2022-07-04: Briefing on the Nature of a Dream
- Log: Briefing on the Nature of a Dream
- Cast: Koji Kabuto, Asuka Shikinami Langley
- Where: Fujinomiya City, New Photon Power Laboratory
- Date: 2022-07-04
- Summary: After the kaiju attack on Shiro Kabuto, NERV dispatches an agent to brief his older brother on Tsutsujidai. An exchange of information follows.
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Following the attack on Shiro Kabuto, the OCU and Londo Bell were more than a bit tense about the Kaiju ambush out of nowhere on a rising star. Certain people put in calls to NERV, NERV told them they'd get back to them. It turned into one huge bureaucratic mess until Asuka filed an unclassified report on NERV's Tsutsujidai investigation today.
NERV bureaucrats, relieved they could turf the duty of handling the matter promptly assigned it to the girl who filed the report, Asuka Shikinami Langley, pilot of Evangelion Unit-02. Which means she's been sent to Fujinomiya City.
"Why is this on me again!? Shouldn't I be on standby for another attack?"
She's been having a bit of a fit ever since. A member of Section 2 adjusts the rear view mirror of the car that's picked her up from airport. "Because sometimes playing nice with other agencies is more important than having one more pilot on standby. Besides you have no reason to complain. Not every day someone gets to brief a legend."
Asuka appears to be in a full sulk in the rear seat as she crosses her arms, "Don't see what's the big deal about it. He was there at our Second Impact briefing and he didn't seem like much." The lifelong agent clucked his tongue, as they rolled along the road up to the New Photon Power Lab, "Kids these days, no appreciation for the classics."
Eventually they reach the New Photon Power Lab, as Asuka gives it a critical eye at its design structure as they roll up. "What's that shape even supposed to evoke?" She mumbles, as if she were some architectural critic, as the agent moved to open the door for her. As she steps out, she's in the NERV uniform, a simple Beige dress with red patches on the shoulders that indicates she's in the Tactical Division, a pair of white tights, and brown boots.
She hates this uniform. She'd much rather come in her plug suit or civilian clothing.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"NERV have booked an appointment with you" is often a chilling message to hear for a civilian, but in the context of the recent kaiju attack on Shiro it makes sense; thus, Koji is already waiting outside the doors to the New Lab lobby, dressed in his usual blue work suit with organization lapel pin. He has a tablet tucked under one arm, and his hair is no less ridiculous than it was the first time Asuka saw him.
He recognises the grousing redhead immediately from the Angel Briefing. "Captain Langley." She gets a proper Japanese bow in greeting. "Shall I show you in?"
The lobby of the New Photon Power Lab is bright and airy, with tourists from the obligatory school field trip to stragglers coming in from the Mazin Museum next door, which proudly advertises "the future of the technology that won these battles" in its sister building, milling around amiably. Clearly this is not an institution of warfare, but the presence of white coats worn by many of the staff definitely indicates it is an institution of science.
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Asuka as she walks up, appears faintly surprised he came out to meet her. She's too used to pretentious people who force her to take the long way to see them, not to meet her in the middle. Perhaps more surprising is that he knows her rank in the AEU, when she's just a Pilot in NERV.
As he bows in greeting, she eyes him, before just dipping her chin rather than giving a full bow. It's a bit stiff, like she's unused to even giving that much ground - but apparently despite her complaining she still acknowledges this man has enough talent and accomplishments to be given that much, "Sure. That works. This shouldn't take too long. Though privacy would be preferred for what comes next. Though while you're leading me in, think I should catch you up on the news."
She hands him a newspaper at this point. If he takes it, he'll soon see pen marks next to various characters. If he follows it along to the conclusion it'll spell out, 'i f y o u a r e a w a r e t h e n a m e a l e x i s k e r i b d o n o t s p e a k o r w r i t e e v e n e l e c t r o n i c a l l y o r h e c a n h e a r u s'
Thus she just walks and lets him work out the message to him, eyeing the lobby of individuals as they walk, "Huh. Figured this place would be more secure." Is just her comment, given on the importance of this place to the OCU.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Koji takes the newspaper, glances over it, and frowns, nodding silently as he hands the paper back to Asuka. "I understand. I'll show you to one of the conference rooms." He's taking this pretty seriously.
