[Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 12:
Realignments Part 3 of 3
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.
C&C , MSTs are welcome
E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net
Nabiki had wandered over to the medical wing after she'd been
`released`, Told you aren't good enough, she thought. She stood over
the body in the oxygen tent. She walked over to the watches, opened
them and listened to the tunes, slightly out of phase, but they remained
in perfect sync.
"What made these so damned important?" she asked the room's
unconscious occupant, "Stupid, sentimental thing to risk your life on,"
she told him and left.
----------------------------------------
In the conference room, the representations of SEELE, not the
monoliths, are in a panic.
"The Angel of Time was never part of the original scheme," Kehl
insisted, almost unhinged by events.
"If things aren't running contrary to the plan, and the plan is on
schedule, we are still in control. However, such distractions affect
the timetable," Gendo assures them, "We are working hard to get back on
our schedule."
He paused to let the flock of panicked chickens settle, slightly,
"But the plan is evidently not comprehensive, we must be more flexible,
to deal with deviations, distractions and the gambits of various
madmen."
"You do not dictate our policies," NERV U.S. told him.
"Agreed, the Universe does, for the moment. If we do not bend with
it, it _will_ break us," Gendo replied.
The SEELE people accept this and fade.
So, once again, we put the cat among the pigeons, Gendo silently
congratulates himself, The only difficulty is keeping them off-balance
without driving them to take desperate action.
He leaves the conference room, Fuyutsuki is waiting for him, "Your
advice on the next stage?"
"Most of the pieces are in place," Fuyutsuki admits, "But so soon
may be pushing things."
"The pilots must be ready to fulfill their mission on our race's
day of revivification," Gendo replies, "Nothing else can fulfill that
purpose. If we have to push them, we will push them. Or our enemies
will."
Alarms sound throughout the base as an earthquake strikes.
"The command deck?" Fuyutsuki asks as the shaking subsides.
Gendo nods, walking swiftly in that direction.
----------------------------------------
As soon as the shaking stops, Ritsuko turns to Maya and Nancy, "Get
them out of the simulators," Ritsuko orders, "Kids, as soon as you're
out, head directly to the EVAs and launch. Don't stop for anything
except my orders, or new orders from Misato or the Commanders."
"Sempai," Maya tells her, "You have no authority . . . "
She sees the concern on both her assistants' faces, "They're safer
outside in the EVAs, than anywhere else."
"On our way," Asuka replies. "Hai," Rei. "Yeah," Ranma. "Okay,"
Shinji.
I _am_ an idiot for not trusting them, Ritsuko tells herself. "We
have to get to the command deck."
"Internal communications are out," Nancy reports, "So are
externals."
"So we'll coordinate with portables," Ritsuko replies, "I know,
underground they're almost only line of sight, but we don't have another
choice." The internal phones aren't supposed to require power. Unless
they knocked out the main interchange between here and there.
Ritsuko watched the four pilots scramble out of the simulators.
When it was clear Shinji wasn't moving fast enough, Asuka slung his arm
over her shoulder and motioned for the other two to go on ahead.
"Maya," Ritsuko orders, "Go to Search and Rescue, they are to find
Pilot Tendo, and get her to the EVA bays, prepping her for immediate
launch."
"Understood," Maya stands, "But she won't have an EVA."
"Insurance, go," Ritsuko heads for the door, "Nancy, you're with
me, I may need your muscle to open some doors."
"You'll need _my_ muscles?" Nancy follows her out of the control
room.
"Just because I beat you arm wrestling once," Ritsuko tells as the
pair jogs down the corridor, "As I remember, you were a little drunk."
"And you, dear doctor, had just drunk little Katsuragi-chan under
the table."
"It was the only way to convince her not to do a striptease,"
Ritsuko defends herself, "It must have been an early onset hangover
giving me strength."
Nancy nods, "And Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny, and . . . "
----------------------------------------
"Report," Gendo shouted as soon as he and Fuyutsuki reached the
command deck.
"Reports are sketchy, internal and external communications are
out," Lt. Baker replied, "We have security personnel making surveys of
all critical systems."
Fuyutsuki looked over to Gendo, who shook his head.
"Restore communications," Gendo ordered, "Send a runner to the EVA
bays, I order all EVAs prepped for immediate launch. They are to launch
with whichever pilots are available."
"Sir, yes, sir," Baker signalled for one of the radio tech to get
the word out.
