair for Gendo's office, which was always hidden just for moments like this. "Now, who do we send? Shinji has a higher sync ratio, but Reimu…"
CHAPTER 8 - Melchior and Child
Shinji liked to get up early. There was a certain energy that came with waking up early and getting everything done before the rest of the household. The rising summer sun hadn't yet started to cook the world, so there was a nice early morning fog that kept Misato's mansion cool while Shinji finished waking up before the house did.
"Shinji! Shinji! What's breakfast?"
Well, waking up before Misato did. Cirno was one of those kids who always managed to wake up just as early as he did.
"Just toast. Do you want any jam?" Cirno nodded, and Shinji obliged. He didn't actually remember when they'd started getting jam, but when Cirno had a taste of the stuff she'd become obsessed. Whenever they had a western breakfast, Cirno had jam. Shinji usually just had a piece of toast dry, since someone might as well finish the other half of Cirno's 'sandwich'. At least it was better than whatever Misato would've fed them today.
The sound of someone walking downstairs couldn't have been better-timed. "Yawn… good morning."
Misato woke up around the same time every day she didn't have work, which had to be lauded. That time was usually far after sunrise, which didn't have to be lauded, and even at that calling this 'awake' was a stretch. She was just barely visible as she passed the open doorway to their dining room, simply crossing into the kitchen and, of course, its beer-loaded fridge.
"Miss Misato-"
She plonked down at the table across from them. Unlike the low table in the living room where they'd hosted their little party, the Katsuragi dining room table was heavy and European-styled, which made Misato look a bit like a drunk, tired, half-dressed Gendo, crossing her hands over her can of beer. She let out a groan.
"This beer is warm…"
"Um… the power's out. The fridge turned off when I made toast."
"Breaker…" She gently placed her head on the table. Almost mournfully, she shook her beer, which Cirno blasted with a bluff of chilled air. Shinji just sighed.
"I think I know why you're still single."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Shinji tried not to focus too hard on the chore calendar behind them, proudly displaying the "Mi" of Misato in the column of cooking today! "It means you're a slob. You could stand to take care of this place better, too."
"What's wrong with it, huh? I put a lotta work in this place!"
It took Shinji a lot of strength to not immediately say 'well, your fridge doesn't'. It was too soon. He decided to be more gentle. "This is a really nice house… it's really more like a mansion, and it's got all this space. But you treat it like a one-room frathouse sometimes."
"Like you'd know what a frathouse was!" She finished her beer with a huff, accidentally exposing the underwear under her shrine maiden robes. Shinji looked away, but Misato wasn't dissuaded. "I'm just living life in the way of Samurais of old. Sitting in my castle, wearing robes, and drinking good sake! Got a problem with that?"
"I thought you wanted to be a shrine maiden, since you dress like one. Anyways, I'm finished."
"Don't take the train, I can drive you! It's your career guidance meeting today, after all."
"Right…" A shiver shot up Shinji's spine when he remembered how Misato tended to handle the drive to Tokyo-3. "I just don't want to be of any trouble…" He started cleaning up, grabbing Cirno's plate when she offered it with a 'thank you'.
"It's fine, it's fine! It's my job after all."
"Just your job…"
Misato froze up. She hadn't really been thinking when she said that, had she? Ugh, kids really weren't her forte. She'd gotten too at ease with her new roommate. Cirno had been different, she was really just someone who came in as she pleased, but she should've been treating Shinji more like R-
"CIRNOOOOOOOOOO! WAKE UPPPPPP!"
She fell out of her chair. Daiyousei was early today.
o0o
Today'd been embarrassing.
The drive was fine, even though Misato had a lead foot. It was even kind of nice to see her dress in a (sort of) normal outfit. An outfit that was also… revealing. The walk into the building, when she made sure to make the most of Shinji's classmates' gazes, was a little mortifying, and it led to the rest of the day consisting of nothing but Toji pestering him about Misato liked, what she was like, if he thought she should by this hat, and why Sanae was giving him dirty looks.
After school he'd had a sync test, which at least had been uneventful. The adults- Maya, Makoto, Misato and Reisen, had been talking about nothing but TOUHOU's budget, until they weren't, and he was thrust into a conversation about the second impact. Which was… eye-opening.
"Second impact. The official story we chose to go with was that a small meteorite, travelling about ninety percent the speed of light, hit moon first, knocking the angels into earth's orbit, before hitting the Antarctic continent and causing the second impact." Reisen spoke about the event in an interesting tone of voice. It was… almost disdain? "That was a flat out lie. The second impact was caused by the angels. And the angels are made by the Lunarians, the people of the moon's dark side. We believe they intentionally hid the first angel in Antarctica as a time bomb, so that they could use its discovery as a gauge for when mankind was becoming too advanced after the Apollo landings. And now, they're sending more angels to us. Either to purify the earth, make it as ageless and lifeless as the moon, or just to destroy humanity, and finish the job of second impact."
