Adeptus Evangelion - Liberty Lost (IC)

[Rabadash]

CNN

“Hello we have a breaking newscast for you now! An unidentified large carrier ship has been spotted off the coast of Delaware seemingly slowly advancing toward the port. Officials say that it has ignored warning signs to turn back, and continues advancing toward US waters. While we have reported that the ship is officially NOT from any one nation, sources have claimed that the US has possibly identified the vassal as Chinese. How the Chinese could have been assisted through European waters is unknown, but sources are now confirming that the vessel is indeed Chinese. We’ll keep you posted right here on CNN.”

Unknown Location – February 20th, 2027, 3:02 pm

Commader Kleiber walked slowly down the long hallway, standing upright and headstrong, and her heels making distinct clacks against the marble floor. They generally don’t like those who seem slack. With her, Kevyn Headly walked obediently before her, one arm still held out in front of him. “What matter could possibly be so important?” he asked.

Kleiber didn’t even pay him the respect to turn around, and answered sternly “Unfortunately, if they needed a can opened I would be obliged to attend.” It was true, they had too much power, and Kleiber in the end had to little. She had been called down from her post at NERV headquarters to attend this meeting. It was 3 weeks before Liberty Lost was set to begin, and any distractions could defect from its success.

As they finally approached the end of the door, Kleiber held out her hand and pressed it against a small scanner. It whirled, and approved her identity. She stepped through the door to reveal a massive 360 degree green room, with a single white chair in the middle. “Good luck captain. They’re never kind.” Kevyn said has he stopped and stood behind the desk.

"Seems you’ve started doubting me sub-commander” she responded in a more playful tone with a smile. “Don’t worry; I can handle a few overzealous plutocrats.” As she said this, she sat down in the chair, gathered her thoughts, and stared straight ahead.

Whiten moments, the lights cut off, and holograms on nine men, each in their white Knights Templar robes sat in front of her on large white thrones. On their chest, bore their insignia, with the famous line “In Hoc, Signo Vinces”. One of them men spoke up. “Ms. Kleiber, thank you for joining us. We have an important matter to discuss” said the one in the middle, in a dark and ominous British accent.

“I thought the top priority was preparing the Evangelions for the demonstration. SEEL won’t be happy if one is unprepared, and I assume that would be bad for you.” responded Kleiber in a matter-of-fact tone. “It’s about the Carrier ship. I assume you already know about it.” Another man, 3rd from the right, spoke up in a French accent. “It needs to be taken care of. Now”

Kleiber crossed her legs, letting one heel flop up and down, as she stared back at the Hologram. “Any instance of military action not involving Evangelions or Angels, which aren’t due to appear for a long time, are under the direction of the respective government and will not receive aid from NERV or NERV military power. Those are the rules. The matter has already been handed over to the DOD. I trust the President is competent enough to take care of a renegade carrier vessel."


“There has been a complication Ms. Kleiber….”

NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 3:07 pm

Commander Kleiber had recently stepped out, leaving the NERV crew to do its own work. NERV HQ was like any normal one; three tiers for each part of the crew, gradually descending toward the main screen. However do to the situation of the approaching Chinese vessel; the crew wasn’t exactly sure what to do. As they sat ogling around image feeds, President Paine stepped into the base, carrying her usual powerful, yet beautiful demeanor. As she stepped down toward the center console, Terry couldn’t help but blush.

“I assume you have been keeping tabs on the situation” she said in a deep, womanly voice. “Yes Ms. President” replied Terry. “Ella is over there obsessing over it, but it’s best not to bother her” he said in his usual naïve sounding tone. “May I ask Ms. President, why hasn’t your naval forces done anything about it?”

“Politics, pure and simple” she responded. “If I attack, I have to give a full report to congress, and in election season, I just can’t deal with that now. Considering that thing looks like it plans on going into Chesapeake Bay, I’d like to use NERV’s defense forces. Use of NERV air support units and turrets are in a more political gray area. I will be setting up a dead-man’s zone in the bay. The minute that thing passes it, you fire.”

Blake had been overhearing the conversation, and responded in his deep tone. “Seems like a risky venture, but she’s right. If the ship passes a dead-man, it’s considered self-defense under Charter 14, and does not trigger the 30 day deadline under the War Powers Act” He sat back and watched the feed as he put his arms above his head.

Ashley Paine turned her head toward Jirou, who was busy checking MAGI’s systems. “Gorou, can you do a MAGI scan on that vessel. I have a drone flying overhead outfitted for a scan, I’ll patch you through.” With that, the President walked over to the MAGI console and began typing furiously.

Shanelle, with her limited knowledge of international politics, but more in office spoke up. “You know, when commander Kleiber isn’t here, it’s almost like she owns the place.” She said softly as she spun around in her revolving chair. Blake responded “Well, technically she does. Legally, she has to sign an executive order in order to take any action whiten NERV, but I guess it’s kind of unwritten that she’s the boss while the commander and sub-commander is out."

Unknown Location – February 20th, 2027, 3:30 pm

The British Templar spoke up. “We’ve already authorized the use of the Evas. We are sending the First and Fourth in as we speak." Kleiber looked surprised “What possible reason could you have? What do you have to gain from overstepping Paine’s authority?” Another Templar tilted his head momentarily, and then spoke up in a Russian accent. “I think you’ll find soon that no authority is being stepped on. The MAGI seems to have confirmed out suspicions.”

Unknown Location – February 20th 2027, 3:41 pm

“To think I would have to resort to infiltrating the Chinese just to get a hold of one of these things” said the girl as she clicked the button on here plug suit, fitting it to her body. “Glad I got one that fit my chest. Well, just 20 more minutes.” She got into the plug and made herself comfortable.

“♩Time to face the day….time to make it snappy….♩”

NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 3:55 pm

Paine stood in place, waiting for the MAGI’s results. “What’s it doing?” For the past 10 minutes, the carrier had been standing in place just before the dead-man zone in Chesapeake Bay “Common….move already!” Screamed Paine as she watched the ship sit ideally before the zone where she could blow it into kingdom come.

Blake spoke up. “You didn’t ACTUALLY think that it would just cross the zone did you? The UN broadcasts those things if you didn’t know”. Paine looked down and stared crossly at Blake. “Well, I didn’t expect it to go into US water either you know.” She averted her eyes back at the screen. “Anything from the MAGI yet?”

SCAN OF VESSAL COMPLETE
POSSIBLE VARIABLES
VARIABLE 1: BATTLESHIP…..0.23%
VARIABLE 2: DIPLOMATIC…..23.342523%
VARIABLE 3: CARGO…..89.2323%
ANALYZING POSSIBLE CARGO
VARIABLE 1: FOODSTUFFS….12.443%
VARIABLE 2: WEAPONS….15%
VARIABLE 3: EVANGELION…..99% (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sSoaG_yZQw)


“What the hell!” shouted Shanelle has she spit out her coffee. At that moment, the cargo hold of the carrier opened up, revealing a large stealth carrier aircraft.

“It’s an eva carrier plane!” All of NERV suddenly burst into chatter as people watched a concealed Eva be brought out from the carrier ship. “We need to activate NERV defenses!” screamed Blake. Paine looks down and seemed intent of getting her point across. “Under no circumstances do we touch that thing until it crosses the line!”

“Are you crazy?! That ship will take up to 45 minutes to launch the Eva. We have perfect opportunity to attack it now! Once that that thing has launched, we can only stop it with an Eva!” retorted Jirou, looking intently at the MAGI readings.

Suddenly, Sub-commander Kyvnn stepped through the entrance to the command center and stopped dead, addressing the command center. “Then that’s exactly what we’ll do.”

Over the Sub-Commander’s comments, Shanelle let out a bombshell. “Patching through preliminary images.”

http://wiki.evageeks.org/images/3/35/Eva2-22_C0017_crop.jpg

Unknown Location – February 20th, 2027, 4:00 pm

“We’ve already sent out the call to the first and 4th child. They’re on a train now to Geofront now." Kleiber looked quitted annoyed at the hologram sitting in front of here subverting her authority. “Do you not trust my own decisions? You were the ones to appoint me to NERV. I know exactly what I am doing!”

The British Templar spoke up “We do trust your authority, but in order for Liberty Lost to succeed, we need to be cooperative. Hopefully, your young captain will be able to get the 4th to cooperate.” Sharron sat back in her seat, coming to terms with the Knight’s decisions. “Why John and Theodore? The other pilots are already in DC, why bring in these pilots.”

The French Knight answered the question. “Lucy is unstable, and the second is dangerous to use in any situation. He he was to descend to early….”

NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:08 pm

“Why just two pilots?!” screamed Jirou, confused by the situation. Blake took control of the situation again. “Politics as usual, Jirou”. He wasn’t too fond of the condescending tone, and quickly retorted. “What could possibly be political about only using half our strength to fight a rouge Evangelion?”

Blake began his explanation. “They’re clearly doing this to fish for data on out units. Just think for a moment, in 2 weeks’ time, we’ll be showing off our units to the entire world for the Liberty Lost reveal. If the Chinese were too leak ANY deficiencies to the media, the pundits would be all over the units during the reveal.”

Paine quickly continued “We’d be political sitting ducks, and the laughing stalk of the entire international community.” She turned toward the sub-commander standing near the top of the base. “But we are only required to showcase 2 units during the reveal. So if we use 2 units to fight this thing, we have the 2 other units to show off.”

“But why John of all the pilots?” asked Jirou quickly. “He’s more stable than Lucy or Quenten.” replied the sub-commander.

“John is more stable than Lucy? An autistic psychopath is more stable than a manufactured human built for loyalty? Kleiber is a fool.”


"Either way, SEEL wants this to happen, so we have little choice. Ella, you ready?"

Somewhere in North Virginia. February 20th, 2027, 4:08 pm

“Attention: We will be arriving in our final stop at Union Station in 5 minutes. All those wishing to continue to Geofront, please have relevant IDs ready”

The train barred through the country side as it transported John and Theodore toward their destinations. Theodore had received a call to insure John made it to NERV HQ. Was he really the 4th pilot? He had not said a single word to Theodore ever sinse he got on the train.

City Place Mall. February 20th, 2027, 4:08 pm

Both Lucy and Quentin had heard the evacuation call and were headed with the rest of the crowed toward the Geofront evacuation headquarters. What could be going on? The Evas were not set to launch for another 3 weeks.

You can take this opportunity to talk with each other on the train if you wish. As a note, the fellowship/Will check to talk to John/for John to talk is +20 unless John has never met the person. He's been sitting with Theodore for awhile, so he generally knows you.

Sorry about the extremely long opening. Ill have the city map up soon with defenses and whatnot.

[Astro_sol]

Theodore swallowed nervously as he hung up the phone, turning to the boy next to him. They want me to talk to him. Can’t be that bad, right? An introduction couldn’t hurt. “Hi. Um. I’m Theodore, er, Theodore Cartwright.” He hesitantly reaches out a hand to the boy. “You’re John, right?”

Fel roll, because John
[roll0]

[Transcendent]

Lucy was leaning backwards in her chair, her rather high heeled boot rested against the edge of a table in the malls cafeteria. She was currently wearing a pair of black jeans that had seen their better days, a pair of knee hugging boots with wicked looking heels, and a white tank top.

She was sipping on a glass of water, the safest thing she could get in this pit of consumerism. Everything else was tainted with that dreaded, dread caffeine. Which had proven on at least one occasion to be rather detrimental to her health. Even if she had heard that coffee and cigarettes was something akin to tasting heaven itself.

“Look at them scuttling around…” She mumbled, as she watched the passersby. “They’ve got no idea that what the hell is going on.” She said rolling her eyes, as she reached into her purse and searched for a pack of clove cigarettes. She lit one of them up, taking a deep drag… obviously ignoring the no smoking signs that were peppered around the cafeteria. She really couldn’t stand watching the uninformed go about their business like nothing was the matter. She was about to go into a rather condescending rant, yet something caught her attention.

The warnings came blaring to life. Those lovely sirens could only mean one thing, she was about to be tested! She could prove herself to NERV! Until recently it had only been synch tests, but now! Now was a real and true conflict a conflict only someone of her caliber could meet. She slipped her smart phone free, waiting for the call. A call that would never come, as the seconds past her heart sunk into her chest.

“W…w…why aren’t they calling…” She mumbled hoping that Quentin hadn’t heard. She took another long drag before exhaling a thick cloud of smoke. She slapped her glass of water to the ground. “I..I..I’m not going to ground like some civilian…” She fumed.

[Jobbut]

John remained quiet as the person adjacent to him finally abandoned his cellphone call, his gaze somewhat glazed over as he blankly stared at a spot on the floor of the transport, remaining still and soundless.

He mentioned a...Fourth Pilot... Just like that Letter said...

John noticed something out of the corner of his vision, suddenly shifting all at once and turning his body so he could look, every fiber of his being early creaking and crying out in soreness from being in the exact same position for several hours now, listening to the same two songs on his cassette player.

He hears the boy's words, but they don't register until he stares at the hand for a moment, glancing up to see his face for what seems to be the first real time before looking back down to stare at his hand.

He thought for a moment, trying to make out both what you had said and how to respond. After a short eternity, he raised his eyes again to look Theodore in the eyes.

"I...am John."

He muttered a a slow, monotone voice that sounded as if it was slightly confused. He slowly broke away from Theodore's eye contact to stare at his hand, his expression becoming slightly befuddled as he wondered why exactly you were pointing at him after he had answered your question.

[Astro_sol]

Theodore kept smiling as the boy next to him stared at the hand. Okaaaaaaay. He lets the hand hang for a few moments before wiping it on his NERV-issue jacket.

Theodore was comfortable with precisely 2 topics: military matters and, more specifically, Evangelions. His training had covered how to handle weapons, how to take down someone better armed than you, and how to handle a 40 meter tall bio-mechanical monstrosity that cleaved through physics like a knife through hot butter. What was not covered in his extensive multi-year training regimen was how to make small talk with people, especially ones that didn't conform to social norms; it made it that much easier for Theodore if they could drive the conversation. That felt a lot closer to following orders, and orders made Theodore's world go round.

"Well, er, it seems we're getting close." He scratched the back of his head, unsure of where to steer the conversation. "Have you ever been to DC? Supposed to be one of the most fortified cities on the face of the planet. I mean, it'd have to, being NERV HQ, and all."

[Jobbut]

John watched the boy's hand slowly retract and brush against his jacket, John's attention immediately switching back to staring at the floor as he clicked the cassette player back on and let it rest against his leg, his hands set firmly on his thighs and rubbing back and forth slowly.

He heard the boy's voice again, his hand slowly reaching over to his cassette player and clicking it once more, the soft whir of the box and hum of music stopping as he returned his gaze to the other passenger.

"No."

John stated bluntly after the boy had been speaking, his voice dry and serious, though still just as boring and slow as before. He paused again, thinking about what the boy had said again, his comment about the 'NERV Headquarters' in particular, and began pulling out out a small card, his NERV ID.

N-E-R-V He read to himself, lazily mouthing the letters before setting the card in his lap and turning back to Theodore.

"What is 'NERV'?"

He asked, doing his best to imitate the boy's pronunciation of the organization's name, a hint of curiosity evident in his voice as he tucked the card back into his pocket, the corner just sticking out.

[Fearan]

When the sirens roared, Quentin had almost finished his glass of tonic. It wasn't his best glass of tonic, but hey - what could you expect from a mall cafeteria. The pilot looked like plain and simple kid from lower class family with his grey robe-like coat, dark-red sweater under it, totally non-brand black jeans and a pair of sport shoes. When the evacuation signs appeared, he just grinned.
- Damn Chinese, why do they want to spoil a weekend - then he throwed a glance at Lucy and answered her last question.
- They probably don't know, what to do yet - come jn, lets hed for HQ, and hope, someone from security will pick us up on the road
Quentin finished his glass with one gulp and almost rush to the exit, but then turned around to Lucy.
- Dont just stand there, come on. We have to run - the notes of exitement were clearly heard in his voice. At last! Action! Adventure! Adrenaline! All his pose all his mimics just screamed somthing like that. There was something interesting going on, and Quentin didn't want to miss it

[Transcendent]

“This wouldn’t be spoiling weekend if I got a damn phone call.” She said stuffing her phone away once more. “Guess it could just be another military breach, maybe they don’t want to bring out the heavy artillery just yet.”

She brought herself to her feet, narrowly avoiding slipping in the puddle of water that she had created on the floor where she tossed her glass. She cracked her neck, rolling her eyes into her skull for a moment. “Do you got your bike? Lets not rely on getting plucked up by some monkey in a suit…” She said as she headed towards the exit, bobbing and weaving through the masses.

The cigarette still clenched tightly between her lips, she took the occasional deep breath hoping the nicotine would help calm her somewhat agitated nerves.

[Fearan]

- Nah. Like hell, they'd let me use the scooter, after that lousy crash. - Quentin answered with a grin - - That's why, I said run - he added while moving to the evacuation exit. Looks like, that time the two pilotes would need to rely on "monkeys in a suit" from security. Not, that Q.B. despised security division, but he understood, that it was really easy to lose two pilotes in the whole evacuating mob. And yet, it was the only realistic chance for getting to NERV on time

[Transcendent]

Again another set back, no mode of transportation besides feet. She idly wondered if she could just make a phone call for a pick up, but, she would probably be berated for putting her faith in others instead of trying to make her way back to headquarters herself. She couldn’t hot wire a car, which, oddly enough didn’t seem like a course of action that would displease the doctor. It would show her ingenuity at least, as well as her drive to get back home. She idly wondered if Quentin could, but, she held her tongue it would probably be better to not ask.

She took one last final drag on her cigarette before tossing it to the ground. “Dumb day to wear heels…” Lucy said before kicking them off, and doing her best to stuff the large things into her bag further distorting it. “I guess it can’t be helped…” She said, and before long those legs of hers were pumping and she was pushing her way through the crowd.

Gotta get home, gotta get home, gotta get home, gotta get home. were the thoughts rushing through her mind. She couldn't disappoint her creator, or the rest of the staff.

[Astro_sol]

"You...you don't know?" Theodore frowned. Had no one told this "John" anything? His handler back at NERV Nevada had told him that much of what Theodore knew was extremely classified, and he should leave most of the briefing to the higher-ups at NERV HQ in DC. But still, NERV was going to have him pilot an Eva with someone who had no idea what NERV even was? Oh hell. Next, they're going to throw him into combat with me without telling him what an Eva is. I'd be better off by myself. Still, I guess a little introduction couldn't hurt.

"NERV is, uh, they're an organization in charge of defense in countries of the UN." Theodore knew quite a bit more about NERV, but the basics would do for now. "They work for SEEL, so they're in charge of world peace."

Through superior firepower, heh.

"They have a lot of resources, so they can afford to get the best weapons and such. They have a lot of projects going on, and we're part of a big one." Theodore gestures at the card in John's pocket.

"That card? It's, uh, you kind of need it. So don't lose it. And you'll need it kind of now, because they're about to come through to check if we have them. Security, you know, because, uh, this train stops in the Geofront. That's basically NERV central. You'll love it, it's a real big underground base."

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Standing at the viewing screens drawn up to her full height of 5'6, Ella is built like an athlete; lithe, strong and quick. Her hair is pure white and braided down her back. Her multi-coloured eyes drink in the scenes on the screens, never once blinking. Her arms are crossed behind her back, and her NERV-issue sidearm hangs at the hip of her tailored NERV uniform. Her badge of rank is displayed proudly on her shoulder. Before Ashley arrives, Ella has already considered and discarded three interception plans for the approaching ship.

Ella noticably doesn't look away from the monitors as the President arrives, nor does she join in the salutes from the other members of the bridge staff. In fact, she barely reacts at all, other than to request a status update for the President's benefit.


After listening to the President, Ella quickly arrives at the conclusion that she is being used, again. NERV operations were carried out under her authority, meaning that any debacle was her fault - and now the President was calling the shots while leaving Ella to pick up the pieces and take the blame if things went wrong. Used again, Ella thinks without any real bitterness. Nothing new there.

Her first real, unsimulated battle was going to be difficult. Being nineteen and female undermined her authority with most of the NERV staff. To now have her position over-ridden by the President herself would be an almost insurmountable obstacle if this operation was anything other than a total success. And if she couldn't live up to her position as Operations Director - as the trial officer for the West Point Rebuild program - then she and quite a few others were likely to die.


SCAN OF VESSAL COMPLETE
POSSIBLE VARIABLES
VARIABLE 1: BATTLESHIP…..0.23%
VARIABLE 2: DIPLOMATIC…..23.342523%
VARIABLE 3: CARGO…..89.2323%
ANALYZING POSSIBLE CARGO
VARIABLE 1: FOODSTUFFS….12.443%
VARIABLE 2: WEAPONS….15%
VARIABLE 3: EVANGELION…..99%

“What the hell!” shouted Shanelle has she spit out her coffee. At that moment, the cargo hold of the carrier opened up, revealing a large stealth carrier aircraft.

“It’s an eva carrier plane!” All of NERV suddenly burst into chatter as people watched a concealed Eva be brought out from the carrier ship. “We need to activate NERV defenses!” screamed Blake. Paine looks down and seemed intent of getting her point across. “Under no circumstances do we touch that thing until it crosses the line!”
“Are you crazy?! That ship will take up to 45 minutes to launch the Eva. We have perfect opportunity to attack it now! Once that that thing has launched, we can only stop it with an Eva!” retorted Jirou, looking intently at the MAGI readings.

Suddenly, Sub-commander Kyvnn stepped through the entrance to the command center and stopped dead, addressing the command center. “Then that’s exactly what we’ll do.”

Over the Sub-Commander’s comments, Shanelle let out a bombshell. “Patching through preliminary images.”

Presumably a prelimary N2 strike is out of the question. Our only option is to intercept the carrier before it reaches the shore.


"Ella, you ready?"

Standing impassively in front of a status monitor, Ella nods once. "Ready, Command. Deploy VTOL wings for interception. Place all turret crews on alert and cancel all leave as of this time. Tank squadrons are to take defensive positions along the city limits. I want the plane downed before it reaches the coast.

Increase security around Headquarters and dispatch security teams to cover the pilots and any other essential personnel that are not within HQ. I want a triple guard on the new pilots and their Evas - the ship might be a diversion for the real attack.

Retrieve Lucy and Quentin and place them on stand-by in their Evangelions. What's the current status of the new pilots and their Evas?"


Boosting Turret unit power to 3 with Requisition Support.

[Jobbut]

John slowly turned back to staring at the dirtied train floor as Theodore began explaining to him what exactly NERV was. John, quite frankly, knew about as much about NERV as he did any war past World War 2, Much to the thanks of one of his previous Foster Fathers being a redneck war fanatic that obsessed over it.

His hand rested on the old cassette player as you spoke, his thumb over one of the buttons worn so much that it was impossible to determine its function aside from mere guesswork. He listened with no apparent interest, just staring at the floor in-between his legs, his free hand gently rubbing his jeans in a slow, patient manner.

Finally, after listening to you entire explanation, spending the entirety of it without moving or saying anything, or for that matter any indication he was listening aside from the fact that he asked you, his thumb pressed the little light grey button on the side of the box and the small wheels began pulling on the tape inside once more, a hum and whir as the music began playing once more, John continuing his wordless stare at nothing.

A Military facilty…

”What do… they want me... here for?”

He asked, once again using his slow, dead voice, the soft click of the button again at the first short pause between his words, the soft hum of the tiny motors and music stopping quickly afterwards, John not looking up from his vacant stare, both his hands settling on his thighs and rubbing back and forth.

[Astro_sol]

As Theodore talked, he studied the boy next to him. This "John" was piloting material? He seemed to be off in his own little world with his cassette player. Theodore couldn't even tell if he was listening, but he'd been told to brief him, and brief him he would. Even if the guy was creepy as hell.

Theodore couldn't help but notice the almost mechanical movements of John's hands. He had been running his mouth in order to avoid nervousness, but a chill was slowly creeping his way up his spine. There was something off about this kid. Quite a few somethings.

"Well. If everything goes as planned, you should be piloting an Evangelion. Giant robot. You'd be protecting the US from any foreign invaders, along with whatever else they tell us to do."

Theodore stretched out his hands, knuckles cracking, then leaned back into his seat.

"It's a lot of fun, if you ask me."

[Rabadash]

NERV HQ, Geofront, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:10 pm

“All defense systems are a-go and in position! MAGI reports confirm that Enemy Eva Carrier Plane will be ready to launch in 10 minutes, much earlier than expected. I’ll give you the word when it becomes within firing range.” Terry shouted toward Ella. “We should be able to easily take down as it approaches the 14th street Bridge; however the Eva it carries will be fully functional.”

Shanelle quickly imputed “And so will ours. Unit 00 and Unit 03 are ready on standby." she said as she rocked back and forth in her seat. "This is so exciting!"

Blake spoke up “I can’t confirm which unit the carrier has, so we have no preliminary details at this time”

The Sub-commander answered Ella’s final question. “The Unit 00 and Unit 03 pilots have just arrived at Union Station. It will take approximately 13 minutes for them to reach the Launch Bay.”

“Which means we have an error time of 5 minutes to hold it off ourselves.”

Union Station, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:10 pm

“Attention: We have reached our destination of Union station. We are currently in a state of emergency; please make your way to the respective Geofront evacuation base as directed by Union Station staff. Those wishing to make their way to NERV HQ, please make your way to the elevator at the far end of the station.”


As both Theodore and John were shuffled off the train, they stepped off into Union station. This large, old-school, station survived the second impact, and still hold the marble sculptures that lined the wall. The station itself was simply a long, dome hallway with the train, stairs that lead up to the main station near the far end. There had been a freight elevator built straight in front of the train exit with a small pad for imputing NERV ID card. The trained roared past again, revealing an adjacent station at the far end across the tracks.

City Place Mall. February 20th, 2027, 4:12 pm

The NERV employees had just about gotten the crowed through the large freight door when the slammed it shut. This revealed the evacuation front, a massive series of tunnels underneath the city that connected DC and the Geofront. The one that Quentin and Lucy had appeared in was simply a two way walkway. The one on the left led to a large open area where multiple NERV guards were slowly shuffling the crowed into different elevators so that the safety shelters wouldn’t become over crowded.

To the right side was the NERV entrance. Past the single guard that stood next to the roped off walkway was a lit hallway that presumably led to personal entrances to the Geofront.

[Jobbut]

John kept the slow, steady pace of his rubbing, his gaze slowly shifting until he was staring at a new unremarkable location of the train floor that was more comfortable for his neck. The new angle allowed Theodore to see John’s face, cold, absent, and emotionless as it was now that he wasn’t focused on interacting with the other passenger.

John thought about what Theodore had said, wordlessly wondering and deciding in his mind. A… ‘Giant Robot’? John’s seemingly dead expression sprang to life with the slightest of both confusion and interest, has hand sliding down from its monotonous action to grace the little gray box again, the soft click of the worn button all that was needed to re-start the soft whir of the box and the hum of music from the bulky grey plastic headphones.

I’m… Not exactly sure –what- I’m supposed to do… Or why they want me to do it… Or even if I want to ‘pilot’… But I don’t seem to have anywhere else to go, now that I’ve been abandoned yet again…

John let out a sigh that didn’t seem directed at anything in particular, his head turning once more in a slow, mechanical movement the stare somewhere else unremarkable on the train floor; his hand withdrawing from the cassette player to return to its previously ceased rubbing against his thigh.

As the train came to a slow, easy stop and the voice happily chattering about directions and locations, John frowning ever-so-slightly and pushing in the button on the cassette player once more, a powerful, yet seemingly gaunt hand slowly reached its way up to drag the headphones down until they hung over John’s back, the Cassette Player tucked into his jacket’s pocket as he looked up to Theodore, the hint of a lost child gleaming in his eyes as he waited for him to lead him somewhere now that the train had stopped, just like when he transferred Foster Homes.

[Astro_sol]

Theodore continued to crack his knuckles as they got off the train. He felt a tremor of excitement at the emergency announcement. He turned to the boy next to him. The dead look in the boy's eyes had shocked him. This kid was something special, in more ways than one, and many of those ways probably weren't good.

I swear, if he goes nuts in an Eva...

Noticing the boy eyeing him expectantly, Theodore waited until the train had moved past to catch a glimpse of the elevators at the far end of the station. That's what the announcement had said, right?

"Seems like that last bit was meant for us," he said, more to himself than anything. He honestly couldn't tell if John was listening to him, but he had decided that it didn't really matter. "C'mon, and have your NERV card handy. You're gonna need it. We gotta get to HQ, pronto." With that said, Theodore began to make his way to the elevator, walking with the air of a drilled soldier. He quickly motioned with his right arm to follow, his NERV ID already in hand.

[Jobbut]

John simply watched Theodore look to him, then the elevator across the station. He shuffled to his feet shortly after Theodore rose, his posture somewhat bent forwards, concealing his somewhat above average height as he slowly trailed behind the boy after his waving motion, his hand in his pocket, gripped tightly around the small plastic card.

John seemed irritated and somewhat frantic to stand while the loud, noisy crowd filed out into the station, the loud, beaming sirens seeming only to harass the boy’s ears. As he followed behind Theodore, the crowds thinning out, he began to grind his teeth, hastily fumbling his headphones back over his ears in hopes of muting the shrill electronic screams

John seemed to stare at the floor as he followed the boy, occasionally looking up just enough to see his legs to make sure he was still behind him, and having several narrow misses with fleeing civilians in the process.
… Stupid Sirens… Too ****ing loud… Hurt my ears… John thought to himself, the young boy with his awkward posture seeming to nearly fume with anger while shuffling behind Theodore, his hands clenched in tight fists.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

They must know we have two Evangelions already, so why are they attacking with one?

Ella frowns as she mulls over the potential motives for an attack. The President's scenario sounded plausible, but at the same time sounded too simple. Why would China reveal an Evangelion for such a paltry advantage in public opinion?

Ella scans the Bridge, before her eyes alight on Blake Jackson.
"Blake. A word, if you'd be so good," she says, almost casually, stepping out of immediate hearing distance of the rest of the bridge crew.

When he joins her, Ella lowers her voice;

"It would be a terrible shame if, say, a group of terrorists completely unaffiliated with NERV were to hijack a boat in the marina, and were to load it up with explosives and send it in to that Chinese vessel out there, wouldn't it? If the Chinese vessel were to fire on it, then it would provoke a legitimised response out of the U.S. Government - an attack on a U.S.-registered vessel would constitute an act of piracy at the very least, and war at the most. And if the Chinese vessel were to be destroyed by the terrorist ship, then it would be a great tragedy that in no way reflects upon NERV. I want you to make sure that no such ship is launched. Do I make myself clear?"

[Astro_sol]

As he walked closer to the elevator, sirens blaring in his ears, Theodore frowned.
Hope the security detail gets here soon. Then again,, he thought, eyeing the dome around him, there are a lot of spots for snipers here. Probably have quite a few covering us. Still, it'd be polite for someone to meet us, and I'd feel a bit safer. Outside of an Eva, Theodore felt exposed.
He was sure to glance back every now and again to make sure he was followed. He didn't personally care for John, but he remembered the firm voice on the phone. He had to get John to HQ, and the alarms sounding compounded his motivation.
He shook himself out of his thoughts, finding himself at the elevator. He swiped his card, hearing the confirming beep. The barrier gave way for him, and he walked through, hesitating a moment to make sure John followed him.

[Jobbut]

John continued his short, shuffling steps behind Theodore, his hand eventually finding its way into his jacket’s pocket and clicking the little button once more, the soft hum of the music playing once more as he stopped just short of pumping into the other pilot, looking up to see him swipe the card and fumbling to pull his own out.

John placed his card backwards in the little crevice provided on the terminal, swiping it back and forth for a moment, it getting caught when he brought through the wrong end. John stared at the card, starting to swipe quickly, clenching the card tight before stopping and letting it fall onto the flat part of the terminal. He took a breath and picked it back up, placed it in the slot again, doing quick swipes like you did now.

John finally gave up after several more swipes of the card, angrily slamming his fist into the terminal as Theodore turned to make sure he was following, his keycard jiggling in the slot and the little green light flickering on, Forcing John to let out a short, irritated sigh of relief and grab his card roughly from the slot, nearly crushing it in his hand as he walked behind Theodore once more.

…How long is this going to take? I’m sick of this **** already…

[Fearan]

It seemed, Q.B was never told about existance of different forms of movements, other than "RUN AT FULL SPEED". At least, not in that situation. While he ran being not very interested in whether Lucy could keep up, he never spoke a word. And only when he have finished the run towards the NERV entrance...
- QuentinBenedictStarling,NERV - he shouted to the guard, breathing heavily and waving his ID in the air. - wasthereanyordersconcerningmyselffromCap'nSanders? - he continued rapidly. Only near the entrance, the Last Child took a breath - and looked around, searching if Lucy was there

[Transcendent]

Lucy was following behind Quentin, making sure to never lose sight of him. If he got lost in the crowd she suspected that she’d never hear the end of it. Particularly if it was intended that they launch sometime in the near future. She knew it was stupid to be running in the first place, it would make the evacuation process more difficult.


She slid to a stop behind Quentin, mere inches away from slamming into his back.. She fished around for her ID card, and simply handed it off to the man without a word. She had heard quite a few giggles after she had said her name, and it was just something she’d rather not have to deal with at the moment. She looked back and forth before resting her gaze on Quentin once more.

"Seems like it's business as usual around here."

[Rabadash]

NERV HQ, Geofront, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:13 pm

Blake nodded at Ella, and walked up to the top of the Operations room, and took out a phone and began making multiple calls. After he was done, Paine walked over to Blake and began talking with him. Within minutes, President Paine began receiving multiple calls of terrorists threats, which based on experience she knew mean Blake was up to something. She walked across the top tier of the base to confront him. Despite being towered by Blake, her presence made her seem like the larger one. After an extensive conversation, she began calling contacts.

