Neon Apocalypse Evangelion
Chapter 3 - Testing the Waters
by
Arial Perry
(Revision 1.0)
C&C and MST requested. Please send all email to: sailor_tenshi@mailcity.com
*There are several spoilers ahead for those that haven't seen all the episodes of Eva and the movies (or are like me and don't have the willpower to wait and have read the scripts so you know how things end.) Don't read on if you have willpower!
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Inspired by NEON GENESIS EVANGELION created by Hideaki Anno and Gainax.
Most characters designed by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Kaela and the personality for EVA-04, Stephanie, are mine.)
I ask that all concerned that own these copyrights do not sue me as I am poor enough as it is. Trying to scrape through school on what Radio Shack pays really sucks.
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Kaela woke up to the sound of her alarm clock going off. She glowered at the source of all her morning evils, wishing it would die, or at least sat next to her bed so she could hit the snooze button. She tried to ignore it for about ten more minutes before getting out of bed and walking across her room to turn it off. The clock read 8:15AM and she wondered why it was set so early until she remembered the test.
Yesterday, Cdr. Ikari had finally approved EVA-04 for training and combat use. Kaela would have been bored to tears for the last two months if it wasn't for Shinji helping her learn Japanese. She figured she had better start breakfast and get ready before Shinji and Misato came over to take her to Nerv. She had the feeling that today was going to be interesting.
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Shinji rang Kaela's doorbell. As he waited for her to answer the door, he thought on how she had become such a regular part of his life. Almost daily he would stop by her apartment after school or testing at Nerv and help her learn Japanese. As a result, his own English was improving and his marks at school in that subject had improved.
It was also nice to be back in school. The first thing rebuilt when they started to reconstruct Tokyo-3 had been the schools. People were starting to move back here as well, thanks to the relative calm of not having an Angel attack for two months. Most of his classmates had moved back, though he still hadn't seen Touji. Hikari had said he was doing OK but he was still in the hospital. Shinji just couldn't bring himself to visit him there.
Kaela interrupted this line of thought when she opened the door. As usual for when she was going to Nerv, she was wearing a uniform similar in cut and style to what everyone else in operations wore. Over that she had on her black cassock. Shinji still hadn't figured out why she wore the thing almost constantly and thought she probably slept in it. He had heard about her and Asuka's little 'talk' in the lunchroom a while back, but he couldn't picture Kaela carrying a bunch of weapons. He had never seen any beyond the Katana that hung on her wall and the U.S. Army service pistol she had in a glass case. Kaela had never been anything but nice to him. She always treated him with respect and only teased him occasionally. After only two months he felt that he got along better with her than anyone else in Nerv, even Misato. The only time she bothered him is when he saw her sitting at a table at Nerv. She had her laptop in front of her with the same calculating look on her face that his father always wore. It gave him cold chills to think of her as being anything like that man.
"You know Shinji, I don't mind if you leer at me, but could you do it in my apartment and not in the hallway." Shinji looked startled and then his face flushed as he realized that he had been doing just that for three minutes. He had the good grace to look sheepish as he walked past her. She was pleased to note that he had finally gotten into the habit of not taking off his shoes when he came in. It was one of her pet peeves when it came to Japanese society.
"How much longer till your ready to go?"
"Just a few more minutes," she replied. "I was just finishing breakfast, care for some?"
"Thanks, it was Misato's turn to cook this morning." Kaela sympathized. She couldn't believe that someone could mess up instant food that bad. The only person she knew who cooked worse was her older brother, Scott. He was so bad, the one time he had tried to make toast, he had caught the skillet on fire. Why he was cooking bread in the skillet and not the toaster was beyond her.
Shinji sat at the table in her kitchen as she dished out what was left of breakfast to him. The two of them ate silently as Kaela finished reading the morning paper. She was pleased to see him devour the food. She knew that Misato was cooking breakfast and had fixed enough for two. Shinji stopped in often on these mornings. He had an open invitation to just come in but he still preferred to knock and wait for her to answer.