"I don't like this," Gendo said.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki had been dodging broken glass and falling plaster for what
seemed like half-an-hour, she realized it was probably less than a
minute. The crews were collecting and resetting the fallen equipment,
and sweeping up the broken glass.
"You are in great danger, Tendo Nabiki."
Nabiki whirled around to see Belldandy standing there.
"There's going to be another earthquake?" Nabiki looked around, "Or
a fire?"
"No, the danger will be more personal, and more directed. I cannot
be more specific," Belldandy told her.
Nabiki thought the goddess looked ashamed as she turned away. Great
a cryptic message and gone, Nabiki thought, then she started looking
around for any weapons or escape routes.
----------------------------------------
Reaction Under Pressure
Ranma was running flat out, it irritated him that Rei managed to be
just a little faster. Her almost waddling run shouldn't have given her
the speed it did, he'd tried it himself, and it was pathetically slow.
He wondered if anyone ever taught her how to run properly. Yet she's
obviously faster, and she knows it, he thought, She's so much faster she
can taunt me by keeping just ahead of me. He wondered what he could
have possibly done to get her so mad at him.
They turned onto the suspended walkway over the main air shaft.
Ranma realized Rei was leading him on the most direct path to the EVA
bays, Rei was about 2 meters ahead of him. As they reached the
midpoint, a loud twang announced the collapse. Ranma jumped forward,
trying to collect Rei and catch the edge of the bridge. I couldn't get
the start! he realized as his leap fell short of the target. He felt
Rei wrap herself around him as they dropped.
Ranma woke quickly, looked around at the debris-filled pit he had
landed in with . . . "Rei!" He dashed around to find the girl. For
once, he didn't mind his odd night vision.
He saw her, then realized the piece of rebar wasn't behind her, but
_through_ her.
"Don't," the girl's quiet word stopped him, and started a whole
list of additional worries.
"Are you . . . ?"
"I am alive," she replied, "The rod seals the wound."
He stopped, he remembered the sight of the rough surfaces being
deflected, Probably by Rei's AT field, he thought, I didn't know she
could generate one, "Are you . . . all right?" it sounded dumb even to
him.
"I will live."
"Why did you protect me, and not yourself?" he asked.
She coughed softly, saying nothing.
"Can I help? Is there something I can do?" Ranma walked towards
her.
The silence dragged on. Ranma fretted, he hated seeing anyone,
even Rei lying in a heap like that.
"Cutting the upper and lower ends simultaneously," Rei said.
Ranma walked towards her, careful not to shift the chunk of
concrete she was impaled on. He saw the blood staining the concrete,
both from the rod running through her stomach and out her back, and from
a head wound that also stained her hair. Her expression was one of
tolerating an imposition, not the pain of wounding. He remembered all
Maya's jokes about head wounds, considering the evidence that he'd
suffered repeated head trauma. Now he was glad he had the information.
I have to keep her awake, he took off his shirt and draped it over
her as best he could, to keep her warm, If she falls asleep, she may
never wake up. "What do you think happened?"
She looked at him, then closed her eyes, "I wait, you go."
Ranma shifted nervously, Rei wasn't his favorite person, and he
knew he wasn't hers either, but he couldn't just leave her like this,
and he couldn't bring himself to yell at her to stay awake. "I don't
think I can climb out without covering you in loose debris. Maybe I
should just yell for help."
She frowned at that.
----------------------------------------
"They must have turned here," Shinji told Asuka, "The bridge is
out."
"Which way do we go then?" Asuka didn't want to admit he knew the
base's layout better than she did.
"This way, there's a maintenance shaft just a ways over," Shinji
pointed.
She half-carried half-dragged him the way he pointed, she had a bad
feeling she knew where Horseface and Wondergirl really were, but they
had to get to the EVAs, everything else was secondary. "So how did you
learn about all these tunnels and corridors?"
"Ayanami-san told me," Shinji admitted, "She talks about it, when
we're together."
"Great," she teased, "You're alone with a pretty girl, and the
sweet nothings she whispers in your ear, are about architecture. Maybe
I should get her a date with Frank Lloyd Wright."
"It's not like that!" Shinji protested as they entered the
corridor, "She just likes to talk about what she's interested in, what
she's read about."
I'll have to buy her a Kama Sutra, and see what happens next, Asuka
thought, Or maybe a college biology text. "So what do you tell her
about?"
"I . . . I talk about stuff."