She began with the secretary of defense at the Pentagon. “Evacuate all personal within a 100 meter radius of the carrier ship. No questions. I said no questio…no NERV is busy preparing the Evas, they…Jackson isn’t even at the base toda…” She continue to lie her way through the red tape.

“I will go meet the pilots” Jirou said as the news came in that John and Theodore had arrived at Union Station. “Honestly, I will be surprised if John doesn’t destroy half the base within a minute in Unit 03. None of it is on my head.” With that, Jirou walked up the steps of the operations HQ and went through the door.

“Captain, we have preliminary information from the MAGI of the Evangelion Unit.” addressed Shanelle “It’s Unit 05, a failed model. It was designed to sacrifice efficiency and practicality for battery life. Its internal battery can run up to an hour without an umbilical cable.”

Blake chimed in from atop the room. “So either the Chinese outright stole it, or copied the model all together. Why they didn’t just steal a real Unit is beyond me”

Unknown Location – February 20th, 2027, 4:15 pm

“What’s the real reason for launching Unit 03? You’re obviously hiding something”

The last Templar on the right answered this question in a Chinese accent, barely able to correctly pronounce the English language. “We have already informed you at length about the choice of the two pilots to engage Unit 05.”
“You know exactly what I’m referring to. You know that girl will attempt to awaken it.”

The British Templar re-crossed his legs, and then spoke up. “We have already accounted for the situation. The inhibitors on Unit 03 are perfect. It’s an improvement over Unit 02 by a long shot. We also cannot risk awakening Unit 02, considering it is the original”

Kleiber was obviously not buying this explanation, and leaned back in her chair, squinting her eyes. “That’s bull****. If the plan was to test Nebuchadnezzar, then you would have Luna to pilot. You take a god, and then rebuild it to be more and more powerful. God punished us one before, and you risk doing it again.”

“Ms. Kleiber, do you know why the Tower of Babel fell?”

Unknown Location – February 20th 2027, 4:19 pm

The pilot of Unit 05 closed the secure channel that connected her contacts, and she was forced to crack a smile. “Blake Jackson. The great extorter. I should of guessed that they would try something like this. Although, something like this is probably the captains idea. Oh well, either way it looks like I’ll only get to try this baby once.” She began to readjust herself in the unusual plug. Because of Unit 05 having an distorted antinomy, multiple extra plugs are attached in order to make synching with such an Eva possible.

"All right, let’s do it! Invert Controls! Force Evacuation! Deploying field!"

NERV HQ, Geofront, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:20 pm

For the last 5 minutes, NERV HQ watched in disbelief at the situation that played out. The large carrier vessel parked just outside the dead-man line in the Chesapeake Bay had been under attack by a smaller motor vessel armed with turrets and sub-machine guns. A small private vessel had been hijacked by a small nationalist terrorist group that called itself “Ex”, likely in response to a lackluster response to an intended invasion. They had ridden up to the vessel itself, and opened fire. After a few guards on the carrier had been taken out, the terrorists slowly climbed up to the ship itself and began to run into internal qurters.

“All right, front core, move in on the vessel!” ordered Paine to a small force of Marines that had been dropped in on the vessel. “That ship is a foreign national being attacked by non-state maritime insurgents, deadly force is authorized, I repeat deadly force is authorized!”

“Don’t they have a room in the White House for this sort of thing?” asked Shanelle innocently. “Yeah, but its much easier to simply mooch off of NERV’s resources.” Responded Blake.

Moments Paine’s order had been given, she received a call back from the Marine core’s leader. “The terrorists have placed at least 15 high volume explosives throughout the ship. Most have either strapped themselves to the explosives, or have jumped overboard. Set to detonate in 200 seconds. Removal impossible. No surviving Chinese nationals, requesting permission to retreat.”

Paine couldn’t help but smile. NERV was resourceful, but she had no idea how one man could do what Blake Jackson had done. Maybe she should have kept him in the CIA? “Permission granted.”

Northern Chesapeake Bay, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:20 pm

But then it happened.

“Actually boys, permission denied.”

The young, female voice was clearly coming from the giant Carrier Plane in the center of the Vessal. At that moment, a giant bubble of energy sprung up from nowhere, forcing the marines off the ship.

“Enemy Eva has activated it’s AT field!” Blake yelled as he ran down to his station. The feed fizzled for a moment, then cut back to the Eva, fully erect standing on the carrier ship. “Enemy Eva is fully operational!”

“What is going on down there?!” Paine yelled through her headpiece, attempting to contact the marines. They responded “W-We don’t know…what is that? Is that a weapon?

http://www.absoluteterror.net/images/eva_unit_05_100.gif

“Oh, it’s much more than that.” The voice coming from the Eva responded. “I don’t really appreciate you blowing up my way out of here. Your captain seems to be a smart one, but I’m curious what your pilots are like. 3, 2, 1…” With that, Unit 05’s AT field solidified into something resembling a massive energy bunker. Everything went silent. Then, in an instant, a flash was seen from inside the Ship’s main control room, followed by a defeating explosion. These explosions continued engulfing the ship, until finally they reached the fuel tank. “This is gonna hurt…” said the pilot of Unit 05.

The fuel tank finally exploded, causing a small mushroom cloud to fly up in the air, and a geyser to fall down to the surrounding area. The debris of the carrier vessel crashed down around the surrounding areas, but mostly landed in the water only. Unit 05 was able to prevent annihilation due to its AT field, but the shockwave pushing on the AT field flung Unit 05 at least 200 feet in the air, 4 legs flailing in all directions. As it fell on its right arm, caused significant pain to the pilot. “Godammit that hurt more than I expected.” With that, Unit 05 continued north toward the city itself, rolling along its clumsy movement system. Whiten minutes, Unit 05 began approaching 14h street.

NERV HQ, Geofront, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:22 pm

Information bombarded Ella and HQ.

“Carrier Vessel is has completely sunk. Collateral Damage existent, but not significant”

“MAGI indicates that enemy AT field builds resistance to blasts and shockwaves!” Blake screamed. However, he was thinking something much different. “The pilot continued with the attack despite the destruction of the Chinese forces…this attack clearly isn’t political. It’s too late I suppose, we only readied two units…”

“Unit 05 almost within range of defenses….”

Paine was too concerned with her Marines, who had been subject to a massive explosion. Any survivors needed to account for. “Core leader, how many survivors are there? Core leader…..dammit”

“Unit 05 has reached 14th Street Bridge is now within in range of Tank, VTOL, and Turret 2! Your orders Captain?”

Under Union Station, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:22pm

Upon taking the elevator down to under Union Station, John and Theodore appeared in a single hallway with multiple doors lining the wall. At the end was a wide crated lift that went straight down into the Geofront main area, where people heading to various areas could connect to other lifts and head around the massive underground ecosystem that was the Geofront. As Thedore and John stepped out of the freight lift and were greeted by Jirou Gorou, the Science and Engineering director at NERV.

“It’s been awhile Theodore….and you must be Mr. Wonderboy John….the designated pilot of Unit 03.” Jirou kneeled down and became eye level with John. “I’ve been told to take you to the Evangelion containment facility…but let me explain something to you now.” He began to talk in a condescending tone, clearly upset at the indication that this child is more fit to pilot than Lucy. “You will never replace Lucy and Unit 02. Unit 03 is but a copy of the real thing, and Lucy is 3 times the pilot you will ever be. Don’t let this opportunity get to what little mind you actually have you freak.”

With that diatribe, he stood up, quickly tensed his head in a way as to say “**** you”, and motioned the two pilots to follow him through a small door in the middle of the hallway to the left. “We can take this to get to the crate directly. We don’t have time to sight see the Geofront.”

Under City Place Mall. February 20th, 2027, 4:23 pm

Lucy and Quentin were let past the NERV guard after he had been shown their IDs. He slowly escorted them through the long lit hallway opposite to the evacuation lifts. A few stares were shot in their direction, probably by the jealous civilians who were forced to squeeze in with 100s of other people.
“I assume you two want to go to NERV HQ, but while we’re on the way there, I’m curious, why were Units 00 and Units 03 the only ones prepared? Sorry if it’s not my place to ask…”

OOC

Unit 05 is 20 dcm from 14th Street, which is whiten range of the VTOL, 1 of the missiles, and the Tank. It's initiative is 12, so if you roll higher than you can get a free attack with no reactions.

Sorry if this post took awhile. It was longer than I though it would be.

[Transcendent]

Unit Zero and Unit Three? She tilted her head to the side, the look on her face was one of confusion. She hadn’t heard those particular units before. The security guard must have been confused, he must have meant unit one and unit two. It was the only sensible option right? She would have heard of two entirely new Evangelions . Yet, a pit began to form in her stomach… those legs of hers began to shake almost imperceptibility. She swallowed hard as her heterochromatic eyes drifted too the floor, pivoting on her heels so as to not look at the group.

Have I been replaced?

The words crashed against her. Tthey had never given her a chance to prove herself… and they were putting her back on the shelf like some..some old toy. This couldn’t be right? It couldn’t be. She was made for this, had she angered the Doctor or the Commander? She was always on her best behavior around them. Sure she smelled of cigarettes from time to time, but, that wasn’t enough to terminate her functions as a pilot. Was it because of… she swallowed hard shaking her head a bit. The staff didn’t care about that did they?

Lucy lifted a hand wiping away a single tear from her eye. She had to save face somehow.

“I guess whatever the threat is it doesn’t require bringing out the heavy hitters.” She said, rationalizing to herself and those around her. “If they thought this was a REAL danger they’d have called me right away.” She said letting out a little laugh that sounded oh so forced to all but the most emotionally stunted. “Come on Sterling, lets watch the newbies get trashed. Eventually they’ll have to call in the cavalry.

[Jobbut]

John remained quiet in the elevator, finally pulling his headphones back down after the sirens were somewhat muted from their descent, the grey, scratched button clicking once more to stop the song John had been listening to. When the elevator doors opened to reveal the passageway and the beautiful underground environment, John kept his gaze low and hands in his pockets.

When the tall, lab-coat wearing figure stepped infront of him, John nearly collided with him, stopping inches away as the figure lowered its head down to be face-to-face with him like a child, John only breaking out of a cold, hazy stare when he heard his name spoken by the fellow that he had nearly run into.

John didn’t exactly understand, know, or care for what the scientist was saying, but the angry, demeaning tone was all that was needed for Jirou to get his point across to John, his hands clenching into fists in his pockets once again, hardly having lost any of his previous anger-- The little tensing flourish of Jirou’s head enough to make John utter a guttural, mangled word that sounded more like a growl than anything, John’s arms shaking a little as his breathing began to quicken as the snide scientist rose and turned away.

John looked up now, slowly straightening his posture shakily as the Jirou went to take his first step away, the boy rising to a surprising height that showed off his thick, awkwardly taut limbs as he pulled his hands from his pockets. John reached forward with a quick hand and grabbed Jirou’s shoulder, yanking on it, coaxing him into turning to face him. John brought back his right arm as he did this, his hand tensed in a tight fist as he brought it forward with anger and power, slamming it forcefully into Jirou’s face, John seeming to almost smirk as he saw Jirou’s expression twist and felt solid force of the blow connecting.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Ella lets the Bridge handle things as she watches the screen; the images shown there reflecting in her mismatched eyes. She listens in silence until...


“It’s Unit 05, a failed model. It was designed to sacrifice efficiency and practicality for battery life. Its internal battery can run up to an hour without an umbilical cable.”

Blake chimed in from atop the room. “So either the Chinese outright stole it, or copied the model all together. Why they didn’t just steal a real Unit is beyond me”

"I want a full structural analysis of Unit Five. Anything that could be of use is to be relayed to myself and Jirou immediately. In particular, I want information about the battery - it's location, strength and so on. If we can damage it, then we've already won,"


“Unit 05 almost within range of defenses….”

[COLOR="Red"]“Unit 05 has reached 14th Street Bridge is now within in range of Tank, VTOL, and Turret 2! Your orders Captain?”

Ella frowns. The city defences weren't designed to withstand attacks by something that could survive an exploding ship. All she could do was delay Unit Five until her own Evangelion Units could launch. But anyone who could pull off stealing one of the world's most valuable weapons - and do it without anyone realising - would know they were hopelessly outmatched in a lone sub-standard Evangelion against four Units that were the pinnacle of current Evangelion technology. Something was very, very wrong here. The Eva attack must be a smokescreen.

All these thoughts flash through her mind in a fraction of a second, before she's (reasonably) calmly giving orders to the bridge crew. Unfortunately, they're not fast enough to prevent the enemy Eva from beginning its assault.

"Give me a status report on the launch preparations for Units One and Two. Someone find the pilots and get them to their Evas now.

Have the tank squadrons set up a static barrage while the VTOLs fall back towards the Lady Bird Johnson Memorial Park. The turrets are to remain inactive until the enemy has passed them. We're going to try and stall Unit Five until the Evangelions are ready to launch,"

Full Round Action to order VTOLs to use Path of Least Resistance forcing pilot to test Int or go in the direction indicated, and for an Attack by the tanks.

Tank damage:
[roll0]

[Astro_sol]

The ride down the elevator went about as well as the train ride, but Theodore had learned his lesson on the train; screw talking to this guy. The good news was that this left the elevator ride quiet; the bad news was that he felt the 4th's tension without any way to distract himself. Theodore kept his eyes straight ahead as the wail of the sirens faded into the distance, and all that could be heard was the rush of air outside the elevator as it continued down. When the doors finally opened, Theodore blinked.

Ah, Dr. Godou, the resident genius, egghead, and *******, he thought as he looked up at the doctor. But he's an ******* who severely outranks me. Thus, at the moment recognition dawned on him - he remembered that Dr. Godou had supervised his training at times, most likely checking on NERV's investments - Theodore snapped to attention, straightening his posture and placing his hands behind his back. He nodded at the mention of his name, but frowned when the doctor began to address the other boy directly. When he knelt down to their level, Theodore bit his lip.

What the hell does he think he's doing? As the doctor spoke, Theodore narrowed his eyes. Okay, so maybe the kid's weird, but you don't have to be so pushy about it, doc. It wasn't a matter of whether or not Theodore really cared about the 4th; more like this was an emergency, and this childlike provocation could possibly jeopardize the mission, seeing as Theodore had the feeling now that the 4th was a ticking time bomb. A bomb that promptly exploded the second the word "freak" left Dr. Jirou Godou's mouth. Theodore hesitated for only a moment when the boy lashed out at the doctor, thanks to surprise more than anything else. His standing orders to escort the 4th were severely outmaneuvered by his orders to protect and serve, even if he had to serve arrogant ****s like Dr. Godou. Thus, Theodore threw himself between the two, bringing his body into a battle-ready stance, his dominant fist ready to protect his face, the other moving to guard his torso.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, 4th?!"

[Jobbut]

John’s fist hung in the air after striking the blow, his fist still clenched tight as the shaking in his arm slowly subsided. He slowly retracted his fist, and sunk both his hands back into his pocket as his back slowly bent back into place and he resumed his more benign, awkward posture rather than his towering demeanor from before.

He let out an almost satisfied sigh, turning his gaze away from the doctor to look at Theodore in his battle stance, his words being promptly ignored as he looked expectantly at him once more, trying to say something to him, but the words being garbled by his shaking jaw and his difficulty speaking, resulting in noise more like butchered growling rather than muffled speech.

John continued to try to speak with similar, or worse results—finally culminating in his eyes going wide and him stomping his foot and pointing his clenched fist in the direction they were originally walking, John hoping the other boy would get what he was attempting to ask.
Take me to the damn robot!

[Astro_sol]

Theodore let out a mental sigh of relief when the boy didn't look like he'd continue, but he twitched slightly as the boy gestured down the hallway. He lowered his hands slightly, but still kept them ready. The garbled grunting that was spilling from the boy's mouth did little to ease him.

So that's what they meant when they said "keep a close eye on him". Jesus H. Christ, he's a loose cannon. That could have easily been me.

He tilted his head slightly behind him, not keeping his eyes off of the 4th Child.

"Are you all right, Doctor?" He held off on telling the doctor off. While part of him felt that the punch was ever-so-slightly justified, a much larger part of him was shouting that it just wasn't proper to physically assault a superior. And it wasn't proper at all to tell off a superior.

"There are two rules you must always follow," he remembered from one of his first handlers. "Rule number one: the officer is always right. Rule number two: if the officer is wrong, see rule number one."

[Fearan]

Somewhere on the elevator. Quentin breathed heavily after his run - he wasn't an athlete, so that was quite a strain on his body. Still, he smiled, after Lucy gave her so full of herself speech. He have found it incredibly funny.
- I wonder, why they had to send the newbies? Maybe, just maybe, it's because WE WEREN"T FREAKING AROUND to do the job? And the HQ had to do something right now?

“Come on Sterling, lets watch the newbies get trashed. Eventually they’ll have to call in the cavalry.
- I wouldn't be so sure - he answered carefully - Ok, they're the freshmen, but you know - the Eva's. Probably the strongest and definitely the coolest weapon the U.S have. Two of them will be enough to level anything the Chinese threw at us. So let's just get to HQ and enjoy the show.

[Transcendent]

Maybe he was right? She should have been on call at the base, but, she was told that she should take a day for herself. At least that’s what Shantell had suggested, Lucy was quickly discovering it was probably a bad idea. She should have been there, ready for this to happen. She shook her head to herself, nope, they should have called her instead of sending out two individuals who HAD to be inferior to her.

“Don’t kid yourself, whatever happens these two will be in WAY over their heads.” They had to be, they just had to be! If they weren’t she… she wouldn’t be needed and what would an organization like NERV do with a tool that wasn’t necessary? She shuddered to think it. “Just don’t get your hopes up when the fresh meat face plants…” She said.

[Rabadash]

NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:24 pm

“MAGI’s analysis shows that while the pilot is producing a strong AT field, the amount of attention required to synch with extra legs is slowing down the Eva’s reaction time” Black reported. “Obvious we’re not going to be able to touch the thing until the pilots arrive, however we can exploit this to slow it down”

Terry chimed in. “The legs of the Eva don’t seem to be biologically part of the Eva at all. They seem to simply be mechanical add-ons that the plug system, meaning that they are likely uniquely vulnerable”

Shanelle spoke up “MAGI can’t get any information on the battery, however I would imagine it would be in the same place as a regular Eva’s supply, the torso” She put her knees up to the chair, and continued to rock back and forth, a sign that Shanelle was on to something. “The MAGI matched it’s anatomy with a regular Eva…which could mean it has a regular power supply…I think that the battery is simply an attachment to the power supply itself, working as a constant umbilical cable. It’s possible we could overload it somehow. Either way, we need the pilots to breach that AT field!”

Northern Chesapeake Bay, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:25 pm

Unit 05 continued north toward the city itself, and approached 14th Street. “Hello Mr. Sunshine, today you’re gonna be mine…make a pinky swear there’s only sunny skied ahead.” The pilot audibly sang as she approached the 14th Street defense forces. “Looks like a challenger has finally appeared.” She said to herself smiling. “Alright, maintain AT field and engaging the enemy defenses. Let’s see what if I can do some damage before they deploy the Evas.”

The first thing she noticed was the VTOLs falling back toward Lady Bird Park. “An opening” she said to herself, has Unit 05 leapt up to 15th street parkway, and speed along GW Parkway toward the VTOL. “You’re first!” however, as she was doing that, a barrage of missiles began impacting with her AT field. “GRAHHH!” The attacks didn’t damage the Eva itself, but rather caused a shock inside the cockpit itself. “Dammit, I can’t believe I fell for that.”


Under Union Station, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:26pm

“Yeah, I’m fine Theodore” Jirou said as he wiped his bloody nose. “This is the golden child of SEEL….the one chosen to pilot the GLORIOUS Unit 03” he said in a sarcastic tone. “I legally have the right to slug him right back in the face, but unfortunately, I’m supposed to deliver his ass to Unit 03 on a silver platter.

They stepped into the tiny elevator that could barely fit all of them, and it began to descend. “John can barely grasp reality, so I doubt that he will mind me telling you something. Unit 03 is bad news. When I designed the plug system for it, I was required to outfit it with inhibitors, something all Evas have. But this one required 300% inhibitors.” The elevator lurched to the side as it changed course. Jirou’s tone became more and more serious. “Unit 03 is a redesign of Unit 02, but I think its dangerous. Very dangerous. When you’re out there, I want you to stay as far as you can from Unit 03. "

The doors of the elevator opened up, revealing the Evangelion Crate area. From where they were standing, a walkway followed the wall down to the main area, a massive warehouse where the evas were prepared for the pilots. Way up at the top, you could see a small window, revealing the operations room. All around them, workers prepared the Evas for launch. The most distinguishing feature of the area is the Eva’s they. A walkway platform near the middle of the room reveals but the head of two Eva’s, submerged in LCL: Unit 03, and Unit 00.

While Unit 00 was submerged in the usual way, there were chains holding the smaller head of Unit 03 in place. Unit 03, like Unit 02 was a much smaller Eva, made for pin point maneuvers. From the platforms is a hallway that goes back into the entry plug preparation room.

“Hurry, and get ready, we can’t waste any time. We have the plug suits ready back in the preparation room. Theodore, do whatever you can to get John into that plug.”

Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:26 pm

The NERV guard motioned Quentin and Lucy onto the lift platform that went down straight through the Geofront. “This will take you directly to NERV HQ. I have some business to attend to back at the evacuation point. If you’ll excuse me”

With that, the lift began its decent through the lush ecosystem that was the Geofront. Hundreds of feet below Quentin and Lucy was the large Obelisk that was the NERV HQ. Similar to the Washington Monument, this structure had lifts, elevators, and myriads of other things coming off of it that connected it with the outside world. The Lift slowly descended to this behemoth structure.

Unknown Location – February 20th, 2027, 4:26 pm

“The tower of babel fell because man showed his arrogance toward the Gods. Exactly what you plan to do with Liberty Lost.”

The center Templar’s hologram leaned closer to Kleiber. “But what if the people had the power to complete the tower. What if they could punish the gods instead?”


Unit 05 is now 16 dcm from the VTOL, along GW parkway heading toward Lady Bird Park. It is now whiten range only of the Missile turret closest to the Jefferson Memorial.

[Fearan]

Don’t kid yourself, whatever happens these two will be in WAY over their heads.
- I'm not sure. - was the reply. Quentin uttered a sigh. Lucy and her overconfident mode was quite a thing to handle- You know, you're good and all that, but we never met those two, and we've got now idea what's up. As for me, I don't feel like fighting right now, so I'd rather get to that HQ's wide screen. It's the best movie theater in Washington after all. And they ran a pretty good blockbuster today. "Eva Noobz vs the Unknown threat" - he finished with a really wide smile.
After Quentin had some rest, while riding the elevator, he once again grew impatient.
- maaan, this elevator is soo sloow, it's killing me. Couldn't they just make a parashute drop to the HQ - you know for the emergencies

[Jobbut]

John went with the others, crammed into the tiny elevator, forced to listen to the haughty scientist’s comments. John slowly raised his headphones again and placed them over his ears, ignorant of the specks of blood on his hands, turning on his cassette player and turning his gaze until he was staring at nothing, relaxing, as if he had forgotten he was angry.

“…deliver his ass to Unit 03…”
“…Unit 03 is bad news…”
“…stay as far as you can from Unit 03…”

This was all John had heard when Jirou spoke to Theodore in the elevator, John doing his best to ignore the tall, snide character so he didn’t have to punch him again. He barely noted Geofronts beauty, his eyes lazily rolling along to blankly gaze upon the wondrous artificial ecosystem.

John only snapped back to reality when he felt the elevator come to a stop, Jirou having finished speaking a while ago. John blinked, pulling down his headphones and not bothering to turn off the cassette player, the lowest of hums of the scratchy song playing, but not enough to distinguish what was being sung.

John was the first to step out of the opening doors into the large warehouse-like space, looking around, a hint of surprise and interest in his surroundings on his otherwise expressionless visage. He looked towards the two strangely shaped objects by the walkway, John moving and taking a testing step onto the platform before starting to walk down the catwalk to stare at the two… Head-like things?

John Eyed them both, but ended up simply gawking at the smaller open bound in chains, The bondage of the thing rather curious, a hint of confusion now crossing John’s face as he turned to Theodore, who he automatically assumed to be following him; and said (Regardless of how near he was)

”What is… Why is this chained?”

[Transcendent]

How could Quentin be saying such things? Didn’t he understand how important this was too her? She sighed softly, shaking her head. How could he? He was… 100% all natural human being. Even if he wasn’t a pilot he had something. His purpose wasn’t ingrained into him… and, well, he would always have the recognition of being the last. What would she be if she was shelved? And old relic… and if she was dubbed unnecessary how could she keep up with her treatments without NERV? That pit in her stomach grew deeper, and deeper.

She reached into her purse, and produced another cigarette bringing it to light. She inhaled deeply, eyes closing.

You can’t think like this, it’s only going to make it worse. It’s just one mission, this wasn’t the end was it?

She thought trying to reason with herself. Yet.. It didn’t help, she tilted her backwards looking up at ceiling of the elevator. “I don’t think they’d want to drop train all of NERV’s staff, can you imagine some of the scientists shrieking their way down the elevator shaft? I mean, don’t get me wrong I can totally see Jackson doing it all stoic faced with perfect form… but Shantell or Rudyard, that would be hilarious at best.”

Lucy tried to force a little smile. “Though as for me being good… Unit 02 and I are the best.”

[Fearan]

- The best is still not "the only", Lucy - Quentin tried to get some warmth into his voice but still sounded somewhat irritated. He actually never care about the highscores, or ranked ladder, or something. But he could understand that reasoning like "the ladder isn't important, it's a teamwork" would do, so he tried to put the thing onto different angle - If you use the best on every possible occasion, how would the others grow? You don't say the other three pilotes are unnessessary, now do you? So let the kids do they job and get their healthy dose of adrenaline and expirience - you will have plenty of spotlight on the demonstration

[Astro_sol]

“Unit 03 is a redesign of Unit 02, but I think its dangerous. Very dangerous. When you’re out there, I want you to stay as far as you can from Unit 03. "

Theodore turned to John, and turned back to the doctor. He blinked, his face impassive. "You don't have to tell me twice, sir. Besides, I work best giving cover from a distance anyway."


“Hurry, and get ready, we can’t waste any time. We have the plug suits ready back in the preparation room. Theodore, do whatever you can to get John into that plug.”

"Sir." Theodore turned to see the other boy walking towards the railing. he looked past to see the heavy restraints on the small - at least, comparatively so - Eva. Oh, that's not good. I wonder...well, now's not a good time. He walked briskly next to the boy, unconsciously keeping at arm's length. The 4th Child was a bit tall for his age; seeing as Theodore was a bit short, he had to look up at the boy when addressing him, a fact that frequently bothered him.


”What is… Why is this chained?”

Theodore frowned as the boy spoke. So he chooses now to speak.

"Because..." he tried to choose his words carefully. This kid was a proven walking grenade with fist shrapnel. "Because it's very, very strong. And they need you to keep it under control." Play to his ego a bit, if he was listening. However, Theodore was now banking on everything he said being ignored, so he gave a quick pat on the boy's shoulder. "We need to go get ready. C'mon, follow me." As he started to walk down the rails, he smiled grimly. Now he had new orders. Get John prepped, get in the Evas, take down the enemy. This was what he had trained all those years for. He felt a new drive flow through him. That was probably the adrenaline.

****, I hope he can dress himself. I don't get paid enough for babysitting duty.

[Transcendent]

“Parade duty…” She rolled her eyes a bit. “The idea of being put on display for the crowd doesn’t excite me. I want to be in the thick of things, but, if this is what the commander.” She said the last word with a hint of disdain “wants out of me who am I to argue. This is her boat I guess.” She said resting the back of her head against a cold metal wall. “Whatever… “ She said holding back a little sniffle.

“I just hope they finish this quick, I wanted to get my nails done and this is a total inconvenience.”

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Ella watches the scene unfold on the view screen, as her trap works, but simultaneously fails to inflict any kind of damage on anything but the surrounding city.

"Notify the turret crews that use of the missile banks is suspended until I order otherwise. There's no good purpose served by destroying the city when we can't touch the enemy with our weapons. Have the tank squadrons pursue Unit Five, and the VTOLs are to continue falling back. Turret Bank Two is to provide a heavy barrage,"

So, the pilot fell for the trap. But they won't fall for that again. They'll assume that the VTOLs retreat is another misdirection, and go for the turret bank, which is exactly what I want. Either that or if the pilot's as dumb as a bag of rocks, they'll continue to follow the shiny planes.

The corners of Ella's mouth twitch up slightly for a fraction of a second.

Turret damage - not that it matters.
[roll0]

Full Action - Path of Least Resistance order for the VTOLs, and a Move for the tanks to go towards the enemy Eva.

[Jobbut]

John bothered to listen, trying with effort to decipher more than the inflection of Theodore’s voice, making out his words and understanding what he was saying, only turning to him after he’d said that they needed him to keep the chained figure under control. He blinked, a sense of purpose sparking inside him as he nodded to Theodore, the slightest hint of emotion, however vague, on his face.

This is… What they want me for?

John felt like he was starting to understand, they had brought him here to do something—‘pilot’—While John didn’t understand exactly what that entailed, he was grateful there was something for him to do. Feeling the soft pat on his back, he pulled himself from his thoughts and looked to Theodore as he turned and walked down the walkway, John quickly scurrying behind him.

...I hope they tell me -how- to do this.

[Astro_sol]

Theodore kept a brisk walk across the walkway until he reached the dressing room. Inside he found several changing stations, and saw two plugsuits on the wall. One was the black plugsuit he was most familiar with, emblazoned with a white 00 on the front. Next to it was a blue white plugsuit similarly marked with "03". He grabbed that one and thrust it into John's hands.

"OK, you're going to have to put this on. Don't wear anything underneath it. It's a bit weird, I know, but you're going to need to hurry." He gestured into a changing room. "I'mma go change now. I'd, uh," he fumbled for words. "If you need anything, just knock on the door." He grabbed his own plugsuit and slipped into one of the stalls, closing the door behind him. "I know it looks silly, but there's no time. You can't pilot the giant robot well without it on. The quicker you change, the quicker you pilot." With that, he closed the door and changed, throwing his clothes into a pile on the floor.

[Jobbut]

John kept behind the boy at a pace that allowed him to trail a few feet behind, and quickly slipped through the door into the dressing room while it was closing. John paused and glanced around the room, eyeing the strange…

What exactly –are- those?

He wondered, staring, only startled by Theodore speaking again. John watched as he pointed to one of the rooms and explained that he needed to dress himself in one of the things. John turned and carefully picked the plugsuit up from the rack and shuffled into the dressing room adjacent to Theodore’s.

For the next few moments, a series of shuffling clothing, bumping against the wall, grunting and groaning, and the occasional slamming of a fist against the wall in frustration; until, finally, John stumbled out of the dressing room, looking around for Theodore, the plugsuit large and loose, having not been ‘fitted’ to him yet. Concerned, he knocks on Theo’s dressing room door.

[Astro_sol]

As he changed, Theodore overheard the grunts of frustration in the stall to his side and laughed silently. He wasn't cruel enough to mock the poor boy, but he couldn't help but laugh to himself at the overheard antics. Besides, he remembered the first time he put on his plugsuit. He also remembered the first time he was put into a vat of LCL.

Oh that's not going to be fun for him. I should warn him before he gets in the plug.

By the time he heard the knock, Theodore was close to done. He clicked the button on the side of his wrist, and felt the suit seal around him with a satisfying "whoosh-click". He opened the door to see a confused-looking John in an extremely loose-fitting plugsuit. He was able to withhold a grin...partially.

"Knew I forgot something. Here, this'll feel weird," he said, reaching out to the 4th Child's wrist and clicked the button on it, letting the suit conform to John's body size. "Now let's go get ready. Follow me, we'll get you to your plug first, and you'll be piloting in a jiffy." With that, Theodore turned towards the entrance to the plugs and marched forward.

[Rabadash]

Northern Chesapeake Bay, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:27 pm

The pilot of Unit 05 saw the VTOLs continue to back up from the area. "Oh really, Ella thinks shes going to fool me again is she..." Suddenly, Unit 05 spun around, nearly destroying the bridge, just in time for the missile to explode on the AT field directly in front of her face. "****! Even if it gets destroyed by the AT field, the shockwave still isn't kind to the balance synch on this thing.." she said. "And you!" Unit 05 crouched down on all fours, and speed through the center of Chesepeke bay. As this happened, the lance on Unit 05's left arm began spinning rapidly, and lurched forward. Chesapeake Bay wasn't deep, only about 14 feet through the center, but it's still not easy for an Eva to go right through it. Luckily, Unit 05 used wheels as opposed to feet, making this charge easier.

Unit 05 made it to the otherside of the river, and drill pierced straight through the turret, causing it to burst into a fiery explosion. "Take that bitch!"

NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:27 pm

"And that confirms my suspicions." Blake said as he leaned back in his chair satisfied. "It isn't easy syncing to 2 extra limbs, so Unit 05 has to compensate through sheer will of the pilot. When the missile hit Unit 05, it drew attention away from the Unit, and the pilot's synch rate dropped for just a moment. In short, the pilot can't multitask"

Shanelle dropped in. "So in short, we bombard the pilot's senses." Shanelle tapped her foot repeatedly, probably reminded of how hard it is to focus on one thing herself.

Evangelion Crate Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:27pm

Jirou stood inside the plug launch room waiting for the pilots. The launch room looked almost like a hospital, with white walls and random vital sensors strung through out. The most striking feature was the four cylinder vutouts in the ground for the 4 entry plug. this went into a small tunnel in the wall, where they went into the entry system that locked the plugs into the Evas. Currently, only two entry plugs were present: Unit 00, and Unit 03, with the doors opened.