When Asuka comments on the security of the building, Koji shrugs. "All our data on our output and our research into Photon Power production is publicly available, and the only Japanium in the building is already in use in our reactors, which you need specialised training to shut down safely, so there's nothing worth stealing here. As for military security, we have a couple of tricks up our sleeve, plus the NERV checkpoint at the Fuji facility pretty effectively deters most hostile actors. We do have guards, but it would be something of a tautology to have an institution of peace crawling with them, so we mostly station them in the guts of the facility."
He leads Asuka into an empty conference room, one with a big screen at the front, and hooks his tablet into it. "So. I understand this is about the attempt on my brother's life."
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Asuka suspected that he'd catch on quick, after all he's the successor to one of Japan's greatest scientists ever. Still though, she listens to his talk of the facilities. It all makes sense, though she was thinking of a worse case scenario than simple theft. "Tricks?" Asuka sideeyes him, though doesn't expecting him to answer, suspecting that those 'tricks' coming from Koji Kabuto are something of a tautology itself. Still, she doesn't challenge him on this.
Despite all appearances to the contrary, she can be professional from time to time.
"I'll cut to the chase. We suspect the same Kaiju that attacked your brother on 06/15 UC 96 was utilized previously at a Sheryl Nome concert in Tsutsujidai on 05/10 UC 96. The characteristics are similar enough to the reports from NERV and STORAGE agents on site during each attack, and fit within the profile of what an individual of interest can do."
As she simply taps the newspaper, before opening a folder. She then passes over a one page sheet of paper to him.
"Here's an unclassified report of the results of our investigations on Tsutsujidai. We have reason to believe that the Kaiju sent to make an attempt on your brother's life was either controlled by this individual - or someone he had gifted it to for his own ends."
The report he's given on the sheet of paper is as follows. Updated Report on Tsutsujidai Investigation (Current as of 07/04/UC 96)
Entity of Interest 1. 'The Devil'
Name withheld due to information received that the entity can perceive when his name is spoken or written, including electronically. Guardian of EOI2 and 3. Further leads pending, our current intelligence indicates that Ruri Hoshino of the Nadesico knows more of him. Able to gift Kaiju for use by individuals in their aims, and to combine Kaiju to become greater in the sum total of their abilities. Appears to retain control of Kaiju that he gifts to others. Known to have supplied Kaiju in ZAFT attack in the OAC on 05/07 UC 96, and on Ptolemaeus Lunar Base on 05/21 UC 96. Suspected of supplying Kaiju for attack on Tokyo-03 on 06/21 UC 96. Potential Suspect in the Attempted Assassination of Administrator Nagisa.
Threat level: Extreme.
Entity of Interest 2. Akane Shinjo.
(Description Included, no image attached. Address in Tsutsujidai enclosed.) Retains memories of events in the city after each Kaiju attack. Current intelligence indicates she is the elder sister of EOI3 and ward of EOI1. Assumed to control EOI3 through verbal insults, withdrawal of approval, starvation, neglect, and physical violence. Has been known to pose as an informant, likely to mislead investigators. Known to have established contact with Administrator Nagisa at some point prior to attempted assassination. Relationship with EOI1: Specifics Currently Unknown. Subordinate? Victim? Working Theory: Boosted Human given familial relationship to EOI3. Potential Suspect in the Attempted Assassination of Administrator Nagisa.
Threat level: Unknown. Approach with Caution.
Entity of Interest 3. Anti
(Image attached. List of known locations that he frequents in Tsutsujidai and Nouvelle Tokyo attached) Current intelligence indicates that he is the younger brother of EOI2 and ward of EOI1, able to leave Tsutsujidai. Known to have established contact with Administrator Nagisa at some point prior to attempted assassination. Known Assailant of Individual under NERV Protection on 06/09 UC 96. Working theory: Boosted Human given combat performance. Weapon utilized: Circular Saw.
Threat level: High.
"I've been investigating Tsutsujidai for some time. This is the information I've compiled on the individuals I believe are at the core of this."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"I already knew of the existence of one of these figures, thanks to Chief Shishioh," he answers, tapping the top of the sheet to refer to EOI1, "But having a breakdown of his apparent capabilities is extremely useful. He took control of the mission Guy went on to save Renais - GaoFighGar's combat logs should have a visual of him in that case. As for the other two... Three and Two do look somewhat alike... Hm. That's definitely a pattern of abuse, judging by the information here."
"Shinjo..." He frowns thoughtfully. "I wonder." He looks back up at Asuka. "What is NERV's current understanding of the nature of Tsutsujidai?"
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
"Yeah I heard something about how that went down with her." Asuka briefly looks abstracted? Though she seems to shake it off, looking annoyed after, like the thoughts were merely troublesome.
