I got this done last night, but too late to let the betas give it a once over before posting, so apologies for the delay. This is a mostly set-up piece, with big things about to happen in the next update, but I didn't want to make you all wait even more for that. So here's what I've got at the moment, with two more days of holiday weekend left for me to get on with it and do the next update.
Art? Of course.
Chapter 11.19
Cards on the Table
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Rei skidded to a halt just inside the open door of Shinji's hospital room and spun around to grab the open door's knob in one motion. She slammed the door and locked it, then moved a chair to wedge it under the knob. A quick scan around with her Sight revealed no one in the immediate vicinity that had not been there when they visited before. She glanced at the open blinds on the windows and closed them, then pulled the curtains closed as well. The room secured as she could make it for the moment, she let herself lean against Shinji's bed and breath hard.
It had been difficult to restrain the urge to see just how fast her AT-Field could have propelled her through the hospital's corridors to get here. But breaching secrecy in that manner had seemed too likely to draw very negative attention, either from the Commander or others. Worse even than staying alone with Kaworu to let Asuka sprint here instead. Now that she had a moment to think, it mildly amazed Rei that her first action so soon after seeing her boyfriend shot
again was to rush off and trust his protection to another. Then again, Asuka was showing her just as much trust, and they both had complete confidence in that.
She glanced over at the sleeping faces of Hikari and Suzuhara-san in the other bed. Hikari was lying on her back due to her injuries, but she hadn't let go of Suzuahara-san's hand, and seemed to be sleeping easier. Rei looked at Shinji. He had not stirred since they'd left. But his Light was strong. He would recover. She had not merely been trying to reassure Asuka; Doctor Akagi
was the best in the world at tissue regeneration. One positive benefit from all the repair work they'd had to do on the Evangelions.
Rei pulled another chair over to the middle of the room, so she could see all three of her friends and watch the door. She settled in. She did not know how long it would take for additional NERV security to arrive to relieve her, but she would not permit any harm to befall her friends in that time.
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Asuka tried to let the rapid footfalls of Rei's departure assure her. Rei would not let anything stand in her way, and she'd protect Shinji. Right.
She turned back to stare at Kaworu. It only just now occurred to her she was alone in a locked room with an Angel, and she had a gun loaded with anti-AT-Field bullets.
The Fifth Child stared back at her, a tentative smile on his face. "I... can't blame you," he said quietly.
Asuka twitched. "You're not reading my mind or something, are you?"
He shook his head. "Just your face. You looked at me, then the gun, and... well," his smile wavered, "if it wouldn't make Rei sad, I'd almost tell you to do it. You saw how... fragile my grip on Tabris is right now."
Asuka looked at the gun again and frowned. "Right..." She ejected the magazine and popped three bullets out. She stuffed them in her pocket, then reloaded the magazine into the gun. This time she pointed it at the assassin on the floor.
She looked at Kaworu again and narrowed her eyes. "You're not even bleeding anymore?"
He pulled the blood-soaked hospital gown aside to reveal the likewise soaked bandage on his chest. It had a neat 9mm hole in it, but no additional fluids dripped from it. "Healed. Benefits of an S2 Organ."
Asuka looked at the bloody bedsheets and bullet hole in the hospital gown. "Right. Ok, take your gown off and strip the bed. We've got to get rid of those before Misato gets here and asks why there's a bloody bullet hole in your shirt and not in you."
She dug through the cart the assassin had brought in, coming up with a fresh set of sheets and a new hospital gown. "Good thing she had a real cart. If she'd just packed this thing with a bomb or... right, bomb wouldn't beat your AT-Field," she said, handing the gown to Kaworu. She quickly jerked her eyes upward when she realized he wasn't wearing anything else.
The gray-haired Pilot did not seem uncomfortable. He handed her a wad of bloody sheets in exchange. "What do we do with them, though?"