"There… really are people on the moon?" It was something everyone sort of had an inkling about at that point, that there was something on the moon that the world's governments couldn't talk about. Something that had become far more active after second impact. Shinji honestly wished he could be more surprised at the fact that those moon people simply wanted them dead; It would explain the angels, obviously, but the twenty-first century had been a tough one for humanity. At this point, sure.
Reisen nodded. Behind her sunglasses, Shinji could see her expression steadily darkening. "People… or Lunarians, at least. Ageless, deathless eternal beings who obsess over their own purity. They've lived on the moon for time immemorial, but they never seemed to have a problem with mankind until Apollo. Since they think their purity is worth more than Earth's existence, they'll destroy us all to preserve it. They believe it's us or them, and at this point it might as well be."
"Why are the Lunarians so obsessed with purity?"
"It's all they have, Pilot Ikari." The Head Alchemist turned around to face him, slightly awkwardly because of the moving walkway they were on. "The Lunarians are only immortal because the moon is a pure land. Any life that gets there could, ironically, bring them death, since they aren't immune to death, they're just without it." Noticing Shinji's expression, which was now balancing on the edge of befuddlement and terror, Reisen lost her train of thought, ears crumpling as she did. "Sorry… it makes more sense when you have to deal with it so often. We'll be fine, though. The moon is a far away place."
"Not far enough to stop them from sending us angels, though." And with Misato's addition as a capstone, the conversation ended. As the moving platform quietly whirred under them, Reisen started to flip through a duotang of papers. Shinji tried not to pay attention to those papers, especially after accidentally catching a glimpse of the warning 'Third Impact' written on them. He went to ask about them, but before he could even get a word out, she clapped the duotang shut.
"Captain Katsuragi, it's tomorrow, by the way."
And Shinji's train of thought was derailed. He looked up at Misato. "What's tomorrow?"
She only smiled in response. "Don't worry, you won't have to worry about it!"
o0o
Their toaster was still broken.
Well, that was an oversimplification. Really, they were down to one outlet in the kitchen, since whatever weird wiring the kitchen had hiding within its walls meant that every outlet but one was attached to the now broken breaker, while one was just fine. Since Cirno needed her fridge working… as did, admittedly Misato, it and the rice cooker were all they could still use. Nothing but rice for breakfast... Shinji felt a bit like Reimu, honestly. He smiled at the comparison, even if it was a bit silly.
At least Reimu didn't have to live with Misato, though. He eyed the stairwell to the second floor, waiting for Misato to stumble down and beeline for the fridge. He'd at least gotten used to the routine, though. Despite everything, he was still glad he was living with Misato, and-
Cirno dropped her bowl in the other room. Shinji turned to look at why, but-
Misato was standing there, in the formal regalia of a person who was actually in a pseudo-government organization. She wasn't wearing sloppy shrine maiden robes. She wasn't even wearing the red bomber jacket and black dress she wore when she had to be formal for TOUHOU standards, which, since she didn't wear it in front of the commander, was rare.
No, she was wearing a full dress, a black suit jacket over it that Shinji had never even seen before, and even a pair of heels she was currently shoehorning her feet into. She was completely stoic, to the point where Shinji started to feel bad and wonder if he'd been too hard in teasing her.
"Good morning, Shinji. Cirno."
Both of them were speechless.
"I'm going to old Tokyo on business. I'll be coming back late, so order something. The electrician will be coming to take a look at the breakers today. Cirno, can I trust you to let them in and to not attack them?"
Cirno had come into the kitchen, holding her empty bowl. "Y… yes, Misato."
"Good. Shinji, they should be done by the time you get home."
"Right…"
And then, like a soldier on parade, she marched out of her house, dressed as modernly as the house wasn't. Shinji and Cirno were just left to react.
"Should I be worried?"
Cirno shrugged. "Iunno. Can I have more rice?"
o0o
"…I just wish they hadn't insisted on old Tokyo."
"Didn't that place get flooded?"
Misato didn't turn away from the VToL's window, but she still answered Reimu. "They've started reclaiming large portions of it. Since there's a lot of unused space, the JSSDF and NERV have started using this place as a staging ground for any of their megaprojects. They even want to start launching rockets around here to take the load off of Tanegashima. It's all very efficient." She said the last part with just a hint of sarcasm. The remnants of Tokyo were the world's largest grave, so building hangars and convention centres was… what's the word… desecration!
Reimu just hmm'd in agreement, before looking to Reisen, who just shrugged in response. Just because she was Head Alchemist didn't mean she knew that much of the world outside the insular Tokyo-3 and Gensokyo, either. The rabbit knew as much as the job required- to learn all she had in as few years as she had you had to cut the fat with your education- and the complex attitudes on how Tokyo-1 was being used weren't anything she'd ever cared to learn about. Once again, her sunglasses did most of the work in maintaining her cool and knowing facade.
