Chapter 10: Monument of Humankind

Of course, as in all things, there was inevitably going to be competition over what would defend the world from the Angels. The Evangelion had its place, but it was a place carved out by the singularity of its existence. Plenty tried to offer an alternative. Most failed.

Then someone got much closer than anyone had before. So someone had to step in and intervene.

- Where I've Been, 32nd Entry

Tokyo-3, May 6th, 2015

Life, much to Shinji's relief, had settled into what could be called a 'stable pattern'. Giant monster attacks notwithstanding, at the very least.

He would wake up at about 5:00, ensure that Penpen was fed his usual bass, one of Misato's more costly expenses, before doing some light housework. His areas, unsurprisingly, needed little work, allowing him to spend a little time on Misato's areas that needed some more attention than she gave them. Then, he began a rather simple breakfast, toast with eggs and shredded potatoes for both himself and Misato before preparing his lunch for school.

It was around this time at 6:30, on a day much like any other, that Misato, as usual, stumbled into the kitchen in her nightclothes, rubbing her bleary eyes. "G'morning, Shinji," she said as she grabbed her breakfast and a beer from the fridge.

"Good morning, Misato," he replied as she sat down at the table and cracked open her beverage of choice.

As usual, she took a long, long drink of it, finishing it off with a contented sigh, somehow more awake than she'd been before her beer. "There we go," she said, her smile equally content. "Ready for today, Shinji?"

Shinji blinked for a moment. What…? That's right. Parent visitation day was today.

"I suppose I am," Shinji replied with a slight shrug. "Not having someone coming isn't the best, but I'll manage."

Misato blinked. "Didn't I tell you?" she said somewhat incredulously. "I'll be there for it."

Shinji's eyes went wide for a moment before he blushed slightly. "Is that so?"

Misato was positively beaming as she nodded. "Of course! I'm taking care of you, so I've gotta come. Besides, it's part of the job, so I might as well have fun with it."

Shinji concealed his slight grimace with a drink from his coffee cup as Misato continued. "And hey, I'm sure that your schoolmates would love to learn a little more about the daring, beautiful Operations Director of NERV."

In this, Shinji saw an opening, the grimace that he'd covered becoming a slight smile. "Like the fact that you take three days to get to some cleaning and consider beer a well-balanced breakfast?"

Misato paused as she ate her toast, the slice hanging from her mouth for a moment as she narrowed her eyes before taking it out. "Now how much of that is you, and how much of that is Daniel?" she asked.

In that moment, all bluster left Shinji as he blushed. "A little more Daniel than me, really," he nearly mumbled.

Misato grinned. "Well, I like it," she decided. "You're in your shell too much. You should get out of it more!"

'Easier said than done,' Shinji thought rather glumly. Even having lived with Daniel, who encouraged him in many ways to do what Misato suggested, it was a mighty struggle to not simply let things slide off him. It was so easy, after all. He didn't even need to do anything about it.

Then, the doorbell rang, Shinji standing and grabbing his lunch as he stifled a slight jump. He still wasn't used to people coming to walk to school with him. Though he suspected they were here for more than just that.

"Alright," he said as he packed his lunch and schoolbag, "I'm off."

"I'll see you soon, Shinji," Misato called back in a sing-song voice.

Shinji made his way over to the door, and opened it, revealing Suzuhara and Aida. Or, as Suzuhara insisted, Toji and Kensuke.

"Morning, Ikari!" Toji and Kensuke said before leaning in slightly.

"Good morning, Ms. Katsuragi!" they said cheerfully. "We'll be going now!"

Misato, for her part, waved from the kitchen. "Have a good day!" she called cheerfully.

Toji and Kensuke, for their part, grinned as they continued to look almost longingly down the hallway, Shinji finally sighing and rolling his eyes. "Come on, let's go!" he said only somewhat insistently.

With that, they made their way to school, Shinji trailing slightly behind the duo, chiming in every once in a while. Strange though it might have been at the moment, it was… nice.

In time, Shinji was looking out the window of Class 2-A's room, watching as the massive blue crystal, cracked across its surface and a point of its form warped and blackened from the point of impact from his shot, was surrounded by massive cranes, pieces of it scavenged like an apple by ants. It was a striking sight as the class waited patiently for the first adult to arrive.

The screeching of tires told him he already knew who was going to be coming first, looking down as a familiar blue car managed to stop mostly within the parking space it tried to occupy. The noise of the car was replaced by several students moving over to the windows.

Foremost among them, nearly shoving him out of the way, were Toji and Kensuke. While Kensuke leveled the camera that seemed nearly attached to him, Toji brought still more to the window with a simple proclamation: "She's here!"