Kaela gathered the plates as they finished and tossed them in the sink to do later. She and Shinji went over a few Japanese phrases she still had trouble with as they went down to meet Misato. Asuka had already left for school with Hikari so Kaela wouldn't need to put up with her. She was glad only Shinji was going to be at Nerv for her first sync test. Asuka hadn't said anything to her since they had met but Misato had told her that Asuka still hated her. Asuka had even sworn that she wasn't going to let another 'God damned albino' get rid of her. She had been pushing herself since then to prove that she could still pilot an Eva. The improvement in her sync ratio from 0% up to 31% in the past two months was impressive. She was now listed as Rei's backup pilot which really got her goat.
Rei also wasn't going to be at her sync test. The reason Commander Ikari gave was that he wanted a self sufficient unit on standby in case of problems. Since Eva-02 needed a power cable, it was excluded. She knew there were other reasons for this, but didn't question it. Kaela had her own reasons for not wanting Rei there. Rei unsettled her. Her red eyes seemed to stare into the depths of her soul and seek out her inner most secrets. She couldn't shake the feeling that Rei was somehow inhuman. The data she had finally found yesterday confirmed that. The fact that Rei was half Angel still had her reeling. The fact that she was the third of a series of clones scared the hell out of her. She noticed that most of the command staff kept their distance if possible from her except Cdr. Ikari and V.Cdr. Fuyutski. Dr. Akagi seemed to despise her, as did Asuka. Shinji, on the other hand, always seemed to want to talk to her and would stop at the last minute. She was so alone it saddened Kaela, and she was afraid to do anything in fear of letting her feelings for Rei show.
<At least Cdr. Ikari is letting me and Steph back together,> was her finale thought as caught up to an impatient Misato.
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"Here, your supposed to wear these as well," Ritsuko called as she followed Kaela to the Eva bay.
"I did just fine last time without those things, why should I wear them this time?"
"Because it helps make synchronizing with your Eva easier."
"Fine," Kaela said as she snatched neural headset from her. She then continued on to Eva cage 5.
"Take off that robe of yours as well. It will interfere with the test."
"I'll wear the headset, but the robe stays. You want me to be relaxed for this test after all," Kaela called back over her shoulder. She climbed up onto the gantry with Ritsuko hot on her heals.
"Put on the headset now!"
"OK. Don't be so pushy." She settled the headset upon her brow.
<I can't feel Steph,> she thought. She reached out and touched the entry plug. <Where are you Steph?> The terror in her mind began to build. <Steph, answer me. Damn you, this is no time for any of your games, Answer!> She didn't notice as she reeled back into Ritsuko clutching her head. She tore the headset off and threw it on the floor as hard as she could.
<Kaela, answer me now!>
<I'm here Steph, I'm fine now that you're here,> she thought to the Eva as relief flooded her body. <I don't think I'll ever put a neural headset on again.>
<Is that what happened?>
<Yes.>
"Are you OK. Misato, get a medical team in here stat," cried Ritsuko.
"I'm fine and I don't need a doctor, Dr. Akagi," Kaela said as she shook off Ritsuko. "Just leave me alone and let's get this test over with." She walked over to Unit-04's plug as Ritsuko stood there feeling confused and annoyed. Before Ritsuko could get out another word Kaela closed the hatch.
Ritsuko stood on the gantry looking at the entry plug before turning away and walking up to the command center, passing the med team on the way.
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"Now inserting the entry plug," Maya stated as Ritsuko walked in.
"Begin first stage connections," Ritsuko said as she took her usual place behind Maya. Cdr. Ikari noticed how TechDiv had automatically fallen into their old pattern of obeying Ritsuko even though Maya was now in command. It was all going according to plan.
"First stage complete. Beginning second stage," Shiguru said.
Misato watched as Kaela settled into her seat on the screen. Shinji and Unit-01 were already online. She noted that he seemed a little nervous. Kaela, on the other hand, was calm and just sat there with her eyes closed. Misato was somewhat worried about the scene that had taken place in the cage just a few minutes ago.
"Second stage complete. Setting language interface for English," Maya said.
"Reset language interface for Latin," Kaela said. Maya looked at her image as if Kaela had just lost her mind. "It's my Eva and I will use which ever language I choose." Kaela then leaned back into the seat and closed her eyes again.
