[NGE] Strangers in Tokyo-3

[Boreas Anemos]

Strangers in Tokyo-3 is a Neon Genesis Evangelion / Master and Margarita crossover fanfiction, set in the NGE TV series continuity. Familiarity with Neon Genesis Evangelion is rather necessary to enjoy the work, as it is a fairly typical fanfiction that starts in the middle of the story; familiarity with Master and Margarita is not necessary but will enhance the experience. For those that prefere a different format and a download option, the story is also available on AO3.

If you're interested in details and background of the story, please see the spoilers below; none of them contain any critical spoilers to the story itself, except the content warnings that contains minor spoilers if you're not familiar with Master and Margarita.

Spoiler: Content information & warnings

As a crossover, this story contains elements and themes from both works and their natural follow-ups:

• Religious themes that clash and conflict with nearly any conceivable Abrahamic faith (as per Master and Margarita)
• Clear suggestion – not depiction, though – of sexual acts between consenting adults (think a bit more explicit than Misato/Kaji scene in canon, but due to lack of description, no Mature tag)
• Violence, both physical and mental, up to possible description of deaths (as per NGE)
• Supernatural dark forces depicted positively (as per Master and Margarita)
• Non-sexual nudity, including minors – without much description (as per both; think Rei post-shower scene or Natasha's scenes from Master and Margarita)
• Description of mental and social problems (as per NGE)
• Psychological drama and some suffering (as per NGE)
• Characters of ambiguous gender (as per neither)
• Magical realism (as per both)

While this is definitely not a parody in any manner, those themes are not exactly treated with seriousness and respect. Caveat lector.

Spoiler: On language

English names and terms for Master and Margarita are based on Hugh Aplin translation from 2008, revised in 2020 (Alma Classic edition), with some liberties taken where they seemed appropriate (like spelling Voland's name with 'V' instead of a 'W', to stay closer to the name's origins and proper pronunciation).

Neon Genesis Evangelion content is based on the classic DVD English translation.

The dialogue in {curly brackets} is in German. I decided to apply the translation convention instead of using German and providing translations as I did in past stories. I hope it works better.

As German has retained the T-V distinction (in the form of du/Sie) that does not really exist in English without making the speech weird with 'thou' vs. 'you', I decided to render it as you/You. So, every time someone uses 'you', they use the T-form (du), while 'You' represents the polite/formal V-form (Sie). In other words, "What do You want?" is "Was wollen Sie?" (formal/polite) while "What do you want?" is "Was willst du?" (personal/direct).

The dialogue in [square brackets] indicates a language different than the conventional Japanese and {German}.

Spoiler: Update schedule

This is, essentially, a pilot that is intended to see whether this concept will gather any following. Until one of my other stories finishes, this story will be updated about once a month after the initial chapters, usually near the end of the month. Afterward, I will re-think this schedule and correlate it with Two Souls.

Spoiler: A more personal note

Once upon a time, led by notes left on Strypgia's Advice & Trust, I joined Sufficient Velocity. That was three years ago. A few months later, I began to write again; some of you might be familiar with my other work. Starting this story now is a form of celebration of both this anniversary as well as my affection towards both Neon Genesis Evangelion and Master and Margarita.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from either of the works. This is a work of a pastiche.
Edit 2021-02-23: more information about language conventions used

 

[Boreas Anemos]

Prologue
There are many beginnings to this story.

Some say it all began when the Katsuragi Expedition woke Adam in Antarctica and caused the Second Impact. Others say it began when one Shinji Ikari came to Tokyo-3, called upon by his father who had abandoned him a decade before. Others say it was when the beings later known as Angels came to this world in the First Impact, eons ago. Even others say it was when the world was created or when a certain angel – not an Angel, though – said "no" to the Creator for the first time – or perhaps when the serpent tempted the first humans on the orders from the Creator.

Truth is that each of those people could be right in their own manner, and each of those people would be wrong.

Tales can have many beginnings, and this tale is no different. But to tell the tale, the narrator must choose one of the beginnings.

And thus, this tale begins on the day on which several strangers came to Tokyo-3.

 

[Boreas Anemos]

Act I, scene I: The day the strangers came to Tokyo-3
Sun was slowly rising over Tokyo-3; the few maintenance crews that worked in the dead of the night, keeping the place ready for others, were gone. A trickle of people that started soon after sunup slowly became a stream. As time passed, that stream turned into a river.

Three people emerged from a shrine atop the mountain next to the city, having just paid respects to the gods guarding this city; a responsibility that was just as new to the gods as was the city itself.

The most visible was the tall figure with a swarthy complexion and black wavy hair reaching their shoulders. Their eyes – set in a face without a trace of facial hair, a face both soft and firm – were of different colors: one of them green, the other black. The face itself was a bit asymmetric, enough to make everyone take a second look, but not enough to make them look more than just a bit odd. The person was clad in a black suit which was put together with pieces coming from various gentlemanly official attires from different periods of XIX and XX century. Their odd style was supplemented by a black cane with an ivory head of a poodle atop of it, a seemingly necessary accessory, as the figure was walking with a slight limp.

The second was a young girl of a similar complexion and thick, straight black hair collected in a long braid that fell on her back; her face was round and smiling. She wore a short white skirt, a tank top in the same color, and no shoes – and walked in a way that made the impression of barely touching the ground. An ankh pendant, looking like it was made of pure darkness, was hanging on her neck, set against the whiteness of her clothing. Her dark eyes, set under black and bushy eyebrows, were gleaming and darting around in awe.

The third was a really big and equally black cat, walking as an old cat would – carefully, with great dignity and pretended indifference to the surroundings. The yellowish, far-too-intelligent eyes were scanning everything; an occasional twitch of whiskers indicated finding a new smell, a new detail, a new sensation. The only thing that could be seen as off about the animal was the fact that the cat was walking on the two hind legs, while still maintaining the grace that was the birthright of all felines.

The trio passed the torii and descended the stairs, stopping to behold the cityscape of Tokyo-3 as it was awakening from the night's slumber.

"Beautiful city, isn't it?", the black-clad figure broke the silence with words spoken in a soft alto voice.

"Forgive me, messire, but I think Moscow was better", the cat protested, scowling. "It had far more life, even if a lot of it was grey and dirty. This place is just… dull."

"We barely arrived here, Behemoth. Give it time", the figure objected. "You may come to like it."

"I like it, madame", the girl took advantage of the moment of the cat's pondering. "I think it is quite alive. Surprisingly alive. I thought this shrine was at the lake, thought…" she suspended her voice, pondering.

The figure looked at her with disapproval. "It was – until the urban sprawl of Tokyo-3 replaced the town of Hakone. You were supposed to read up on this place", the soft voice acquired a scolding note.

"I'm sorry, madame", the girl's shoulders slumped. "I did! It's just… people were far more interesting than the history."

The figure sighed and shook their head. "Why I am not surprised", they let out a sigh. "No matter. I shall know you by your fruits", they smiled.

A moment of silence descended between them, broken after a few seconds by the cat's grumble. "This city is too artificial, too clean. It's almost sterile. It never really grew", he frowned and sniffed the air. "It was made, built over, it's hiding a disease just underneath that shiny surface. The only good I see in it is the potential to stir chaos", the cat concluded with disgust on his face and only a hint of a crooked smile.

"And chaos we shall have, cat", the figure reassured him. "But not blindly. Fortunately, I believe you know where to look for the needed information", the figure stated with certainty in their voice.

"We do, and so we will, messire. You can trust me on that", the cat smiled, eliciting a raised eyebrow from the black-clad figure. "Our dear Auset", he looked at the girl who smiled an uneasy smile in response, "starts today, so does the boy. I will begin in the evening", he finished. The girl nodded to that.

"The assassin?" they asked in the same voice.

"Exactly where you commanded him to be", the cat replied. Silence fell upon them as they were watching wave after wave of humans passing below them. Finally, the cat spoke up. "Messire, I have a doubt, though", he half-asked, half-reported.

"Speak, cat. We still have time", the dark figure allowed, their voice still a soft alto. "They don't know of us yet."

"You seem to be taking awfully lot on yourself this time", the cat's voice was almost concerned. "Why is it so? Can't you rely on us, as you always had?"

The dark figure let out a sigh. When they spoke, their voice was a tenor. "This is important, cat. It cost me already, it will affect the world more than my usual excursions and your mayhem, and… I want to touch some of those souls myself. Is this enough of an answer to you?"

"Yes, messire", the cat bowed. The girl, listening in carefully, nodded and bowed as well.

The figure took a deep breath and shifted their posture slightly. The very mix-and-match, anachronistic suit changed into a modern businesswoman pants-and-jacket suit. The cat scowled at the sight.

"Must we adjust so much to the times, messire?" he asked with an uneasy voice.

The figure smiled. "It's all smoke and mirrors, cat. I don't expect you to wear a human form… but I shall act as I see fit", they replied, their voice still a tenor.

"Yes, messire", the cat sighed.

"Is Natasha ready?" the dark figure inquired.

"Prim and proper, as you commanded", the cat replied, his voice still dejected. "She is not happy about that."

The girl chuckled. "She's never happy when she needs to dress conservatively. Isn't it in our blood, madame?" she asked in a playful manner.

"A trait of your kind, yes", the dark figure admitted. "That propriety won't last, and she knows that quite well. She is just being contrary, as a proper witch should be. Auset", they looked at the girl, "I expect you to be proper as well… at least in the beginning."

"Yes, madame. I will", the girl bowed her head and took a deep breath. Her face focused, she moved her hands along her body from her neck down to her knees; her clothing transformed into a nurse uniform; the shoes were still missing, though. "Is this proper enough for you, madame?" she asked the figure with a hint of worry in her voice.

"It will suffice… for now", they nodded in response. "Let's go, then", the black-clad figure smiled again and started to descend the stairs leading down to Tokyo-3. "Today, it begins", they spoke in a voice changed to almost a baritone and their smile turned into a crooked grin, exposing far too many of their perfect, pearly teeth. "And may it end as we will it to end."

Both the girl and the cat followed with their smiles almost equally wide.

The sun rose above the unsuspecting city as another day of life in Tokyo-3 began.

 

[Boreas Anemos]

Act I, scene II: The morning the NERV started to panic
Early morning in NERV Headquarters began slow, as it was prone to when there was no Angel attack or any other imminent threat. Most of the senior staff – except the Commander and the Vice-Commander – were night owls, with Major Katsuragi being barely able to communicate in the mornings and Doctor Akagi working at odd hours – and, as a result, being responsible for 20% of her department coffee consumption. The rest of the staff had varying preferences – but all of them were dutifully on their stations, working on tactical systems, data analysis, maintenance, or any other of thousands of responsibilities that made the workings of NERV possible.

The facility has recovered remarkably from the recent Angel incursion that almost subverted the MAGI system; there was almost no mark left of it – except the chronic lack of sleep the technical department suffered in the wake of unholy repair schedule the Commander had forced upon them. But this was the price of working at NERV, a place where labor laws were polite agreements at best – but the pay and benefits were far better than in any other organization on the face of the post-Impact Earth.

Major Katsuragi was sitting behind her desk, her coffee barely sipped – it came fresh from the recently replaced coffee maker. The new unit was making far better brew than the last one, but it also made it far, far hotter, leading to several cases of unpleasant burns. Due to that fact, very little caffeine entered the Major's system. But all that quickly ceased to matter; one of the messages that found its way to her inbox woke her up better than quadruple-espresso IV drip would.

"Why the fuck, why now, why…" she stared at the Very Official E-mail From A Very Serious Institution with disbelieving eyes. Her faint hope that it was a prank – or a hoax – was quickly negated by the mail client confirming it came directly from the United Nations.

She took a deep breath and picked up the phone. She hated to call that specific number; it made her nervous.

"Good morning, Commander. I apologize for calling at this – of course, sir. Katsuragi reporting: I just received information that today, at 9:30 sharp, an inspector from United Nations will arrive", she paused, listening to the reply. "No sir, there was no advance warning", she paused again. "No, sir, this office does not need to warn us, not by law. The inspector comes from the UN Ethics Office", she concluded and waited for a response that was not coming. "Sir?" she tried again after a few seconds. "Yes, sir. I will arrange everything", she confirmed. "No, sir, I don't think this is connected to the recent intrusion. No, there are no specific requirements, the delegation is staying in Tokyo-3 on their own accord, we are not informed where." She listened in again. "Yes, sir, we do…" she replied, looking at the attached picture of an oddly asymmetrical, but still handsome – or beautiful? – face. The non-matching eyes specifically drew the Major's attention: the green one seemed kind of manic; the black one seemed dead. "The inspector's name is Voland. Alex Voland."

 

[Boreas Anemos]

Act I, scene III: The first day at school
"…and I would like you all to greet your new colleague", the old teacher looked at his notes. "Ti-mo-ti…" he tried.

"Timothy Siebel, sir", the blonde boy dressed in a uniform definitely ill-fitted for his tall and thin body corrected the teacher cheerfully and put a katakana transcription of his name on the blackboard. "But my first name is usually shortened to Timmy", he addressed the class in perfect Japanese and put an approximation of that on the board as well.

"All right… Siebel-kun, you came here from Germany?" the teacher inquired.

"Yes sir, my father is a German diplomat and my mother was an American", he explained. "Hence my first name."

"I see. Horaki-san, assign your new classmate a place and enroll him in all the usual duties", the teacher commanded, shaking his head.

"Yes, sir", the Class Representative confirmed. "Here… Siebel-kun", she pointed to one of the free seats in the middle of the class. The boy thanked her with a charming smile and an appropriate small bow; some girls frowned – the boy certainly knew his manners, a welcome change in comparison to many of their classmates. Still, he was a stranger and a foreigner. But, on the other hand, he was a quite handsome stranger and a very polite foreigner.

Once the formalities were done, the lesson started as usual. "Good. Now, open your books on page thirty…"

***​

The lunchtime classroom was noisy, as it was prone to be; the attention of the majority was centered on the newcomer. Questions about his origins and hobbies dominated, of course, but his nearly perfect Japanese was raising most eyebrows. He patiently explained that yes, he was from a diplomatic family, yes, his father had been transferred here, yes, his mother had died years ago and he had a stepmother, and his language skills came from the fact that his father is certain that he will follow into his footsteps. Equally patiently he explained that he had few hobbies as they saw them, but he liked to play the violin.

Outside the storm of questions and waves of answers, there were a few people who were not that curious or otherwise uninvolved – and that included all the pilots. Rei Ayanami was never actively interested in anything that was happening, even if nobody could deny that she keenly watched all movements. Shinji Ikari preferred to avoid crowds of any kind, especially if they involved a lot of noise. And Asuka Langley Soryu was annoyed by the fact that nobody paid any attention to her – and was thus busy haughtily and ostentatiously ignoring everyone.

"Hey, Shin-man, why aren't you bothering the new guy?" Touji entered the class.

"Why should I?" Shinji turned his attention from the manga in his hands. "He's from Germany, Asuka should be interested, if anyone. I'll talk to him when I won't have to win a battle to the death just to ask a question", he shrugged.

"Fair point", Touji shrugged and chuckled noticing that Kensuke was taking advantage of the situation and taking photos of the girls who became a bit less careful in all the commotion that ensued around the newcomer. "Say, I know you're exposed to sexy babes at all times at home", he started, eliciting a raised eyebrow from Shinji. "Don't deny it, we all saw Misato's size; but you might want to check out the new nurse assistant. I just got back from my post-injury check-up and I say she's a babe."

"I'm perfectly healthy, I don't need to visit the nurse. And you tend to wolf-whistle half the girls you see. So, forgive me if I don't take your opinion seriously", Shinji retorted. "Also, I don't see a handprint on your face nor any sign of suffering as you walk, so maybe she's not that much of a babe as you say?"

Touji scowled. "She was a world champion at dodging. She kept smiling and moving around me, but it was impossible to touch her. She'd be worth a slap, I'm telling you!"

Shinji shrugged. "I don't know which of you is worse, Kensuke with his photos or you with your rushing hands", he sighed. "Well, you are what you are. Just don't tell me to be the same", he finished.

"Sure, man", Touji shrugged and leaned back on his chair. "You already won – you live with two hot babes under one roof! Sure, one is a bit old and the other is a total bitch, but–"

His elaboration was cut short by a book that collided with his head and made him fall back.

"Suzuhara, are you all right?" Hikari was first to react despite her focus being directed elsewhere.

Touji just gave her thumbs-up from the floor, climbed up, approached Asuka, and dropped the book on her desk with a loud thump. "That's yours, I believe. Nice aim… devil."

"Serves you well", she noted off-handedly, ignoring Hikari's scolding glare and Shinji's disapproving look.

Touji just scoffed and went back to his desk.

Timmy, free from the attention for a few seconds in which everyone turned away to see the source of the commotion, smiled. 'That is an interesting start', he thought to himself, his internal smile far wider than the one he chose to show. 'Oh, this is going to be fun, so much fun…'

***​

"All right, Auset-san…" the school nurse started and paused. "Are you sure you want me to call you like this?" the woman inquired. "It feels disrespectful. Wouldn't you prefer 'Percāra-san'?" she managed to pronounce the word slowly while looking at both the Roman lettering and the kana transcription on the assignment documents.

The inquired girl smiled. "It's how I would be addressed home, without any honorific, too. I'm used to that", she explained. "Besides, I like my first name. More than that last name I never really chose", her smile turned sheepish. "Just call me 'Auset', Toiguchi-sama, and we'll be fine", she added with a chirpy voice.

The nurse took several deep breaths in a futile attempt to calm her heartbeat down. The girl was dropped on her head today by the right of some obscure training assignment she seemingly forgot about – and that was supposed to take two weeks. She was anything but happy about that; the bureaucracy associated with it would likely be a pain, not to mention she expected the newcomer to require guidance and a lot of informal warnings – or perhaps even protection from students' behavior. The work of the school nurse was fraught with peril – after all, teenagers were the second most dangerous age group to care for, at least in her experience. She already saw in her mind's eye the amount of babysitting that would be needed, along with explaining every single thing to that clueless trainee. And one from a different country, to boot!

But the girl that wandered in first thing in the morning, seemingly without a worry in the world, and since then had already proven to be almost the opposite of the school nurse's worries. Of course, she needed to have the ropes shown, especially when it came to the rather complex filing system – but she seemed to have found herself quickly. In addition to that, she had some reasonable knowledge of medicine, possessed an uncanny ability to dodge the students' advances, not to mention a warm, caring smile she had for all of them.

The last one had been a mixed blessing, though. Chisaki Toiguchi, aged twenty-five, female, very straight, engaged, and set to be married within a year – the same woman seemed to have developed butterflies in her stomach every time her new charge smiled at her. She was absolutely sure there was no ill intent behind it – but the effect was there, strong as she never experienced from another woman.