"What _kind_ of stuff?" Asuka demanded as she threaded her way
through the fallen debris, Shinji was practically dead weight now,
necessity tempted her to sling him over her shoulder, and just run, But
he'd probably throw up on me. Just keep it together Spineless, for a
few more minutes. "You're awfully evasive. Are you afraid I'll tell
Misato what you and Wondergirl are doing? Don't worry, with what I've
heard Kaji mention about what she and Ritsuko used to do with him,
nothing you could possible say would shock her. Unless you got
everybody's favorite robot pregnant."
She could feel the heat of his blush through her plugsuit.
"We don't do that!" he said angrily.
Good, Asuka hid her smile, It's good you're willing to stand on
your feet about something.
"Wait a second!" Shinji said, "Did you call her a 'pretty girl'?"
My mistake, she gulped, Well I started this.
Asuka thought fast, "I never said she wasn't pretty. Like one of
those china dolls with a painted face. A pretty thing you set up on a
shelf and look at, but not something alive you can touch or play with.
She's boring, Misato's car has more personality, the things we throw out
from the refrigerator have more personality than her!"
"That's not true," Shinji replied, "She's very nice."
"She's still boring!" Asuka replied, "But I guess you have to start
with dollies, then work your way up to real girls. It's perfectly
natural at your age. Of course if you're still playing with dolls when
you're forty, then you're just a dirty old man."
"She _is_ a real person," Shinji insisted quietly.
"Yeah sure," Asuka opened the access hatch at the end of the
tunnel, she was glad the EVA bays were close, "So was Pinocchio, after
the fairy cast her spell. Before that, he was just a doll that walked
and talked. So when are you planning to cast your spell?"
She could hear Shinji's slight snarl, she smiled to herself, Things
are working out, if he'll fight for Wondergirl, maybe he'll fight for
himself. Then something occurred to her, If even a quarter of what Kaji
said about him and Misato, and Ritsuko, was true, why didn't they ever
get pregnant? I can't imagine them being responsible when they were all
as drunk as Kaji described.
They entered the bay, Asuka was tired out by carrying him. She was
glad he was already in his plugsuit, she had no desire to have to dress
him. "Load him up!" she ordered the crews, who helped Shinji into the
command chair, then loaded it into the plug while she climbed into Unit
02's plug.
She didn't really need any help out there, especially Spineless's,
But only an idiot goes into battle without another set of eyes, someone
to guard your back. All the EVA's systems came alive, except
communications with base/command, No loss there.
"Spi . . . Shinji," she said firmly, "Fall in behind. Just keep an
eye out for everything trying to get around or behind us. Can you
handle that?"
"Hai," he managed.
"The quicker we get done, the quicker we can go back and look for
Wondergirl and Horseface." She flipped the radio over to the SAR
frequency to get them working.
Shinji didn't reply, but he followed her out, That's good enough,
she thought. Their enemies burned like dozens of little stars.
"Asuka, they're mainly at the medical wing," Shinji told her.
Good, she thought, Put him in an EVA, and he becomes a human being.
"Good eyes, let's head over there Spineless, we'll smash all we can on
the way over, then let them come to us, understand?" she replied,
already advancing. She thought, If our enemies are stupid enough to
come straight at us, we'll let them.
Several of the creatures were crushed by each of them as they
advanced. Asuka was glad the creatures were leaving the tethers alone,
what worried her was as the creatures attacked in greater numbers, the
temperature of the L.C.L. seemed to be declining. From their heat
attacks, they should have been warming the EVAs, and the L.C.L..
Without the communications from the command deck, they didn't have the
full telemetry capability.
As her knife sliced through another one, falling as gray powder to
the ground, she felt a noticeable drop in the L.C.L.'s temperature.
Maybe I'm just getting chills worrying about where the others are, she
tried to rationalize her reaction, Shinji's doing fine. No more of
those things will get into the medical wing.
Several fire trucks had moved up to support them.
"I wish we could go inside and help," Shinji's concern mirrored her
own.
"Baka," she replied, "How could we fit?" Besides, we're drawing
all the enemies' fire.
----------------------------------------
Defying the Enemy Doesn't Define the Hero
Nabiki was having a difficult time of it. She wasn't sure what
these big flaming things were, but she thanked Belldandy, and whoever
else was looking out for her, that the first makeshift weapon she'd
tried was a CO2 extinguisher.
She'd heard the alert, but the monsters made sure she hadn't been
able to get out of the building. So she fought in here. She'd already
exhausted two of the big extinguishers, she hadn't found a fourth, and
this one was running out.