"Begin third stage connections," Ritsuko said. Everyone waited for the synchronization between Kaela and Eva-04 to clear with breath held. All of them had a replay of Unit-00 going through their minds.
"Absolute border line cleared," Maya said, relieved. She then gasped as she saw Kaela's sync ratio. "Look at this Doctor!"
Ritsuko looked at Kaela's ratio and gasped as well. Everyone in the C&C walked over to look and were similarly stunned.
"How is it possible for her to have 100% synchronization with an Eva?" Misato asked. Ritsuko ignored the question.
"How are you feeling Kaela?"
"We're fine Dr. Akagi. No problems with sync and no nasty headset to annoy us. We hate hair bretts. Why do those things to be so much like em?"
Ritsuko and Maya stared at her, their expressions suggesting that Kaela had grown two heads. No one, least of all Gendou, failed to notice that Kaela was speaking in plural.
"Pilot Wolfe," he said.
"Yes Commander?"
"You will be participating in a combat simulation tomorrow at 1500 hours against Pilot Langley-Soryu and Evangelion Unit-02. You will be ready by then." He gave Ritsuko and Misato a cold look that said 'not a word' a they started to protest.
"We will be prepared sir. Do you wish for us to continue our test?"
"Dr. Akagi and Capt. Ibuki are finished with you today. Your presence is not required at Nerv for the rest of the day," Gendou stated matter of factly.
"We thank you Commander Ikari," Kaela replied. She cut her communications and shut down her Eva, not waiting for the bridge crew to do it for her.
"Cdr. Ikari, I would like to protest. We need to run more tests before she will be ready for combat against another Eva, let alone an Angel," protested Ritsuko.
"Your objection is noted Doctor. I have every confidence that she is ready. She has piloted Unit-04 before, it is now time to see if she is worth the investment we have made," he replied.
"What investment?" cried Misato. Cdr. Ikari turned and walked out ignoring her question.
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Asuka walked into the locker room the next day to find Kaela just getting out of the shower.
"Your supposed to take a shower after you get out of your EVA idiot," she said. Kaela ignored her as she began to brush out her hair. Asuka waited another minute for Kaela to respond before deciding she wasn't going to.
Asuka then turned to put on her red, black, and green plug suit. She noticed that Kaela never once even glanced at her the entire time. It was as if Kaela wasn't even acknowledging her presence in the room. This only made Asuka mad at her and even more determined than she already was to kick Kaela's ass. Asuka clicked the seal on her suit a moment after she heard Kaela's. She noticed Kaela putting on her cassock as she turned to leave.
"Why are you wearing that in the plug. It'll only mess up your piloting. Do you try to be stupid or is it a God given gift?" she asked Kaela in a sarcastic tone. Kaela gave the cassock one last tug and turned toward Asuka.
"Do you believe in God?" she Asked. Asuka looked at her, totally perplexed.
"What kind of question is that idiot. We are training to fight his Angels after all."
Kaela looked at her for a moment. "Heretic," she said. She then walked past Asuka and out the door. Asuka stood there a few moments more.
"Uppity bitch. I'll show you what a real Evangelion pilot can do!" She stormed out of the locker room and all the way to the EVA cage.
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Evangelion Unit-02 and -04 stepped off their elevators and into the ruined area of Tokyo-3 that still needed to be demolished before reconstruction could begin. As no repair crews were in the area and no one lived there, Misato felt that it was perfect for a combat test between two EVAs.
"Listen up you two." Misato waited for Kaela and Asuka to acknowledge her. "The weapons bunker is opening has two rifles in it. Each one is loaded with paint rounds. To put it simply, you guys are going to be playing paint ball until one of you is out. Then you'll switch weapons and go again. You'll do this several times until you've gone through each firearm that Nerv has, understood." Again, she waited for them. "Then grab a gun and go to opposite sides of this section of the city. The two EVAs did as told.
"Hey Asuka," Kaela said. "I bet you won't hit me once today."
