Aozaki Aoko [638-639] (Patreon)

Chapter 638: The Fourth Child

Somewhere in the Arctic Ocean, at the Bethany Base in Siberia.

Inside a vast and intricate assembly plant, several cranes were carefully lifting an EVA from its cultivation vat—a unit that had just finished growing a torso, head, two arms, dental skeleton, and a pair of eyes—slowly extracting it.

Under the normal production pipeline for standard EVAs, Unit-05's priority would have been spine, torso, and four limbs. But due to resource competition among different projects, this was as far as they could go for now.

What no one but Aoko knew, however, was that in the original timeline, EVA Unit-05 would not only be dragged out in a half-formed, stick-figure state to fight the runaway Third Angel, it would also have a self-destruct device installed inside by a spy sent by Gendo Ikari, blowing itself up together with the nearly reconstructed Third Angel.

But Aoko and the others didn't want to see that outcome. Or rather, the Aozaki sisters had had their eyes on this off-plan Unit-05 for a long time—Touko was determined to have it.

Thanks to her maneuvering, some of the Third Angel's modification resources were diverted to Unit-05, giving the originally stick-figure Unit-05 a pair of arms and eyeballs.

In addition, by seizing control authority over NERV HQ's MAGI system, Aoko covertly obtained the engineering progress of the French branch's JA Project, and learned that the French branch was mired in internal conflict.

That's right, the French branch had started fighting among themselves, for a very simple reason: resource competition.

Due to the distributed results of the Shikinami series (Aoko's interference with Asuka 02), EVA Unit-02 was ultimately decided by the Committee to be transferred from Berlin to Paris for continued construction.

Paris's original research project had been the JA-series humanoid mecha that completely abandoned the concept of biological weapons. They had built-in N2 reactors capable of semi-permanent operation and, aside from being unable to generate an AT Field, they seemed to outclass conventional EVAs across almost every parameter.

But the sudden transfer of Unit-02 completely changed the French branch leadership's stance. The JA mecha, once the favorite child that had concentrated resources, was abruptly put on hold, with nearly all resources shifted to localizing modifications for Unit-02.

This made the JA armor a massive burden for the French branch. The maintenance cost alone was astronomical, and with Unit-02 on hand, they had neither the bandwidth nor the interest to keep developing JA.

At that moment, the Bethany branch just happened to step forward, with a very reasonable case for taking over the French branch's tasteless-yet-regrettable JA armors. In fact, once the French heard, they were practically tripping over themselves to ship the entire JA series to Bethany at their own expense.

Touko watched with satisfaction as the born-disabled Unit-05 base body was set bit by bit into a JA mecha repurposed as an exoskeletal armor. A great many cables and sensors were precisely embedded into Unit-05's flesh and blood.

It felt like a master surgeon restoring a fully paralyzed patient to mobility through an extraordinary operation—a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

"EVA-05α," Touko murmured. "What a slog this has been…"

"Yeah, we've gone quite the long way around," the base director said with a sigh. "Let's hope it's all worth it. The Committee has already questioned us about our recent moves... Dr. Aozaki, I'm entrusting you with the subsequent adjustments and upgrades for Unit-05. Don't let me down."

"No problem!" Touko said confidently. "Do we have a candidate for Unit-05's pilot yet?"

"The Marduk Institute sent a file," the director beckoned, and a long-legged secretary in black stockings handed over a folder marked "Confidential" on the cover. "Take a look, it should be in here."

Touko tore the seal without hesitation and drew out the contents. Her face remained placid, but the moment she saw the pilot photo she was surprised. An old acquaintance?

No—something was off. If it was her, the age was completely wrong. The optimal age for all EVA pilots is fourteen; before that, all candidates can only undergo synchronization tests.

"Mari Makinami Illustrious…" Touko read the vaguely familiar name under her breath. "From Germany?"

"That's right," the director nodded. "An Anglo-Japanese orphan, originally one of the backups for Unit-02. But with the Shikinami series nearing cultivation success and Unit-02 shipped to France, we managed to pick up this backup pilot as a leftover."

"Honestly, what a proper Bethany branch—now we're practically junk collectors!" Having answered Touko's question, the director couldn't help but gripe.

Touko didn't mind. The reason Bethany could pick up leftovers was fundamentally thanks to the inside-out coordination of the Aozaki sisters. But as for this Unit-05 pilot…

"When will she arrive?" Touko asked.

"By the end of the month," the director said, pulling a timetable from the stack and showing it to Touko. "She'll be accompanied by a guardian. He's Japanese, but an employee from the German branch."

A spy.

Looking at Ryoji Kaji's unshaven, scruffy face, that was the first word that came to Touko's mind.

From the intel Aoko had revealed from prior cycles, Ryoji Kaji was actually a triple agent, simultaneously working for Japan's Ministry of Home Affairs Investigations, the UN Special Inspection Division, and NERV HQ's Commander Ikari Gendo.

The guy was, on balance, a positive character and Misato Katsuragi's ex, but considering his stance toward NERV and SEELE, his purpose in coming from Germany to Bethany this time was painfully obvious.

Looks like Gendo is getting anxious.

With Touko's involvement, Bethany's research progress on the Third Angel and Unit-05 had accelerated greatly.

Especially now that Bethany, by coincidence, had acquired JA equipment, the likeliest reason Kaji was being sent here was to sabotage Unit-05.

