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!