"What! I'll there you apart with my hands if I have to, you uppity BITCH!" yelled back Asuka. Asuka then went on to scream a few more interesting epitaphs at Kaela. Kaela was glad that Asuka was so easy to manipulate. That meant that she was distracted while Kaela uploaded her program to Asuka's EVA while Asuka was to busy being herself. Now if things went right, Maya wouldn't be able to shut down EVA-02 and they would be able to communicate without the Magi being able to translate. Part of what she uploaded was a logarithm for an ancient language that wasn't in the Magi's database. She was glad that she had made it a priority to establish contact with the local Catholic church. She was even happier that Catholic school had taught her something useful besides theology. Like hacking for instance.
"That's enough Asuka. And stop trying to provoke her Kaela," said Misato, sounding weary.
The two of them moved into position without further incident. They both took a ready position, arming their weapons. When Misato yelled for them to start, Asuka immediately deployed her AT field to neutralize Kaela's and fired a three round burst. Unfortunately for Asuka, Kaela wasn't where she was a second ago. Asuka kept on shooting at Kaela and Kaela kept on not being where Asuka was shooting. Kaela also took several shots at Asuka, making sure to hit Asuka's AT field only. She wanted to make sure that Asuka knew that Kaela thought using her AT field wasn't necessary. Then Kaela activated her language program.
"I told you, your not going to hit me, not even once today," she taunted Asuka. Kaela watched the look on Asuka's ace get redder and angrier.
"I swear I'll get you bitch," she retorted.
"Now Asuka, swearing isn't polite," chastised Kaela. So far, Asuka was reacting just as her psyche evaluation said she would.
Asuka screamed and let off a stream of continuous fire until her clip ran out. Asuka dropped her rifle and dived for the nearest weapons tower. Kaela took a few shots at her, intentionally missing her on all of them. Asuka then came back up with a fresh rifle and continued.
"You lack control Asuka, wasting ammo like that. It's no wonder that Shinji is a better pilot than you." Asuka's mech froze.
"What did you say?" Kaela could hear the suppressed fury in Asuka's voice.
"I said that it is no wonder that they always turn to Shinji when they need a good pilot. Hell, they turn to Rei even before they turn to you. The only reason they ever turned to you was because they were desperate." Kaela was gambling here. She hoped it would pay off and Asuka came after her. She really wanted to put her in her place for what she had said two months earlier. God may have said turn the other cheek, but then, God hadn't had to put up with assholes like Asuka either.
"How dare you say that to me," Asuka said quietly, speaking so softly that it sent chills down Kaela's spine. "I swear I'll kill you bitch."
"Go ahead and try, heretic. You couldn't swat a fly in an EVA, let alone kill someone who's only been piloting for two days." Asuka screamed and threw down her rifle, breaking it. She then pulled two berettas from the weapon's tower and ejected the clips. She then pulled a pair of live clips and loaded the weapons, opening fire on Kaela. Kaela took a second to think that maybe she had pushed Asuka to far as she dodged.
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"Major, I still can't crack whatever code they're using to talk with. Whatever it is, the Magi don't even recognize it," Shiguru said.
"Keep trying," she replied. "What the hell is she doing?"
"I don't know. You tell me Misato. You know her better than the rest of us," Ritsuko said. Misato frowned and looked at Ritsuko. Misato could see a hint of worry in her face. It was probably for the EVAs was Misato's thought.
"Don't worry Ritsuko. Your precious EVAs can be repaired."
"Is that all you think of me Misato?" Ritsuko looked hurt. Hyuga then interrupted them before things could escalate.
"Major! Asuka just pulled two pistols and reloaded them with live ammo. She's firing!" he cried.
"Shut down Unit-02 now!" screamed Misato and Ritsuko in unison.
"No," everyone heard Gendou say. "You will let them continue."
"Cdr. Ikari, you..."
"That is enough Maj. Katsuragi. You will remain quiet and not question my orders or you will find yourself removed. Is this understood?" Misato nodded, too angry to speak. Everyone else on the bridge looked at Ikari in shock. "I need to find out what Pilot Wolfe can do. This is the best way possible. Do you really think Pilot Wolfe hadn't planned this anyhow. Why else would she encrypt her and Pilot Soryu's communications?" Misato didn't answer. She just turned to watch EVA-02 continue to attack EVA-04.