"Hurry up in there." Jirou screamed. "As soon as you're ready, hurry up and get in the plugs!"

NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:27 pm

The lift containing Quentin and Lucy finnaly arrived near the bottom of NERV HQ. Unfortunately for them , the operations room was located all the way at the top of the 50 floor obelisk. meaning they would have to take another elevator. There was one, luckily, near the end of the hall where they arrived.

Unknown Location – February 20th, 2027, 4:27 pm

"However," Kleiber retorted "You aren't even sure if Lucy has the ability to pilot Nebuchadnezzar. You've run simulated tests, but nobody has actually entered an Eva until today. Two things are going to happen today: Either the 4th causes Unit 03 to kill us all, or he pilots it normally and we have no real data for Unit 02. And what of Unit 01? What happens if Quentin fully syncs with it?"

"You need not be concerned" spoke the french Templar "It is very unlikely that Quentin has the full ability to sync with Unit 01 at all. We will get all the benefits with none of the drawback. We can always cut power if the plug dephth becomes a concern. As for the other Units, I believe Jirou's designs will be just fine."

"I'm telling you. You attempt to fight the gods. You attempt to control the gods. You even attempt to build one. Are you sure you will be able to go one step further?"

Unit 05 is now whiten range of both remaining Turrets. The turret that just attacked is now destroyed.

[Astro_sol]

Assuming that John would follow him, Theodore wasted no time. He opened the door to the the launch room and saw Dr. Godou yelling in the middle of the stark white room. He nodded at the doctor's words and pointed at the plug entrance labelled "03", turning to the 4th Child.

"You want to pilot that big-ass robot? Go through that door. If you hit the doctor again...well, don't. Please." The please was very difficult to bring out. "There's just no time. You'll get some help when you're in the cockpit. Command and us will all be in contact. And don't worry about anything, I can probably handle this all myself." Theodore gave the boy a cocky grin and ran towards his own plug, leaping in without wasting any time. "Now let's get this party started!"

[Jobbut]

John blinked, jerking his hand back as Theodore aided him with his suit, clicking the button and having the plugsuit suddenly shrink to his size, a startling, sudden change, John panicing and patting himself down, looking at the suit, then Theodore frantically for a moment as the other boy made his way into the next room.

A few moments later, John managed to calm down and follow suit, Entering the same door Theodore had and hearing him suddenly speak to him, telling him to get into the cockpit. John looked around for a moment in confusion, and then spied to other plug, with the ‘03’ on it. Is this what that jackass was talking about?

This promptly caused him to recognize the figure in the center of the room with almost a snarl, but John was quickly distracted by Theodore’s comment and the sudden blur of him hopping into the plug. John cautiously removed his eyes from the doctor once more and turned to the plug, slowly pulling himself into it.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders


Ella watches the detonation of the missiles against the AT field with mixed feelings. On the one hand, here was a valuable weakness in the attacking unit. On the other hand, her orders against missile use had been completely ignored. Her feelings become more mixed when the damage to the surrounding buildings and road becomes apparent with the settling dust. There was going to be hell to pay from the citizens, from the Commander and from anyone who felt like undermining her authority a little. All she could hope was that no-one was in the buildings when the missiles went off.

Two important lessons learned. First, that Unit Five is dangerously unbalanced. Two, that it's clearly going to take more than my captain's rank to get an order obeyed around here.

A number of ideas flit through her mind, none of them pleasant, about how to keep order. Eventually, she settles on one of the favourites of the West Point Rebuild project. One taste of it cured even the most stubborn candidate of insubordination - especially when the entire dorm was treated with it, the one who caused the problem soon found themselves contending with a number of very angry people when everyone could see again. She suppresses a shudder at the memories.

"Please relay this message to the remaining turret crews. The next turret bank to launch missiles without my express orders will be flooded with tear gas during the next terrorist drill. Do I make myself clear on this point? I will also expect that our resident communications officer will personally explain to the Commander why NERV is paying for the reconstruction of the entire city if they do not pass this message to the turret crews this time.

I wish to make it clear to everyone present that what we have here is a delaying action until the Evangelions are ready for launch. We are not launching an all-out offensive, regardless of the cost in human lives as well as money.

Have the remaining turrets set up a steady barrage, and bring the tanks in to flank Unit Five. The VTOLs can circle around to the target's other flank. How long until we can deploy our own Evangelions?"

[Transcendent]

She sighed as she headed towards the next elevator, deciding it was best to keep quiet. It seemed for the most part her dialogue was only serving to agitate Quentin further. Despite her own rather egotistical streak, she closed her eyes. Sterling was the closest thing too an ally she had. She clenched her fist ever slightly.

“So, you could probably by a bike on the down low somewhere. I mean, we don’t make much… but, if you save, save, save, I’m sure in a couple months you could buy a junker. Just… store it elsewhere…” She said with a little shrug. “Kinda sad I never got the chance to go for a ride on it myself…” Lucy spoke, trying to cast that odd combination of egotism and self doubt down deep.

[Fearan]

Quentin made a sigh almost at the same time as Lucy - yet another elevator. NERV really should re-think the emergency procedures. As precious time ticked away, while pilots slowly acsended to the operational center, all they could do is to enjoy the casual talk.

“So, you could probably by a bike on the down low somewhere. I mean, we don’t make much… but, if you save, save, save, I’m sure in a couple months you could buy a junker. Just… store it elsewhere…”
-Yeah, I know. That's more or less exactly what I'm about to do. It's just - he smiled embarrassedly - money just flows away. And since we allready went this way - I rarely see you outside the base? What do you do for fun? - Quentin just have put the things together and realised that he don't know the weird girl(?) at all

[Rabadash]

Evangelion Crate Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:28pm

"Well everyone this is it." said Jirou has he watched the two plugs go through the tunnels, and click into the containment latch. Voices flooded the launch site. "Plugs are now secure, engaging placement sequence!" Above the heads of Unit 00, twp large circular mechanism containing the plugs descended toward the spinal columns of the Eva heads. "Releasing final locks!"

The mechanisms slowly placed the two plugs into the backs of the Evas, and twisted one final time, locking the plugs into place. "Securing plugs!" With that. the plugs spiraled down into their respective Evas, and then plates on the two heads locked into place.

"Draining LCL fluid now!" The LCL beneath the two units slowly poured away, revealing the full bodies of the Evangelion Units. "Activating plugs now!". Inside the dark plugs, the pilots were slowly submerged in the tang of LCL. Luckily, LCL is a breathable substance. Once fully submerged, streams of lights and colors bombarded the pilots, eventually evening out for the sides of the plug to appear as translucent windows to the outside world. "Plug depth at safe levels. We are clear Mr. Gorou."

All this time the two Eva units were being moved to two different launch pads. "Unit 00 locked onto Pentagon launch pad. Unit 03 locked onto West Potomac launch pad. They will launch on adjacent sides of the target."

Jirou finalley began to address the pilots. "All right a few ground rules while inside my pretties. No coughing, no sneezing, no whining, no drooling. Transferring you over to Ella Sander's channel. Her word is law." Jirou then moved his mouth over to it's mouthpiece, messeging Sanders. "As soon as the pilots say they're ready you can give the go-ahead"

Northern Chesapeake Bay, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:28 pm

"Godammit, did they figure it out so soon!?" The pilot screamed as multiple units began circling her. Massive amounts of information began bombarding her headpiece that was situated over her head. "Common Unit 05, get it together....Alright, you're next" She said as she looked toward the tank.

However, she played her cards wrong. Multiple turret barrages began to fill the pilot's screen, and she struggled to maintain her AT field as she charged at the Tank. "****, ****, ****, ****" she cursed as she finnaly warded off the attacks, however, the sensory overload took a toll on her syncing. As she tried to stab straight down into the tank, one of her legs buckled and threw off her balance, causing to crash down into the Bay. "You've got to be kidding me!" she screamed as she slowly stood back up.


Operations Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:28 pm

Jirou's name came up in a small box on the left side of the monitor. "As soon as the pilots say they're ready you can give the go-ahead" said his voice.

"Both Eva Units look good to go Ella. They are set to launch on two separate pads of either side of Unit 05, 50 decameters from the target." Shanelle said, almost bursting with excitement."

The sub commander said a few words to himself. "Today we begin our rebellion against the gods."

Suddenly, the sound of an elevator roared up, and opened inside the small hallway right outside the entrance to the operations room. The sub-commander seemed puzzled as Lucy and Quentin stepped into the room. "Who let you two in? You were suppose to follow the evacuation order."

Unknown Location – February 20th, 2027, 4:27 pm

"You're wrong Ms. Kleiber. As long as we hold the gods hostage, alls right with the world."

Unit 05 is in the same place as before

[Astro_sol]

Aaaaaaaahhhh...finally.

Theodore sat completely still as LCL filled the chamber. It felt cold at first, sending familiar shivers up his spine as the liquid climbed up his legs. He crossed his arms, both to keep steady and warm. When the plug was filled, a wave of colors washed over him - the telltale sign of LCL being charged. The viewscreen flashed, and waves of text began to flow in front of him, telling him of all the systems that were up and running. "CODE BLUE" momentarily flashed in bright red letters at the top, before disappearing. Ah, quirk in the system. They did tell me that this one was a bit different. Theodore remembered the extra restraints placed on Unit 03, and renewed his resolve to stay away from him, especially if the restraints came loose. Couldn't have a loose Eva seeing that CODE BLUE out in the middle of the city.

He flexed his hands, noticing the hands move similarly below him. He could feel the locks holding him in place, the vibrations as the war machine was brought to the launch pad that would bring him to the surface...and the fight. The glorious fight.


"All right a few ground rules while inside my pretties. No coughing, no sneezing, no whining, no drooling. Transferring you over to Ella Sander's channel. Her word is law."

"Sir." A small window opened up on his right, with "Cpt. Ella Sanders" labelled at the top. He blinked at the sight of white hair and heterochromatic eyes on a surprisingly young face. She's our Captain? Cute... "Captain Sanders, Theodore Cartwright, pilot of Unit 00 reporting in. I'm stationed at the bottom of the launch pad. Gimme a quick briefing on what I'll be facing, and I'll be ready to engage on your mark."

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Ella is already talking to the pilots over her line before Jirou even finishes speaking.

"Lucy, Quentin, prepare for launch. The enemy is..." she trails off, and blinks as she actually reads the names in the communication panel and realises she doesn't know either of the faces. At almost the same time, the elevator door slides open to reveal Lucy and Quentin. She suppresses the desire to sigh.

"Very well. Pilots Theodore and John, prepare for launch. Your enemy is a prototype Evangelion unit believed to have been stolen. At this time, we do not know what its objectives may be. Target is located at point Delta on your tactical map. Target appears to be unable to maintain its AT Field while performing complex actions. We suspect the legs are a weakpoint.

Your objective is to neutralize the enemy's AT Field. You are then to support the conventional forces' destruction of the target. Retrieval of the pilot is considered secondary to destruction of the enemy unit."

Ella then cuts the sound on her end of the line to address the bridge; "Step up the turret's barrage of Unit Five, and have the tanks and VTOLs finish taking up flanking positions. They are to hold their fire until the target's AT field is lowered."

At last, Ella turns to face Lucy and Quentin, waiting for their explanation. She would have plenty of words for them later at the pilot debriefing, about ignoring emergency sirens and putting themselves in danger. But for now, she would be content with hearing their side of things.

Turrets continue firing, while the tanks and VTOLs just move - hopefully forming an X with the turrets with Unit Five in the middle.

Also, cutting sound just means they can't hear what Ella says - not that she can't hear them!

[Fearan]

Pilot Starling reporting for du... - Quentin almost shouted while running into the , when he was rudely interrupted.

"Who let you two in? You were suppose to follow the evacuation order."

Now that was a surprise. Ok, he and Lucy became obsoletewith the arrival of the new pilots - happens. But maybe, just maybe - could someone TELL them about it? Update the emergency procedures? No? Maybe something like "No, you don't have to rush to the HQ as soon as anything happens, just go to the vaults like a nice little civilians" No, nobody at the bridge never told him even this. And that totally have cut the line.
- Who let us in, Sir? - at first, Quentin's tone was a bit normal, but as he spoke it rose until he found himself outright yelling at Subcommander. - Reporting, SIR! The guard, who I asked about any orders regarding us, and who never answered have let us in, SIR! All those guards between entrance and here who also knew nothing have let us in, SIR! The one, who never updated the emergency procedures have let us in, SIR! Our ignorance, about being not needed, have let us in, SIR! AND OF COURSE, OUR DUTY AS A EVANGELION PILOTAS HAVE LET US IN SIR! AS SOON AS ALARM SOUNDED WE RUSHED HERE TO REPORT AND GET READY FOR ASSIGNMENT AS WE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT. AND WHAT THE HELL DO WE HEAR, SIR? I'M SORRY, IT'S RATHER FAR FROM THE EVACUATION PASS, SIR! MAYBE I SHOULD GO TO DICSIPLINARY CELL INSTEAD?
After the long portion of yelling, Quentin stood back, totally exausted and waiting for decision. He didn't care anymore - the allmighty insects in military form didn't deserve his care.

[Jobbut]

John looked around little… pod? Was that it?, wondering how he was suppoed to do anything from here as he writhed back and forth occasionally, trying to feel comfortable in the plugsuit.

Suddenly, he saw and heard substance begin to fill the dark chamber he was trapped in. John looked around curiously kicking at it when it reached his foot, only starting to get worried when it reached his chest… Then his neck… And it kept going until he was craning his neck to keep breathing, letting out single, shrill cry for help that was interrupted by the coughing and sputtering of the LCL slipping into his mouth.

…ohgodohgodoh**** **** **** Did something go wrong? Oh **** Oh ***…

John held his breath as the plug filled, only to be suddenly assaulted by the flashing lights and bizzare colors all around him. John, panicing now and starting to feel light headed, immediately began looking for a way out, looking all around where he was seated, before resigning to grabbing the controls in front of him and slamming them back and forth.

…ohgodohgodoh**** I’ going to drown in here, aren’t I?

John thought, finally resigning, shaking all over, and opening his mouth in desperation, coughing and gagging as the LCL found it’s way into his lungs. John paused, trying to hold his breath again, only to realize he had taken a breath. Confused, John opened his mouth and inhaled, then exhaled, ignoring the color show as it came to a stop and the Operations Director began speaking, John bothering to actually listen as he tried to figure out what the substance was.

”Your enemy is a prototype Evangelion unit believed to have been stolen. At this time, we do not know what its objectives may be. “

So… My ‘enemy’ is another giant robot? He thought, thinking back to Theodore’s explanation.

”Target is located at point Delta on your tactical map. Target appears to be unable to maintain its AT Field while performing complex actions. We suspect the legs are a weakpoint. “

Tactical Map? AT Field? Point Delta? John looked around confusedly until he saw the little map, then tried o determine what the girl was talking about, John starting to get frustrated from all his confusion.

John gulped, realizing something as he gripped the handle-like structures in front of him again.

How the hell do I ‘pilot’ this!?

[Transcendent]

She tilted her head to the side, what did she do for fun? It wasn’t a question she had heard often, in her free time she did spend most of her time studying the EVANGELION and NERV protocols to the best of her abilities with limited resources. Of course she figured hearing that would only cause Quentin to roll his eyes. “You know, the usual stuff… movies, I guess I’m sorta a mall rat.” She said with a little shrug taking a final drag on her cigarette before tossing it into the corner of the elevator. She smiled a bit as the doors swung open allowing her to enter the command room.

She stepped in and her gaze made contact with the screen before her attention too the occupants of the room. “A…a..another Eva?” She bit down on her lower lip shaking her head. They were fighting another EVA and they weren’t using her and unit 02? It almost felt like a kick to the chest, her long finger nails dug into the palm leaving four red crescent in her flesh. Again she felt her panic quickly rising, her attention briefly flicked to Headly.

I screwed up again… good job Lucy, just give them another reason to shelve you like the rest of the failed experiments.

She was about to answer the Sub Commander when Quentin through a tantrum. She brought her hand up to her face, this was only going to get worse. She waited for Sterling’s words to peter off. “Sir, we were merely trying to do what we thought was best for the project. We thought the base would be safer than any shelter, and more importantly… you’d have the ability to field our EVAs in case the pilots of 00 and 03 fail.”

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Ella waits for the outburst to subside before she decides to come to the Sub-Commanders rescue - well, after a fashion. She moves rapidly over to the

"Pilot Quentin. In the event of the sirens sounding, you are to report to an evacuation shelter. That way, we can find you and bring you here. Do you understand me? You would be launching now if we had been able to locate you when we needed you. But we couldn't.

Now, as for the Sub-Commander's question, I believe he wished to know - as I do - why you have come to the command deck, rather than reporting to the Eva cages,"

She looks as though she's about to continue, when Shantelle draws her attention to the condition of John in his Eva and she hurries over to her communication line.

"What's the matter, Pilot?" she says, with clear concern in her voice - although less in her face and bearing.

[Astro_sol]

"Your enemy is a prototype Evangelion unit believed to have been stolen. At this time, we do not know what its objectives may be. Target is located at point Delta on your tactical map. Target appears to be unable to maintain its AT Field while performing complex actions. We suspect the legs are a weakpoint. Your objective is to neutralize the enemy's AT Field. You are then to support the conventional forces' destruction of the target. Retrieval of the pilot is considered secondary to destruction of the enemy unit."

"Yes ma'am. I'll make a steady advance, giving cover fire for Unit 03. If or when that fails, I'll move in for close-quarters."

Theodore paused.

"The 4th's probably in the middle of a panic attack, by the way. Can someone prep him? Give him a quick run-down on AT-Fields? If not, I'll patch in and try to give him a run-down."

Theodore started laughing as the Captain's communications window cut out. A rogue Evangelion? And here he was thinking it was something actually worthy to fight, like an actual Angel. He almost felt offended.

And that gave him an idea. He opened a sound-only communique with the bridge.

"Is there any way we can patch me in to the enemy pilot? I want to talk to him. Psyche him out, maybe. It'll be distracting, at the very least." Or just throw insults at him, which was the real reason Theodore was asking.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

"The 4th's probably in the middle of a panic attack, by the way. Can someone prep him? Give him a quick run-down on AT-Fields? If not, I'll patch in and try to give him a run-down."

Ella just stares at the screen. Well, even more than usual. He couldn't be serious. Why was John having a panic attack? What could have triggered it? And why did he need a run-down on AT Fields?

She really, really wished she'd had a chance to read their files before that ship had shown up. Maybe the pilot was hydrophobic and had panicked at the sight of the LCL? Would have been useful to know.



"Is there any way we can patch me in to the enemy pilot? I want to talk to him. Psyche him out, maybe. It'll be distracting, at the very least."

After a moment's consideration, Ella nods and says; "Do it. But monitor the line he has, I want a complete transcript after the fight,"

[Fearan]

Yelling on subcommander was one thing, but when operational director stood in, now there was a time to think. What was the emergency routine, anyway? Quentin have caught himself on a weird thought, that he actually doesn't recall the correct procedure.
- Err... with all the launch preparation, I figured out, that I'll be unable to contact the HQ because of communications busy with the high-priority signals - launch related that is. That's why I decided, I should report to the controls directly - he uttered the first seemingly logical excuse, he came up with

[Transcendent]

Quentin sure was quick on his feet, while she was attempting to string together a logical argument about why they had done what they done, those words simply forced their way from his lips. She hoped that it would be enough to get command off their back. She gave a little nod of her head flashy a smile that might have looked a bit to self assured.

When she heard one of the newer pilots speak over the com, that smile got a bit larger. One of them seemed to be suffering a panic! She couldn’t help but bring her hand to her mouth, trying to suppress her smug self satisfaction.

“if ya really want us to head down to the cages I’d be more than happy to hop aboard unit 02 so you can talk to the fourth. I mean, we don‘t want things getting to stressful for them.”

[Jobbut]

John was taking heavy breathes in the LCL, trying to calm down after the nearly traumatic experience he had just had. He sighed and gripped the handles tighter, not pulling on them just yet, but glad he at least had something to hold on to as he examined the peculiar surroundings of the pod.

”What’s the matter, Pilot?“

John heard ring out from the same young girl’s voice. John blinked, looking around again to see if someone else as in the pod. Confused, he let out a gargled, confused groan that sounded like a failed attempt at a sentence. John finished looking, and simply stared at his surroundings, trying to formulate a response and failing, eventually just clenching the handles and mumbling to himself angrily, but still trying to calm down from his panic attack.

I… I think I’m going to be okay.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

With other things on her mind - such as a pilot having a panic attack in his plug - Ella completely ignores Lucy and Quentin, and leaves it up to the SUb-Commander to sort everything out without anyone dying. She bends over the communications panel and speaks urgently to John;

"John? John! Can you hear me? Talk to me, please," Ella curses under her breath for a moment, then straightens and says to the bridge at large. "Eject the plug and drain the LCL. We need to get him out before he injures himself or damages the plug,"


It was her first real battle. Why was everything going wrong? Any moment now the ceiling would drop on her if things continued the way they were going.

[Rabadash]

Northern Chesapeake Bay, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:28 pm

The pilot of Unit 05 was becoming a bit annoyed at the Defense Line tactics. The turrets continued to barrage Unit 05, and the pilot began to realize that continuing to attack the forces would be hopeless with the Unit's syncing system. "Alright, they should have the Evas coming out at any time, lets try something a bit different"

Unit 05 bent down, with each legs buckling in different directions. "Okay, gotta focus for this one." The pilot closed her eyes, then quickly opened them. Unit 05 span around, began speeding through the Bay. Then, the legs of the Eva quickly straightened, and Unit 05 lept into the air, and came crashing down right in front of Ohio street. "I may not be able to do a anything graceful, but that sure was useful. I should be out of range of those damn missiles..."

Operations Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:28 pm

The Sub-Commander noticed John's vitals had begun to stabilize, indicating it was clear that it was time to launch.

Sub-commander Keyvn, unphased with Quentin's childish rants, addressed the Operations Room. "Alright, he's fine Ella, we don't have time. We're starting now."

"Unit 05 has changed position. Adjusting Launch position of Unit 00 to Peter's hill launch site. It is now directly in front of Unit 03's launch point! We're going to have to provide Unit 00 with ballistics. " Blake said examining his feeds. "Unit 03 is going to have to hold it's own until Unit 00 can make it to the position to provide backup."

Terry opened up a secure channel to Unit 00. "Theodore, we are attaching a pallet gun to your launch pad."

"All Eva Unit's are clear for launch Captain!"

Kevyn nodded and knew that everything was going smoothly.

President Paine, finnaly finished cleaning up from the carrier ordeal, looked at the screen in the front of the room. "Well NERV. This is it. Show me exactly what you can do!"

"Alright Ella, its time to do this. This isn't training anymore...it's the real thing. It's all up to yo from here." The subcommander slowly walked down to the center tier and look straight up at the screen, with one arm in front as always. "Unit 00 and..."

Shanelle jumped up from her seat and yelled "NONONONONONO, I'm the Eva tech officer, I wanna do it!" Keyvn was puzzled by this, but nodded. Shanelle stood erect, with her arms locked to her sides.

"UNIT 00 AND UNIT 03 NOW LAUNCHING!" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTD8nWs4QjA)

West Potomac Park, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:28 pm

Unit 00's and Unit 03's roared as the assented straight up from the Geofront toward the surface. Unit 00 was the first to reach the surface. Right in front of the State Department, betweem two large lines of buildings, the hatch with the NERV symbol opened up to reveal a massive carrier containing the black, single-eyes Unit 00, along with a Pallet Gun attached right next to it. Immediately after, the latches holding Unit 00 into place released.

Terry reopened a channel to Unit 00. "Unit 03 is 50 decameters from your position. There is an extra Umbilical Port on the Potomac launch pad. If you hurry, you can get there and connect while providing backup for Unit 03"

Unit 03, was next, barreling up through the false ground that was the revamped Potomac Park. Unit 03 came up, level with the National Monument. As the site locked into position, the much smaller, blue, Unit 03 appeared. The latches came off, allowing for full movement of Unit 03.

Unit 03 came face to face with the usual Eva that was Unit 05. "Hello there..."

Combat time!

Unit 05 is just out of range of the Jefferson Memorial turret.

Unit 03 is 20 dam North Unit 05.
Unit 00 is 70 dam North of Unit 05
Unit 00 is 50 dam North of Unit 03.

There are no real environmental hazards, expect for the small buildings on either side of the road that Unit 00 has launched on that goes for about 35 dam. Other than that, it is a wide open field.

New guys, roll initiative, then Ill put up move order in OOC.

[Transcendent]

The new pilot was a dud, she… actually felt a little bad. Yet, such sympathy was quickly swallowed up. If this John guy couldn’t hack it, it only made sense that someone else took the reigns. What with the garbled sounds that the guy was making, it wasn’t likely he’d be going anywhere too soon. She couldn’t help but sway those slight hips of hers back and forth as her excitement grew. “Let’s go Sterling.” She said with a little grin.

This would teach them to not call her, she knew the thought was a terrible one. Yet, she knew it was true. They had went with someone who couldn’t hack it, now, well, she was going to have to step up. Or so the pink haired youth though and she was soon sauntering towards the elevator that would lead her too the dressing rooms and finally the cages.

She pressed a slender digit against the button and waited for it to open. “Nutze den Tag.”

though it was all cut short as they actually launched the other EVA. Her shoulders slumped forward.

They...they didn't think she could replace some burbling kid? She sighed and simply closed her eyes.

"H...he's not even coherant enough to talk right now... and they choose him over me?" She whispered.

[Rabadash]

Operations Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:28 pm

The Sub-commander walked down the short hallway and stood in front of Lucy. "You're not going anywhere. You and Quinten need to learn to trust in your teammates. You're going to be together for quite awhile, and neither me nor Kleiber have time to deal with an angsty egotistical child. You can take this elevator, but it won't take you to the cages. It will take you straight to the evacuation room, where you will stay with everyone else. And you won't come back." Keyvn stepped aside. "You can't do this yourself. None of us can."

[Transcendent]

She looked to the sub commander, and her body went stiff. She took a deep breath, biting down on her lower lip. “I’m sorry sir…” She mumbled, closing her eyes. Her chest rising and falling with each little breath that she took. “I’ll be good, I’ll obey orders…” She said with a weak little sigh.

[Rabadash]

West Potomac Park, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:29 pm

The pilot of Unit 05 was thrilled to see Unit 03 rise from the ground, and present itself right in front of her. "There you are. Lets test Kleiber's pet!" Unit 05 bucked it 's legs, and the lance protruding from its arm began to spin at high speeds. "Let's break open your cage!"

Unit 05 speed straight into the center of the park, legs fumbling to keep footing as it speed through the long pool in front of the Washington Monument. Unit 05 bent down lower to stay on target, and lunged it drill at Unit 03. The pilot underestimated the new pilot. Out of skill or plain instinct, the giant claws on Unit 03 reached out and pushed the drill to the side, pivoting Unit 05 almost 30 degrees. Such an awkward parry stopped Unit 05 in it's tracks. "Trust me, you won't do that twice!" said the pilot as she made sure to maintain her AT field.

Operations Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:29 pm

Keyvn, in definite contrast to the distint personality of Sharron Kleiber, was not satisfied with Lucy's answer. "This isn't about following orders. This isn't about obedience. Being an Eva pilot isn't a game, you're here to save lives. Nobody is here to replace you, to usurp you. They are here to help you. Do you understand Lucy?" The Subcommander then turned to Quentin. "Nobody here is your enemy, and least of all me or other officiers."


Unit 05 is now directly in front of Unit 03

[Jobbut]

John glanced around, grabbing the controls, investigating them closely. He slammed his eyes shut during the brief period he had as UNIT 05 charged. He took a deep breath, and delved into his own instinct and knowledge.

I know this! I’ve seen weapon controls before!

John re-positioned his arms, running his hands along the twin handles and other controls presented to him in the plug.

If this is anything like the manuals… This should manipulate the forward controls… This should be motor functions… And this…

John thought as he felt his way around the controls, finally letting his hands rest on the handles again as he gripped them tight.

…This… Isn’t anything like the manuals.

John thought, gulping, then, pulling the handles back slowly, naturally one might say, as if he had discovered how to operate the Evangelion of off instinct alone.
Unit 03 responded to the manipulation by slowly taking a step back steadying itself, its arms posing forward.

I’ll just have to ‘pilot’ on… Instinct!

He shouted to himself in his head, opening his eyes and letting out a roar of rage, UNIT 05 about to strike as John slammed on the controls, twisting, pulling and pushing them in a blur.
UNIT 03 slammed it’s bladed fist into the end of the drill-lance, sparks flying and John going wide eyed with agony as his screaming heightened in pitch from the sheer pain he was experiencing—UNIT 03 suddenly slamming it’s other hand into the lance and gripping it, pivoting and throwing her to the side and stepping back.

John let go of the controls and stared at his shaking hands, taking a deep breath before slamming his fists into the controls, his hands still burning in pain from the unarmed parry.

”F***! F***! F***!”

John shouted, most likely loud enough for the entire bridge to hear. He gripped the controls again, eyes filled with rage as UNIT 03 straightened it’s posture and took an angry stance, slouching forward with bladed fists clenched.

”I’ll F***ING KILL YOU, B****!”

John shouted at the top of his lungs, UNIT 03’s speakers activating so his opponent could hear this. John’s heart raced, his throat burned, and his body locked together with this machine of destruction he was bonded to.

UNIT 03 thrashed out with its fists, not striking anything, but allowing John to vent his anger at the enemy Evangelion that had caused him pain with a blood curdling scream—John feeling an energy begin to arise around him, as if it was both empowering and protecting him.


Full-Round action to raise Deflective A.T. Field.
Let the punching begin.
ATS: 5
ATP: 5

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Ella watches the display on screen, ignoring the alarmed mutterings of the bridge crew, and the flickering of whatever information was being sent to the terminals around the room. All of her attention is focused on Unit 03 and Unit 05. The pilot had gone from the middle of a panic attack to some kind of frothing fury, without apparently going through any intermediate stages. It was bad enough using children - thought the incredibly young captain - but mentally unstable ones were just asking for trouble. She'd schedule the pilot in for a lengthy psychiatric analysis and treatment procedure later.

"Tanks and VTOLs are to move in to support the Evas. Turret banks, resume fire on Unit Five when it re-enters your range," she announces calmly, and opens a private sound-only line to Unit 00. "Can you shed any light on this?"

[Transcendent]

Lucy half listened to Kevyn, as her gaze turned to the screen. She sighed softly noticing that unit 03 looked rather familiar. She shook her head a bit, she took another long slow breath before her gaze returned to Kevyn. She ran her slender digits through those bright pink locks of her, she pondered for a moment. She knew the answer she had to give, and she also knew that throwing a tantrum like Quentin’s wasn’t going to change anything.

“I understand sir.” She said, trying her best to sound at least more calm and relaxed than she had before. “I do know it’s not a game, but, it’s easy for me to get caught up.” She leaned her back against a nearby wall her eyes falling closed for a moment.

Her attention was soon caught by the sound of the screaming pilot. Again she felt a slight twinge of envy, she wanted to be out there. She needed to show NERV what she could do, but, instead she was forced to sit back and watch someone else take the glory, get the praise from victory, and the rush of combat.

“So…anyone know who’s in the plug of that bastardization of an Evangelion? They’ve gotta be pretty ballsy to attack DC directly without back up.”

[Astro_sol]

Theodore let out a whoop of joy as he was launched to the surface. Lights rushed past him as he laughed, clenching and unclenching his hands. This is it, you can show them all what your training brought you. This...this is it!

"Theodore, we are attaching a pallet gun to your launch pad," the officer - Terry Rudyard, if he was reading the communique window correctly - had said, right before he was launched. His grin, if it were possible, split even wider at the thought. And now he could show off his specialty. He kept grinning when the launch pad hit the surface, the false building he had been lifted to falling open to let in beams of light. He squinted for a moment, taking in the scene in front of him. He saw the straightaway, followed by a field, and further on...the small blue-white Unit 03, visciously parrying the drill of the alien-looking (well, more so than any of the Evas) Unit 05. The same officer that had spoken to him before spoke up again. "Unit 03 is 50 decameters from your position. There is an extra Umbilical Port on the Potomac launch pad. If you hurry, you can get there and connect while providing backup for Unit 03."

"Yessir, I'll get it done." And that was all that needed to be said. In a single movement, he snatched the Pallet Gun next to him and broke into a run, rushing forward at full speed. As he watched the scene unfolding before him, he saw another window open, labelled "Cpt. Ella Sanders, SOUND ONLY".

"Can you shed any light on this?" she asked. Ah. She must have meant the status of the 4th. Weird kid.

"Ma'am," he replied, still running. "When I was briefed for this mission, I was told that the 4th suffers from some form of higher-functioning autism. I'm not one to question orders, so I won't, but I suspect that if I don't help, he's gonna get skewered on that...is that a drill? Anyway, yeah, from what I can tell, he has trouble communicating." He made sure his weapon was loaded and ready to fire, still running. "If words don't work, he uses his fists. Seems like that's working for now." With that said, he returned his focus to the mission. I'll have to hurry to get in range. No need for my AT-Field to be spread just yet.

Gonna use Quick Draw to ready that Pallet Gun on the pad as a swift action, then run 24 decameters as a Full-Action Run.