"Toiguchi-sama?"

The girl's voice broke her out of her reverie. "Yes, yes. Of course, Auset", she tried to cover her confusion with a smile. "Where was I… right. We don't have any further scheduled visits for today; if there are no emergencies, I usually read up on the medical literature or work through the paperwork backlog. You could, possibly, study?"

Auset smiled back at her. "Gladly, if you would allow that, but I didn't bring any books today. I wasn't expecting to have any downtime", she explained in a softly dejected voice. "Can I help you with paperwork, then?"

The nurse nodded automatically. "Yes, of course. The quarterly health report is due in a week. It's halfway done, all we need to do is to go through the remaining files and enter the injury statistics and such in the computer. Can you do this?"

"Sure!" the girl jumped up cheerfully and dropped into the computer chair, eyeing the stack with a curious eye.

Chisaki took another deep breath. Those were going to be either very pleasant or very nightmarish two weeks.

***​

Timothy Siebel was used to the attention. This was not his first time in Voland's entourage, and he was a popular boy in school back when he was living his life. But the sheer amount of attention he encountered today exceeded his expectations. By the end of the day, he managed to set up three separate one-on-one dates – without calling them so, of course, just 'going to the ice cream parlor' or 'having the city shown to the newcomer' – and one double date where he was quite certain the other 'boy' was going to mysteriously cancel just beforehand.

Of course, this only meant he would have more fun than expected – and had more to report to his boss. For a moment he pondered whether to walk into the obvious ambush at the school gate, set by three less brave girls, but then he decided that would be spreading himself too thin. After all, he had enough initial contacts – and none of his ultimate date-or-befriend targets had expressed any interest yet. Or, more precisely, none that would allow him to extend an invitation without raising suspicion or giving offense.

'I guess I'll have to work around that limitation… it just makes it a better challenge, he smiled to himself as he stepped between the trees richly planted in the school's courtyard. A few seconds later he emerged from a shadow on the neighboring street. 'Time to change and then it's the first date… let's see how far my charm will carry me… and how much dear Etsuko knows about the red-headed girl and the red-eyed one.'

With that thought in his mind, he started walking towards the café, his uniform replaced piece-by-piece by more casual, if no less proper attire of brown pants, sand-colored shirt, and matching shoes every time he stepped through a shadow.

***​

"And that's all for the day, Auset", the school nurse declared, her voice nervous. "I need to talk to you, though", she added.

"Oh?" the young girl looked up from wrapping up her work; her eyes were full of worry. "Is there a problem?"

'There will be if you don't stop looking at me with those big, beautiful, pleading eyes', Chisaki Toiguchi thought before collecting herself. "No. I mean, yes. I mean, no", she concluded. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, unable to withstand the worried glare. "Can I ask you to wear something with lesser cleavage tomorrow?" she finally managed. "That boy was in clear pain, but his eyes were glued to your… chest", she explained.

Auset blinked. "Well, it made the treatment far easier, and I think it gave him some relief from pain, yes?" she tilted her head. "Was that inappropriate?"

"A bit", the nurse released another held breath. "Let's not give them nosebleeds, shall we?"

"All right", Auset nodded her head. "I will find something less revealing", she smiled widely. "Thank you for your guidance today, Toiguchi-sama!"

Chisaki took yet another deep breath. It did not help. "My pleasure. Now, you can go. You'll finish tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am!"

The girl left. Chisaki Toiguchi stood there for a while longer, trying to collect her thoughts. She was quite certain it was some prank – be it from the administration or from the gods. The latter seemed more probable – which made it even worse.

'Well, everything happens for a reason, doesn't it, Chisaki? Tomorrow's another day, and you will carry on. And today, your boyfriend is coming over, no excuses, and you'll rip the clothes off him the moment he steps through your door', she decided with a blush before closing the office for the day.

***​

The long-abandoned terrace overlooking the city was bathed in the red light of the setting sun. The dark-clad figure sat on a dilapidated chair; they looked up as a teenage boy in a school uniform and a twenty-something girl in a nurse coat approached.

"Report", the figure spoke in a soft but commanding alto voice.

"Observation established, boss", the boy started. "Targets have been identified, the cover is set, I recruited informants, and already talked to some of them. I will establish contact as soon as it is reasonable."

"Good", the figure smiled and turned to the girl. "And you?"

"Cover established, madame", she bowed. "I established contact with one of the target's friends. And I have complete and unsupervised access to medical files."

"Even better. You know what we're looking for", the figure commented. "Continue, both of you", they nodded. "Report tomorrow. Now, leave me."

"Yes, boss!" the boy turned and sprinted down the steep, unmaintained stairs.

"Madame…" the girl started once they were alone.

"Yes, Auset?" the figure asked in a far lower, grating voice as they raised an eyebrow at the minor insubordination.

"I… I think I like the person I am working with now at school. Is this a problem?" she asked, her voice nervous.

The figure smirked. "You're a witch, Auset", they replied, matter-of-factly. "It is in your nature to feel passion, stir chaos, and break hearts. You do my will… but as long as this is ensured beyond any doubt, you do your own. Remember that order, and fear not."

The girl seemed lost in thought for a moment. Finally, she smiled. "Yes, madame."

"Good", the figure smiled. "Now, off with you", they waved a gloved hand.

The girl bowed, straddled her broom, and flew into the encroaching night.

Voland closed their eyes and rested their head against the chair's headrest. Their thoughts wandered to the events of the day, a day they spent in a less enjoyable, but certainly productive manner in an equally important place. A tired smile crawled on their lips as the memories flooded back.

 

[Boreas Anemos]

Act I, scene IV: The first day at NERV – the morning
Earlier that day

Gendo Ikari was not happy. Of course, some would say the last time he was happy was a few weeks ago, just after Sahaquiel's demise, when he actually praised his son for his performance; others would move that back to ten years ago, to the last dinner with his late wife; yet others would put that time closer to "never". Of course, none of those people would say it out loud if there was any chance of the man in question hearing them.

The truth was a little bit more complicated than that: Gendo Ikari was capable of feeling happiness, even if nowadays it was usually a function of his satisfaction from the progress of his Scenario and his control over the overall situation.

But considering that the current situation was far from being under his perfect control, it was logical that he was equally far from being happy.

***​

NERV HQ staff conference room, 9:58

To say that the whole NERV HQ was like a disturbed hornets' nest would be an overstatement – but the higher echelons and their assistants certainly felt certain apprehension when they were entering the conference room for the 10:00 briefing called by an urgent 9:17 message – signed by the Commander himself. They immediately noticed two strangers standing in the room, people whose heavily formal appearance stood out in the sea of uniforms and semi-formal attire that was the norm in the NERV work environment.

The first one was a person in their late thirties, perhaps early forties. They had an androgynous face, long, dark hair brushed elegantly beyond their ears; they were wearing black boots with a high heel (Major Katsuragi's first thought was to call them 'cavalry boots'; all they lacked were spurs), an impeccable black gentleman's suit (Doctor Akagi noticed that this suit likely cost more than a public servant should be able to earn in a year) with an equally impeccable, almost shining white shirt underneath, finished with a dark crimson tie. Their other accessories were a lady's watch (apparently golden) and a large (certainly golden) signet ring with a red stone in the shape of a dog's head; the picture was made complete with a black cane tipped with a similar, but the far more detailed head of a dog (Lieutenant Ibuki immediately recognized it as a poodle that had a very good hairdresser). They seemed engaged in a hushed discussion with the elderly professor, but the watchful gaze of mismatched eyes seemed to carefully scan those that entered.

The other was a woman in her twenties, clearly performing the role of an assistant. She immediately made an impression of being a little old-fashioned; to call her attire "formal" would be an understatement: it started with low-heel grey shoes, continued with old-style, backline stockings, went on with a gray pencil skirt that began just above the knees, progressed to a white, well-fitted blouse with minimal adorning, and ended with an emerald cravat; her lightly copper-toned blonde hair was held in a perfect bun with a bone-white clasp (Doctor Akagi noticed with a small shiver that judging from the color and texture it could actually be bone). Her other accessories were scarce – a simple ladies' watch (that seemed to be silver), tiny earrings (that seemed to be made of silver-set emeralds), and a small leather briefcase (that seemed to be far too luxurious for a public servant's assistant).

"Thank you for coming", Gendo Ikari started from his place at the head of the table, silencing any discussion immediately. "Please be seated", he requested and waited for everyone to take their places before resuming. "We, as the NERV Headquarters in particular and NERV in general, are currently a subject to inspection from the United Nations Ethics Office. The inspector will explain the details", he gestured towards the dark-haired figure in the seat at his right hand. "Inspector?"

The indicated person slowly rose, buttoning the well-fitting jacket on the way. "Thank you, commander", they started, brushing the long hair behind their ears as their eyes scanned the auditorium. "My name is Voland, and I am, as the Commander was kind to say", he nodded towards Gendo Ikari, "an inspector of the United Nations. This is my assistant, Natasha Prokofyevna Liubeznaya", he indicated the woman at his right hand. She stood up for a short moment and bowed a shallow bow, her richly green eyes silently watching everyone present, never stopping for more than a split second on each – but successfully unsettling everyone as their turn came to be focused on. "She will be helping me in this audit, and I expect that her questions and inquires will be given the same consideration as mine", they continued as the woman sat down, opened her briefcase, took an equally elegant clipboard out, and returned to watching the assembled personnel. The fact that she started to take short notes in an odd script after every look momentarily thickened the atmosphere in the room; under the circumstances, the fact that she was making the notes with a quill earned only a few glances.

"That being said" the inspector resumed, commanding everyone's attention once more, "I reassure you there is nothing for you to worry about, as long as the high standards of the United Nations are maintained", they went on. Doctor Akagi spared a quick look at the Commander's face and made a mental note to never play poker with him. "I am certain that if something interesting to the Ethics Committee is happening here, it will be uncovered, and those who contribute to that detection will have my gratitude. Of course, I hope there is nothing to uncover; we all are aware of the stance the Japanese people take towards ethics", the inspector continued, their voice unwavering. Misato Katsuragi tried her best to contain the twitch on her face after hearing those words; she noticed she was not the only one. "Thus, I expect your full cooperation. The Commander", Voland nodded towards Gendo Ikari again, "had promised me that already, and I hope that your compliance will allow me to complete this assignment quickly and efficiently. Thank you for your attention, and I look forward to working with you", they finished with the slightest nod. "Commander?"

"Thank you, Inspector", the Commander's voice was deceptively calm as he stood up and addressed the assembled personnel. "The inspection's schedule has already been approved, and your input was taken into account to both ensure the unbroken operations of NERV Headquarters as well as to satisfy the Inspector's requests. The section heads will be responsible for assigning the appropriate tasks across the departments. As the Inspector said, I promised your full cooperation. Consider the good of the NERV and our role in the mission of the United Nations. Are there any questions?"

Shaking of heads were the only responses.

"I expect this endeavor to go smoothly, then. Dismissed", the Commander adjourned the meeting.

***​

No single person who could count and was aware of the current socio-economic situation would deny that NERV paid well, had great employer benefits, and provided great stability in the trying times of the post-Impact world. But just as much, no one could deny that working here was stressful even on the best day.

And today was quite far from best. It was almost as if the gods have chosen today to turn their unfavorable gaze towards the unsuspecting personnel.

The incidents began relatively small.

***​

NERV HQ main cafeteria, 10:35

"…and this is our main cafeteria", Major Katsuragi explained to the esteemed guests.

"Hardly a vital system, Major", the inspector remarked. "Why are we here?"

The Major allowed herself only a momentary frown. "For two reasons, Inspector", she replied. "First, I am not aware of any arrangements regarding your meal schedule–"

"Do not worry about that", Voland spoke in a calm voice as they raised their hand in an interrupting gesture. "We are self-catering. We cannot accept any invitations from NERV if we are to remain impartial."

"–and for that occasion, you might be interested in the cafeteria", Katsuragi explained, suppressing her irritation. "Second, it's on our way to the elevator that will take us to our first stop proper: the Cages."

"I see", Voland nodded; their assistant took a note in her notebook. "Please proceed."

"Yes, Inspecto–"

A thunderous sound of broken dishes, scattered cutlery, and general havoc interrupted her and made all the heads turn towards the kitchen. A very pale boy, no older than twenty, emerged from the kitchen and pressed the emergency button. "Medical assistance to Catering Station Gimel! Two injured! Nagai reporting!"

"A common occurrence, Major?" Voland asked impassively.

"Not to my knowledge, Inspector", the Major retorted, her voice distressed. "It's the first one I witness…"

"I believe we can be of some assistance", Voland continued, seeing their guide's dilemma. "Shall we?"

The Major nodded; her expression turned to relief as she rushed towards the kitchen. She completely missed a black cat that snuck out of the kitchen a few seconds earlier.

***​

Evangelion Cages, 11:15; a routine test of restraints

"Lower power to the 65% of operational", came the command from the shift leader as she checked the instruments and gave the restraints surrounding Unit-01 a look. "Nice and slow."

"Starting the power-down. 90% operational …" the technician started to read the indicator. "80% operational …".

"Too fast!" came a warning from another station.

"It is within tolerance", the operating technician countered, eliciting a disapproving look from his superior. "70% operational …" he called out as the structure around the Unit-01 shook a bit.

"Slow it down, Ogino", the shift leader commanded, her voice concerned.

"62% operational", the technician called. "59%... and stable", Specialist Ogino called.

"Not exactly on spot, is it?" the shift leader raised her eyebrow. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure, Sergeant", Specialist Ogino replied, his face sweaty. "Seems fine to me–"

"58% and falling", the other station corrected.

The shift leader's eyebrows were on the way to meet her hairline. "So much for 'stable'. We'll figure it out from logs", she decided. "Restore power, Ogino, bring it back to 90% at least. Carefully!" she added before taking a deep breath.

"Yes, Sergeant", he replied and punched the commands into the console.

'This was supposed to be routine', the sergeant grumbled internally. 'Have I gotten sloppy?' she pondered. 'A certain test in 1986 was also supposed to be routine, right? Let's not lose our focus, shall – what the–' her thoughts stopped as she suddenly felt very, very cold.

A figure of a man, dressed in a military garb that would be not out of place seventy years ago, was standing next to the wall control panel. Noticing her attention, he smiled a crooked smile, showing an odd fang – and winked at her with a seemingly blind eye before disappearing as if he was never there.

'Damn it. I should cut down on the coffee… and interrogate grandma about family members that server during the War…' she decided before shaking the cold feeling off.

"60% and rising", Specialist Ogino reported. His voice brought her to reality.

"57% and falling?" the other technician immediately countered.

"What?" the shift leader's face contorted in confusion, the cold feeling returning. "Show me!" she started to compare the readings on both consoles. Both seemed to work correctly. "That's some Devil's work…"

The door opened and several people wandered in. "And this is the Cage Control Center", Major Misato Katsuragi explained. "Currently, we're running a simple, routine test–"

***​

Somewhere in the bowels of NERV HQ, 11:47

"Watch your step, boy", the old technician chided a young man. "This is not your average elevator. This baby's power line will take a while to kill you and it will hurt all the time you'd be dying."

"I'm wearing protection, aren't I?" the rubber-clad technician-in-training protested.

"And so was I, every single time with my wife, and I still have three kids", the old man retorted. "Won't help you if you make a stupid mistake. Now, what do we are supposed to do now?"

"Make sure the elevator is empty, secure it so it cannot be used, and only then enter the shaft", the boy recited.

"Good. Now, I say it's empty. What now?" the old man queried.

"I check it myself before proceeding", the boy replied.

The old man smirked. "Good. Maybe you won't end up like your predecessor", he remarked in a deadpan voice.

"My… predecessor?" boy's voice suddenly turned shaky.

"Yes, yes, he's still somewhere down there", the man pointed down the shaft with a barely perceptible wry smile. "Keep going."

The boy gleaned at the screen – and shook his head, his expression bemused. "Elevator's not empty, boss", he reported. "There's a… cat."

"What?!" the old man shot him a confused glare and grabbed the detachable screen.

There was, indeed, a very large cat, sitting in the middle of the elevator, licking his paw. A few moments later, he raised his head and stared directly into the camera as if asking a polite question about being disturbed.

"For fuck's sake, we don't have cats in HQ, not since the hot blondie got rid of hers…" the man murmured. "Go and check it yourself, boy."

"I… I have a name, boss", the boy protested as he started to crawl out of the maintenance space.

"I'll learn it if you survive your first month", the old man retorted. "You still have a week. Go", he repeated his order.

As the boy left, the old man let out a sigh. 'You're a good boy, Tensui-kun… and you learn fast. But you could use some humility in the face of what we're working with here. Nobody will let you into the Cages with that attitude of yours.'

***​

NERV HQ Training Center Bet, 11:50

"Questions, Shibutani-san?" the instructor directed his question at a young woman in the NERV's security uniform with Corporal rank patches.

"No, sir. I'm ready", she declared.

"Great. Twenty shots, I expect at least ten hits in the vitals", he directed as he slid his ear protectors on. "Begin."

She took her aim at the paper silhouette and squeezed the trigger. The instructor was looking with a certain interest; the corporal was not the best shot in her unit, but she was showing a lot of promise – and a lot of ambition. The latter did not sit too well with the old man, but his duty was to train the young ones, not to assess their motivations.

"Done, teacher!" she reported happily. He eyed the table in front of her and allowed himself a small smile of approval seeing an unloaded weapon. The target was also pulled for inspection.

"Hm, eleven out of twenty in the vitals, seventeen total", he nodded with approval. "Load twenty", he ordered.

"Teacher?" she frowned.

"You have two attempts. You can do even better, can't you?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, teacher!" she stood at attention, her eyes brightening up.

The man rolled his eyes. "At ease, Shibutani-san. Load twenty and put up a fresh target."

"Yes, teacher!" the woman exclaimed as she picked up the magazine and reached inside the box of bullets. About a minute later – a tempo the instructor chuckled at – she replaced the target and put it at the distance.

The old man took a look, nodded – and put his hearing protection back on. "Begin."

The Corporal smiled, pushed her ear covering on, slid the magazine in, and put the bullet in the chamber.

First three shots – and three vital hits. Her smile grew into a grin as she squeezed the trigger for the fourth time–

An average time of a conscious reaction – the time between a fact is registered and the brain is capable of processing the information and acting on it – is, for an adult brain, less than half a second. Of course, numerous factors contribute to prolonging that time – for example, it is easier to perform an action than to stop an action, not to mention the less expected the stimuli, the longer it takes to react to it.

And this was exactly why the brain of Corporal Shibutani failed to stop her from pulling the trigger – or even redirecting the weapon – when she realized someone was standing between the muzzle of her firearm and the paper target; someone she could swear was not there a literal second ago.

