Chapter 18: Nerv Japan

Chapter 18:
Nerv Japan

 

“You’re certainly making things harder for yourselves.” Kaji Ryoji grinned as he watched Eva-01 Final Model fly toward the eastern sky. “Well, then. Don’t suppose I can have some tea?”

The vessel that contained Seele had somehow retained Kaji’s manners, but the sight of it was still off-putting, even to those who knew the circumstances.

“Cafeteria’s open,” Misato said. “Help yourself. Only the vending machines are around to serve you at this hour, though.”

“I know where it is.”

Misato ignored Kaji’s smug grin and motioned for security to escort their guest.

“What about you, Quatre?” She looked up at the mutant Eva. “Get you anything?”

Ayanami Rei Quatre stood on top of the unit’s chest, admiring her new arm. She extended it and curled it, the Eva syncing its movements with her while emitting metallic, muscular creaks.

She looks really hot in Shinji’s plugsuit. Age must be getting to me if I’m thinking of that kind of stuff.

Rei Quatre provided a succinct reply. “No.”

I guess she has to be ready to retaliate in case anything happens to Seele. According to Shinji and Trois, Quatre isn’t really controlled by Seele/Kaji the way she was controlled by the Q.R. Signum. It’d be closer to the truth to say that she partnered up with him out of curiosity.

“Do you have fun leading young girls on?” she asked the Kaji-vessel.

“The puppet was the one who led me on, in this instance. She was the one who insisted we attend this gathering.”

“Really.”

“Either way, I can’t get off to her. I can’t get off to any girl under the age of thirty-two.”

You keep adding extra years to that, you jerk.

Security escorted Kaji Ryoji from the top deck. The thirty-two-year-old commander of Nerv, Katsurage Misato, looked to the sky in the direction of Super Eva—Eva-01 Final Model.

“I got a scare when I saw those wings of light come out of him,” Misato said to Maya over her headset.

<<Shinji requested the installation of Vertex wings, but he already has wings with the Eva’s ability to stop time indefinitely. The four shoulder pylons aren’t really flight units. They’re quantum wave mirrors, like the restraint armor around his heart.>>

“You need two, three layers to stop his heart from exploding?”

<<Yes. They form a sort of bottleneck to prevent instantaneous release of that tremendous energy. That’s the part we can see.>>

“The Time Brake. The little black void on his back.”

<<Eva-01 Final Model can freely use the Third Impact’s energy, the most immense energy in the known universe. It could take years to trickle that energy out, or 0.82 seconds to blow it all at once. It all depends on Shinji.>>

“A cruel business. How much does he know?”

<<All of it.>> Maya had tried to keep him from leaving. <<I told him how changing the pylons’ formation would alter the shape of the brake field and how it would cost him his life every time that happened. It only steeled his resolve.>>