A Janok
Production;
General
disclaimer;
The
usual... Some characters and original storyline copyright Gainax
and
affiliated companies.
WARNING
This is
a Post-Episode 26 story, if you haven't seen up to Episode 26
of NGE
I advise you not to read this story. You have been warned, so
no
complaints.
**********
NEON
GENESIS CHAPTER 2
A Fall
From Grace: Out of Eden
VERSE 4
"I
looked and there was a pale-coloured horse. Its rider
was
named Death, and Hades followed close behind..."
Revelations
6:8
Gendo
Ikari looked through the armoured glass into the NERV special
testing
facility.
"So
you have finally managed to complete it," said the man in beige as
he
walked up behind Ikari.
Ikari
glanced at his colleague for a second before looking back at the
giant
standing in the room before him, "Yes, the missing piece was
provided
by SA01. The unit is now fully functional."
The
other man stood next to Ikari and looked out into the white room,
"So
what are you going to do with it now?"
Ikari
began walking towards the door, "It will be transferred to
Geofront
1, the seventh will test the prototype there," he looked back
over
his shoulder at the man in beige, "You will handle the details."
**********
The
cracking sound of hand meeting cheek filled the air.
"Perverted
idiot!" she shouted before stalking down the hall.
**********
Her
name was Megan Richards, she was 16 years old and he knew that she
was
American, but beyond those three facts he knew next to nothing
about
the raven haired enigma.
He had
mentioned his curiosity to his friend Shiro and had asked if he
knew
anything about her. Shiro then promptly jumped to the wrong
conclusion
and hit upon the absurd idea that he fancied the girl. He
denied
it of course but that just made the situation worse, and it
wasn't
long before some very disgusting rumours were spreading around
the
CTEC.
He
lifted a hand to his face and felt the results of his curiosity.
He
winced, and hoped it wouldn't bruise. He would look a real fool if
he went
to his lectures with a purple and yellow, hand shaped mark
across
the side of his face.
He also
hoped that she wouldn't hate him.
Maybe I
should go explain and apologise, he thought.
**********
"Why
wasn't I notified about this?" demanded Professor Yuri Takai.
Commander
Fuji leaned back in his chair and looked up at his irate
subordinate
standing before his desk, "It was not required for you to
know
about this project before now."
Yuri
looked down at her commander, "What do you mean by that? I'm the
Chair
Person of E-Project, I should be informed of all new Eva units."
Fuji
tossed a brown file across the desk, "If you take a look at this,
I'm
sure that you will see why this project is of a 'need to know'
basis.
In fact I didn't hear about this myself until two days ago."
Professor
Takai picked up the file and began to flip through it, "I
don't
see anything unusual here that would require this amount of
security,
everything appears to fit within normal parameters for an
Evan..."
Her
eyes opened wide as she stared at the page she had reached, "My
God,
what have you... I mean how... why... when..." she shook her head
as if
to clear it, "My predecessor wrote that this was theoretically
impossible
for us to achieve."
Fuji
drummed the fingers of his right hand upon his desk,
"Theoretically
yes, but as you know Professor, theories have the
habit
of being broken. The prototype will arrive in two days, prepare
test
facilities for it. The seventh has been selected as the test
pilot,
prepare him as well."
Yuri
nodded, "Yes Sir," she turned to go, but then hesitated, "May I
ask a
question Sir?"
Fuji
considered that for a few seconds and then said cautiously, "You
may
ask, but whether you get an answer is a different matter."
"I
see sir. Then may you tell me what Project-F is?"
Fuji
sat straight up in his chair, his face had gone deathly pale,
"Where
did you hear about that?" he demanded.
Yuri
appeared quite startled at his response, "I read it in this file
sir. It
makes reference to Project-F on page six."
She
handed him the file, which he immediately opened at the offending
page.
After glancing over it for a couple of seconds, he removed the
page,
lit it with a match and dropped it in the bin by his desk.
Commander
Fuji then looked at his subordinate, "Let me make one thing
clear
Professor Takai, Project-F doesn't exist, you have never heard
of
Project-F, and this little scene never happened. Do I make myself
clear?"
Professor
Takai stood to attention, "Yes sir."
Fuji
waved a hand in the air, "Very well then, you are dismissed."
**********
Once
she had left, Fuji stared into emptiness.
"Do
you think she is the one?" he asked.
The
shadow detached itself from the wall, "It is a possibility, I
can't
tell."
Fuji
drummed his fingers on the desk again, "Why didn't you tell me
that
reference to Project-F was in the file?"
The
shadow remained in its dark corner, "We needed your response to be
genuine,
we couldn't afford to allow her to suspect the name was
planted
there."
Fuji
still had a pale cast to his face, "But to release such top-class
information...
I thought you were going to rely on the information
about
the prototype to flush out the leak?"