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Kaela continued to taunt Asuka as she dodged through the ruins. Asuka hadn't hit her once so far, but Kaela was getting tired. It wasn't helping that Stephanie wasn't helping much because she didn't approve of what Kaela was doing. <Time to end things,> thought Kaela.
Kaela came out form behind the building remains and deployed her EVA's AT field, neutralizing Asuka's. Asuka shot her twice, but neither shot penetrated. Kaela thanked her Lucky Charms(TM) that her EVA was a D-type without needing the bulky armor that other versions needed. Just another advantage of Seele having EVA-04 designed to be a command unit for all the other EVAs. She then deployed her own AT field instinctively when Asuka almost put out an eye with one shot. Not that Kaela noticed this.
Asuka dropped her pistols as she ran out of ammo. She then pulled both her progressive knives and charged Kaela, screaming. Kaela waited till the last second to jump over Asuka. Kaela pulled her own prog knife as she did so and threw it, severing Asuka's umbilical cable.
"You've got one minute to kill me heretic. Hurry up or your mine."
Asuka screamed and took several more swipes at Kaela, missing every time. Kaela pulled her prog sword and deflected several and Asuka's strikes, feeling rather smug about the whole situation. She realized her mistake when her feet went out from under her. Next thing Kaela knew she was on her back with EVA-02 looming over her, a knife to her throat.
"Now I'm going to carve your throat out for what you said bitch." Kaela decided that she had in fact gone to far with Asuka as she felt the knife begin to cut Steph's throat. Just as Steph began to cry out in pain EVA-02 ran out of power and shut down. To say the least, Kaela was relieved.
<Dammit Kaela, you let her cut me!" yelled Steph.
<I'm sorry Steph,> Kaela said. Tears formed in her eyes. <I wasn't going to let her hurt you. I tripped. God, am I sorry Steph. Please don't be mad.> Kaela was so upset she was crying.
<It is all right Kaela. I'm not too angry. The damage will regenerate in a few minutes anyhow.>
Kaela calmed down and got hold of herself. <You made a mistake Asuka. Hurting me was all right, but hurting Steph is a death sentence.> She let her anger build, directing it at Asuka.
<Calm down Kaela.> Steph paused as Kaela lifted Asuka's EVA and carried it to a power tower. <I said calm down!> Kaela wasn't listening. She pulled the damaged power umbilical out of EVA-02 and plugged in the new one. She then slammed Unit-02 into the ground face first as it came back online. She positioned the prog sword between the third and fourth vertebrate on the EVA.
"Listen good Asuka. You will never again make any albino jokes about me again. To my face or behind my back, understand? You also will never again hurt Steph. I can defend myself, she can't. It you lay so much as a finger on her again, You'll pull back a stump, understand?" She gave Asuka appropriate pauses to say yes. Kaela then deactivated her program in Asuka's EVA, causing the program to eradicate itself. She the killed the language logarithm. "No hard feelings, right Asuka?" Kaela said sweetly. She then pulled Asuka's power cord before she could respond.
"I hate that bitch," Asuka screamed in her plug.
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Everyone (except Gendou) in the command center watched the fight play out in a stunned horror. Most had thought that Asuka was going to cut off Unit-04's head when Kaela tripped. Then Asuka had run out of power and they thought it was finally over. They were wrong. Gendou watched in interest as Kaela plugged in a new power cord just so Asuka would feel the pain of Kaela's sword sticking in her neck. Then Kaela pulled the plug, so to speak, on the whole test and left Asuka for the recovery team. Things had not turned out as planned. If Kaela had killed Asuka, it wouldn't have mattered. He had a classroom full of replacements and she wasn't necessary currently anyway. If Asuka had killed Kaela, he would have been rid of a developing problem. Though none of the current children besides Kaela could pilot EVA-04, her still had several candidates to try yet. Even if they didn't work, Seele had one less EVA to use against him. Unfortunately, both lived and Kaela became a greater problem as a result. He truly had no clue what kind of problem Asuka would be after this.