[Fearan]

Quentin half-smiled, as he heard the subcommander repeated almost exact words he himself told Lucy moments ago. When he got his orders from cpt Sanders, he just uttered "- Yes, ma'am" - and almost headed back to the elevator, but he was stopped by subcommander's words. It wouldn't be polite to listen to the words of your superior with your back. So, Quentin listened, and answered with another confirming - Yessir, I've got it.. He had his own opinion about "trusting your teammates", specifically about counting some random guys he never saw as "teammates" but as Q.B chilled out from his rage display, he understood, that it was totally no use to argue with the insect in blue at the middle of the battle. On the positive, Quentin got his movie - the giant screen showed rather amusing piece of action - a real Evangelion battle. While "yesma'am"-ing and "yessir"-ing, he lloked at the screen and tried to imagine, what would he do, if he found imself in this kind of situation himself.

[Rabadash]

West Potomac Park, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:30 pm

As Unit 05's lance had been struck aside by Unit 03, it pivoted to the side,spinning a tad. "Looks like you have a friend joining the party!" shouted the pilot as she noticed Unit 00 running toward their position. She also noticed the pallet gun in it's hand. "Nope, not gonna happen!"

With those words, Unit 05 buckled its legs, ducked down, and met back up with Unit 03 at an angle putting all three Units in a straight line. While its drill arm was still recovering from the parry, the alternate arm with the single claw attached to the end, lunged forward and grabbed Unit 03 by the neck, and clasped.

"Alright, lets see how long you last!"

Operations Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:30 pm

"Unit 03's pilot is being suffocated!" yelled Shanelle "He can't last for long!"

Keyvn, done lecturing Lucy and Quentin, walked down the multi-tiers of the operations room and stopped next to Ella, still staring up at the screen. He talked in a hushed tone, as so nobody but Ella could hear him "I'm sorry for overriding your orders, but this comes straight from the higher-ups. They seem intent on having Unit 03 and only Unit 03 out there fighting right now. In fact, Unit 00 seems to be there just so Unit 03's pilot doesn't die." He turns toward Ella. "SEEL is a strange bunch. There's only so much Kleiber tells me. I would be careful of the men in the sky."


Unit 05 Grapples Unit 03 by the neck
John takes 1+n (n being rounds grappled, starting at 0 this round) fatigue each turn.

All Non-turret defense Units are in range of Unit 05

Just a reminder, everyone can talk even if they don't have initiative

[Transcendent]

She didn’t receive any answer to the question, so, she supposed of course that no one in the room had any idea who was in the stupid looking EVA. It was too bad really, and Lucy pondered trying to commandeer the airwaves herself to try and discover just whom was in the plug. Though, her thoughts shifted again.

A high functioning autistic? Sure, she might have had an issue that would have raised the eyebrows of some, but, it didn’t impair her. They had chosen some… some kid who obviously had little to no understanding of what was going on around him and they put him in a giant death machine! She might have only been a teenager, but, even she realized just how stupid the call was. They could say what they would about her not being there, but, the idea of giving someone like that a weapon of mass destruction seemed like something only the insane, stupid, or self destructive would EVER do.

“Gottverdammt” She mumbled, her eyes shifting to the screen as she watched as the enemy EVA began strangling unit 03. Her face was expressionless, she felt sorry for the kid but at least he had someone out there to back him up. “The other should move in to attack from behind… that thing might be tough but, it’s not going to be able to keep it’s hold when it’s back is being assaulted.”

[Astro_sol]

Oh ****. That clever bastard.

Theodore quickly opened a channel to command. "I can't get a clear shot! I'm going to move in to point blank. So much for ranged cover."

Then he switched on his Eva's speakers.

"You yellow bitch! Like picking on the psych patient, huh? Bet you can't go toe to toe with a real man! I'd slap the **** out of you, ***** bitch! That's right, *****! You're scared! Too scared to take me on, that's for sure! 2 legs, 4 legs, it doesn't matter! You're still a ***** pilot in a failed excuse for an Eva! I'll take you on at any range! Bet you're in an Eva in the first place cause you're a fat **** who can't do **** on your own! In here or out on the ground, I'd beat your ****ing ass in seconds! ***** mother****er!"

Talking is a free action right? I'm not actually doing anything. If anything, just interpret it as what he's gonna say when his turn comes.

[Jobbut]

John quickly turned his attention back from his burning hands and burning rage, to his four-legged opponent. With fire in his eyes, he moved forward to strike and his voice ringing out from his Evangelion’s speakers.

”I’ll KILL YOU BI--

John felt his throat suddenly be clenched inside the pod as he was being choked by the sudden blur that was UNIT 05’s other arm. He let out a ‘hurk’ and began clawing at his throat in shock before letting out another muffled roar, and slamming the controls down again.

UNIT 03 raised its arm and slammed it forward, it’s hand open as it collided with UNIT 05’s throat, much like it had to UNIT 03. The hand gripped tight, squeezing and crushing as best as it could with a vengeful drive.

I’llkillyouI’llkillyouI’llkillyouI’llkillyouI’llki llyou!


Successful grapple on UNIT 05.
Time to choke a b****.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

She refrains from responding to the Sub-Commander, allowing the farce on the viewing screen to act as a far more effective response than any she could give. Besides, if she didn't want the pilot to be killed she had to move fast.

"All units, open fire! Unit Zero, I need that AT Field down now. Unit Three, hang in there. We'll get you out of this," she looks around the bridge, before her eyes settle on Shantelle. "Keep me informed. We'll hold cutting his synch ratio as a last resort. At this rate we're going to need them both functional," she says grimly.

Turrets and tanks are shooting. But the annoying AT Field means there's no point rolling.

[Astro_sol]

"...and I bet you're a whore, too! A filthy, filthy whore!"

As he kept yelling obscenities at the enemy pilot, Theodore kept up his grueling pace, although he had the advantage of not feeling the fatigue that he'd have felt if he weren't in a giant armored monstrosity. The buildings gave way to a much more open field, and he began to peel off to the left side, angling himself so that he would eventually come alongside the two fighting Evas.

When he saw Unit 03 start to choke the other Eva back, Theodore let his verbal tirade increase in ferocity, constantly berating the enemy pilot. However, he broke off when he saw a ping in Captain Sander's communique window.

"Unit Zero, I need that AT Field down now!"

"Yes ma'am!" Theodore peeled his Eva to a stop after his intense sprint, just 10 decameters away from the Evas.

Alright, time to Neutralize. His Eva went silent as he began to concentrate. You better not die, 4th. It'd be a serious black mark on the mission debrief, even after I killed this bitch myself.

Ok, so Theodore would take another Full-Action Run, seeing as he wants to get as close as possible, and a Full-Move just isn't quite enough for me to feel comfortable. But he wouldn't go the whole distance, stopping at the distance I specified. If that's allowed.

[Transcendent]

She was a bit surprised by the barrage of obscenities that were being shouted by the pilot. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes a little, not to mention the idea of outright killing another human being seemed somewhat repugnant to her. It was fine to best them, but, if they continued to press the assault after the EVA was incapable of retaliating that would be out and out murder her eyes. Would either of these two be able to pull back from the fatal stroke... would they even want to?

“Perhaps someone should wash their mouths out with soap. I’m sure the whole eastern seaboard can hear them cursing like sailors. That can’t be good for PR.” She said, attempting to make light of the situation, she knew of course she’d probably receive a talking to because of her comments, but, there wasn’t much at all she could do now.

[Rabadash]

West Potomac Park, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:30 pm

The situation at hand had begun to annoy the pilot of Unit 05. "You...piece...of...****" she struggled to say as John had begun to strangle her. The words barely were able to leave her mouth, and simply sounded like soft gags. At the same time, Unit 00 had spouted off multiple insults her way. "So you like to talk big." the pilot reached for the control of her left arm, with was difficult considering she was being suffocated. "But see how your...friend...likes...THHIIIISSS!" She yelled at the top of her oxygen-deprived lungs, and pushed forward the left arm controls as hard as she could. The scream sounded more of a whimper, but her determination pulled her through.

The drill arm, which had previously been idle, instantly came to life, lunged up, and began piercing Unit 03's left arm, the one that had been grabbing her throat. As drill span into the arm, causing sparks and shrapnel to fly off into the distance. With a loud "BANG", the drill pierced the armor layer, and tore through the flesh. Blood blasted out of the arm, and it dropped from Unit 05's neck.

The pilot breathed heavily, still grabbing Unit 03's neck with its large claw. "Alright, common now, show me the beast!"



He said over skype that the left arm was the one grappling
Unit 03 takes 9 wounds of damage
Activates arm crit table 2

-The cut along the length of the arm stings and bleeds profusely as bottom half of the
arm is painted red: the pilot must pass a toughness test or gain 1 level of fatigue.

John now has 2 levels of fatigue from strangling.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/9462/rollc.png

[Jobbut]

John was furious, clenching as hard as he could at the other Evangelion’s neck, his hand clenched as tight as it would go, John’s pain finally subsided enough in his hands to provide him more control.

John was too panicked and angry to bother making out what the other pilots were saying—an error that was about to prove painful and disarming as UNIT 05 slammed the drill into UNIT 03’s left arm

John went wide-eyed, feeling his arm practically shatter as a burning, rending sensation worked its way into his arm, spreading like wildfire as he watched UNIT 03’s arm spark and tear and spatter blood as the whirring weapon tore through the Evangelion’s left arm, rendering it non-functioning.

John tried to scream as best he could, clawing at his arm as it spasmed and contorted, slamming into the controls over and over to try and make the pain go away, not noticing as his arm fell away from his grappling, leaving UNIT 05 free.

John grabbed the control handle with his right arm, eyes wild with fury that began to slowly lose its shimmer as he found himself choked, slowly losing precious time as he felt his rage begin to melt away, his sheer hatred for this intense pain and the enemy that had caused it intensifying to take its place as his scream welled up in his throat, John slamming the handle wildly, gripping it as tightly as he could from the agony in his twisted, shaking left arm as it lay mostly limp against his side.

UNIT 03 raised it’s other fist, reaching back, and slamming into UNIT 05’s AT Field, once…

Twice…

Three times as it suddenly began to crack.

UNIT 03 Reached all the way back, it’s arm extending as far is it would go while grappled by the neck, as it turned and slammed the fist full-speed into UNIT 05’s AT Field, shattering it wholly, neutralizing the field as John immediately let go of the controls and slammed his fist into them, unable to find an appropriate way to deal with the intense pain of having his arm broken by a massive, spinning drill.


Half Action to strike UNIT 05 with fists/natural weapon {MISSED}
Half Action to Neutralize UNIT 05’s AT Field
Rip her several dozen new ones, Theodore.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

The damage to Unit 03's arm hadn't been too bad, this time. But next time? Something had to be done, and fast. While this probably wouldn't do anything fast, it would do something and at the very least get some useful information

"Call Jirou back to the bridge. I need him and the Magi," she pauses at Lucy's comment, then nods. "Is it possible to mute Unit Zero's speakers from here?"

...and then the word comes that the enemy AT Field is down:

"All conventional forces fire on my mark. Mark!"

Ella watches with great satisfaction as - at last - Unit 05 is hammered by the high explosive shells from the tanks and VTOLs. Her satisfaction is diminished somewhat by the negligible effects of the barrage on the armour-plated monstrosity they were fighting, but it was still better than nothing.

"Authorise the turret crews are authorised to use missiles if Unit Five enters their range. We're going to take her down,"


Finally, there's a point to rolling! Yaaayy!

Tank damage! [roll0]
VTOL damage [roll1]

[Astro_sol]

Theodore blinked as he saw Unit 03's arm get shredded by the enemy's drill arm. Oh. Oh, I should've seen that coming. Oh ****. The 4th's gonna...

And then the blue Eva started punching. The hexagonal shield that had been protecting Unit 05 from barrage after barrage of conventional arms fire cracked. And cracked some more. Unit 03 didn't let up until, finally, the shield broke.

Theodore's face split into a grin. He wished for a moment that his Evangelion could do the same, if not for its bolted-down jaws. He was at a decent angle, so...

"Hey, bitch! Suck on this!" And opened fire with the Pallet Gun, spraying car-sized bullets at Unit 05.

Rolling for damage. Rolled in OOC thread for to-hit roll. **** the forum dice roller.

[roll0]

Breach is 2, I think. I only get Trained For War's bonus.

[Transcendent]

She flinched a bit hearing that the Doctor would be entering the command center. Lucy new the man wouldn’t be happy with the fact that she was stuck on the ground. She shifted back and forth, eyes darting too and fro almost as if she was looking fothng woman, instead she simply moved in closer to Ella trying to get a better view of the action so she looked like she was engaged in the action.

So far though, it looked like unit 05 was winning against the two new pilots. She felt childish, but, Lucy did feel the slightest hint of satisfaction at the way the fight was going. The staff had obviously chosen the wrong pilots, she and Quentin would have obviously been a better choice. She tilted her head to the side, and gave a little stretch.

“I need to meet who ever is in there… if they can take on two EVA’s in that piece of junk they must be good…”

[Fearan]

Quentin stood quietly in an attempt to make the bridge staff forget about him. All of his attention was focused on the screen, where the invader ripped apart Unit-03. And Unit-03 returned favor with breaching the invaders AT-Field.
Checkmate - he commented quietly. Then he heard Lucy

“I need to meet who ever is in there… if they can take on two EVA’s in that piece of junk they must be good…”
- No, he can't. Without AT-field he's a goner. Even army can get him now. Admit it, the newbies have won the day.

[Transcendent]

"I wouldn't count them out just yet. Sure, they're at a disadvantage but I'm not going to bet against them just yet." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Just because someone's on the ropes doesn't mean that they can't recover."

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

She looks over her shoulder at Lucy and Quentin and frowns. She's not normally in the habit of explaining things in the middle of a battle, but she's willing to make an exception this time;

"If the pilot of Unit Five can break that grapple and keep her distance while taking out Umbilicals, she can win this thing. All she has to do is outlast them and take out their power. Their batteries will run down long before hers do. I just hope she doesn't work this out,"

[Rabadash]

West Potomac Park, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:31 pm

The pilot of Unit 05 smiled for she was almost at her goal. The secret channel into the cockpit of Unit 03 showed the pilot on the verge of fainting, which would be the final mission trigger. She tightened her grip on her right control trigger. 'Just...a...bit...more!"

But then the bullets flew. The pilot instantly knew that ignoring Unit 00 had been a mistake. The complex controls of Unit 05 were taking a toll on her peripheral vision, and he turned to see Unit 00 stick a gun in her face.

"Suck on this bitch!"

Multiple bullets flew at her direction, only giving her an instant to focus herself to raise an AT field. "Deploy!"

But nothing happened.

"What the ****?!" she screamed as she felt what seemed like knives being driven through her skull. "GRAAHHHHHH!" The pilot gripped her eye with on hand, mindful to keep Unit 03 gripped. In reality, the bullets from the pallet gun had hit her dead center in the head, penetrating Unit 05's armor.

It wasn't however, as just when she was able to regain some form of composure, a tank shell collided with Unit 05's front right leg, blasting it into a barley recognizable shape. The legs weren't biological, minimizing the feedback to Unit 05. The quad-leg design of Unit 05 came in handy, allowing it to collapse into 3 remaining legs and regain balance, with the blasted leg hanging down limp.

The VTOL fire hit Unit 05's hind front leg, just breaking through the armor and dealing significant damage to Unit 05's hind right leg. "Dammit...this thing it going to fall apart on me..." she said to herself as she squeezed harder and harder on Unit 03's neck.

Operations Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:31 pm

The bridge looked in glee has Unit 05 took on damage. "Front right leg destroyed, Unit 05 assuming tri-ped stance!" Blake yelled

"Unit 00's speakers muted captain" Shanelle was not as exited. "Unit 03's vitals slipping, the pilot is just on the verge of consciousnesses"

Jirou stepped through the entrance to the operations room and noticed Lucy, immediatly walking down toward Ella. "We have a pilot be strangled, and you have our best pilot on standby? What are you thinking Ella?

The Subcommander intercepted him. "We cannot afford to damage multiple Units. For now, Unit 01 and 02 are in suspension"

"Thats bull**** and you know it Headley! The fat cats up at SEEL want to test the grand old Unit 03 to the point of killing the pilot before the show! Any special powers or amazing abilities, and they will be rolling in grants and corporate investors!" Jirou let loose, allowing his Japanese accent to slip through as he struggled to keep his temper.

Unknown location. February 20th, 2027, 4:31 pm

"How much is his life worth to the Knights for this experiment?" Kleiber said in a reserved tone, hoping to change the Templar's minds. "Finding a child this perfect isn't something that comes every day."

The French Templar lifted his head, and was silent for awhile, before responding. "His life is expendable, so long as we are able to awaken our manufactured God. Only Lucy can pilot the true Nebuchadnezzar, anyone can pilot Unit 03."

Operations Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:31 pm


As Jirou was speaking, the room turned red with messages, and a piercing ringing sound blasted. "Unit 03 not responding" it said.

"Unit 03's pilot has fallen unconscious! Unit 03 is offline!"

West Potomac Park, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:31 pm

The pilot of Unit 05 concentrated for a second, and attempting to brush off the piercing pain in her head and legs, finally raiding a second AT field. This one was different from the first one, less like a bunker and more like a massive shield. Unit 05 wouldn't last much longer, but this field would make ejection possible when the time came.

However, the pilot noticed something different. "There it is!" In the monitor of Unit 03, she could see that the scrawny pilot had passed out. This was what she had been waiting for. The next few seconds would determine the difference between success and failure. She lowered her massive claw, and waited for a reaction.


Unit 05 took damage to the head and front right leg, and has lost the hind right leg.

John is unconscious.

For future reference, you can target with conventional units.

[Jobbut]

John felt the slightest bit relieved as he saw the other Evangelion dash behind his opponent and open fire, pressing the gun into that bitch’s face and holding down the trigger. John smirked a bit, quickly beginning to fade from consciousness, the loss of his arm fatiguing farther than he could take alongside the choking.

Everything was a blur by this point, all sounds muted muffles, the only sensation left in his numbed body being the sharp, almost metallic grasping of his throat, which he hopelessly clawed at with his hands in vain, his attempts doing little as he felt himself fade from this world, his body aching and his eyes fallen shut.

John felt a brief moment of… Respite? No… It was more like he could tell he was protected by someone… something else as he slumped forward and fell unconscious, UNIT 03 quickly following and slumping against the hand choking it.

…O-Over already?

[Rabadash]

West Potomac Park, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:31 pm


Unit 03 had shut down. Its head slumped in unison with the pilot's as John fell unconscious. Everyone in the Operations Room scurried around, unsure of what to do, and Unit 05 simply stood there, waiting for a reply. "Common, move already!" she yelled. No response. Unit 05's head tilted down, as the pilot filed a report. "Unable to awaken Unit 03. Inhibitors seem only to keep pilot's mind in contr..."

Then it happened. The wingless neck of Unit 03 began to shake, and its mouth started to vibrate. Suddenly, its mouth ripped open, revealing horrifying, yet oddly human teeth. It's head sprang up, nearly throwing itself back, slowly aligning itself into position. Its eyed glow with a murderous intent. It stared Unit 05 straight down, and let out a terrifying roar, nearly shattering the ears of the members of the Operations Room.

Operations Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:31 pm


"Unit 03 has reactivated, no power is flowing to the Eva!" yelled Terry as he smashed keys furiously. "Ejection systems not responding!"

"Pilot is descending rapidly! Unit 03...It's gone Berserk!" Shanelle acted oddly, rather than being afraid, she was incredible exited at the situation. She was about the experience real action.

"Now this is different." said Blake as he leaned back in his chair, sipping coffee.

Jirou looked down at his phone, which automatically received custom MAGI updates. He read the output furiously, and closed his eyes in some sort of psuedo-relief. He talked to himself "Inhibitors holding at 250%. So they've actually done it."

West Potomac Park, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:32 pm


Unit 03 lifted up its massive, yet broken, left arm, holding it outstretched toward Unit 05. "Looks like you want a challenge." She responded. "Alright, lets see what you can do!"

But the arm stayed there. Slowly, pieces of armor began to drop off the arm, revealing a pale white arm with long, sharp claws. Such a sight was inhuman, or even demonic. The arm was lacerated and twisted into impossible directions, but it slowly healed the maimed limb, regenerating into a almost human looking arm.

Unit 03 slowly walked toward Unit 05, retaining the demonic expression in its face. It had but one goal: kill what was in front of it. It roared, then threw its left fist straight through Unit 05's AT field, slipping it like nothing. Unit 03 lurched forward, grabbed Unit 05 with one hand, and smashed it's fist into its head.

The pilot of Unit 05 is barely able to scream as a indescribable pain shoots up to her head...or should I say neck. Unit 05's head hung only by a thread of tissue off of it's own neck, with the broken spinal column and bloody gore being the only thing left dangling down from it's torso. The pilot laid back in her cockpit as the plug ejected and flew south, landing in the Chesepeke bay.

"Take...on...the...day....with...a....1...2...punch" She muttered to herself, hallucinating from the sheer pain that she had just experienced. Her head was gone. Or at least that's what it felt like. Her brain told her that her brain was no longer, a paradox that would send anybody spiraling into madness. It would be hours until the pain fully registered, but that time will make hell seem like a picnic.

Operations Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:31 pm

The room was speechless following the event that had just occurred. Finally, President Paine spoke up. "W-What are these things...What have you people created?!"

She was ignored, as the text of the MAGI filled the screen in front.

UNIT 05 STATUS
-MASSIVE CRANIAL DAMAGE
ANALYZING PILOT STATUS...
PILOT EJECTED
UNIT 05 OFFLINE.


Lol punch did 17 damage, just making the crit 10 thanks to Theodore's attack

John takes 2 insanity

Roll to fall dormant. (+10 Fellowship/Willpower) If fail (2+ degrees), combat continues as normal.

[Transcendent]

Lucy couldn’t help but smile at the Doctor’s words, a faint hint of a blush spread across those pale cheeks of hers. She loved praise, and when the man stated she was the best her heart literally skipped a beat. She almost took a step closer to him, yet, remained still as her gaze stood fixed on the screen before her. At least someone else saw the insanity of keeping her sidelined which was all that mattered to her, screw Hedley, the commander, or anyone else who didn’t agree. This was what she was made for, why wasn’t she able to engage!

Her joy was short lived as she watched Unit 03 slump forward. Sure, it meant that they had chosen wrong… but, she didn’t want the other pilot to get seriously damaged. She wasn’t that self obsessed. She could take delight in someone’s failings but when they were getting hurt or worse it was in those moments that she realized how immature and childish her obsessions were. Yet, those thoughts didn’t last long.

Something happened, she wasn’t sure what it was.

Berserk? What did that mean?

She saw the flesh of the EVA beneath the armor as it lashed out and tore Unit 05’s head from it’s body. For a second she quickly turned away, a hand pressed to her mouth as it felt like today's lunch might be coming back up to say hello. “There was someone in there…” She whispered, and she knew well enough what that meant for the pilot.

Yet, even in her state… it was there a terrible whispering in the back of her head. If the fourth child was capable of doing that, bringing forth something so… terrible. She knew that she could, and what was more… she had to now to show the staff and the pilot of unit three. She wouldn’t be left in the dust. Never.

[Rabadash]

West Potomac Park, Washington DC. February 20th, 2027, 4:32 pm

Unit 05, devoid of a pilot, buckled under it's own weight, and crashed down to the park below it, causing very limited damage. Unit 03 stood in place, fist still in place, before finally retracting it's fist, and letting out another thunderous roar. This was less benevolent, however, because clearly Unit 03 was beginning to lose control of itself, as it gripped its head, almost as if in pain.

It began punching itself, letting out clang after clang upon its own armor, before attempting to tear it right off. There was little success to be had, as only small pieces fell to the ground. Instead, it turned suddenly, and began stomping toward Unit 00, letting out roar after roar, thrashing about. Building in the residential areas north of the park were leveled, as Unit 03 approached Unit 00 in pure rage.

Operations Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 4:32 pm

"Unit 03 is out of control!"

"I can see that with my own eyes, officer!" Jirou ran up to the MAGI systems and began crunching numbers, attempting to find a way to stop Unit 03. Finnally, he found override controls for the plug system. "****, I don't care what happens to him, we can't afford to lose two pilots. Manually raising inhibitors to 400%!"

ATTEMPTING TO OVERRIDE....
OVERRIDE COMPLETE
INHIBITOR SYSTEM ACCESS GRANTED
RAISING UNIT 03 INHIBITORY SYSTEMS TO 400%

Suddenly, the feed to Unit 03's cockpit revealed a gruesome sight. Multiple syringe-like needles plunged into John's spine, spraying blood into the LCL. The needles glowed, and John began to seize, shacking uncontrollably in his unconscious state.

Shanelle was horrifed at both the visual feed, and the vitals feed that showed John's diminishing state. "Dr. Gorou, you're going to kill him!"

"No, I'm saving the Unit 00 pilot!"

And the screen agreed. Unit 03 walked slower and slower, before finnaly coming to a complete stop. After a few seconds of being idle, all feeds showed Unit 03 having lost power, and the Eva itself feel face forward to the ground.

-UNIT 03 HAS CEASED OPERATION
...EVA IN SALVAGEABLE CONDITION
ASSESSING PILOT
...PILOT HAS SUSTAINED INJURIES
SEVERE NERVOUS SYSTEM TRAUMA
MINOR MENTAL TRAUMA
...FULL RECOVERY POSSIBLE
FINAL ASSESSMENT...
MISSION SUCCESSFUL
CITY REPAIRS WHITEN BUDGET CONSTRAINTS.

President Paine was the first to breath a sigh of relief. "I have no idea what just happened, but that sounded good." she attempted to hide her clear fear of the entire debacle that had just transpired. "I need some time to gather myself. I will attend debriefing. I assume Sharron will be attending." Paige left the room.

Unknown location. February 20th, 2027, 4:33 pm

The British Templar was the one to fully address Kleiber. "As you see, we have proved to have control of Unit 03, which proves that Unit 02 has well can be piloted in theory."

Kleiber was not pleased at the appeal. "You will find yourself wrong to equate piloting a synthetic God with piloting a true one. In the end, you will only make the same mistake you made 14 years ago."

"However, Ms. Kleiber, we have ascended past the place of 14 years ago. We reside up in heaven, and we look down on the people below. The Masons attempted to bottle up humanities destiny, and instead forced the world into perpetual mediocrity."

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future. The Masons did not accept mediocrity, they simply rejected the concept of absolute power. Are you sure it is something you can control?"

The center Templar hologram looked up, and outstreched it's arms. "The Masons refused to accept the full potential of mankind, and we shall liberate the ignorant masses." he outstretched his arm. "The covenant of Lilith is soon at hand. Do not forget your place in it. In hoc signo vinces"

Kleiber responded enthusiastically. "In hoc signo vinces." With that, the holograms disappeared, leaving Kleiber sitting in a chair alone. "There is no god to become, simply others to subdue." she said to herself as she left the room.

[Fearan]

The scene ot the blue screen was somewhat... confusing. Instead of behaving like a proper giant robot, Unit 03 showed some... organic parts and ripped the invader apart - without power grid. That alone was a thing to think about, but the following. The scene of needle-torturing of Unit 03's pilot totally should be rated NC-18 or something like this. "So, the Eva's are somewhat organic, and they've got torture devices inside" - he thought.
- Well, my "What the hell" obviously would weight less than the President's, so the best bet is to wait for the debriefing, don't you think, Lucy - he made a smug comment trying to hide mistrust and fear behind the bravado
"Yeah, sure, nobody here is my enemy. Especially not our resident Mengele" - he didn't voiced that one, but it was easy to read from his face.

[Astro_sol]

It was certainly a sight to behold.

"Unit 03 is a redesign of Unit 02, but I think its dangerous. Very dangerous."

Theodore blinked as the Eva began moving on its own - his status indicator showed that Unit 03's pilot was unconscious. Command must have been in a tizzy, because no one was sending him fresh orders. He started to shift his aim between the two Evas, trying to keep them both covered.

"When you’re out there, I want you to stay as far as you can from Unit 03."

So this is what you meant, Doc...

The doctor was not a nice man. Theodore knew this. However, he knew his business, so it paid to give the man respect. In this case, Theodore was starting to regret coming in to get close. He began to back up a few steps as Unit 03 squeezed Unit 05's head like a melon.

"Oh, that can't be good..."

An indicator on his HUD told him that his speakers had been muted, but he wasn't paying attention to that. The blonde boy took several deep breaths as Unit 05's ejection plug fired, landing her off south.

Then Unit 03 turned towards him.

"Oh, that is definitely not good," Theodoe muttered, noting that he had only 3 bullets left in his piece of crap clip, realizing he only had a few seconds. And no one had given him the order to neutralize this obviously berserking Eva. "Orders, Command?" he asked, wiping sweat from his brow, although Unit 00 kept the gun steady. Unit 03 roared and began to stalk towards him, but at the last minute it collapsed, still barely standing. "Oh. Well, uh, that works."

The MAGI began feeding data to his HUD. Mission complete. Theodore let out a sigh. "Well that was exciting. I think...I think I'll just keep Unit 03 covered, then, Command. At a distance. Is someone gonna recover Unit 05's plug?"

Was gonna wait for an Ella post, but eh. Just talking, really, he doesn't take any actions since Command didn't tell him exactly what to do with this situation.

[Transcendent]

She quickly looked away from the screen her stomach only becoming more upset with the sight of blood in the LCL. This wasn't what she wanted at all. Lucy simply wanted the newbie pilots... particularly the one who was piloting what appeared to be a bastardization of unit 02. So she'd get a chance to prove herself to NERV. Now though, he was being heavily drugged and damaged by her own creator.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

The situation was, admittedly, confusing. After all, very little of her training had featured battles between poorly-explained reality-defying abominations of science. In fact, none of it had. However, Ella was forced to conclude that a weapon - even a living weapon - was not supposed to be walking around on its own after its pilot had lost consciousness. Unfortunately, with no idea of what was going on there was very little she could actively contribute beyond ordering the pilot ejected and the power cable severed. She had to content herself to the little things she could manage, until Jirou did whatever it was he was doing.

However, when Unit 03 stops moving...

"Recovery teams, get Unit Three's pilot out of there, and retrieve the pilot of Unit Five. Go! Unit Zero, keep guard on Unit Five until a team can sweep it for explosives, and keep your AT Field up. Any unauthorised vehicles that come within range are to be destroyed without warning. The only authorised vehicles at this time are the recovery vehicles. Shantelle, transfer the list of ident tag and vehicle registrations of the active recovery teams to Unit Zero's plug, please. Tank squadrons are to take up defensive positions around Unit Five. VTOLs are to be cycled back to base for refuelling, but I want a constant air presence. Trauma teams are to be dispatched to the damaged turret banks."

"I need some time to gather myself. I will attend debriefing. I assume Sharron will be attending."

Ella watches the president leave with a calm mask. Behind it, though, her mind is racing furiously. What were the odds that the President would take over operations at the same time a stolen Evangelion would appear to make a suicidal attack on NERV HQ? Of course, the friendship between the Commander and the President was going to make investigations difficult.

"Debriefing will be held at 2000 hours. All pilots are expected to attend if they are able. Jirou, I want you to start the MAGI tracking all external communications and interference to Unit Five. Somewhere, someone must have been in support, like we were supporting our Evas, yes? I want them found." Without waiting for a response, Ella turns to Blake.

"Liase with Section Two. I want a complete accounting of precisely where every Eva unit currently in existence is, and I want it confirmed by sight. Be discreet, though. I'd rather no-one knew what we were doing. By all means, have someone investigate our own Evas if you feel it necessary to avoid attention. I need that report as soon as possible, and I want you to find out how Unit Five was stolen, where from and why we didn't know."

Ella pauses, and looks around the bridge again slowly and thoughtfully before her eyes rest on Shantelle. "Shantelle... when Jirou has set up the trace, I'd like both you and him to join me in briefing room three. Bring the files of all four pilots."

She turns on her heel and heads for the exit, before realising what she's forgotten; "Sub-Commander. Please make sure that there's food and drink available for the pilots in the debriefing room - I'll pay for it. John and Theodore in particular will want it, if John's regained consciousness. And... thank you, everyone for your efforts. Let me know when Unit Three's pilot is brought in."

As she the door closes behind her, she carries on until she rounds the first corner where she stops and waits out of sight. The hell is she speaking to Shantelle and Jirou under the watch of the cameras in briefing room three, and the hell is she talking to the pilots under the eyes of the President. Something's wrong, and her pilots might be in the line of fire. She's not taking any chances.

[Astro_sol]

Theodore smiled as his orders started to come through. The chick with the white hair was on his HUD again, sound only.

"Unit Zero, keep guard on Unit Five until a team can sweep it for explosives, and keep your AT Field up."

"Yes ma'am. Powering up AT Field to maximum strength."

He would have gotten a kick out of the fact that he never really applied his AT Field to his first battle in DC, but he was too confused by the present situation. Everything had seemed to revolve around Unit 03. Jirou had said there was something special about it, something bad. And Theodore meant to keep an eye on it from now on. He calmly settled his gun sight on Unit 03's head as he concentrated on raising up what he - privately, of course - called his "Energy Shield".

Combat's over, this is just fluff. And just in case. Full action to raise AT Field, ATS 5.

[Rabadash]

Eva Crate Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 5:00 pm

The NERV crew had left the bridge to complete their individual tasks for Captain Ella, leaving both Lucy and Quentin to themselves. Time passed as the cleanup began. Multiple bomb squads made their way to the Potomac park to sweep through UNIT 05, and carried out large bags and boxes from the Eva. From there, NERV teams brought in heavy machinery to bring Unit 05 to the embarkation point to secure it, after which they secured Unit 03. Unit 00 was then motioned to come toward the embarkation point in the center of the National Mall. Both Units were locked onto their transportation platforms, and lowered down into the NERV base.