The woman in question, Shinji decided, cleaned up rather nicely from the rather slovenly, somewhat scant nightclothes she'd worn at breakfast, Misato sporting a dark pencil skirt, white shirt, tan jacket, white, strapped heels, and a cool pair of sunglasses. Looking up at the classroom, she took off her shades with one hand, using it to flash a peace sign, a smile accompanying it.

Toji and Kensuke, of course, couldn't get enough of this. "Wow…" Toji said. "Shinji's got a babe like that as a guardian? She's amazing!"

"You really think so?" Shinji asked archly.

"C'mon, Ikari!" Toji replied with a mighty sigh. "The fact that she's NERV's Operations Director really doesn't matter that much to you?"

As Toji continued to exposit on what he considered the great qualities of Misato, Shinji looked over at Hikari, the student president, with a somewhat sympathetic look, Hikari glancing over at him with a slight grimace of her own before returning to looking over at Toji. Shinji may have been rather withdrawn from the rest of the class, but he still had eyes. It seemed, however, that Toji didn't. Or at least didn't have them pointed in the right direction.

Speaking of the direction Toji's eyes were looking in, Shinji couldn't help but wonder what she'd talk to the class about. So much was wrapped up in mystery and classified info and what he was sure was probably the tightest budget any world-spanning, world-saving organization could have.

'What was it Dr. Akagi said?' he mused. 'Man cannot live by Eva alone?'

And even what little he saw, he could tell, was only the surface of what secrets he was sure NERV held.

. . .

Commander Gendo Ikari found this plane ride something of a relief, all told. Yet another conference that he had to attend in person to try and wrangle the necessary funds to clear the Angel Ramiel away from the city in a timely manner while maintaining the Geofront's current readiness level was now behind them. Though frugality was a virtue, here it was simply an annoyance.

But if frugality was the price to pay for their current security, and the security of the Committee's plan, then it was simply another obstacle to surmount. And surmount it he would.

This part of the plane's cabin was empty, Gendo having taken a window seat to contemplate how close this chariot of fire was to passing through the thin barrier that separated this world from what lay beyond.

Then, the door behind him opened, and he heard footsteps approaching him, pausing as he caught the reflection of a brown suit standing beside him.

"Excuse me," the man said. "Since we're sharing the flight, do you mind if I sit here?"

Gendo remained silent, the man accepting his tacit permission as he sat in the seat next to him. "So," the man began, his tone conversational, "the increased budget for sample collection and clean-up managed to pass quite easily, didn't it?"

"The Committee's main concern is for its survival," Gendo replied, which was entirely true from the great majority of people's point of view. "When their lives are at stake, they won't be stingy."

"Well, they were adamant enough that there would be no more Angels after Second Impact," the man replied with a shrug. "I suppose they must be just as adamant now."

"Also," the man said after a pause, "I do have two more pieces of good news. The U.S. has approved the budget for the final construction steps for both Unit-03 and Unit-04. As well, all the members of the United Nations except the U.S. have approved the budget for Unit-06. It seems it will only be a matter of time before the U.S. caves in, anyway. You know how allergic America is to unemployment, after all."

"And your country?" Gendo asked.

"Unit-08's construction facility is spinning up near Chengdu as we speak," the man replied. "But that isn't the most pressing issue at the moment, from what I've heard tell. With 03 and 04 so close to completion, they still haven't found pilots for them."

"The Americans will find one," Gendo said. "With the return of the Angels and a population of military families from the Impact Wars, a reliable candidate will be chosen."

He had kept an eye on such things, as Commander of NERV-HQ and, nominally, the entire organization. While Unit-03 was still early in preliminary searches, Unit-04 already had a promising lead in the daughter of one of the engineers. One Marie Vincennes, as he recalled.

"Anything to avoid another Impact," the man replied.

With that, the cabin fell silent, leaving Gendo to ponder on other, more present matters as he looked out over the massive red stain that now covered the bottom of this world.

. . .

3 Days Later

Shinji went through the motions of the morning, as he'd done every day since he'd adjusted to his arrival. Toast, fish for Penpen, school lunch…

As he heard Misato slide open the door to come into the kitchen and looked up to see her, however, he found himself somewhat taken aback by the sight before him.

Instead of leaning on the door seemingly hung over in her nightclothes, she stood tall and serious, dressed in what looked like a far more official uniform than he'd seen her wear in the Geofront, a black double-breasted jacket with maroon accents accompanying a long skirt that went a little past her knees.

Even Penpen seemed somewhat taken aback by the sight as Misato nodded. "Good morning, Shinji."

"Uh… good morning, Misato," Shinji managed to reply as she sat down and ate her breakfast, bereft of her usual beer.

"What has you dressed up like this?" Shinji ventured after a moment.

"I have some business that I have to attend to in Old Tokyo," Misato replied as she finished eating and stood from the table. "It's likely going to be an all-day thing, so I've set aside some money you can use for delivery."