She'd heard of ball lightning, a piece of plasma, if it could be
intelligent, and malevolent, that's what this was. She'd seen glimpses
of red and purple through the windows, indicating Unit 01 and 02 were
out there, but not orange or green-gray of Units 00 and 04. Misato
typically massed the EVAs, it wasn't like her to split them up, No
matter how much sense that would make, Nabiki thought, Even the idiots
back home knew not to bunch up too much.
A stream from a firehose caught the last of the things full force.
The fire captain called to her, "Pilot Tendo, follow us. We have orders
to take you to the EVAs."
"What about the people here?" she asked as she headed towards them.
"The EVAs will do a better job than a girl with a fire
extinguisher."
She had to admit that made sense, An entire fire company to guard
just me? she thought, Interesting, and disturbing. "Where are
Ayanami-san and Saotome-san."
"We don't know," they told her as they hurried her through the
corridors, "The earthquake caused some damage, they could be farther
away from the EVAs than you are." They transferred her out of the
building and into a fire truck, which sped away. Nabiki turned back to
watch the monitor on top of the truck covering their retreat with a
constant stream of water.
"Like Early morning,
Blotting out the Evening Stars,
Red and Purple EVAs," she said quietly, she shook her head, I've
hung around Kuno too long. She watched the Units reduce the numbers of
the attackers.
Combat, she wondered, What is it going to be like? What will it be
like . . . to kill? She suddenly was a lot less eager, she started
hoping Rei and Ranma would get to the EVAs, since if only one made it,
she'd have to pilot the other one.
----------------------------------------
"You never told me why you protected me," Ranma said, I have to
keep her awake.
The girl considered, "You are fragile. The most fragile," she told
him.
"I'm the toughest of all of you," he replied angrily.
"No," Rei replied quietly, "Even now, I am still me. Lose even a
finger, and you would cease to be, Ranma."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ranma demanded, She's just hurt and
talking crazy! he reminded himself.
Rei was silent for a while, as if searching for the words. "Your
body is Ranma, nothing else," she said finally.
"What else is there?" he asked
"Mind. Spirit. Duty. Love. Your reflection in others," Rei said
dreamily, "Beyond your skin, you do not exist."
"What kind of a crack is that, I exist, I'm right here, in this
pit, sitting right next to you. I'm here, all of me!" Ranma shot back.
"I am not," Rei replied, "Ranko is not." She sighed and closed her
eyes again.
Ranma paced the pit, fuming, She's just hurt, so she's not making
any sense. Don't get worked up about it. He carefully made his way
back to where she was lying, "That isn't true. Ranko's just a fiction
they dreamed up, to cover up my curse."
It chilled him to the bone, the way Rei smiled at him.
----------------------------------------
They drove into the EVA bays through the access tunnel the EVAs
usually left through. EVA Units 00 and 04 were still awaiting pilots.
Nabiki mentally flipped a coin, deciding on 'the old warrior', over the
berserker. She didn't bother with a plugsuit, she could get another
school uniform, I don't know why I'm rushing. I'm not even sure I want
to do this, she thought as she went over the `crash start` procedure, to
get the EVA out as quickly as she possibly could, after they told her
Commander Ikari's orders.
The command radio was only getting the conversation between Asuka
and Shinji.
"Keep moving Spineless, we're down to the last ones," Asuka's voice
and image appeared in her mind's eye, like a picture within a picture.
Much more than the voice-only she'd gotten from previous experiences. A
similar window of Shinji appeared, "I think they're trying to draw us
away from the medical wing."
"I'll be there in 20 seconds," Nabiki told them.
"They finally let you out on your own," Asuka replied, "Get over
here. Stay near, but off, the road, don't squash anything you don't
have to. We'll nursemaid you through anything else."
Nabiki frowned, and rushed to the battle site, paralleling the
road, "I'm here."
"Okay, nothing gets past you, Ice Princess," Asuka ordered,
"Spineless, keep an equal distance between both of us, be ready to move
in either direction to support us, watch our backs."
"Got it," Shinji replied.
Nabiki stopped near the hospital. Keeping an eye out for any flame
creatures. She was careful not to step on the fire trucks or the fire
hoses that were heading into the building. She almost couldn't imagine
fighting room to room with a firehose, knowing the patients and the
delicate equipment could be 'extinguished' all too easily.