The human-shaped rabbit inhaled to calm herself as the VToL approached their target and began to descend. "Now, to review, we don't know what exactly what NERV will be presenting. It's likely going to be an incomplete or base prototype of something similar to an Oni." She held out a finger. "Don't get scared if it looks like it's planning to attack anyone," the finger pointed in Reimu's direction, "And don't get mad if it seems like anybody else at the conference is convinced by its abilities," the finger shifted to point in Misato's direction, before Reisen withdrew it. "...since this is all of little consequence. This is going to be NERV trying their best to eat away at us, but they've been playing catch-up for a decade, now."
"Mhm." The two humans made the noise of agreement at the same time, seemingly unconsciously. When they realized they had, they both tried even harder to look in opposite directions from each other. Reisen failed to suppress a giggle, which just got her two dirty looks.
o0o
Once they landed and entered the conference building, Reisen had ran off to go do something else, leaving just Misato and Reimu in the middle of a large waiting hall. Since Misato was wearing formal wear, Reimu looked even more out of place in the uniform of the Hakurei shrine maiden. She was unsurprisingly also sticking to the only person she knew, standing next to Misato silently like an introverted party guest. Misato, on the other hand, was only maintaining her stern facade until-
"Ritsuko!" Until she didn't. When Misato caught sight of her old college buddy across the large hall and waved her over, Reimu found it a lot harder to maintain a flat expression. The last time they'd been in the same room wasn't pleasant, but unlike Misato's house Reimu wouldn't be able to fly home from here if things blew up. Metaphorically.
"Long time no see, Misato." Ritsuko Akagi was the definition of professionalism in that moment. Wearing a blue, white-collared suit jacket and a matching pencil skirt, she wore the attire like she was far more used to clothes of the 21st century businesswoman. The expression she wore to accompany it was similarly professional, although the smile was still genuine.
"It's always too long, Doctor Akagi."
"Actually, It's Commander of NERV, here."
"Ah, of course! Congratulations, by the way. You definitely deserve it."
"Well, I've been the Commander of NERV for a while now, but I still appreciate it." She said it without much joy in her voice, like it wasn't really what she wanted. "It's only natural for the head as something as important as project E to be Commander, isn't it?"
Misato let out an awkward laugh. "Reisen is here somewhere, so try and get those out while you can."
"Of course, of course, sorry." Ritsuko seemed to finally notice Reimu next to her college friend. "I'm surprised to see you here, Reimu. Sorry that our last meeting ended so poorly."
Reimu shrugged noncommittally, mostly just because she didn't know what to say to the woman. She could do her best to be respectful, but when you didn't know anyone you truly just did had nothing to say. She wasn't just gonna say 'I'm here to destroy whatever you're unveiling today', after all. Add a decade of difference (minimum) between her age and the age of everyone else here, and she was lost. She fiddled with her bow a little as Misato stepped in.
"Yeah, Reimu's just here as an observer, as a pilot she's interested in whatever you'll be premiering today!"
"I can't blame her." Ritsuko smiled knowingly at Reimu, despite the lie. She had to wonder if she knew it was a lie or simply agreed with the sentiment. "A fully operational project E would make piloting a far safer, and a far more easily-understood process, than some of the duct-tape and rice gum that TOUHOU must be running on. If NERV were to have an opportunity to, say, take over the fight against the Angels and Lunarians, it'd be a lot safer on your end."
"Sorry!" Just in that moment, Reisen returned, carrying a briefcase tucked under her arm. She looked almost shy, not helped by the fact that her usual outfit- the good ol' black sports coat and red tie over a long white skirt and pantyhose- left her looking a little casual at such an event as this. Regardless, she straightened instantly once she laid eyes on Ritsuko. Reimu sighed, preparing herself for the barbs.
"Head Alchemist Inaba."
"Commander Akagi."
To Reimu's amazement, they just bowed to each other, before Ritsuko left. Misato, only mostly hiding her shock, went to say something to her coworker when they all realized that the conference room's doors were finally open. Along with the rest of the representatives, massive, representative conference groups from Japan's best, brightest, and most importantly wealthiest, the Operations Commander, the Head Alchemist, and the Shrine Maiden Pilot of TOUHOU all entered the conference room.
To match their guest's opulence, every table in the grand banquet hall was a massive affair, giant, round sheeted tables stacked to the brim with fineries, perfect for literally buttering them up. TOUHOU's table, hosting its grand party of three, was comparatively nearly empty, with only a couple of bottles of beer placed in the table's centre, comically far out of reach. Aside from them, the table was empty.
Well, nearly empty. Immediately grabbing her attention and ire in such a way that it must have been intentionally placed, Reisen's gaze locked onto a single, raw carrot placed on the table's edge. She pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a deep sigh that lasted until it was drained out by a tinny recorded melody, emanating from the conference room's speakers. Some unfitting pop song was Ritsuko's only introduction as she strode out, stiffly waking the length of the stage not as a scientist, but as an ambassador for NERV, TOUHOU's 'main competitor'.
Reimu, unsurprisingly, couldn't follow the technobabble. Her eyes briefly drifted to the drinks in the distant centre of the table- when you're the one saving Gensokyo's ass as commonly as Reimu was, she could indulge in a little drinking of her own- but it'd be too much effort to probably literally climb to the table's centre. There was nothing to focus on, so she did try and listen to what exactly Akagi was saying up on stage, but it was genuinely just babble.