The NERV crew motioned Theodore out of the Eva, and onto the large catwalk in the Eva crate room. Joining him was Dr. Gorou, standing cross-armed near the center between Unit 00 and Unit 03.

"Theodore, debriefing is at 8. There are plenty of signs around the base. so finding it shouldn't be too hard." He then stood up and walked over toward Unit 03, whose plug was stuck out from the Eva. There were noticeably more crew members in that direction than normal, and the reason soon became clear. John was being hauled onto a stretcher, still unconscious. "Bring him to the infirmary, treat all head injuries immediately. And for the love of God, don't let this go public."

The white coated men rolled John over toward Theodore, and lifted him up so that he could be brought down the metal stairs. Jirou took out a small blue phone, flipped it open, and brought it to his ear. "Ella? It's Jirou. The Unit 03 pilot has not regained consciousness, I'm bringing him into the infirmary on floor 20. MAGI is running communication checks for Unit 05, so I'll have the results done by debriefing time. "


Unknown location. February 20th, 2027, 5:00 pm

Blake has been receiving feeds from the MAGI via his private proxy network he set up around the base onto his laptop. Generally, MAGI feeds are reserved for only the highest up in the chain, and even their access is restricted to NERV devices, so getting a acess onto his private laptop wasn't easy. Ella Sanders had ordered a communication check of Unit 05, something that had piqued his interest the entire day.

He took a sip of his coffee as results spilled onto his screen, and were decrypted with his own private program. Suddenly, something caught his interest. "That can't possibly be right." He crossed referenced the results with his notes. A grin formed over his face. "This....this is interesting."

[Astro_sol]

Theodore really, really wanted to feel smug, but couldn't help but feel like the win had been taken from him by Unit 03. Of course, it was a berserking Unit 03, which, aside from being utterly terrifying to behold, was almost on par with cheating in Theodore's book. Of course, there was the condition of the 4th Child to consider...

Theodore knew berserking Evas - usually- only did so when their pilots were in extreme duress. Having the life choked out of him was probably enough duress for the autistic pilot. However, that knowledge did not prepare Theodore for seeing the 4th Child laid out on a stretcher. He thought he could see bloodstains.

"Theodore, debriefing is at 8. There are plenty of signs around the base, so finding it shouldn't be too hard."

"Yes, Doctor," he replied absently, looking over at the stretcher. He was still standing there by the time the Doctor had walked over and back, the crew members with the stretcher just behind him. He blinked several times at seeing John up close. "He's, uh, not gonna die, is he? I don't think she got him that hard..."

[Transcendent]

Well, the fight was over… things would return to normal eventually. The pilot of unit three would recover soon, though, who knows what happened to unit 05’s pilot. She shook her head from side to side, it didn’t matter they were the enemy. Still though, there were two new pilots on staff and at least one of them was cognizant. She might as well do her best to play nice.


Now there wasn’t much to do but wait for the meeting, which was a good three hours away. The city would still be on lock down, and there wasn’t much to do on the base. She shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly, and ran her fingers through her hair.

She gave a little shrug. “I'm going to find the new guy and give him a tour” She said to Ella, as she headed to the elevator, without giving the group the chance to say no she hit the button to get to the cages and headed down.

Before long she emerged from the Elevator her eyes darting back and forth. She saw both the Doctor and the teen that she assumed was the pilot of unit zero. She approached, casting a glance once towards John, than back to the two.

"So, you're one of the new kids on the block huh?" She said looking too Theodore.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

She listens solemnly to Jirou's call before nodding once, ignoring the fact that he can't see her. "Understood. Send the other pilots there, too. I'll be along presently. I need to speak to you and them privately,"

She settles back in her lurking by the bridge, watching for Shanelle to come out, and muses on recent events.

New pilots she only heard about when they were already on their way. A mysterious and suicidal attacker who had yet to be recovered. The President taking a direct hand in affairs. Unit 03 doing... something it shouldn't. Something is so far wrong that it will inevitably come around to bite her if she doesn't do something about it.

Unfortunate, really, that the only thing she can do at this point is talk to the pilots and get their view of the situation straight. Make sure they understand what she'll do for them, and what they'll do for her.

Soon enough there won't be time; too many complaints on her desk from groups within the city, invoices for bills. She'd have to get the Commander's permission to use the Magi to hunting down any and all recordings of the battle published online - it's the only way to preserve some kind of secrecy about Liberty Lost, because absolutely everyone who wasn't in the emergency shelters would have recorded the fight on their phones, and there would be public relations hell if anything was leaked.

Normally, she wouldn't be concerned about what people think. Her job's not making people happy, it's winning battles. Unfortunately, the commander has expressed certain objections to such sentiments in the past. Victory at any cost is not, apparently, one of Nerv's directives and it's taking Ella some time to adjust. So, for now, she's going to play along. Failure to do so would undoubtedly have... unpleasant consequences.


Ella's dissection of events is derailed by the bridge door opening, and Shanelle steps out with an armful of folders on which the pilot's names can be seen. She doesn't seem to notice Ella, until Ella walks up quickly behind her and lays a hand on her shoulder.

"You're needed in the level twenty infirmary," she says as she gently, but firmly, steers Shanelle towards where the pilots await.

[Rabadash]

Eva Crate Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 5:01 pm

"Alright Sanders, but this better be good." with that, Jirou flipped his phone and stuck it in his pocket. "I can't believe I'm takeing orders from a teenager." he said shaking his head. "I'm a Nobel laureate, I should be the head of some large university or something."

He turned toward Theodore, standing over John. "I hope not, otherwise my reputation is screwed." he responded, looking up and letting out a sigh. "Change of plans Cartwright, Sanders wants us up in the infirmary." He swung his hands over, motioning Theodore over to the walkway on the far side of the room. He went first, walking up the catwalk, and punching in "20" on the keypad in the freight elevator at the far side of the room. He "Hurry over, they'll take John on a separate lift." He then noticed Lucy come into the room. "Hey Lucy! Captain wants us in the infirmary pronto!" He yelled in a more informal tone.

Operations Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 5:01 pm

As Ella caught Shenelle running in with that stack of papers, she immediatly dropped them all over the ground following the order. "Oh, sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry" she said, blushing heavily, picking up the papers. "I-Ill head there now captain!" she said as she saluted. After picking up the papars, she headed toward an elevator on the far side on the hall.

[Astro_sol]

"I hope not, otherwise my reputation is screwed."

Theodore nodded, pretending to follow along. He had to wonder if the situation would have been reversed, had Unit 05 popped up at his Launch Pad instead of the other.

Aw, who am I kidding? I would have wiped the floor with her.

"Change of plans Cartwright, Sanders wants us up in the infirmary. Hurry over, they'll take John on a separate lift."

"Yes, Doctor," he replied, running over to the elevator. He'd been debating whether or not he should go to the infirmary; it simply seemed like what he was supposed to do. However, he didn't honestly feel beholden to John or anything. Sure, the boy had helped in the fight. But he was only there because he was ordered to. He wanted to respect that, but, to be honest, the boy intimidated him. Not physically; he was pretty sure he could take the kid in an honest fight. He just seemed like he was off in his own space, all the time. Then again, he kind of liked how the boy rarely spoke. Let him run his mouth off, without worrying about saying something stupid.

"Hey Lucy! Captain wants is in the infirmary pronto!"

Theodore gave a start. Lucy? Isn't that girl's-

He looked over to see a short girl - yet still a few inches taller than him, dammit - with the most brilliant shade of pink hair he'd ever seen. On instinct, he looked her up and down, trying to assess any threats, but his standard method of dealing with strangers ground to a halt when something occurred to him.

He wanted to think about how the Doctor immediately changed in her presence, and how she was most likely one of the other pilots, but the most pertinent thing on his mind was: can she see my junk through my plugsuit?

This all led to a catastrophic failure in his communication process. He heard her speak, absently. Something about being the new kid?

"I'm, er, not new. At this. Hi."

Tell her your name, stop thinking about how you're basically naked, speak up, don't be rude, stop thinking about your dong is she looking down oh god everything's starting to itch speak up dumbass!

"I'm Theodore. And. Uh. I guess you're Lucy."

Sorry for the long post, got the writing ball rolling. Just woke up from a nap, so yeah. Also, getting to show off that 21 Fel, hell yeah.

[Transcendent]

She flashed a smile to the Doctor giving him a little wave. “I’ll be right there sir and I’ll make sure he doesn’t get lost on the way there. You know how much of a maze the complex can be until you get used to the set up.” She spoke cheerfully, obviously the Doctor wasn’t mad that she hadn’t been chosen to engage to enemy which put Lucy in a MUCH better mood.

She returned her gaze to Theodore. As he looked her over, she did the same… though, it wasn’t entirely for combat purposes. The plug suit left little to the imagination, it was the thing that she hated most about the things. Yet, it was part of being an EVA pilot.

Is he actually blushing?

The pink haired youth tilted her head to the side as the other pilot spoke. She could barely make out what he had said. “Oh, I hadn't meant to say that you were new to being an EVA pilot, just that you were new to Washington.”

“It’s nice to meet you Theodore. I’m Lucy Faire the pilot of Evangelion Unit 02.” She said proudly. “I suppose you’re going to want to get change into something more comfortable before we head to the infirmary.”

[Astro_sol]

Theodore was used to being in plugsuits around the adults. It was all business with them: the plugsuit served a purpose. It's just that he didn't really ever have it on with other kids his age around. And oh god oh god oh god she was looking him up and down too was that a raised eyebrow what does that even mean -

“Oh, I hadn't meant to say that you were new to being an EVA pilot, just that you were new to Washington.”

Oh. That's what she meant. I'm a dumbass. He nearly facepalmed, but he stopped himself when he remembered that there was, you know, a girl in there.

He felt a small rush, a tingly sensation in his chest. That'd be the preposterous amount of testosterone being pumped into his system. That could lead to...Oh ****, oh ****, oh ****, not now for the love of God-

“It’s nice to meet you Theodore. I’m Lucy Faire the pilot of Evangelion Unit 02,” he thought he heard her say.

Pilot? Is that what she said? And all of a sudden, Theodore had a way to distract himself from hormones.

“I suppose you’re going to want to get change into something more comfortable before we head to the infirmary.”

Oh, she just had to try to ruin it.

"Um...er...uh..." What the hell do you say to that?! That's embarrassing as ****, why do girls do that? Do I go out of my way to embarrass people? Hell no. Why does she have to mess with me? She's gotta know I could totally own her in combat performance.

Combat performance. That started Theodore onto a much safer train of thought.

"Say, uh, Doc. Why'd I get sent out with only John, rather than him and Lucy?" Talking about Evangelions was a surefire way to bring Theodore back up to speed. "I mean, I prolly could have handled Unit 05 myself, really. But why only send out two pilots and leave the other two..." He paused. "And who's the other pilot, anyway?" He was still pretty much talking to the Doctor, but kept stealing glances back at Lucy. That hair was distracting as hell.

He hoped the other pilot wasn't a girl. One was bad enough. He just had to keep the conversation on Evas, that'd distract him well enough.

[Transcendent]

She was a bit shocked that the youth, Theodore seemed so easily flustered. He was an EVA pilot, trained in combat and he couldn’t suck it up and talk to a girl when he was wearing a plug suit. It was funny really, he could fight another EVA and seemed fine from what she’d heard but something so simple as social interaction and he had a difficult time simply not babbling.

Boys are hilarious. She thought to herself with a little smile.

When the boy brought up the topic of why she wasn’t deployed she rolled her eyes a bit. She realized that he was talking to the doctor, and more importantly he seemed to be trying to do everything in his power to simply ignore her. Lucy did not like being ignored, not one bit.

“I wasn’t deployed because for the first time in quite a while I was off base. It was stupid of me, and I expect that I’ll hear something from Miss Sanders for my foolishness.” She said quickly shaking her head. “I was with Quentin at the time, who just so happens to be the pilot of unit 01.”

“So, should I show you back to locker rooms or are you going to keep bothering the Doctor. He is a very busy man.”

[Astro_sol]

Theodore had been trying to focus on the Doctor, but no, the chick just had to keep talking.

Goddammit they should have had an entire course on how to talk to...well, anyone. See, this is why I like my job. It's as simple as, "Do this, Theodore," and I'm all "**** yeah I'll do this", and that's it. But what about talking to people, you know, girls, that make you all nervous and oh she's talking to me again, ****.

“I wasn’t deployed because for the first time in quite a while I was off base. It was stupid of me, and I expect that I’ll hear something from Miss Sanders for my foolishness.” She said quickly shaking her head. “I was with Quentin at the time, who just so happens to be the pilot of unit 01.”

"Oh...uh," he barely managed to say. You know, this would be a lot easier with her in a plugsuit, too...wait, no it wouldn't, that wouldn't help at all. At least Quentin isn't a girl's name. That's good. He gave an audible sigh of relief at Quentin's name. "Thank God." And why does she think she's stupid? Is she? I mean, I was off base too, but maybe she got stuck in a crowd or something **** she's still talking-

“So, should I show you back to locker rooms or are you going to keep bothering the Doctor? He is a very busy man.”

He stole a glance at her. If she were a guy, she'd be learning a whole new level of sarcasm from him. But no, she has to be...no! She's not pretty. She can't be pretty. God he wanted out of this elevator, but then she seemed to be stepping up as tour guide. And he couldn't ask for someone else. So...

"Uh, that's up to the Doctor, honestly. Do we have time?"

[Transcendent]

Her eyebrow rose a bit when she heard Theodore say thank god. “Huh?” Was the only way she could think of responding to the statement? Was the big bad EVA pilot with the mouth like a sailor really afraid of girls? This amused Lucy greatly, but, what truly made the girl smile inwardly was the fact that the pilot of unit 00 seemed to be seeing her as female. She almost wanted to jump for joy for that alone, even if he was being excessively annoying.

“I suppose you’re right, I mean, I guess we are in a rush. I guess you can always change later.” The new kid wasn’t particularly conversational which was annoying to say the least. She came down here for amusement, not, to listen to someone to stutter through a conversation.

“So, from what I’ve heard you’ve got quite the vocabulary. Some of the things you’ve said inside your entry plug would have made a trucker blush.”

[Astro_sol]

What Theodore wanted to reply was: "You know, it seems like you're trying to steer things in a way to make me blush. It's completely unnecessary and immature, and I would appreciate it if I could just get to this whole infirmary meeting without all of this...stuff you keep doing."

But the world is not known for being fair, and thus, Theodore was reduced to: "Um. Uh. ****. Uh. It was a kind of spur of the moment thing. Helps let off steam. Prolly would have been worse if I got hurt or something."

How the hell do you get yourself out of these situations?! I mean, she keeps expecting me to talk, but all I got is "uh" and "er" and "****"! Waitwaitwaitwaitwait, I'm an idiot. Get her to talk about herself.

"So how did you become a pilot, anyway? Are you any good?"

[Rabadash]

Eva Crate Room, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 5:01 pm

Jirou could sense the passive tension occurring between the 2 children. He has been a teenager once, and felt it may be a good idea to break this up before it got too far. No explicit words were said, but their body language gave it away.

"Lucy's right" he interjected, adjusting his glasses while letting out a sigh. "You could always change later, we should get going so we can have time afterwords to prepare for debriefing."

He then remembered that there was one pilot who was not accounted for. "Speaking of Quentin, has either of you seen him?" he asked Lucy and Theodore. "He was in the operations room with Lucy before." He opened his phone, and then promptly closed it. "****, I should have gotten all the pilot's numbers.." Then again, he thought, there was no way he could have predicted a premature use of the Evas.

[Transcendent]

“I’m doing things to make you blush?” She said, trying to sound as positively innocent as possible. She knew of course that she was, but, it was fun to watch the guy squirm. It wasn’t like she was trying to be outright mean. She was just having a little fun at his expense. She gave a little shrug of her shoulders. Maybe she should lay off a bit; Ella did say they would have to put up with each other for a very long time. Yet, Theodore looked positively adorable with red cheeks and Quentin knew her enough to not let her get under his skin.

“Don’t worry about it; it must have been a stressful situation.” She said with a little giggle. “I just think it’s positively hilarious that you would be cursing like that through the loud speaker. The entirety of DC had to have heard you.”

The next question though sent her inward for just a moment. What was she supposed to tell the boy? She knew of course a good portion of NERV staff knew about her origins, yet, she wasn’t sure if they would want the other pilots to know that she was made in a test tube. It might cause issues, what sort she wasn’t sure of.

Fortunately, she would be cut off by the Doctor. She let out a little relieved sigh, before reaching into her purse, pushing away the shoes she still had refrained from returning to their place on her feet. Before long she found her phone. “I’ve got his number…” She said reciting it for Jirou.

[Astro_sol]

“I’m doing things to make you blush?”

Theodore's jaw dropped. He knew she kept on talking, and he swore he heard Dr. Godou talking about how they needed to move on (to which he mutely nodded), but the fact remained that...

Oh ****. Oh ****, I said it out loud. What else did I say? Oh crap she's gonna think I'm mental, or maybe John or something. Except that doesn't work, he rarely talks. Still, **** on a stick, this sucks monkey nuts.

With that, Theodore decided to just keep his mouth shut, and follow the Doctor's lead, and try (and most likely fail) to keep his eyes from wandering back to the pink-haired menace.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

"I-Ill head there now captain!"

"Good," Ella says, as she presses the button to call the elevator. "I just want to introduce you to the pilots. Nothing scary," she goes on as they wait.

After a moment, the door slide open soundlessly and Ella and Shanelle step into the small blue box. The doors are about closed when Ella suddenly sticks her foot in the gap. As the lift doors rebound open, she leans out in to the corridor to look for what caught her eye; an errant pilot.

"Quentin, the other pilots are assembling in the infirmary. We're going there now," she says, with the very strong and very obvious implication that 'we' includes Quentin.

[Fearan]

It looked like with all the sudden invasion business, disciplinary actions towards loud-mouthed pilot were forgotten. Not, that it was a bad thing, but still. Discipline? What discipline? Oh well. Quentin shrugged his shoulders and left the control room in a bit amazed state of mind. The idiotic battle, the berserking Eva, the process of "manually raising inhibitors to 400%" - he wouldn't want to see 500% - all this induced one hell of a melancholy. All he wanted now was a cup of tea, and a good nap. New pilots - who cared about them? Enemy Evangelion? The clean-up teams could handle this. Quentin slowly walked towards his room, but of course, he was intercepted

"Quentin, the other pilots are assembling in the infirmary. We're going there now," - the operation commander obviously meant something like "Follow me and welcome the new guys". Well, at least, he will get some company aside from Lucy.
- Yesma'am - Quentin replied with the usual. Shall i try finding flowers and candies for the ill ones? - he was so stressed, he couldn't even make a proper joke.

[Transcendent]

She reached out a hand and gave Theodore a gentle pat on the shoulder. She might have overstepped her boundaries there. Sometimes it was just hard to know where to quit, and truth be told it was hard for her to know what she could or couldn’t say. It was the fault of being grown and matured in a tube, instead of having a chance to learn from previous social interaction.

“Hey, I’m sorry for all the comments. I kind of just say whatever’s on my mind. I’m sure you’ll figure that out sometime soon. Just ask Quentin when you meet him, I can be kinda bitchy.” She said trying to sound chipper. The last thing she needed to do was alienate an ally and a potential friend. Life around the compound was a lonely one, so, she needed as many associates as possible. Well, as long as they understood that SHE was the best of the four pilots.

With that she shut her mouth, hoping to not make things any worse.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

She stares - more than usual, at any rate - at Quentin for several moments and clearly goes through a range of emotions ranging from 'confused' to 'irritated' to 'bemused'. Lippy pilots were something she's still trying to adapt to. The lax discipline, the erratic chain of command and the fact that her every move is merely observed by teams of security personnel rather than being determined by them is something of a novelty.

"If you like," she says without inflection after a short pause, as she steps back in to the lift and presses the 'hold' button.

[Fearan]

Quentin make a long stare towards the elevator, as if thinking about something. Then he made another shrug with his shoulders and stepped inside.
- Almost forgot - Geofront - he commented with a calm but somewhat robotic tone. - I'll never find anything such dysfunctional as flowers and candies here. I'm sorry, commander Sanders. Nerves. Won't happen again in two or three days - the last sentence was said in a bit more lively manner.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Again, Quentin is subjected to a long, thoughtful silence, before Ella presses the button on the panel marked '20' and the elevator begins to descend with a slight hum.

Ella's silence in the elevator may seem to be antisocial, but behind it she's trying to work out just what Quentin had been talking about. Wasn't there a gift shop by the infirmary that sold sweets and flowers? She seemed to recall something like that from her whirlwind tour of the facilities when she first arrived. She hadn't been paying much attention, though, so she could be wrong.

After a while, without any kind of preamble, she says to Quentin; "How do you feel about living with Lucy or me?"

[Astro_sol]

When he felt her hand touch his shoulder, Theodore nearly jumped right out of his plugsuit. But that would have been uncomfortable. He listened to her give some sort of halfhearted apology, but hey, she was going to be his comrade for a long time. Unless she got herself killed or something. He really needed to figure out her combat skills soon. Maybe he could spar with her.

****, if he asked her that, she may take it as him asking her out on a date. That was...no, he wouldn't do that. Besides, he had plenty of other things to worry about. Like who the Operations Director was; he knew her name, Ella Sanders, but nothing really about how she acted. It didn't matter much, since Nerv had assigned her as his superior officer, and that was good enough for him to follow orders. He was still curious, though.

"It's, uh, fine," he mumbled, rubbing the ball of his foot against the elevator floor.

[Transcendent]

She gave another little sigh, it seemed the conversation had come to a close. She leaned herself against the wall, looking upwards at the cold steel ceiling. They needed to get to the infirmary soon, or, she would once again start rambling. She hated quiet, she hated when people ignored her, and what was worse she was starting fiend for a smoke. She fiddle with the pack in her purse, quickly shaking her head. Nope, the new guy and the doctor would probably dislike her smoking. Even if she wasn’t sure if it was bad for her or not.

Too quiet… too damn quiet. This was almost as bad as being alone at night, sure, there were people here but no one was saying anything. The poor girl literally began swaying too and fro trying to find something, anything to focus her attention on.

[Rabadash]

Level 20 Infirmary, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 5:02 pm

Screw it, Ella probably already brought him there. thought Jirou. If both Ella and Quentin were the last ones in the operations room, it was likely she already got him. He lifted a pinky finger to adjust his glasses, then addressed Lucy and Theodore. "We've wasted enough time, lets go"

The inside of the freight elevator was dark and damp, with just a few metal bars protecting them from the concrete elevator shaft. A small keypad could be found just side of the door, with both letters and numbers available for keying. Jirou quickly inputted "2" and "0", and led the children inside. Just after, the large rusted door slammed shut, and the elevator flew upwards. Every so often, beams of light from other floors illuminated the dusty freight, but for the post part it was a dull place. Jirou thought to himself why a organization that can build giant super-weapons can't at least make their elevators more comfortable.

Eventually, the elevator slowed, and opened to reveal a short hallway, with a few doors on either side indicating living quarters of various nurses and doctors. Walking down the short hallways eventually led into the infirmary, a blindingly white room, with various medical equipment scattered throughout, and white curtains separating the various beds. On the third bed furthest from the hallway where Jirou arrived was John, still either asleep or unconscious,

Jirou noticed an elevator on the far side of the room open up, revealing Ella Sanders and Quinten. "There you are" Jirou said in a somewhat relived tone, glad he wouldn't have to go searching for Quinten. He the turned back to Ella, who he still had trouble believing was his superior. "What did you need?"

Unknown Location, Unknown Time

John found himself standing on what seemed to be wood chips. Looking down, he saw what seemed to be a road of wood chips, protruding at least 5 inhes from the ground, however it looked more like a running trail than a road. Looking forward, he could see this track go forward, up a hill in the distance. Right next to him were a few wooden beams, lying parallel to each other. To his right, small trees, separating the park he was in with what looked like condos. Palm trees lined the various areas whiten this odd place, suggesting tropical origins. The most striking feature was the rest of the park to his left. Open, expect for a large pile of boulders with 2 palm trees on either side. A figure sat in the middle, however John couldn't discern its features.

[Fearan]

The rest of the time of elevator was spent in silence. Well... nearly all of it.
How do you feel about living with Lucy or me?
And what's that supposed to mean - Quentin wonders to himself? All of that sudden... Well, it's not, that Quentin was absolutely against it, with all the business of his guardian at NERV labs, he was often lived alone at the flat. But still, living with cpt Sanders - by the way, an attractive blonde only four years older than himself... That at least deserved thinking about. But captain probably wanted answers now.
- Err, what - Quentin tried to answer, but he couldn't make up something more definite because of amazement. Fortunately, at the same moment, the elevator has reached its destination and the doors opened
- There you are - said the NERV's local mad scientist. And man, how Quentin was glad to see him
-Yessir, dr Gorou, sir. Pilot Starling reporting
"Saved" - Q.B said to himself. "But not for long"

[Astro_sol]

While NERV had the fastest (and most cramped) elevators on the continent, it was still an agonizing ride down for Theodore. Having to stand within 5 feet of the pink-haired chick was doing nothing for his nerves. He'd mostly come down from the adrenaline rush that he'd gotten in the battle, but now his body had been thrown right back into high stress mode, all thanks to a girl, of all things.

So when the elevator opened, he skirted out as fast as he could, initially heading for John's bed. He didn't particularly care for the kid, just anything to distract him from Lu-

"There you are," came the good Doctor's voice. He looked at the doctor, then across the room to what he was looking at. He first noticed Capt. Sanders, who, like Lucy, was very pretty...but he could classify her. She was a superior officer employed by NERV. He obeyed NERV's orders in order to stop the Angels (which were going to come, he had been assured of it), and she fit right into his comfort zone. This did not, however, change the fact that she was quite attractive, but the only difference that made was that he noticed her first. Being wary, though, he was sure to notice the blonde haired, grey eyed kid standing next to her.

Lucy was someone he was going to have to find a way to deal with, other than talking. But this kid? He had to be Quentin, the other pilot, and Theodore knew just the way to handle him. He marched right up to the pair, saluting the white haired young woman.

"Captain Sanders, Theodore Cartwright, reporting as ordered." Without lowering the salute, he glanced at the other pilot, and a sneer lit up his face. "And who's this? Perhaps a poorly performing pansy Pilot?"

Lucy did say that they had been off base when the attack happened, but sarcasm was his best way of letting off steam. If he couldn't back-talk the girl, he could at least back-talk the other guy. Theodore had been trained since his first real memories; he was probably better than this guy, anyway.

[Transcendent]

Lucy entered the infirmary, she hated this place. She didn’t like the smell, she didn’t like the beds, and she didn’t like the idea one day she could end up in here herself. It was too sterile, and, she did not like sterile. It reminded her too much of the room she could see outside of the tube she was grown in. She actually visibly shivered, eyes darting this way and that. Why did she have to come here? It was gross, couldn’t they have all met somewhere else? John was going to be out of commission for a while, it wasn’t as if he was going to wake up and be able to participate in the conversation.

She looked to Quentin and Ella, she gave both of them a little wave while she simply had to roll her eyes at Theodore’s salute. She knew of course that this was a military operation, yet, she couldn’t bring herself to embrace the military state of mind, unless she was outright ordered too or was in the plug of her EVA. On the ground, all she wanted to be was well, Lucy.

Than Theodore began to speak, she let out a little sigh. “Stupid boys…” She mumbled, what was the point in that comment? Was it really necessary to start fight’s now? She never quite understood the whole concept of machismo. So, she tried to do her best to stop it, and she could already tell that Theo wasn’t exactly apt at handling females… perhaps the next move was drastic, perhaps it was a serious invasion of personal space yet, it was the only thing she could do to change the situation.

Lucy lowered her hand and with her thumb and forefinger she literally pinched the plug suit clad youth’s backside and said with a smile. “Aww, don’t be like that… you were oh so sweet in the elevator.”

[Fearan]

As soon as Quentin entered the infirmary, he was immideately assaulted. The new guy was going all-out to establish his male dominance in the face of the girls. I wonder, should I tell him - thought the Last Child, but refrained from giving the macho military guy some heart-brealing revelations about at least one of the girls he was trying to impress. He keeped to much more comfortable old-fashion yelling.
- Look, who's talking? Glad to meet you, mr I-forgot-how-to-use-my-AT-field. I heard, people tend to forget things, when they crap their pants with fear. - Quentin figured out, that since the strangler boy was in the coma-like state, this was the second newcomer. And Quentin wasn't impressed by the perfomance of the second newcomer.

[Astro_sol]

Forgot to use my AT-Field? Is he serious? His saluting hand dropped in amazement.

"Really, newbie? Are you blind as well as stupid? I didn't have time to throw one up. Unit 03 was already doing Neutralization for me. I would have put up a field no problem if I had tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiYIPE!"

He had it going perfectly. The lecturing tone. The feeling of superiority. God, all he wanted was some catharsis. Instead, God delivered...that.

He honestly shouldn't have felt the pinch. Plugsuits were armored to prevent undue damage to the Pilot from the g-forces that came about from piloting a 40 meter tall war machine. But damn, that girl could pinch. And there was the fact that it was his ass that she was touching. And so, in the middle of his lecture, Theodore jumped about 3 feet in the air.

"Aw **** **** piss Jesus ****ing bitch what the ****!" he spewed as he twisted around, pointing a finger at the offending party. "Y...y-y...you!" He managed to stammer out, his hand shaking.

Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god

[Transcendent]

More vulgarity, was that this pilots defense mechanism? An attempt to push others away with a pure barrage of garbage that came spewing from his mouth. It wasn’t particularly appealing, in fact it was downright nasty. Yet, Lucy wasn’t going to give Theodore the chance to see that he had gotten too her, truth be told, she could take a lot as long as it didn’t deal with THAT.

Instead all she did was flash a wide smile, blinking her eyes in unison trying to seem as innocent as possible giving the situation. “Me?” She said her voice lifting in a little giggle. “What, couldn’t the tough soldier handle a little pinch to his bottom?” The youth brushed a hand through those shockingly pink locks. “I mean, come on it’s not like I tried to bite you or anything.”

[Fearan]

Really, newbie? Are you blind as well as stupid? I didn't have time to throw one up. Unit 03 was already doing Neutralization for me
Quentin listened to Theodores attempts to excuse himself with a wide smile. The most important thing in any argument was forcing the opponent to defend. With the most absurd accusation available, for they are more difficult to prove wrong. And Quentin have just done exactly that. Now, all he had to do is finish the opponent.
- No time? So you're just slow as a tranquilized snail? - at this very time, Lucy made her move. And Theodore reacted with a blush and lots of improper language - You're not listening, are you? - Quentin's voice sounded a bit dissapointed. But then, the opportunity to have fun arised once more.
I mean, come on it’s not like I tried to bite you or anything.”
"Thank you, Lucy", Quentin thought, and with a smug smile finished her sentence: Yet.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Ella shows a distinct flicker of surprise as Theodore salutes, and after a moment returns it before walking to the foot of the bed and beginning to flip through th chart there as the strains of teenage ego fill the room. She holds up a finger to Jirou and Shanelle when they look like they might protest, and allows the pilots to argue unmolested - they'd have little enough pleasure soon enough.

Their lives would be hard when Liberty Lost went live. They aren't cut out for war; they're not killers, any of them. Not like she . They're...

"Too young," she says under her breath. Then, with a sigh, she turns to face them all and leans against the bed post. It's show time.

"Pilot Theodore, I am the Director of Operations Captain Ella Sanders. This is Shanelle Aggie, Evangelion Status Monitor on the bridge, and the person who will be doing everything they can to keep you alive. You have already met the Head of the Science Department, Doctor Jirou Gorou.

It is my job to keep you alive," she carries on brusquely. "It is also my job to ensure that we win our engagements. As such, I expect your full and complete co-operation when you are inside an Evangelion, and whenever the alarms sound. If I don't have it, I can't guarantee your safety. Outside of the Evangelions, I will interfere with your lives as little as possible.

Now, on to the main reason I called you here. This room should offer us a measure of privacy to talk openly.

I suspect that Unit Five's attack on Washington was a smokescreen while whoever sponsored the attack placed agents within NERV headquarters, or activated sleeper agents to sabotage us. When we leave this room, I will be initiating a full security check. Myself, Jirou, Shanelle, the Sub-Commander and the Commander are the only ones not under suspicion.

We'll operate under the assumption that the pilot quarters have all been compromised. Until the check is completed and new quarters are assigned, pilots have a choice of living with myself, Jirou or Shanelle. Does anyone have a preference?"

She braces herself for what must inevitably be a storm of protest from everyone in the room - with the possible exception of John, who appears to be unconscious still. Although with her luck, he'll wake up just in time to object too.

But she has to do it. She has to look out for her pilots as best she can.

[Jobbut]

John felt something… Pain. Pain was definably something he was feeling, yet… There was something… Touching him? Something… Rough and livid? In his sleep, John showed the slightest visage of confusion.

In his dream world, John forced open an eye, staring down the long wood-chip path he was lying on from a position prostrate on the ground, his gaze following the sideways trail up and over the hill into the sky until he forced himself to move-- only to be met with the pain and ache of a body sore from combat, something not entirely new to him, but never to this degree.

Whether out of sheer willpower, or just curiosity, John placed a hand against the wood chips just in front of his face and pushed, slowly pulling his body upwards as he shifted, slowly and sorely, onto his knees, his arms falling slack at his sides as he stared into the forest and the… buildings? No, something more familiar, but John couldn’t place his finger on it.

Pain… All over… Again… T-This isn’t a hospital…

Grunting, John leaned back and planted a foot firmly, pushing himself into a slumped, standing position as he haphazardly reached for the posts adjacent to himself to steady his weak form, only to lazily land against the post, pulling himself up once more, with even more ache.

