Kaiju Slaying For Death And Profit Ch 11

Good evening people!

I had so many things to get done today.

Other than writing and editing, I did not get a single one of them done.

;_;

But! I got the writing done! So I did at least one thing possibly right.

Here is the next chapter, where we get to see some of the results of what SInji has been getting up to.

Because...well...if you think about it, every single Angel is an apocalyptic event...and people uhh...people care about those. More than SInji would think, because he's a few fries short of a happy meal if you know what I mean.

Hope you enjoy! This chapter fought me, but I like how it came out!

Lemme know if you like it.

=][=

“Pilot 01 is very resistant to opioids. We had to give him enough to knock out a horse, but he finally stopped screaming as of 1800 hours. His toxicology report showed that his body burned through the sedatives very quickly, but he did not wake up once he’d fully metabolized them.” Ritsuko said to everyone in the meeting room, flipping through the papers on her clipboard. “His brainwave pattern remains the same, in some respects it is similar to when he’s synchronized with Unit 01, but its syncopation does not match either his synchronized pattern, nor his usual resting pattern. This will make for a very interesting study in the future.”

Misato could take it no longer. She stood and slapped the desk with her hands. “Yes, very interesting. Will he be okay!?”

Ritsuko sighed, took off her reading glasses, and rubbed her closed eyelids. “I do not know, Captai-my apologies, Major. This is our third ever recording of a pilot reaching one-hundred-and-fifty percent synchronization, the last pilots to reach that level…one never recovered, and the other melted.” She put her glasses back on and spoke into the stunned silence. “We are not working in a well understood field of science. My best guess is that his mind being so heavily synchronized at the moment of the Evangelion’s shut down shocked his system rather heavily.”

Deputy Director Fuyutsuki cleared his throat. “How will this impact the Pilot’s efficacy?”

Misato grimaced and sat back down. As distasteful as she found that they were already moving onto Shinji’s future performance, the fact was the world was still ending.

And their Ace Pilot was in a coma.

Ritsuko sighed again and flipped to a different page on her clipboard. “Extrapolating from the one prospective Pilot that survived that level of Synchronization, the possibilities include: mood swings, shortened attention span, Prosopagnosia, Auditory Agnosia, schizophrenia, visual and auditory hallucinations, seemingly random rage episodes, speech difficulties, suicidal ideation, among others.” She looked up from the papers. “We have no way to know what his condition will be until he wakes up…if he wakes up.”

Those words dropped the temperature in the room by several degrees.

“What are the statuses of Pilots 00 and 02?” Asked Director Ikari.

Ritsuko flipped to a different page. “Pilot 00 appeared distraught soon after the confrontation, of note is that, in his pained flailing and possible lack of understanding of his situation, Shinji attacked and fractured the bones of several of the nurses who restrained him, but Rei who refused to leave his side remained unharmed. Rei has since recovered her composure, but as of now she has refused to leave his side since the incident. Asuka was recovered along with Unit 02, she suffered a few bruises, but the plug suit and LCL worked as shock absorbers and protected her from the impact. Unit 02 suffered moderate damage and will be out of commission for a week.”

Director Ikari steepled his hands and pressed his lips against them. “And the status of Unit 01?”

“Significant damage. Every major muscle group in its back will need to be replaced, the left deltoid tore entirely away from the left humerus, and the left scapula is fractured in two. The repairs are estimated to take at the very least a month. Though the process can be expedited if it becomes necessary.”

Deputy Director Fuyutsuki scoffed. “What use is 01 without the Pilot?”

“If it becomes necessary, Rei can pilot Unit 01.” Director Ikari said.

In an uncharacteristic display, Deputy Director Fuyutsuki shook his head. “With all respect, Pilot 00’s performance leaves a lot to be desired in comparison to Pilot 01.”

“The leadership from the UN agrees and is not at all happy. They’ve put a gag order on Shinji’s health, but that’s not likely to hold for long.” Kaji said, unusually grim. “The news that the mysterious Pilot who has ‘single handedly’ staved off the monsters is out of commission, is expected to cause riots.”

And wasn’t that the truth. Shinji’s official kill list was three and a half Angel kills.

Rei and Asuka both tied in runner up with an accredited half an Angel kill each.