Asuka swept through the area, sprinting forward, stopping to watch
and listen, then sprinting forward again. Nabiki was walking in the
opposite sense, clockwise around the medical wing, while Asuka moved
counterclockwise. Shinji adjusting the distance between the two girls
automatically.
"It's clear," Asuka declared after enlarging the circuit to two
miles distant from the medical center. "Nothing from headquarters and
the spotters don't have anything."
Nabiki sighed, she'd been out here, but she hadn't fought.
"Ice Princess, help Spineless back to the bays, then standby to
help him out of the plug," Asuka ordered.
Who put you in charge? Nabiki thought, she didn't say it because
the orders made sense, "What about Ranma and Rei?"
"Assuming they aren't waiting for us, that EVA is better at
crawling through corridors than mine. We go looking," Asuka replied.
Terrific, Nabiki thought as she followed Shinji back to the bays.
His EVA moved sluggishly.
"Ice Princess, is your life support working properly?" Asuka asked.
"Are you in trouble?" Nabiki replied.
"It's cold," Shinji told her, "Maybe we should check them out?"
Nabiki didn't have any answers.
----------------------------------------
Shinji practically flopped out of the command chair onto the
stretcher, they carried him away. Nabiki had Unit 04 climb out of the
bays, into the access corridors. They were a tight squeeze. Nabiki
enjoyed that Asuka and Unit 02 were soon left behind. Asuka's stream of
instructions was leading her through the corridors to where they last
saw Ranma and Rei.
"You saw the bridge collapse! And you just left them!?" Asuka's
offhanded admission outraged Nabiki, "They could have been hurt, or
killed!"
"If we hadn't stopped those things," Asuka replied coldly, "They
would have had a lot of company. That's why I told SAR on the radio,
and sent you ahead. I'm hurrying the rescue as much as I can."
Nabiki swallowed her fury. She was beginning to _hate_ the cold
reasonableness that underlined Asuka, Rei and Raccoon's actions. Misato
was better, she was either apathetic or a ball of rage, Ritsuko felt she
needed to justify her actions. Not those three. The rage made her
eager to smash though the piles of debris that stood between her, and
Ranma and Rei. She understood the need to be careful, but she didn't
feel like being careful.
She arrived at the collapsed bridge, well ahead of Asuka or SAR.
"Don't climb down there," Asuka warned. "Try to bridge the gap,
I'll climb across, you lower me down and help me get them out of there."
Nabiki was tempted to simply charge down there, just to spite the
redheaded know-it-all. Asuka's `orders` and assumption they'd be
followed were grating on Nabiki, but she could see the damaged concrete
around the hole, if Ranma and Rei were down there, climbing down would
have bombarded them with rubble.
Okay, you're right _this_ time, again, Nabiki used the Unit's many
arms to climb across the hole along the walls and undamaged supports, so
when Asuka and Unit 02 arrived, all she had to do was crawl to the
middle of Unit 04, and let Nabiki lower her down.
Nabiki felt weird: she could almost feel the hands around her
waist, the strain of the load, the sensation of the concrete under her
`feet`. Asuka's grip actually tickled, Nabiki concentrated on the
stability of the floor and using as many leg/arms to keep control.
----------------------------------------
Ranma watched Unit 04 lower Unit 02 slowly into the pit, The hole
wasn't very deep, he thought, Unit 02 could have jumped down, then he
felt the effect of a gentle landing by the 700-ton war machine.
"Schiesse, Wondergirl!" Unit 02 leaned close, "Are you all right?
Scratch that, stupid question."
"Please hurry," Rei told her.
All Ranma could do, was cover her with his shirt, and bandage her
head with the cuffs off his pants. She'd bled through that as he
pressed down to try to stop the bleeding. Unit 02 bent close, peering
at Rei and the block of concrete she lay on.
Ranma kept expecting a string of comments and insults, Asuka was
worryingly quiet.
"Horseface, is that surface flat. I can't tell well enough."
"No, it's pretty rough," he replied.
"I mean from edge to center, does it generally curve up, or down,
or not at all?" Asuka asked in a monotone.
"Uh, up," Ranma looked at the rock.
"Verdammt eigenartigkeit!" [Damned thing!]
That's sounds more like Asuka, Ranma thought.
"Okay, can you get a grip on the upper and lower parts of that rod?
As close to Wondergirl as you can get without touching her. Hold it
steady."