John found himself facing the other direction— A figure? Some structure? Trees, were they? Rocks? John wondered, his mind slowly trying to put the setting together as it unfolded to him.

John took a step forward, and like the world had forgotten they were there, some of his aching and the rails barring his movement seemed to disappear. John walked at a sluggish pace, almost cautiously, as he neared the figure perched on the boulders.

Who… Are... Is this?

[Fearan]

The operation director sure knew how to attract attention. A few words, and Quentin completely diched the loud-mouthed dim-witted newbie, and concentrated on the new problem - the question of a new place to live. Click - the puzzle piece took its place. So that what the awkward question in the elevator was about. Oddly, Quentin was not surprised - he wasted all amazement for the first time - benefits of sticking close to the superiors. Speaking of witch - cpt Sanders actually asked for prefrences. Well, babysitting cute, but utterly absent-minded Shanelle would be fun, but tiring, and dr Gorou was out of the question by default - that leaved only following the pickup line.
Before any of the pilotes recovers from surprise, Quentin answered, as if completely unfazed by sudden question.
- Understood, cpt Sanders. I'd rather stick to you

[Transcendent]

Lucy let out a little sigh, before brushing her hand through her hair. She didn’t like her quarters, it was well, lonely. Yet, that isolation also offered her some protection. She didn’t have to worry about people discovering her secret and shame. She would have loved to simply toss aside all that nervousness, and simply live in the moment yet, it would be hard, very hard. Once again, her fingers sunk into her purse to fiddle with the pack of smokes that resided there. She couldn’t smoke just yet, they were in the infirmary of course.

Still she had to make a choice.

How could she respond to this? She figured that Ella would automatically assume she would elect to live with the Doctor. It did make some sense, but, he was a busy man… a busy easy to irritate man. He was essentially her father, but, did that mean he had to be her guardian did it? She knew he didn’t have it in him, and, more importantly… the less time she spent with her creator meant that she had less opportunities to irritate the man. Which was very important to Lucy, she needed his respect, his affection, and his praise… not his anger or wrath, or even living under the same roof.

Shannell would have been a decent choice, she greatly enjoyed the woman’s company truth be told. She imagined nights of girl talk, bad take out Chinese food, and maybe just straight up movie nights. Yet, she also knew there would be nights alone. All alone, leaving her completely to her thoughts which usually just ended up depressing her or making her outright angry at her current situation. Also, for some reason she figured her house would be stocked with vile, vile, caffeine. Which, seemed so tempting at times… she saw so many people simply chugging the stuff down, or simply stuffing their face with coffee beans what was it‘s draw?

That left one possibility, Ella, she couldn’t deny there were pros to the idea. Ella was a young woman, close to her… well, genetically designed age. Sure, she wasn’t the most chipper of choices… but, there was stuff she could learn from her. She didn’t seem to be a girly type no, but, well it did make some sense. Not only that but, she new the OD had her file… a file that detailed every little aspect of her life, well, the things that NERV wanted her to know of. She was actually the closest thing to living with the doctor without outright living with him. She knew of course it was unlikely she would ever be truly friends with the woman, but, she needed to know her leader.

“I choose you Miss Ella.” She said with a weak little smile. “That is, if you’ll have me. I’m not particularly noisy, and I promise I won’t try to steal your clothes.” It was the only thing she could think of saying. Yet, that was far, far to serious for her… she needed to do something to lighten the mood.

“Also, I think we should take Theodore with us. I mean, he’s totally new to city… I think that Quentin and I… or at least I could help him get accustom to Washington DC.”

Truthfully, even as she said it she knew it was more than likely a bad idea… so, to make it sound like she just wasn’t being a teenager, she lifted her shoulders with a bit of a shrug. “We might as well take John too… he probably needs some help adjusting as well.” Another idea hit her, and she smiled. “It’ll also help us build up comraderie, which is VERY important, or so I’ve heard.”

[Rabadash]

Unknown Location, Unknown Time

The soft sound of wood chips crunching filled John's ears as he walked toward the figure. As he walked off of the trail, and into the wet, misty grass of the fields beyond, he felt as odd sensation in his feet. Looking down, he noticed nothing but his bare feet, covered in the tall weeds. In fact, John was naked, walking through this enigmatic world.

Finally, he reached the boulders, and attempted to talk to the figure. Approaching, he could see that there was no features of the figure at all, rather just a transparent being, one that couldn't be seen with the eyes, but other senses just knew it was there. The being turned toward him, with nothing but a white, milky, transparent existence, and spoke. "This....is us" The voice was a mixture of multiple tone of voices, childlike, elderly, womanly, and manly.

The being dismounted the pile of boulders and began to walk away into the distance. John could just make out a large palm tree, surrounded by massive shrubbery, right where the being walked.

Level 20 Infirmary, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 5:03 pm

Without notice, multiple people began to give their requests and reasons to live with Ella, but Jirou still had a beef with Ella. "Hey, Hey wait a minute. Who said you had the right to assign living arrangements in the first place?" he held his arms around and point his hands toward himself. "You can tell us what to do inside the base you you have no right sticking a bunch of kids with other people!"

He rolled his eyes, but put his arms down. "Well, forget it, if they all want to live with you that's fine." Shanelle rushed over to Jirou, grabbed his in a bear hug, and began rubbing a finger on his chest. "Well, I choose to bed with the handsome Doctor." she said, winking. She pressed herself harder against him, mainly her chest, presumably in a odd attempt at seduction.

Jirou pushed her away, attempting to seem annoyed, while in reality he was blushing heavily. "H-Hey, this is only for the pilots you dunce!" He walked backwards, away from Shanelle, hiding his red face. Shanelle frowned. "O-Oh, sorry" she put a knuckle on her head, in usual playful Shanelle fashion. She straightened up. "But then again Ella, do you think that you can take care of ALL of them? I'd be more than glad to take one off your hands." She smiled. "I'd love a roommate, my home gets so lonely sometimes..."

Jirou stepped back up, and tried to interject in the less and less serious conversation that was going on. "Okay, Okay, this needs to stop. Lets talk about why we're really here." He turned toward Ella. "Sanders, what exactly makes you think that Unit 05 was an inside job, and most of all, how did you decide who's suspicious and who's not?"

[Astro_sol]

Theodore breathed a sigh of relief when the Captain started talking. He was still absentmindedly rubbing his ass as he listened.

She made sense. It was completely stupid to send in a lone Evangelion - and a failure at that - without any sort of support. The only thing that made sense in his head was that it was a distraction, now that he thought about it. What could that girl have hoped to accomplish with such limited battery life? There was always the possibility that sheer insanity was the cause, but that didn't sit right in his stomach. Of course, now he had a whole new set of issues to worry about. Someone - possibly one of his superiors - could be an enemy of NERV.

His hand - his other one, the former was still rubbing - clenched into a fist.

A traitor?

Then she brought up living arrangements. He'd been assuming that he'd receive simple quarters, just as he did in NERV-Nevada. Living alone was something he didn't exactly mind, and he'd been almost counting on it after meeting...her. And the other pilot wasn't exactly his cup of tea, either. Not that he honestly had any way to fairly judge him, but still. He did blink a few times at the Captain's choices, however.

So when Quentin immediately chose Sanders, he crossed her name off the list. Then, when she picked the Captain as well (and had the audacity to suggest that he come along as well!), he retroactively removed her from ever being on the list in the first place. That left the Doctor and the the little bubbly lady, Shanelle. He nearly got a nosebleed himself, seeing Shanelle shamelessly flirt with the Doctor, and nearly, nearly laughed out loud at his response. And when she put forward that she wouldn't mind having a roommate.

"If it really is alright with her, Captain, I'd rather room with Ms. Aggie." He glared at the pink haired menace. "Besides, it'd probably be best to not have the pilots all in one place, just in case."

It did not escape his mind at all that Shanelle was a very attractive young woman. But that had absolutely no bearing on his decision whatsoever. Not one bit. She did say that she wouldn't mind a roommate. He simply had no other options. Dr. Godou, for obvious reasons, and the Captain for even more obvious reasons, most of them pink.

[Jobbut]

John felt the surface he stepped upon change from the chips from before, to the wet grass in patches between chips, eventually to nothing but the soft, wet blades of grass. John didn’t notice—or more likely, didn’t care—about his inexplicable lack of clothing as he approached the figure, eyeing the apparition with both a sense of curiosity and wonder.

He didn’t exactly talk, or try to at least, but moreso just… thought the message. He blinked, hearing a response that sounded more like it was in his head than it did from the apparition—or any other outside source for that matter.

…Us?

The phrase seemed familiar—And so did the… Voices? Were there more than one when the apparition spoke? Did it speak at all? John pondered, blankly staring at the figure as it dismounted the boulders and began a slow pace away.

John blinked, finding himself curious still, his gaze sweeping over the boulders with a cursory glance to see if here was anything interesting, before he made a slow trek after…Us?

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Ella looks, briefly, surprised at Lucy's reaction. To be perfectly honest, she'd suspected that Lucy would be living with the doctor. And Lucy's comment about stealing clothes... why would she care? The Commander had made her buy her clothes; if it had been up to her she'd just wear the NERV uniform, but it had been insisted that she has some 'casual' clothes. All things considered, she couldn't care less if the clothes went missing.

"I don't have the authority to assign living quarters. However, pilot safety is my responsibility. No-one is forced to live with any one of us, but until new quarters can be prepared the pilots need somewhere to stay," she says facing Jirou down perfectly calmly. "At the moment you two are the only ones I can guarantee will put the pilots first,"

As the pilots make their choices, she nods. "Very well, then. I'll arrange for your belongings to be delivered as soon as they've been swept by Section Two."

She hides her sigh; she'd actually been hoping they'd all choose Shanelle or Jirou. Now she was going to have to deal with moody, difficult teenagers. As much as she was willing to let them be moody and difficult, she didn't exactly relish the idea of tolerating it in her house.

"Sanders, what exactly makes you think that Unit 05 was an inside job, and most of all, how did you decide who's suspicious and who's not?"

Her attention returns to the doctor;

"Someone knew a great deal about Evangelion security to steal one without our noticing. I don't suspect anyone here of complicity, but there's a possibility of security breaches and infiltration during the attack. Anyone who can steal an Evangelion and get away with it cannot be so stupid as to launch a direct assault on our headquarters with it and expect to win. Therefore, the attack must be a smokescreen.

Everyone on site will have a thorough background check, including myself, you, Shanelle, Terry and Blake. Not because of any suspicion, but as a routine measure. I consider the bridge staff and yourself to be above suspicion in this, as you all have had ample opportunity to sabotage Liberty Lost before this point and none have taken it.

You have my trust in this," she says with finality.

[Transcendent]

Lucy felt a twinge of disappointment, she should have waited to hear what Theodore would say. She wanted to have a chance to keep up the teasing, he was quite fun to be around… mostly because his responses were so damned comical. Now, she was going to be living with Quentin. It wasn’t like she minded the guy, but, he had his rage issues. At least though, she was pretty sure that Sterling knew her secret so she wouldn’t have to be walking on egg shells. She’d have to talk to him though… maybe convince him to not let the cat out of the bag to the new pilots. She knew it was terrible and deceitful, it just made life easier… and the last thing she needed was for that secret to come to the forefront and destroy whatever chance at friendship she had with the new guy.

She returned the glare with a little friendly smile though. “Don’t worry Theo, I’ll come visit you and Shannel lots. I do think you’re making a mistake though, if we’re supposed to learn to fight as a unit shouldn’t we live, eat, and sleep as a group? Isn’t that what they do in the military to cement bonds. I’d have thought you’d be all about that kind of stuff as you seem like such a big strong soldier.” She said flashing a little smile. "You want to be a good soldier don't you?"

She looked too Ella again, nearly bouncing in place as she agreed to allowing her live with the her. “This is going to be fun, I like, totally promise.” She said with a little giggle.

[Astro_sol]

So Lucy was already bastardizing his name into Theo. Lovely. Worse yet, she'd expressed interest in future visits. Well, he could always find excuses to be off either in testing, or maybe shooting on the range. Something about shooting a gun was just plain soothing to the soldier. A hell of a lot more soothing than this chick. And did she say sleep as a group? There'd be no way in hell he'd be sharing a bed with her. It was probably illegal, and at the very least he wouldn't get any sleep; if he fell asleep, she might start messing with him, prolly draw sharpied ***** on his face.

He would have had a witty retort on how the military wasn't that co-ed, especially with 14 year olds, but any response died at her constant teasing. That, and he had a thought.

"Capt. Sanders? Ma'am?" he said, trying once again to avoid looking at Lucy, the key word being trying. "What's going to happen to the pilot of Unit 05?"

[Transcendent]

Again she rolled her eyes, why wasn’t Theodore paying attention to her? He could respond, he didn’t have to agree with her! Yet, she wanted some form of recognition… anything would be better than being ignored. She needed to do something that would catch his eye! Too force him to recognize her at least. The last big response that she managed to illicit was the pinch. It wasn’t fair… stupid, stupid, stupid boy.

Poor Lucy couldn’t figure out what to do next. She looked between Quentin, Shanelle, and Ella. What was she doing wrong? Again she fumbled with her pack of smokes, fingers playing with the flip top. She looked this way and that, swallowing hard.

With that, she gave a little yawn and leaned against the other pilot resting her backside against his hip. “Is anyone else getting tired with all this talk of bunking up?”

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

To her credit, Ella manages a vaguely convincing display of pleasure at Lucy's response. This was not going to to be easy. Not at all. At least there weren't going to be teenage flirtations going on under her roof. It was a small blessing, and she was taking all of those she could get. Plus Lucy would be going to Shanelle's a lot. And the pilots would be at school a lot; something she hadn't thought of until now. Maybe this would be slightly less unbearable than she'd expected.


"Capt. Sanders? Ma'am? What's going to happen to the pilot of Unit 05?"

"We're currently attempting to retrieve the pilot, however we have not found them yet. The bay is a large area and a full search may take some time,"

[Rabadash]

Level 20 Infirmary, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 5:05 pm

Shanelle was certainly overjoyed by Theodore's response. She jumped up and quickly gave Theodore a bear hug. "Thank you thank you! My small apartment is so empty, and I haven't had a roommate since college." she squeezed Theodore a tad harder. She was 22, yet her mind, at least the social portion, hasn't grown since high school.

Jirou rolled his eyes for a moment. "The last thing we need is somebody not right in the head getting NERV slapped with sexual harassment charges.." he semi-joked. He continued to mumble to himself as he flipped open his phone. "Damn child labor groups want any reason to shut us down" his eyes widened for a bit as he gazed at his phone. He flipped it down and put his back int his pocket. "Well Sanders, it appears we HAVE detained the Unit 05 pilot." He took a deep breath. "But of course, she isn't responding to any basic interrogation techniques, and UN statue prevents anything better..." He plunged a finger toward his face, stabilizing his glasses. "Sharron will have the full report at debriefing."


Unknown Location, Unknown Time

A sound rang through John's ears as he slowly walked toward the large shrubs. Under his feet, the sound of crunching leaves grew louder, and the moistness of the grass became more prevalent. While there was another trail on the other side of the shrubs, sights began to disappear from John's eyes. Finally, he reached the massive palm tree where the entity had walked, nothing but white remained around the tree. Beyond his own volition, John was compelled to walk, or more precisely, simply enter the shrubs. He simply seemed to come closer without moving, eventually forcing himself into the green plant structure.

he found himself in a dark world, with nothing. None of John's senses reacted to this world, and yet he could still feel something. Something...was approaching. This entity was different than the previous one. John could not see it, hear it, smell it, feel it, or taste it, he simply knew it was there in front of him, watching.

[Astro_sol]

What Theodore wanted to say was: "I'm certainly happy to be wanted, Ms. Aggie, thank you ever so much for having me."

What actually came out was quite different; the only way to transcribe it would be something akin to: "meep". His mind was at war: he had never had to deal with this sort of situation in Nevada. For one thing, he had usually lived alone, and all of his handlers had been decidedly male. And here was this young woman who was very much his superior; he certainly had to obey her orders, yet she did not seem the type to do that at all. He wanted her to say, "Your quarters are being moved due to security reasons. Report to my apartment at 0500 hours," or some such. And here she was being all gratified, not to mention the hug. Wearing the plugsuit was akin to wearing a second skin, armored as it were, so he felt, well, everything. If he wasn't blushing before, he certainly was now.

With that, his rational mind shut down, and the only things coming out of his mouth were "ah", "um", and "yes ma'am", the latter of which more out of reflex than actual reasoning. If he had any sort of awareness of his situation at that point, he may have noticed a small trickle of blood coming down from his nose.

And yet, some part of his training remained, enough to catch bits and pieces of what Dr. Gorou was talking about. Debriefing. He silently prayed that it came soon, as he struggled to endure what could have been the worst - or best - torture of his life.

[Transcendent]

She watched in horror at what came next, Shannelle suddenly wrapped her arms around the boy that she had been doing her best to signal was HERS. She felt one of her hands curl up into a tight fist without even a thought, and one of those blond eyebrows of hers began to twitch ever so slightly. She brushed a few strands of hair from out of her eyes. She did not like this one bit, to the point where she was only half hearing the words that her creator was speaking. She quietly fumed and it only seemed to be getting worse for the pink haired youth.

Lucy noticed the way the boy’s cheeks went to full crimson, the stuttering, and even the nose bleed. She quickly turned her head away, and moved to sit on one of the unoccupied beds. How could she compete with that! That woman… Shannell, was beautiful, fully developed, had a kindly disposition and what was more she was one hundred percent biologically female.

“Erhalten Sie einen Raum.” she mumbled, crossing one of her legs over the other. How could the woman do this to her? She loved her like a sister, and she…she was making a move on the new boy right away. She found her fingers straying to her cigarettes. She quickly removed one, and hid it in her palm. She brought it to her nose and inhaled deeply if only to get the scent, before she dropped it haphazardly back into her purse.

"Dumme Junge."

OOC Info
Erhalten Sie einen Raum. = Get a room

Dumme Junge = Stupid boy.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

"Very good. The debriefing is still scheduled for eight o'clock, and you are all expected to attend. Expect a formal anouncement of the new living arrangements, along with damage reports and a critical evaluation of the performance of the Evangelions in battle. Is there anything anyone wants to know?"

Ella makes the executive decision that ignoring whatever Lucy's muttering about is the best way to ensure her own long-term mental well-being, as is staying out of whatever else the pilots do in their own time. It's good that they were making friends, though. Or whatever it is they're doing. They're going to need to work together to survive what's to come.

It had the added bonus of distracting them from her. The more she could stay away from them, the better she felt. People are more trouble than they're worth. What pleasure there is in company remains a mystery to Ella.

She could still remember the first - and last - time she'd agreed to go for a 'girl's night out' or whatever Shanelle had called it. She'd only just transferred to NERV, and was still paying attention to her standing orders of 'be sociable', and had reluctantly agreed. After three hours of sitting in sullen, anti-social silence, surrounded by lots of people and listening to Shanelle talk about boys, she'd lost all the remaining scraps of her patience and walked out. For some reason, though, Shanelle considered the evening a great success. Ella firmly disagrees.

[Jobbut]

John shuffled forward, flinching at the sound as it came, but quickly bringing himself to ignore it, continuing his pursuit of the figure. John noticed the gradual shift of the ground, wondering where exactly the figure was headed, and why it felt like this.

He blinked, staring at the palm tree before taking a sudden step unconsciously, putting foot in front of foot, trekking towards—no; into the shrubs that seemed to never touch him, even as he walked through them—as if they were an illusion.

John, as if he couldn’t keep his eyes open, slowly began to have his dream go dark, only the black wall of darkness in front of him. There was a… Something there? Someone? The figure? John curiously reached his hand out slowly to touch the figure

[Fearan]

Did Quentin want to know something? Oh yes, he did. Like what happened on the battlefield? Are all Evas equipped with this "berserk mode", or it was just a test of new tech with Theodore fielded as back-up? What the hell have dr Gorou done with the new pilot? What is the expected rate of pilot casualties for the next year? And so on, there were so many question, he wasn't even sure, from witch to begin with. Besides, he was pretty sure, all he'll get would be an answer like "I'm not authorised to reveal this information", "Classified", or simply, "I don't know". Yes, Quentin hadn't fully gotten into "trust those, who we point as your comrades" thing. Still, he made one try. The boy raised his hand, like a pupil on a lesson, and, while allready knowing, he'll get no answer, asked with a quiet almost whispering voice:
- Captain Sanders, what Evangelion truly is?

[Transcendent]

Quentin gave her something new to focus on, something other than the sloppy disgusting embrace between Shanelle and Theodore. Her eyes dart towards the pilot she had more experience with. His question was silly, at least in her mind. They were weapons of mass destruction, meant to defeat the opponent’s of NERV.

“Don’t be stupid, they’re giant robots…” She growled, tapping her fingers against the bed that she had taken up residence on. She leaned her head against the wall with an audible thump. “Unit 03 just had some sort of soft ware error when the maniac’s synch ratio dropped to zero.” Even when she said it, she knew it wasn’t true. She just HAD to argue with someone.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Right. This is going to need quick thinking. No need to scare them if it isn't anything, but lying isn't going to do any good either - not in the long run. Lucy's explanation had some merit, but it isn't set in stone by anything.

Ella's eyes flicker towards Jirou for a moment, and then she decides to go with the truth - at least, the truth as she understands it.

"That's one possibility that's being investigated. The cause has yet to be established, but is under investigation. I expect a report will be presented at the debriefing," she says - and makes silent prayers that they'd ask no more questions about the "beserk" Eva.

"The Evangelions themselves are bio-engineered weapons, made with the ultimate goal of world peace," she goes on, trying to keep the contempt out of her voice. The Evangelions would never - could never - bring peace to the world that had made her. "All this information is in the briefing packs that you were given on arriving at NERV. Someone will provide your copy shortly," she adds to Theodore.

[Rabadash]

Unknown Location, Unknown Time

In the darkness, John could feel only cold, aside from the large...thing staring down at him. Through his own mind's eye, the figure became to form around him. The being was alien to him, what seemed to be a women's face, yet not close to human. Large green lights ran throughout it's pale skin, and large, narrow yellow eyes glared down at John.

From beside him, a hand grabbed him, and lifted him into the air. John tried to struggle, to make himself free, yet he couldn't compel his body to move. Slowly, he was pulled up toward the eyes of the apparition, and it spoke. "Get him out of me" it said was a describable, demonic tone that ripped deep into John's consciousnesses

Level 20 Infirmary, NERV HQ, Washington DC Geofront. February 20th, 2027, 5:10 pm

Jirou took one last look at his phone and put it away. "Well if that's everything, then I suppose that I should go get ready" He pivoted on his foot, lab coat spinning around with him. He raised a palm and shook it. "See you kids at 8." He pressed a few buttons on the keypad on the far elevator. "I have a lecture at NYU early tomorrow, so make sure this goes smoothly." The freight elevator slowly descended. "Avoir!" he said semi-condescendingly.

Shanelle turned toward Theodore. "You know we got three hours, and my stuff is done." He drew her elbows in and her eyes sparkled something fierce. "Why don't we head over to my apartment so you can get changed and settle in?" her enthusiastic demeanor was most defiantly unwarranted, but anything to Shanelle seems like an adventure.

[Astro_sol]

At Shanelle's words, Theodore nodded dumbly, and was sure to wipe the blood from his nose. He had dealt with Lucy already, but she was much more of an obvious tease. His rational brain, waking up from the shock it had been dealt, realized that Shanelle was, more or less, an adult child. But that did nothing for his hormones, which had done him the courtesy of rendering him mute. He could really use the change, anyway, since the plugsuit was starting to ride. Avoiding the urge to scratch his rear - especially where Lucy had pinched it - he readied himself to follow the young officer to her apartment.

Before he went, though, he made a mental backtrack to when Quentin had asked something about the Evas. As much as he loathed to admit it, Lucy had a good point. They were giant robots. But he also knew that they were capable of going nuts, especially due to Dr. Gorou's warnings of the inhibitors in Unit 03. Now, Theodore may have been an easily distractable, single minded teenager, but if there was one thing he could focus on, it was anything work related. He could also put 2 and 2 together.

300% inhibitors. Stay the hell away from Unit 03.

Something had happened to John because of the strange nature of Unit 03. He knew his own Eva was strange enough in and of itself; it felt...foreign, with CODE BLUE popping up intermittently at start up. But it was mostly under control. The Evas that he had practiced in (they were simulators, mostly, but still, parts of them were prototypes for the ones built here) were relatively...he would have to say calm, compared to the fury he saw in Unit 03. Hopefully that would be covered in the debriefing.

He gave Quentin a sneer laced with sarcasm, and to Lucy, he...well, he locked up again. She looked angry. Very angry. So he settled for a pathetic wave, his eyes only meeting her face for a second before dropping back to the floor.

[Transcendent]

Again she looked at Shanelle, her eyes might as well have been daggers with the intensity of her stare. She shook her head again, she cracked her delicate digits without a thought. There was obviously nothing she could do to change the fact that Theodore was going to go home with her. She slumped her shoulders again, why did she have to be so excited and touchy feely. For the first time in her life, she had the desire albeit a brief one to slap the woman across the face. Yet, her ingrained programming kicked in before she even had a chance to move.

She wasn’t sure what else to do, she couldn’t even go back to her room to get her things. They were all about to be swept for bugs or some such thing. She didn’t like that one bit, it was her personal private stuff and some gorilla in a suit was going to be searching through it. All of it! Would they take the time to read her journal? More than likely, what if there were hidden messages there.

Everything was just getting worse, and worse. “So, I guess I sit around here for three hours till the meeting huh? NERV needs to invest in some consoles or something…”

[Fearan]

Quentin nodded as if he expected nothing else from captain Sanders. He totally ignorred Lucy's words. Giant robots, yes - someone really have wached too much propaganda. But Ella did said something to consider. Not about world peace - Quentin couldn't understand how huge, extremely vulnerable to power shortage and lackin any reliable means of hitting something smaller than Godzilla mecha could ensure the world peace. But about Eva's origin.
- Is it alive? - he wondered quietly.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Oh, joy. She was going to have to deal with boredom now. Choices, choices. She could let them go - unsupervised - to her home, now, or she could have them most likely follow her around for the next three hours. Neither option appealed. Although maybe if they went back to her house, they'd at least get red of the cat, who would most assuredly have broken in by now.

With a reluctant sigh, she pulls a set of keyes from her pocket and tosses them to Quentin on the simple basis that he's closest. "Alarm code's two five nine seven three four. My room's upstairs, second on the right. Do not go in it,"" she adds with ice tinkling on every syllable.

Surely they wouldn't break too many things while she was gone. It was only three hours, and there wasn't all that much she cared about there. If she kept repeating that to herself, then she might come to believe it in five or six years.

"Password for the internet's 'Rebuild', and my computer's password is 'Ragnarok'. Feed yourselves, and if there's a cat in there throw it out - it's not mine. I'll arrange for your things to be sent over either today or tomorrow," She tilts her head slightly as Quentin speaks, trying to catch his words. "What was that?"

[Rabadash]

NERV HQ Parking Lot, Washington DC Geofront . February 20th, 2027, 5:20 pm

Eventually, each of the pilots have left with their respective guardians, leaving Shanelle ans Theodore in the elevator going toward the parking lot. Eventually, the elevator arrived the the dark parking area. Despite the launch of Liberty Lost in only a matter of weeks, very few cars actually lined the open area. Large concrete bars lin es the ceiling, making th ceiling look secure as ever.

Shanelle led Theodore over to her car near the corner next to the elevator. It was a silver 2025 Toyota Camry. Shanelle had a automotive hobby on their side in college, and one thing that amazed her throughout the years is exactly how the Camry line had survived for so long. The car itself was long and sleek, with doors the slip upward, a general standard in the 20s.

"I'm having all your things delivered to my apartment, so you can change as soon as you get there" she said, taking off her white coat, slinging it around the back seat, and leading Theodore into the passenger seat. The seats were fine leather, and the console in front of Theodore shined with all kinds of homebrew gadgets, as expected form an MIT grad. The car itself smelled of instant ramen and spilt soda. She pressed a button, and both the doors shut. "Get your seat belt on. Did you know that most deaths from car crashes can be prevented with proper seat belt adjustment?" she said with a odd glowing in her eyes.

Finally, after situating herself with her hands on the wheel, she turned to Theodore. "My apartment isn't that much of a drive, but we will have time, giving us plenty of time for introductions don't you think?"

[Astro_sol]

Theodore marveled at the gadgets in the car. It was akin to the first time he got in the plug, what with all the lights and switches and whatnot. However, his mind was elsewhere.

His first battle could easily be considered a success. However, he had been drilled in fighting to the best of his ability, and his ability was supposed to be the best. He struggled with the fate of John. It wasn't that he felt anything like friendship with the boy; he was just too weird. But still, he was a comrade. He should have been able to run faster, shoot more accurately. He hadn't been the one to defeat the Eva, the 4th Child had. His face was scrunched up with a frown when he heard Shanelle talk about introductions.

That would be polite, wouldn't it?

"I'm...Theodore Cartwright, ma'am. 1st Child. I was selected for the Liberty Lost training program at 6 years old, and have been training at the NERV-Nevada facility until today." He was fumbling, now. Falling back on protocol only got you so far, and he was struggling with how this pretty lady, who was also an officer and he would not forget that, was so...disorganized. It didn't make him angry or anything, just confused. "I specialize in firearms, but I've received close combat training, too." His hands were clenched in his lap, and he couldn't bring up his eyes. He wasn't used to someone being so...casual.

[Rabadash]

NERV HQ Parking Lot, Washington DC Geofront

Shanelle turned her keys, starting the ignition. Upon hearing Theodore's response, she puffed up her cheeks and became a tad irritated with him. "Oh come on!" she yelled in a serious, yet playful tone, throwing up her arms. "You're a kid, you HAVE to have more than that"

She pulled the gear shaft toward reverse, and slammed her foot on the pedal. The car flung backwards out of its reserved spot as she pushed the gear back forward, allowing her to drift out of the spot and fly out toward the exit of the parking complex. Despite Shanelle's lecture about seat belt safety seemed moot compared the the reckless way that the women drove.

As she emerged from the complex, slowly rising up from the Geofront, the decorated streets of DC revealed itself. The car merged onto East Basin Drive from the dark tunnel in the center of road. Certainly not one of the more memorable areas of DC, but to the cars left, the round structure that was the Jefferson Memorial could be scene. The seemingly copper tense that surround the park containing the monument was crude, but it got the idea across. To the distance, the Washington monument could also be seen.

Such thing would not distract Shanelle from her mission. This boy was uptight, and she certainly wasn't going to allow him to live his whole life trapped in a proverbial military uniform. I WILL get through to this kid she thought.

"Alright, let me show you how an introduction is done! Theres more to life than your file. You got your life story, hobbies, likes, dislikes,.." her face blushed and she smiled at Theodore. "...crushes" she returned her gave toward the road. "Ill start. My name is Shanelle Aggie. I was born in Vermont, and I attended MIT and graduated valedictorian majoring in Bio-engineering. I love instant raman, I love cats, hate dogs." her faced reddened again. "and I've never had a relationship" she held her hands to her face, taking her hands off the wheel. "but I do find Dr. Gorou to be just so dreamy"

The car swerved as Shanelle grabbed the wheel quickly and regained control. She turned again toward Theodore "All right, your turn."

[Fearan]

Despite Quentin talking mostly to himself, cpt Sanders heard him and reacted. Well, if the Last Child wanted to get any trust around here, he was supposed to answer. And he did wanted some trust.
- I just wondered - are the alive? The Evas, that is - he repeated the question in a calm, collected tone. The expression on his face gave away the fact, that Quentin was trying to analyze numerous details and to fit them into one picture.

[Astro_sol]

Theodore was forced to focus on the present as the car screeched its way out of the building. He double checked his seatbelt - thank God he'd remembered to buckle it on reflex - and grabbed the door handle with his right hand as his left went wide, eventually settling on bracing against his seat.

Holy ****, this is worse than than the simulations! This is worse than actually fighting!

When she first let go of the wheel, only his training prevented him from wetting himself. His eyes were wide open as he turned to his now-questionably-sane driver. She was talking about introductions. Dammit, he knew he'd screwed up somehow. She was just so...different.


"Ill start. My name is Shanelle Aggie. I was born in Vermont, and I attended MIT and graduated valedictorian majoring in Bio-engineering. I love instant raman, I love cats, hate dogs. "

At least they could connect there; he audibly sighed in relief and her mention of hating dogs. He was 8 years old when he'd gotten attacked by that mastiff, but there weren't really any lasting scars. NERV had top notch medical professionals, that was for sure. NERV had top notch everyone, and while her driving skills could use some, um, refining, she seemed pretty smart if she did all that.


"And I've never had a relationship, but I do find Dr. Gorou to be just so dreamy."

His questioning look - Dr. Gorou, who'd almost purposefully ticked off the 4th Child? - was only interrupted by her taking her hands off of the wheel again. After the car was finished swerving, his face was white with shock. There was no preparing for this.

My God what have I done agreeing to live with this crazy person

"Um, er, uh, I, uh..." He tried to collect himself. Likes, dislikes, life story, he'd start with those. "Uh, I don't remember much about life before NERV. I had parents, but they left. When I started training, that is. I think they're dead. 'S what I was told. I didn't have much to do outside of training, so I took up exercising. Mixed martial arts. Sparring is fun. Nothing like a morning run." He really had to control his breathing. "I hate dogs. Hate dogs. Um. I don't really think about, er, relationships. I don't really have time for one. Girls are crazy, ma'am." He realized what he just said. "No offense. Ma'am."