Reimu had technically been in TOUHOU… NERV… whatever else the united company had been called before it split up, but she was the Hakurei Shrine maiden and had maybe left Gensokyo annually at best, at least before the angels started showing up. The thing that'd split the two companies was some series of disputes that involved people she'd never met and a lot of things she couldn't care less about, but at the end of it, TOUHOU kept all the stuff, but a lot of the talent ended up either leaving or kicked out, so they created NERV and started trying to build their own Onis without any resources from Gensokyo. And yes, she basically only knew all that because Reisen had explained it once.
That's what Akagi was building up to. "…In conclusion, we have finally fully completed Evangelion Unit-beta after a few minor, but accounted for, delays. We will be moving to the demonstration segment of today's conference shortly, which will be hosted in the command centre. Before we do, does anyone have any quest-" Reisen's hand shot up before she even finished, and she finished "…ions." with a sigh. Reisen'd barely let her finish.
"Head Alchemist Reisen Inaba, TOUHOU. You mentioned that these… Ebangelions, if I'm saying that right, are both biological and mechanical in nature, but also that you intend to make an entire series of them, that you have produced your second unit within only a few years, and that you intend to make further ones in a matter of months. May I ask how such a feat is possible with hard limitations such as the Hayflick Limit?"
Ritsuko's eyes narrowed even as the field clapped politely. On the surface, in the kind of conference that this was supposed to be, the question seemed like a softball; Almost a laudation. 'How did you achieve this titanic task so quickly?' However, Reisen wasn't asking Ritsuko as one simple corporate representative to another. Reisen was very directly asking the woman 'How did you make another Oni, whatever you may call it, without the many, many inheritances that TOUHOU had at its disposal? How did you succeed… when you were meant to fail?'
What an insult. But Ritsuko was used to Reisen Inaba insulting her. "Very good question. Due to NERV's massive assembly of some of humanity's best and brightest, several previously concrete technological boundaries have been overcome in the last couple years before. NERV is truly at the forefront of technological advancement, without the need of any shortcuts. It's interesting that you bring up the Hayflick limit-"
Ritsuko returned a smug grin to Reisen as she prattled off a brief explanation of all the ways NERV was cutting-edge, but the responding barb had already been given. 'shortcuts' really meant anything coming out of Gensokyo and its associated phantasmagoria, which at that point included Reisen herself. 'How did we make another Oni without Gensokyo's resources? Simply because we didn't need them, unlike you.'
Reisen wasn't deterred. The conversation was all-too corporate and stiff, but the meta-conversation was the kind of pure venom that could only ooze out of a bitter professional, nay, personal rivalry. 'If you didn't need them, why did it still take you until now to accomplish anything of note?'
'We took no shortcuts, once again, unlike TOUHOU. We actually know how our robots work.'
'Do you? You didn't actually make the only one of yours that is operational, you just kept it after the divorce.'
'Well, better than an angel-fighting machine that has a habit of going berserk." Wait, that one wasn't a hidden barb. Ritsuko Akagi, up in front of the exact kind of people that TOUHOU couldn't have seeing them, was displaying top-secret documents, photos of the fight between Oni-01 and the angel Sachiel.
Of the very first fight that Shinji was involved in.
Oni-01 looked absolutely horrifying, for what it's worth. The titanic monster looked less like a necessary weapon for fighting for humanity's survival, and more like a demon or, of course, a snarling oni. White, glowing eyes and a detached, unrestrained jaw made the images frightful, and the caption- "Oni-01 going Berserk", only further contributed to the horror that was the monster. It looked like an uncontrolled beast, which was exactly how Ritsuko wanted it to look. "NERV's own activation tests for both Evangelions alpha and beta have been successfully executed several times. Meanwhile, these images stem from the very first time that TOUHOU's Oni-01 was ever activated. TOUHOU treats their technology like medieval peasants treated the weather, as something to venerate and fear, while NERV actually knows how our tools work."
"TOUHOU knows perfectly well how the Onis work, we built them!"
"So their tendency to go berserk is an intended feature?"
"No, but it's a feature nonetheless! It's an asset that our pilots make use of when they are in direct conflict with the enemy that the Oni were made to fight!" That won Reisen a little momentum again. It was a sore spot that NERV had still never fought a single angel. TOUHOU was 3-0.
The war continued, as the crowd of some of the most esteemed companies in Japan took sides like high schoolers around drama. What was once at least an event that had a veneer of civility had folded into whether Reisen of TOUHOU or Ritsuko of NERV had the better burn. Misato pushed her head into the table, complaining about her friend and coworker acting like children, not even realizing that Reimu had long since walked off into the bowels of the conference room.
Reimu really had to stop giving the benefit of the doubt to Reisen. She was an adult, at the end of the day. Only human, even for a moon rabbit. Reimu sighed as she thought these things, not even noticing that she'd walked straight out of the conference hall and back out into the sun-baked, reclaimed flat that was once old Tokyo. She wondered if it'd really been as amazing as everyone always said it'd been. Not like she'd probably have ever seen it anyways, without Second Impact she wouldn't have to be going on little outings like this at all.
