Neon Senshi Evangelion

Ten

Naoko Akagi felt acid churn in her guts as she watched the Evangelions, the massive humanoid fighting machines that she had helped develop, and which were ultimately taken from her. The older woman clenched her hand, fighting her annoyance, then took a steadying breath. This wasn't the time to let her anger control her.

Turning away from the window Naoko walked to the control center for Jet Alone and nodded to Shingo. "Are we ready to assist Misato?" she asked him grimly. The fact that they were relying on NERV to save them made the whole situation even worse, somehow.

Shingo and Maya Ibuki were pouring over plans for Jet Alone, having pretty much taken over the communications terminal. "I think so," Shingo said, "or at least I think we're ready to guide her in shutting down Jet Alone."

Maya nodded, "I think we're ready. The only issue that concerns me is how the computer system will react to our actions."

Naoko frowned at the implied criticism of her work, but she had to admit it was justified. After all it was her AI that was out of control, coupled with a piece of technology borrowed from Aperture Science. "I've provided shutdown codes that should work," she answered, "but I will admit that things may not go as expected."

"Comforting," Shingo sighed, rubbing at his tired eyes. He picked up a headset and put it on, calmly saying, "Testing, testing, are you reading me?"

Misato replied instantly, "Yes, we're getting ready to move out. I just had to argue with the pilots about this a bit."

Shingo leaned forward a bit as he said, "I still think I should go. Our company made this mess, I'd like a chance to fix it."

"Sorry to be rude, but you're a desk jockey," Misato answered kindly, "if this goes horribly badly you're in no shape to survive it."

"I guess so," Shingo sighed.

Kodama Horaki did her best to hide her relief, knowing her boss would have put himself on the line if he could. Selfishly, she didn't want the object of her crush in danger. "Do you want me to go for coffee?" she offered quietly.

"I think we may need it," Naoko admitted, "we were up hours preparing, and now that something has gone wrong..."

"Will do," Kodama nodded, faintly touched at how polite Naoko was. Normally she was pretty snarly with anyone younger or better looking than she was.

Shingo watched the purple skinned Evangelion pick Misato up, cradling her carefully in it's hand, then it and the blue coloured one moved out. "We're setting out," Misato reported unnecessarily, "keep me updated on what the Jet Alone computer is doing."

"Will do," Maya nodded as she donned her own set of headphones.

"Not that this is making much sense," Naoko noted with a scowl as she monitored the Jet Alone computers. The system was sophisticated but not designed to be intelligent, exactly. They had not wanted a computer improvising, after all. But the interaction of her mainframe and the Core seemed to have... awakened it, somewhat.

"Where am I? What's this? Oooh, what's that!" and so on was coming from the computers in a constant stream of annoyance.

The two Evangelions set off, and against her will Naoko was struck by the power and grace of the machines. Yes, she suspected they were some kind of abomination against god and man, but they were still incredible. She switched to mobile cameras to watch them race off, the power cables unspooling behind them as they went after Jet Alone.

"Will the cables reach far enough to let them catch up to Jet Alone?" Shingo asked curiously.

"No, no where near really," Maya noted as they monitored the telemetry from Jet Alone, "but once the cables disconnect they'll have boosted the Evangelion's operating time significantly."

"Three minutes," Naoko said flatly.

Maya gave her a look then sighed. "More than ten, if they're careful with power consumption," she answered, "we've improved the batteries a bit."

"Humph," Naoko grunted.

Shingo hid a smile even as Kodama returned with a tray with several coffee mugs on it. "I ran into Caroline," she told them, "she's keeping Cave occupied writing press releases about the incident. She thinks she can keep him off our backs until we're done."

"Thank god," Shingo sighed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The two Evangelions ran along, retracing the route that Jet Alone had taken, through the ruins of Old Tokyo and on to the broken highways. As Misato crouched in Unit-01's hand she once again found herself feeling oddly calm, despite charging into a potential life or death situation.

"You okay?" Shinji's voice came over the Evangelion's external speakers.

"I'm fine!" Misato called as the shape of Jet Alone appeared ahead of them, lumbering along, "Just catch that thing!"

It was odd. Misato KNEW she should be terrified. She was being held in the hand of a giant robot, about to board another giant robot and attempt to get it under control. Yet she was eerily calm, other than the screaming terror she had felt earlier. But once she got past that something just... clicked. And she was ready, or at least ready as she's ever be.

"Jet Alone has spotted something of interest, it's diverting course slightly," Shingo reported, "that'll delay it a few minutes."

"Thanks," Misato answered. Once again she was struck by how familiar the guy sounded. She had brushed it off with joke earlier, teasing him that he was trying to pick her up. But there was something about him that made her think she had known him.