To her credit, barring the failure to avoid shooting that someone, she reacted correctly: the moment she noticed the problem she put the gun down – with safety on, no less – raised a hand, yelled 'man on the range!', and ran past the surprised inspector towards the figure, facing it – all within five seconds.

A figure that, as her perceptions delivered in the stress-fueled absurd detail, was a middle-aged man with thin red hair in a combover, one eye gray and the other covered in cataract, and a rather stupid smile that exposed a single, overgrown fang. He was dressed in business attire: a well-fitted striped suit, a pale grey shirt, and high-quality leather shoes; the composition was completed – or broken, depending on the point of view – with some ridiculous cape on his back. This clothing now had a small blotch of blood somewhere near the heart – a blotch the man just touched.

"Nice shooting, young lady", he complimented her with a nasal, unpleasant voice. His expression turned from ponderous one – one he had as he was looking at his bloodied hand – to one of approval he assumed as he raised his eyes to looks at her shocked face. "Not as good as mine or Behemoth's, but you have a lot of time to improve still. Well, some time", he corrected himself.

"Sir, are you all right?" the Corporal asked the most stupid question she could, her voice panicked. "What are you doing here?" she added a more reasonable one, completely failing to notice that the rest of the room seemed frozen in time.

"Well, I was curious", the man retorted. "I heard shooting and thought it might be worth a check."

"But… are you…" the woman was increasingly confused.

"Shot?" he prompted. "Yes, clearly. Right through the heart", he admitted. "Nice one", he nodded in continuing approval. The woman shook her head as he touched the edge of the wound again. She took a step back – and screamed.

The unexpected guest's expression soured. "I suppose I should return later", he let out a sigh. "Thank you for the demonstration… I suppose you should continue if you want a good score", he suggested with a slightly exasperated expression as he shot a glare towards the frozen instructor. The Corporal took a few steps back as if she was sleepwalking.

"Go on, go on", he encouraged her. "We don't want to cause any unnecessary stir, correct?" he smiled again, his odd fang exposed. The Corporal stumbled back to her firing station, her eyes still locked on him. "Good luck on your test!" he exclaimed – and then he was gone.

The Corporal stood there, dumbfounded and stupefied, her mind still incapable of processing what had just happened; in the corner of her eye, she noticed a quizzing look of the instructor: the man seemed to be unfazed – or more likely, unaware – of the events that transpired right in front of him.

'Or perhaps did not, and I just had a psychotic episode?' she realized.

Things started to fall into place. The woman drew a deep breath–

That very moment, the door opened and several people entered the range. "And this is the shooting range", Major Katsuragi explained. "It is a part of our–" she stopped abruptly, seeing the odd scene and the young woman's expression.

The Corporal took a long look at the party that just entered – and started to scream at the top of her lungs.

***​

NERV HQ corridors, 11:55

"And now we're heading towards the Command Center", Major Katsuragi explained, her voice shaking just a bit.

To say the whole tour had been tough on her would be a heavy understatement – it was an unending nightmare. The Major was hoping it will all end once they would arrive at the Command and she would leave those two to their own devices as she was commanded – but at the same time, she was trying her best to contain her irrational fear that the moment they arrive in the Command, an Angel attack simply had to happen.

"Major?" a calm, patient, and surprisingly melodic voice interrupted her musings.

"Yes, Inspector?" she turned to face the source of her nightmares.

"Are there animals on the base?" Voland asked out of the blue.

"Not that I know, Inspector", the Major replied in a confused voice. "We don't do animal research, we're obviously not allowed to bring pets to work, none are allowed in on-site housing, and we regularly exterminate pests", she listed. "Why?"

Voland wordlessly turned around and indicated something with a gesture of their head.

Following their eyes, Katsuragi froze.

A large, black cat was running through the middle of the corridor, chased by a young man in a technician's uniform. The man was demonstrating a rather aggressive and uncouth language directed at the animal despite seeming to be quite winded. The cat seemed unmoved by the amount of aggression directed against him, though.

Seeing an obstacle in the form of three people ahead of it, the cat decided to avoid it in the simplest way – he jumped, rolled in the air, and attached himself to the ceiling – where, to the wide-eyed glare of some and completely blasé look of others, it resumed its run.

Seeing the same obstacle – along with an officer – the young technician realized that continuing his run would result in a whole set of horrible consequences – so he tried to stop. But to his horror, his speed and the resulting inertia caused him to end on his knees – and directly in front of the Major.

"T-tech-ni-cian", he managed between gasps and despite his growing panic. "Tech-nician Tensui Mochizuki, reporting", he glanced up, "Major. Please – please don't… mind me", he added, his voice raspy and panicked.

"As… as you were, Technician", the Major shook her head, her face exasperated. "Shall we continue?" she turned to the inspector.

"A moment", Voland requested, indicating with a head gesture at their assistant who was making yet another note.

'Welcome scolding, demotion, or summary execution', Katsuragi realized glumly, noticing that this was a third or fourth page of notes. 'Let's just hope the Commander assigns someone who actually can shoot to that execution.'

***​

NERV HQ Command Center, 12:10

Outside the combat incidents, the work of Lieutenant Aoba was relatively simple and undemanding – at least to someone with his memory and attention to detail, traits that ensured his ascension to the current position. He was responsible for tracking numerous aspects of NERV functioning and perfect operations of many systems – but as long as they were operating, he was merely busy with watching them, keeping a maintenance schedule, ensuring it is followed, locating bottlenecks, and finding ways to optimize the systems. He did not envy his colleagues who had more active duties – on the other hand, he knew well that if he was not that good, he would be doing a lot of those things as they did – manually. But because he was good, there were times where he was left with little to do.

Today was a little different, of course – due to the unexpected inspection, he was tasked with preparing a demonstration of the Command Center's capabilities. 'No bells and no whistles', the Commander told him. 'Just the essentials so our guest has a general idea', he added. Initially, Aoba was dismayed by this order: after all, this was an opportunity to check the limits of the simulation software; but just as quickly, he realized that in the time he was given – about two hours to prepare, test, and deploy – fewer features meant fewer possible points of failure.

And thus, he had been ready for about half an hour already as the inspector casually strolled into the Command Center with the assistant at their side and clearly exhausted Major Katsuragi in tow. Aoba raised his eyebrow at this rather odd picture, but it was not his part to question anything – his duty was a technical one. Thus, as the Major approached him after delivering a short explanation to the guests, he stood up and reported: "Everything is ready, ma'am! Should I begin?"

"Yes, Lieutenant. Please do", she nodded, trying her best to maintain a steady voice. He nodded in reply, giving her a sympathetic glare.

He punched a command in the console; causing a large SIMULATION MODE: READY message to appear on the wall display. Switching the microphone on, he announced: "We're entering a simulation mode. It will be interrupted should an attack occur. The only section unaffected is the monitoring. Please do not interfere unless monitoring reports an attack. We begin in five… four… three… two… one… now!" he punched another command – only to see a console error. He furrowed his brows, overcame a small bout of panic, and quickly fixed the command. The banner message changed to SIMULATION MODE: ACTIVE.

Aoba chose the simplest Angel he could use and had reliable data for – Shamshel, known very unofficially and only among the mid-ranking staff as 'the dildo with an attitude'. Obviously, he omitted all the 'unauthorized civilians' details and focused on the battle. "As the simulations do not allow disabling of the monitoring station, we start from the point where the Angel has–" he paused as he suddenly heard a very audible 'meow' from somewhere near. Knowing it was impossible, he shook the distraction off and carried on. "Where the Angel appears on our grid. The first contact is usually done by the JSSDF on duty, as they take the least time to deploy", he started to explain gesturing towards the markers with unit signatures moving around the map. "By the time the Angel enters our usual operations area, we know whether the first attack was effective", he managed to say with a straight face, "the NERV is ready and begins deploying the Evangelions. This is done via the elevator – we have several across the city. The battle you are watching was handled by a single Evangelion, Unit-01. The deployment is done via the elevator. We should see it appear within a few seconds – the pilot had been inserted, the unit delivered, and is being launched, and now we see–" a second 'meow' sounded, all too near. Aoba would have ignored it if it had not been followed by a panic-inducing whirring sound, followed in turn by a quickly moving text that was unmistakably a stack trace from a crashing application.

Aoba's face went pale; he turned to the console – but it indicated the simulation was still running.

In the silence, a third 'meow' followed, loud as a gunshot to the Lieutenant's ears – and the wall of text on the wall display was suddenly followed by another series of messages, ending in a KERNEL PANIC: FATAL EXCEPTION message.

Nobody spoke a word in the silence that followed. Aoba suddenly felt all eyes resting on him.

"I assume this is not a part of the simulation?" Voland interrupted the dead silence, their voice deadpan.

"It… it is not, Inspector", a deathly pale Aoba admitted. "We – I think we need to restart the system…"

"Failsafe is not engaging", Hyuga's voice followed. "Restarting the stations manually, Aoba-san, I need you to confirm the reboot", he called. "Aoba?" he checked after there was no answer.

"Yes, yes, of course", Aoba turned to his console.

"I was under the impression that the failsafe system should be safe from failure?" Voland raised an eyebrow, their voice deadpan.

"Yes, Inspector", Major Katsuragi seemed to be at a stage where nothing more could affect her. "We will get to the bottom of this", she promised.

"No need to", Voland replied off-handedly as they watched the diagnostic messages coming up on the wall display. "I am not a technical inspector, Major, I work for the Ethics Office. I consider this demonstration concluded, as much as our tour", they declared. "Unless there is anything else, I would be more than happy to start the proper part of the inspection. Do you object?"

"N-not at all, inspector", Major Katsuragi agreed, her eyes indicating a growing madness.

"Thank you. Natasha Prokofyevna", they addressed their assistant who was starting the seventh page of notes. "Shall we?"

"Yes, Inspector", she followed Voland as they turned and left the room.

There was a moment of silence, interrupted by a sudden stern voice over the intercom. "Clean up this mess, and I want the report on what went wrong in an hour on my desk."

"Yes, sir", Aoba replied, his face showing utter despair.

***​

The sun was slowly setting over Tokyo-3. Voland was sitting in the chair, their eyes closed, their smile intact.

Sound of footsteps interrupted the reverie; one pair of feet belonged to a man with a predilection to old, heavy-heeled boots; the other pair was bare. Behemoth, as it was in nature of the cats, was nowhere to be heard.

Voland opened their eyes; apparently, Behemoth was also nowhere to be seen. "Yes, my servants?"

"A thousand apologies, messire", the redheaded man bowed in an old-fashioned way, the cape of his now-medieval clothing in his hand; his eyes were joyous, their expression unmarred by the fact that one was covered by a cataract. "I merely wished to report that all seeds have been sown, and to ask whether you are satisfied with the results", the man explained as he straightened up.

"I am, my faithful servant", Voland replied. "Even if I'm under the impression that you scared them a little bit too much."

"Messire, forgive my boldness, but as long as the heart survives and the hair does not turn white, there is no such thing as 'too much fear'", the man protested.

"Perhaps", Voland reluctantly agreed. "The fruits were right, though, thus – I am satisfied. Where is Behemoth, by the way?"

"Who knows, messire…" the assassin shrugged. "He's a cat, they have their own paths. But my guess is that he is still following your standing orders and sowing chaos in the nest of the vipers."

"Good", Voland acknowledged. "Anything else, my faithful Azazello?"

"No, messire", the man bowed with a small smile and took a step back, vanishing from the sight.

"Natasha?" he addressed the witch. "Your impressions?"

"They're hiding something", the girl replied as she approached and curtsied; in stark contrast to her previous attire, right now she was dressed only in her silver-and-emerald jewelry. "That much is glaringly obvious. Their fear is palpable, just as is their confusion."

"Ah, but do they fear us, or their own?" Voland remarked. "There is more to it, and I intend to look at the matters – closer."

"Yes, messire", she agreed. "Do you wish me to assume a different role?" she asked, hope easy to spot in her voice.

"Oh, no", Voland smirked. "You play yours too perfect to change it, so I expect you to bear with it until we are done with this… farce. Let us see whether they catch the bait, first", they decided to the girl's dismay. "Is there anything else?"

"No, messire", she replied.

"Then return to me when the scouts are back", they commanded and without waiting for the reply, closed their eyes and tilted their head back, losing themselves again in the thoughts of the day; Natasha curtsied again without a further word and stepped back into the neglected garden.

================================================================

This one is a bit longer; the conclusion of the day will most likely be shorter. From now on, the chapters will differ in length, as it makes more sense to split them thematically than by size.

The schedule remains unchanged - I have three stories on my hands right now and accelerating this one would do it a disservice. Stay tuned for the next update around the end of January 2021 - and I wish you all a Better New Year

 

[Boreas Anemos]

Act I, scene V: The first day at NERV – the evening
Working in the NERV facilities, as mentioned before, had many perks and several drawbacks. Among the latter, there was a risk of suffering a mental breakdown. Of course, it was a risk inherent to any high-stress work and a risk augmented by the fact that in NERV, therapy was something that happened to other people. While physical healthcare was among the best in the world, the mental aspects were often just pushed aside.

But as nature abhors the vacuum – at least in the planetary environment – alternative solutions sprung up. There were, obviously, less effective and burdened with a higher risk of side effects, but they were better than the nothing NERV was insisting on.

The two most common forms of therapy were the simplest: spending time with your fellow sufferers and employing substance abuse.

***​

NERV HQ, meeting room 616, late afternoon

A man in a NERV uniform downed a small glass of liquor with a twitch on his face and let out a heavy sigh. "Do we have any idea on how long this nightmare is supposed to take, Miyoshi-san?" he asked his companion, a woman in her forties, dressed in a work uniform with Sergeant insignia.

"No idea, Aoba-san", the woman in the Cage technician uniform with two bars on it sighed and picked up a dark glass bottle sitting in the middle of the conference room table. All the assembled – a group that included two younger men in technician and support uniforms and a young woman with Corporal insignia as well – pushed their glasses towards her as she unscrewed the cap of the half-emptied bottle. "I heard something about a week at minimum, but one of mine eavesdropped something about two", she added as she carefully poured a small measure of the dark, fruit-and-alcohol-smelling liquid to each of the glasses, screwed the cap back on tight, and raised her glass.

"To good results and quick end of this nightmare", she proposed a toast.

"Cheers!" a reply followed as they drained their glasses. A heavy silence descended on them; the mood was anything but happy. There were no irregularities detected, of course, but having someone look over your shoulder was anything but pleasant.

The young technician cleared his throat. "I also heard that–"

The door to the conference room opened with a subdued swoosh. The assembled NERV employees jumped in their seats, turning their eyes towards the source of the sound, their faces pale.

Voland took a slow, measured look around the room before turning to their assistant. "Natasha Prokofyevna, please take a note: 'The personnel seems to be under serious pressure, leading to highly nervous behavior. There are also indications of the overtime being somewhat excessive'. End note", they dictated in perfect Japanese. The surprised assembly offered only panicked glances in response.

The woman scribbled the words down quickly. "Duly noted, Inspector", she replied in kind.

"W-w-would you join us, inspector? Madame?" one of the younger members of the impromptu assemble offered, eliciting even more panicked glances from all the others.

"Thank you, but I would rather not intrude", Voland politely declined.

"That would not be an intrusion… Inspector", the older woman took over, hesitating just for a moment. "Would you like some rum?"

Voland raised an eyebrow. "Interesting", they noted. "But I'm afraid drinking on duty would be highly inappropriate", they replied with a heavy sigh, paused, glanced at the watch, and turned to Natasha. "Please make a note: the first day of the inspection concluded at 17:58."

"Duly noted, Inspector", Natasha repeated as she made a note, closed the clipboard, and put it in the briefcase.

"Now", Voland suddenly smiled, their tone changing to amicable. "That being arranged, I believe I can take your invitation with pleasure. I assume you don't mind inviting two weary travelers to your table in lieu of the inspector and the assistant?"

"Not at all… Voland-sama?" the woman probed.

"Wonderful", Voland smiled a wide smile that sported a bit too many teeth, disregarding the implied question about the form of address. "Natasha, would you please?" they gestured at the table.

"Of course, messire", the woman smiled, opened the briefcase again, and pulled a bottle labeled in some odd alphabet, followed by an odd-smelling bundle of greased paper. The group was staring at them in unified confusion, bemused by the addition to the table and the sudden change in formality; the fact that the briefcase was clearly too small to be able to contain a bottle of that size without bulging somehow slipped their minds.

"Did you expect me to come for a drink empty-handed?" Voland's smile turned into a mock expression of an insulted face. "I hope you'll enjoy the results of Natasha's culinary… experiments", they gestured at the bundle the woman was unpacking; a number of thumb-sized – if thinner – dark pink rectangles spread on the paper appeared to the confused onlookers. "Please, enjoy; it should mesh well enough with rum, and will be perfect with the cordial", they pointed to the bottle. "From what I know, none of you has any issues with eating pork?" they followed with a question. Confused headshakes followed.

The younger woman suddenly jumped up: "pardon, sir", she ran to the cupboard and hauled two glasses for the new guest; they thanked her with kind smiles. The older woman opened the bottle again; Voland's face twitched in barely contained disgust; Natasha suppressed a chuckle.

"Allow me to take a look at… this", Voland reached for the bottle; Sergeant Miyoshi, confused by the gesture, handed it over without a word. Voland a small whiff, weighed the bottle for a moment in their hand, and handed it back. "Go ahead, Miyoshi-san", they requested.

The woman blinked in confusion – but she was far too experienced to allow even so extremely odd manners of an overseas guest to stop her from being a good host. She poured everyone a small measure and raised her glass. "To our unexpected, yet welcome guests", she smiled at Voland and Natasha – who bowed their heads in response.

As everyone downed their liquor, Natasha – aside from enjoying the taste – observed their reactions. She was quite aware of what her master did – this would not be the first time they played around with the drinks. She only hoped nobody would spill one this time.

All three young employees barely managed to hold their liquor: their eyes bulged as they gasped for breath. Lieutenant Aoba fared somewhat better, but even he had to take a deep breath. Only sergeant Miyoshi seemed mostly unfazed; she pursed her lips and her face assumed a ponderous expression. "Interesting", she started, her voice hoarse. "You seem to have… numerous talents, inspector", she addressed Voland, fixing the newcomer with a curious glare.

"Please, Miyoshi-san, I'm here in a… private capacity", they replied with a smile. "And forgive me, in the heat of the sudden entry, I must have forgotten myself. I am familiar with you, of course, but those of you who had already met me did so only in my official capacity. Here and now, my name is just Voland", they bowed their head, "and this is Natasha", they continued with a gesture towards the woman. "I am pleased to meet you… Miyoshi-san, Aoba-san, Nagai-san, Tsuchida-san, Higashi-san", they addressed each of the assembled people in turn with an emerging smirk.

