[Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 20:
Victory - Success Over an Enemy in Battle
Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the characters from Ranma 1 / 2, Neon Genesis
Evangelion, Ah My Goddess, or the Lovecraft Cycle involved in these
stories. And I'll put them back when I've finished with them.
Enhanced by a suggestion from Bernard Korzeniewicz and his wife,
any failure to carry it off is mine.
C&C , MSTs are welcome
E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net
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ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/Sic-Semper-Morituri/
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/ftp/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/type/Sic-Sem
per-Morituri
(these are the original versions)
What has gone before:
About Book 11, Akane and Soun Tendo throw Ranma out of the house,
Nabiki, in the guise of a wish, follows him. They meet EVA pilots Shinji
Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Soryu Langley and Jeffrey Davis.
Asuka and Shinji view Rei's dreamscape, Shinji repairs his
dreamscape, he again visits Rei's dreamscape, then temporarily links it
with his, Rei is overjoyed to tears by this.
Asuka and Jeff begin deriving the equations to manipulate the AT
field. They also reveal their experiences in the Ranmaverse dream, Ranma
is happy, shocked and furious as the dreams are revealed. Asuka suddenly
solves the equations, and drags Shinji and Rei out to celebrate
Search and Rescue training continues, Nabiki performs an simulated
rescue.
Ranko continues her nightmare, rescued from an ambush by her mental
impressions of Rei and Jeff, by Rei rapid-firing artillery.
Ranma defeats a kidnapping, and is nearly shot by the `hostage`.
Ritsuko and Jeff `shoot` at him to teach a respect for firearms. Nabiki
reacts violently to this, Ranma rescues Jeff from her. She then ashamedly
discovers they were using blanks.
Ranma uses his new ability to mimic to fool Jeff and Nabiki. Then
uses Nabiki's own self-illusions against her.
The Russians' situation is revealed.
While Ranko, Hiroko, Nabiki, and Jeff attend a ballet, Gendo attends
dinner with NERV Japan. During intermission, Hiroko discusses the
relationships among the pilots. NERV Japan is murdered right in front of
Gendo.
Asuka has to clean-up after a drunken Misato.
Both Ranma and Nabiki have the differences between where they are and
what they're used to is very different.
SEELE summons the Crawling Chaos, sending it to `investigate` NERV,
Nyarlathotep taunts Mara, who rushes off to warn Belldandy and her sisters.
Gendo leaves the defeat of the Outer God to the pilots.
25 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; With a blameless man
you will show yourself blameless;
26 With the pure you will show yourself pure; And with the devious you will
show yourself shrewd.
Psalm Chapter 18 Verse 25-26
Chapter 20
May 27, 1947
Uriah the Hittite
Ranma paced the pilot's locker room, they'd retracted the partition
that divided it into the girls' and boys' sides, into the ceiling. He
looked at two faces in particular, stormy Asuka Langley, balmy Raccoon.
"I don't want to do this," Ranma admitted, the entire idea terrified
him. He wanted to run to the EVA bay, climb aboard Unit 04 and lead it
back here to attack. He didn't care if it would destroy him, it made more
sense than the wild plan Asuka and Raccoon had put forward.
Two hands caught him as he paced, turned him to face Raccoon, "You
can't feel it - " Ranma rubbed his hands on his arms.
"That's what you think," Raccoon told him, "I _can_ feel it. It's
like someone's pulled my skin loose, and poured it full of something
flaming and slimy," he grimaced, "I can practically taste it crawling
around in there." He released Ranma, "I wanted to go first, but they want
you."
"You can do it Hors . . . Ranma," Asuka said, "Just be yourself."
Asuka patted his shoulder.
Ranma looked at Nab-chan, Rei-san and Shinji, all three nodded,
urging him on. Ranma sighed, took a deep breath. "I don't want to do
this," Ranma admitted, he smirked, "The Invincible Saotome Ranma . . . is
scared."
Raccoon took his shoulders, shook him and growled, "I'm going next,
and I'm terrified, and it's my plan."
"We cannot win any other way," Rei added, she didn't look all that
happy.
Ranma nodded, he wanted to stay here, he wanted to cry and scream in
terror.
----------------------------------------
Ranma stepped outside the locker room, fell in step with the NERV
staffer, the U.S. Military had nothing to do with this. He looked at the
corridor that stretched on ahead of him. The lines of the corridor drawing
together in the distance, almost to infinity? Ranma didn't know. The ugly
color of the corridor, and that only he and the silent staffer were present
in the normally busy hallway, he couldn't stop thinking of the intestines
of some huge creature, that all he and the other man were, was bits of food
to be digested by the thing that had consumed them both, and they walked,
open-eyed and willing to their fate and digestion.
He concentrated on the sound, and immensely regretted it. His
training was to make his footfalls soundless, smooth and silent. The only
sounds were the tap and scuff of the staffer's leather soled shoes. Ranma
wished he had borrowed Raccoon's boots. If he wore that hard-soled,
unfamiliar foot gear, he would make sound, affirm his own existence. But
he couldn't hear himself, couldn't feel his own heartbeat. The silence
mocked his existence.
Do I really exist? Ranma wondered, Am I just a displaced piece of
Ranko, or a made thing, no soul except by reflection in others? Ranma
shivered at that thought, he wanted to exist, wanted to matter.
Ranma glanced down at his arms, the fine hairs were rising, waving
and falling like tall grass in a wind, he shivered as the patterns of goose
bumps came and went. He knew what he'd be facing. Every step brought him
closer, each silent step confirmed his own nonexistence to the world. He
could feel the ground against his feet, the chill air against his skin, but
the world refused to acknowledge him. His footfalls made no sound, the air
accepted no warmth from him. The man who walked beside him, might as well
have been a machine performing its programmed task, he looked neither left
nor right, focusing only on the door, that every step brought closer.
He could feel the corruption emanating from that room, coming off
that thing in waves, Only Nab-chan doesn't feel it, he thought, Is that
because she never fought one of those things? Or is it something else?
Implied in the message was the offer, 'Reject the world, as it
rejects you. Embrace what you will become. Not the world, not like the
things around you.' The message came without words, feelings instead.
Feelings of otherness, feelings of dislocation, feelings of alienation.
Ranma clung desperately to his connections to himself and the world.
The internal division that had cropped up worse and worse, Ranko had grown
more fervent, as had Ranma, he'd been noticing things about Nab-chan, and
after what Raccoon had told him, Rit-chan. It wasn't right or 'proper',
and it had gotten worse when he felt that thing.
He felt it, he felt it changing him, weakening his hold on who and
what he was, the thought of fighting Raccoon and Shinji, not to `claim` the
girls, but just to fight them, to prove he was the strongest, increased.
He desperately turned to memories, of Nab-chan, Rit-chan, and Raccoon, to .
. . dare he admit it? To the beauty of the world, the joy he felt
creating, from just cooking for his `family`, to making some new Martial
Arts moves, to new conclusions from what he already knew. He also reminded
himself the Rei, Asuka and Raccoon were all `disconnected` from the world,
and somehow it made them _more_ than others, rather than less. He rejected
the `offer`.
I will live, or I will die, Ranma thought, But I will do both as a
human. So here I am, he thought as he walked along, I get the first crack
at this thing, and all I want to do is run away. He and the escort arrived
at the door to the conference room. The NERV man opened the door, Ranma
saw the table, with _that_ sitting there, another chair facing the table.
Ranma saw Captain Ramsey standing at the wall, watching everything, that
gave Ranma some hope, he wouldn't be alone. He steeled himself, walked
inside, and remembered the lessons Asuka and Raccoon had drilled into him,
winning here was impossible, he saw that now, saw it clearly. Even the
EVAs weren't strong enough, the only thing they could do, was deny their
enemy its victory. He'd never considered that a lose-lose situation would
be an acceptable option. 'The best way to drive out the devil, if he will
not yield to text of the Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot
bear scorn.' Asuka said Luther said that, 'The devil . . . The prowde
spirite . . . cannot endure to be mocked,' Raccoon added, what Thomas More
said. But it's up to me to prove it.
----------------------------------------
Ramsey watched Ranma walk in, he'd centered himself and walked in.
Ramsey found the NERV `investigator` disgusting, he couldn't put his finger
on why. He wanted to tear the man's head off, but he restrained himself,
barely.
"Saotome Ranma," Ranma mumbled as he walked by, and stood next to the
chair, "May I?"
"Of course," Attergate told him, not looking up from his papers,
trying to intimidate the boy.
Ranma locked his gaze on the man, Ramsey saw real hatred there,
something he'd never seen on Saotome's face.
Then Saotome grabbed the sides of the chair and flipped himself up
into a handstand on the back of the chair, then held one arm out to the
side, and began doing one-handed vertical push ups.
Ramsey kept his jaw from dropping.
Attergate lacked Ramsey's discipline, "Ah, Mister Saotome?"
"Oh," Ranma tossed himself into the air with one hand, rotated along
his long axis, and caught the back of the chair with his other hand, now he
was facing Attergate, "Sorry about that."
"Uh, you _are_ Ranma Saotome?" Attergate asked.
Ranma executed a complicated flip, landed facing and confronting
Ramsey, "Look! I told you I don't remember much! If you found somebody
who really is Saotome Ranma, who is supposed to be the pilot here, I didn't
ask you, you asked me. I wasn't trying to fool or lie to anybody."
"Mister Saotome."
"If you've got the real one, maybe he can tell me the truth, maybe he
can explain what's going on."
"Mister Saotome," Attergate said.
"All I wanted to do is my job, have I done anything against the U.S.
or NERV?"
Ramsey shook his head.
"MISTER SAOTOME!" Attergate shouted.
"What?!" Ranma turned back to face Attergate.
"I asked you your name."
"I told you my name," Saotome said, "When I walked in here, and you
didn't believe me."
Attergate stared at him, Saotome angrily stared back.
"Look, you are supposed to ask questions, if you are going to ask
questions, ask your questions, otherwise, you're wasting my time," he
flipped himself back up on the chair.
Ramsey glanced at Attergate, who was having trouble dealing with
Saotome's attitude. Attergate tried to retake the initiative, "Can you
_sit_ in the chair?"