She sighed as she sat outside on an uncomfortable metal bench that stood as one of the few human features standing against the massive flat plain. She'd be here until Misato's college friend finished showing off, or alternatively whenever they needed her to destroy whatever that woman was showing off for whatever reason. This whole farce was only tangentially related to the angels at all, and it was completely divorced from any incidents in Gensokyo itself. Maybe she should stop going along with all this farce…
She realized she wasn't alone. On the other side of the door she'd used reach this thin excuse for a sitting area, there was a girl. Sitting there, just as Reimu was, staring really at nothing. And she was dressed… oddly.
Reimu, even though she definitely preferred Gensokyo's type of dress, had slowly become accustomed to the outside world's fashion sensibilities, even as tight, short, shrimpy or revealing they could be. However, the girl across from her was wearing a literally form-fitting white… rubber(?) suit, which hugged her body in ways that made Reimu suddenly get very interested in the ground under her. She had barely even been able to register how odd the rest of the girl looked; Blue hair, red eyes, the palest skin she'd ever seen. The girl could've pulled a convincing Remilia Scarlet, down to sitting in the thin rim of shade directly under the conference hall's overhanging dome, but it couldn't be her. The attitude was completely different, the way the oddly-dressed girl carried herself was almost antithetical to the vampire girl she faintly reminded Reimu of.
It was the strange girl who made the first move, getting up from her chair before slowly walking towards the door. Before she reached it, going back inside the building, though, she stiffly turned to Reimu. "Are you the pilot of Oni-00 of TOUHOU?"
Reimu, surprised for the girl to confront her, nodded without a word.
"You are my enemy." Reimu tensed up at that, waiting for her to, she didn't know, attack her, but the odd girl simply went back inside.
o0o
Good adults would be wondering where Reimu was by now. Instead, Misato and Reisen, after the bunny finally finished her all-out verbal brawl with Ritsuko, had adjourned to the small locker room they'd been provided. Reisen, apparently having exhausted herself from the fight, had buried her head in her arms and sitting down on the locker room's central bench, murmuring about messing things up. Misato was… a little more active in her discontent, and was currently kicking in a locker door with her heel.
"They knew about the A.T. Field, they knew about Berserker, they knew about purification- Ritsuko shouldn't even know about that! I knew that NERV got a lot of information out of us, but this was-" She stuck her leg straight out, getting a heel almost stuck in the locker, before sighing and rubbing her eyes. "I hope you're proud of yourself, by the way."
Reisen didn't look up from her arms. She let out her own sigh into them.
"Whatever happened to 'of little consequence', Head Alchemist? You're supposed to be the mature one, but Ritsuko took you for a ride! Now we both look like asses."
"I'm… not proud of that, but Commander Akagi of NERV-" She raised her head from the tunnel of her arms, resting her chin on them instead. "...Since this is a show for NERV, being able to effectively nip some of their claims in the bud-"
"Puh-lease. You just wanted to fight with Rits! I really cannot fathom why you two can't get along? really! You're always looking for something."
"It's a… professional rivalry."
Misato snorted as she cleaned her suit up. "Well, we have a bit before she shows off that fake Oni of hers, so feel free to mope. At least on paper Rits would've known about most of that anyways, so this was inevitable. It was just a matter of whether she valued the benefits she'd be getting from things staying secret more than she valued us getting hurt by their release." She eyed Reisen one more time, obviously blaming her for instigating and escalating, before she let out a puff of air and went to leave. "We'll have to start plugging leaks when we get back to Tokyo-3."
Reisen hmm'd in agreement as Misato left without looking up, but she only held the dejected pose until the moment the other woman fully exited. Left alone, she smoothly took out a laptop and began typing into it without a word, sunglasses reflecting the indestinct red text of her monitor back towards her. Then, reflected by her sunglasses, the monitor first flashed a red DELETE, Before it simply went pitch black. The corners of Reisen's mouth curled up as she closed the laptop with a satisfied sigh.
"Hoisted your code onto someone else, didn't you, momma's girl?"
o0o
Unlike TOUHOU's complicated system of launch platforms and tunnels, NERV's temporary exhibition base couldn't hide Evangelion Unit-beta with anything more than a simple hangar silo, which opened up in front of them. The titanic robot looked vaguely similar to Reimu's Oni-00, Misato snorted at the obvious stolen blueprints, but its arms and legs were… new. Unlike the Oni's almost entirely human design, the Evangelion's identical head and torso gave way to strongly, tapeworm-like arms and thick, spindly legs. It almost made it look like a quadruple amputee. Also unlike Reimu's Oni, which was painted in bright yellows and oranges, this titan was almost pure white, with the barest orange-red highlights. It looked both incomplete and frightful, a look which wasn't helped by its single, monocular eye which it shared with Reimu's.