Asuka looked around the room. It was dismayingly free of obvious hiding spots. Misato would go through the cart, so that was out. They couldn't just stuff them in a trash can... ah!
There was a small bag in the corner with Kaworu's shoes and cut-up clothes from the theater. Asuka quickly stuffed the bloody sheets and gown inside. The bag was now obviously bigger, but no one should need to investigate Kaworu's personal baggage, right? Hopefully.
Some artful arrangement of the new sheets left them pulled half-off the bed, leaving the bullet hole in the mattress exposed. Thankfully, it's synthetic surface had let the blood slide right off.
Asuka wearily slumped back into her chair, gun back on the still unconscious assassin. "Ok, lie on the bed and try to look like you're still in pain. We've got to make this convincing, since this is
not the time to tell Misato about you and Rei."
Kaworu didn't lay back down yet. He stared at Asuka with a curious look of admiration on his face. "I... thank you, Asuka."
"Eh? What fo- oh. Yeah. Well..." Asuka waved her free hand vaguely. "Look, Rei loves you, and Rei being happy is important to Shinji and I, alright? And... like I said, you took a bullet for him. You were nearly killed trying to protect him. I will
never forget that. Doubly so now that I know you're not just a Pilot, alright?" She frowned and looked down at her hip. She tapped the pocket with the bullets she'd removed from the gun. "And if it comes to it, I don't want Rei to have to... be the one to stop you. I know it would kill me if I had to stop Shinji or something. If I can spare Rei that..." She trailed off, giving him a slightly apologetic look.
He just nodded. "I... me too. Her happiness, I mean. I've never felt like this before. I'd do anything for her. And I... well, I'm not going to end the world by my choice. But my instincts are just too strong. Tabris doesn't listen to petty Lilim things like 'this will kill my friends' or 'this will destroy someone I love'," he said morosely. "So you keeping a backup... I can only pray we won't need it, and bless you that you'll take that burden from Rei."
He smiled sadly. "You know, one of the things that kept us apart for a while was that she didn't want to be put in the position of having to kill a friend. I'm glad you'd shelter her from that. The way you and Shinji love her is... I hope I can be as open with her. Or as good to her."
"You'd better," Asuka grumbled, dipping her head to let her hair hide a blush. "She's number two on the list of 'people I'd shoot someone for', and it's not that long a list." She waved at him again. "Now lay down and look like you're in pain, Angel-boy. We've got to make this look good for Misato."
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The huge, open space of Gendo's office somehow felt stuffy and too close to Misato. Like the room itself resented her presence. It had been like an itch at the back of her mind as she finished up her report.
"The shooter missed her shot at the Fifth Child thanks to the Second, and is under guard in the surgical ward untiI she regains consciousness. Her weapon was a standard Heckler and Koch USP, similar to a NERV standard sidearm. We're tracing it. The... unusual ammunition has been handed over to Doctor Akagi for analysis. I have put guards on the Pilots' rooms until further notice, but as we've seen the Geofront itself is no protection, I'd like to move them back to my building as soon as they are released from the hospital, sir."
"Your building?"
"Yes, sir. It's already well protected by Section 2 details who have been in place for some time, and they're already aware of who is allowed in the building. It is well separated from anything nearby, with no unobserved avenues of approach. Simply put, once they're inside, Section 2 can simply warn off or even shoot anyone who tries to approach that isn't on the list. Short of an enemy dropping a missile on the whole site, they'll be safe against further attack." She braced herself for the argument.
"Granted."
Misato managed to keep most of her surprise off her face. "...Thank you, sir."
'Ok, that was way too easy. Why is he agreeing to this? Even assuming he doesn't give a damn about Shinji or the others, why isn't he insisting Rei be held down here? Something's up.'
"I expect your full report by this evening," Commander Ikari continued. "We will release the Children at that time, provided Doctor Akagi can complete another healing cycle on them by then. Doctor?"