"Sure," Ranma performed another elaborate flip, and landed softly on
the chair with his feet up on the table. He yawned, leaned back to balance
on the back legs of the chair. Ramsey noted the man's barely restrained
urge to kick the chair over.
"This is cutting into my practice time," Ranma said insolently, "If
you're going to be the best, you have to practice."
Attergate was about to reply.
"Martial Arts is important," Saotome overbalanced, and with much
windmilling of arms, walked the chair back into the wall, then got control
again.
"Your martial arts didn't seem to help you too much. On 11 March
1947, you and three other pilots, were attacked by forces unknown. You ran
away, leaving Captain Everett Walters to be killed."
"I didn't 'run away'," Saotome said tightly, "What do you call it,
running from one place, to a place you can fight better from?"
"Strategic withdrawal," Ramsey offered.
"Captain, don't interfere," Attergate ordered.
I don't know what Saotome's game is, Ramsey considered, But he's
going to beat you, Norris.
"Did you also 'Strategically Withdrawal' all the way to Guam? That
is where the plane landed."
"After NERV blew those tar-things off the front of Ayanami's
apartment, I followed orders. Someone had to protect the others from those
things."
"You didn't have any objection to them dragging you all the way to
Boston, arriving there on the 17th? Leaving Everett unavenged? Running
away?"
Ramsey noted the slight anger from Saotome.
"I followed orders, even if I disagreed, I could see the sense they
made," Ranma said carefully, "Sometimes you have to follow orders," he
paused, "Some people think they know everything. All they prove is how
stupid they are."
Attergate narrowed his eyes, "The new pilots, they joined you in
Boston on 17 March -"
"Langley was the 17th, Davis was the 18th," Ranma interrupted lazily.
Attergate tried to ignore the interruption, "Then you spent the 18th
and 19th of March flying back to the West Coast, through St. Louis and
Denver. Were you aware of the attacks being made on the train carrying
Unit 04 from Ohio? While you were safe in the air?"
"Sure," Ranma leaned side-to-side in the chair, nearly tipping it
over, "God, the real one, keeps me up on all the stupid tricks of our
enemies."
Ramsey wondered why Attergate looked so angry at that, Typical
insolent teen-ager, he thought, With some of Saotome's natural arrogance
layered over it.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko had heard about the loss of NERV Japan, someone had poisoned
him. The family had protested the autopsy, in the strongest terms, but a
company of Marines with murder in their eyes, kept any lawyer away from the
proceedings.
She'd known that this day might arrive, she'd hoped it never would.
She'd learned things, things even Gendo didn't know she knew. So when
Gendo sent her into the bowels of NERV, to perform some trivial maintenance
checks, she'd rushed through them, and headed to the section that held the
deep freezers that restrained some of their more unusual prisoners and
specimens.
She'd reviewed the descriptions and other data, and made her
selection. The 'holding area' looked remarkably like the morgue on the
upper levels. Huge rows of refrigerated lockers like filing cabinets, and
large examination tables to put the subjects on, to examine them. Although
here, the `examination` was more likely to be a series of questions, rather
than someone looking at or for something. The tools used to find the
answers, were remarkably similar in both cases. Unlike the morgue, heavy
equipment locked and barred these lockers shut, and they used liquid
nitrogen, or in a few extreme cases, liquid helium as refrigerant.
Ritsuko opened number 56 quietly, pulling the creature that appeared
to be a young woman, out of the deep freeze. She set the body on the work
table, where she'd already prepared her instrument trays and supplies, and
reclosed the drawer, stripping off the heavily insulated gloves as she
returned to the table to wait.
Everything she needed was already prepared, she wished she could have
help with this, But who could I ask? she wondered, chain smoking as she
waited.
----------------------------------------
Ranma didn't care who caught him, he'd barely been able to just walk
back to the locker room. He felt filthy, inside and out. He'd managed not
to break out in a cold sweat. Now he let the terror bubble to the surface,
because he knew he'd have to go back in there, as Ranko.
"It's okay, it's okay," he heard from Raccoon on his left.
"You're safe," from Nab-chan on his right.
He sagged in their arms, he didn't _care_ what anybody thought of him
right now.
"I'll take care of him," Nab-chan said quickly, for that Ranma felt
very grateful, then she added, with a hard edge, "Go kill that thing."
Raccoon carefully transferred Ranma fully into Nab-chan's arms as he
left. Ranma held her tightly, desperate for any surety that he was back,
that he was safe again, even if only for a little while.
Soon he was under the shower of warm water, Nab-chan softly washing
him. Washing away the assumed filth, washing away the fear.
He wasn't aware until later, there were none of her usual snide
comments or lewd grabbing, for which he was immensely grateful.
----------------------------------------
The Festival of Saint Barbara
Jeff's thoughts swirled around him like a dark cloud, You had your
chance with the most vulnerable, he thought, Some of us were better
constituted to kill things like you. Let's see how you do against someone
who has already beaten you at this game. The Eastern Desert, my name is
_not_ in the Book of Azathoth, I bet you've forgotten that.
Jeff walked through the corridor, he could feel the miasma curling
out of the room far ahead. It stalked towards him, unseen and unheard,
filled with palpable menace. Perhaps it did know what approached, and
would crush and destroy him, it hinted at that, made the very air catch in
his throat. Perhaps it would seek to overthrow his reason, replacing his
with its.
Maybe it's already happened, he thought.
He refused to further examine the fate that might await him, he was
inexorably fixed on the goal. He marched on as if guided by a siren song,
not caring if destruction would be his lot for all the effrontery. The
need to hurt and kill this thing almost overwhelmed the carefully designed
plans.
He banished those thoughts, he couldn't afford the distraction or the
anger on his face. His favorite song gave him the countenance he needed, "
'He called his piper, his trusty piper; And bade him sound away, a pibroch
sad to play; Upon a hillside but Scottish hillside; Not on these green
hills of Tyrol; Because these green hills are not Highland hills; Or the
Island's hills they're not my land's hills, As fair as these green foreign
hills may be; They are not the hills of home.' "
He focused on that, on his part, dragging himself back to reason by
the barest margins, as he stepped aside to let the staffer open the door.
----------------------------------------
The woman's eyes shot open and locked on Dr. Akagi's. Her hands shot
out and closed on Ritsuko's throat a moment later, her incredible strength
bore down. Dr. Akagi bunched the muscles in her own throat, just as Ranma
and Jeff had taught her. The stranglehold occupied the `woman's` full
attention as Dr. Akagi extracted the large syringe and stabbed the needle
in the woman's chest between the ribs. Realization, too late, filled her
as the serum coursed through her ichor, she belatedly tried to knock the
needle away, but the serum was all in, already doing its work. Dr. Akagi
caught the woman's arms with one hand, duplicating the double wrist lock
Ranma and Nabiki had taught her, her other hand clamped firmly over the
woman's mouth to muffle her screams. Dr. Akagi knew the process took as
long as 30 minutes, she could wait.
----------------------------------------
Ramsey had put Saotome's bizarre behavior behind him. Now Davis was
acting equally strange. He thought he was staring at Attergate's bow-tie,
with a look and intensity that would have had Ramsey covering his own
throat, if not leaving the room entirely.
"So, Mr. Davis, you joined NERV in Boston."
"Cambridge, but essentially the same thing," Davis replied in a
distracted voice, tracking the tie like a hunting dog.
"Uh, yes," Attergate said. Moving slightly, trying to break the
lock, it didn't work.
"You supposedly attended a funeral of an officer of British
Intelligence."
"Supposedly," Davis turned that ferocious gaze on Ramsey.
Uh, oh! Ramsey backed up a step, his shoulders met the wall.
"Did you know about this, that British Intelligence can't die, when
did this happen?" Davis stood to confront him.
Ramsey realized Davis was pulling his leg, by jumping to an erroneous
conclusion, "It has something to do with their devotion to King and
Country, and their attachment to the Court of St. James."
"British Intelligence, and the St. James bond. Interesting."
Ramsey couldn't figure out why Attergate snapped his pencil,
impressive, considering it was a mechanical one. "Can we get back on
subject?" Attergate asked testily.
"Certainly, my apologies . . . oh, it wasn't a funeral for British
Intelligence, it was for a Frisco P.D. officer and his wife. I am sorry,"
as soon as he sat down, Davis was again staring at the man's bow-tie.
Attergate shifted uncomfortably, "March 20th, you flew from San Diego
to San Francisco, aboard a plane registered to the British Government."
"The British are our allies, America's allies," Jeff jerked his head
suddenly to one side, kept staring, then jerked it back to the other side.
Ramsey focused on the design stitched in the fabric, the Eye of Horus
above a Sphinx.
"Are you taking this interview quite seriously?"
"Of course, sir." Davis jerked his head to the side.
"You and the other pilots received a briefing aboard the Coral Sea on
21 March."
"I can't say."
Attergate stopped, "You don't know?"
"I didn't say that," Davis said, jerking his head to the side,
staring intently at the tie.
"Would you _STOP_ that?!" Attergate shouted.
Davis overtoppled and crashed to the floor, from there, "Sorry, the
patterns on your tie, they move when you don't look directly at them,"
Davis supplied, "Did you know that?"
In frustration, Attergate started untying it, as Davis stood and set
the chair up again.
Attergate slapped the piece of cloth on the table, "There, go ahead
and look at it. It doesn't move," Attergate glanced at Ramsey, who gave a
noncommittal shrug.
"The other American pilots, one died on 1 March, the other was out of
action 10 March. You were at the burial, and visited the girl in the
hospital."
Davis had extracted a pocket magnifier and was examining the tie
minutely, "I am not aware of any regulation against that," Jeff
occasionally moved the tie with a pencil, careful not to touch it with his
hands.
"How did you feel about that, the death of your colleagues?"
"The way I expected such a thing to feel. Describing it would be
difficult to impossible," Davis started poking it with the eraser of the
pencil, as if he expected to provoke a reaction.
"Weren't you worried about syncing with an EVA?" Attergate asked,
probing for an opening.
"No." Davis slapped the tie and table loudly, causing both Attergate
and Ramsey to jump at the noise. Davis merely stared at the tie, as if he
expected some movement or response.