The control room was dead silent. The observing guests were all sat as close to the giant monitor showing off the titan as possible, safe for TOUHOU's three representatives, who stood in a clump to themselves. Ritsuko Akagi, her hands folded behind her back as she stood in the center of NERV's ramshackle control centre, was the picture of cool stoicism.
"Connect all main power circuits. Begin activation system." One of her staff responded in the affirmative. A chorus of electronics and motors coming online filled the control room as a fury of spoken activity joined it. Taking in a breath, Ritsuko steadied herself, before speaking loud in front of her. "Ayanami, are you ready?"
A familiar voice, at least to Reimu, echoed through comms. It was soft, an almost formless voice. "Yes."
"Good. Just focus on walking right now, pilot Ayanami."
The Evangelion, on the screen in front of them all, slowly began to raise a single leg, placing it down in front of itself in a single, laboured step. Such a small, humanesque movement- but such a massive movement, a giant beast with a thousand subsystems firing one after the other into a smooth whole, the movement of a titanic leg crashing down on the earth.
Ritsuko couldn't help but feel her heart flutter. "It's walking!"
It took another lazy step forward, but another step it took. It was… stable! Nothing was going wrong! Ritsuko could've kissed someone. Rei's Evangelion took another step forward, and another, before straightening its back and standing tall against the flat plains around them, a titan in the future above the reclaimed lands of old Tokyo. What a symbol of human innovation! It took another step, presumably just to steady its pose. While they were practicing this routine, Rei hadn't been told to take another step, but it was better than falling over, so whatever. Ritsuko cleared her throat, steadying herself.
"Now, as you can see, Evangelion Unit-beta is fully capable of supporting itself. We will be doing some initial-" In front of her, the giant machine took another step, this time backwards like it was catching itself. "Pilot Ayanami, please hold still for a moment."
"Yes, Commander Akagi." responded the soft voice through comms, but Ritsuko couldn't even get one more word out before the robot stumbled again. Its movements were remarkably human, fluid and perfect, but those perfect, human movements made it look like it was drunk and starting to lose its footing.
"Pilot Ayanami-" Ritsuko went to scold her, ignoring the absurdity of doing so through an open microphone while she was in a giant robot far from them. However, she was once again cut off, instead from an alert blaring through a monitor to her right, and a member of her staff's voice. "Commander Akagi, we're having trouble with the connectivity between the Evangelion and its legs."
"Well, what's wrong with it?"
"It… appears to be software-based. Information isn't being properly relayed!"
Only Reimu noticed Reisen's lips curl up at the news, and at that pit started to form in the Shrine Maiden's stomach. She got the feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong. She looked to Misato, but her eyes were glued to Ritsuko, watching her bark orders before going over to the monitors themselves.
"What- there's a chunk of code missing! No wonder it's starting to malfunction! Give me that!"
Ritsuko's rapid typing filled up the control room, only heightening the awkwardness of her emergency addition as their state-of-the-art robot stumbled and caught itself again and again. When Reisen let out a snort, Ritsuko shot a look that could kill towards her, but turned back to her work just as quickly. "There, that was odd but-"
"Commander Akagi!"
"What?"
"The Evangelion- The pulses are flowing backwards!"
And then, to Reimu's horror, Reisen's face dropped. As did the cup she'd been holding, crashing onto the ground just as the titanic Evangelion started to clutch its head in front of them all. It took another step, but finally lost its footing, crashing into the ground before getting back up to its knees, still gripping its head as it began to slam its titanic forehead into the ground like it had something boring its way inside, like it was trying to smash it out of its giant skull.
"Signals aren't reaching the pilot!" "It's no use!" "Fracture forming in cranium!"
The pilot had gone completely quiet, leaving the crowded entrance hall with nothing but the thundering roar of the titan bashing its metallic skull into the earth outside. Ritsuko barked orders to no avail, and the various dignitaries were a mob of humanity in front of them; Some refused to look, some refused to look away, some bolted out of the room, either to vomit or to flee, while others were pinned in place. A manmade triumph had become a manmade disaster in front of them, and they were all powerless to do anything about it.
Reisen and Misato were currently screaming into a phone on speakerphone around Reimu, they were desperately trying to get the Oni shipped out, but there was some logistical problems with taking them this far out of Tokyo-3, it would take at least ten minutes, ten minutes of that girl- Rei- trying to bash her skull open. Reimu sighed, and stepped out from behind the two of them, before leaving out those doors to the outside again. To her surprise, just when she had returned to that thin, outdoor area, a hand grabbed her shoulder. When its owner spoke, though, she sighed.
"Where do you think you're going?" Misato had a knack for timing.
Reimu broke off her hand with a harsh shrug, and crouched to push her legs off the ground. She didn't really want to give the woman an answer, but if she was at least pretending to care, she had at least earned that. "To save someone." And then, like the wind had taken her, the Hakurei shrine maiden flew into the air, plain as anyone could see. Even as she could feel the stares of NERV's staff on her through their variety of cameras, burning into her with their disbelief in her powers and in Gensokyo at all.