[Transcendent]

She watched as Theo headed off with Shannelle. The youth quickly brought herself to her feet once more, she tilted her gaze to Quentin who was still trying to pick the OD’s brain. She sighed a bit, this wasn’t going to hold her interest long. Her shoulders slumped forward, but, with the majority of people gone Lucy headed too the infirmary door. She fished around her purse for the stray cigarette she had dropped within, and as soon as she left the room she brought it to her lips and lit it.

The pink haired girl leaned her back against a nearby wall, and inhaled deeply allowing the heady scent of those clove cigarettes to fill the room around her. Her breathing steady itself, and she felt the lovely sensation of nicotine rushing through her body. She even let out a little “Mmmm.” as she did so, her attention flicked this way and that as she watched for anyone whom might be so inclined to try to stop her and her filthy habit. As is though, she simply planned to give them the finger and tell them to back off. The fate of the free world was in her hands… or something, she could smoke if the desire came to her. Besides, the habit was NERVs fault anyway. Or so she told herself, they hadn’t filtered her mind enough to get rid of the donor’s quirks.

The briefing couldn’t come soon enough. At least it would end the monotony of the day, again, now that she had isolated herself she was able to think and not focus on others. In the back of her mind, there was a hint of fear… what of this new comer, this… John was her better. What would become of her if unit 03 was meant as a replacement for her lovely unit 02. Lucy slumped downward, allowing her back to slide against the wall. She splayed her legs out ward.

She wouldn’t allow it…

She couldn’t allow it…

It was impossible…

If that maniac was capable of eliciting rage from his Evangelin, she could do the same. When she slipped into the entry plug, her opponent would taste the rage of unit 02. How that rage came to be who knew, but, she was better. No one could compare to a human being created for the sole purpose of piloting an EVA.

Lucy took another drag. “I’ll have my chance to shine, stupid boys, ditsy techs, and maniacs be damned…”

[Jobbut]

The darkness… The cold… The sheer nothingness—except for the presence that seemed to be examining him. John could manage to make… something out. A feminine visage, yet it was foreign and odd—hardly human.

It was as if it was made of strands of lights and pale metal; the strange, alien, golden eyes searching him; John helpless in the expanse of nothingness, the dull, endless black seeming to keep him mentally locked in place.

John gasped as the hand materialized from the nothingness and hoisted him upwards, the weak struggles he made against the titanic grasp doing little but showing he couldn’t even will his body to move, his body pulled near the apparition’s face, the sudden, mind-rending words of the otherworldly voice ripping into his consciousness, his heart racing and his mind’s eye going awry, flashes of red and a ringing in his ears signaling how the voice had torn into his consciousness.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

"I'll give you a lift," She gestures for Lucy and Quentin to come with her and starts walking. As she does, she looks back and Quentin and gives a slight shrug.

"Does it really matter?" she says, then, looking at Quentin's face decides that it does. "It depends on your definition of alive," she goes on without slowing her pace. "In a strictly biological sense, I believe they qualify. In a more abstract sense, possibly not. They are genetically engineered and grown to that size, that form. Then they are lobotomised quite heavily as well as cyberised. They may be breathing creatures, but they are not aware and have no ability to make decisions for themselves; their hearts beat, and they breathe but they are entirely under the control of their pilots,"

So I'm told, she adds silently, thinking of the 'beserk' Unit 03.

She pulls out her phone as they reach the lifts, and places a call to the head of Section 2.

"Sanders. Requesting full security check of all personnel. Pilot accomodation has been altered in accordance with protocol Kappa Three Omega Three Delta Six Theta Zero," she says, using the prearranged code to conceal the pilot's new locations from eavesdroppers. "Possible infiltration," she adds, then hangs up as the lift arrives, and opens the door to one of NERV's car parks.

Ella leads the way, quite confidently, to one of the reserved spots near the lift and opens the door to a rather battered and elderly Honda New Millenium - one of the cheaper cars out there. She waves Quentin and Lucy in before setting off.

It's not a particularly long drive - especially given Ella's tendency to ignore such feeble and weak-minded notions of "right of way" - but the view is stunning as they drive past the artificial lake in the shadows of one of the forests. Small furry and feathered creatures flutter and scury around in the undergrowth, and Ella even rolls down the windows to let the sounds in.

It seems too soon to be leaving, as they pull in to one of the lifts out of the Geofront and in to Washington proper - in fact, waiting for the lift takes almost as much time as it took to drive to it from NERV HQ.

The drive through Washington, however, is less than pleasant and Ella makes a point of rolling the windows back up as they pull up to a set of traffic lights. While she's still fairly reckless in her driving, she no longer completely ignores road signs, speed limits and other drivers. As a high-ranking member of NERV she'd learned she could get away with more than most, but there was still a limit and it was better not to push it when it came to local law enforcement.

A fifteen minute drive from the lift - one of the ones outside the city centre - takes them in to one of the older areas of Washington, away from the new high-tech skyscrapers and apartment blocks, and in to the very picture of Pre-Impact suburbia. White houses and picket fences abound, along with lawns and trees and families with 2.7 children and a dog. It's quite out of place for Washington and a NERV empolyee, but despite that Ella turns down a side street and pulls up outside a two-storey brick house that has been painted yellow and set back a way from the street. It looks expensive, and goes a way to explaining the ancient and cheap car. It's surrounded by trees, as a large front garden and has a brick facing, as well as large windows and a set of french doors.

http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/4/8/9/8/ar122718769189842.jpg

Ella gets out, walks over and unlocks the door, ushering the others in.

Once inside, it becomes even more apparant how Ella could afford the place; there's nothing in it. The settings are spartan in the extreme. In the large main room, there's a sofa, a chair, a desk and a coffee table. None of which look like they're new. There's a beaten-up laptop on the coffee table, and a large (and therefore old) PC on the desk. The kitchen is scarcely any better, with nothing more than a washing machine, cooker and a fridge sat on the tiled floor.

Although that's not quite true. On the worktop by a window with a broken pane of glass, there's a bowl of what looks like chicken. Next to it, there's a cat. A large black tom cat. It looks up as Ella enters the room, then darts out through the broken window and streaks across the lawn and out of sight. Ella crosses the room to examine the bowl and it's contents, before scowling and tossing them out of the window before refastening a sheet of plastic across the break, which had apparently been pushed loose by the cat's entry.

"I've got to get that window fixed," she mutters to herself as she opens the fridge. It's perhaps interesting to note that the fridge contains nothing that resembles chicken.

"Make yourselves at home," she says, as she looks out of the kitchen window across an immaculate lawn into the line of big, old trees, trying to see where the cat had gone. In one of the trees, is an old weather-stained treehouse made of planking and nails. It looks like it's been there for years.

There are five rooms upstairs, one is the bathroom, large, nice and empty beyond basic fittings like a shower and a bath. Another is a study, completely bare. The third is locked. The other two are empty rooms with a bedstead and nothing else.

Anything else is up to you guys. I can also answer questions from the drive retroactively if you like.

[Transcendent]

Lucy spent most of the car ride quiet, simply pondering the events of the day. Her mind flitted between the two new pilots, John who had inadvertently declared himself as her nemesis thanks to him slipping into the plug of an EVA before she ever had the chance, and, what was more seemingly to perform decently… not to mention whatever the hell he did to the EVA too bring it to it’s boiling point. Theodore on the other hand, also took part in said attack, but his performance had been nothing that had particularly caught her eye. So, he was safe from her anger at least when it came to piloting EVA. Now though, he was off somewhere with Shannelle doing who knows what. Again she couldn’t help but sigh.

When she finally entered the house she looked around, her eyebrow raised ever so slightly. This was a house? Where was the television? The up to date computer to play video games? Hell, she didn’t even have a console… and, what about furniture this all looked like it was purchased at the salvation army. She had made a terrible, terrible, terrible choice. The doctor would have at least had something to keep her busy, if only to keep her out of his hair while he was in the middle of important work.

“You don’t spend a lot of time at home do you Miss Ella?” She said, trying her best to sound friendly even if she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs as boredom began to take hold.

[Rabadash]

Unknown Location, Unknown Time

The being lurched forward and grabbed John with its second pale arm, and leveled it's gaze. The apparition that confronted him was beyond human, an abomination, with a grinning face that was neither live nor mechanical. It spoke again, it the multitude of voices like before. "Who are you?"

Washington DC

Shanelle continued to roll through the various streets of DC, the city that had, despite the second impact, remained just as simple as before. While there were skyscrapers in various new sections of the city, the center city remained the same monumental area it had been before.

Shanelle. however, remained unsatisfied with Theodore's answer. He seemed to believe that if he didn't get involved, if he just followed orders, he would remain just fine. "Alright Shanelle, you can do this," she thought "just keep him talking, eventually you'll find something to go on."

"Alright then" she said with a a smile "Tell me about how you got involved in the training program" she began "What drew you to it?"

[Fearan]

As Ella drived her bargain bin car across the city, Quentin's melancholy slowly faded from the sheer exitement of speed and the operaton director's risky drive style, so the most of the sadly short ride he spent with a cheerful smile on his face. Unlike Lucy, he didn't think about the new guys - in fact he had absolutely no interest in neither military nut, who seemingly thought that piloting an EVA is all pew-pew and maybe "duck and cover" sometimes, nor the comatose victim of Dr Gorou's torturous experiments. He thought about what he was told about the EVAs - about them being alive, lobotomized and such. He caught himself on a thought, that he absolutely doesn't believe the official version - the one about world peace and stuff. Everything that Q.B. found out about the Evas made his bullsh*t detector go completely off scale. There was absolutely no way, he thought, that such needlesly sophisticated and overall cost-ineffective technology was create only to fill the role of the good old-fashioned A-bomb. And that meant only one thing - there was more, than this in the whole project. But still, paranoia and conspiracy theory could wait - he had such a fast pleasing ride, so he could just enjoy the moment. When the car finally got to it's destination, Quentin adressed Ella with the words of appreciation.
- That was one of a ride. Thank you, cpt Sanders
The young man had no problem with the spartan-type lifestyle, which Ella maintained in her house. It was pretty clean, it had a place to drop his bones, a PC for the Internet and a cat just in case he would feel lonely - speaking of which, trying to pet the cat was the first thing, Quentin did after settling in.

[Astro_sol]

Theodore frowned, though he unconsciously began to relax, easing a bit into his seat.

"I...I know Mum and Dad wanted me in it. I wanted to make them happy. And...when I first got tested, put into the plug...I felt so alive. And free. Even if it was just a simulation." His eyes began to shine. "I wasn't good at much else. School was boring. I, uh, didn't really have any friends." Why was he talking to her like this? He didn't get to talk much back in Nevada. Or was that just because he didn't want to? "Being in an Eva was just so...exhilarating. Other kids would just talk about how they wished they could be superheroes, policemen, astronauts...when I'm in an Eva, I get to be someone. It's hard not to notice a 40 meter tall war machine, isn't it?" He smiled. "Plus there's all the guns I get to shoot. I can't say anyone at my old school could say they've shot battleship shells before."

The boy turned to Shanelle; before, he was just looking into his lap. "Plus, I know what I'm doing will save the world. I suppose that counts for something, doesn't it?"

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

She looks around the house that comes pretty much straight from her dreams, then shakes her head.

"No, I don't spend much time here," there's a note of quiet pain in her voice. One of the first signs of emotion she's shown. "It's a house for the living. Not for me. There should be people, children, laughing and talking. I thought about renting some rooms out, but until I can afford bullet proof glass for the windows it doesn't seem fair on any lodgers,"

She shakes herself mentally. The children wouldn't want to hear about the tattered remnants of her hopes, and it wasn't fair to burden them with it. Maybe they were what was missing from the house - she'd not thought of that before. Still, no point upsetting them.

"Feel free to use the PC, although I advise against looking on the third hard drive unless you're really good at removing virus from a computer. It's where I keep my collection. And," she says, catching Lucy's look. "It's more impressive than it looks; I've spent a lot of time upgrading it. We'll go shopping after the debriefing, and we can buy anything you can't live without then,"

As she says this, Ella valiantly blanks out such trivial details like an almost empty bank account, and looming mortgage repayments. Such things are mere inconveniences in the grand scheme of things. Although they may actually be able to help out there.

"Do either of you know anything about engines?" she adds, almost hesitantly. "I need some work done on the car, and I can't do it myself or afford a mechanic right now,"

[Fearan]

First things first - Quentin started with claiming one of the "bedrooms" for himself, by taking a heavy book in a plastic protective cover out of his backpack and putting it on the windowsill. He then put the backpack on a bedstead, like a pillow. After that he returned to Ella in the big room. It felt a lot like his guardain's house, because dr. Winterburn was actually married to his work, and shunned things like comfort beyond basic needs. So, yes, the "feel like home" part was succesfully accomplished. Quentin approached the broken window and took the cat. The creature first replyed with an amazed "ffff", but soon calmed down and let the teenager scrach it. Quentin smiled - too bad, his moving to Ella's place was temporary - otherwise, he have probably tried to talk her into keeping the furball.
"Do either of you know anything about engines? I need some work done on the car, and I can't do it myself or afford a mechanic right now" - asked cpt Sanders in the mean time. And Quentin had a reply for that one.
- Well, I don't know about it yet, but I was going to learn how to deal with engines anyway. So, I'd be happy to help. Maybe, if I'll manage, dr Winterburn stop beeing mad at me for smashing his scooter back then

[Transcendent]

The young woman tilted her head to the side, she was a bit shocked by Ella’s words. She had always simply seemed calm, maybe a bit absorbed with her job and completely absorbed by the military thought processes. Yet, there was a brief flash of someone else there… and it almost sounded like she was well, sad. She wanted to reach out and give them woman, her superior officers a hug The pink haired youth didn’t think it would be a good idea though, it was impossible to tell how Ella would react to the action. She swallowed hard, entangling her fingers behind her back.

She smiled softly “Well ma’am, I’ve been told that I’m not exactly the quietest person in the world. If you want the house to have a little more noise, I’m pretty sure I can totally help you out.”

When the operation’s director mentioned shopping Lucy forced herself to shake her head. Her superior had said the words ‘When I can afford.’ when she talked about bullet proof glass. Lucy knew what the meant. The youth could be obnoxious, egotistical, and downright rude, yet, she wasn’t selfish well THAT selfish. The pilot gave a little smile brushing her fingers through her hair. “Don’t worry I can go without electronics for a while, there’s no need to buy anything on my account. You said that my things would be brought here when it’s been cleared, and it isn’t permanent. So, I’m sure I can find other ways to occupy my time particularly if your computer has been upgraded.” A smile played across her lips. “As for fixing a car… nope. “ She said reluctantly, disappointed she could help her new guardian.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

She opens her mouth to speak, and then notices the cat that Quentin's petting - apparently it had snuck back in when she wasn't watching.

"Do not encourage that cat. It's a menace. It breaks in most days and usually finds something to eat," she says, fixing it with a glare. The cat hisses. "It used to set the alarms off until I reconfigured them,"

Aside from the cat's depredation of her larder, at least her charges weren't going to bankrupt her - she hoped. That was something. She's less than certain about Lucy's offer to 'help' with the noise, though. While the house needs more people in it, it's not necessarily what Ella needs. She can only pray things don't last too long.

"That's... very kind of you," Ella says, cautiously to Lucy. "The car doesn't matter, I can deal with that when I have the time. But the lawn needs mowing, the windows cleaning and the house tidying. There's also some left overs from the last owners in the loft that I need to sort through. I'd appreciate any help you could give me on those,"

If Lucy's willing to help out, I may actually be able to keep on top of the maintenence, Ella reflects. The house was proving to be much too large for a single person - at least, a single person determined to keep it picture perfect while being effectively on call 24/7. The windows had acquired a faint layer of grime, and the back garden was starting to show signs of running wild. Even the trees were going to need pruning back soon, before they cut off all the light to the house. Then there was the clutter left by the previous owners that she still hadn't looked at. Not only did it occupy the loft, but most of the garage too. Still, Ella feels a faint trace of guilt at asking the pilots to work for her after evicting them from their old homes.

She turns to Quentin, and adds; "I have a book of mechanics you may be interested in. It's too basic for my needs, but it might be of use to you,"

[Transcendent]

Help… with chores? Lucy was for the most part neat and tidy when it came to her personal possessions and belongings. Yet, her quarters were rather small at least in comparison to this monster of a house. For a brief second, the smallest second she simply wanted to tell Ella that she had no intention of helping. She took a slow deep breath though, and again kept up that smile of hers. “Alright ma’am… I’d be happy to help.” Her voice all saccharine sweet.

It wasn’t like she could say no. She was going to be staying in the woman’s house for a while. She needed to make sure this was easy for the both of them. “Anything else we should know are there any places besides your room that I should consider off limits?”

[Rabadash]

Shanelle's house, Washington DC

Shanelle felt sorry for the kid. The only place that he could feel at home is behind the barrel of a gun, exactly what SEEL and NERV wanted. Such thoughts only served the bring back up suppressed doubts of Liberty Lost. The concept of these massive mechanical gods that would serve as our great Guardian angels seemed fishy to her. At the same time, she truly had never accepted the existence of the angels. Could she had been played a sucker by the UN to advance a draconian regime of oppressive security? Her face morphed into a serious, almost threatening visage. "Theodore, do you think the Eva's are necessary?"

She caught herself quickly before the atmophere could turn too dark. "No, No, forget about it" she said warmly with a smile. She pointed forward. "There it is!"

http://www.capitolriverfront.org/_files/images/capitolquarterpoint_0906.jpg

The car began to pull around the homely suburban 4th street to reveal large, tall townhouses, stretching three stories tall.The neighborhood was one of the reminders of the old DC, multi-color, with a 1930s feel. Each building had a small garden surrounding it. Shanelle harshly parked her car parralle to thge road, and pulled down the gear to park. "I'm on the first floor of this building" she said as she got out the the car and hoisted up her backpack and lab coat and walked up to the blue building in the center. "And best of all, nobody else in the building!" She unlocked the door and walked in. "Come on in"

The house was certainly small, in fact anybody who knew about its layout would not be so happy about being a roomate. The entrance was a long hall with two doors on either side, with a hard wooden floor and light green wallpaper. A the end of the hall was a kitchen with the basics: a table, stove, fridge, oven, microwave, and sink. On one side of the kitchen was two doors. "Alright, in the hall, to the left if my room, to the left is the guest room where you will be staying." She said this stepping over the mountain of books, boxes, and computer parts spread throughout the house. A normal person looking on such a house would make it out to be a lab rather than a home. "All your boxes with your stuff should already be in there, along with a sleeping bag. The bathroom is over by the kitchen." She continued to grunt as she slowly stepped into the kitchen, finally liberated from the hoards of junk strewn throughout the hallway. "If you need to use a computer, my office is next to the bathroom, go ahead and use one of them, I got 7" she said somewhat proudly.

[Astro_sol]

"Theodore, do you think the Eva's are necessary?"

Of course, she backtracked before he could answer. However, Theodore couldn't help but think as she pulled up to the colorful apartments. Of course Evas were necessary. The only thing that would take down the Angels would be an AT Field. They'd explained everything to him in Nevada. Of course, he'd also thought about what would happen after the Angels were dead, but he'd put it into the same category as nuclear weapons; mutually assured destruction. Many nations were developing Evas, and surely SEEL would keep the treaties going and keep everyone from trying to blow each other up with the giant creatures. But as he saw the dark look on her face, suddenly he wasn't so sure. The only thing that could defeat an Eva was another Eva. Well, that, and possibly enough N2 mines in a coordinated attack.

He was shaken out of his reverie by the state of the apartment. There was junk everywhere. Who could live like this?! He was speechless as she explained where everything was, and the minute he thought she was done, he muttered a quick "thank you" and ran straight for his room, eager to get out of the plugsuit. He'd been cleaned of the LCL immediately following his extraction, but he was quite done feeling almost naked.

After he finished changing - his clothes were simple, an outfit provided by NERV consisting of a plain white shirt, dark jacket and slacks - he dutifully began organizing his room. All he really had were some clothes, a few books, his journal, and his sleeping bag. He hadn't really needed much else. He did have to use the restroom, though, and quickly went through the junk-strewn hall and kitchen to use it. After a quick pee, he found himself staring at all the junk in the hall, scratching his chin.

He wasn't some germ-obsessed snob, but this was ridiculous. However, he also had to note that it wasn't really his place to move stuff around. He decided he'd ask about it later. For now, he went into his room, picked up his journal, and began writing.

Dear Diary, today I had my first actual combat mission! I totally kicked ass, but the 4th Child also fought. He's in the hospital right now, though. I think I should have been able to complete the mission before he got hurt. What happened to him...

He continued writing, detailing his inner thoughts; he feared that he could have done better.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

She complete misses all the possible implications of Lucy's tone, and simply nods instead.

"The tree house isn't safe. I nearly fell through the floor when I first moved in. But only my room is off limits,"

She runs through a quick mental checklist. The only way Quentin or Lucy could get access to something they shouldn't see would be if they the hacked in to her laptop, and if they had the ability to do that, then they deserved to know everything on there. Aside from designing computer virus', her hobby is adding to the security of the un-networked laptop. The PC has a suitably impressive defense array as well, but as a matter of course she doesn't store private information on anything with internet access.

So, no information on Rebuild or NERV lying around. Excellent. She'd check her room later just in case her new house mates were of an unduly inquisitive mindset.

"...Yes, that's everything," she says as she takes bread and jam from the fridge and sets to making a sandwich.

[Rabadash]

Shanelle's house, Washington DC

Shanelle waddled into the kitchen and plopped down her large backpack onto the kitchen table. She reached up and started fondling the various cabinents throughout the area, despite the fact that she always kept her instant ramen stash in the same place, no matter what. Of course, such a simple fact did not deter her any more from forgetting cpnstantly. "Maybe I should just label these" she thought. Finally, she grabbed a bag out of a cupboard, ripped it open, put it in a cup, filled it with water, and the it in the microwave. The machine beeped, and began churning. All this time, Shanelle had turned on the small portable TV on the desktop counter. Of course, all the local channels were all over the recent events in central DC, who wouldn't?

The reports were as normal: Talking heads blaming this who and the other about the events, whilst crafting elaborate stories about how the opposite party is using etc to keep you down. Shanelle was never really into politics, so that's generally how she saw everything in Washington. Whilst barely paying attention to the screen, she did happen to notice upon a little bar near the bottom that read "White House to give official address regarding today's terrorist attack". While she didn't care about such things usually, she knew this was related to her job, and therefore would probably be best to watch. The details regarding NERV matters were to stay with NERV until a full analysis is completed, so why would the White House be giving a statement now? "Starts in 5 minutes..."

She whipped out her smartphone and began to write a text to Ella Sanders, along with the rest of the crew. Her fingers worked away at the small buttons. "turn on cnn, wh is giving statment on 2days atack" she typed out in shorthand. She pressed send , and put her phone down, still staring at the TV

[Astro_sol]

Theodore was around halfway through the journal entry when he heard the TV come on. TV wasn't all that interesting to him, but he heard something about a "terrorist attack on DC". Was that what he thought it was? He closed the journal, set it under his sleeping bag, and wandered into the kitchen, unconsciously silently walking on the balls of his feet. As he heard the microwave begin humming, he made it in to see Shanelle hunkered over a small TV. His interest piqued, Theodore slowly moved next to her until he got a better view. What did the world think of how he did?

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Her phone beeps a couple of times, and Ella flips it open reads the message and frowns sharply. This can not possibly be good. Abandoning her half-made sandwich, the walks over to the computer and taps in her login and pulls up a live feed from CNN and settles down in the chair to watch.

[Transcendent]

She flicked her attention to Ella when she got the call, Lucy moved in behind her at the computer. Her hands came to rest on the back of the chair, as she peered curiously over one shoulder. “What’s going on Ma’am?”

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

She shakes her head at Lucy's question, an turns the volume up.

"I don't know. Shanelle says there's a statement on the attack today,"

She hits 'record' as the program comes on. She wanted a copy of this to cross-reference if it turned out NERV had a leak.

[Rabadash]

White House Press Briefing Room, Washington DC

Things were stirring whiten the White house in preparation for the address. The day itself had been hectic, with the President herself not even at the white house when the attack began, but with the multiple details surrounding the event, the speech was sure to be interesting, political wise. However, president Pain was not the one giving the press briefing; instead it would be the secretary of state under the president: Daniel Ron. The tension even greater by the fact that the speech was prepared before the President arrived earlier in the white house without her approval.

Ashley was steaming, and rushed up to Daniel, preparing his speech at the mantle. "Mr. Ron, I did NOT request a speech. Are you aware that releasing details on NERV matters is strictly in violation of UN statue, a UN statue YOU yourself requested I sign if I might recall"

Ron was a relatively short man with cut black hair and a clean shaven face, giving the sort of persona of a man who is greater-than-thou. He responded to his superior condescendingly. "Actually, Ms. Pain. This has not yet been confirmed to be a NERV matter. so we do have the authority."

"It doesn't matter!" she responded hatley. She attempted to assert her official and physical dominance against the short man with every word she spoke. "I am your superior and I am demanding you to call off this speech!"

"Unfortunately, Ms. President, we are on the air in less than 30 seconds, this cannot be called off." he attempted to shift the topic. "I am doing this for you. What would the American people think if their president was gone during a terrorist attack and refused to say anything? What would they think if she was with the very organization that was unable to stop such a costly event? Might I remind you an election is coming up in less than a year?"

She was surprised. She could see the very intent of this speech right through him. "You mean to condemn NERV for an international attack?! " She looked away, knowing there was nothing that could be done. "I knew you had it out for NERV from day one!" She reached down for her private phone and began typing away at Ella Sanders number. She needed to warn her. "Sanders, are you there?"

But it was too late. The lights flashed at the Secretary of State's face, and the cameraman set the speech onto the teleprompter. "We're live in 3, 2" he left one finger, and the speech begin.

"Hello my fellow Americans." he began in a soft tone. "Today, Washington DC suffered a terrible attack from an unknown assailant, presumably Chinese. There have been rumors of a connection to the not-yet revealed weapons used in the UN's Liberty Lost Project, and I am here to tell you that those rumors are in fact true. A rouge weapon was used to present damage to the city of Washington DC, however the Untied States forces were able to stop them."

He morphed into a threatening tone. "However, these attacks could have been prevented. The US NERV branch failed to inform the US about the rouge weapon being shipped to US shores. Due to pure negligence, this Chinese Vessel was able to reach the US shores without detection from any other branch across the world. It was due to pure luck that the terrorist group Ex, whose actions we condemn, sank the vessel, but the weapon still reached the shores. We are not able to release details about the weapon, but it did do damage to the city. Additionally, a weapon belonging to NERV malfunctioned and created additional damage to the weapon before it shut down. Because of these actions, the US is considering options, with full dissolution of the branch not being off the table. With the authority of a subpoena, both NERV captain Ella Sanders and NERV commander Sharron Kleiber must testify in front of a congressional joint committee in one week."

Immediently, the press began howling for questions before Daniel Ron walked behind the curtain, with a furious President Pain attempting to reach Ella Sanders.

[Astro_sol]

Theodore's fists clenched and his teeth clacked together in a way that would have made a dentist cringe.

"What?! We saved the city! If we hadn't fought, the whole city would have been trashed! What are they thinking?!"

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

She'd just answered the phone when the broadcast began, and she let it sit in her hand with the President's voice blaring out at her while she watched in silence. Then there was another thirty seconds of stunned silence after the broadcast ended. Then ten seconds of pure spite, before she replied.

"I'm here, ma'am. I commend you on the speed with which that subpoena was acquired. Almost as though you planned this before the attack started," she says calmly. She's remarkably unconcerned, to say that against all the odds the United States Government had found a way to hurt her even more.

There's a chill as she realises what this could mean for those she left behind at West Point Rebuild. What it could mean for her. The only comfort is that the pilots are safe for the moment.

[Rabadash]

White House Press Briefing Room, Washington DC

The President was doing the best to keep her composure as it seemed she was slowly losing control of the situation. She continued to yell into her phone. "Sanders, I did not sign a Subpoena nor did congress present me with one, I didn't even permit that speech being made" She continued to reassure. "And I promise, I sure as hell won't sign one if it's presented to me."

At the same time, Daniel had walked next to Ashley and noticed her phone call. He talked to her in the most conceded tone possible, chin held high, a slight grin, and addressed Ashley. "Oh, I think you will sign it. Actually, if you're talking to Captain Sanders right now, could you put it on speaker, I'd like to have a word with her."

Ashley wanted to just punch the little **** in the face, but knew such primal actions were out of the question in her new position. She eventually obliged and pressed the speaker button so that Daniel would be able to speak to the Captain. Maybe there was still a chance they could sort this out like adults. Daniel was the first to speak. "Hello Captain Sanders? This is Daniel Ron, Secretary of State for President Pain. Could we have a word?"

Shanelle's House, Washington DC

Shanelle was furiously sipping her raman when the speech finally ended. NERV was getting blamed for the attack? Shanelle didn't pay it much mind to such internal matters, she just wanted to play with gadgets. She responded to Theodore, finally finishing her first cup. "No doubt about that. You also sweared up a storm out there. I'll warn you now, I don't think Commander Kleiber will be too happy about it."

[Astro_sol]

Theodore snorted.

"Who cares what I say? You point me at the enemy, I'll shoot my gun and my mouth off. Have you ever had to face off an enemy like that? Did you have to deal with someone trying to kill you? I'm sure MIT had a course on how to deal with fighting monsters that can tear you limb from limb!"

He realized what he was saying. And to who. He didn't realize how tightly wound he was from the battle. He'd followed his orders, but it wasn't enough, and now he was going to get reprimanded for it? The thought shook him to his core, driving him close to panic. Making him mouth off to a superior. Especially one who had taken him in. Granted, that was under another's orders, but she'd volunteered.

...And now his knees were shaking. Dammit! Pull yourself together! Don't ****ing cry!

He looked down. "It doesn't matter what I say. They shut us down...shut me down..." His thoughts jammed to a halt when he remembered what he was told. What the Angels could do without an Eva to stop them. What he would do without Eva. "Everyone will be too dead to care about the **** comes out of my mouth, ma'am."

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

"I suspect nothing in this world could stop you from doing just that, Mr Ron," she says maintaining the level of calm she'd displayed with Paine. Needling the President had yielded important information, needling the Secretary of State might do the same.

The Government didn't have a subpoena. But they'd just officially announced on national news that they had one. If that wasn't the perfect ammunition, she didn't know what was. If only she'd had the forethought to hit the 'record call' button on her phone. Oh well. Still time for that on the Secretary's call.

There's a faint smile playing on her lips. The record wouldn't hold up as evidence in a court of law, but as conspiracy-theory fuel it was priceless. Rumours and speculation would abound from a "leaked" private phone call. Enough to undermine a little governmental credibility - not enough get NERV off the hook for this, but it would lay a good groundwork for future efforts. Of course, that would depend on how the Secretary plans to play the situation; there are a number of more direct solutions on offer.

[Rabadash]

Shanelle's House, Washington DC

Shanelle stared for the longest time after Theodore's rant, then finally burst out laughing. Was he uptight. Instantly, she knew that if she was going to fix him, she needed to stop coming off as a superior officer, and more like a friend. All throughout the kids life, a person was either a superior or a subordinate, but never a friend. She started with the address. "Trust me Theodore, as soon as commander Kleiber hears about this, they'll be issueing 5 apologies for every word of that speech" she joked. "The White House picked the wrong fight." she said giggling. She threw away the empty cup an leaned against the table, causally.

She could still see the fear in his eyes, an she rolled hers. "And stop with the Ma'am" She said firmly, lifting her chin"It makes me sound old, just call me Shanelle, or Shelly for short." She quickly caught herself, realizing there was one person he truly needed to respect as an officer with the same name. "On second thought call me...uh...what were we talking about?" She said in a fit of short term memory loss.

White House Press Briefing Room

The Secretary of state held his chin high and smiled. She had no idea. He truly was speaking to but a child. He began. "Actually, Ms. Sanders, I was hoping you would talk some sense into the president here." He widened his snakish grin. "Unfortunately, she won't sign the subpoena we desperately need.." she continued, talking in a almost begging manner "..to get your stubborn Commander to come testify with you. I mean, I already know a person of your intellect is going to come willingly so that you can tell your side" he raised a finger "We need a little help to get the commander to come with you"

The President was baffled. What exactly was this man, whose very job was resting on herself, doing treating her like a child. "Sanders, he's talking crazy. The only thing Congress wants to do is eat you and your organization alive!"

It was true, although congress was controlled by her own party, the Republicans, they would never listen to a moderate like herself, going to far as to use the insulting term "Republican in name only"(RINO). They wanted nothing to do with the UN, and certainly didn't want them operating on America's front lawn. Daniel refuted. "Shhh, Ms. President, we need to talk with the other side every once in awhile.." he said, holing a finger to the president's mouth "You snivy little worm, I hope you enjoyed your job while you had it!"

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

She smiles thinly as she replies to the fool;

"I'm hardly in a position to dictate the President's actions, Mr Ron," she says quietly. "And I would never dream of presuming so. All I can do is trust that the President listens to your good judgement," she goes on, ignoring Pain's outbursts.

This is getting to be a strain. Ella's training is in the art of information warfare; not voice acting and false-facing. Social skills had not been a feature of the New West Point Officer Academy's syllabus, especially not within the Rebuild. While she can hold the facade of skill for a while, this is testing her abilities to the utmost - and she's not even sure that the Secretary hasn't caught on to the fact that he's being played.

Only recorded the speech; not the phone call.

[Astro_sol]

Theodore blinked. She's...not...angry? Huhwha?

She was just so...casual. It was extremely confusing, to say the least. He just hadn't dealt with something like this before, and it left him nigh-speechless. He bit his lip as he looked around, trying to collect himself.