"NO?" Attergate was shocked. The silence dragged on, "You weren't
worried about syncing with an EVA?"
"Yes."
Attergate stopped, "It is correct to say you were _not_ frightened of
the idea of your first sync with an EVA."
"No."
Attergate grimaced, as he tried to decide his next sentence.
"I was frightened, I wasn't worried."
Attergate rolled his eyes and continued, "Your offering to `Father
Neptune`, on 28 March."
"What about it?" Davis put away his tools, he seemed to have
satisfied himself about the tie.
"Don't you find that a little strange? A comedy routine, with a girl
of her reputation?"
"A gentleman, doesn't inquire into a lady's reputation. It just
isn't done. I would have expected better of a Switzer, but I suppose . . .
"
Attergate didn't rise to the bait, "The attack by the Shoggoths - "
"I _KNEW_ there was another one!" Davis slapped the table, stood and
shouted, "I knew it!"
Attergate hid his irritation poorly, "Please sit down. What do you
suppose killed it? You and young Mr. Ikari were the first on the scene,
that 26 March."
"No, the girls, Pilots Ayanami and Tendo, were already there."
"You were the first _additional_ people on scene. What killed it, in
your opinion?"
"When I left, it was still alive. I don't know how they killed it,
or the other one."
Ramsey knew the Navy had only _found_ one aboard the Coral Sea,
others aboard the Castor and Pollux, awakened the somnolent Great Old Ones
carried aboard those ships.
"No guesses?"
Ramsey wondered why Attergate was hitting that one so hard.
"Well, there was a rumor, that Captain Katsuragi fed it some of her
`special` curry, but I'm sure I would have heard the explosion, certainly.
I suspect it's just a joke," he paused to consider, "No, I'm sure of it."
Attergate frowned, "On April 3rd, two Angels escaped their solitary
confinement aboard the fast freighters Castor and Pollux, destroying both
ships. You launched aboard Unit 04, contrary to orders."
"Actually, I suffered a communications breakdown, the last order I
heard, was for Pilots Ikari and Saotome to launch in Units 00 and 01,
respectively. The only way for them to do that, was after Unit 04 had
cleared the deck. As I told Captain Katsuragi at the time, I couldn't
receive instructions, I acted _without_ orders, not _against_ orders."
"So while you engaged one creature, Pilots Saotome and Ikari engaged
the other. Why didn't one of the veterans accompany you, the untested
pilot?"
"I was not privy to the orders, situation, or thinking going on.
Without communications, I could only track one target."
"You destroyed it yourself, you should be very proud of yourself."
"Why?"
Ramsey watched Attergate come to a halt. Davis kept staring at him.
"I'm asking the questions here!" Attergate snapped.
"Very well," Davis replied coolly.
"Captain Katsuragi locked you in the brig, after your sortie, did you
resent that?"
"I felt no resentment."
Attergate raised an eyebrow, Ramsey saw him catch himself, before he
demanded an explanation. "I find that hard to believe."
Davis stared at him.
Attergate looked down and rearranged his papers, "Dr. Akagi released
you after several hours. You returned to your quarters, and you claim you
harbor no resentment to what some would call an unjust punishment."
"No, I was too busy sleeping."
Ramsey kept from laughing, Attergate kept missing the most obvious
questions, he wasn't doing a very good job interrogating the kids. He was
expecting outright evasions, not answers that weren't at all useful.
"On 5 April you and Asuka Langley, launched against another Angel in
Unit 02, despite orders to remain behind."
"Again, inaccurate."
"Then - enlighten - me," Attergate bit off the words.
"Of course, sir. We had orders to get ready," Davis replied, "We had
no other orders."
"Katsuragi disciplined you after that sortie as well, despite
successfully killing that Angel as well. Are you going to say you didn't
resent that?"
"I don't," Davis replied.
"And what about the fact that you and pilot Langley achieved a 143%
sync rate."
"She's recently tested out at 168%"
"She only had a sync rate of 123% at the time, a jump of 20% is
significant. Have you ever wondered about that?"
"I have not."
----------------------------------------
Dr. Akagi carefully peeled back the skull of the dead creature on the
table before her, like the shell of a hard-boiled egg. The object that
would have been a human brain, she carefully removed. The entire cranial
cavity, she flushed with warm, almost scalding water, she'd incinerate the
removed mass and the wash water later. She'd prepared the other materials,
the serums and infusions for the process, she doubted that she'd ever be
able to explain what she was doing to the authorities, but she was going to
complete the procedure.
I can't just do nothing, she thought as she made the incisions to
place the samples inside integral places in the body, Too much is at stake,
I can't allow this to continue.
----------------------------------------
Wotton's Ambassador
Nabiki watched Raccoon walk in, the angry, haunted, exhausted look
didn't leave as he surveyed the others, "How is Saotome?"
"Recovering," she replied, she hadn't the faintest idea what was
shaking the others up. Ranma had practically burst into tears on
returning, Raccoon looked like he was going to curl up on the floor and
fall into a coma, or throw up, then fall into a coma.
"I guess I'm next," she told him jauntily.
"Stay with the plan," he intoned, "Don't get too creative, don't get
too clever."
Nabiki left the locker room, she thought whoever was doing the
interviews, wasn't very smart, the pilots should have been separated, had
their entire time at NERV dissected. Rei had assured them this was a
battle, against one of the most powerful Outer Gods. So powerful, that
they had no hope of victory. Asuka and Raccoon had developed this plan,
she didn't like the toll it was taking on the others. They all talked
about feeling something.
She wondered why she was immune, Because I've never piloted in
combat? Because I've never killed one of those things? She didn't like
the implications, What are they becoming? Should I be jealous, or grateful
I'm not?
----------------------------------------
Hiroko and Hikari stood side-by-side in the classroom, staring out
the windows at the fog that clung to the campus and the city.
"You wanted to talk to me?" Hiroko knew how reticent Hikari was to
talk to her, if she wanted to, she had no other choice.
"There are 85 people missing today," Hikari said flatly, "Even some
teachers, today."
"Not too surprising, the fog probably kept them at home," Hiroko was
used to playing the devil's advocate, but this fog had come out of nowhere,
as it had occasionally, over the last few days, they all clung tenaciously,
as if each was alive, and seeking to survive, before the sun banished or
`killed` them. Even the corridors of the school weren't immune to this one
today, as if it were a conquering army, and only the driest, warmest spots
could hold it off. Hiroko knew that was a silly thought, but this
unnatural weather seemed to invite that kind of speculation.
"There were 50 yesterday, and no fog. Tomorrow, you should talk to
those people, the ones out, see what their symptoms were. I think you'll
find an amazing similarity."
"Thank you," Hiroko told the class rep. As the other girl walked
away, Hiroko was left with her thoughts, there were things falling into
place, patterns she couldn't clearly see, perhaps because it wasn't just
one enemy, but several working to their own plans. She idly wondered if
revealing which was doing what would be possible, and then plan a
counterattack based on that. Well, I'm studying psychology, I really need
a military advisor, she stared at the fog, and wondered if that was only
part of someone's plans, or if it was a weird natural phenomenon, or a
diversion from more important considerations, Boy, am _I_ getting paranoid,
she thought, "Well, they aren't after me, just the people around me."
She moved away from the windows to find Kensuke, he was the military
expert, self-proclaimed, and not wholly inaccurately.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki walked in the corridor, the absolute normality, should have
frightened her, considering the state Ranma and Raccoon had returned in,
after making this very walk.
But I don't feel anything special, she thought as she glanced around.
The staffer kept silent, she couldn't even summon up the fear that he was
really a zombie or a murderous robot, he was just a man, a little awed by
being asked to escort the pilots.
He's immune to . . . whatever, just like me. That was the only thing
that disturbed her, Ranma was usually clueless about other people's
feelings, but he'd returned in near hysteria. Raccoon was utterly
unshakable, but he came back, practically in a trance.
And I haven't the faintest inkling why they are all reacting to this.
I should be glad, not feeling . . . anything, why do I feel I'm betraying
them all somehow?
----------------------------------------
Ramsey watched Tendo enter, and Attergate began the interview.
Ramsey had already realized Attergate was conducting a fishing expedition,
not a serious inquiry into _anything_, he wondered if the kids had already
figured that out, and were acting this way as a response, tainting the
data.
"Oh! _WOW_!_ Is that what happened?" Tendo asked. She wasn't quite
a mindless bimbo, but her connection with reality seemed tenuous. "I mean
I thought we fought Angels, not real ones, the ones we fight, although I
haven't had a chance to fight one, do you think they're prejudiced against
girls? The Angels I mean, not the real ones, I mean not like Asuka or Rei,
but girls like me?"
Attergate blinked, tried and failed to detect an answer anywhere in
Tendo's comment, "Can we get back to the question about attacking the
students on 6 April? You led the other pilots in a brawl."
Tendo sniffed, "They were beating up people, it is a martial artist's
duty to protect the weak."
"It could be argued, that you were attacking the weak."
Tendo sniffled, "I didn't mean to, I didn't ask them to be mean to
people."
Attergate moved to the next subject, "You are aware, that the same
day, there was an attack on Commander Ikari - "
"I didn't know! I'm sorry, if I'd known that would happen, I would
never - "
"Miss Tendo! It was a yes or no question."
"Oh, sorry."
"You also brought the military in, to deal with the gang running the
school."
"No, that was pilot Davis's idea. He thought we should be ecumenical
about this."
"Ecumenical usually refers to religion or philosophy, especially the
Christian church."
"You aren't Christian!" Tendo gasped, "I'm so sorry. I've never met
a Jewish person before. I hope my ignorance of your faith doesn't count
against me in your report."
Attergate stared at her, obviously considering a scathing retort,
then realizing it might have no effect, "No, I'm not Jewish, either."
"You must be very lonely," Tendo supplied, "I'm sure Captain Ramsey
could recommend any number of competent priests or, what's the word . . .
?"
"Rabbis?" Attergate offered dryly.
"Circumcisionists," Tendo replied brightly, "I believe they even use
anesthetics now. Any way, we just couldn't have that," she leaned close,
"They foul their own nests."
Now Attergate was floundering, "The Circumcisionists?"