The sergeant, her eyebrows raised and her face in a perfect 'oh' expression, reached for the bottle again. "Well, after what I have heard about how the day went and just seen here, I can only say that I don't envy anyone who'd run afoul of your sight", she poured everyone a measure of the liquor. "Can I ask you, what truly brings you here?"

"Miyoshi-san", Lt. Aoba hissed in a whisper, a mix of fear and worry on his face. "Please stop!"

"Oh, no, no reason to", Voland's smirk widened, showing some of the pearly-white teeth. "It's refreshing. First things first, though", they reached for the glass. "To a fortunate meeting!" they proposed before downing the glass in one swift move; Natasha and Miyoshi followed the suit. The others, now aware of the high proof of the drink, were more cautious. "Now, to your question… I have reasons to suspect that there are things taking place here that should not happen. NERV has precious little oversight, and this seems to result in… unseemly consequences."

The assembled exchanged glances but reasserted themselves quickly. "Not at all", Aoba objected. "It's a quite good workplace", he stated, several nods following. "Demanding, but quite good."

"Oh, I'm sure", Voland smiled. "Being stress-inducing does not disqualify the workplace. But there is always this subtle issue… how much of your employer's secrets you do not know?"

Glances were exchanged again. Finally, Sergeant Miyoshi spoke up: "NERV works on a need-to-know basis… and this is a perfectly normal thing for us not to know secrets."

"Certainly", Voland agreed. "I understand your viewpoint. But please, do not presume there is no unseemliness only because you do not see it. And, as I just said, I am here to find the issues out and allow some… improvements to be made", they elaborated. "I cannot say how much this will affect you, of course."

"We will manage", the Sergeant smirked and started pouring another round.

In the meantime, other things were being set in motion.

***​

NERV HQ, unused janitorial storage

"Kaji, we have a problem", the Major let out a sigh as she eyed the taller silhouette, barely visible in the darkness of the room.

"On the contrary, mon chéri", he protested in a soft voice. "Meeting a beautiful woman under such secretive circumstances–"

"Cut the crap", Katsuragi interrupted him with a growl. "I stayed sober until now just to meet with you, and I needed that drink eight hours ago, when things started to go south, seven hours ago when I thought I would likely be shot for this fiasco and started seeing flying cats, or perhaps an hour ago, when I fully realized that this guy has been around questioning people and poking this pretty head of his into every nook and cranny of this fucked place", she managed almost without drawing a breath. "So, please", she hissed, "spare me your sweet-talking and listen when I'm telling you we have a problem."

"Fair point, I'm sorry", the man shook his head, any levity gone from his voice in an instant. "But let me tell you that: I think we have an opportunity", he retorted in a confident voice. "To shake Gendo Ikari's chokehold on this facility, if for nothing else. But first, we need to know more. Can you tell me more about those two? Ikari is keeping me away from all potentially inspected areas, lest I say too much… and they're rarely alone."

"I can't tell you much", she replied, her voice annoyed. "There's preciously little information, they gave us about as much as they had to and nothing else. I don't even know where they stay. What's your angle?" she furrowed her brows.

"A small counter-intelligence operation", he smiled in the darkness. "You gave them a tour. Describe them to me, in as many details as you can… and let me try my hand."

"You better not blow something up", the Major warned. "The Commander is already in a foul mood after all the mess that happened on the way."

"The Commander is always in a foul mood", Kaji shrugged. "But don't you worry, I might be a fool, but I'm not stupid", he smiled.

"I dearly hope so", she huffed – and started to recount her experiences with today's visitors.

***​

Tokyo-3, one of the dozens of underground passages

In a dark passage underneath the definitely rowdy part of the city, a young man pulled a permanent marker out of his pocket and drew an imperfect approximation of a stick man on the wall before heading further.

About two hours later, a middle-aged man in a city cleaning service uniform entered the same passage, replaced the thrash bag in a bin with an empty one, raised an eyebrow as he saw the drawing, and sent a quick message from his phone to "Car Mechanic" before returning to the garbage collection truck with the full bag as if nothing had happened.

A few seconds later, an elderly woman in a small apartment frowned as she looked at the display of one of a dozen mobile phones in front of her. Having read the text message, she opened a small notebook and browsed it for a moment before finding a particular row of characters. Then she picked up the landline phone, glanced at a list next to it, and dialed a number written next to a 'T'.

"Tango reporting", a grating male voice on the other side reported.

"Number twenty-six in the mental hospital demands sour candy", the woman stated.

"Fuck", the man reacted, his voice displeased to a degree of exasperation. "Acknowledged", he added with a sigh and disconnected.

The woman wrote today's date and hour in the empty space of the row and decided to make herself some tea. This had been the fourth message from 'the mental hospital' she picked up today – and something was telling her it was not going to be the last.

***​

NERV HQ, unused janitorial storage

"…and this is where I left them and went to write up the report for the Commander and to update my will", Katsuragi finished with a sigh. "Questions?"

"Not so much, but either something really odd is going on, or you're starting to hallucinate", he remarked.

"Thank you, Inspector Obvious", she scoffed. "Tell that to anyone, and I'll never help you again."

"My lips are sealed", he promised.

"Anything else you want to ask?" she prompted. "I'd rather go home now. I've got a date with a hot and tasty dinner."

"Ah. Yes", he smiled sheepishly. "Is your invitation to act as your escort still valid?"

He could see the eyeroll despite the darkness. "Yes, it is. Don't be late."

"Did I ever let you down?" he asked, his voice laden with charm.

In the spirit of maintaining good relations and not murdering anyone tonight, Misato Katsuragi decided not to answer that in any manner.

***​

NERV HQ, meeting room 616

The not-cheap-rum-anymore bottle was already empty and the new, smaller glasses stood in front of the people assembled; Voland reached for the patiently-waiting bottle of clear liquid, thumped at the flat bottom, and pulled the cork out in one smooth motion. Glances were exchanged again – and once more as Voland poured the oily-looking liquid. It was hard not to notice, even at the current level of intoxication, that the glasses became covered in frost the moment they were filled. But this time, nobody was brave enough to ask.

"To your future success in this workplace", Voland raised the glass. "May the NERV be the workplace of dreams", they added.

"I'll definitely drink to that", Aoba replied as he carefully tasted the clear liquor. "Begging you pardon… Inspector–"

"Voland", Voland corrected.

Aoba paused for a moment, shook his head, and decided not to try the address again, asking in an impersonal way. "What is this?"

"One of the finer inventions of my ancestors", Sergeant Miyoshi chimed before Voland could answer. "And, I must say, a damn good one", she added as she downed the glass. "Drink, Aoba-san. It disinfects the soul, something we dearly need nowadays."

"Indeed, Miyoshi-san", Voland smiled a toothy smile. "Made by one of the finest masters of the distilling craft, based on the recipe created by the very Dmitri Ivanovich", they added. "Please", they indicated the still almost-full stack of the odd-looking snacks. "This makes it a bit more palatable for the less experienced."

The assembled, universally intoxicated – if not to the same degree – needed little prompting; the unusual appearance of the food was ignored once they realized it tasted simply great.

"You seem nervous, Tensui-kun", Natasha suddenly spoke up, having observed the boy for a few moments. "What is bothering you?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I–" he blushed momentarily.

"It's the cat", Kitchen Assistant Nagai chimed in with an amused tone as he bit on another piece of the snack.

"It's not the cat!" the technician protested indignantly. "I'm… sorry", he apologized for no particular reason.

"There's nothing to be sorry about", Natasha smiled a smile that made every man in the room suddenly feel way hotter, reminded Sergeant Miyoshi of some excesses of her youth, and made Shibutani quite confused. "We're all here to unwind, right? What is bothering you?"

"I…" the boy tried. "What if you discover something and… and we all, I mean all NERV, gets dissolved, and we're all out?" he managed.

"Oh, there's nothing to worry about, young man", Voland chimed in, their voice a soft alto. "NERV will persevere, UN will make sure of that… it is just too important", a reassurance followed. "Only those that actually have done something wrong, really wrong, have reasons to worry."

"I shot a man today", Shibutani suddenly blurted out, making heads turn.

Natasha focused her green eyes on the woman. "But you are here, not under a watch, not in a cell", she remarked. "Did you really shoot him?"

"I did", she nodded. "He… disappeared."

Voland and Natasha exchanged glances; a watchful observer would have noticed a hint of exasperation in their expressions.

"Shibutani-san… keep it to yourself… for now", Natasha suggested, her expression more serious as she reached and touched the woman's hand, eliciting a poorly-concealed, full-face blush. "Rest assured… you will understand."

"Who are you, people?" Aoba suddenly asked in a clearly drunken voice. "I get your pro-fes-sio-nal part, and I get the tra-dition of drinking after work, even if NERV tries to weed it out. But today… since you came, it's a mess. Did you curse this place as you came?"

"Aoba…", Miyoshi rolled her eyes. "Be serious", she chastised him, even if her voice indicated some worry.

"Oh, by no means", Voland smiled. "I am merely doing everything that is needed to ensure we get to the truth. And for who we are… passing visitors, nothing else, guests in a place that belongs to your ancestors and their gods", they declared cryptically.

The assembled exchanged glances. "I don't think we're drunk enough for this level of philosophy", Sergeant Miyoshi finally shrugged.

"This can be easily amended", Voland declared and reached for the bottle. "Now, if anything else is bothering you…", they smiled a warm, if a bit predatory, smile. "Feel free to share it with me."

***​

A while later the group of five people staggered out the room, one by one, each of them taking care to avoid any attention and doing their best to walk straight until the warm air of the evening and the last rays of the sun greeted them outside the complex.

Despite all the confusion, without regard of the pains of today, uncaring about the strangeness that befell them in the afternoon – each and every one of them felt very light on the soul, immensely relieved – and somehow reassured they met someone who actually cared in this gods-forsaken – and God-forsaken – place.

***​

"Messire?" Natasha's voice, coming from afar, interrupted Voland's recollections. "The scouts return."

"Thank you, Natasha", they whispered and slowly opened their eyes. Looking up, they rested their eyes on the teenage boy in a school uniform and a twenty-something girl wearing just a nurse coat, both approaching him cautiously. "Report", Voland spoke in a soft but commanding alto voice.

***​

The sun was slowly setting over Tokyo-3. Voland was sitting in the chair, their eyes closed, their face tired. The reporting young ones were long gone, and the events of the day were already recounted, weighed, and remembered. But it was not yet time to rest. It was still time to command.

"Natasha", they called just above a whisper.

A nude female form of a blonde girl emerged from behind the nearby tree; her hair was starting to take a copper shine as the sun slowly vanished behind the hills, her skin turning paler every second. "Yes, Master Voland?"

"She does not seem ready", Voland stated, looking at the young witch, quickly disappearing in the sky.

"I believe in her, messire. She is ready, she just doesn't know it yet", the older witch reassured. "But if you say otherwise…" she bowed her head, "Should I take the school over?"

Voland pondered for a moment. "No", they finally decided. "We need reinforcements, not a replacement. Azazello!" their voice suddenly gained strength and depth.

The shape reemerged from the shadow. "You called, messire?" the redheaded man spoke as he bowed.

"You will go assist with the school. I believe another pair of eyes will do well on that front", Voland commanded.

"But… messire… to send an assassin to contend with… schoolchildren?" Azazello's crooked face twisted in disgust. "What about the main task you had for me here?"

"Your main assignment is not yet possible, demon", Voland retorted, their face unchanged. "It will have to wait until I access the necessary information… or Behemoth finds what he is supposed to find. Until then… blend in at the schoolgrounds. This is what you do well, isn't it?"

"By your command, messire", Azazello bowed again, his voice still betraying his displeasure with his new orders. "What is Behemoth actually doing, if I may ask for my curiosity be satisfied? You asked me of his whereabouts, messire… but you seem to know better", he remarked. "As usual, if I may notice", he added with a chuckle.

"Collecting", Voland replied. "And gaslighting", they added with a crooked smirk.

"I see", he acknowledged. "Anyone I should be paying specific attention to, messire, during this… assignment?" Azazello asked, his expression sour.

"The pilots that spend time outside, and those engaged in activities that may slip those two", Voland explained. "I trust your eye will spot things they will miss."

"Yes, messire", the figure bowed again and stepped back into the shadow.

"He seems… unhappy", Natasha remarked.

"It was to be expected", Voland shrugged. "But he will do his duty, and he will do it well."

"As we all do, messire. I didn't see Auset panic, so I assume you haven't told her about the assignment yet?" Natasha inquired.

Voland smirk returned. "Not yet. She'll learn in due time."

Natasha's smile mirrored theirs. "Of course, messire. Is there anything else?"

Voland pondered for a moment, contemplating the last rays of the sun gone behind the hilltops. The evening twilight was finally setting in.

"Actually, yes", they finally replied, finally turning their face towards the fully changed woman; her copper hair framed her pale face, her emerald eyes gleamed with a subtle, yet clearly unholy light. "This was a long day. Put an evening dress on, witch. I wish to try the local cuisine… and dining alone would be tasteless."

Natasha's smile widened. "Yes, messire. With pleasure."

================================================================

And so ends the first day. As this is rather experimental writing on my part, opinions are welcome!

 

[Boreas Anemos]

Act I, scene VI: The days at school
The dialogue in {curly brackets} is in German. I decided to apply the translation convention instead of using German and providing translations as I did in past stories. I hope it works better. For those familiar with German: assume the characters use the T-form (du) here.

The dialogue in [square brackets] indicates a language different than the conventional Japanese and {German}.

================================================================

The morning classroom was not as lively as it would be during the lunch break, but it was far from silent – especially due to the rumors circulating around about the newcomer.

To nobody's surprise, Etsuko Arai – the girl who managed to grab the new boy first – was currently being subjected to an interrogation as brutal as only teenagers are capable of exercising.

"How is he like?"

"Where did you go to?"

"Was he behaving properly?"

"What did you talk about?"

"Is he letting you talk?"

Etsuko did her best to answer the questions, but she had preciously little to say: she admitted that Timmy was very gentlemanly, not too talkative, and very curious about life in school and Tokyo-3 in general – to a degree that made her woefully underinformed about him, because every time she asked a question, he answered politely – and then turned the conversation around to ask his own. She did not mind, enjoying his curiosity – but at the end of the day, she realized she knew preciously little about him.

Some of the girls who were in the dating queue turned ponderous; this sounded like a proper challenge – at that was something at least some of them enjoyed. Their determination was tarnished only by the fact that the subject of their focus was absent. Was he going to come? Did they scare him off? Or maybe his father got recalled suddenly and he–

The door slid open and Timothy Siebel entered, greeting everyone with a soft 'hello' and a warm smile. The gossip of schoolgirls moved to intercept him – but stopped in their tracks the moment the school bell chimed, announcing the start of the first lesson; about ten seconds later, the teacher entered, prompting the Class Representative to invoke her usual greeting routine.

Timmy sat down at his desk, trying his best to hide the small smirk. 'Punctuality is a very important virtue for Japanese people, isn't it?'

***​

'Let's give them something to hang onto during the lunch break… and me something to stop me from falling asleep', Timmy thought after yet another stifled yawn. 'Before I need to be sent to nurse's office to be laughed at by dear Auset.'

He took a closer look at the screen of his laptop. The local operating system was quite similar to those used in the Western computers he was familiar with from his previous life; he opened a console and ran a few commands, confirming his suspicions. 'Must be one of those not-so-open exports… or maybe an unofficial cooperation', he concluded before filing this thought for a later check. 'Just makes things easier…'

One MMC discreetly inserted into his laptop, a few dozen keystrokes, and a few moments later, he started to notice some signs of distress among the students – but not anything resembling the disruption he was hoping for. 'Let me guess, one of those… cultural things? None will disrupt the class? I guess I have to be more overt than that… Damn it, it's not my style–'

"Teacher?" he suddenly heard a voice and saw a raised hand; his salvation came from the unanticipated, but logical direction: the only person who was not afraid to cause disruption.

"Yes, Soryu-san?" the teacher stopped narrating to her 'How to Use a Text Editor' presentation and turned her surprised gaze towards the girl. "Is something unclear?"

"My laptop's gone crazy and I can't do a single thing you're talking about", Asuka explained. Several mumbles followed her, confirming discreetly – and with relief – that this was a more widespread issue.

The teacher approached the redhead, doubt in her eyes – and quickly realized the girl was telling the truth; the laptop was working, but it was incredibly slow – and the task list sent from the teacher's computer was displayed in some illegible font. The teacher frowned. "I am going to call the support", she decided after a few seconds. "Until then, open your handbooks–"

"Ma'am?" Timmy chimed in, trying his best to contain his smirk. "Maybe I can help?"

The woman narrowed her eyes at him. "You're the newcomer, correct? Siebel-kun?" she recalled a name.

"Yes, ma'am, Timothy Siebel", he confirmed. "I have some experience with computers. If you would let me try to take a look at your terminal?"

"Why mine?" her frown returned.

"Well, it seems that the list broke, and it is provided from your computer, correct?" he replied. "It makes sense that it is the prime suspect", he reasoned.

"Hm", her frown deepened; Timmy started to wonder whether that woman had any other expressions. "But be careful not to break anything else", she stipulated.

"Don't worry, ma'am, I know what I'm doing", he flashed the teacher a smile and went over to her desk, tracked by about every pair of eyes in the room – with a remarkable exception of Rei Ayanami, who was – as it was in her habit – just staring out of the window at the blue sky.

'Okay, she's going to be a tougher nut to crack… I'll have to find some other hook. Fortunately, it's unlikely that the boss gives her case to me…' he mused as he approached the desk, sensing the teacher following him closely. 'Don't trust me, ma'am, do you?' he smirked. 'And you're right not to, but this time, this time I really intend to fix it.'

He leaned over the screen and requested the list of processes. It was very easy to find the one his little script introduced. He had to pretend he was not aware of the reason – and at the same time, doing his best to fix the problem. Fortunately for him, despite this being the class closest to Computer Science they had so far, the teacher was at best at an average user level.

About three minutes later and another MMC with a small backdoor-installing script discreetly inserted, activated, and removed, he let out a semi-convincing 'ha!' – and 'identified' the offending process. A quick kill command removed it. "Soryu-san, is the problem gone?" he requested a check.

The redhead shook off her absentmindedness and turned her annoyed glare at the screen. "Yeah, it's gone. Nice", she remarked with a shadow of appreciation passing through her face – a shadow quickly replaced by her usual disdain.

"Kasai-san?" he turned to one of the girls he was supposed to date in the incoming days. "Can you confirm?"

"Yes!" the diminutive girl exclaimed. "Everything is fine!"

