Aozaki Aoko [678-679] (Patreon)

Chapter 678: Under-the-Table Maneuvers

Before this, Touko had exchanged a secret way to keep in touch with Mari, but ever since that girl ran off to the Shanghai branch because she didn't want to keep piloting an EVA and scrubbing Angels' ashes at the Bethany base, their contact frequency plummeted.

The most recent contact came after the Fifth Angel's attack. In an email, Mari said she was cooperating with the Shanghai branch on adjustment experiments for Unit-08. Construction progress was promising; it might be ready to enter the fight against the Angels soon.

Given that Unit-00 was forcibly thawed during the battle with the Eighth Angel, the Vatican Treaty is basically a dead letter now. Or rather, in the face of ever-stronger Angels, deploying more than three EVAs has always been the most reliable approach.

Still, to save face for everyone, the various factions found excuses to skirt the Vatican Treaty. For example, the two European branch EVAs aren't under the jurisdiction of Japan's NERV HQ—

So they don't count as EVAs "held" by the same country.

Currently, the distribution of EVAs by country is: France – Unit-02; Russia – Unit-05; Japan – Unit-00/Unit-01; USA – Units 03/04/07; China – Unit-08.

The U.S. holds the most EVAs, already at the treaty cap of three. The construction status of Unit-07 is unclear; the U.S. claims it's "not yet complete," but more likely it is complete and they just don't want to admit it yet and trigger the Vatican Treaty.

Aoko had already told Touko the rough order of Angel attacks. It's "rough" because in past loops the Angels who "appeared" weren't exactly the same, and even the total number differed.

In this loop, the Angels are clearly fewer. And whether Lilith is truly the Second Angel is doubtful, because the First Angel is currently appearing in human form as Kaworu Nagisa; the original Adam is gone, replaced by the "Primordial Humans," the ADAMS.

Based on Aoko's past-life memories and previous loops, the next Angel to appear is highly likely to be what this cycle calls the Ninth Angel—formerly the Thirteenth Angel, the Hail Angel, Bardiel.

Its defining trait is the lack of a definite body; it fights by parasitically infecting and controlling EVA Unit-03 as a microorganism. As for how it managed to infect Unit-03 through layers of protection, Aoko already has a lead.

Two weeks ago, before the Seventh Angel appeared, when Gendo Ikari and Fuyutsuki were setting out for the Kagoshima Space Center, Aoko intercepted an encrypted string of command code via the "DeepThought" system.

The sender of that code was the Office of the Commander at NERV HQ, and the destination was the computer systems of North America's NERV Second Branch.

After decryption, the code turned out to be a string with no specific meaning.

Gendo's plan has always been to bring every combat-capable EVA in the world under his control as much as possible—and to destroy those he can't control.

But after his operation to destroy Unit-05 failed, he behaved for a while; the special forces he trained in secret also went quiet. Now it seems the remaining personnel were probably dispatched to the U.S.

Still, neither Aoko nor Touko believes he'll just sit on his hands. With Units 02 and 05 now under his nose, he can't blow them up.

Unit-08 is in the Shanghai branch. Compared to the North American branch, which has close ties with Japan, Gendo's primary sabotage targets will definitely be Units 03/04/07.

Unit-07 is still a question mark; Unit-03 is a standard model. So the real target is Unit-04, which mounts a pseudo-core.

But where exactly did the Ninth Angel get captured from? According to intel Touko previously obtained—

Besides the "voluntarily cooperating" First Angel, the only Angel humanity has captured is the modified Third Angel. Could the Ninth Angel be one of the secret trump cards the Committee has stashed away?

The doubts remain. Aoko and Touko can't find an answer for now and can only respond as things unfold. Unit-03 arriving at Tokyo-3 as the Ninth Angel's debut is basically set in stone.

This should serve as a warning from the Committee to Gendo, because judging from the current loop, North America's Second Branch still won't be able to keep Unit-04 safe.