"No, the school mafia. I met the real mafia, actually the Yakuza, a
few days later, after we explained everything to them, they took us to a
concert, but you don't want to hear about that. You couldn't go anyway,
since it's over. It's really sad, it was a nice concert," Tendo considered,
"Not that it wouldn't be a nice concert if it were going on right now. I
don't understand how anyone can be tone deaf, I mean I could hear all the
tones, even if I couldn't figure out what they meant."
Ramsey was actually starting to feel sorry for this abhorrent man
from NERV.
"The attack on the school leaders, were you aware they'd be executed?
For crimes against NERV and the Occupation?"
Tendo sniffled again, wiped her eyes, "I try to be so brave, but you
wouldn't believe the absolutely awful things people say about me, when they
think I can't hear them."
"I can imagine," Attergate replied.
"What else was I supposed to do?" Tendo was crying now, "They were in
league with those icky things. Such ickiness just cannot be tolerated in a
beautiful world, where everyone is happy."
"Beautiful world."
"Yes, those people just don't understand, it was for their own good."
"The School Mafia?"
"No, the icky things," Tendo gently corrected.
Attergate nodded numbly.
"It would have been cruel, don't you think?"
"Having those people executed?"
"Good Heavens, no, _they_ got what they deserved. We were entirely
too merciful," Tendo said sternly, "No, the icky things, it's not their
fault they're hideous, disgusting blobs of putrid slime. They probably
love their blobby wives and their slimy children, but we just can't have
them here, we just can't," Tendo sniffled, again on the verge of tears, "I
don't want to be cruel, but difficult decisions just have to be made, and I
must not let the situation overwhelm me."
"We can't have them here," Attergate shook himself, "After a serious
argument between pilots Saotome and Davis on 10 April, you intervened."
"I told Ranma to get a replacement thermos."
"They were arguing over a thermos?"
Tendo blinked a few times in confusion, "Didn't I just say that? I
clearly heard myself say that. Captain Ramsey, did you hear me say it? I
don't want to hallucinate. They say piloting an EVA makes you go crazy,
but I haven't really piloted one, so _I_ can't be crazy. But have you met
the _other_ pilots," she leaned close to Attergate, "It's impolite to say,
but I think they're all a little crazy, they just fail to understand such
simple things." She turned to face Ramsey, "Like answering a lady's
question, Mister Captain, sir."
"I heard it, Miss Tendo," Ramsey kept a straight face.
"On 11 April, the actual assault took place, you and the other pilots
participated, wasn't that a great risk, to yourself and the other pilots?"
"Oh no, once Ranma gave Jeffrey his thermos back, I doubt they'd
fight anymore. Well, that might not be so true," she leaned close and
whispered, "Pilot Davis started selling pictures of me, not nudes or
anything, but it is _very_ vexing."
"You _also_ sell pictures," Attergate countered.
"Well it's different when a girl does it, don't you see?"
"Yes, well, now what about this report, on the removal of 60 cubic
_meters_ of hair. That can't be right."
"Oh, I agree," Tendo said, "It couldn't possibly be more than 30
cubic meters. Ranma's hair . . . poof. Then we were hanging from the
ceiling."
Ramsey remembered that about that time, Admiral Simson had taken an
unexpected trip to Kyoto, and never explained to Ramsey what he was doing
there.
"Thank you, Miss Tendo."
Tendo smiled and left.
Attergate stared at him, "I take it that they don't act like this
normally."
"They have good and bad days. The stress _has_ changed them from
when I first met them. Fortunate they are still combat capable," Ramsey
paused, "We do, however, buy aspirin by the drum, if you need some."
"Thank you."
----------------------------------------
Gendo and Fuyutsuki listened quietly, suspecting the creature could
hear their laughter even separated by the distance. They knew that they
had made the correct decision.
"Is it possible to give an Outer God a migraine?" Fuyutsuki asked
innocently.
Gendo smiled, "It is an interesting supposition." They returned
their attention to the speaker.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki returned to the locker room, she collapsed onto a bench, lying
face down with her arms hanging to the ground.
Ranma headed over, "Are you okay, Nab-chan?"
"I never wanted to _kill_ something so bad in my _life_!_" she
moaned.
Ranma began massaging her shoulders, she felt the tension and knots
easing away.
"You okay?" she asked.
"I don't want to go back in there."
"Relax, Horseface," Asuka said, without her usual bite, "We'll soften
him up some more."
"That isn't very reassuring."
"Look, Horseface," Asuka told him, "We don't broadcast it . . . but
Raccoon and I, we've done this before."
"At the dance," Rei added, "There were others."
"Yeah, well, like I said, we've done this before," Asuka headed
towards the door.
----------------------------------------
Marshal Ferdinand Foch
Asuka steeled herself, she knew the others had set him up, all she
had to do was finish him off, like a matador, the picadors and
banderilleros had done their work. She concentrated on that thought as the
abyss yawned around her. Only Raccoon and Anna knew how badly her mother's
insanity and suicide had affected her. The loss and rejection she could
deal with, she'd learned the hellish lesson, that the _thing_ that looked
like her mother wasn't her mother, not anymore. The woman who sat little
Asuka on her lap and pointed out stars and constellations, taught her about
celestial navigation and orbital mechanics, was dead, what remained was a
corpse, only time would make appearances catch up with reality.
What frightened Asuka was the loss of reason, failing to keep what
differentiated men from animals, what allowed humans to achieve great
things. She was walking towards insanity personified, if it affected her,
as it infected her mother, I'll take her way out, but it won't be years
between.
She prayed her friends would know to do what she wanted. She knew
the screaming instability of those who returned from the Eastern Front.
Those lost to shellfire, the vast distances, the endless threat to life and
limb, eventually taking sanity. The loss of an arm or a leg was worrying,
to be destroyed on the inside, to be nothing but a shell, unable to move or
react, at the mercy and pity of others to keep the `plant` watered and fed
and clean. She shuddered at that.
Asuka walked the corridors with the NERV staffer. She'd told the
others what they needed to hear. Last time, she'd had a lot of experienced
help, help that was in short supply here. You do with what you have, she
reminded herself, after she finished, only Spineless and Wondergirl would
follow, before it had another chance to mess up Horseface.
It might have realized what they were doing, and would rip through
her mind to find the facts, it might even recognize her. It would know
what she feared, it would destroy what she treasured, and it would laugh at
her cries and protests, Like a cat playing with a bird it had crippled,
making the death linger as a cruel form of fun, and I'm walking right into
the middle of it. I'm already crazy, she thought as the door opened,
insanity welcomed her to its parlor, and she walked in.
----------------------------------------
Ramsey watched Asuka enter. All the other pilots identified
themselves. Asuka simply walked in until she was face to face with the far
wall, then stopped and did a pirouetting half-turn.
"Asuka Soryu Langley?" Attergate asked, seeming to dread any answer
he might get.
"Langley, Langley, Langley," she smiled, "Me."
Attergate shook his head and decided to continue with the
questioning, "On April 21st, an arc of Green Flame - "
"A parabolic arc, I can give you the equation if you like."
"Thank you, no. Shinji Ikari, yourself, Rei Ayanami, and Ranma
Saotome sortied against it first."
"First, Second, Third and Fourth, all true, 3, 1, 2, 4. 1, 0, 2, 4;
220 and 76 since there are only six of us."
Ramsey couldn't quite figure that one out.
"The Angel of Time injured Mr. Ikari, you and Miss Ayanami pulled him
back into the tunnel."
"I don't like subtractions," Asuka said firmly.
Attergate realized, he was finally getting some answers, from someone
who might not even be aware of the rest of the world, outside the realm of
Mathematics. "The counterattack, one of your fellow pilots developed it,
did this in any way worry you? An inexperienced source?"
"It was logical, advancing from point to point to point, describing a
new, but acceptable plane of performance."
Attergate took a moment to rearrange his notes. Langley turned to
study the patterns in the fake stone covering the walls.
"The plan was extremely risky," Attergate said.
"Well-engineered operations are well engineered," Asuka replied,
still examining the wall.
"You still had to rescue pilot Davis from his own foolishness."
"Well, it is logical," she turned to face him, "Subtraction isn't
commutative, so a hatred of subtraction would be, I can do the proof for
you," she smiled pleasantly.
"Thank you, no," Attergate said sourly.
"It's no trouble!" Asuka insisted, "I'd be delighted to explain it."
"No," Attergate insisted.
Asuka kept smiling at him, swaying slightly in a breeze, only she
seemed to feel.
"You didn't hesitate to head to the rescue?" Attergate asked.
"Should I have?" she sounded horrified, "It seemed such a logical
extension of my previous conclusions."
Attergate sighed, "The loss of both pilot Davis and Ikari after that
incident - "
"They survived! I checked myself. Something there's no replacement
for, actual observations and running the experiment yourself," Asuka
asserted.
"There were reports you slept in pilot Ikari's room."
"Yes," Asuka replied.
"You don't see a problem with this?"
"He wasn't using it."
Attergate was obviously expecting a lot more, Ramsey would have
expected an angry denial or justification, not the simple acknowledgment.
"Then on 11 April, there was a cult, destroyed by the U.S. Military."
"Oh," Asuka turned to Ramsey, curtsied, "Danke vielmals!" [Thank you
very much indeed!]
"Can we stick to Japanese?"
"I was not speaking to _you_, sir."
Attergate's face clouded with rage, but Asuka had turned away from
him, staring again at the wall, running a finger over the patterns.
"I understand you submitted a weapon's design to the U.S. Navy, on 22
April, it was rejected."
"Oh, I have lots of good ideas," Asuka said breezily.
Ramsey noted Attergate's confused expression, he thought he had her,
and Ramsey would have thought the same. He wondered how Asuka had simply
breezed through that, and he decided he would reveal his `surprise` for
her, after the interviews were complete, not on Saturday like he'd planned.
"Considering how much your grades have fallen, I doubt it's all that
unimportant to you. Even your math and physics grades are down. A poor
showing, considering your diploma."
"Not the least bit important, considering my diploma," Asuka replied
airily.
Another swing and miss, Ramsey thought.
"A very cavalier attitude, considering on 26 April, you launched
completely without orders."