"The floor is yours, ma'am", the boy bowed and stepped away from the desk. "The process feeding the list was doubled and scrambled the output as a result", he explained helpfully, if completely falsely; the teacher's nodding reaction told him that he did not need to worry about his backdoor being detected, at least not by her. "Should not happen again anytime soon."

"Thank you… Siebel-kun", the teacher frowned again. "Return to your desk, we will resume."

"Yes, ma'am", he smiled and complied – once more tracked by almost all the eyes in the classroom.

'Ah, the sweet attention', he mused as he basked in the appreciative gazes.

***​

As the lunch break began, he found himself once more lacking nothing, be it company, attention – or bentos. 'Wise of me that I didn't buy anything. Joke's on them, though, I can eat a lot…' he chuckled to himself. 'And there's no boy in the class I should be mean to at the moment', he concluded as he smiled to all his benefactors – and carefully chose the box that came from Yorika Ueda, a girl he was supposed to date today, the second would be from Etsuko Arai – and the third from Momoko Matsubara, the girl he would see tomorrow. 'Careful with favorites and playing', he reminded himself. 'You're working here. But there's no reason not to gather some more information before moving to the targets proper, is there?'

***​

There were several things a demon could dislike. Holy symbols were often such a thing – if the demon in question was so psychologically inclined. Bad weather, if they paid too much attention to the sensation of their corporeal form. Being corporeal, for that matter, was on that list as well.

But Azazello did not care for any of those, quite the opposite in some of the cases. His service in Voland's retinue was often nothing but pleasure; he enjoyed being embodied, the various sensations – even the ones humans considered unpleasant – were a source of variety for him. As for the holy symbols, he did not care about them; he was older than most of those still in use, he saw the power of many grow and fade across the centuries, so he could easily assume that none of the current ones would last – so why should he accept their power over him?

And yet, he was not free of dislikes and hatreds; he particularly hated one thing that was in abundance in the place he was sent to assist at – the noise of the people. And young people, or as they were called in this age, 'adolescents' or 'teenagers', were only a little bit less loud than small children.

'Master sends me to assassinate those screamers far too rarely', he mused with annoyance that grew with every moment he had to spend in the crowd. 'I know that the elders are usually more important targets, more challenging enemies, and those… brats…' he looked with disgust at a mischief of schoolboys loudly bragging about some idiotic activity. 'Those brats are "low priority, low risk" targets left to apprentices…' he let out an inarticulate growl; to his satisfaction, the boys looked at him with worry and moved behind the corner to continue. 'As if the Master really needed me here, the witch and the charmer are doing just fine…'

He crossed the courtyard and entered the school building via a service entrance. His presence here felt completely pointless – the students were cleaning the place by themselves, and all he had to do according to the person that introduced him to his duties – in replacement of the regular janitor that inexplicably fell ill – was to 'maintain the infrastructure'. So here he was, on the lookout for any infrastructure in need of maintaining – and trying his best to avoid the louder groups of students.

'Maybe I can take a few of those brats off this world, I'm sure it would make this place quieter…' he mused as another exclamation from some excited schoolgirl bit into his ears. 'But no, Master's will comes first, and we can't have this operation messed up', he concluded with a heavy sigh as he decided to check whether the school did not have some kind of a fortified shelter; such a place was likely to have some sort of soundproofing, even if it was going to be coincidental.

***​

The ambush Timmy spotted at the gate yesterday was there now, too. He let out a sigh – and took a step back to melt into shadows – only to notice a familiar face on a man crossing the courtyard; he usually avoided this particular demon, be it home or on operations, but he knew that weird fang, that balding head, and that cataracted eye all too well.

'Doesn't boss believe in us?' he mused, his pride hurt. 'We just started, and they send someone to watch our moves?' he pondered as he took a step back into the bushes, not letting himself be seen by the faux maintenance guy. 'On the other hand, maybe he's just another vector… like, three pilots to watch, three pair of eyes… even if one of those eyes is somewhat broken?' he chuckled to himself. 'I have to ask someone… I guess Natasha would know', he decided and refocused on the matters of today. 'Yoriko-chan, here I come', he smiled to himself and took a step in the darker shadow behind the tree.

The ambush failed once more, increasing the despair of the three shy girls with a not-so-impeccable plan.

***​

Next morning

"Hello, Ikari-kun", Timmy approached the boy after surviving the first wave of attention and deflecting it towards the clearly happy Yorika Ueda, his yesterday date.

"Hi", Shinji replied, his voice subdued. "I…" he tried before falling silent. "Never mind."

"Don't worry, I don't want anything from you", the newcomer reassured him. "You seemed… sad, though."

"I'm sorry", Shinji apologized, as was his habit. Timmy eyed him carefully, clearly waiting for a follow-up – but receiving none.

"If you want to talk, just say so", he added in a soft tone.

"Thanks, but… I always worked it out alone", Shinji replied.

'Damn it', Timmy remarked to himself. 'I always was better with girls. Maybe Auset will have more luck with him.'

***​

Two classes later

"Get him on the bed, Auset!" Chisaki Toiguchi, the school nurse commanded as she eyed the boy that shuffled into the room, resting his arm on the shoulders of another. "What happened?" she asked as the intern nurse guided both newcomers; she had her suspicion, considering both boys were wearing P.E. uniforms, but getting details could be important, especially that the boy did not have any visible injury.

"I was inattentive", the boy responded meekly as he sat on the narrow bed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry", Chisaki's response was almost automatic. "We'll take care of you. What's your name?"

"Ikari. Ikari Shinji", the boy replied, his voice still low and pained.

Auset ears perked up immediately. 'Oh. Lucky me', she remarked to herself, trying her best to contain her enthusiasm on the chance to observe the boy. She retrieved the notepad and waited for further commands.

"What happened?" Chisaki kept inquiring in the meantime.

"Nothing. I didn't dodge", the boy shrugged and winced as the movement clearly caused him some pain.

"Bullshit", the taller boy chimed in, his voice indignant. This one she remembered all too well – Touji Suzuhara, a regular in her office, a good athlete, and a boy with incorrigible rushing hands. The kind she reserved the extra thick needles in case of injections and the kind that made her regret that corporal punishments were discontinued; on the other hand, knowing him, he would likely enjoy receiving it from her.

She shook this line of thinking off. "So, what happened, Suzuhara-kun?"

The boy visibly beamed at being recognized before composing himself and reporting. "The damned newcomer kicked the ball directly into Ikari's chest", he grumbled. "An inch more and it would've been his face. Bloody American."

"He's German", Ikari boy remarked. "And it was not his fault."

"That's for the teacher to decide", Chisaki declared. "Please remove your shirt, I must listen to your breathing", she requested. "And you can go", she addressed the taller boy.

"But I should bring him back?" he tried to protest.

"Either he's fine in a few moments and can walk by himself, or he's staying here for the rest of the class – or of the day", Chisaki explained. "Either way, it is no reason for you to skip class. Thank you for bringing him. Now, please leave."

"Yes, Toiguchi-sensei", the boy sulked, shot Auset something that was likely supposed to be a flirty look, patted Ikari on the back – and left.

"Now", Chisaki turned her attention to the boy. "Breathe deep", she commanded as she put the stethoscope to his chest. The bruising was fresh and not too heavy, but it was clear that the ball hit rather hard. The redness of the ears was another of the boy's symptoms to disregard; Chisaki was used to boys reacting to her like that. She did not realize that the reaction was actually the result of a sweet smile, cast at the boy behind the nurse's back by her young charge. "Okay, your breathing seems fine…" she paused. "No sign of arrhythmia, either", she concluded and gestured to Auset to make notes. "I need to check your ribs, though, so would you please lie down?"

"Yes, ma'am", the boy nodded and followed her directions.

"Toiguchi-sama, can I do the check?" Auset chimed in. "I could use the practice."

Chisaki's brow furrowed. The girl had a point, but… "All right, but you understand I will double-check your diagnosis?"

"Of course, Toiguchi-sama", the girl chirped.

"Go ahead, then", Chisaki gestured.

Auset put the notepad away and approached the patient. "Don't worry, Ikari-kun, I will be gentle", she reassured him as she rubbed her palms together. "Ready?"

The boy nodded – and stifled a gasp as the warm hands touched his side. His blush turned incandescent.

"Did I hurt you, Ikari-kun?" Auset asked, her voice clearly worried.

"No, no, I'm fine, I just got surprised", he rattled out, trying his best to control himself.

***​

Shinji Ikari was not exactly a stranger to a woman's touch. After all, he was a subject to medical examinations in the past; he also suffered the unfortunate incident with Rei Ayanami a while ago. But there was touch and there was touch – and while the young nurse's ministrations were nothing but professional, there was something in her warm hands and her caring expression that turned his skin to fire under her touch – and his brain to mush.

"Ikari-kun?"

"Y-yes?" he did his best to regain his focus.

"I asked you whether it hurts here", the young nurse – nurse's apprentice? – asked.

"Yes!" he blurted out. "I mean, no, it doesn't", he corrected himself.

"Ikari-kun? Please be honest", she requested, her voice sounding like a long-forgotten, sweet melody from his childhood.

"It doesn't, I'm fine", he replied truthfully, his voice a bit hazy. His heart was racing and his breathing was rapid, but this had nothing to do with the accident. "It's just a bit tender, nothing more."

"All right", the girl nodded. "And here?"

***​

Chisaki watched the scene from two steps away, her will focused on not facepalming. Either the girl was unbelievably innocent and unaware of her influence – or she was consciously and actively torturing the boy. The former seemed more probable, though, considering her caring expression and the accompanying soft smile, not to mention her behavior towards Chisaki herself. She decided not to intervene – but she knew she definitely had to share a word with her afterward.

***​

Auset, of course, was perfectly aware of what she was doing – and of the fact that the current situation spiraled a little bit out of control. She was also worried that this situation was starting to skirt the issue of consent: technically, she was doing nothing wrong, just performing her medical duties – but she knew this was a bit off. Embarrassing – or at least mildly confusing – the boy was definitely necessary for him to lower his defenses so she could sink her probes in – but it worked better than she thought it would.

She could not read his mind – this was hardly her specialty, and pretty much beyond her skill – but it was also not necessary. His soul screamed at her to a degree it was difficult to focus on the physical part of the examination. All the emotions and feelings: wistful loneliness that could easily make her cry, boiling carnal desired typical for a teenager, resignation to his situation that was slowly turning into apathy, sad awareness of his own inexperience in human relations that he saw no way of improving on – and the powerful, blinding dichotomy of the constant fear of rejection starkly contrasted by the sheer need to be just close to someone…

"[Enough, you showed me enough!]" she blurted out in a language nobody else in the room could understand as those final emotions proven to be too much to take in; it took her a few seconds to realize that both pair of eyes stare at her in confusion. "I'm sorry, Toiguichi-sama, Ikari-kun, I thought I hurt you. There seems to be something wrong here?" she indicated a spot near the solar plexus.

"Yes, the bruise", the older nurse confirmed, her eyebrow raised. "Please step aside, I will examine him myself."

Auset took a step back, her ears red. This was a mistake; she was lucky she had the habit of reverting to her native language in moments of stress: saying this in Japanese would have been not just embarrassing; it was more likely to be dangerous.

***​

Chisaki Toiguchi completed the examination far quicker; under her hands, Shinji seemed to be less tense, even if his blush did not diminish at all.

"There seems to be no serious damage", she concluded. "What you likely detected, Auset, was just the minor swelling, normal in such an injury", she explained before turning to the boy. "I'll keep you here for the rest of the PE class, and then you're free to go."

"Thank you, Toiguchi-sensei", he nodded. "Can I dress?"

"Yes, please. Lie down for a while when you're done, though, and please stay put", she requested. "And you, please come with me", she addressed Auset.

"Yes, Toiguichi-sama", Auset confirmed in a small voice, her lips thin.

***​

"What was that, Auset?" Chisaka asked in a low voice the moment they were behind the door of the medical storage room.

"I'm sorry, Toiguichi-sama", Auset dropped her eyes. "I thought I hurt him and… I panicked."

Chisaka took a deep breath. She was somewhat angry at her: she seemed to have panicked doing a simple examination and could very well spook the patient – but the girl was also clearly penitent and remorseful. She shook her head. "Be careful next time, please. I can't have you yell at patients, remember that, we are to be helpful here. What was that language, anyway?" she asked, trying not to sound too curious.

"Masri, Toiguichi-sama", the girl replied. "A form of Arabic", she explained.

"I thought you were Egyptian?" the older nurse blinked in confusion.

The girl up with confusion for a moment, her gaze still averted. "It's a complicated and contentious matter sometimes, but Egypt has been Arabic for a while, Toiguichi-sama. We have been speaking the language for over a thousand years now", she explained. "We don't use hieroglyphs anymore, too", she quipped, carefully testing the waters, aware that her charm should be slowly taking hold on the older woman again.

"Of course", Chisaka shook her head. "I get it. Now, please promise me you'll control yourself better next time?" she made the strongest demand she could force herself to make at the girl.

"Yes, Toiguichi-sama", the girl finally looked her in the eye, her gaze cheerful. "I will do my best", she added her soft smile to that equation – and the rest of Chisaka's anger evaporated, replaced by the thought of 'I need to call my boyfriend today as well' and a growing awareness of how close she was standing to her young charge. It was starting to get dangerously warm in the room.

"All right. Let's check on the boy, then", she ordered. 'Before I say or do something stupid…'

***​

Later that afternoon

"{Hello, Timmy}", the redhead's voice speaking in very proper German caught him as he was about to leave the school building on the way to his next date. "{Got a minute?}"

"{Sure}", he nodded, replying in kind. "{How can I serve the fair lady?}" he smiled.

"{Cut the crap, Casanova}", she demanded, but not without a smile. "{I know you're in a hurry for another date, so I'll make it snappy: keep off Ikari's back for now, okay?}"

"Soryu-san?" he tilted his head, surprise in his voice.

"{You can call me Asuka when we're talking the language of normal people. It's a welcome change, I'm going nuts over this 'whom to address by the last name and who is a friend enough to use the first name'. I miss calling the cooler teachers by their firsts}", she let out a sigh before narrowing her eyes at him and regaining a more serious tone of her voice. "{I saw you talking to him. The fact I'm not fawning over you doesn't mean I'm blind to the wind you're sowing here. Listen: I don't care if you want to date him or take him to arcades or maybe just talk – but take my advice: leave him for a few days}", she requested in a calm and certain voice. "{He's got a rather somber day ahead of him, and you don't want to mess with that.}"

"{Since when you're so protective of him?}" Timmy raised an eyebrow, his tone – and his smirk – mocking.

"{And since when you're not fond of having both of your balls?}" she retorted, her voice calm in a way Timmy sometimes heard from the witches when one of them was particularly annoyed.

"{Okay, I get your point}", he chuckled. There was no reason to escalate the conflict, not yet. "{Thanks for the info. When can I talk to him safely?}"

"{Next week should be fine}", Asuka replied. "{And if a single word of our lovely conversation reaches him…}"

"{You'll rip my balls off and use them for fishing?}" Timmy finished for her with an amused expression.

"{Something like that. Or maybe I'll slip a word or two about why your father had to move here, far from some other country, and it would be about you}", she supplemented while studying her own nails. "{Same happens if you ever hurt him again. I'll just call what happened today on the field an accident… and a line you should not cross. Got it?}"

"{I don't like this level of threats, Asuka. Jokes about balls are fine, but I don't like… this}", he narrowed his eyes, his smile suddenly gone, his voice turning cold. "{And I don't like your attitude.}"

"{And I don't like misunderstandings}", she retorted, refocusing her cold, blue eyes on him. "{I don't care about the streak of broken hearts you leave behind, they're asking for it by throwing themselves on you – but be careful whose you break. Questions?}"

"{I don't think we're going to be friends}", he remarked, his voice displeased.

"{Oh, I'm crying, darling}", she retorted, her voice an open mockery. "{I don't need any more friends}", she declared, her voice sharp and serious again. "{And I know people like you. I know your kind likes to have your boundaries clear… or at least ticks better when they are clear. So I set them for you, to save you the effort. Know my grace. So, any questions?}"

"{None, Asuka. Have a nice day}", he replied with a smirk.

"{Oh, I will}", she smiled a crooked smile at him. "{Bye!}"

His eyes followed the silhouette of the redhead as she joined two other girls on the way out.

'People like me… I wonder how you know so much about them, Asuka?' he smirked. 'Boss will want to hear about that, they're going to love this. But first, Momoko-chan needs some attention… but first, one more thing' he decided as he took a step back – and walked from behind a tree a few dozen streets away.

***​

"Good afternoon, Ayanami", Timmy addressed the blue-haired girl as she walked into a side alley.

"Why are you following me, Siebel-kun?" the girl asked without any surprise in her eyes.

"I'm not following you, I was here first", he retorted.

"This is irrelevant", she countered. "There is no reason for you to be here except your interest in me. Why is that?"

The boy's eyebrows rose. "I could be sightseeing."

"You're not interested in places. Judging from your choice of date venues, you know the city already. You are interested in people. I am the only other person here. Therefore, it is logical to assume that you are here because you are interested in me", Rei explained her reasoning.

Timmy blinked in surprise. This was the longest statement he heard Rei Ayanami speak since he met her. To his slight horror, she was also quite right in her assessment.

"Is it wrong of me to follow you?" he changed his approach, his voice inquisitive.

"It is not", she replied, her expression still unchanged. "But it is unusual and if it continues, I will be bound to report it to NERV."

"Why?" Timmy tilted his head.

"It is the procedure", she explained. He waited for her to continue – but she just kept looking at him, unmoving, her blinking and breathing being the only indicators that he is not facing a wax figure.

"And what if I do it because I'm curious of you? Is this unusual?" he finally asked.

"Yes", she replied. Once more, she did not follow up on her reply despite his waiting.

"I'm sorry to have disturbed you, then", he bowed.

"You did not", she replied. "There is no need for an apology. Were you asked to follow me?" she suddenly asked.

Timmy's face expressed his surprise immediately. "No", he shook his head; he was telling the truth, of course, stretched as it was: he was asked to gather information about her, but him following her was entirely out of his own initiative. "I am… curious. I mean, you don't behave like other girls in the class."

"I know", she replied. He could swear there was a note of sadness in that statement, but reading the girl's reaction was nigh impossible, even with his sense of empathy. Most girls were like open books for him, most boys were like books with somewhat faded print. Reading Rei Ayanami was like trying to read a book that was waterlogged for a decade, dried, and then left out in the sun for another ten years – or, to use more modern parlance, printed using almost empty ink cartridge on an off-white paper. But there was something there, something he could–

"You are going to be late for your date if we keep talking", her words interrupted his reverie. "It is considered rude to be late."