As she finished speaking, the doorbell rang, and Misato nodded as she made her way to the door, Shinji following after her. "That would be one part of my company for this trip," she said with a slight smile.

Shinji only wondered for a moment who she might be talking about before the door opened, revealing Captain Flynn in a dress and jacket that seemed to evoke the open sea, various well-blended shades of blue accompanied by a white jacket.

She looked over at Shinji and smiled slightly. "Good morning, Shinji. Doing well?"

Shinji nodded, and Flynn's smile grew as Misato finished pulling on a pair of low heels. "Good. I can only hope we'll do the same with our little meeting."

'A meeting?' Shinji wondered. 'All the way in Old Tokyo? What for?'

"Please, don't remind me," Misato said, weariness finally cracking her professional facade as she rolled her eyes.

After a moment, she looked back at Shinji. "See you later."

With that, Shinji and Penpen remained alone in the apartment as the door closed behind Misato and Flynn.

Shinji looked over at Penpen after a moment. "Does this happen often?"

"Wark," was his only answer.

"Well, whatever else…" Shinji replied, "I hope she had some spare fish for days like this."

"Wark," Penpen said again, nodding in an almost eerie fashion as he turned around to waddle back towards the kitchen.

. . .

It was a long ride to the new coastline of the nation, and Misato watched out the window and regarded the ruins of what had once been a crown jewel of the islands. Even more than a decade of disrepair still allowed many towers, stripped and skeletal, to rise from what had become a vast, somewhat deep bay.

Old Tokyo had been given a new nickname in recent years; the Eastern Atlantis. 'How fitting,' she mused. 'Hubris did a number on us, too.'

"I've never seen Tokyo from this close," Eleanor remarked quietly, breaking Misato's reverie as she looked across Ritsuko, who sat between them.

"It's one of the sobering reminders of what we've lost already due to Second Impact," Ritsuko replied, her gaze intent on a laptop that she typed on. "And what we might lose if we fail to stop the Angels."

"You don't have to look hard for other examples, too," Misato said. "New Delhi, Washington DC, Brasilia, Most of the Middle East… some days, I don't think we need the Angels' help with what we did to some of these bustling metropolises."

It was silent for a moment before Ritsuko glanced up and out the window. "We're almost there."

The others followed her gaze to a building complex that was situated close to the shoreline, a tall tower accompanied by what looked like a circular bunker set into the earth. Other, smaller buildings accompanied it, including the rather crowded runway where their tilt-jet craft would be landing.

"Why here of all places?" Misato wondered aloud. "Surely, there's less concern about radiation elsewhere."

"Maybe they wanted someplace to quickly bury any radioactive materials in case something went wrong," Eleanor postulated. "After all, several dozen meters of water is a good stopgap until you can safely fish it out."

"What a way to desecrate a grave like this," Misato said with a slight sneer. "I can't help but wonder what the JSSDF has to say about the project."

"There's no sign the Strategic Self-Defense Force is involved here," Ritsuko replied. "As far as anyone can tell, JHCI is operating on its own."

"That explains how they're getting away with all this," Misato said grimly.

Eleanor sucked her teeth for a moment. "Private companies with no public oversight. On a scale as big as we work on, it's a ready-bake recipe for disaster."

Misato caught Ritsuko's momentary glance at Eleanor as they came in to land, and couldn't help but wonder slightly. NERV was going to do something about this… right?

. . .

The main symposium space that Japan Heavy/Chemical Industry Consortium had set up was a grand display, several tables filled with the world's biggest investors, company heads, and heads of state arrayed before a high podium, a banner on the wall behind it proudly proclaiming 'We Celebrate as JA Prepares to Defend the World!'.

One table in the center, made to seat almost two dozen people, played host to only three, the center marker reading 'NERV Party'. None made their way over to them. A state of affairs that Misato was perfectly fine with.

At the pulpit's center, behind a lectern, stood the man in charge of the whole spectacle, one Shiro Tokita. Dressed in a deep green suit and brown tie, with dark hair slicked back and intent brown eyes that scanned the audience, the thin-faced man had just explained, in brief, the purpose and plan for what was to be their latest product's final test.

"Again," he said in English, the lingua franca of the meeting, after a round of polite clapping began to settle down, "Japan Heavy/Chemical Industry thanks you for coming here today to witness this test and demonstration. You are all invited to watch with us from the control room as the test begins, but if anyone has any questions, I would be happy to answer them."

Misato glanced over to catch Ritsuko's hand going up. "Here!"

As Ritsuko stood, grabbing a microphone each table had been provided, Tokita nodded. "Ah, the renowned Dr. Ritsuko Akagi!" he said. "We are honored by your presence here."