"Oh, silly man," Asuka chirped, "The Commander had given the orders,
so they existed, 'in potentitia', electrons don't create electricity, their
movement creates a field, the field is electricity. So the orders existed,
only awaiting delivery, for them to become 'real' to me, they existed
awaiting their perception and the collapse of the wave to become real.
Besides, Second and Third, add the Fifth, the symmetry was just too perfect
to ignore," she paused, "Perhaps that was what kept the orders from
arriving, such a perfect symmetry prevented manifestation. Do you have
some paper? I must draw up the equation!"
Ramsey's head was spinning, he wasn't following half of this, but the
news that Asuka had taken an EVA without proper authorization _was_
troubling, but if Ikari had given the orders, and Asuka had every reason to
believe that Ikari would issue such orders, he thought the Judge Advocate
General, JAG, would not even hear the case.
"The assumption was, that you didn't care about orders, or the safety
of the patients and firefighters in the medcenter."
"That's terrible," Asuka said, "With assumptions like that, you'll
never be able to solve the problem correctly."
----------------------------------------
Asuka walked back to the locker room, lost in thought, He knew things
he couldn't possibly know. But he didn't ask about the dreams where we all
changed places, nor the Western adventure, Asuka thought, "On 20 and 21
April," she said with disdain.
She reasoned that Security, of the military and NERV, was what was
lacking secrecy, not that he had read their minds.
So as long as we keep things among the pilots, we can keep it secret,
she considered, I'll have to tell Raccoon and the others about the AT field
math manipulations, we have to keep it to ourselves, if we want to surprise
our enemies. The `adults`, can't keep secrets.
----------------------------------------
Admiral Simson looked down at the body on the examination table, This
is getting to be a habit I want broken, he thought.
The `coroner` was one of the `specials`. The body was laid open on
the table.
"We're lucky you ignored the family's objections," the coroner
removed his gloves, "Whoever did this, knew a lot about chemistry."
"What killed him?"
"A massive coronary, induced by ozone."
"Ozone?" Simson asked.
"Ozone, three oxygens, it's a heart stimulant, there was enough in
his system to kill a half-dozen people. Ozone is unstable, I don't know
the half-life, but in a few more hours, there would have been no traces."
"Ikari was in the room, wouldn't it have gotten him too? Ozone is a
gas, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's created when ultraviolet light shines on ordinary oxygen
or electrical discharges. That's the tang in the air after a thunderstorm.
Even arc lights create a small amount."
"The searchlights the Navy uses and the lights theaters use," Admiral
Simson commented.
"I guess."
"How did it get into his system, and just _his_ system?" Admiral
Simson asked.
"That's got me. As I said, no trace of the source, soon no trace of
why the man died at all. A _real_ professional, precise attack."
"A demonstration?" Simson asked.
"Maybe, but to whom? Us, or this man's bosses?"
The man walked to another case on another table, "The mystic defenses
on that apartment were incredibly heavy. Although whether it was to keep
things in, or keep things out . . . ?" he opened the case.
The Admiral recoiled, although there was no sight or smell, or
anything to explain his need to flee the area.
"Relax, sir. If you didn't react, you'd hardly be human."
Simson stepped closer, to actually see what had repelled him, "Is
that what I think it is?" The bone `wand` was only about a foot long, and
metal protruded from each tip.
"A child's femur. It has to be filled with metal while it's still
attached, and the child is still alive."
The Admiral shifted uncomfortably.
"Frankly, this and a few other things in there, anyone even remotely
sensitive, would go into screaming hysterics, just walking past the
building."
"I thought the Angels were our enemies," the Admiral still wanted to
shy away from the wand.
"Wishful thinking I'm afraid." The `special` closed the box, cutting
off the terrible miasma that had filled the room.
"Okay. Seal him back up. Burn the body, then adulterate it with
something to prevent a revivification spell."
The `special` raised an eyebrow, "I've got just the thing, you've
done this before?"
Admiral Simson turned and left.
----------------------------------------
F.D.R. Through Wellington and Montaigne
Shinji knew his part was simple, he also felt it, as did the others.
With every step, the crawling unease became a disease, a sickness he could
feel and smell. As if his limbs no longer were the right size and shape,
or couldn't bend in the old, human way. He looked at his hands, they still
opened and closed the same way, but they didn't _feel_ the same.
He tightened his fist, and felt the flesh flowing together, the
fingers becoming fluid and running together.
With a gasp, he released his grip, looked at his unmarked hand, Is it
still mine or is it something else? Something that only looks like a human
hand? he wondered, How long will it stay in my control.
He felt the hairs on his neck and arms raising, could imagine them as
thousands of tiny tentacles, each burrowing into his flesh, leaving only
their tails to wave in the clean air as they consumed him, bit by bit.
Until 'Ikari Shinji' would ride as a mute observer in what was once his own
body. He couldn't turn back, he couldn't run away. They would find him,
they might not even have to search, inflicting a curse on him from a
distance, because of who he was, what he did. Instead, he approached, he
would have no trouble achieving his role.
----------------------------------------
Shinji Ikari entered the conference room, and looked around
worriedly.
"Mister Ikari?" Attergate asked.
Shinji nearly jumped out of his skin at Attergate's question.
"Are you all right?" Attergate asked.
Ramsey could almost see the 'OH NO! Not _another_ one,' expression
on the interviewer's face.
"You can't HEAR them?" Shinji asked hysterically.
"Hear what?" Attergate asked, glancing to Ramsey, then around the
room.
"The worms?" Shinji whimpered, ran and hid in the corner of the room
with his arms covering his head, offering a string of apologies.
"I can assure you, they aren't here," Attergate said.
Shinji looked at Attergate, then Ramsey, he giggled briefly before
returning to his head-covered posture.
"Mister Ikari, sit in the chair."
Shinji crept up on the chair, prodded it gingerly with his toe,
before he sat down.
"On 26 April, after the unauthorized launch by Asuka Langley, you
stayed with Dr. Akagi and her bunch."
"Was that wrong?" Shinji asked miserably, "Saotome-san asked, and
Pilot Langley was going to be there too."
"Are you afraid of her?" Attergate asked, smiling.
"_NO_!_!_!_" Shinji shrieked, jumped out of the chair, huddled in the
corner, glancing around nervously.
"She isn't here," Attergate tiredly reminded him.
Ramsey could clearly see the pilots were wearing him down. Ramsey
had to admit, Ikari was getting to him, normally such a display, would have
aroused pity. Instead he felt a crawling revulsion, a desire to be away
from Shinji and his apologies and cowering, it was like fingernails on a
chalkboard.
"Weren't you worried about Captain Katsuragi's reaction, considering
no one told her about your sleep over?"
"I left a note," Shinji whined.
"Please, _SIT_IN_THE_CHAIR_!_" Attergate thundered.
Ramsey was interested in the rage Ikari's performance was arousing in
Attergate, he thought it would be interesting to interrogate the
interrogator. But I have no orders, Ramsey lamented, and he wanted to be
away from Attergate as well.
"You likewise didn't tell your guardian about the shopping trip and
picnic you indulged yourselves in, the next day. Or was it Pilot Langley's
idea?"
"It was a very good idea!" Shinji blurted out.
"But did you consider your guardian's judgment in this matter, you
didn't, did you?"
"She was asleep," Shinji replied defensively, cringed.
Attergate turned a smile of triumph at Ramsey, Ramsey was watching
Shinji shaking so badly, he toppled over, out of the chair. Attergate
turned to watch Shinji whimpering and kicking the chair to free his trapped
leg.
It almost looks like the chair _had_ tried to bite him, Ramsey
thought, And now it won't let go.
Shinji managed to get free, and crawled into the corner. Attergate
shook his head, giving up on trying to control Shinji.
"What was your reaction to the information, that Pilot Langley was
planning to move out of Captain Katsuragi's house?"
Shinji seemed to brighten, then looked around in terror, "That would
be bad, that would be bad. I wouldn't like that, not at all. I wouldn't
keep her if she wanted to leave, but it would be bad." He cowered again.
Ramsey hadn't known Asuka had made such a decision, she would have
had to come to see him. He wasn't aware that the situation between Captain
Katsuragi and Asuka Langley had deteriorated to that point. If he had, he
would have moved Maya Ibuki and the Second and Third Children to an
apartment adjacent to Dr. Akagi's.
Attergate considered, then continued, "Your second picnic, on 4 May,
received the mortar attack, was there any evidence that you were being
targeted?"
"No," Shinji assured him, "No warning, just BOOM, then the barrage
ended . . . Nancy Thompson was killed, none of us wanted that."
"And the wounded Miss Langley? After surgery, she kissed you.
Wasn't that out of character for her?"
"Dr. Akagi said she was drunk, from the anesthetic," Shinji said
desperately.
"And on May 4th and 5th, reports of a huge creature, flying through
the skies of Tokyo, some call it a dragon."
"I'm sorry, I never heard that," Shinji answered.
Truthfully, Ramsey thought, The engagement was kept from the pilots,
for obvious reasons, they have enough to worry about.
"As I understand it, there was a history of antipathy between Pilot
Ayanami and Pilot Saotome. Have you noticed this?"
"No, they just avoid each other," Shinji said.
"She made her feelings clear on 6 May while Ranma Saotome was
practicing martial arts."
"Martial Arts is important," Shinji retorted.
That's two, Ramsey noted, as Attergate broke another mechanical
pencil.
"On the evening of 6 May, while you pilots all assembled in Pilot
Langley's room, except Pilots Ayanami and Davis, something attacked you,
what did it look like?"
"Like a wax statue of a giant flying ant, that someone left in the
sun to melt. It fired something that set the ceiling on fire."
----------------------------------------
Dr. Akagi looked down at the woman as she put away her equipment and
supplies, she'd finished her work on her sometime ago. She just had to
wait to see how successful her operation had been.
The woman's eyes snapped open, they were red, from the blood in the
vitreous humor, the color would return to normal in a day or two.
"Doctor . . . Akagi?"
"Yes. Doctor _Ritsuko_ Akagi. Just lie still," she said soothingly,
as she kept her from sitting up, needing only a tiny fraction of the
strength she'd used earlier.