Behind Misato, the doors swung open again, this time with Reisen coming out, phone still in her hand and realizaton starting to bloom on her face. Misato turned back, refusing to even open her eyes. "We'll need Oni-01, not 00. And we'll need Shinji to come with it."
o0o
Reimu landed on top of the Evangelion like a snowflake landing in the middle of a frying pan, and like that snowflake she immediately regretted it. A human is not meant to so much as approach an Evangelion or an Oni while it's in the middle of fighting, even when it's fighting itself, and the roaring burn of its AT Field was exactly why. Reimu was blasted away by an invisible wave of the soul, only managing to catch herself high in the air just outside of the monster's reach. When she inhaled and pushed herself back into the Evangelion again, she at least got it to stop harming itself, but only because it had noticed her. She couldn't stop herself in time- how do you even brake when you're flying through the air- as she bashed into a titanic arm, slapping into her like she was a bug. And, in the moment of impact, the powers of flight for the Hakurei shrine maiden gave way to physics. Perhaps she was unused to flight in the outside world, or concentrating so much she had forgotten to float like a leaf, but all that mattered was that Reimu was batted, and batted far away. Misato screamed, and Reisen could only promise that Shinji and their Oni was on its way.
But, the wait was agonizing. Misato started demanding someone get her some kind of buggy or car to drive out and figure out where the hell Reimu landed, but everyone had taken helicopters or VToLs, and nobody wanted to take to the air with the Evangelion rampaging.
"NERV has a buggy here."
Misato looked up at the voice. Ritsuko, away from her command post, was standing next to her, defeat in her expression and bags under her eyes. Misato suddenly realized she hadn't actually thought about how much her friend was depending on this to go well. How much of a setback today would be for her, and how much being bailed out by TOUHOU would hurt NERV.
She still had to do her job, just as Ritsuko did, but both of their jobs were to help people, not squabble. Of course Ritsuko would be the bigger person, wouldn't she?
o0o
Reimu was shaken awake by the tremble of going too fast and too unnaturally, although her vision refused to focus on the figure sitting in front of her. She tried to get up, only to be pushed back down by another rumble as the ground shifted under her.
"Stay down, pilot Hakurei. You're likely concussed."
"Reisen… what… about NERV's Oni?" Reimu managed to fully sit up in the buggy's backseat, just barely managing to focus on Reisen, the driver and only other person with her. When she didn't respond, Reimu looked vacantly upwards at the blue sky, before she noticed the fact they were driving away from the Oni… or, Onis. "Ugh…"
She looked over her shoulder. NERV's Oni, the Evangelion, was still doubled over in pain, but it wasn't the only titanic monster on the sunbaked fields of Tokyo-3 anymore. Oni-01, presumably with Shinji inside, was pushing hard against the manmade monster's AT-field, the friction of the two force fields blasting sparks through the air as the force field almost seemed to shimmer against visible light. Then, to her horror, she noticed that Oni-01 was only pushing against the Evangelion's AT field with a single hand: its left hand was firmly pushing against the invisible energy that its rival was emitting, but in its right hand, lifted high above it as if it was holding a bowl it was trying not to spill, stood Ritsuko and Misato, desperately balancing and trying not to fall off the massive, and yet all-too precariously small, palm of its hand.
To her amazement, though, Shinji managed to force his hand through. With a single, fluid motion, he pinched the entry plug and pulled it clean out of the Evangelion's spine, causing it to finally stop thrashing as he carefully lowered his other hand, letting the two college friends cross over to the plug. Ritsuko began forcing the door open as Misato lagged behind for a moment, flashing what looked like a peace sign towards Shinji before going to help. Even at such a distance, her heroism shone bright.
Reimu hadn't even realized that the buggy had stopped, but when she looked forward, Reisen had parked the thing and was looking onto the two titans with just as much apprehension as the shrine maiden. Her apprehension wasn't just out of fear, like Reimu's, there was a different emotion colouring her stormy expression. One Reimu couldn't really place. She felt odd about just remaining quiet, though. "They're going to be okay."
Reisen's expression didn't improve, although she at least let her shoulders slump in reflief. "Mankind has a way of always pulling through. I suppose that's how they survived a world of youkai for as long as they did, at least before they got their technology."
And started building Onis of their own. Reimu looked back towards the two titans. It was hard to see with the distance, but Rei could be seen, being held up by Ritsuko and Misato both. She was unharmed, if likely shaken. Technology alone had gotten man this far, but it had also nearly killed that girl today. It may have killed a lot more people if it started bashing its head on the conference hall.
As always, the world outside was so tiresome. She wanted to go home.
o0o
"Ritsuko Akagi."
It wasn't good to be back in Gehirn… "TOUHOU". Doctor Akagi had long since made peace with the fact she'd never come back here, and come to accept that her abilities were better off utilized in her own company, making her own Evangelion units without any of the nonsense that Gendo was so insistent on. When she'd left, taking a lot of talent with her both through her personal exit and that of several loyal scientists and technicians, she assumed she'd eventually outstrip Gendo's company, making up for the handicap with their technical know-how and the lucky inheritance of Unit Alpha's core and pilot Langley-Soryuu. They could have recovered, they nearly had, and they would've been able to challenge the Angels all on their own if the activation of Unit-beta, Rei's Evangelion, just went right.