Ranma did as `ordered`, crowded close to Rei, slipping one hand
under. Rei gasped in pain at that. "Sorry," Ranma was more careful
getting a grip on the upper section, he held it steady, and saw the end
of the rod, barely a centimeter over his hand, fall over to rest on
something unseen.
An AT field, Ranma realized, So she can manipulate them too. All
Ranma could manage to generate was a vertical wall directly in front of
him.
"Get ready," Asuka warned, then the concrete shifted slightly. Rei
whimpered, but otherwise didn't remark about being lifted into the air.
Unit 04 took the raft of concrete, and passed it from hand to hand
to the rescue teams, who had followed the two EVAs as they crawled
through the corridors.
Ranma held the rod steady as the crew cut through it, then they
carefully loaded Rei onto a stretcher. Ranma waited while Unit 04
pulled Unit 02 back out of the pit. Ranma didn't know what he was
supposed to do now. They didn't need him in the EVA bays, which was
where the two EVAs were heading, he couldn't do anything for Rei, he
wandered back to the locker room. Maybe the others will have an idea,
he thought as he walked.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki stood in her plugsuit beside Unit 02, she'd wanted to
congratulate Asuka on her `victory`, and assumed Misato was also there
for the same purpose.
The tirade that followed was completely unexpected.
"What did you think you were doing?" Misato demanded, "Launching
without orders, and taking Shinji with you! In case you hadn't noticed,
he hasn't fully recovered yet. That's why he isn't on the combat
roster. You're not in charge here. You have no right to simply walk
out with an EVA, WITHOUT COMMAND APPROVAL!! You only had legitimate
orders to go to the bays, not to launch!"
"Yes ma'am," Asuka said quietly.
"You may think that EVA is yours, but it isn't! It belongs to
NERV. If we decide you aren't piloting it, on a mission, or ever! You
have no say in the matter! Is that understood? You don't _EVER_ go out
without direct command authorization!"
"Understood clearly, Captain," Asuka said, "Which officers have
such authorization?"
"Don't get smart with me, young lady," Misato angrily retorted.
Nabiki was expecting an explosion, then realized that Asuka was
'caught', Misato was her commanding officer, and therefore always right.
She'd seen Genma and Soun tear Ranma apart with the same nonsense.
"Who told you to go crawling through the corridors with your EVAs?
Rescue's job is recovering the pilots. If Unit 04 had slipped, you
could have crushed them. Do you understand the consequences of your
actions?"
"Yes, Captain," Asuka said stoically.
Nabiki was boiling to speak out, they'd specifically told her of
Gendo's orders, how did Asuka and Shinji get out there without those
orders? But to say that, or anything else, when Asuka was here, would
only bring down more of Misato's wrath on Asuka. Nabiki was willing to
accept a dressing down, but she was uneasy about getting Asuka in
further trouble, since she didn't deserve it.
If she deserved it . . . Nabiki watched Asuka standing at
attention, quietly agreeing to all the charges Misato brought down,
never bringing up the question Nabiki was burning to ask: What _else_
were we supposed to do?
Misato finally wound down, "Dismissed," she ordered, not giving
either girl a chance to retort or reply.
Asuka marched off, back straight, eyes forward.
Nabiki lingered a moment, to give Asuka some privacy.
"Something to add, Pilot Tendo, I told you dismissed," Misato asked
coldly.
Yeah, should I beat the Hell out of you, or just hold your head
under the L.C.L. until you drown? "Not at this time." I have to see to
Asuka, Nabiki thought as she marched after Asuka, as soon as she was out
of sight of Misato, she broke into a run, I'll settle you later,
Captain.
She was already forming a plan, she wished Ranma were available,
she'd need help carrying it out, and she didn't have time to get Hiroko,
although Hikari and Toji might be a good addition, that would also take
more arranging, and she didn't know how much damage the earthquake had
done to the city.
----------------------------------------
Service to Others
Ranma had been waiting in the locker room for the better part of an
hour, wondering what the deal was. Asuka suddenly burst in, charged
straight through, and into the showers.
"Asuka?" Ranma called, then Nabiki came into the boys' side, also
in her plugsuit.
"Saotome," she said, he was instantly aware of how angry she was.
He took her tone as a warning, not to draw that anger down on
himself.
"We'll be having one, maybe two guests. Get the couch and the
bunks ready, clean sheets and all."
What am I, a maid? he knew actually saying that would be a
_serious_ mistake, "Should I cook dinner as well?"
"Yes," Nabiki said, "Thank you."