Next to her, Ritsuko stiffened. "Sir, they haven't had enough time to stabilize from the last one. Their healing is proceeding at the best speed we could have hoped for, but putting them in for a second cycle before their systems have been able to adjust to the shock and re-nutrition is-"
"They are critical NERV assets and we are under attack, Doctor," Commander Ikari interrupted. "We do not have the luxury of time for them to recover at a leisurely pace. Another attack could come as soon as tomorrow. We need the Children operational immediately."
"Sir, if we rush things, there could be compli-"
"You have your orders, Doctor. This is priority."
Ritsuko shut her mouth, her lips pressing into a flat line. It was apparent further arguing would run right into the Commander's insistence.
"Sir? The Second Child is still able to Pilot, and the First Child is unharmed. We can still deploy two-thirds of our Evas," Misato ventured.
"The next Angel could require 100% of our efforts, Major. You are dismissed."
She frowned, but saluted. She and Ritsuko turned and walked out of his room in unison.
Fuyutsuki glanced at his younger superior. "SEELE will not relent. They need Tabris to activate even more than we do."
Gendo didn't even look at him. "We will have Rei eliminate him in a matter of days. SEELE would not be sending only assassins to trigger him if the Mass Production Evas were ready. We have some time, if little."
"How soon can we move? If SEELE is being this direct, they must be close themselves."
"Difficult to say with precision, but I will have Adam integrated enough to attempt within a week, I estimate."
Fuyutsuki's expression was grim. "And then we take the only way out that stops SEELE."
Gendo nodded microscopically. "SEELE lacks the Lance, and likely underestimates how far they are behind. As long as we have Tabris under our eye, we control the timetable."
"They've come too close with their assassins," Fuyutsuki noted. "A few centimeters' distance, and they'd have have succeeded. If not for the Second Child's presence, they might have even succeeded this time."
"We are close. We will terminate the last Angel when we are ready, or sooner if needed, and then begin our endgame."
Gendo's expression was as fixed and blank as ever, but Fuyutsuki could see the tension in his pose, and the way his eyes were fixed on the horizon. Only one thing was on his mind.
Yui.
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They were barely ten meters down the corridor outside the Commander's office when Misato broke the silence. "What 'complications'?"
Ritsuko flinched, but kept walking just as fast as the Operations Director. "We're going to have to monitor them for shock immediately after, and make sure they eat like horses in the next few days. Even with the LCL to help, we're asking a lot of their systems to try this. And I don't even
know about the medium or long term risks. There are signs this
could be a huge cancer risk, pushing their tissue to regenerate at this speed, but..." She shook her head. "They
need a few days between cycles. This process sucks key nutrients out of their system at a ridiculous rate, and their bodies are not expecting this kind of load."
Misato nearly snarled. "I do
not want my kids getting
cancer because Commander Ikari can't let them have a few days to recover, Rits."
"You heard him. I'll watch the process like a hawk, but..." She shook her head again. "At least they'll be able to go home tonight?"
"You can get all three of them through that fast?"
"Four, I think. Soryu's injuries are minor, she'll only need maybe an hour in the tank, if that."
Misato blinked in surprise. "Jesus, Rits. They got
shot a day ago. You can have them combat ready in 48 hours from that? You... you realize what this kind of tech could do if we can release it to the world? How many lives could be saved?"
Ritsuko nodded, a very sad smile on her face. "Yes. And I also know the Commander has no interest in doing so. Hell, I'm half-surprised I'm even allowed to use it on the Pilots."
"Why-"
Ritsuko shook her head sharply, once. "Don't ask. You know why."
Misato nearly snarled again.
'Because the Commander is trying to end the world, and doesn't give a damn about next year, or anyone outside his little plan. Right.' Aloud, she said, "Fine. Just... tell me they'll be alright tomorrow."
"I'll do everything I can, Misato."
Misato just nodded, and they separated at the next corridor intersection.
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