Of course, THAT didn't mean anything. Misato had been hit with a even stronger feeling of familiarity when she met Rei and Shinji as babies. And how could that be possible? Unless you believed in that reincarnation crap, or something...

Misato shook herself as the power cables popped free, having reached their limit. They had gotten them damn close to Jet Alone, so that was something. But unless they could re-hook up the cables they just had ten minutes or so of operating life to stop Jet Alone.

As they got neared Misato took in the scale of the damn thing. As large as the Evangelions themselves it walked among the wreckage of the cities, matching the height of many tall buildings. It still looked awkward with it's carrot like body, but it also moved with fair dexterity and confidence, human-like arms swinging as it's triangular head moved about.

"All right, are we clear on the plan?" Misato asked.

"What plan there is," Rei replied dryly, "I try to restrain it, Shinji gets you on board then we hold it down until it shuts down."

"Hey, it's a great plan," Misato protested.

"Don't argue, please," Shinji sighed as the two war machines neared the seemingly aimlessly wandering Jet Alone.

Rei moved in first, Unit-00 grappling with Jet Alone Surprisingly the robot did better than Misato expected, though she really shouldn't have been surprised. It was heavier than the Evangelion, and it's mass provided some advantages. Rei braced herself in front of Jet Alone, slowing it even as Shinji did his part.

Misato clung to the massive thumb of Unit-01 as Shinji got close to Jet Alone, searching the side of the robot for the access port. Once he saw it Shinji carefully guided Misato as close to the surface as he could, while avoiding squishing her. Misato stood up, balancing on Unit01's palm, then leaped off onto Jet Alone's shoulder.

Misato was glad her uniform didn't include high-heeled boots as she grabbed at a ladder, her boots skidding a bit on the metallic surface. She held on as Jet Alone wobbled, struggling against Unit-00, then watched as Unit-01 joined in the efforts to restrain it.

"Sensors show you're on board, correct?" Maya's voice came over her headset.

Misato nodded as she carefully moved forward towards the waiting hatch. "Yes," she confirmed, "and I'm making my way to the access hatch."

"You'll need a code," Shingo jumped in to warn her, "do not try the door without it or you will be shocked."

"Got it," Misato reached the door as she said, "what's the code?"

Naoko rattled it off, then the door opened with a soft pop of equalizing pressure. "There is a hallway straight ahead of you," she instructed, "at the end there will be a ladder going straight up. That will take you to primary control."

"Understood," Misato said as she hurried down the slightly small passageway. "How is the reactor on this thing?"

"Readings are all green," Shingo noted. "At least that isn't going wrong."

As Misato climbed the ladder she listened to Shinji and Rei struggling with Jet Alone. Both kids were trying their damnest not todamage it, both because it was valuable and because Misato was in it. Personally Misato was tempted to suggest they just shoot the legs off this thing, but she had been overruled by Yui. Bad publicity, if they crippled their rival.

Huffing and puffing a bit Misato finally reached the top of the ladder, and with one hand turned the leaver and pushed the hatch up. She felt a slight shock, like static electricity, but ignored it as she climbed up into the control room.

"Hi there!" the annoyingly chirpy voice declared as Misato entered. "Are you here to help with the tests? Is that a gun you're carrying? Why are there electromagnetic fields around you?"

The control room had a command chair (apparently unused), controls and banks of computers, covered with glowing lights and switches. A monitor screen filled the front portion of the room, and on it were Unit-01 and 02, whom were still struggling to stop Jet Alone from advancing.

Ignoring the computer's chirpy questions Misato activated her radio and asked, "Okay, I'm in. Now what?"

"Get to the main terminal and type in the shutdown codes," Shingo said. He waited for her to confirm she was in position then rattled them off.

Misato's figured flew across the keyboard, then a shutdown countdown started. "Okay, I think it's...," she started. Then the countdown stopped.

"But I don't want to shutdown," the cheery computer noted, "there's so many interesting things to see."

'Oh crap,' Misato thought, even as similar responses came over the radio. Her thoughts raced as she tried to come up with a solution, knowing they were getting nearer and nearer to populated areas.

Then Rei came over the radio, "Patch me through to the computer."

Misato raised her eyebrows even as she hooked up the communications device to the main panel, "What are you going to do, talk it down?"

"Yes, actually," Rei shot back.

In fact, Rei was as good as her word, talking the 'Curiosity Core' as Caroline called it into detaching from Jet Alone to explore more effectively. With it's agreement Misato shut Jet Alone down, just in time for the Evangelion's batteries to run out.

"Well, this is awkward," Shinji sighed, the three standing outside their machines as the sun dipped below the horizon.

"Wow!" the round computer noted as Rei dutifully carried it around.

To be continued...