I was trying to be sarcastic, he thought, Did she ignore it, or
just not notice?
"Before you leave, check on our wounded: Rei, Shinji, Raccoon. I
have something to do."
Ranma merely nodded, as angry as Nabiki was, he didn't want to set
her off. I wonder how badly things went out there, Ranma wondered,
Those two are both acting weird. Ranma left to follows his orders,
"Anything else?"
"Yeah, break the Captain's kneecaps," Nabiki headed to the showers.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki walked into the showers. Asuka was just standing there in
her plugsuit, with the water playing over her. Nabiki stepped into the
next stall, turned on the water, "Asuka?"
"What is this?" Asuka asked, "There are ten stalls, you and
Wondergirl afraid to take a shower alone?"
Nabiki considered, "You don't usually shower in your plugsuit."
She was pleased that Asuka looked down and frowned. "I was just
wondering," Nabiki said, "This was the first time I ever actually
piloted. I'd like to talk about it. If you wouldn't mind eating dinner
with us."
"I have to check on Spineless," Asuka replied.
"We can invite him along, let Dr. Akagi keep an eye on him," Nabiki
replied, she considered adding that Misato could rattle around her empty
apartment, but Asuka wouldn't agree to that, and from what Nabiki had
heard from Shinji and Asuka, Misato would never notice.
"Yeah," Asuka said, nodding
"Maybe it's my inexperience," Nabiki began, "I thought that you did
a good job. A good plan, the fight and the rescue. I resented being
ordered around . . . but I realized you were right. I might have
collapsed the floor. It seems to me you had everything under control."
"No," Asuka said, "I should have gone to my EVA and awaited
orders."
"I never heard a peep on my command radio, except you and Shinji."
"If I'd stayed in the bay, they would have established the link, or
I would have gotten lawful orders, eventually."
"You don't believe that any more than I do!" Nabiki retorted.
"What I believe . . . , Tendo, I _know_ Dr. Akagi can't give combat
orders. I knowingly ignored procedures. What I believe, Tendo," Asuka
angrily turned to Nabiki, "What I _believe_ doesn't matter, what I
_know_ doesn't matter. I am supposed to follow orders. Never question,
just follow orders!"
Nuremberg is trying people for believing that, Nabiki thought as
she removed her plugsuit, prompting Asuka to do the same. Nabiki knew
she hadn't had a chance to carry out her earlier plans, she'd been
waiting for things to settle down. Now she realized they never would,
and to stand by and simply let things like this happen, was simply
negligence on her part.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki arrived back at the apartment with Asuka. She smiled that
Shinji was sitting at the dining room table, looking guilty, because
Ranma was doing all the work in the kitchen.
Typical of Ranma, Nabiki knew it would be simple fare, but there
would be plenty of it, and Ranma's pride wouldn't let it be anything
except delicious, Cooking may only be 'for girls', but Ranma won't be
second best at anything.
"Rei's still in surgery," Ranma told them when he heard the two
girls taking off their shoes, "But Rit-chan was real hopeful."
"So Ritsuko is going to be late," Nabiki reasoned, "Well that's
more for the rest of us."
"How are you feeling, Spineless?" Asuka asked.
"Wobbly, but Maya gave me a clean bill of health to come here."
Nabiki watched Asuka nod.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Asuka asked, "You've got all
the healthy pilots here."
Nabiki was only too aware of the pair they were missing, and Shinji
didn't look all that great either. She kept coming back to the idea
that pilots were hard to come by, she didn't know when Shinji had
piloted, she'd still been in Nerima at the time, but it was less than a
month and a half ago, probably less than a month. The disregard for the
pilots shocked and offended her.
"I guess after everything that's happened the last few weeks, and
that I piloted for the first time today. I just wanted to get your
opinions about piloting, and what's going on."
Shinji shrugged, "You're not going to go crazy on us are you?" he
smiled, "No ancient monsters and gods?" referring to Raccoon's tale as
they prepared to fight Tulzscha.
"Well," Nabiki began, "Actually my parents put me in a rocket to
escape our dying homeworld and I was found by an old couple inside the
reentry vehicle shaped like a giant peach." Nabiki noted the frowns
from both Asuka and Shinji. "Actually, I want to know about piloting, I
asked Raccoon just before you got hurt," Nabiki told them, "What he said
didn't make any sense. I thought maybe it's different for girls, or
maybe it's different for everybody."
Asuka nodded.