"I have a few questions in mind that I would like to ask," Ritsuko replied.

"By all means, ask away."

"As you've stated, the unit contains an internal nuclear engine," Ritsuko began, "sourced from designs for American nuclear aircraft carriers."

"That is correct," Tokita replied. "And we believe that it is its greatest feature. With proper fueling, the Jet Alone can run continuously for 150 days before returning to its berth."

"I do not believe that placing such a device in a vehicle intended for close combat is conscionable in any way," Ritsuko said firmly.

"It's certainly better than a 'decisive weapon' that can only run for five minutes if it isn't plugged in," Tokita retorted with a slight smile. "And with our remote systems, we risk no undue strain on any pilots that might go into battle. A far more humane strategy, as far as we're concerned."

'Ah, come on, Ritsuko,' Misato thought with a grimace, 'you're just making a scene. Please…'

Before Ritsuko could continue, however, Eleanor stood, placing a hand on Ritsuko's shoulder. "May I?" she asked with a slight smile.

Ritsuko looked over at her, shocked for only a moment, before she nodded and handed the microphone off, sitting down.

Tokita was bemused, more than anything. "And… who might you be, madam?"

"Captain Eleanor Flynn, Head of the Engineering Division of NERV-HQ," Eleanor began. "I work on those 'decisive weapons' personally, and though they are now thoroughly classified, I have degrees in mechanical engineering with a focus on nuclear engineering and in mechatronics from Carnegie Mellon. So, let's talk. Engineer to engineer."

"What questions do you have?" Tokita asked.

"You've noted your use of a nuclear engine to power Jet Alone," Eleanor began. "What extra safety precautions have you taken above and beyond a regular nuclear reactor to ensure that the unit being damaged in combat does not result in more casualties than the battle itself? With what experience we have with massive anomalous creatures, more than a few prefer the sort of combat that leaves their opponents in pieces."

Where there was something of an air of amusement while Ritsuko spoke, the room was now nearly silent. Misato couldn't help but be somewhat satisfied as Tokita's cool demeanor cracked just a little. "The reactor is armored in the same proprietary armor as the rest of the unit, developed alongside Britain's MVEE as an upgrade to their already prestigious Chobham armor. As well, emergency rods within the unit itself, using gravity, can quench the reactor in a matter of seconds in the event of a reactor breach."

"And what about the long-range energy attacks displayed by the first and third creatures?" Eleanor said pointedly. "We can tell you from experience that even our proprietary armor blend of tungsten alloy melts quite quickly under the heat and pressure of such attacks. What guarantees do you have that a ranged attack won't turn one of your machines into a walking bomb?"

Tokita's smile began to fade. "Even in the event of such an attack, we can guarantee that our autonomous units won't go out of our control and go on a rampage at the drop of a hat," he said, perhaps a little more sharply than he intended. "A weapon that cannot be controlled doesn't have any use at all."

"Make no mistake, Mr. Tokita," Eleanor said cooly, "we have our measures to contain such losses of control. Including the five-minute timer that you so confidently consider a bug instead of a feature. The Evangelion is in a constant state of refinement, with what I'm sure is what you've seen being a testbed combat unit. In time, and once we've ironed out all the kinks, we will expand our units' unplugged operation times."

"Even still," Tokita said pointedly, "exposing such pilots as you've decided to train is… suboptimal, shall we say. It was always going to be the more ethical route to use an automated guidance and operating system instead of flawed, potentially slow human reaction speeds."

Where Misato had been largely blase about the revelation of Unit-01's rampage against Sachiel — something like that was always going to leak, despite best efforts — she now was far more alert at Tokita's insinuation of their pilots. What did he, and JHCI, know? And how would they use such potential blackmail?

But Eleanor continued undeterred. "Pilots may be an unfortunate risk, but what guarantees do you have that any… let's call them security threats can't hack the Jet Alone's systems and shut it down at a critical time? Or, perhaps, turn it against its user?"

Misato's wondering deepened as she saw, for the briefest of moments, Ritsuko tense up, lost as it might have been to everyone else in the room. Unmistakable, however, was Tokita freezing for far longer than anyone was comfortable with.

"Our coding and operating systems are completely proprietary," Tokita finally said. "No other machine in the world is programmed in the way Jet Alone is."

"Even so, how long can that be guaranteed?" Eleanor asked archly. "Cyberwarfare may still be in its nascency, but it is a credible method of attacking one's enemies. One that if it is not protected against, will likely be the downfall of unprepared nations, let alone a massive combat unit. As much strain as our human pilots may undergo in combat situations, I like to believe that we take the best possible care we can of them. As sappy as it might sound, we trust the human heart to protect us against these monsters."