"I feel . . . the others . . . ?" the woman said expectantly, almost
gleefully.
"Yes, they're finally here. All of them."
The woman smiled warmly for a moment, hugging herself tightly, then
sobered, "What will become of me?" she asked worriedly.
"That's what we have to discuss," Ritsuko prayed the kids would
eventually forgive her, she knew she could never forgive herself.
----------------------------------------
King Lear, Act V, Scene ii, line 293
Rei walked the corridor, as had the others before her. One foot in
front of the other. She'd seen how that thing had affected Shinji-kun.
He'd been so frightened, Rei wished she could have remained, the Second
Children had reassured her she'd look after him. Despite her faults, the
Second Children's word is her word, Rei reminded herself, she
melancholically remembered the last time the Second had looked after
Shinji-kun, He is safer with the Second now, than with me, she thought
sadly. She was barely in control of her own feelings, she wanted to race
ahead, and kill this thing, or die in the attempt. Raw red rage, insane in
its own quiet way. She didn't care what lay before her, what it would do
to her. She was beyond such human concerns, beyond the entire idea of
survival. She would never again see the clear sky, never walk in the human
world. She would have screamed a war cry, if she had known any that would
encompass the moment and her fury. Reason had long since fled, as had the
vestiges of fear or self-preservation. To tear into the enemy, with claws
and teeth, kicking and screaming to give vent to whatever cacoethes that
seethed and simmered within her. The fear she'd felt on linking with Unit
01 was a warm and passive thing compared with the fear and rage that
spiraled beyond her control and experience.
She struggled desperately to fix the plan in her mind, trying to
master the wild beast ravening through her mind and spirit. Assuring it,
that the plan was the best way to hurt this thing, not to strike and strike
and strike, so she could scream her rage flinging her foes' vitals to the
four winds.
Instead she was left with the responsibility of driving the creature
away. The plan felt like lying, but the chance of detection was too high,
if they deviated too far from who they really were, and from what people
reported them as. It was a subtle exercise.
Roku-kun and the Second Children had listened carefully to what she
had told them. The Second had simply asked, 'Are you sure?', Rei had told
her she was. The Second and Roku-kun had simply exchanged glances, and
developed the plan, and briefed and drilled them on it, never questioned
her veracity. She was tempted not to give her all to this battle, however,
she knew that _Ranko_ Saotome was not the most capable fighter to engage
and defeat this monster, so she would have to effectively finish it off
herself, leaving Ranko the job of cleaning up after her.
She stayed her hand for a moment, before she entered, barely managed
to control herself before she joined in battle.
She sighed, I must do this, she concentrated on the mission,
pacifying the beast as it raged about what had been done to Shinji-kun,
promising to hurt it as much as possible, by sticking to the plan.
----------------------------------------
Ramsey watched Ayanami walk in, mechanically putting one foot in
front of the other. She stopped at the chair, which still lay where it had
fallen from Shinji's `escape`. She stared down at it, unmoving.
Ramsey walked over, picked up the chair and set it up for her to sit
in it.
"Miss Ayanami," Attergate's mood had obviously not improved.
I didn't let it, Ramsey thought to himself, he'd finally figured out
the game, and could play his part in it.
Attergate seemed more on edge now than before, "Please sit . . . in
the chair."
"Yes," Rei executed an about-face and sat down, staring at the man.
"The attack on the pilots on 6 May, do you know about it?"
"Yes."
"Would you like to tell me about it?" Attergate asked sarcastically.
"No."
Attergate shot to his feet, "Can you speak anything except single
words?!"
"Sorry."
Attergate mastered himself, "I require that you describe the events
of that evening."
"Solitude.
Loneliness.
Enemy.
Attack.
Protect.
Flight.
Unconsciousness.
Death.
Return.
Rest.
Safety," the words came slowly, clearly enunciated, one at a time.
Ramsey understood she was choosing the most precise word, evoking the
right mood and denotation. Rei might as well have poured manure in his
lap, from Attergate's expression.
"So when Pilot Ikari fell asleep in your lap - "
"Beside," Rei interrupted.
"Beside," Attergate amended, "That must have made you feel good,
having a fellow pilot so close to you."
"Why?" Rei seemed honestly puzzled.
Attergate changed tacks, Ramsey could guess what was coming next,
he'd regarded it as a serious, personal failure.
"On 7 May, you were all loaded aboard helicopters, to be taken to
safety, it didn't work out that way, did it?"
"No."
"What happened?"
"Compulsion.
Transformation.
Mind.
Transformation.
Body."
"You and your fellow pilots became animals."
"Incompletely."
"So the fight between pilots Davis and Saotome, is indicative of
their feelings for each other."
"Dominance," Rei replied, "Phlegmatic."
Ramsey had heard little about that fight, after explaining how
`dishonorable` Davis as a coyote's attack on Ranma the tiger was, Admiral
Simson would always laugh too hard to explain exactly what happened.
"So it wasn't really a fight, neither seems the type who would fight
to gain that kind of control."
"Females," Rei told him.
That stopped him, Ramsey watched Attergate's jaw drop.
"Procreation," Rei added, and increased Attergate's surprise.
"They were fighting over sexual conquests?"
"Ranko," the name and Rei's stare bored in relentlessly.
Ramsey had seen less purposeful volleys from the gun turrets of a
battleship, Ranko's the only one left to meet, and she's intimating that
Davis and Saotome were fighting over her, Ramsey kept the smile from his
face, If I didn't know better, I'd say Rei was setting this all up. But
WHY?
Attergate was considering his next question carefully.
"Langley.
Tendo.
Likewise," Rei added with the same deadpan delivery she'd been using.
Attergate was left floundering by it.
"Pilot Davis died as a result of the battle," he managed.
"Recovered.
Completely."
"From dying?" Attergate was incredulous.
"Misdiagnosis."
"Misdiagnosis?! How can you misdiagnose being dead?"
"Samuel - Clemens," Rei said.
Attergate frowned at that, "I suppose that the reports of _your_
death have also been greatly exaggerated," Attergate said testily.
"Greatly."
Ramsey wondered what that referred to, he'd heard rumors about
Ayanami being injured during testing, sometimes severely, but never that
she died.
"You then went on to socialize with the others, why at Dr. Akagi's
home?"
"Huge.
Space."
"But you stayed out on the patio, didn't you want to socialize?"
"Suppressant," Rei admitted.
"Very commendable," Attergate said sarcastically, "Little monster
doesn't want to disturb the others. That's what they think of you, isn't
it?"
Ramsey was about to intervene, That's out of line.
Rei beat him to it, "'We monsters have to stick together, God help
us, because no one else will.' Jeffrey Kevin Davis," she quoted in
English, saying it as if it was all one word with pauses in it.
Ramsey enjoyed the shocked expression on Attergate's face, it was
tempered by hearing the bleak sentiments of at least two of the pilots.
"Is that why you and Dr. Akagi played chess with each other?"
"Reacclimatization."
----------------------------------------
Maya hid under her desk, writhing and screaming into her hands as she
covered her mouth. The feeling of spiders crawling all over her skin, an
almost feathery touch, all over her body, was terrible. That they
whispered things to her was worse. That her love for sempai was obscene
and depraved, that her relationship with the pilots didn't go far enough,
how pretty and innocent they all were, unready for the real world.
She kept refusing, denying. She loved sempai, if only at a distance,
how could that be wrong. She would _never_ hurt the pilots! Never!
If she would do it, strike at the pilots, at their trust and
innocence, the voices promised they would give her Dr. Akagi, body and
soul, she would love Maya as passionately and deeply as Maya loved her
sempai.
"I'll never do that!" she sobbed, she wouldn't betray the pilots or
sempai, she also knew she couldn't hold off these things forever. The
feathery, filthy touching, the smooth, unctuous, placid voices would find
some weakness that she couldn't turn away. So she silently screamed her
denials, knowing she would eventually fall, and betray everything and
everyone she stood for and cared about.
She was staggered when the hand dragged her out from under her desk.
She looked in horror at . . . Rei.
"You are not alone," she told Maya, "We should not have left you
here."
Maya had never been so glad and so ashamed in her life, "I'm sorry, I
couldn't . . . " the touches and voices were creeping back, temporarily
banished by the shock, but now Rei was being obscured from her mind.
Rei was impatient, for that Maya was glad. Rei draped her over her
shoulder in a fireman's carry, and marched back to the locker room,
carrying her the whole way.
Maya was dimly aware as Rei and Asuka carried her to the showers, and
ran warm, clean water over her. Maya sensed the reduction of the feeling
of crawling, on and under her skin, and the voices quieted, then fell
silent.
She sagged as the warm water played over her. She looked up at Rei
and Asuka, she could see the difference between Asuka's expressive
countenance and Rei's indifferent expression, but she guessed both were
equally protective and angry. She felt embarrassed sitting there, crying
in a shower. The other pilots would glance in at her, mixtures of
confusion and outrage, depending on their personality.
----------------------------------------
Douglas MacArthur
Now she heard the sound of her shoes against the floor, she dragged
her feet, Death awaited up ahead, Ranko was certain of it. The others had
struck, To what effect? Ranko wondered.
Wondered whether they defeated the creature, or would it still be
able to hurt her, corrupt her. She wasn't sure what frightened her more,
that the creature would be ready and angry at the mischief, or if it was
still ignorant of what they were doing, and she might give it away, dooming
all of them. She wanted to run back, to be with Raccoon and Nabiki. The
loss of 'manliness' that would cost her, she almost didn't care.
Ranko walked through the door, as terrified and foul as she felt in
that _thing's_ presence, she hadn't had a breakdown as severe as Maya had,
close but not quite, I don't want to do this again!
Asuka and Raccoon had gone over their briefing again and again. That
Shinji had such success, and so had Asuka, then Rei, she felt better about
going in, a little better. The plan would work, even she could see that.
But it's _disgusting_!_ she thought, glancing at her escort,
wondering what, if anything, he knew. At the same time, she hoped that she
didn't give away the game. She wondered why the others, the `adults`
hadn't put in an appearance. Gendo and Fuyutsuki are probably hiding in
their office. Who knows where Misa-chan and Rit-chan are.