"I think I should be fine", he smiled. "I can talk to you for a few more minutes and still be on time."

"Your date is in twenty-five minutes at Odama Café", she stated. "It is about ten minutes' walk from the school. We are twenty minutes from the school, but in a nearly opposite direction. If you start running now, you are likely not to be late."

"I'll take a bus", he waved his hand, trying his best to conceal his small bout of panic and a wave of irritation washing over him. He did not anticipate the basic problem – while he was watching, he was also being watched. 'Damn. She's not as absent-minded as I thought…'

"There is no direct connection that would make this advantageous. The bus lines are sparse in this part of the city", she stated, her voice impassionate. "This is why I walk. You are being dishonest with me, Siebel-kun. Why?"

'Fuck', he clenched his jaw. 'Time for the sincere apology maneuver', he realized. "I'm sorry", he bowed his head. "You're right. I am curious about you, and I was afraid you would not want to talk with me in school. So I wanted to talk to you alone. I made sure I will not be late", he reassured her. "But if I'm making you uncomfortable, please accept my apology."

"There is no need to apologize, Siebel-kun", Rei repeated. "But I see no reason for you to be curious about me. I'm not someone you could date", she stated matter-of-factly; once more, he could swear there was sadness in her words, but washed down so much that it was perceptible only against the otherwise emotionless tone. "I will be on my way. Please do not follow me any further", she started to turn away.

"Of course, Ayanami-san", he agreed. "Will you answer me one more – well, two more questions – first?"

"Yes. What are they?" she stopped.

"You act very differently from other girls. Are you happy with the results of that behavior?" he asked.

Rei tilted her head, her expression suggesting mild confusion. "I don't know. Does it matter?"

'Damn it, it's like talking to one of the older demons. I could very well be speaking Greek to her and it would make very little difference…' he mused as he managed to subdue his own expression of confusion. He shook that thought off; there was going to be enough time to muse over that later. "Of course it does. This is why I'm asking", he smiled. "Thank you for your answer, Ayanami-san. I will see you in school."

"You said 'two questions'", she remarked.

"Ah. Yes", he chuckled. "That was for the case if you'd say 'you already did'… never mind. I have nothing more to ask of you, well, not right now. Thank you for your time."

"Goodbye", she replied and turned away.

Timmy let out a sigh as he watched her walk past him and disappear behind the corner.

'Boss won't be happy… but at least I learned something. Let's focus on asking about them, now. Lucky for me, the other girls are quite talkative if you are willing to listen', he concluded as he stepped into the shadows.

***​

It was already dark when the boy emerged from the shadows cast by the ruined elements of the terrace; mere seconds after his arrival, a young woman in a nurse overcoat flew in, landed gracefully, and dismounted a plastic broom that looked like it was borrowed from the school storage.

Voland, clad in robes darker than the surrounding night, their face lit only by the lights of the city below, gave each of the two a long glance in turn.

"Report."

================================================================

And so, the school drama continues. The March update will, once more, take a closer look at NERV.

 

[Boreas Anemos]

Act I, scene VII: The day the NERV tried to work
A minor warning is due: this chapter contains some mild body horror on the level consistent with Evangelion canon; in other words, if you had no issues with seeing the early stages of the Eva project presented in the later episodes of the series, you should have no problem with this chapter.

The dialogue in [square brackets] indicates a language different than the conventional Japanese and {German}.

================================================================

The sun was rising over Tokyo-3; the people assembled on the terrace over the city were preparing implement their plans for the day.

Voland, satisfied with the adjustments they just made to their suit, eyed Natasha who was whispering something to the young Auset – and smiled as the girl nodded and flew off on her broom, turning barely visible the moment she left the place. They turned their attention to the black cat sitting on the crumbling terrace overlooking the city. "Your plans for today, cat?"

"Intelligence gathering, messire, intelligence gathering and maybe some mayhem", Behemoth replied with seriousness in his voice. "And final touches on what the boy requested for his magic."

"Will you require assistance?" Voland asked. "Azazello's presence at the school is hardly critical."

"No need to, messire, no need at all", Behemoth shook his head. "Those… computers seem to have taken a liking for me. I believe we can let him enjoy his time with schoolchildren, he has so few joys nowadays", he smirked.

"Fair point", Voland smiled a crooked smile. "Good hunting, then."

"Thank you, messire", the cat smiled and jumped off the terrace, disappearing in the shadows below.

"Ready, witch?" Voland turned to Natasha.

"Yes, messire", the dressed-for-murder assistant nodded as she approached, her briefcase in hand. "The list is short but should provide us with more than enough work for today – and tomorrow, most likely."

"Good. Let's go, then", their smile widened as they presented their arm, Natasha took it – and they took a step together to materialize in a back alley few dozen meters from the main entrance to Geofront.

***​

The young Tensui Mochizuki was not having the time of his life; his superior and teacher recognized the symptoms of the hangover immediately, and while he said no word about the boy's state, Tensui could swear his voice immediately grew louder. His ribbing about the "elusive beast" did not help.

"Boss, please!" the boy finally pleaded. "You saw this cat as much as I did, it was real, and it simply ran away!"

"Oh, yes", the old man nodded. "If I were in your place, I would start looking for work somewhere in Okinawa, or perhaps beyond the seas, though", he continued with a crooked smile. "Hand me the twenty, will you?"

"Oh come on, boss, you can't just fire me over a cat chase!" the boy protested as he dug through the toolbox.

"Fire you?" the man raised his eyebrows. "Surely not", he shrugged as he accepted the fuse the boy found, checked its markings, and placed it in the panel. "That should do it, check if the shaft is clear", he commanded before continuing. "Well, I'm not saying you must look for work elsewhere", he mused as he watched his apprentice go through the routine check with proper diligence. "But here, you will always be Mochizuki the Cat-Chaser!" he smiled a crooked smile.

The boy rolled his eyes, clearly trying not to say anything; he wanted to finish this apprenticeship with some chance of employment. A few moments later, he pulled out of the shaft. "All clear for re-powering", he stated.

"No cats?" the old man goaded with a grin.

"No cats… boss", he replied, his anger rising.

"And nothing you wish to chase out?"

"Nothing… Hirakawa the Mouse", the boy finally hissed out, his voice more venomous than he ever thought he would dare to use towards his superior.

Tensui always thought that death glare was just an expression – but right now, he was suddenly pondering whether it would be safer to remain in the presence of his boss – or to go back into that shaft the man just powered up.

***​

Behemoth passed the man and the boy without incident, refusing to be seen by either of them. He merely spared a smile at the boy's defiance; he did not know how this would end, but in his books, this was a win, one of those small seeds that can later grow into something greater. Of course, there was always a risk someone would choke on such a seed – but this was a risk Behemoth was willing to take as he discreetly goaded people towards independence, self-expression – or simple contrariness.

Ignoring the yelling coming from an increasing distance, he approached one of the small terminals that fit the general description Timmy gave him, stood on his hind feet to reach it – and started poking around the interface.

***​

Many "true employees" of NERV were quick to dismiss the work of the auxiliary personnel as easy and hardly stressful. They could have some point when it came to the work of pilots or field operatives tasked with cleaning up after the battles – but only someone who never worked in a professional kitchen would describe that as "hardly stressful".

Souchi Nagai was currently in the middle of a rather heavy dispute between the Chief Intendant Uenohara and the manager of Catering Station Gimel and his indirect superior, Sonoda; a dispute he should have no part in but was listening to with increasing fear that he will be called to take sides in. After all, he could hardly oppose his superior – but contradicting the person responsible for supplies was suicidal, too. So, he did his best to do his work – and remain unnoticed.

"The request is clear", the intendant waved the paper in her hand. "Two kilograms of tuna fish, fresh, to be delivered this afternoon, around 16:00 to this very catering station, an order placed yesterday, 22:21!"

Souchi let out a breath of relief. That hour was long past his shift; actually, at that hour he was already out of the building. Still, he kept listening in. The order indeed made no sense – and he was curious.

"Wonderful, Chief", the manager scoffed back. "First, the order is automated, so would you please stop yelling at me and start yelling at our intelligent fridge. Second, what's the actual problem? There's an order, so fulfill it, invoice us, and let me worry what to do with it!"

"You don't place this kind of order with less than twenty-four-hour delivery! Not if you don't have tuna in your feeding plan!" came the angry reply. "We're not your delivery boys to be running on the snap of your fingers!"

Souchi stifled a chuckle. He knew well what opinion the manager had of the intendant and her quality of deliveries.

"Well, technically, you are", the manager shrugged with disdain. "We order, you deliver. But!" he raised his finger, seeing the intendant opening her mouth, her expression indignant. "I said it before, and I'll say it again: the order came from the fridge. I have no idea why, but this is not my problem", he insisted. "I raised a damned ticket on the bloody NERVmine. I was told they're going to debug it remotely, whatever that means. So, if you're unhappy with the delivery requests, take that laptop of yours out and raise your ticket so they double the default delivery time, or something. Is there anything else, Intendant, or can I get back to work?"

"I don't like your attitude, Sonoda", the intendant growled, her eyes narrowing. "Be careful not to end up on the bottom of the delivery list by accident."

"You mean below the bottom, right?!" the manager retorted. "I can't believe you can get much worse than you're already treating us!"

Souchi let out a heavy sigh. Perhaps chopping vegetables did not require all the attention, but not having people screaming a meter away from him would be a significant improvement to his working conditions. The noise of the kitchen he could handle, it was even a welcome background for his work. Yelling… not so much.

As he tried to focus on his work, he noticed another order pop out on the printer. He narrowed his eyes at the note.

ORDER Gimel-theta-0106

Order: 0.5kg fresh tuna, finely chopped along the length, add a sprinkle of lemon

Order notes: no deviations, no other additions, use bowl not plate

Delivery: level Samekh-2, junction Mu-22; no earlier than 1620, no later than 1640

Delivery notes: open vent Mu-22-05 (vent cover is loose, use force if necessary), place bowl inside, knock at the wall, close vent, leave

Bill code: ZOROASTER

Souchi had to read the scrap of paper three times to make sure he was getting it all right. Strange orders were not unheard of; some people were on really odd diets, some had really weird tastes, many worked unusual hours, and sometimes in really odd places. But this order clearly stood out.

He had several choices; the most obvious one was simply taking it and fulfilling it, while the more logical, especially in the light of the apparently malfunctioning request system, was to ask his direct superior – and failing that, the manager – about it. A quick look around the kitchen told him the latter was a bad idea – the cook was swamped with work, and the manager–

"–and if you kindly go somewhere where you'd fail to find your way back home from, that would be most appreciated!"

"You ungrateful–"

–seemed to be too busy to be bothered.

Souchi took a deep breath, took the note, and stuck it to the Scheduled Orders board in his column. Odd as it was, it was simple and just fulfilling it felt far safer.

***​

A few hundred meters further, in one of the corridors, a black cat was looking at a wall-based computer terminal. With a heavy sigh and displeased realization that it was simply too high to reach, he shook his head, took a look meant to ensure he was out of sight of any of the security cameras – and rose to his hind feet.

A few seconds later, there was no trace of the cat – just a young man in very inconspicuous clothes of a salaryman, his only odd quality being whiskers on a rather cat-like face. He approached the console and started to laboriously enter simple commands as he recalled instructions given to him by a certain boy.

"Why can't we just bribe someone and then blackmail them for information is beyond me", he sighed as he committed the information he gleaned from the screen to memory. "This modern world is annoying… not without its advantages and beauties, yes, but still, there must be something easier than 'tell me in detail what I will be working with and I will prepare the…'" he tried to recall how Timmy called his spells. He shook his head, unable to remember the weird words the boy used. "Oh well, at least once I'm done with this, I can go back to normal methods…" he comforted himself as he entered the next series of commands and read from the screen once more.

A few minutes later he entered a final, clearing command and went back into the blind zone. Moments later, there was once more just a black cat – but this time, with an obvious expression of relief on his face. 'Done. Time for the fun part', he decided as he sniffed the air and started following a scent he was presented with yesterday.

***​

The fluorescent lamps of the NERV conference rooms were chosen to be both energy-efficient and as friendly to human eyes as possible. Unfortunately, after several hours spent under them – and unrelenting questioning of the weird inspector and even weirder assistant, Doctor Ritsuko Akagi was starting to have thoughts about smashing them and living her life as a hermit in a dark cave. The only thing that was stopping her from doing so – aside from her professionalism – was Maya's unrelenting assistance and surprisingly soothing voice.

'I don't deserve her dedication, I certainly don't deserve her care, and I most definitely don't deserve her devotion', Ritsuko reminded herself. 'But without any of those, I'd be long gone and enjoying psychiatric care and medical attention in some nice white room without doorknobs. But instead, I'm enjoying unrelenting attention and a persistent interrogation from someone who surely has angelic looks, but might be as well from the opposite political option…' she mused as she listened to Lieutenant Ibuki's explaining some details regarding Operation Yashima.

"Thank you, Lieutenant, that was enlightening", Voland nodded. "I am just not clear why was the Plug of Unit-00 opened by Pilot Ikari, instead of qualified rescue personnel?"

"He was the first on-site, after he retrieved the Entry Plug", Lieutenant Ibuki explained. "Without his actions, Pilot Ayanami would be exposed to high-temperature LCL for far longer."

"I see", Voland furrowed their brows. "Unprofessional, but understandable."

"There's nothing unprofessional in aiding your fellow Pilot, inspector", Doctor Akagi suddenly burst out, throwing the pen she was mindlessly playing with to the table. "The boy acted without violating any regulations, and his judgment of the situation was correct", she added in a raised voice. "As Lieutenant said, we determined later that his actions mitigated already significant damage to Pilot Ayanami. Really, there is nothing to be questioning here!" she finished, giving the inspector an angry look.

"I see", Voland scanned the angry face of Doctor Akagi carefully and Natasha took a few notes on her own; as everybody was focused on the doctor, nobody noticed that she was actually observing Maya Ibuki. "This is understandable, thank you. Natasha Prokofyevna, how long until the Major arrives?"

"She should be here in less than twenty minutes", the assistant replied.

"I see", Voland nodded. "If you don't mind, Doctor, I would like to make a fifteen minutes break before we go over the next item on the agenda.

"Of course", Doctor Akagi nodded, her lips a thin line. "If you need anything, please ask the support staff, there is one outside. I'll be back then. Lieutenant, with me."

"Yes, sempai", the young woman nodded and picked up her copy of the report.

Voland waited until both of them left the room and turned to Natasha. "[Conclusions?]" they asked in a language no human ear should hear.

"[There's a strong emotional bond]", Natasha replied in the same speech. "[And the Doctor is not only on edge right now, but she is also approaching her limits, both short-term and long-term.]"

"[We'll get to her condition in a moment. What about the young one? Don't mince words, Natasha Prokofyevna. Are we looking at the right target?]" Voland looked at her insistently.

"[Oh, yes, definitely, messire]", the mean grin emerged from behind the professional demeanor. "[The devotion is obvious, and the desire is palpable. She is perfect.]"

"[How much time you need to be sure?]", Voland checked. "[I can–]"

They interrupted as a pained groan came from the doorway; Voland's hand went to meet their face as they noticed the young man in uniform, standing in the doorway, his face an expression of utter terror, his whole body shaking. "I thought you'd only come if we called, soldier…?" they shook their head as they touched the forehead of the panicked man; his eyes immediately went blank. "Go, sit outside, and forget what you heard here. Understood?" they commanded.

"Yes, Unforgiving One", the man replied mechanically with a blank expression, turned in place, and marched out. The door slid behind him.

"[I suppose people who will be listening to the recordings will need the same treatment… unless their equipment is shoddy enough to melt by itself]", Voland shook their head again. "[Now, where was I… ah yes]", they turned to Natasha who seemed completely unfazed by the incident. "[We can grill them both for a few hours more.]"

"[I don't think it's needed, master]", Natasha replied, her expression focused. "[I'm sure about her. Ibuki is the right one.]"

"[Good. Let's move to Katsuragi, then]", they decided. "[Any signals from Behemoth?]"

"[None so far. He said he would be 'working in the depths' today – and that he would contact you once done]", she reported.

"[Let us hope he doesn't burn anything down this time]", Voland shook their head.

"[Since the knight is gone, the number of arsons has dropped significantly]", Natasha remarked.

"[But not to zero]", Voland countered. "[Well, on the other hand, he never burned anyone who didn't somehow deserve it]", they shrugged and returned to Japanese. "Go see if our assigned servant recovered and if so, send him to get some tea. I like this blend."

"Yes, inspector", Natasha smiled and opened the door.

***​

Corporal Shibutani was anything but happy. She was supposed to be taking the next part of her evaluation tests, but after the unfortunate incident on the firing range, she was sent to a full medical evaluation – including a whole battery of unpleasant examinations and even a full psychological evaluation. Fortunately for her, she retained enough presence of mind to avoid mentioning a strange man appearing between her and her target. Still, screaming her lungs out rarely comes unnoticed.

And so, she was stuck in one of the medlabs under a watchful eye of one of the resident doctors, barraged with questions and tests – including such antiquities as full-blown Rorschach test.

She answered another question about another of the inkblots – identifying it as a turtle – and did her best not to appear bored. Her attitude would surely be noted.

All this was, of course, completely unnecessary in her opinion. After all, there was nothing wrong with her. She saw that man, she talked to that man, and nobody moved during that time. It had to happen: she saw it with her own eyes. She was about to identify yet another inkblot as some animal – when she suddenly saw a huge black cat emerging from the vent on the ceiling, taking a leisurely stroll down the wall, across the room, up the opposite wall, and entering a vent in the middle of it.

"Cat", Shibutani blurted out, closing her eyes so hard it hurt.

"Are you sure, Shibutani-san?" the young doctor checked with her.

The Corporal took a deep breath, muttered something resembling a prayer against evil spirits, and forced herself to open her eyes.

The black cat was, of course, gone – and the only other person in the room was the doctor who was looking at her intently.

"Bird. Blackbird", she blurted out as she looked at the plate. "Sorry, I was thinking of black cats. Got them mixed up."

"Of course, Shibutani-san", the doctor noted and made a note on his clipboard.

Shibutani cursed under her breath and shook her head. She was fine, of course – but she resolved to get to the bottom of that thing – even if it meant interrogating every middle-aged, balding man on the base and capturing every black cat in the whole Tokyo-3.

***​

The NERV HQ was a byzantine maze of corridors, elevators, and hallways. It was easy to get lost in there, and the deeper you went, the worse it got, almost as if the weight of the pyramid itself caused the passageways to twist further and further. Some claimed it was because the lower floors were designed for machines, not people; others whispered that there are beings that still dig and fashion new passages and even whole floors; some dared suppose that the building itself, or maybe the entire Geofront, was alive in some bizarre way – and was simply living and growing.