"The human heart…" Tokita said, only a razor's edge of derision in the words before he paused for a moment. "Anyways, Thank you for your questions and statements. These are very pertinent quandaries that our engineers not only have been working on for some time, but will continue to work on. Now, the test will be ready shortly. We'll take a short break before bringing you to the control room."

. . .

Misato couldn't help but be satisfied as she leaned against a locker that, if Tokita's drubbing of Ritsuko had gone on any longer, she'd probably be kicking in.

"Not too shabby, Eleanor," she said with a slight smile. "You really put him in his place. I don't think Tokita's going to be letting you speak again, though."

Eleanor shrugged from where she sat, leafing through one of the promotional packets that they'd been handed. "I simply asked the questions that needed to be asked. Besides, he didn't even get to talk about the AT Field."

Misato's eyes went wide. "You're kidding me. They know about the AT Field?"

"I did my own research," Eleanor replied. "Turns out, they've been working on either trying to crack the AT Field or produce something similar. Not that they've gotten very far. Either way, I'm willing to bet that if we brought it up, he'd have snidely cracked something about how it'd only be 'a matter of time'." Eleanor punctuated the statement with generous air quotes.

"He's tooting his own horn and wants to be patted on the back," Ritsuko interjected matter-of-factly as she tossed her packet in the bin. "It's pathetic, really."

"Even still, our secrets are leaking like a sieve, whether we want them to or not," Misato said pointedly. "Things like what Eleanor said mean the Intelligence Department needs to do its damn job."

"We'll get a hold of them," Ritsuko replied. "And something tells me we won't have to worry about Jet Alone for very long."

"I'll say," Eleanor replied, pausing in her packet. "It says here that they pushed this out with only 2 years of development. They can't have worked out all of the problems on a system this big."

"2 years before Angels were even revealed to be a threat?" Misato said. "How could they have…"

"Satellite imagery."

All eyes turned to Eleanor, who turned her packet to show a grainy, washed-out photo to both of them. It was a view of Antarctica. And four wings of light rising into space.

"How did they get that photo?" Ritsuko said dangerously.

"I don't know," Eleanor said. "But this is what they claim they were preparing for. They give info that matches ours far more accurately than I'm sure anyone would like to admit."

"We'll need to deal with it," Misato said firmly. "We can't have info like this going out because this bastard's company decided to parade how they're getting ready for it."

"And we will," Ritsuko said, looking at a watch before she stood and picked up her laptop bag, "after we watch this test. Excuse me for a moment."

. . .

25 minutes later, the control room screen showed the tower opening up, revealing the form of Jet Alone. It was a tan-colored thing, with red and orange highlights that reminded Misato somewhat distantly of the usual uniforms NERV used.

It was also big, bigger than the Evas, and not just in terms of height, either. It was broad-chested, its arms almost blade-like, and its hexagonal head was seemingly hunched forward and armored.

"We'll now begin the activation test for the Jet Alone," Tokita said, stationed in the control center in the back while the delegation watched the main screen and out of a set of slit windows. "There is going to be absolutely no danger involved. You can observe from those windows knowing you're perfectly safe."

With that, the control room was awash with the noise of preparation, Misato watching as what the controllers in the room called control rods slid out of its back, six of them making a spine-like display.

"Begin walk cycle!" Tokita called out.

"Roger, walk cycle, slow! Right foot forward!"

And, slowly but surely, it took a ponderous step forward, the impact rumbling through the bunker. Then again, then again, a slow march coming towards them as Misato grabbed a pair of binoculars, peering through them at the spectacle as the others followed her lead.

"Well, I'll be damned…" Misato said with a slight grin. "It actually walks. If nothing else, they can be proud of that."

"Entirely mechanical balance at such a scale," Eleanor said only somewhat in awe. "Even just the gyroscopes in that thing must be some of the most precise in the world."

Ritsuko remained silent, watching intently for… something.

And something, it seemed, happened.

An alarm buzzed behind them, and Misato tore her vision away from the sight of the still-approaching Jet Alone to see and feel the atmosphere turn.

"Something's interfering with the stop order," one of the technicians called out.

Tokita's expression became one of annoyance. "Reboot the system. The Jet Alone should stop automatically.

The call-outs that came after became more and more harried as things seemed to spiral completely out of control, Jet Alone continuing its now seemingly implacable march. One that was going to take it straight through where they were standing.

As Misato and the rest of the gathered delegates cleared out of the way, one set of words chilled her to the bone. "Reactor criticality is reaching dangerous levels! We can't quench the reactor!"

Any other words that she might have caught were smothered by the seemingly calamitous crash of Jet Alone's foot coming down in the space right where the delegation had been gathered, the other foot crashing down behind the far wall of the control room as the foot lifted, leaving dust and smoke from mangled wiring to fill the air for long moments as everyone took stock of who was alive and who might be hurt.