In previous loops, the candidates who ended up piloting Unit-03 included, besides Toji Suzuhara, also Kensuke Aida and Asuka.

But Aoko won't allow Asuka to go through an infection by the Ninth Angel, so she prepared in advance: a fake body for faking death, a trigger-activated teleportation device, and so on.

The body was made by Touko at Aoko's request using Asuka's DNA; it lacks a soul, but in all other features it's identical to the real one. With the tech level of this world, it would be impossible to tell it isn't the real Asuka—even with no trace of cloning. (Because it isn't cloning technology.)

On top of that, Aoko also manipulated some external intel: hacking into the Marduk Institute's database, altering various data for the EVA pilot candidates, etc.

She bumped up the stats for those lesser-known candidates across the board to be a bit higher than Asuka's. As for Shinji's classmates, she didn't touch them, since they already had a high chance of becoming Unit-03's pilot; tweaking others' data, in a way, was saving Shinji's classmates from that fate.

Because, having promised Kaworu to let protagonist Shinji "find happiness," she must minimize the chances of psychological trauma for him.

After getting into a fight with Shinji last time, Toji Suzuhara apologized quite sincerely.

They're good friends now. If Shinji had to personally kill his own friend, the negative impact would be too great—he might shut down again.

So Aoko doesn't mind giving the kid a hand, hoping he can escape the bad luck of being parasitized by an Angel this time.

If it still ends up being one of Shinji's close friends who becomes Unit-03's pilot, then they'll try to avoid giving Gendo a chance to activate Unit-01's dummy plug system.

They'll let Unit-05, fully converted into a cyborg, handle the Ninth Angel. Against a bio-infection type Angel, the less flesh on your body, the greater your advantage.

—divider—

"What?! Eliminated?" Misato Katsuragi shot up from the bathtub, splashing water everywhere, gripping her phone as she pressed for details. "EVA Unit-04 and North America's Second Branch were both wiped out?!"

"That's right," Akagi Ritsuko answered solemnly over the phone. "The entire base was virtually vaporized by a massive explosion. The epicenter is presumed to be the Unit-03 hangar."

"...I'm heading to HQ right now. Twenty minutes, tops." Misato grabbed a bath towel, hastily wiped herself off, barely blow-dried her hair, threw on clothes, and bolted out of her apartment.

When she gets serious, Misato is very punctual. She said around twenty minutes, and she actually arrived at HQ's operations analysis center in 19. Ritsuko was already there with the rest of the operations staff, waiting for her.

Chapter 679: New Pilot Candidate

"It's a bloodbath..." Misato said, staring at a series of satellite photos of North America's Second Branch. The entire area was stained a deep red by a thick LCL field, and at the center rose a colossal cross of light piercing the clouds—the sign that an EVA or an Angel has been destroyed. "Have we figured out the cause? Our EVAs at HQ are fine, right?"

"Unit-04 was... a testbed built with the latest internal, semi-permanent operating system," Ritsuko said after a brief hesitation. "Unlike Unit-05's external N2 reactor, Unit-04 used a 'more aggressive' power system."

"More aggressive...?" Misato was puzzled at first, then suddenly remembered some classified materials Kaji Ryoji had recently shared with her. Her pupils dilated slightly. Could Unit-04 have been using Angel-tech?

Of course, she didn't say that out loud. If she did, suspicion would fall on Kaji, who was living with her. That would be dangerous—she's already somewhat aware of her old flame's spy work.

Meanwhile, in a conference room under Bethany Base's control sector within NERV HQ, the Bethany Base director and senior staff were watching the footage of North America's Second Branch exploding, faces grim.

"Same group as last time?" the director asked, fingers interlaced, striking the same pose as Gendo.

"Insufficient intel; can't confirm. But judging by the explosion pattern and spectral signature, it's very close to an Angel..." a development researcher replied cautiously.