The
shadow glared at the man in the chair, "The existence of the
prototype
will be common knowledge at this base by the end of the
month,
any number of people could leak that information. On the other
hand
only four people know about Project-F, five now including the
Professor.
If the information is leaked we will know the source and,
even if
the name is leaked, no one will know what it means."
Fuji
seemed to relax a little in his chair, "I suppose you are right.
So what
do I do now?"
The shadow
threw a small object onto the desk, "You carry out the
instructions
given on this, and then you wait."
**********
5 days
later
"This
candidate," Ikari paused to read the page in front of him,
"Shiro
Tachibana, where would you class him?"
The man
in beige looked over at his colleague who was examining
reports
on the current candidates. It was unusual for Ikari to be
interested
in such a minor pawn, he thought.
He
considered his answer before replying, "He is a borderline case, he
is currently
a 4th level candidate and he is very intelligent but his
attention
has the habit of wandering off. Why do you ask?"
Ikari
didn't bother to answer, "So if he was removed, he wouldn't
cause
any set backs in the program?"
The
other man seemed to struggle for a suitable answer to that
question
for a while. He finally sighed and replied, "No, he wouldn't
cause
any lasting damage to the program." He cast a piercing glance at
the
other man, "Tell me though, why do you wish him to be removed?"
Ikari's
eyes went out of focus as he looked into emptiness, "The tool
has
grown an emotional attachment to him, we cannot afford to allow
such
unpredictable variables to enter the equation." He clasped his
hands
in front of his face, "It will also give us the opportunity to
sharpen
our tool's blade so that he will be of more use to us."
The man
in beige appeared to be troubled by his colleague's answer,
"Ikari,
don't you have a conscience?"
**********
The
voice blared out over the sound of the sirens, "A special state
of
emergency has been declared, please proceed to your designated
shelter
immediately"
**********
"Status
report," demanded Major Veitch.
"The
Angel is maintaining its position approximately 3kms beyond our
defence
perimeter, the Magi believe it is waiting for us to make the
first
move." responded a computer operator.
Major
Veitch rubbed a hand over his chin, "This is damned peculiar,"
he
muttered to himself.
The
Angel had appeared about ten minutes earlier, and hadn't moved an
inch.
There had been no warning of its arrival, one second the skyline
was
clear, and the next a giant silhouette stood over the Ashino
lakes.
Since then, however, the Angel had stood perfectly still. All of
the
scans that NERV had carried out on it seemed to suggest that it
was
dead, there were no electromagnetic signals coming from the object
beyond
what was naturally coming from the surrounding vegetation, and
it
wasn't generating an AT Field.
NERV,
however, was not taking any chances; they had been tricked
before
by an apparently dead Angel, that was how they had lost Unit 07.
Major
Veitch shuddered at that memory.
"Eva
status?" he asked.
"Unit
01 is ready for launch, Unit 06 is standing by in the 7th cage,
however
it isn't advisable to..."
"Yes
I know," interrupted Veitch, "We will just have to make do with
Unit 01
then." He took a deep breath, "Launch Eva!"
**********
He
watched the Angel standing at the base of the mountain off to his
left.
He moved carefully to the next boulder.
"Still
no data," he said, "Your orders?"
An
image appeared to his right, it was the Major.
"Approach
the target with caution, if it makes the slightest move, or
you
pick up any signals from it, pull back immediately; we cannot risk
damaging
the EVA. Use your own judgement, if you can't withdraw, kill
it.
Also be aware that you cannot raise your AT Field unless faced
with a
direct threat, we mustn't provoke the Angel into action."
"Roger!"
The
image blinked out.
He
moved cautiously forward, keeping his AT Field under tight control.
The
Angel still hadn't made a move, it just stood there, looking like
a giant
marble statue. He had been surprised by its configuration, it
looked
almost identical to the third Angel, except that this one was
white.
He had
reached a position only 650 metres away from the stationary
Angel.
There were still no readings being received. This was very odd,
he
thought.
He
caught sight of a sudden movement in the corner of his eye, he
tensed
up, and as he did so he realized he had finally made the
mistake
he had feared.
A
sudden flurry of voices came over the comm. channel;
"He's
raised his AT Field!" someone shouted.
"Shut
it off! Shut it off!" came the Major's panicked voice.
"It's
too late!" another screamed.
Before
his eyes the Angel curled into a ball...
...and
exploded.
EVA
Unit 01 disappeared into the blinding white light.
**********
To be
continued...
"Does
a bird get caught in a trap if the trap has not been baited?
Does a
trap spring unless something sets it off?"
Amos
3:5
---------------------------------------------------------------
Author's
Note:
If you
have any comments about this fanfic then gladly send them to
me.
Janok_Re
<jreproduct@hotmail.com>