Ranko paused at the door, she steeled herself to make this final
confrontation, then she entered the conference room.
----------------------------------------
"They have always, been somewhat high strung," Ramsey told Attergate,
playing the 'dumb military stuffed shirt.'
"Violins aren't that tightly strung!" Attergate shot back.
"Tennis rackets are, sir."
Attergate was getting frustrated by the insanity of the pilots.
Ramsey decided to carefully keep the pressure up.
Now he decided to push his luck. "The present events may have
exacerbated the condition." Ramsey thought the man would throw himself
bodily across the table at him, and tear out his throat.
Instead, `Ranko` Saotome entered, "Oh, hi Attergate-san! You're
interviewing . . . " she stopped, stared at Attergate. She clutched her
hands together under her chin, blinking cutely and smiling.
Attergate didn't react normally, he sat in his chair, he looked at
the girl as if she were unexpected and unpleasant.
Ranko sighed cutely, smiling brilliantly.
"Please sit down," Attergate told her firmly.
Ranko emitted a delighted squeal, and bounced into his lap, staring
at him and sighing contentedly.
Ramsey wondered how long he could stand this, and when, not if,
someone was going to explain it to him. He also noted Attergate's
revulsion, if Ranko acted like that to most men, they wouldn't act as if
she had just relieved herself in their lap.
"I meant in the other chair," he practically threw her out of his
lap. She pouted as she walked to the other side, but sat, her elbows on
the table supporting her chin, smiling cutely to let him know there were no
hard feelings, and dreamily sighing as she kept staring at him.
Attergate closed his eyes, with an expression of a man preparing to
drive his head right through the table, just working out when. "I have
some questions for you," Attergate said officiously.
Ranko sighed, "You have such dreamy eyes," Ranko sighed again.
Ramsey noted how much and what parts of Ranko moved and bounced so
intriguingly, when she sighed, You're old enough to be her _father_! Ramsey
reminded himself forcefully, as he wondered if he'd survive, if there were
more pilots. Ramsey also wondered if Ran_ma_ understood how seductive
Ran_ko_ could be, and how her proficiency at it, or her natural talent for
it, would affect his 'I'm a guy,' insistence.
"I understand, on 9 May, both you and Ranma Saotome began working
with Dr. Akagi."
Again Captain Ramsey was confused, Didn't this idiot know that Ranma
and Ranko were the same person? he'd assumed calling Ranma back was the
beginning of checking one set of stories against another.
"Oh yes!" Ranko chirped, "Martial Arts is about moving, and she's a
_biophysicist_."
"This research began as a result of meeting with Pilot Davis,"
Attergate said.
Ranko sighed wistfully and nodded, "He's so formal, and so shy.
That's so _cute_!_"
"Did the fact that Analyst Ibuki and Dr. Akagi attended your class
convince you to overstep yourself that way? You're just a pilot."
Ranko sighed and nodded, "Then I decided to teach Pilot Davis Martial
Arts. Martial Arts is important, that was May 10th."
"Then despite the recent attack, on 11 May, along with your friends,
you attended a movie."
Ranko blinked and smiled, "The Navy could protect us, it was _their_
base after all."
"That must have made you feel good, but it didn't prevent a fight
between Pilots Langley and Davis, on the 12th."
"They fight all the time," Ranko said dreamily.
"A fist fight," Attergate amplified.
"Really!? A fist fight between those two? And I missed it!?" Ranko
wailed, "That is so unfair! They told me it was just a spanking!"
Attergate merely shook his head, "You mean he was just giving Asuka
Langley a spanking, is that what you heard?"
"Well, she hit him and Pilot Tendo first, after Pilot Ayanami slapped
her," Ranko paused, considered, "After Asuka kissed Shinji," she made a
face, "For that she deserves a spanking, he is _so_ uncute!"
"That didn't stop you from going to the PX with Pilots Langley,
Ikari, and Ayanami, the next day."
"School's boring," she sighed, "Shopping's a lot more fun, even with
that bunch. Besides, I got some blood on Pilot Tendo's new swimsuit. I
had to get a replacement." She leaned close, whispering, "She acts nice,
but she's such a grouch."
"Yes," Attergate said, "I can imagine."
----------------------------------------
Fuyutsuki and Gendo had been listening intently through the hidden
microphones. Gendo wished he could have watched as well, the pilots had
surprised him, all of them. They would ask Captain Ramsey for
descriptions, he'd been present for all the interviews with the pilots.
They wondered at the planning, but it seemed to have had the desired
effect on their enemy.
"I almost don't want to know what they're going to do next,"
Fuyutsuki said.
"If Inspector Attergate doesn't want to interview the rest of the
staff," Gendo said, openly smiling, "I would consider that a victory."
----------------------------------------
Ranko didn't care, she got the door closed, without slamming it, got
a little ways down the corridor, then she broke into a run towards the
locker room. She burst in, seeing Nab-chan and Raccoon, she threw herself
into their welcoming arms. She didn't _care_ that 'I am a guy', there were
things that no one should be expected to face unflinching. She barely
heard the soft words, felt the gentle touches. All she knew was that again
she was safe. The evil crawling sensations of just being in the same room
with that thing, had faded. She was half-expecting it to storm in here,
and demand details of her dreams, and the night she spent in the furo with
a seriously ill Raccoon, cradling his head in her lap the whole night.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko walked the corridors of NERV HQ, she could feel the thing,
feel it calling to her, drawing her towards it, but she felt something
else, it was far weaker, but she wanted to go to the weaker, the more
desperate call. Not the heavier one that promised distinction. She opened
the door to the locker room.
Maya and the pilots were huddled together at the far end. The look
on Davis, Rei, and Asuka's faces told her they were _not_ happy with what
they been directed to do. She also had little doubt what the fate of any
unwelcome intruder would be. She noted the call to `renown` had faded, the
other one got no stronger, but she headed for her charges.
"Are you all right?" she sat across from them.
Shinji raised his head from Rei's lap. Ranko couldn't even manage
that, desperately clinging to both Nabiki and Jeff, he was stroking her
back, speaking softly. Nabiki lay atop Ranko, hugging her, red veined eyes
staring fearfully at Ritsuko saying nothing. Asuka sat between Rei and
Jeff, both leaned slightly on her, Asuka didn't seem to mind in the least.
She'd heard Rei and Asuka singing pianissimo as she entered, Jeff's
chant leading in the song. Jeff couldn't sing to save his life. Maya sat
next to Rei, with her head on the smaller girl's shoulder.
"I'd never hurt you or the Children, sempai," Maya said tearfully,
"You have to believe that."
"I do," Ritsuko assured her.
"Then let's go get that thing!" Asuka said as she stood.
"Rei - " Jeff began.
"No," Asuka said firmly, "Wondergirl comes with me, you stay here,
play teddy bear, you're better at it than we are," she smiled at Jeff's
frown, as Rei carefully set Shinji to lean against Jeff. Asuka turned to
Ritsuko, "Doctor, do you know how to use a flamethrower?"
Ritsuko thought about the uselessness of using any normal weapon on
their target.
----------------------------------------
The `man` collected his notes. "I think you are hiding something,"
Attergate criticized.
Ramsey merely watched him, he was under no orders to answer the man's
questions.
"I'll escort you to the Commanders," Ramsey held the door for him,
for some reason, no one wanted the job. Considering Attergate's foul mood,
he couldn't blame them.
----------------------------------------
"You didn't answer me," Attergate prodded.
"I am not at liberty to discuss many things, as are you," Ramsey
noted Rei, Asuka and Dr. Akagi rushing towards them, the two pilots carried
big CO2 fire extinguishers. Dr. Akagi seemed to be wearing a
backpack-mounted flamethrower. Asuka and Rei jerked Attergate's bow-tie
out of his hands, and pounded it with the fire extinguishers, then sprayed
it with CO2.
"Get him out of here!" Ritsuko ordered, unlimbering her flamethrower.
Ramsey rushed the surprised man down the corridor, putting him in
Commander Ikari's office as the sound of the flamethrower firing a
sustained burst, filled the corridor. Ramsey closed the door, after noting
the shocked looks on all three faces in the office. Ramsey walked down the
corridor as the two pilots extinguished the tie, he was getting to the
bottom of this. They hit that thing with a flamethrower blast, he watched
Asuka pick up the tie, And it's only singed! He definitely was going to
get an explanation!
----------------------------------------
Fuyutsuki guided Attergate to a seat in front of Gendo's desk.
"You can see some of the problems we have been laboring under," Gendo
said, "They have good and bad days, the good are becoming less common."
"I can see the situation has seriously deteriorated," Attergate
agreed.
"We've had no problem directing them in combat," Ikari let the 'yet',
hang unspoken, "And we have had no incidents of them attacking normal
humans."
"How long do you expect that situation to continue?" Attergate
demanded, regaining some control.
"I have been told that as long as Project E continues, I need not
concern myself with that," Ikari said, "We have the resources to push the
combat aspects and Project E. Anything else will require additional
resources SEELE doesn't have or won't release."
The knock on the door interdicted Attergate's reply.
"Enter!" Ikari commanded.
Asuka entered, carrying the slightly charred bow-tie at the end of a
bayonet, "I apologize, I should have realized what this was. I needlessly
endangered you and the entire base by my carelessness. I am truly sorry,
and submit myself for appropriate discipline." She dropped the scorched
object on Ikari's desk in front of Attergate. "It's related to the hoop
snake."
"Snake?" Attergate asked.
"Yes, sir," Asuka said with all seriousness, "Davis told me about
them."
"Who didn't guess that?" Fuyutsuki said sardonically.
Asuka continued, "They're so rare, they're often considered a myth or
legend. But when you see what looks like a wagon wheel rim rolling along
in the distance, and there's nothing there when you arrive where it
disappeared, just gopher holes. Well," Asuka paused, "It gets you
thinking, like, why the Mesoamericans never developed the wheel, I believ -
"
"Thank you," Ikari interrupted, "Miss Langley, you may go."
Asuka nodded and left.
"I've never met people who can say more about nothing," Ikari
explained.
Attergate nodded.
----------------------------------------
Ramsey saw Katsuragi walking ahead, in a Force 8 snit, She'd be
attractive, he thought, If she wasn't so childish. He shook his head,
wondering what had gotten into him, he wouldn't touch her with a boat hook.