Because in Gendo's view, Unit-01 must be humanity's strongest combatant against the Angels; otherwise he couldn't hold absolute control over the script of the Human Instrumentality Project, and the subsequent plot couldn't proceed.

So how would Kaji sabotage Unit-05? Touko thought carefully. She didn't believe a mere flesh-and-blood human spy could destroy an EVA cloned from a divine body, and Bethany's security wouldn't allow it anyway…

That left one obvious possibility: Kaji would, by some means, release the modified Third Angel sealed in the depths of the Styx to destroy the nearly completed Unit-05.

Chapter 639: The Mastermind

"So, what are we going to do about these two uninvited guests?" Touko asked Aoko, lounging on the sofa in the new Kuonji residence and savoring a vanilla ice cream.

"If Ryoji Kaji tries any funny business at Bethany, kill him," Aoko decided the triple agent's fate with a cold indifference. "That base and Unit-05 both belong to us. One of the ADAMS is there right now—how could we let some two-bit thief wreck it?"

"What about the Fourth Child?" Touko asked. "She's an old acquaintance of ours—should we take her out too?"

"No need," Aoko waved it off. "Her position is different from that man's. And judging from her situation, she's switched into a new body specifically to pilot an EVA. Let her try."

"Judging by SEELE's current soul-transfer tech, Mari probably suffered plenty to turn back the clock," Touko said. "Looks like Asuka isn't the first victim of distributed cultivation."

"Alas, for her senior Yui's last wish, Mari has been exhausting every trick," Aoko sighed. "I bet turning herself into an EVA pilot is still about guarding Yui's son, Shinji."

"Persistent, isn't she," Touko mused. "But since we've reserved Unit-05, is it wise to add a pilot we can't fully control? Should I use magecraft…"

"On that point, I've obtained some special intel recently—from HQ's secret archive," Aoko said after a moment.

"Let's hear it."

"These manufactured pilots have been tinkered with by SEELE internally," Aoko said succinctly.

"No kidding?" Touko rolled her eyes. "You might as well say their whole bodies are tinkering!"

"No, I mean these artificial pilots possess AT Fields stronger than ordinary humans," Aoko blinked and continued. "Still think that's nothing?"

Touko snapped upright on the sofa. "How strong are we talking? Can it stop a semi-auto rifle?"

"What are you thinking? Of course not," Aoko rolled her eyes. "If it were strong enough to block bullets, they'd burn through their internal energy and mummify on the spot."

"So you're saying that because they have stronger AT Fields than normal people, if I force a magical mind-control, it could trigger their AT Field and cause them to collapse and die?" Touko finally connected the dots.

"Now you're getting it!" Aoko said crisply. "So if we don't want to kill Mari, we can't use mental control on her."

"Mm… then can we make our own insider?" Touko suddenly said.

"Einzbern homunculi won't work, right?" Aoko replied. "With our world's tech, the individuals we can manufacture lack AT Fields. They can't generate synchronization to pilot an EVA."

"On that point, I might have a way," Touko said, taking a folder from her satchel and handing it to Aoko. "This is one of Bethany's current research projects—still in the early stage."

"The Nebuchadnezzar Project, huh…" Aoko skimmed at speed, pondering the contents. "Imprinting bodily information that exceeds human identification…?"

"This might actually work!" Aoko stood, poring over the proposal again and again, considering the possibilities.

"Right?" Touko's lips curled in delight. "Since it's also a materialization of soul, I've been looking for ways to integrate this world's tech into my Third Magic… and this Nebuchadnezzar Project is basically a pillow delivered to a drowsy head."

"But there seem to be drawbacks at this stage," Aoko said, rapidly digesting the details. "What markers did Bethany choose?"

"Nothing exotic—Third Angel and ADAMS," Touko said. "From what I've learned about Unit-05, it's also a clone of ADAMS."

"Can we preserve only the 'mode' and strip away excess morphological transformations?" Aoko asked.

"It's doable, but difficult," Touko answered decisively. "I need time—and enough compute."

"Bethany has a MAGI sub-system, right?" Aoko said. "I'll give you HQ's MAGI upgrade scheme—the dummy-proof version."

"Thanks," Touko said, smiling. "I'll get a Nebuchadnezzar deliverable as soon as I can. Maybe I can even personally try out Unit-05 then."

Aoko raised an eyebrow. Touko's reminder made her realize it'd been a while since Touko used her loli-like original form. The thought of Touko in a skintight plugsuit piloting Unit-05 made her lips twitch upward.

"So once we have results from the Nebuchadnezzar Project, we'll need a willing kid to board, right?" Aoko asked further. "I don't think Mari will be a long-term Unit-05 pilot anyway; the Committee has further construction plans."

"How about Gray?" Aoko suggested after a moment. "She and Asuka get along well. Fighting side by side would be great."

"We'll need Artoria's and Morgan parental consent, won't we?" Touko said. "And most importantly, would Gray even want to do it?"

"Don't underestimate a gravekeeper, okay?" Aoko winked. "With my magecraft and magic protection, even if we can't save Unit-05, Gray will be safe."

"Fine. Then you handle convincing the parents," Touko said. "At the current pace, getting a product out of the Nebuchadnezzar Project will take about two years."

"That long?!" Aoko grumbled. "Even with DeepThought helping?"

"Don't ask silly questions," Touko rolled her eyes. "Instead of snarking, how about you pull some strings at HQ and send me more hands…"

"Let's not," Aoko thought for a moment. "We've got roughly four years until the Angels awaken en masse. We'll make it in time."