Then Ranma put the first course, soup, on the table, "There's
plenty," he told them as he returned to the kitchen to get the rest.
----------------------------------------
Misato waited in her office, maintenance had already cleaned up the
mess the earthquake had caused in here. She had fielded a few of the
phone calls of complaint that always seemed to follow every deployment
of the EVAs.
Government Ministers, elected officials, various pillars of the
community, demanding explanations and someone's head, every time the
EVAs appeared. The action at the Harbor was a case in point. She was
reasonably certain Unit 04 hadn't actually landed on anything, or
anyone, but there were complaints as if it had squashed the palace,
destroyed two childrens' hospitals and half the businesses in town.
We should have a separate compound, a fortress city, that would
eliminate all the complaining, she thought, then laughed. Then she got
angry, Why can't Asuka and the others understand the responsibility of
taking out the EVAs without authorization?! They wouldn't suffer if
something went wrong. "NERV would, and as tactical commander, it would
be my responsibility to deal with the complaints," she told the office
furniture.
She waited for the phone to ring, for the avalanche of charges and
complaints to start, while she worked on the paperwork. After work, she
could deal with the problem, she worried as the pen scratched away on
the mountains of forms that never seemed to go away.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko watched the surgeons wheeling Rei back into the observation
room. The surgeons had been busy all afternoon and evening, but Rei was
their main priority. The girl had been clever, leaving the rod that had
punctured her lung, in place. Once they removed it, the lung collapsed,
and the doctors' work really began.
Ritsuko walked after the bed with the girl in it. The scorch marks
on the walls, floor and ceiling marked where the fighting had ebbed and
flowed. From the pattern, she was sure they'd been after the pilots.
Except Shinji wasn't there, and there were two firehoses near Davis's
room. 'We couldn't have asked for a better kill zone,' one Marine
turned fire fighter had told her. Except one spark would have been a
disaster. She also suspected that the earthquake, powerful as it was,
would be localized to where the pilots were supposed to be.
So it was an assassination attempt, she thought, By whose orders.
She wanted to interview the pilots after their sortie, although Misato
assured her she'd spoken to them about the important topics. She
wondered about why the creatures' `master` didn't show up, the creatures
themselves could have attempted a summoning.
She walked back to her office, where she could go over the sync
test data, "Or I could go home and talk with the pilots."
She entered her office, "I wonder what they're doing, Rei was
supposed to be cooking for Asuka and Shinji."
----------------------------------------
"Are you stupid?" Asuka asked Nabiki angrily, "Linking with an EVA
is never like that, Raccoon was fooling you."
Shinji and Ranma supported Asuka's assertion.
"I didn't say I believed it, I said he told me that. My experience
was more like yours. Fighting to get and maintain control," Nabiki
retorted, she wasn't happy about getting harangued by Asuka, and
chuckled at by Shinji.
"That's why I'm asking," Nabiki added.
"You're as gullible as Horseface," Asuka said.
Now _that_ hurts, Nabiki thought, "What about the elevator?" Nabiki
shot back.
Asuka got very serious, "Oh, that was all true."
Nabiki nearly missed the faint smirk, "Right!"
Asuka let the smile go. They had been all sitting with their legs
under Maya's kotatsu. Ranma had retreated to do the dishes, when
someone ran their foot up his leg. She and Asuka had accused Shinji,
who immediately apologized, That almost made things worse, Nabiki
treasured Ranma's stricken look as he retreated from _that_ assumption.
All in all, this has been very successful, Nabiki thought, Asuka and
Shinji were bouncing back, Ranma's behaving himself.
"Look at the time," Shinji noted it was 11 P.M..
"Relax," Nabiki assured them, "We have extra beds." She wondered
about Asuka's look when she said that. "Shinji you can sleep in the
upper bunk, Asuka you can sleep on either the futon or the couch."
"Couch," Asuka said, "I've never understood how you sleep on the
floor. It just leeches the heat away."
"Conduction versus convection," Nabiki remembered one of the
simpler concepts from her dream.
"That's right. Who gets the bathroom first?" Asuka asked.
"We have two, although they're in the same room. You and I go
first, then Shinji and Ranma. I can lend you some pajamas."
"Like in your pictures?" Asuka noted, then brightened, "Oh! I get
to see you in the morning!"
"Ranma, if you hear screams in the bathroom. It's just me drowning
our guest," Nabiki replied, and followed Asuka into the bathroom.
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