Gendou decided that Kaela was too dangerous to leave alive now. No matter how useful she had been, the time to eliminate her was soon, before she became too entrenched to assassinate. Until then he needed a watch dog.
"Maj. Katsuragi. Send Rei to my office immediately." He then left the room.
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Kaela quickly changed and left the locker room, not wanting to be there when Asuka got back. She was starting to feel guilty about what she did. It was too late to change things now though. She was making her way to the elevator when someone grabbed her arm from behind and spun her around. Kaela was relieved it was Misato and not Asuka. She rethought that a second later as she saw the look on Misato's face.
"Just what the hell did you think you were doing!" yelled Misato. She made no effort to hide her fury.
"I was teaching Asuka a lesson in humility," was Kaela's calm reply.
"By trying to get yourself killed, and then almost killing Asuka. I expect better of the pilots under my command than petty revenge. You better learn that real quick or you'll find yourself no longer here under my command. You understand that Pilot Wolfe?"
"Crystal Clear, Major Katsuragi," Kaela replied coldly. Misato looked at her with unconcealed fury for a few seconds more and then left. <Not one of my best days, right Steph?>
<Shutup Kaela. You got what you deserved.>
Kaela continued on to the elevator. She still had to make a report to the committee today.
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Gendou watched Rei as she entered his office. He hoped he was making the right decision. Things had slipped out of his control and needed to be brought back under his control. The only thing was, he might be putting Rei in a bad position. No. He hadn't mistaken the was Kaela looked at Rei. Rei would be safe. He had nothing to fear when it came to Kaela harming Rei.
"Rei, are you aware that the part of town you live has been condemned so it may be rebuilt?"
"Yes Commander."
"Do you have any preference as to where you move to?"
"No Commander."
"Then I want you to ask Pilot Wolfe if you may move in with her. She lives alone and has room for someone else. She is also near your age and is affiliated with Nerv. She won't say no but ask her anyway."
"Yes Commander"
"I also want you to watch her Rei. Just report to me her daily coming and goings. What her habits are, when she eats and sleeps, and how she decorates her apartment are also useful information. This is important to me and to Nerv Rei."
"Yes Commander."
"You are dismissed Rei. Pilot Wolfe is in the lounge area near the main conference room now Rei."
"Yes Commander. Goodbye Commander Ikari." Rei then turned and left.
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Asuka fumed in the pilot's locker room, beating the hell out of Kaela's locker.
"That bitch beat me. She beat and then she humiliated me. I hate her. I hate her more than I hate Shinji, Wonder Girl, and everyone else. I can't stand her. I swear I'll kill her if I ever get a chance. I will!" she finished with a shout. Then Asuka sat down and did the last thing she wanted to do. She started crying. Asuka didn't even notice as Misato came in and sat next to her.
Misato saw Asuka crying and did the only thing she could. She sat next to her and put her arm around her. She held Asuka tight as she tried to jerk away. She then began to stroke Asuka's hair soothingly whispering reassurances to the girl.
Asuka relaxed against Misato and let go. The last few months had been hell after hell for Asuka. No matter how hard she tried, she just wasn't good enough. For the first time since she was four, she felt safe, as if she was in her mother's arms.
"Momma," she whispered and clung tighter to Misato. She let the rest of her tension drain away and fell asleep in Misato's arms.
Misato looked down at Asuka, feeling warmed that she had called her 'momma'. She held her tightly and rocked her gently as Asuka fell asleep. Misato said she was sorry that she had let Asuka get hurt. She promised her that she wouldn't let the person who was ultimately responsible for Asuka's problems, Commander Ikari, wouldn't hurt her again. Not as long as Misato could prevent it.
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Kaela sat in the lounge reading over more background on Nerv, Gehirn, and Seele. So far Ikari didn't know she was accessing the epsilon level documents. Fortunately the Magi were 'willing' to cover for anyone with epsilon clearance. The only people besides herself who had that level of clearance were Ayanami, Fuyutski, Akagi, Ibuki, and Ikari. Speaking of Rei, she just walked in the room.
"Hello Rei, what brings you here?"