Katsuragi started into the locker room with an angry shout. He
nearly ran into her, as she stopped just inside and backed up a step.
He looked over her shoulder at the pilots. He'd seen that look only
one time, he'd watched a group of tigers eating a kill, in Burma during the
war, a pair of females and cubs. When they spotted him a few hundred feet
away, he'd gotten that exact same look. Barely restrained kill reflex.
Only the need to defend their cubs, a local had explained, prevented them
from charging across the distance.
He stepped past, and away from Katsuragi, determined that she, not
he, was the problem. The pilots and analyst Ibuki were huddled together,
the 'mama tigers' were Dr. Akagi, Asuka Langley, Rei Ayanami and Jeffrey
Davis. The others seemed fearful to a greater or lesser extent. He noted
that Saotome had taken joint refuge, in Davis's lap and Ranko's identity.
"What did you do?" Katsuragi demanded, again their eyes narrowed,
anger increased, "You were told to cooperate."
Davis and Langley rolled their eyes, as if to tell him, 'Now you see
what we have to deal with.'
"Ny har rut hotep," Davis began.
Ramsey recognized the name.
Davis continued, "There is - no rest - at the gate."
Ramsey's eyes widened, he glanced in the direction of Ikari's office,
"That was the Crawling Chaos?" Ramsey whispered in horror.
Katsuragi was still lost.
"The Soul and Messenger of the Outer Gods," Langley's stare should
have burned through Katsuragi's skull instantly, "Should we have told it
all the secrets we know? All our weaknesses and foibles, Captain?"
Ramsey thought he'd need a bulldozer to scrape all the sarcasm off
that question, he noted that Katsuragi had the good sense, or the decency,
to look embarrassed, but she didn't apologize.
"Why didn't you attack it with the EVAs?" Ramsey asked.
"It is too powerful for four EVAs to combat," Rei told him quietly,
concentrated on the shivering boy in her lap, both were very different from
the characters they had presented to Attergate, but not so different that
they would draw attention to the fraud. Rei was unwilling to talk
unnecessarily, Shinji terribly frightened, but both were very different at
the core.
"I'll check in on him, and have some food sent in," he smirked, "Or
some pallets to load you aboard a truck." He got a few smiles from that,
but none of them were likely to move.
"Captain!" he snapped, shocking Katsuragi out of her stupor.
"Yes, sir!"
"OUT!" he ordered, glared at her, daring her to protest. She moved
out, he followed.
"Captain, now is not the time to scream at them," he told her after
they had left the locker room, and closed the door behind them, "Attergate
was an Outer God, our _real_ enemy."
"I know that," she replied testily.
"Considering your track record, Captain, that is _quite_ a surprise.
It seems that Norris Attergate, Nyarlathotep, knew Miss Langley was
planning to move out of your apartment, to base housing," he watched her
shocked expression, "I hadn't realized you'd let the situation degenerate
to that point. We'll find alternate arrangements for billeting the
Children, and your housekeeping needs."
Gendo walked up to them, looked serene, pleased with himself and the
world, "Mister Norris Attergate has decided that further interviews, 'Would
serve no useful purpose.' It seems the pilots were - not what he expected.
Their deplorable condition irritated him, he mentioned something about
recommending increasing outlays for the counseling budget."
"You might want to tell the pilots that," Ramsey told him
"Considering _they_ developed and carried out the plan that drove it
away, I am quite pleased," Gendo told them as he continued towards the
locker room.
"Attergate was supposed to be a NERV employee," Katsuragi said.
Ramsey could see she was finally getting a handle on the situation, "An
auditor."
"Nyarlathotep was working for SEELE," Ramsey told her, "I suggest you
get your facts straight, and learn the real players in this little game,
Captain." Ramsey walked off understanding the term and tone of `adults`,
that he'd overheard from the Children, he'd promised them food, but he also
needed to report to the Admiral.
Well, I have a staff for that, he remembered. He wondered what they
would want, then remembered the Security reports about that restaurant
cluster, Double portions of everything, he thought, With a side of
everything else.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko watched Gendo's expression, as he entered the locker room, he
seemed to vaguely approve of the arrangement, all the pilots sort of piled
on top of each other.
"I have received word that - the `inspector` - is returning to
Geneva, he felt no further interviews with the staff were necessary. A
very good job, I am proud of all of you," he turned, paused halfway through
the door, "Carry on."
Ritsuko thought he actually cracked a smile, something she would have
thought unlikely, Except that means none of the rest of us get interviewed,
none of the rest of us will be subjected to this, she thought, she decided
to stay with the Children. The pilots had won another victory, especially
when the Crawling Chaos, or SEELE, realized that `mere humans` had fooled
it/them. They'd seek some kind of redress. She hoped her preparations
would make a difference.
----------------------------------------
Kaji looked at the lone monolith, labeled '01', it was Kehl, of
course, none of the rest of the Committee had his hubris. Kaji was in the
conference room, where Ikari had his meetings. He wasn't supposed to be in
here, technically he wasn't supposed to know this even existed. But he
did, and he was.
"The Project must not be delayed further," the monolith intoned.
"Rushing things like you have, hasn't helped," Kaji despised the man,
he was glad he'd switched to the winning side years ago, but Kehl didn't
need to know that. "You pushed, and someone pushed back, NERV Japan was
murdered, right in front of Gendo. Unless you did it to send him a
message, somebody serious, knocked off your boy." Lately he'd been poking
into all the secrets of NERV that he could, the U.S. Military was taking
care of security, that left him plenty of time to examine other things.
Things he wasn't supposed to be examining.
"We understand events better than you," the monolith told him.
Your damned scrolls, Kaji had heard the joke, that Patton had
actually written them, and had laughed as SEELE had gone quietly mad trying
to prove or refute that information, "Then you should have been better
prepared. The problem with prophesy is that it often can't be interpreted
until it's past."
"That is our concern," the monolith replied, "We still need Saotome,
he remains a potential solution to seal the breach."
Him and not her, or them? Kaji hadn't figured out what they would
want him for, and he knew they wouldn't tell him. "You know that the
pilots drove off your inspector? Evidently Langley and Davis did
something, the other pilots followed."
"Your paramour, might find herself out of a job soon," the monolith
said, "Perhaps we should tender an offer."
Yeah, Misa-chan working for you creeps, Kaji thought while he seemed
to be considering, I can see _that_ happening. Especially if she finds out
how you set her parents up. Misato's love/hate relationship with her dead
father, was the one reason Kaji hadn't bothered to try to rekindle their
relationship. Until she got over both her unreasoning hatred, and her
Electra Complex, and finally got some closure, she was just too unstable.
I'm juggling enough right now.
"I doubt she'll be receptive," Kaji told them the truth.
"All have their price," the monolith told him, and vanished.
Idiots, Kaji slipped out of the room, made sure he was unseen, They
aren't as certain as they think they are.
Kaji was too wrapped up in his own thoughts, to notice the pair of
eyes staring out at him from the ventilator.
----------------------------------------
Ramsey had taken Asuka aside, the pilots had assembled in Ritsuko
Akagi's apartment, to eat the pile of food his staff had brought in. It
seemed that none of them wanted to be out of sight of each other.
This place is big, but it isn't 'huge space', Ramsey thought, "Some
pictures you might want to see, Miss Langley, from Aberdeen Proving Ground,
and China Lake."
Asuka took the photos and thumbed through them, "The sonic glaive!"
she said excitedly.
"They should be here in a few weeks, they all passed their tests.
Your designs were extensively reworked, but you also made our designs work.
You should be very proud."
"Maybe I should give you the plans I drew up for the Skoda works, an
electrically-driven three-barreled Gatling gun using the 50 mm KwK 39 as a
base."
"What gave you that idea?" Ramsey asked, "That could shred anything
short of a battleship."
"That was the idea. Well, there were tests of a steam-driven Gatling
gun in the late 19th Century, it achieved 2000 rounds per minute. It also
would prevent the barrels from melting. I called it Surtur's Thunderbolt,
but you'd probably name it after some Greek god, like Zeus, or Hephaestus,
or someone like that."
Ramsey shuddered at the idea.
----------------------------------------
Commander Ikari looked over the reports on his desk. They'd dodged a
bullet, only to encounter a potentially more grave problem, he steepled his
fingers and stared at Fuyutsuki, "How did this happen?"
Commander Fuyutsuki noted Ikari's concern, "We believe it overpowered
the guard mentally. The guard didn't have a mark on him, and according to
the security recordings, he terminated it, and took it to the incinerators.
We can only assume, that it escaped somewhere not covered by the security
monitors or guard patrols. Once it was out, the guards who encountered it,
assumed it was Rei."
"So another Rei, is currently walking the streets of Tokyo?" Ikari
asked mildly.
"That would seem reasonable. Who knows how much it knows?" Fuyutsuki
shook his head, "That has yet to be determined. It stole the cash from the
guard's wallet, without taking anything incriminating. It also seemed able
to impersonate Rei well enough to fool guards who encounter her every day.
It seems we finally have a unit that is stable in both the matrix and the
compatibility, we just might not be able to use it."
"Too stable," Ikari replied, "Perhaps much too stable. Send out the
special teams. We cannot risk it encountering Rei, or agents of SEELE."
"What if it attempts to link with an EVA?" Fuyutsuki asked, seeing
the look of fear on his friend's face, they'd been seeking a way to
`upgrade` Rei. To bring her in line with their projections. She should
have been the best pilot by a wide margin, instead Asuka was the best, with
Shinji and Ranma closing the gap with Rei rapidly, Shinji might even
surpass Asuka soon.
"Bring Rei here immediately. Increase the guard on the pilots and
the EVAs, they are to be prevented from meeting. Deadly force is
authorized."
"Against the unit, or the pilots?" Commander Fuyutsuki suspected he
knew, "This can't be a coincidence, the Chaos was here, do you suppose this
was his real plan all along."
"Or SEELE's, which means we have a traitor. The timing and events
are just too close for this to be a coincidence. The meeting must be
prevented by any means," Ikari told him, dismissing him.
----------------------------------------
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