Misato made her way to the brand new, impromptu skylight as she coughed from the settling dust. "Man," she finally managed to say, "it looks like this robot's as badly behaved as the man who built it."

She started to make her way towards the control center in the back, approaching as one of the harried, frightened workers gave perhaps the direst proclamation thus far.

"Sir, the reactor's at risk of melting down!"

Tokita's smug expression had disappeared entirely, terror and shock filling his eyes. "This is impossible," he said quietly. "We accounted for… everything. Programmed for every contingency."

"The fact stands that we're looking at a nuclear disaster," Misato said, a loud, firm voice stilling the commotion for a vital moment.

"Well, under the circumstances," Tokita said, "we have to wait for it to stop."

"And what are the chances of that happening?" Misato asked, watching as Tokita hesitated.

In his place, another spoke up. "It's impossibly low! It would take a miracle for that to happen."

"And we don't have time for a miracle," Misato said, looking back up at Tokita and taking a step forward. "We need to get to work. Tell me how to stop this thing!"

"We've tried everything we can," Tokita said with no small amount of exasperation.

"Clearly not," Misato replied. "We can't afford to baby this thing anymore. There has to be some way to completely wipe its programming and shut it down."

Tokita balked at the idea. "That's entirely proprietary information," he began to argue. "I'm not authorized in any way to give it to you, and even if I was-"

"Then get that authorization," Misato snapped. "Now!"

Tokita visibly flinched, then hesitantly nodded. "Alright. I'll start making calls."

Misato's relief at watching Tokita pick up a nearby phone held for the first three calls. Then, as more and more were made, her relief soon began to be replaced with annoyance. 'Man… how does anything get done here with how they pass the buck?'

"Please, this is an urgent matter," Tokita said for what seemed like the umpteenth time. "Yes, yes, I have authorization from Mr. Walz and Mr. Togashi. Yes. Yes. Thank you."

With that, Tokita finally put the phone down. "Alright," he said firmly. "A written clearance order's being sent. That will make it an official operation."

'Written?' Misato thought incredulously. 'You've got to be kidding me!'

"We can't afford to wait that long!" she said aloud. "Once it melts down, it's going to be too late!"

"Where is this thing headed?" Eleanor asked one of the technicians nearby. "Has it changed its pace at all?"

The room was largely evacuated by now, the silence only broken by the rapid rattle of a keyboard. "Jet Alone is currently holding speed. Its present course is going to take it to Atsugi in about 4 hours."

Misato grimaced, but nodded. "The written order's going to take too long. From now on, we'll be acting independent of JHCI."

"But-" Tokita began.

"The moment this went out of your control, it became a national emergency!" Eleanor said sternly. "I appreciate the remarkable nature of your creation, but it must be stopped."

In the silence after, Eleanor looked at Misato. "I'll go and get Unit-01 ready to go on an intercept course."

Misato nodded. "Good. I've got some calls to make of my own, and then I've got to dress for success."

With that, Misato and Eleanor split up, Misato going back to their little side room. She caught Ritsuko following her, and the confused expression on her face.

As they reached the room, Ritsuko finally spoke. "What, exactly, are you planning to do to try and stop this thing?"

"Eleanor getting Unit-01 ready is part of it," Misato replied as she pulled her own phone out. "But if coding isn't going to stop this monster, maybe beauty can kill the beast a little more personally."

With that, she placed a call, waiting only for a moment before the other end of the line connected.

"Captain," First Lieutenant Hyuga said. "I understand there's a situation at JHCI's presentation."

"I see Eleanor beat me to the punch," Misato said with a slight grin. "Before Unit-01 gets here, I need two hazmat suits airlifted here as soon as you can get them. Nuclear grade."

. . .

"You're insane," Tokita said as he regarded the two women before him in their bulky, bulb-domed suits. "The interior emergency control room is going to be flooded with radiation at this point!"

"And yet," Misato said as she looked at Eleanor, "We'll be able to do something to slow it down, if nothing else."

Tokita grimaced but remained silent. It was broken by a crunch and spark of a console nearby as one of the technicians put a fireax through it.

"Now that the control signal's been cut off, you should be able to manually open the hatch," the technician said. "It's located on the backpack."

"Thank you," Misato said with a slight smile.

She looked back at Tokita, who had turned his back and considered the control platform. "Hope," he said quietly. "That's the password to perform a full system deletion."

"Thank you," Misato replied, equally quiet.

"Misato," Ritsuko said, "Unit-01 and its aerial carrier just landed. They're idling on the runway."

"Alright," Misato replied. "Let's not keep them waiting."

. . .