She wanted to die.
"We commend you on your quick thinking and professional bravery in a time of crisis, however we are afraid that we are disappointed with your Oni's performance." They aren't called that.
"Yes, it was tragic. We appreciate your efficiency and proper budgeting, but none of that matters if your own Onis must be bailed out by TOUHOU's." She could have handled it. If Asuka wasn't in Germany-
"NERV has already stretched the budget of the Human Instrumentality Committee quite thin. Nations starved themselves to build NERV's answer to TOUHOU. Unfortunately, when that answer ends up like this, what are we to do?" Give her more time.
But, of course, she didn't answer. She didn't say a word. This wasn't an opportunity for Ritsuko Akagi to defend herself, the performance of her Evangelion was indefensible. This was a dressing-down, a tongue lashing and an embarrassment for the sake of the Instrumentality Committee's egos. To shift the blame on her. This was simply the last moments of NERV, as the Committee decided what to do with it. With her.
Her eyes drifted to Fuyutsuki, who was just standing there, unwilling to speak up as the rest of the council fell over themselves trying to decide the next steps. The old professor had always been Ritsuko's staunchest ally in the Committee, a boon that had let NERV not only survive but get this far. Therefore, Fuyutsuki's forlorn expression said all that it needed to. This truly wasn't something NERV could recover from.
And then, it was Keel's time to speak. "I'm afraid the United Nations will have to pull all funding. While we will not be taking any actions to close NERV ourselves, we believe it is in your best interest to seek to be reabsorbed into your rival company. This is for the best, Akagi. We have barely any time left."
A light flicked on behind her, revealing a tall, looming figure. Just a hologram, but it felt all too present as it moved to practically be on top of her. She didn't even have to turn to know that it was Gendo Ikari, who spoke.
"We have ensured that if you were to rejoin TOUHOU, that NERV's assets will be transferred to us seamlessly, and that the vast majority of salaries, including your own, will be matched."
Like she was worried about salary. Like she wasn't worried about the madhouse that Gendo was running, and the parade of one hundred demons that made up significant parts of its staff. Like she didn't know what was coming next, and how chaotic the knot of fantastical and all-too-real would become once you included the true power that the Evangelions- she'd never call them anything else- had within themselves.
And yet, like she had a choice in the matter. She'd just lost her last chance to have a choice in the matter, in fact: It was either this, or getting to sit back and watch the world end. If she was lucky. There was always the possibility that she just knew too damn much to be left alive.
Even as the words felt like acid in her throat, she managed to spit out something along the lines of "I'm willing to talk."
o0o
"Yawn… good morning."
Misato woke up around the same time every day she didn't have work, which had to be lauded. That time was usually far after sunrise, which didn't have to be lauded, and even at that calling this 'awake' was a stretch. She was just barely visible as she passed the open doorway to their dining room, simply crossing into the kitchen and, of course, its beer-loaded fridge.
Such was the morning routine. As per usual, Shinji and Cirno were already up, as was the sun. Things had gone back to normal, at least.
The woman flopped down to their dining room table in her loose shrine-maiden outfit, as Shinji stared at her with mild annoyance. She either intentionally ignored it or simply just didn't notice it. "What's… for breakfast, Shinji?"
"Miso soup, just like the samurai eat."
That was a bit of a barb. Misato had obviously compared herself to a samurai before, but they were also out of rice. She didn't pick up on it, and greedily slurped it up. "Say, do I need to drive you to school?"
"N-NO! No, it's fine, Misato… I'll go alone."
Although, when he finally reached the train to go alone, thinking about nothing of note on the walk to its station, he found he wasn't. For once, he was sat aside from a familiar face as the bullet train began its journey to meet up with Tokyo-3's main metro.
"Sanae?"
"Yep. I had to get something in Gensokyo, sorry for not dropping by."
"It's so early though…" But she simply shrugged. Was Reimu even awake this early, or had she just trespassed? Shinji found himself not wanting the answer to that question.
"What's with the expression by the way? You seem so dour."
Although Shinji wanted to deflect, Sanae had a way of staring into you curiously in such a way that made you want to spill your heart out. Maybe that's why she was such a good class rep? "It's just Misato. She's such a slob all the time… the other day, we had this 'important' mission with TOUHOU, and she acted really professional, but she really never changes at home."
"Hm. Sounds like she's comfortable with you seeing her like that."
"Maybe a little too comfortable…"
"Well… it's better than the alternative. Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako used to be uncomfortable with letting their masks slip around me, and although it can be annoying, it's way better when they do. It means we accepted eachother like family, right?"
Shinji went to respond to that, but when the words got through to him, he suddenly got very quiet. Sanae let a tired smile creep across her face as she leaned back into her seat, as Shinji looked down at the floor in contemplation.
"Family…"