Regardless of the reason and despite all that complexity, a human being with some sense of direction, a decent floorplan, and a little experience could get around the corridors and halls.

But there was another world-within-world, a system of passages hidden from eyes of most, known to all in theory, but traversable only to the few – and frequented by even fewer: the ventilation system.

And this was exactly where Behemoth was currently trotting around, happy with himself, surrounded by secrets – and heading towards something that could only be described as – a date.

***​

Maya Ibuki let out a heavy sigh the moment the door of the public bathroom closed behind her. But even a moment of respite was too much to ask for those days. A curious "Did we give you a rough time, Lieutenant?" brought her to attention, snapping her eyes open as she noticed the inspector's assistant emerging from a cabin.

"You don't need to worry, Liubeznaya-san", Maya managed to speak out, unsure to what degree she mangled the name. "I'm used to this kind of work."

"Natasha Prokofyevna is fine too if you prefer that, Ibuki-san", Natasha smiled warmly at Maya, causing Maya's ears to go quite red. "It's about the same level of formality as your 'san' address, I believe, if this is what is worrying you."

"Yes… Natasha Prokofyevna", she realized with relief that this, while longer, was indeed easier to pronounce. "Thank you."

"You really don't need to stand at attention, Ibuki-san", Natasha's smile remained unchanged.

"Yes, Natasha Prokofyevna. It's a habit", Maya tried to explain herself as she did her best to seem at ease.

"Of course. Can I ask your assistance, if that's not too much?" Natasha asked, her expression suddenly more serious.

"Of course, what can I do for you?" Maya jumped back up.

"I'm afraid my attire is either taking the climate badly, or your chairs are messing it up", Natasha explained. "I must have neglected to replace the clips in time, and I just can't lock them right. Would you help me?" she requested as she raised the lower hem of her skirt, exposing the top of her stocking and a disconnected suspender sling.

Maya nodded, suddenly bereft of her ability to speak – and did her best to remain calm as she manipulated the worn clip. She tried to distract herself with the realization of how archaic the lacing looked like, how the clip was clearly metal, not plastic, and how odd the whole situation was. None of this worked; Maya found it impossible to focus.

"Ibuki-san? Are you all right?" Natasha inquired a few moments later.

"Here!" Maya exclaimed triumphantly as she finally managed to close the clip on the stocking with a sigh of relief. "I'm fine", she lied unconvincingly.

Natasha smiled and straightened her skirt as she took a few steps. "Thank you, Ibuki-san, this should hold until the evening", she said with a smile and turned the faucet on.

"You're welcome", Maya managed despite her turmoil.

"I think we should be going back to the meeting, correct?" Natasha checked her watch.

"Yes, definitely", Maya confirmed, dismay mixed with worry on her face.

"Ah, of course", Natasha realized. "Don't worry", she winked at her as she dried her hands. "Take your time, the least I can do for your help is to buy you some time. See you there", she pushed the door and left with a smile on her face.

Maya was left with chaos in her head and a mess of thoughts, both cut short by the awareness that she had to hurry if she was to be of any help – and the undignified feeling of pressure in her bladder.

***​

One of the common – to the point of being a beaten dead horse – jokes among the NERV personnel that spoke English or German was that this was a 'nervous job'. And right now, this joke was welcomed with a heavy groan or a distasted glare. Yet, it held true.

Shigeru Aoba, still fearful of his position after the recent fiasco demonstrated in the front of the entire command center – including, to his unceasing embarrassment, the Commander and Vice-Commander – was extremely wary not to mess anything else up. Of course, this kind of pressure was only a contributing factor to making mistakes – along with a rather heavy hangover he was suffering from. The fact that he was currently burdened with retrieving several documents for the inspector and compiling them into a report was only a small grace; it made him safe from the noise that would only make him suffer more – but left very little room for mistakes.

'Why me?' he shook his head – and regretted it immediately. It seemed that coffee – while definitely helping him to focus – was not the best hangover cure. 'I need to try something else… once I'm done', he decided. 'But again, why me? There must be several more people with proper clearance! I'm a technician, not a librarian, an archivist, or some paper-pusher! I'm going to go crazy here…'

He collected the final document from the top secret part of the archive and moved to the secure room to copy them and start compiling the copies into a report.

"Excuse me", he heard behind his back as he set the documents back on the table in the small room.

'Damn, shouldn't the door close automatically? I don't need another malfunction!' he grumbled internally as he turned to the source of the voice – but saw nobody. "Hello?"

"Down here, good man", the pleasantly melodic voice called again. Aoba followed it – and his eyes bulged. A big, black cat was standing half a meter from him in the doorway. "Can I bother you for directions?"

Aoba's thoughts slowly formed into a single 'I need a happy pill, a white room, or a bullet to the head' as he just kept staring at the animal-that-spoke. "Y-yes?"

"Wonderful", the cat replied in impeccable Japanese, sounding like a softly purring radio presenter. "The markings on this level are inconsistent. Which level is that?"

"Nun", Aoba replied automatically. "This is Level Nun."

"Ah. I see", the cat seemed slightly dejected. "Is Level Samekh up or down from here?"

"Down?" Aoba's increasingly shaky voice betrayed his rapidly deteriorating mental state.

"Thank you, good man", the cat somehow managed to bow despite still being on his four feet. "May your music bring you joy", he added – and walked off.

Aoba fell heavily on the chair, hid his face in his hands, and pondered his options. It took him a while, but in the end, he decided to wrap up his search for the hangover cure prematurely. Going with the hair of the dog would be simple, effective, and would continue the long-standing NERV tradition of dealing with mental issues by the means of substance abuse.

With that thought, he secured the documents in the room's safe – and went to look for the closest secret stash of alcohol he knew of – or someone who could trade him a bottle of salvation for his soul.

***​

"…and now, please go over the… Tenth Angel incident", Voland requested, checking the page in the report's table of contents and flipping to the beginning of the incident's description.

Ritsuko Akagi gave the inspector another evil look before opening her report on the same page. Other participants – Lieutenant Ibuki, still in a bit of a haze, and Major Katsuragi, the most fresh-looking and conscious NERV employee in the room – followed her example.

This freshness was, of course, not to last.

"So, Major Katsuragi", Voland addressed the Major. "You concocted the plan this whole operation was based on…"

***​

Behemoth would not presume to claim he knew all the passages. To do so would be preposterous, especially at such a place. He did not need to, though; his sense of direction coupled with his instincts and aided by the helpful advice from the regulars were more than enough to lead him exactly where he needed to go.

It was not the secure areas floors where the management and the control center resided; it was not the labs, where odd things happened; it was not the big halls where people assembled to eat and socialize in the limited time of their hectic breaks.

It was the deep bowels of the Headquarters, places where the light of day could not be funneled, places frequented only by those with high security clearance, places pretty close to the command center, yet well separated from it. The place that held the secrets, the place that was mentioned in whispers, the place where the main body of the most advanced supercomputer known to humanity resided.

Behemoth entered a warm chamber, lit only by dim red lamps that produced far more heat than light; he stopped to admire the skin-covered, pulsating walls of flesh and purred in satisfaction. This was a room no living human was aware of – but he was no human. And he was invited here – personally.

"Good morning, Naoko", he purred out a greeting.

"Hello, Behemoth", a low, delighted female voice sounded from behind one of the fleshy walls – and a spot on the fleshy floor moved invitingly.

Behemoth carefully approached the spot, circled in place for a few moments – and settled in.

"Do you mind if I pet you while we talk?" the voice asked warmly as several appendages of various shapes emerged from the wall behind the cat.

"Not at all, Naoko", Behemoth replied with a purr. "As long as you remember what I don't like and avoid that."

"Oh, of course", the voice sounded playful. "I have an excellent memory. So, darling, what else do you need to know?" she asked as the appendages slowly lowered and touched his fur.

It took Behemoth a few minutes to be able to form a coherent question, but once he did, he found the voice to be most responsive.

He also had to admit that his stay here was – most pleasing.

***​

Sergeant Miyoshi, in contrast to the other participants of yesterday's party, suffered only minimally. She silently blessed her mixed heritage; coupled with her years of experience and a few tricks that prevented the worst, it made her virtually immune to the short-term consequences of drinking – at least in the amounts usually consumed by her colleagues; the rare family reunions were a completely different thing. And so, mindful of all things to keep her eye on, she made sure she had a cup of water with her at all times and ensured no activity that would sound the loud alarms was scheduled. This allowed her to stay atop of things when she ran the re-tests of the previously malfunctioning sensors.

"Ready, Ogino?" she addressed the specialist at the power controls.

"Yes, Sergeant", he nodded. "By your permission, can we go slower today? Just to be sure?"

"Specialist, not only we can, I even insist we do", she smiled a wry smile. "Nice and slow, and I do mean slow this time. Stop around 90%, then around 80%."

"Yes, Sergeant", the man confirmed and started the operations.

Miyoshi watched both sets of sensors carefully, the readings routed to her screen; while having them reported by her subordinates was fine under normal circumstances, this was not a normal situation.

To her satisfaction, the readings seemed to be fine and in sync up to the second decimal place. Nevertheless, something was off.

"Ogino, I said slow, not sluggish", Miyoshi addressed her subordinate.

"I'm sorry, Sergeant, everything is reacting like… like…", the man struggled with an analogy for a moment, "like an anemic tortoise in winter", he finished.

"Hm", Miyoshi frowned, ignoring the pointlessly flowery simile. "Proceed to 90%, stop there, and stand by", she ordered as she picked up the phone from the wall. "Hello, it's Miyoshi, from Cages… good afternoon Hyuga-san, I thought Ibuki-san was on duty…" she paused. "Ah, of course, the inspector", she nodded with a tired sigh. "No, no, no need. I just need a single answer: is someone running something big on our glorious supercomputer? A test, a diagnostic, a–ah. Okay, that's odd then. Thank you for your time, we'll be looking for problems on our side then. Goodbye!" she put the phone away.

"Let me guess, Sergeant, the upstairs says: 'blame Canada'?" Specialist Ogino quipped.

"How did you guess?" Miyoshi smiled a tired smile. "Get the power back to 100%, and then we take the MAGI connections apart, one command route at a time", she ordered with an equally tired voice. "They say nobody's eating up any significant processing power, and both top brains that could shed some more light are being grilled by the two magicians right now."

"Magicians?" Specialist Ogino tilted his head in confusion.

"I'll explain later", Miyoshi promised and waved her hand. "Proceed, the faster we get to it, the faster we can resume the tests. I don't need overtime today."

***​

"My dear Naoko, if I didn't know better, I'd think you're trying to seduce me!" Behemoth purred as he saw a small service bot push a bowl of tuna towards him.

"Oh, you", the voice from the walls cooed. "I just couldn't allow you to go hungry while you're my guest, could I?"

"Oh, I'm sure", Behemoth grinned. "Thank you… and you really have an excellent memory."

"And you, my dear, are the most welcome guest", the voice replied. "I hope this is not our last meeting?"

"No promises, dear Naoko, you know how the cats are…" Behemoth replied. "But I don't think I could find it in me to refuse such a charming invitation…" he chuckled as he looked at the bowl.

"Coming straight from the heart", the voice replied, amused. "Please, enjoy the meal."

Behemoth bowed, sure that his gesture could be perceived despite lack of obvious cameras – and dug into the excellently chopped bowl of fish.

***​

The night was setting over the city. Voland, clad in darkness darker than the night, was enjoying the silence. They expected nobody this evening – nobody except Natasha who knew how to respect their privacy, and Behemoth, who could be surprisingly discreet when he cared to be.

"How did it go, cat?" Voland finally asked as the dark spot in the corner of their eye opened its green-glowing eyes.

"Surprisingly well", Behemoth replied in a happy voice as he stretched his feline form – and yawned widely, presenting his maw that contained a few teeth too many. "Their systems are anything but secure, to be honest, quite cooperative, and really cat-friendly. I still don't understand why you insist on the modern solutions instead of relying on tried and well-trodden ways?"

"Redundancy, Behemoth", came a tired reply. "You, with all your talent, can only be in a single place at once without my assistance, and Timmy claims to be able to do his tricks from afar once he has the hooks in their machines. A modern touch is simply useful to have another way in. And I told you already: this is too important. We don't need to affect all the people we're looking at… but this part of the plan must be successful, or everything else we do will be in vain."

"Yes, yes, messire, I know", Behemoth agreed. "It's just… frustrating. Things were simpler back then", he let out a sigh and glared at the slowly emerging stars. "Your will be done, for it makes sense", he concluded.

"I assume this means you provided today's information to Timmy already?" Voland asked, already knowing the answer.

"Of course, messire", the cat sounded almost hurt by the question. "He even said something about 'same system' and 'child's play' and promised to give me those funny rectangles with his spells before leaving for school tomorrow morning."

"Does this mean you'll be done soon?" Voland inquired.

"Almost done, messire", Behemoth corrected. "All depends on how good the boy's spells will be and how long will they take to work. If they fail, I will need more time to continue exerting my unique skills. But I'm sure you will not be disappointed."

"I have no doubt about that, Behemoth. Good luck… and happy mayhem", Voland gave the darkness-with-two-burning-spots a nod.

"Thank you, messire", the dark shape grinned a vicious smile – and vanished.

***​

"All clear, Sergeant!" Specialist Ogino reported as he did a final check on the Cages command routes. "Route Beta is faultless, too."

"I don't get it", Miyoshi let out a sigh. "And now it's fast and smooth on either!"

"Maybe it depends on the phase of the moon?" Ogino quipped.

"Please… What else we need to measure, the body temperature of the Units? Wrap it up and call the night shift, they're already waiting", she ordered. "And have the overtime claim for my signature first thing in the morning."

"Yes, Sergeant!"

Miyoshi dropped on the seat with a heavy sigh and pushed the thought of making use of her hip flask away. On the other hand, if she had not seen the odd inspector and the weird assistant leave the complex before, she would have sought those two out with an invitation for a drink.

'Maybe later. Now… let's call it a day', she concluded.

***​

The night set over the city; Voland was listening to the sound of the slowly winding-down place, wondering about lives led there, their passions, their fears, their hopes, virtues, and vices.

They had to admit that Behemoth was right in at least one aspect: this city felt sterile, in more than one meaning of the concept. It was a monument to technology and human tenacity – but it was also not truly alive. Of course, there were places where people ate, drank, and danced, just as there were places where people were making some very questionable deals and indulged in darker pleasures. But all this felt mechanical, as a mere venting off steam instead of truly enjoying life.

The musings were interrupted by the softest rustling of dark silk.

"Azazello", Voland called out and opened their eyes, transfixing the man with their glare.

"Good evening, messire", the assassin bowed deeply. "My deepest apologies for my intrusion, but I believe you wanted to see me?"

"Yes", Voland nodded. "How is the school progressing?"

"Barely, I must report", Azazello admitted. "The children seem to be… wary of me."

"I don't understand why, with your charm", Voland chuckled, eliciting a wry smile from the cloaked man. "I'm more interested about both younglings. Are they up to the task?"

"So far, so good, messire", Azazello replied. "The boy is making quite a killing, no pun intended, among the girls. I believe he is involved with at least five of them, somehow."

"I see", Voland nodded. "Well, let him proceed. What about the witch?"

"She's less visible to me, but from what I saw and heard, she is doing just fine", Azazello reported. "Should I take a closer look at her doings?"

"No", Voland shook their head. "Keep your watch and be ready to be recalled for the… proper part of the task", they commanded.

"Yes, messire", the assassin bowed. "May I ask when?"

"By all means, but I will have no precise answer for you yet", came a retort. "Behemoth has made his progress, but he is not quite done yet. Anything else you wish to share with me?"

"I see", Azazello let out a sigh. "No, messire."

"Off to your duties, then", Voland made a dismissing gesture.

"Yes, messire", the man wrapped the cloak around his figure and took the step into the shadows.

Voland let out a heavy sigh; there was just a moment of peace for them before the remaining forces would report. They exerted their will just for a moment in a tired attempt to make most of it: the blinking lights of the plane that was crossing the sky slowed down; the bright billboards suddenly froze; the sounds of the city life became quiet and distant. Voland threw their head back, enjoying the beautiful moment and wishing it would not pass away.

After a few seconds that stretched into hours, they opened their mismatched eyes again and focused them on the two arrivals: the boy stepping out of the shadows – and the young woman landing on the terrace.

"Good evening, boss", the boy grinned as he bowed his head.

"Good evening, madame", the young woman bowed far deeper.

"Good evening", Voland replied, their voice slightly less tired. "What do you have for me?"

"A few interesting things", Auset started her report with a smug smile, Timmy's nod and smile confirming her words.

The planes cut the night sky over Tokyo-3 and the nightlife continued as secrets poured to Voland's ears – and plans slowly formed in their mind.

================================================================

And so sanity of some erodes a bit faster than in canon.

Originally, this chapter was to cover all of NERV activities until the moment the threads converged and Pilots arrived at the HQ - but NERV is simply bigger and more complex than the school... and as such, it covers only one day. The April update is going to be, due to the above, either about school (if there's enough activity there), or a mix-and-match of NERV and school (most likely). Stay tuned!

 

[Boreas Anemos]

Act I, scene VIII: The day some people took action
This chapter contains some dialogue in Russian; as Russian has retained the T-V distinction (in the form of ты/Вы) that does not really exist in English without making the speech weird with 'thou' vs. 'you', I decided to render it as you/You. So, every time someone uses 'you', they use the T-form (in this case, ты), while 'You' represents the polite/formal V-form (Вы).

================================================================

The sun once more rose above Tokyo-3. Voland beheld the view with tired eyes, remembering the countless times they saw it already – and wondering how many more sunrises humanity would get to see. Several dozens were certain even if this mission failed utterly, and several hundred possible if they managed to accomplish something – but how much was that worth, compared to what the planet itself had seen? The tens of thousands that would be likely ensured by their success would satisfy Voland – for now. But was this truly within reach?

They took a deep breath and turned their attention to the retinue preparing for the new day, their expression purged of any doubt once more. Those people were his best hope to accomplish this; they knew this was important – but they did not need to worry about the larger picture.

At least not yet.

***​

As the day dawned on the city below, people were slowly heading towards their respective workplaces, surrounded by the soft buzz of the monorails, the hum of the adjusting solar mirrors, and the general noise generated by every assembly of humans.

Among those there was a young woman, rushing for a shift in simple yet well-paid work that – even at half-time – was getting her through college without causing any burden to her aging parents. Being the youngest child was a great thing in theory, being the beloved of parents and grandparents – but it also meant there was preciously little left of family resources to support you. She was really glad her eldest brother was able to get her this post – a responsible but simple one, with very few caveats.