As the massive mono-wing aircraft began to lift into the air, assisted by Unit-01's AT Field, Misato sat next to Eleanor in the cramped locker room near the Evangelion. While Eleanor considered a tablet with technical data on it intently, Misato regarded Shinji, sitting as stoically as he could, in his plugsuit.

"Eleanor's shown you Jet Alone," she began. "That's our primary target. We don't have time to try and divert it elsewhere to minimize the nuclear meltdown it'll have, and while we've evacuated the towns and villages in its path, we just can't meaningfully empty out Atsugi in less than 2 hours."

"Unit-01's been fitted with an experimental F-type battery," Eleanor replied, turning the tablet over to show Shinji a diagram of a somewhat bulbous protrusion that was in Unit-01's back. "Our hope is that it manages to triple the Eva's unplugged runtime, but honestly… expect about 9 or 10 minutes of operation time instead of 5."

"Is that how long I'm expected to take to stop this thing?" Shinji asked.

"Stall it, not stop it," Misato clarified. "Your first job is to hold us, get up behind JA, and place us on its backpack. There's a hatch there we'll use to access the guts of the thing. After that, your job is to hold JA back and slow it down for as long as you can to buy us time to shut it down from the inside."

Shinji took a deep breath, fear evident in his eyes as he looked between the two women. "I'm guessing you've both been told how crazy this is, then…" he said.

Misato smiled confidently. "Yep. But as dangerous as it is, it's the best shot we have of stopping this thing without hurting anyone."

"What about you?" Shinji said challengingly. "Unit-01 might be able to use its AT Field, but being at the center of a nuclear meltdown…"

"Then I give it my best shot," Misato said. "Or else we're going to regret it for the rest of our lives."

"Target sighted," the pilot said, drawing all eyes to one of the small windows to see the figure below. Jet Alone seemed to have picked up the pace somewhat, a slow, deliberate march now having become an almost leisurely stroll.

"Once Unit-01 is free, we'll be rising to a safe altitude and circling," the pilot continued. "Good luck."

"Thank you," Misato said as she stood, retrieving the visor for her hazmat suit and putting it in place.

"Come on, Shinji. Let's go save the world."

It was only a few minutes more before the Evangelion was fully exposed to the world below, Misato and Eleanor hanging on to adhesive handles that were attached to the palm of Unit-01's right hand. "Release locks!" Misato shouted into her comlink over the whipping of the air as she felt the Evangelion she stood on hum to life.

She held on to the handle with a vice grip as she felt the arm move, Shinji being as gentle as he possibly could with Unit-01 as it put its cupped hand to its chest, the world going dark save for the bars of light allowed through massive fingers.

Then, the pylon locks slid free, and they began a fall that was far slower than Misato expected it to be, the wind whipping against her and Eleanor's helmeted faces at a dull roar, the hand tilting down and letting more light in as Unit-01 tilted to land on its feet with a thundering boom.

In a moment, they were off and beating a thunderous rhythm across the long, largely flat expanse, Misato keeping her eye on the back of Jet Alone as it continued its relentless march, Unit-01's nearly dead sprint bringing them closer and closer. With the Evangelion holding them at chest height, they still only came up to about the upper waist plate of the machine, an interesting analogue. This thing was far bigger up close than she was expecting, even for something only roughly analogous to the Eva.

Then, they began to rise, Misato glancing back as the hand went up past Unit-01's head, then forward at the top of the mech's massive backpack as the back of the Eva's palm came to rest for a brief moment.

"Now!" Misato shouted, letting go of the handle and jumping down onto the tan mech's back, Eleanor quickly following after her.

Misato looked back at Unit-01 as she keyed the connection to Shinji. "We're clear, Shinji! Once we get inside, do what you can to stall this thing."

"Got it," Shinji said, Misato appreciating the calm tone that he had as she looked over at the hatch about 6 meters away from them. "Stay safe. Both of you."

Misato looked back at Unit-01, looking it square in the eyes as she smiled and gave Shinji a peace sign.

With that, they began to make their way to the inset door near what would have been the mech's neck if it had one. Eleanor held on to one of the handles next to it as Misato tried to keep her balance while twisting and pulling the lock on the hatch free.

As the door cracked open, and Eleanor pulled it open the rest of the way, a wave of rippling heat washed over them, both women raising a hand to their face to try and stifle it as best they could.

"Damn it…" Eleanor said as she looked into the tunnel into the metal beast, lit by blood-red warning lights. "If it's that hot in there already, we've got almost no time."
As she spoke, Misato made her way into the hall, Eleanor following after her. "How hot should a nuclear reactor like this be?" she asked.

"If it's this hot," Eleanor replied as they came to a door, "then most of the moderator medium's been evaporated. Why haven't Tokita's emergency rods deployed yet?"

"Whatever coding that makes that happen must be scrambled as well," Misato said with a grimace, glancing down at a dosimeter built into her suit. 0.2 Grays.