"The Second Branch's internal power source was definitely built using core data we submitted to the Committee," Touko said. "In other words, same motive as the last attack on Bethany: someone doesn't want a semi-perpetual machine with a core to exist—be it a modified Angel or an EVA."

"The suspects are easy to narrow down. First, the French and German branches are on our side. The North American branch is directly controlled by the Committee. That leaves the Shanghai branch and HQ..." the director said darkly. "And the Shanghai branch is even more independent than the others; info on Unit-08's development is well sealed."

"...So the likeliest culprit is HQ," another dour-faced executive added. "Hmph. Good thing we anticipated this and partnered with the French branch to transfer those units to HQ first. Risky, but it kept that guy from playing dirty with us."

"Why is Gendo so obsessed with destroying platforms that can operate for long durations?" another researcher asked, puzzled. "Is it to keep leverage with the Committee? Isn't that going too far? Won't the Committee just sack him?"

"Probably some unspeakable deal with the Committee. Looks like he hasn't touched their bottom line yet," the director sighed. "In any case, we need to ramp up security for the captured Angel cores. The French can be too lax—we'll have to warn them."

—divider—

"In the U.S., they've been pushing Japan politically to force us to conduct Unit-03's activation test here in Tokyo-3," Ritsuko told Misato. "Seems like there's not much we can do about it."

"At a time this close to human extinction, they're still playing these backstabbing games. I don't even know what to say about humanity..." Misato sighed. "They just don't want to touch the hot potato, right? Is Unit-03's power system internal, too?"

"No, Unit-03 is a standard unit—the legit successor to Unit-02," Ritsuko said, sipping coffee while scrolling through Unit-03's data. "But the North American branch hasn't picked a pilot; they need us to provide one."

"Also," Ritsuko flipped to the next page, "the UN and the Committee are demanding we refreeze Unit-00. Once we accept Unit-03, there's no justification to keep the prototype operating."

"Ugh, easy for them to say," Misato grumbled, raking her fingers through her hair. "They want us to defeat the Angels, but also keep tight control of our forces..."

"That's human nature," Ritsuko smiled. "We live in a messy real world, not a utopian novel."

"So, do we have the shortlist? Any special instructions from the Commander?" Misato asked.

"Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki said the activation test schedule and the pilot selection for Unit-03 are up to you," Ritsuko said, handing over a stack of files—each a detailed profile of a fourteen-year-old candidate. "It's a sign those two trust you. You might be getting a promotion, Misato. I suggest you seize the chance."

"Don't make fun of me..." Misato muttered, flipping through the files. "Huh? Aren't these Shinji's classmates?"

She pulled three files and laid them on the table. The first two were Toji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida. The third was a girl named Hikari Horaki.

"That's right," Ritsuko glanced over and nodded. "Shinji's school is actually run by the Marduk Institute; every student there is a candidate, just with varying aptitudes. These three are the best prospects aside from Shinji and Ayanami."

Misato said nothing. Brow furrowed, her eyes moved back and forth among the three files, as if trying to choose the most suitable person—but delayed by some other consideration.

"...Him," Misato said at last, picking up the first file and placing it before Ritsuko. "Have him come to HQ to run the evaluation protocols. You're in charge of that side, right, Ritsuko?"

Ritsuko glanced at the choice and arched a brow, as if she'd guessed Misato's reasoning.

"His little sister was injured by the collateral shockwaves when Unit-01 fought the Fourth Angel. She's being treated in a private hospital," Ritsuko said with a half-smile. "The family finances are strained by the medical bills. If he becomes a pilot, his sister can be transferred to NERV's own hospital... You're still as kind as ever, Misato."

"...Are you praising me or mocking me?" Misato said helplessly.

Things took a turn Aoko hadn't expected. She hadn't thought Misato would choose Unit-03's pilot based not on physiological data, but on family finances. Perhaps this is the kind of misjudgment a rational person most easily makes when facing a sentimental one.