As she finished talking, he grew even more confused. How on Earth was she so smart with such a short attention span? Still, what she was saying sounded...nice. Call her Shanelle. Probably not Shelly. That'd be too weird.

"Yes, ma...uh, Sha-Shanelle." He swallowed. She'd more or less ordered him to refer to her in that manner. That would help. But it was still weird. "How...what kind of person is the Commander? How can she fix that?" he finished, pointing at the TV screen, which was now showing news anchors discussing the White House announcement.

[Rabadash]

Shanelle's House, Washington DC

The very thought of Sharron Kleiber made Shannelle smile. She was reminded back to the day where she first joined NERV. The Bureaucrats back at the UN wanted to veto Sharron's decision to appoint Shannelle due to what they claimed to be mental "instability", however Sharron was able to change her mind with pure words in less than 5 minutes.

"Sharron.." she began, somewhat starry eyed. "is a women that really anyone would inspire to be. Smart, strong, brave...really there is no flaw with her." she faltered back for a moment. "but she sure is scary. Trust me, never get on her bad si.." she stopped herself, remembering what she had told Theodore a moment before. Shelly was not going to go easy on Theodore, and she wasn't even entirely sure that he would be able to handle it. "Anyway, she doesn't need the guns of government or the fear of a official position to get what she wants. She'll talk to those fools."


White House Press Briefing Room

Daniel knew that she nor the President were going to budge with the information that was out now, so he moved on to his next moved. "Unfortunately, Ms. Sanders, that's not really an option right now." he began. "The American people, me included are going to want answers about why exactly a foreign vessel from a hostile country made it onto our shores." he took a deep breath "Now I don't want to come off as arrogant" he attempted to say in a diplomatic tone "but what will the American people be more concerned about; that a foreign organization directly endangered US lives, or that we didn't have a subpoena when we said we did? Interesting fact Ms. Sanders, Ms. Pain: only 30% of Americans know what a subpoena is."

Pain was aghast by the sure arrogance of this man. She had hand picked him from a mountain of potential applicants, and he had done nothing but been loyal and truthful to her. At the same time, she felt idiotic. While he had been on the same side as her on the issue of NERV, he had constantly spoke about dangers of both the organization and its overseers SEEL. "I'm not going to be swayed by your appeal to politics Ron. If you had seen what they did to protect us just hours ago, you wouldn't be here signing a proverbial resignation note!"

Daniel stepped away for a moment, and sighed. "I really didn't want it to come to this Ms. Pain, Ms. Sanders, but I have no choice. Clearly, you both have forgotten who you are serving, and instead prefer your own selfish interests." he reached into his small notepad and pulled out a small stack of paper. "This a bill to Subpoena Ella Sanders and Sharron Kleiber to testify in front of a congressional joint committee. It's already on the docket. In theory, you could veto it, but I'm sure with the Republican control of congress they would over rule you." he flipped to the back of the large stapled packet. "It also contains an earmark to cease all operations of the DC NERV branch until April while the investigation is underway. Simply sign an executive order to Subpoena NERV first, and this bill goes away" he finished, smiling. "As I recall, there's an important date in March that you would prefer not to miss"

Ashley stood there, almost as if all power had been instantly stripped from her. She took this position as a calling, to repair America in it's shattered state from the second impact, and her own subordinate had played her to the very last move. She tried to talk, she tried to respond, be no words came out. All she knew is that this man was hiding something.

"Oh, and Ella" he started again, and the President began to sweat. "I'll make sure that the committee doesn't ask about that little incident at West Point. I'm not that cruel" he finished, smiling.

[Transcendent]

She listened to the conversation, but, soon moved away. It wasn’t her place to eves drop on her host, so, she looked to Quentin and gave him a little nod of the head. If he followed her, he followed her. With that Lucy was out the door again, she took a seat on the stoop and tilted her head upward. She fumbled about for a cigarette until she located her pack, and she took a long drag gazing upward at the sky. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of the conversation, but, it wasn’t good.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Her voice is cold, and crisp; "No, Mr Ron. I have not forgotten who I serve. Although it appears that you have no idea of the meaning of 'serve'. It means to give your life, your soul, your wealth; everything you have and you are. I know what I am, Mr Ron, though you can't even begin to grasp that or the trouble that comes with it, and I am not ashamed of it.

"I also seriously doubt that you have the first idea about the sort of trouble you're about to cause for yourself. Do you think that NERV, SEEL the UN, or even China will just ignore this? On national television you have implicated China in a massive attack on America's territory; you have pinned the blame on NERV, one of the militant arms of the UN. Are you prepared to face the world in arms, Mr Ron? Because that's what you're setting up to do, here.

"If you're trying to threaten me, Mr Ron, then I would remind you that 'that little incident at West Point' is also known as my life. Now, I don't mean to sound arrogant here, but what do you think the American public will be more concerned with; that you tortured children as part of your pet G.I. Joe project, or that I am one of those children?" she finishes, mirroring Daniel's 'diplomatic' tone.

Behind the icy calm, her eyes blaze with fury. How dare this arrogant old man threaten her like this? Her life had belonged to the American government until she was given away to the UN like a doll. She would what she was trained to do; to fight and win wars, no matter what form the war takes. If this fool wanted to play information war, then she is more than equal to the challenge.

[Jobbut]

John simply stared at the beast, his eyes wet and his body shaking… But otherwise, he looked disturbingly calm. The abomination squeezed him tight, it’s gaze tearing into him as he was confronted with the twisted, alien, face that belonged to the apparition in front of him. The voice ripped through the void once again, but didn’t shred through his consciousness like the shriek had.

"I... I am John."

[Fearan]

Quentin wasn't very surprised when the authorities started a campaign agaist NERV. After all, the battle caused a lot of damage to the city, and someone had to be responsible for that. Of course, without NERV's Evangelions, the intruder would level the city entirely, but bah, details. Besides, considering the intruder was a stolen Eva prototype, without NERV's research there wouldn't be any intruder. Anyway, that was the problems of NERV's higher-ups, and Quentin decided not to bother about it at the moment. Instead he left the room to find out, what Lucy had to say. He followed her, took a seat on the floor as far as possible from the cigarette smoke and asked
-Well?

[Astro_sol]

Theodore nodded at Shanelle's words. Then his stomach rumbled. Loudly. He looked at a still-open cupboard filled with instant ramen. He'd never really had any before, but he was fine with noodles. He pointed at the food.

"I haven't eaten anything since breakfast. Mind if I have some?"

He was going to have to shop for more food ASAP. Maybe get some pizza.

After this, prolly done until debrief.

[Rabadash]

Unknown Location, Unknown Time

The Being continues to tighten its grip upon John, bringing him ever closer to its face. Oddly, despite its other-worldly outlook, the creature breathed, like any other mortal. Yet clearly, this thing was neither human nor mortal. As it brought John closer and closer to its face, it only seemed to become more human, with soft pale skin overlapped with the digital structures that spun around it like a web. Despite these weomenly features, the entitiy still felt cold, and dark. It spoke again “Why are you here?”

White House Press Briefing Room

Daniel was beginning to tense up. This was suppose to go easily, and yet he had in no way counted on the captain to be so stubborn. Despite the President being known for her gusto, she buckled quickly under pressure from a betrayal, and yet this child was making threats against him. “I implicated China because they ARE our enemy!” she began to scream “And if you or your commander say otherwise, I swear I’ll implicate YOU in conspiracy against the United States” He caught himself quickly realizing that he was losing his cool. He regained himself. “No matter, if NERV wished to resort to empty allegations and threats, that’s fine. However, I’m sure Ms. Pain would prefer you not miss the Liberty Lost date.” He turned to the president. “I think you understand what is best, and It’s your judgment” he took out another piece of paper. “I’ve already prepared the paperwork, I’ll you have to do is sign."

Despite her previous discomfort, she felt both uplifted and disheartened by the captains gusto. Ashley had always thought of herself as the strong one, yet she cracked under simple threats that Daniel had thrown out. She eventually decided that for the good of NERV, she was going to have to sign. However, as she pulled out a pen with a beat look on her face, her phone vibrated, indicating that somebody was trying to enter the call.
Looking at the phone, she could see it was Sharron Kleiber, commander of the DC branch of NERV. “What could she want” Ashley thought. She clicked the button on the screen, allowing her into the call. “Ashley, it’s me Sharron. I just wanted to know why you signed a Subpoena, me and Captain Sanders were planning to go to the hearing anyway” she said in a deep and commanding voice. Daniel visibly shuddered for a moment


Shanelle's House

Shanelle reached up and grabbed a sub of ramen out of one of the cabinets and handed it to Theodore. “Here you go, but I think that Terry was preparing a dinner anyway”


OOCOk Im back for real this time

[Astro_sol]

Theodore popped the cup into the microwave and reflexively stood in the "at ease" position, though his eyes kept being drawn to the TV.

"That's fine, I'll be able to eat then, too. I tend to eat a lot."

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

This man has no idea when to quit.

He'd threatened, blustered and harrangued. None of it had worked. So now what he was threatening the President, and the President was giving in. How contemptible.

It was times like this that made her understand the purpose of Rebuild; to improve on humanity. To cut out the weakness, make humans without fear, pity or remorse. Able to make detatched clinical judgements without the interference of emotions. Or maybe not. More likely, the directors of Rebuild just wanted to make perfect killers and the improvements on humanity were coincidental.

Then she hears a new voice. Ella blinks. The Commander was on the line? Since when?

"Commander. They don't actually have the subpeona. That is, in fact, why they called me. Mr Ron is under the impression he can coerce me into forcing the President to sign one," she pauses for a moment, and then replies to Daniel; "Mr Ron, China is not the enemy. Your thinking is outdated. The enemy is anyone who works to prevent world peace - not a country, not a set of ideological and philosophical values; but the driving intent behind them. That is what NERV does, Mr Ron. We work to make a lasting world peace a reality by whatever means we have to. Project Liberty Lost will go ahead, no matter the cost to us,"

[Rabadash]

White House Press Briefing Room

The events were only beginning to make Daniel increasingly angry. The Subpoena was suppose to be a symbolic message of the submissiveness of NERV to the public eye, and more importantly, to congress. His face contorted, and his brow contorted, but he continued to make his address in a lower voice. "Surely, Ms. Kleiber, you are not referring to the hearing on today's events..I-I'm sure you aren't exactly fond of that correct?"

From behind the phone, Sharron grinned. Her feelings were right. He wanted to make it seem that the US had control over NERV, and she was throwing a monkey wrench into the whole scheme. She, however, wasn't expecting the White House to fake a Subpoena "Yes, that is exactly what I am referring to. Ms. President, Why exactly did you go out of your way to try get Captain Sanders to coerce the president into signing one. I suppose your skills in persuasion aren't up to par with a teenagers, hmm?"

The President was pleasantly surprised. Without even being here, Sharron was able to deduct the reason for such a hasty agreement being made behind the scenes. She smiled, looked straight at Mr. Ron to be sure he got the subliminal memo, and spoke. "He simply had a misplace in judgement. I will fill out the paperwork, knowing that you and your captain will appear on the date willingly " she looked at Daniel in the eye "And inform my colleges that further action need not be taken"

Sharron began addressing Captain Sanders lightly, smiling from her location. "Well then, that was certainly awkward, wasn't it. Oh well. Sanders, debriefing is soon, I'll see you at HQ. If you want to talk further, talk to me on my private number, but I'm sure we can cover it at debriefing" Her voice suddenly turned serious. "We certainly have a lot to discuss." She left the call, prompting the president to do the same. "I can talk to you later, I need to get ready to attend as well. I have some business with Mr. Ron". He clicked a button, and the call was ended.

Daniel collected himself, still angry, but accepting he was beat. "No matter. Either way, the public will know the truth come March 10th"

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

She carefully lowers the phone and lets out a slight sigh. She didn't understand why they were going to the hearing. It had no lawful authority to summon them, and would only serve to convince the public that NERV was in the wrong. While it doesn't matter much what people think, public support for the Liberty Lost project would make things a great deal easier.

Not to mention the President's involvement. That couldn't end well, especially as the woman seems to regard NERV as her personal fighting force, rather than an independent organisation with its own goals. Outside interference would complicate matters, especially when the one causing the interference was so easily manipulated.

Well, maybe she could reduce White House interference a little. There was still plenty of time before the nine o'clock news. Maybe they could use a story.

There's a faint smile on Ella's lips as she reaches out for the keyboard and begins to type. After half an hour, an anonymous email arrives at CNN containing what appears to be a preliminary investigative report by NERV. It draws a number of tentative links between the Secretary of State and the terrorist group known as 'Ex'. It is also, in it's entirity, a work of fiction.

Ella sits back after she hits send, and looks out the window to where she can just see the tops of Quentin and Lucy's heads. While the loss of the chain of dummy email accounts was a pity, it was worth it if it kept them out of the political line of fire. She didn't trust Daniel Ron not to involve the children somehow.


She knows perfectly well that the email won't make any great difference. CNN would probably make it the subject of their next broadcast, NERV would deny it, the White House would deny it, Daniel Ron would deny it and there'd be a brief enquiry and that would likely be the end of it. It wasn't much, but it was certainly a slap in the face. A petty revenge that goes someway to cooling the white hot spark of rage kindled by the man's allusion to Rebuild.

How dare he use that against me. I'll see him burn for that.

[Jobbut]

John simply stared at the beast as it slowly dragged him closer—Or was it coming closer? Either thought terrified him as he stared at the otherworldly creature as it neared. This… Thing was far from human—or even any semblance of mortal—yet as John got closer, it seemed more and more human, as if the vaguest visage of humanity was layered over the monstrosity. John blinked, hearing the awful, alien voice as it echoed through the infinite blackness once more.


"I... I don’t know…" John managed to whimper out, clenching his hands into tight fists as he tried to maintain some level of sanity and calm in the face of this monster.

[Rabadash]

Unknown Location, Unknown time

At those words, John's reality around him began to fade, as if the concept of being simply distorted. No sensed could reveal anything to him, nothing felt real,yet he retained consciousnesses. However, he still felt the presence. It spoke. This time however, not threatening, but directly to John's heart. "We are parallel then. Our very existences are mistakes of being..."it faded, as John began to lose consciousness. "Nebuchadnezzar....."

Those words stuck, as John fell back into his slumber.

NERV HQ DC Debriefing Room , 8:00 pm

A few hours had passed sense the incident in the White House briefing room, and everybody had come to NERV HQ for debriefing...all expect one. John, while physically find, would not awaken until the next day, and thus would not attend. The tension was brewing following the announcement just hours earlier, with the only ones in the know being the President, Captain Ella Sanders, and Commander Sharron Kleiber.

All expect the commander and the sub-commander had been brought to and assembled in the large, white open room in the center of the monolith that towered over Geofront. A dome, containing personally commissioned art by some of the best around, depicting a struggle between God and his own, it what seemed to be a rebellion of heaven. The intent behind the painting is obscured, but the man who made it was a odd one.

The table the group gathered around was a marvel of modern technology, or at least what was left after the second impact. Dreams of flying cars and artificial intelligence (save MAGI) were lost in the catastrophe, yet the holographic interface, displaying the city in stunning detail worked perfectly in front of them, at least 20 feet and circumference. In red cushion chairs all around sat President Ashley Pain (with 2 secret service agents behind her), Shanelle Aggie, Terry Rudyard, Blake Jackson, who had been the last to arrive, Jirou Gorou, Lucy Faire, Theodore Cartwrigh, Ella Sanders, and Quentin Starling.

Finally, after some waiting, the women who seemed so elusive the entire day, Sharron Klieber entered the room in an oddly dressy thin black business suit and skirt, and tan stockings. She personally didn't like getting dressed up like this, but her sub commander has insisted that she get used to nice clothing for public appearances. However, she absolutely refused showy makeup. She walked down to her chair, high heels clacking across the floor, with Sub commander Kevyn Headley directly behind her. She gave an address. "Welp, today certainly has been a long day, so lets waste no time." she turned to Ella "Where should start captain?"

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Ella salutes the Commander as she enters. She's still wearing her stadard-issue NERV uniform, and wearing the sidearm that comes with it. Her detached professionalism is still intact as she surveys the group gathered in the briefing room. She only just beat the Commander to the briefing room, having detoured to review the pilot dossiers and take notes on the timing of events, as well as to review the tactical recording before presenting it.

"Let's review the battle and hear the pilot's views on it, to begin with. At 1320 hours a foreign carrier ship was detected approaching Chesapeake Bay; at 1507 President Paine arrived and assumed operational command. At 1555MAGI analysis concluded that the carrier ship contained an Evangelion, later identified as the provisional Unit Five - an investigation is under way as to how the Eva was acquired."

As Ella speaks, she taps buttons on the holographic projector's control panel, highlighting the events as she speaks.

"1615 - a terrorist group hijacks a boat in the marina. They begin to assault the ship at 1620 and succeed in taking control - we believe they placed explosive devices on board and detonated them, subsequently destroying the ship. However, Unit Five activated and was thrown in to the city by the blast. Conventional forces engaged with minimal effect; however, there was a regrettable amount of collateral damage to the city from the missile batteries. In my written report, I will recommend improvement to the targetting systems used by the turrets.

"At 1628, we launched units Three and Zero, piloted by John and Theodore respectively. Describe the events that followed, Pilot Theodore,"
she says, abruptly turning away from the projection.

All through her speech, she avoids President Paine's gaze, and speaks in a neutral tone that conceals her own feelings on any given point. The important thing about this briefing is to see what the pilots thought happened, so she can react accordingly in future missions.

[Astro_sol]

Theodore felt all eyes turn to him. Oh ****. Public speaking. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, drawing up mental images of the battle.

"Um...Unit 03 launched at the Potomac site. Unit 00 and I launched at Peter's Hill. The target relocated to the Potomac Launch Pad - and Unit 03 - right when we arrived. The rogue Evangelion engaged Unit 03 while I stormed the position." He paused, his eyes glancing off to the left. "I attempted to psych the enemy out by, uh, yelling, but that didn't really seem to work. I was able to shoot it, but not before it caused some damage to Unit 03. After that, Unit 03 went...berserk. It...it defeated the enemy, and I think it was going to attack me, but it stopped before it did anything."

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

She nods as Theodore concludes his speech, then turns to address the room."Thank you, pilot. Does anyone have questions for him, regarding his version of events? If not, we will move on to Lucy and Quentin's impression of events,"

[Rabadash]

As Sanders finished speaking, President Pain quickly shot up out of her chair, with her agents attempting to get her down. "I actually have a simple question:" she asked. "How exactly does an "Evangelion", or however you call it, "go Berserk?"" She heeded her agents words and sat. "You make it sound like these things are alive."

However, it was clear that commander Kleiber was not going to allow the subject to be touched. "That's actually classified, Ms. President." She threw a somewhat threatening glance Theodore's way. "We will be discussing those circumstances later, however." she switched back to a informal demeanor. "Alright then, Lucy, Quinten, thoughts?

[Fearan]

Quentin didn't manage to talk to Lucy because of the call for debriefing. That was annoying, but bearable, after all, he wanted to seem how the Commander will explain to the freaking president, what's happening. The reality proved to be grim, though. "It's classified" worked as charm even against her. After he heard that, Quentin was going to just sit back and relax, but reality was still grim - he was asked for opinion. So. the young pilote had to stand up, salute and answer.
- If I'm allowed, I think there's so many things wrong with this attack. The USA are in a state of open war, and yet, SOMEHOW, an unidentified carrier slips past the radars and appears near the shore unhindered. Then, SOMEHOW it is allowed to launch the Evangelion. Next, the Evangelion attacksthe city, where allready was situated TWO our own Eva units - not to mention the ones recently arrived, and hopefully unknown to enemy intellegence. Looks pretty much like a suicide run, but sending a budget of a small country on a suicide run - looks even more wrong, than the rest. And finally, while the unit itself was the provisional unit stolen from NERV, it's gear was more advanced then anything, that I saw here - specificaly, whatever thing, that let it work without umblicals. I've finished, thank you for the attention - Quentin remained standing, waiting for questions or dismissal.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

By the time she realises what Quentin's going to say, it's too late to intervene. All she can do is quash the impulse to forcibly silence him. As soon as he's finished speaking, she's by his side, talking with quiet authority.

"Thank you, pilot. However, we wanted your opinion on the battle itself, as opposed to the logic and motives behind it. We will be covering that in a moment," as she speaks, she fights the urge to look at the President and watch her reaction. She also ran over her recent conversations in her mind, trying to remember if she'd said any of the things Quentin had just announced. While she agrees almost entirely, it isn't wise to blurt things out and she most certainly does not want the President - whom she does not hold above suspicion - to know her private thoughts and feelings on the matter.

[Fearan]

Quentin stumbled. Yes, he had an opinion about the battle itself, but the simple human decency prevented him to express it to the full. How could he tell the superiors something like "You sent a psycho and an idiot, it's pure luck, they managed to do something". Instead he cough and answered more carefully
Yesma'am, about battle. Despite looking like a suicide pilot, the invader inflicted heavy damage on our Evas, and nearly incapacitated Unit-03. That hints on the enemy pilot having actual battle experience against EVa-scale opponents - or weeks of simulation drills. Also he shoved rather astonishing mastery of AT-field operation - He reaaly wanted to add "unlike someone gun-crazy and rock-dumb, I know", but he kept himself from unnessesary quarrels- I, personally, wouldn't mind picking up a few tricks from him. On the other side of the coin, our pilots worked without any coordination, and Unit-03 was left virtually alone for almost entire battle. Conclusion - with the perspective of actual Eva-scale combat, all pilots need extra drill

[Rabadash]

Not able to determine whether the comments from Quentin were meant to be sarcastic ir serious, commander Kleiber decided to move on. "Alright, before we go on with the results of the various investigations the captain asked us to perform, lets continue with mission results. I'll let Terry start with financial costs."

Terry shot up. This was the first time he's actaully been adreessed directly from the captain. "Y-Yes M'am" he took out a few papers from his binder. "Alright, starting with damages from the carrier." He took out a large piece of paper. "Damages to surrounding ports were somewhat costly, but no high calue structures were damaged from the explosion. Repairs will be needed on shoreline roads from shrapnal." He switched papers. "As for the fight, only damages caused were to a single missle turret and to the launch structures of the surroudning park due to the problem with Unit 03. SEEL has also decided on funding the cleanup, so we're covered, with extra. I've detailed everything in the report."



-1 Missile Turret
+15 surplus
+10 researh
350 XP for each PC

"Thank you Rudyard." She affirmed. "Next, I'd like your personal opinions on the pilot's performance captain Sanders before I give mine" she said casually as she turned toward Ella. "and the performance of the crew. We're going to have to put up with each other for a long time, so its best we get things out of the way now."

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

"Thank you, ma'am," Ella straightens. "The performance of our pilots was less than ideal. However, given the circumstances, they could have been worse. John and Theodore had both completed an extended period of travel, and were unfamiliar with the facilities and layout of this NERV branch, and still managed to defeat a hostile Evangelion Unit with no advanced preparation. I do, however, have a number of reservations about using them in this battle over Lucy and Quentin.

"Sending unprepared and unqualified pilots in to battle is imbecillic. I do not care who gave the order that they be launched, that person is a fool," her eyes glitter with frost; the order to deploy John and Theodore was just stupid - after reading John's file, it turned out the boy knew absolutely nothing about the Liberty Lost project or the Evangelions. To deploy such a child in battle was inviting disaster. "If we are to achieve our objectives, then we cannot afford such orders in the future; neither can we suffer further interference from outside agencies. With respect, ma'am, whatever your relationship with the President, she does not have the authority to commandeer high-value UN assets for her own personal use. We are not the government's pet army, we are NERV and our goal is world peace - not dealing with problems that are below the regular military," as she eventually finishes her speech, she sounds as if she's wondering whether or not she's said too much. On reflection, she probably has; but it needs to be said.

There's far too much wrong with this situation, and she does not want to appear before a Congressional Joint Committee. Especially not if it means having further interaction with Daniel Ron which don't involve some form of weapon.

[Rabadash]

The president jumped out of her seat, and quickly was lead back down by her agents. "With all due respect captain," the president said carefully. "You seem to misinterpret my intentions." She crossed her legs and started on a rant. "The entire political system of this country perhaps wants you dead, and I assure you, I only involve myself for the purpose of preventing that. I reject your baseless assumptions that I have ever commandeered any UN owned property. The dead-man zone fiasco was to prevent any unneeded entanglement between congress and the UN. I-" Kleiber rose a hand. "Ms. President, we have no objections to you having an interest in NERV's affairs. All Ms. Sanders asked is that you respect it as an independent organization in which you do not rank." she said quite sternly "We can discuss political concerns after debriefing."

She then turned toward performance review. "Well, if that is out of the way, on to my performance review. The bridge crew's response to the Evangelion was quick and precise, however thrown together it might be. As for you captain" she turned to Ella. "You clearly have resourcefulness that was able to deal impromptu with events, however you rely to much on goating the enemy around rather than trying to engage. I also believe that you could of directed the pilots a bit more."

The commander then moved on to the concerns raised about the use of the reserve pilots, as opposed to the ones on standby. "I can understand your concerns raised about the pilot choices, however. It was my personal decision to bring in the pilots of Unit 00 and Unit 04, and perhaps I am a fool." She said with an absolute straight face, knowing what position she was in "As for John, Unit 03 was specially designed for close quarters combat, which would make it ideal for any dangerous situations that would occur near the vessel." She turned toward Theodore, and her expression morphed into something much more serious. "As for Theodore, he was the only pilot with real combat training, meaning that he would be a vital asset in this unprepared state." She paused "However his behavior today has made me reconsider.

She crossed her arms and began. "Theodore, the verbal profanity that you assaulted the Unit 05 pilot with clearly did nothing for the mission but provoke her, which for your sake I hope was not the purpose. While I am not prepared to blame John's state on you, such non-professionalism is not befitting for NERV's most trained pilot. How do you think it reflects on us when out supposed military-grade pilot gleefully provokes an enemy that which is strangling his mate, all at the same time attempting to line a long distance shot?" She straitened up and finished. "Your combat assistance in this mission cannot be doubted, however, I simply cannot allow myself to concede such behavior. You will not be participating in the March exhibition. Lucy and Quentin will be the pilot, fulfilling the minimum."

[Astro_sol]

A shock reverberated through Theodore's spine.

No...I won't pilot...****, no, no, no...

He straightened his back, trying to avoid feeling the shivers that threatened to translate into shaking.

"Ma'am. Mistake in judgment, ma'am. Won't happen again."

And he could barely force that out as is. He wouldn't cry. Hell no, not in front of such important people. He was a pilot, dammit, the only one with real training! He could take any of these kids on no problem!

And I stopped when I saw her start strangling him...I wanted her to go for me, but...****. No. Next time, catch their attention with bullets.

His fists clenched as he felt new resolve raise his spirits. Either that, or he was still desperately trying not to collapse from embarrassment.

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

Ella takes her impending dressing down with equanimity.

"With respect, ma'am, attempting a head-on engagement with an Evangelion using only conventional forces would have resulted in a bloodbath. That is the purpose of the Eva Project, to produce a weapon capable of surviving everything any given nation can bring to bare, short of another Evangelion Unit. The pilots' instructions were to shut down the enemy's AT Field and provide fire support for the regular forces - not to engage in close quarters combat,"

[Rabadash]

First, the commander responded to Theodore. "I certainly hope so". She could clearly tell that he was tearing up. The first child, the one hand picked to be the first tester of the plug system, had quite a few phycological quirks, yet the big wigs insisted on useing him.

She turned her attention to the captain. "Well, remember, we had no idea that the ship was even carrying an Evangelion" She prepared a quick explanation. "I'll tell you now, the UN decided that we should enage the vessel with Evas; a tuning operations if you will. I agree, if I had known that an Evangelion was present, I would of certainly insisted Unit 03 not be used. " She quickly remembered the results of the investigation of the carrier ship, a quick attempt to change the subject. Kleiber's ability to goal around a discussion was unmatched, no trace of a suspicious face gesture developed on her. "In fact, Unit 03 might have been a good choice either way, but we will get to that. You asked the crew to investigate a few things didn't you? While I do recommend my approval next time, which result would you like first?"

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

"My apologies, ma'am, but I felt it prudent to begin the investigations before our opponent had time to cover any of their tracks," she checks herself. It doesn't do to criticise your superior - not if you want to live through the next five seconds, at least.

"I would like to hear the results of the communications trace and the origins of the carrier vessel first if possible, ma'am,"

[Rabadash]

Doctor Gorou began flipping through a tablet, and began to give out the results of the investigation. "Well, the short answer to the communications is that there were no results. The long answer is much different" He handed some papers to the captain, detailing the results of communications. "We were able to salvage the plug of Unit 05, allowing us to examine how the pilot communicated with the vessel. However, examining the salvage of the vessel itself showed no communications were ever made with the Evangelion, meaning all communications were external. Now, I thought that my..." he looked up, clearly looking for approval to stroke his ego "plug system would have been modified to allow for more primitive forms of communications, such as radio, but I was wrong." he continued scrolling on the tablet computer. "Normally, all communications made to NERV bases from Eva's are made via direct wireless LAN FTP servers put out by the closest MAGI computer. When not in the vicinity of a NERV facility, a satellite launched solely for MAGI purposes exists, allowing for a virtual world-wide LAN network between the MAGI."

Shanelle spoke up, interested in the technical discussion. "So that means we can't track it if the network is set up via pseudo-LAN right?" Jirou quickly responded, trying to assert intellectual dominance. "No actually. As you all know, we house the main server for the MAGI system. For security purposes, the US was chosen to house the unit. All systems actually run off of our MAGI unit, meaning we can track any and all threads processed by one of the CPUs. When cross referencing the program for communicating with the satellite, we found nothing, which luckily means the enemy, whoever it might be, does not house a MAGI unit. "

Blake was the one to comment this time, in is deep booming voice. "Well, what about using MAGI to decrypt whatever signal they are using to communicate? They certainly would need to use a satellite to communicate, so that would be easy to track?"

Jirou paused for a minute before responding. 'We did." He pressed a button of the table in front of him, activating the hologram program. "Here is the result of decrypting the data. Upon fetching some kind of output, this is all we received from MAGI"

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
...?

"And when decrypting the location. the location we received.." He threw his papers and tablet all over the table in what seemed to be frustration. "Disney World, Florida." Blake seemed to already know what was going on. "They're screwing with us." he said with a smile.

Kleiber wanted to end the conversation before it got any weirder. "Well, before we discuss that, we still need to know what was on the carrier itself, which may give us something more reliable than Disney World. Ms. President, I understand your team carried that out long before us."

The President was silent, arms crossed. She knew what was found, and she knew what it meant for her. "Ms. President, what was found on the vessel?"

"A high volume EMP cannon, capable of causing a 5 month long blackout."

[Aneurin]

Ella Sanders

She flips through the papers Jirou has handed to her, skimming the contents; when she has more time, she'll go over them carefully, but at present she just needs to catch the gist of his report.

"But why waste an Eva for the chance of using that cannon? They would have stood as good a chance - if not a better one - at firing the cannon without Unit Five on board. As to the communications trace, is the terminal used to transmit the orders under investigation? Given time we can trace each dummy feed back to the original source. I doubt it will provide any leads, if it still exists, but it is at present our most reliable option aside from the prisoner and the enemy may have been careless and left something we can use,"

She looks around the room, and then says carefully;

"What have we learnt from the pilot? Do we have a name?"

Even as she asks, she cringes inside. This isn't a conversation she wants the pilots to hear, but it's something that they need to hear. At the same time, she won't let them hear anything about interrogation techniques, or let them start to wonder if those same techniques might not be applied to them one day if they're ever captured. The one thing she doesn't need is her pilots backing out on her now.

[Rabadash]

"Well, the cannon takes quite a bit of time to charge" the president began. "and because of its fragility, the ship cannot move while it is being charged. The cannot isn't really a "cannon" in the traditional sense. Rather than simple pulse an EMP, it condenses it, and fires, explaining how potent this one was. So obviously, a distraction was probably their plan."

Shanelle broke in. "But an Eva? There are better ways to distract without spending billions and needing to steal a megaweapon right?". Blake gave the answer in his usual nonchalent tone. "Well, the president is a bit more prepared than NERV as it stands, so traditional strike you have ended quickly. Only NERV can respond to a Eva, so it would buy them some time. But still, it does seem a bit much"

"As for the communications, if MAGI could find it, it already would. There are no dummy signals." Dr. Gorou interjected. "As far as we know, the enemy is Mickey Mouse, and the orders are the numbers 1-9" he said sarcastically. "Theres a few possibilities though. The first is that the problem is on our end, which means somebody here is adding a exeption to the decryption process which is bad, or they have a MAGI unit, which is very very bad"

"And finally, I've been handling the pilot of Unit 05." Blake began "Her ethicity is German. Name Unknown. Affiliations Unknown. We've tried all LEGAL interrogation techniques. She's a minor, so the UN laws are a bit strict; asking really nicely is the best we can do." Blake paused a bit, as to think. "Captain, if I may, I believe that the pilot was after the Unit 03 pilot, as unfortunately he learned the hard way. I think we have a better chance to learn something if they meet. We have reports that John has woken up. I'd like permission after debriefing to bring John to converse with the Unit 05 pilot."

[Aneurin]

Ella

She taps her finger against her elbow a few times, then nods.

"After John has had a full briefing and an introduction to NERV, and after we ask his permission he may contact her, if he so wishes. But first, we need to ensure the prisoner is harmless. Full X-rays, full search and check any fillings or false teeth she may have. It is quite possible she has been fitted with an explosive device and a transmitter as a measure to maintain OpSec, or to turn her in to a suicide bomber to take out myself, the commander or the pilots.

I also expect full restraints, and if possible a layer of bulletproof glass between the two of them,"