The truth of it being, Shinji had, in all ways that mattered, singlehandedly killed five Angels in less than six months, making him, unofficially, an Evangelion Ace. That recalcitrant, annoying, irreverent, greedy boy had saved the world four times over.

Suffice it to say, seeing their greatest hope brought low had not done any favors to morale.

The Second Children, hailed as humanity’s greatest hope before her debut, was, perhaps unfairly, finding herself failing to fill Ikari Shinji’s shoes in the eyes of NERV and the UN. Her rather abysmal showing in her debut battle not doing her any favors.

Current sentiment among the rank and file, was that if Asuka had been a team player, Shinji might have come through the battle unscathed.

As much as Misato liked the girl, she found herself agreeing.

“An annoyance,” Director Ikari said after a thoughtful silence, “but one with the capability to cause an inexcusable amount of complications. Get Pilot 01 to wake up, spare no procedure or expense. It is imperative he wake up enough to at the very least read a prompter. Just in case, prepare a body double, our priority at this juncture should be to minimize civil unrest.”

“Very well.” Ritsuko said.

Deputy Director Fuyutsuki nodded and shuffled his papers. “Next on the docket is the new proposal for funding from the UN, the trend of the battles against the Angels show that the current budget will simply not be enough. Especially if our star Pilot takes too long to return to fighting fit, Magi estimates that the collateral damage with our current roster of Pilots…”

=][=

Aida Kensuke let the gossip wash over him as the class wondered what had happened to two of its three resident Evangelion Pilots.

Asuka, the foreign hottie, was very prickly about the subject, answering only that she was not allowed to talk about it.

Everyone knew a monster had shown up, and that Ikari had fought it off at the shore, marking the first time one of those things showed up and people didn’t have to get updated maps.

All the guys were talking about what a badass Ikari was. All the girls were talking about how dreamy he was, how jealous they were of Ayanami.

Both groups had bought the lie that he was undergoing special training with Ayanami, to better prepare them for the next monster to come along. Gossiping on whether or not the Pilot couple would come back in time for the trip to Okinawa.

Kensuke kept his mouth shut tight.

How was he to tell them that Ikari had been in a coma for the last two weeks? That the boy that, according to the forums Kensuke kept an eye on, was being called ‘Humanity’s best hope for survival’ may never wake up? Leaving them all effectively defenseless against the inhuman threat?

He wished he’d never watched the video of the battle on his dad’s computer. Ikari’s scream still woke him up at night.

There was currently a gag order on all personnel of his dad’s office on the state of Ikari’s health, with penalties for the leaking of that information starting at months-long imprisonment.

Kensuke still remembered all the things the scary man in the suit had threatened him with for interrupting Ikari’s battle, he’d been too scared out of his wits to catch most of them. But the ones that scared him the most were ‘tried as an adult’ and ‘life in prison’ and ‘execution via firing squad.’

He'd been so glad when a different scary man in a better suit came by to order him released, along with a very stern warning that ‘this mercy will not be extended a second time.’

Message received and understood.

But didn’t people have the right to know that Tokyo-3 had lost its best and most crucial defender?

He shoved that thought back down where it couldn’t bother him too much.

He thought back to his wish of being a Mecha Pilot, like Ikari and Ayanami. And then he felt sick as he remembered Ikari’s agonized scream on the heels of what should have been a moment of triumph.

If even the huge Ikari could be brought low, what chance did Kensuke have?

=][=

Ibuki Maya stared intently at the monitor as the MRI hummed, scanning Shinji’s massive unmoving body. Ayanami stood by the window into the testing room, her eyes staring at the boy with unnerving intensity.

“Miss Ibuki.” Maya turned to look at one of the nurses in the room, who snuck worried glances at Ayanami. “Should we have Pilot 00 escorted away while we run the tests?”

Maya sighed. “It’s fine, she won’t be a bother.”

The nurse nodded and went about her duties.

Maya turned to the young Pilot. Her heart went out to the girl, the betting pool for whether the two pilots would end up together had been all fun and games.

Up until Shinji was in a coma and Ayanami refused to leave his side for a whole month, except under a direct order from the Director and even then, she returned to his side at first opportunity.

The payout for that bet had already been collected, but Maya had not felt the usual satisfaction at winning.

The MRI returned the same results as the last time they’d run the test. The density of Ika-of Shinji’s bones and muscles no longer came as a surprise. His brain showed the same signs of swelling, though superimposing the current results with the results of the test taken two weeks ago, the swelling did seem to have decreased.