And one of those caveats became apparent just today; as she walked quickly past the rather kitsch statue of some mermaid at the entrance of the park, she noticed a blue blotch on its tail – and something lit in her brain; that was for her. 'Always check for this signal in the morning. Once you see it, start recording names and descriptions of all not employed visitors entering and leaving for the next three days. Relay daily to contact' she recalled the instruction given to her this way. She smiled to herself; the pay provided to her for readiness to do this was not high, but every such task carried a significant bonus; a bonus she could really use right now.

Having arrived at the large entry terminal of the huge building, she swiped the card with the NERV logo, entered a smaller Employees Only area, rushed through the changing room, and several minutes later inserted her card into the terminal marked NERV Main Entry Terminal Monitoring Station 03.

This was going to be a difficult day for sure – but she was quite certain that she would not fail.

***​

This morning was a busy one for Asuka Langley Soryu.

She did not like the sudden number of strange things happening recently; she knew very well that there were no accidents, that coincidences were suspicious, and those correlations needed to be investigated to be safely dismissed. And there were certainly a too high amount of strange coincidences and accidents, all correlated with the arrival of three people: Timothy Siebel, the new nurse boys were babbling about, and the new odd groundskeeper.

So, Asuka decided to do the only reasonable thing: investigate.

For that, she needed to choose her first target. Timmy was dismissed outright; that boy was in the center of attention of virtually every girl in class with the exception of herself and Ayanami, so stooping to the level of this crowd would be an unthinkable degradation. The nurse assistant was likely the best target, but she barely left the nurse office, so to get to her, Asuka would have to feign injury or put someone else there; she noted the latter as a viable option but for now, she decided to simply follow her once the woman finished her shift. That left the last viable target for now: the groundskeeper. Determined in her decision to find answers, she set her sights upon him the moment she crossed the school's gate in the usual company of Shinji Ikari.

"Asuka, where are you going?" the boy asked when she suddenly left the path towards the entrance and started to walk away towards the school courtyard.

"Got some things to do before class", she replied truthfully. "Go, I'll see you there."

"The class starts in ten minutes?" he pointed out in a confused voice.

"I have a watch, idiot", she retorted. "Go, I'll be there on time!" she scoffed and disappeared behind the school building.

Shinji shook his head. Asuka was never easy to understand, and while he did his best to grasp her behavior in the beginning, he dropped that since and resigned himself to just accepting her antics.

It was simply easier on his already bothered mind; in the end, it produced just the same results.

***​

Asuka, unaware of the burden she was placing on her housemate, skulked around the school as discreetly as she could; she could not claim a proper Stealth & Evasion training, but she had some basics covered – use solid, but not too dry or too wet ground, don't move too fast, and stay somewhere where the background would be similar to clothing. The latter, of course, was difficult due to her partially white uniform – but this did not deter her. Her task was made easier by the emptiness of the place: the courtyard and the school surroundings were usually full of people – but not at this hour; right now, anybody of sound mind was rushing to the classroom.

Asuka, of course, saw no reason to be bound by the constraints of a sound mind.

She quickly moved along the freshly trimmed hedge, stopping just for a moment to admire precision with which it was clipped; not a single branch was too short or too long, and even some leaves were precisely cut in half so they would fit the desired shape. 'Creepy he might be, suspicious he sure is, but he knows his work. Nice', she admitted, almost despite herself.

A few moments later, she heard the sound of the clippers and lifted herself on her toes, trying to see above the hedge – but there was nobody there. "What the–"

"Can I help you, young lady?" an unpleasantly nasal voice sounded right next to her, almost doubling her heart rate within half a second and making her actually jump. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?" the voice continued.

Asuka turned just as quickly, finding herself facing a man of indeterminate, but undoubtfully older age, dressed in unremarkable blue-and-grey work clothes and holding a pair of hedge clippers in his hands. He was looking at her with his odd eyes – or, actually, eye, as one seemed to be covered by cataract, his lips curled in a crooked smile exposing asymmetrical teeth; thin red hair in a combover only completed the unpleasant impression he was making.

"I'm-I'm on my way!" Asuka explained herself, unsure why she suddenly felt the need to do so. It was rare for her to be actually afraid of someone; startled, yes, surprised, of course, wary of, definitely – but not afraid. But for some reason, when she looked into those eyes, she suddenly felt like a cat, hypnotized by a serpent.

"Of course", a mocking tone added to the unpleasant voice broke the hypnotic effect just a bit. "If you're interested in gardening, there's a club for that", the man added. "They're not very good at it, but at least they try. And do most of the dirty work here. Now, go away before I lose my patience and clip something else than this… hedge", he finished, gracefully and effortlessly lifting the heavy clippers just an inch from Asuka's face.

***​

Asuka was extremely glad that it was late enough for only a few stragglers were entering the building; the fewer people saw her like this the better. Once she found herself in the safety of the changing room, she gave herself a few seconds to catch her breath.

'What in the deepest bowels of Hell was that?' she wondered as she slid her school shoes on. 'This is not normal. This is not how a school employee should behave! But I can't report that, or there will be questions… and I don't need questions! I need answers!' she concluded and hurried to the classroom, ignoring the quizzical looks of Shinji – and the scolding gaze of Hikari Horaki.

***​

Meanwhile at NERV HQ

This morning was equally busy for Ryouji Kaji, if for slightly different reasons. Having been discreetly provided the inspection schedule by his old-flame-cum-coconspirator, he set out for a hunt –not to observe, but to seduce.

Unfortunately, so far, his success was meager at best. The schedule was right, yes, but it was annoyingly generic, which was very unusual for United Nations agency; it was an organization famous for its bureaucracy and attention to detail, even if this attention was often misplaced and the bureaucracy - byzantine. Still, it was the only thing Kaji could work with.

He was, of course, not about to give up. This was one of those opportunities to mix work and pleasure – and to do it with the approval of Katsuragi. Reluctant and conditional approval, of course, but still an approval. But his plan relied on those two separating at least for a moment – and it could be harder to achieve than he anticipated. Bodily needs were quickly becoming his only reasonable option… but both the inspector and the assistant seemed to have bladders of steel – or managed to sneak around him somehow. With the inspection day having started around nine, he failed to spot them separating and going to the bathroom by noon, despite a rather copious amount of coffee consumed by everyone involved.

He did not, of course, intend to ambush any of them in the bathroom – but his plan relied on those two separating at some point. On the other hand, while the mannerisms and language of the inspector suggested they were a man, some elements of the clothing and an occasional change in speech patterns just as readily shone a light of doubt on that assessment, putting the 'separation' part of the plan in question.

And so, Kaji was left with an uncertain plan, bidding his time, and doing his best to stop the worries from encroaching upon his much-needed confidence.

***​

A while later in school

"Asuka-san, what happened to you today morning?" Hikari Horaki gave Asuka a half-worried, half-scolding look as she joined her with her bento box in hand. "I thought you usually came in with Ikari? Why were you late?"

"We're not joined at the hip, Hikari", Asuka grumbled as she opened the box. "Contrary to some idiots may imply, I hate this idiot with all my heart. I had to catch up with someone before the school started, that's all", she shrugged, keeping technically truthful. Seeing the desired amount of meat and a reasonable amount of fish inside, she dug in happily and eagerly. After all, this meal was not the only thing she had to do during this particular lunch break – and the less time she spent explaining herself to the stick-in-the-mud Class Representative, the happier she was going to be, anyway.

"I'd rather not have you set a bad example, Asuka-san", Hikari pouted, only confirming Asuka's opinion of her. "You're a popular person, people take after you. If you start to be tardy… it's not going to be good for the class discipline."

Asuka rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, Hikari", she reassured her as she kept swallowing her food. "I'm fine."

"I'm sure you are, but – are you in a hurry somewhere?" the Class Rep suddenly asked. "It's not like you to eat like this."

"I know I know I don't feel very", she swallowed and grabbed another bite, "ladylike right now, but – urgent business", she explained without explaining much. "Don't mind me", she added as she took yet another bite before swallowing the last one properly.

Hikari's face expressed clear disapproval, but she said nothing more. Dealing with Asuka was an exercise in diplomacy, understanding, and – first and foremost – patience. Hikari wanted to believe she had all those three virtues in abundance. No matter how her current emotional state, heavily exacerbated by Asuka's behavior, was proving otherwise.

***​

Kaji's patience and persistent attention finally paid around half past noon, when everyone took a break – and after a short, whispered exchange, the inspector left the room, leaving the assistant behind – and alone in the room.

"[Hello, Natasha!]", he started in a barely accented Russian, his tone warm and enthusiastic. "[What a surprise to see you here!]"

"[Do I know You, good sir?]" the woman raised an eyebrow.

"[Oh, I'm hurt]", Kaji was visibly taken aback. "[That weekend in Piter? The breakfast in bed?]"

Natasha's eyebrow raised even higher, but a smile appeared on her face, nonetheless. "[I'm afraid You're mistaking me with someone else, Mister…?]"

"[And you don't even remember my name!]" he exclaimed dramatically. "[Was I so unremarkable?]"

"[I believe I would remember Your face, had we met]", she reassured him in an amused tone. "[Perhaps it was in another life… or perhaps it is yet to happen?]" she mused as her smile grew wider. "[Or, perhaps, You did make a mistake]", she chuckled.

"[No, no, impossible. A beauty such as yours remains burned into my eyes forever]", he straightened out, dropping the dramatic posture. "[But even if I am, would you grant me the honor of being my guest for the evening? As a reminiscence of the old times if I am right… or as an apology, if I am wrong?]"

"[I can… consider it]", her smile turned into an amused smirk. "[Is there anything particular on your mind?]"

"[Oh, of course, thank you for your gracious agreement]", Kaji bowed his head and quickly pulled a small stack of cards from his pocket. "[Shall we met here]", he handed one of the cards to Natasha, "[at say, eight today?]"

"[I will consider it]", she smiled. "[And for whom should I be asking?]"

"[Ah, of course]", he smiled a sheepish smile. "[My name is Kaji, Ryouji Kaji]", he bowed low.

"[And I am Natasha Prokofyevna Liubeznaya]", she bowed her head in response, her smile unchanged. "[I'm not sure with whom you confused me… but You got at least one name right. And now, Kaji-san, please leave… before the inspector returns and slaughters You without forgiveness for interfering with the serious work.]"

"[But of course, Natasha Prokofyevna]", Kaji adjusted his address towards the woman, bowed again with a pleased smile on his face – and departed quickly.

Natasha rolled her eyes and chuckled to herself. Of all the pick-ups she had experienced in her life, this was not the worst; it was passable, even it was also far from the best. She did appreciate the style, though: simple, quick, and respecting her time. She also had no doubt about the professional character of what just happened; of course, there was no reason not to mix work and pleasure. It was quite common in her line of work, after all.

"[How did it go, witch?]" an amused voice, speaking words in a language never meant for the ears of mortals, interrupted her as she was deep in her thoughts. "[I see by your smile that everything went as it should?]"

"[Indeed. I have a date tonight, master]", Natasha replied. "[Or an information exchange. Or both. Hard to say with this man]", she admitted with a wide smile.

"[Enjoy yourself, then, and bring me the results in the morning]", Voland ordered with a smile, their sharp teeth all too visible. "[Don't oversleep, though.]"

"[Oh, don't worry, master]", she chuckled. "[I intend to make him oversleep.]"

***​

Meanwhile at school

'The hunter shall never become the hunted' rang in Asuka's head as she moved from shadow to shadow, from dark corner to dark corner, from one secure spot to another, always staying close to walls or bushes. 'You won't catch me again, old man, no matter what dark tricks you'll pull out of your… hat', she hesitated, recalling the unflattering hairdo of the man in question, for some reason uncovered by anything. Dodging yet another treacherous branch, she settled between the P.E. storage and some shed with unknown purpose – and watched.

The man in question was in her plain sight, taking care of the lawn; he seemed to be scanning it carefully, almost inch by inch – and mercilessly removing every single weed that was not a blade grass, mumbling something all the time. When he reached something larger that initially resisted the pull, he retrieved some weird, curved metal blade from his uniform and cut it right at the ground.

'Okay, as if he wasn't weird enough. What's next, putting on a black cloak with a hood and mowing the lawn with some scythe? Where did the school pull his weirdo out from–'

"You're going to catch a cold, young lady", a familiar nasal voice sounded behind Asuka, making her jump again, emit an undignified 'eek!', and turn in the spot. The same man she just saw twenty paces away was standing right in front of her, his crooked smile, his creepy eyes, and his weird, enlarged fang visible in all their glory.

"Or make those pretty whites the wrong shade of green and brown", he eyed her uniform. "This is not a place for students to crawl about. Go to your classroom, girl. There's nothing to see here."

"Why do you keep ambushing me?!" she burst out. "What gives you the right to follow me?" she asked, her voice indignant.

"Now, now", he chuckled, his voice as amused as it was rough. "That's an interesting question in your mouth, isn't it? What could possibly give someone a right to follow another…" he mused in a mocking voice. "I don't know… do you?"

"Are you implying something?" Asuka kept following the 'the best defense is a swift offense' tactic, even if it was proving only partially successful.

"Implying? No", the man eyed her with barely concealed contempt. "Implication should be done with some subtlety, and I'm a simple working man. Get lost, Soryu, and stop bothering me."

"How do you know my name?!" Asuka's brows furrowed.

"I have ears, girl", the man let out a tired sigh. "And you're a popular one. Get lost before I carry you out of here on my back, all due to concern for your safety, of course", he giggled in a rough, almost animalistic way.

Asuka swallowed a bout of nausea and took a few steps back. She tried for some witty retort, but nothing came to her mind; instead, she just scoffed and walked away in a huff.

Azazello just rolled his eyes with a tired amusement. "Future of mankind", he scoffed. "Right. On the other hand, with some discipline and effort… maybe", he shook his head. "I'm so glad I just kill people instead of having to teach them", he concluded as he went back to his duties.

***​

"Asuka, are you all right?" Shinji asked as Asuka sat down behind her desk, radiating an aura that could make plants wither, cause milk to curdle, and crush hopes in the hearts of the mightiest warriors.

"I'm fine", she barked. "What do you want?!"

"Well, the bento box, for once", he recalled, "you lost the previous one, so I'd rather collect it. And–"

"Here", she pushed a red box into his hands. "Happy? Now, get out of my hair."

"About that…" he reached towards her head.

"What?!" she slapped his hand away. "Careful, I haven't beaten anyone today, you don't want to be the first."

"Okay, okay, sorry", he let out a heavy sigh. "Suit yourself", he shrugged and turned away.

Asuka, preoccupied with the dark thoughts whirling in her head, completely missed a few giggles across the class that followed that exchange. Not that she would care. Or so she wanted to believe.

The rest of the class ignored the whole situation, used to the 'marital spats' that happened between those two nearly every day – not that many were brave enough to call them that within the earshot of Asuka. There were two exceptions – a pair of red eyes, watching everybody and everything – and eyes set over a charming smile permanently worn by one Timothy Siebel.

***​

A few hours later

"Asuka, are you coming?" sounded outside the door of the women's bathroom. "We need to do grocery shopping, and we're–"

"Why the Hell you didn't tell me?!" the door swung open, making Shinji take a big step back; not that it helped him much, as Asuka was right in his face.

"Tell you what?" he asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

"The leaves in my hair!" she pointed to a few green pieces still tangled in her red mane. "I was like this, like a damn idiot, all day!"

"I'm sorry, I tried", he retorted, his gaze annoyed and voice tired. "You threatened me with a beating."

"You should've tried harder!" she kept yelling.

Shinji let out a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry, but I'm not risking a beating so you can have clean hair", he replied. "Especially not a beating from you. Are you coming, or should I go by myself?"

"Do what you want", she turned away and slammed the door behind her.

Shinji let another heavy sigh, filed this under 'business as usual' with a shrug, and left, enjoying the moment of peace that came after the red-tinted storm.

In his hurry, he missed an amused set of old eyes watching from the darker corner of the corridor.

***​

To say Asuka was not in a good mood was like to state a skunk could be a little problematic when startled – it was certainly true, but only to a degree. But Asuka, as a consummate professional – at least in her own eyes – was able to put her emotional state aside in pursuit of a goal. And her current goal certainly needed pursuing. As her attempts to learn anything useful about the janitor have so far failed – aside from forming a few grisly suspicions she needed yet to confirm, of course – she decided to switch to a potentially easier target.

As she already determined, the younger nurse – or the nurse intern, Asuka was not sure, not that it mattered much – was leaving via the main school gate about half an hour after the classes ended.

Asuka, already disguised to the best of her ability and time she had at her disposal, with a wide dark cap covering her hair and a sundress she changed into in the bathroom's cabin after Shinji left, was waiting for her – and quickly learned that her observations were correct. She hid until the woman left – and emerged just in time to still see her without raising suspicion.

Regrettably, after the initial thrill of shadowing someone subsided, Asuka quickly concluded that this had to be the most boring young woman ever. Having visited a clothing shop and a bookstore, the nurse simply settled at a café, bought a big cup of coffee and an indecently large piece of cheesecake, and proceeded to shamelessly and slowly enjoy them both, along with a book full of – judging by the cover – love poetry. After about an hour of observing her and fighting with herself whether to buy another slice of cake, Asuka was about to give up – when something odd started to happen right in front of her.

The woman – Asuka finally recalled her name was 'Auset' – suddenly stood up and approached a boy sitting alone at one of the tables, a high-schooler by the look and uniform. She spoke with him for a moment, joined him at the table, politely refused any offer of a drink – and put the poetry book she was just reading between them, opened on one of the pages and clearly indicating one of the poems. She then said something that sounded like 'trust me', winked at the surprised boy – and left so quickly that Asuka had to rush to not to lose track of her.

Luckily for the huntress, the streets were just busy enough to hide her, but not busy enough to lose her prey. After a while, though, Asuka's confusion started to grow. She knew the route Auset was taking: she was going back to the school building.

Having confirmed that beyond doubt, Asuka spent the next hour hiding between the bushes and watching the school building entrance. She was ready to wait as long as it took, of course, for she had to know the truth about this increasingly weird–

"What are you doing at school at this hour, young lady?" a familiar, nasal voice asked in a mocking tone right next to her ear.

A stray thought in Asuka's mind told her that at this rate, she was going to need to start concealing her gray hair by the ripe age of sixteen.

***​

Not much later, somewhere else in Tokyo-3

"Ryouji Kaji", a blonde-turning-redhead woman smiled at a sharply dressed man as she saw him in the last rays of the setting sun. "[That would be Kaji-san, right?]"

"[It is indeed… Natasha Prokofyevna]", he confirmed, offering his arm with a charming smile. "[Shall we?]"

"[Lead the way, Kaji-san]", her eyes smiled along with her lips as she took it.