"Pilot Wolfe, I have a favor to ask of you," replied Rei. Kaela sat up and looked at Rei curiously. "My apartment building has been condemned and I need a place to stay. I was told you have room in your apartment for an additional person. May I move in with you?"
Kaela didn't bother to hide her surprise. This was the longest conversation the she and Rei had since she got here. She looked at Rei and felt her heart rate quicken a little. <Dammit idiot, stop it. She probably doesn't think that way and she's half angel for Heaven's sake. Ikari is planting her to keep an eye on me anyhow. I'm not letting her move in. Why should I play Ikari's game?>
"Sure Rei. I'll help you move your things into my place around noon tomorrow. Is that all right with you?"
"Yes it is Pilot Wolfe. I will be waiting." Rei turned and left.
<Why are letting her move in Kaela?> asked Steph.
<I'm as surprised as you are at my response. I opened my mouth to say 'no' and said 'yes' instead. Am I loosing my mind here?>
<No. You just gave in to one of your perverted fantasies.> Kaela heard Steph's disgust in her mental voice.
<Go to Hell Steph and stay out of my mind when I sleep. I've got enough things to worry about right now.> Steph didn't respond to her. <Ahhh, peace and quiet. Time for my meeting.> Kaela left for the holographic conference room deeper in Nerv.
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"So, you're telling us that you put two Evangelion units in jeopardy for no reason," came from Blue.
"I was testing the stability of the 2nd children in a combat situation. She failed. I feel she is not even fit to be a backup pilot at this time," replied Kaela. "We have more important things to discuss anyway."
"Do not dictate to this committee Colonel Wolfe," warned Green.
"Let her speak," Keele said.
"Thank you chairman. I would like to inform the committee that Commander Ikari has decided that my assassination would benefit him. I'll admit that I'm not high on your priority list, but even you must see the disadvantage to you if he were to succeed." She waited for a response.
"His success in this endeavor would indeed be unfortunate. What do you suggest Colonel?" asked Yellow.
"Ikari wants to bring about his own Third Impact that differs completely from yours. I suggest we eliminate him and put someone more loyal to Seele in charge. I feel that several minor functionaries and one member of the command staff be removed before we replace him. This keeps him concentrating on protecting himself and not on killing me while you find a replacement for him."
"A simple plan. I like it," said Blue.
"But will it work?" asked Red.
"Who do you feel we should remove from the command staff Colonel?" asked Green.
"Lieutenants Hyuga and Shiguru are valuable for their experience and don't have high enough security clearance to prove a threat. Same with Major Katsuragi though she could become one in the future. She is currently valuable to me though and has more experience commanding combat situations against Angels than even Cdr. Ikari. Captain Ibuki has the clearance to be a threat but not the initiative, so we leave her as well. Doctor Akagi has proven herself a liability but has unwittingly helped us when she destroyed Nerv's dummy plug project. She also knows more about how Evangelions work than anyone else alive. We need to keep Commander Ikari until a suitable replacement is found. The best to assassinate would be his chief confidant so he feels isolated and alone. I suggest we terminate Vice Commander Fuyutski."
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*Author's Notes:
To start, I really had trouble coming up with a name for this chapter. Suggestions for a better name a welcome.
Second, I know there will be several outcries against what Kaela did in this chapter. I did this because I felt it was necessary. Kaela was coming off to me as too perfect and needed to show her dark side. We all have a light side and a dark side, just like the force. Kaela's is her need for revenge against those who insult her family and her background.
Those who feel that Gendou wouldn't risk Rei III as a spy may be right. I will keep this in for story plot though. Arguments on this are welcome though.
The reason Kaela can't wear the neural headset is that it interferes with her telepathy. Her and Steph are constantly linked. The headset creates a barrier that blocks that link. Kaela also can't sync with any EVA but Unit-04. Kaela is not a 4th level candidate and should not be able to pilot an EVA. Unit-04 was altered by Asha to allow her to sync with her. On the other hand no other pilot but Kaela can sync with Unit-04. It was altered so that only a person born before the 2nd Impact can sync with it. This means that Misato, Ritsuko, or even Gendou could with no problems.
Again, direct all C&C, questions, and flames to:
sailor_tenshi@mailcity.com