"Eleanor?" Misato said as the door opened, the dosimeter rising to 0.4 Grays. "What's a lethal dose of radiation according to Grays?"

"Once we hit 5 Grays, we're cooked," Eleanor said as they entered the auxiliary control room, the walls lined with rows of what must have been the gravity-assisted control rods locked into place with two exposed locks.

"And what are these suits rated for?" Misato asked anxiously.

"As I recall," Eleanor said as she darted to the sole console in the center of the room, "with these specially made and hardened suits, 1.5 Grays is our comfortable limit, but we can stay for a limited time in environments up to almost 3."

As Misato glanced down again at the dosimeter, 0.7 Grays, Eleanor continued. "Try and find a tool cabinet in here, and grab the heaviest thing you can. We might need to do a little percussive maintenance. Password is 'Hope', right?"

Misato nodded as she began her search. "Yeah. I hope it works."

She looked around, finding a tool cabinet and opening it to find a selection of decently sized wrenches, feeling one's heft as she picked it up. 'I hope I can swing this hard enough.' she mused.

"Damn it."

The words, the last ones that Misato wanted to hear in a situation like this, drew her to the console, allowing her to see the flashing error screen.

"Either someone's altered the code enough to make an automated shutdown near-useless, or the radiation further in fried something important," Eleanor said. "We can't waste any time with this."

"Alright," Misato said as Eleanor dashed over to pick up another wrench, looking at the closest emergency control rod. "Look's like it's time to sink or swim."

With that, she hefted the wrench and swung at one of the restraints, trying to find some seam or edge that could split open. It was only a moment later that she heard Eleanor beginning to wail away at another of the control rods.

Time became almost meaningless, the only things on Misato's mind trying not to end up dying of radiation poisoning and getting this restraint fully open. From beyond her focus, she caught the sound of something sliding down. Eleanor must have freed one of the control rods. But one out of nearly two dozen was a drop in the bucket.

She risked a glance down at her dosimeter as the restraint she'd been working on finally broke loose. 1.1 Grays. 'Come on… come on…' she thought as she put everything she could into breaking the next restraint.

Then, before she could swing one last time, the restraint… simply released. All of them did, the control rods dropping from their berths and into the reactor.

In her surprise, the wrench Misato held slipped out of her hands as she looked around, the room going from a terrified red to a much more calming green as Eleanor set her wrench down. Her back hit the console, and she slid down to sit with a sigh of relief and exhaustion.

In a moment, Eleanor was in front of her, kneeling to regard her intently. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I just spent however long that took swinging a wrench," Misato said, her breath still heavy. "Aren't you?"

"I'll rest once I've made sure that you aren't suffering any ill effects," Eleanor said as she began a check of Misato's suit. "Radiation levels may be dropping, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. These suits weren't exactly built to be as active as we were."

"I think I'm fine," Misato said, but the words did little to assuage Eleanor. Or dispel her tiredness.

Then, she heard a crackling sound from her com-link, a voice trying to break through. "-sato? Misato? Ar- u alright?"

Misato smiled slightly. "I'll be fine, Shinji. You doing alright out there?"

"I'm alright," Shinji said. "Thank goodness you did it in time. You pulled off a miracle!"

Misato chuckled. "Something like that, yeah."

But as she clicked away from the com-link for a moment, she couldn't help but grimace a little as Eleanor finished her check-up. "Something tells me this little 'miracle' was a gift, though."

Eleanor's grimace mirrored Misato's. "And I don't think we were supposed to be involved in the 'little miracle'."

. . .

Within the fading day of the Geofront, three people stood around a desk, the only piece of furniture within a massive office, intricate twin carvings, mirrored on the ceiling and the floor, only barely visible in the blood-orange light.

"Unit-01 was recovered successfully, and the F-type portable battery showed promising results," Ritsuko said to the man sitting behind the desk, looking levelly into the inscrutable orange lenses. "Katsuragi and Flynn are undergoing standard decontamination protocols and should be cleared by the following evening."

She paused for a moment. "Despite their unintended involvement in the operation, JHCI is already hemorrhaging profits and people. They should fold by the end of the year and present no further challenge to us."

"To the contrary," Commander Ikari said, finally speaking. "Katsuragi and Flynn's involvement may have enhanced the results. Not only is JHCI discredited, but NERV agents were vital, in more ways than one, in containing and eliminating the threat. They may be wild cards, but they can be figured safely into any future plans."

Ritsuko nodded. "Yes, sir."

A part of her wondered at how Misato might react to the whole picture of what had happened. But what she didn't know hadn't killed her. And she wouldn't know anytime soon. Nothing went beyond these walls that the commander didn't expressly permit.

Everything would return to normal. And that would be that.