Maya waited as the male nurses (as much as it rankled their professional pride, Shinji was almost one-hundred kilograms of mostly muscle. NERV’s female nurses had a much harder time moving his body through the tests. Even if his physicality had started to decline after so long essentially on life support) moved him out of the room, Maya and Ayanami followed them to the next testing room, where they then struggled and bemoaned his dead weight as they moved him onto the test bed so the female nurses could hook him up to the machine that mapped out his brainwave pattern while Maya went to the control console.

Makoto kept saying that Shinji would wake up and berate all of NERV for being bad at our jobs, any moment now. The thought brought a smile to her face, as she could picture Shinji doing just that the very moment he awoke.

“Wouldn’t it be best to transfer him to a hospital at this point?” One of the technicians muttered. “NERV’s lab isn’t supposed to be an infirmary.”

Before she realized what exactly she was doing, Maya had slapped her hand down on the console so hard that her palm stung. “Shinji has killed four Angels!” She shouted at the wide-eyed technician. “And one of those should count for two! He is the first ever Evangelion Ace, and he got hurt protecting your life! The least we can do is nurse him back to health, and the bare minimum you should do, is show him some respect!”

The technician at first looked angry at being called out, but looking around, few of the nurses and technicians working met his eye, and all of those that did were glaring just as hard, if not harder, than Maya.

Maya would feel safe in claiming that the majority of NERV held much the same opinion as she did, which was why Shinji’s hospital room was full of flowers of every kind, fruits, chocolates, paper cranes, and that imported soda that the guys at acquisitions swore he liked.

The brainwave reader spat out its results.

Unchanged.

Maya grimaced. Tomorrow.

“Prep him for the next test.” She sighed into the microphone. The nurses went about their job.

The Miracle Child will wake up tomorrow.

And everything will be alright.

=][=

“A school trip, really? In this day and age?” Ritsuko asked over the low rumble of conversation in the Command Room, refilling her coffee mug.

Misato sighed. “It’s because times are hard that they want to have fun while they can get it.”

Ritsuko slugged back her coffee and refilled it. “I bet Asuka didn’t take your refusal to let her go very well.”

Misato sighed. “No, no she did not. And she was settling in so well, too.”

“What can you do though? Maybe if Shinji were up and about…” Ritsuko trailed off with a grimace as the Command Room went dead silent. “Sorry.”

Misato sighed. Nearly two months Shinji had been comatose. Misato had had to pull Asuka from school in a futile attempt to sell the lie that the Pilots were undergoing experimental training. Hiring an actor to fabricate a few public appearances was being more strongly considered by the day.

Most of the population was unaware, but the few enthusiasts and doomsday preachers were definitely starting to wonder about where he’d gone.

Most of everyone at NERV found themselves praying he’d wake up before the next Angel arrived.

Hyuga Makoto swore loudly, both cutting through and heightening the tension in the Control Room. “Ma’am, the Mt. Asama geological observation data has come in and has been analyzed.” He closed his eyes, and visibly forced himself to say the next words that everyone in the Control Room did not want to hear. “Melchior, Balthasar, and Casper all agree. Pattern Blue, there is an Angel in the magma of Mt. Asama.”

Misato could feel the despair rising within her underlings, and immediately spoke in an authoritative tone. “Instruct the Mt. Asama Earthquake Research Institute to spare no expense, we need to learn more. All work crews are to prepare the Evas for deployment, overtime pay is preemptively authorized from now until the successful completion of the operation! Get in contact with the institute of domestic affairs and the UN, keep them abreast of the situation but remember to ask forgiveness over permission.”

She continued giving rapid fire commands, not giving anyone the time to think and worry about the fact that, in all likelihood, the effort to prepare Unit 01 would go to waste.

She would make it work; the Angel would pay.

“Ma’am.”

Misato turned, and beheld the beaming, weeping face of Ibuki Maya, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs as she fought to maintain her professional demeanor.

Without prompting, and in full breach of protocol, she spoke through her tears. One hand holding her headset to her ear with a white knuckled grip.

“It will all be alright, ma’am.” She said, her smile growing, gaining a hint of something Misato did not recognize or like. “Shinji is awake.”

For the second time that day, the Command Room fell quiet.

Before thunderous cheers shook the walls.