"My understanding is that it's another dimension linked in some way to Nouvelle Tokyo, given how simple instruments like GPS react in there. We haven't managed to perform a more detailed scientific analysis by our research team... as for anything else... this is anecdotal, as it came second hand from the Administrator in question before his attempted assassination." Asuka mulls it over, trying to remember the conversation's details, "There is an entity known as the 'God' of Tsutsujidai. It created not just the Kaiju of that place, but that whole space. He stated a malevolent alien takes the form of the 'Devil' to influence God. The account I received is that this alien was pursued to that space by Gridman, and doesn't belong there."
She crosses her arms and there's a shrug of her shoulders, "It's possible that the God of Tsutsujidai is someone on that list - or someone else unknown to us at this time. Shinjo clearly doesn't want to talk though. On my first encounter with her she pretended to be a dutiful student concerned only with exams... the impression I got was she was the type to put on a nice face to manipulate the people around her. On my more recent encounter she pretended to be a friendly informant. I only learned more on the matter as someone in Tsutsujidai put a lot on the line telling us what she'd seen between Akane and Anti... for her own safety I'm keeping her name to myself."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"I have a contact myself - someone who is a native to that space. The interesting thing is, that space apparently existed before it was Tsutsujidai, and was completely inaccessible - like the hypothesised 'fifth' and other higher dimensions, it was a layer of reality that we shouldn't ordinarily be able to perceive or interact with. This fact, combined with the nature of the world it claims to be - a timeline where the One Year War was the only great crisis the Earth Sphere went through - suggests that rather than a true parallel world, it's something like a bubble created by an outside-context idea - something only an outsider would be able to bring to the space."
Speaking his hypothesis aloud, Koji looks at the list again and frowns. "If this 'Devil' is manipulating 'God'... Then 'God' would have to be someone regularly in contact with him, which makes Two and Three prime suspects - and Three is being manipulated to act directly outside the space."
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Asuka listens to Koji discuss Tsutsujidai, actually seeming to take it fairly seriously and weigh it before responding, "That fits with what we know. Every time we've questioned the residents the One Year War is the last major conflict any of them can remember. And that includes the Kaiju attacks. The majority of the residents don't remember them as of the next day after an attack. My understanding is if deaths occur from these attacks, then the residents forget those individuals as well, or their memory self-corrects to believe they died years ago to some accident."
She gives Koji a more intense look, "As a result, they don't have any evacuation infrastructure. No shelters. The last time I fought in Tsutsujidai I couldn't take three steps in my Evangelion without having to avoid crushing a whole throng of people fleeing. During my first meeting with Cram Scho- I mean Shinjo." She corrects herself, as if the nickname is her more normal state of addressing her, "She was uncooperative, told me it isn't her problem if her classmates get crushed - because she has exams."
Asuka takes another look down at the list, "Yeah. It fits that she's the prime suspect. Though it's not impossible that she's acting outside of that space too. A few days after Anti attacked an individual under our protection, a masked figure shot Fif-Administrator Nagisa at a train station in Tokyo-03 with radioactive munitions, before closing in to try to finish him off with knives. Their gear made them suspiciously androgynous, and they were enhanced enough that Guy Shishioh was unable to apprehend them before they fled. However in what may... or may not be a coincidence, Shinjo and him had apparently made contact in Tsutsujidai not too long before this."
Being this professional is perhaps taking a toll on her, that's another occasion where she almost slipped into her nickname habit not long after the first.
"So God? Assassin? I've got more digging to do."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"If the people believe there aren't any kaiju attacks, then they don't have any need for evacuation or defensive infrastructure. More evidence that this is the influence of someone from our side affecting the space, actually - it's a space they live in, so they don't want their world to be filled with the same reminders of violence and destruction that our side has." Even Fujinomiya makes concessions to this need, of course, and its evacuation shelters are a key component of its reinforced subway network.
"I think that somebody like that... Wouldn't want to come back to our side if they could avoid doing so. Hence the need for a proxy. This is ultimately a hypothesis, though. I'd need to scope Tsutsujidai out myself, get a feel for its residents, to iterate on it any further."
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
It all makes sense as a hypothesis, yet Asuka's lip curls to think about it. "So what - escapism is what you think? Keep the ignorant masses ignorant? If they created the Kaiju, then they're responsible for most of the violence that happens in that space now."
Asuka clucks her tongue in disgust, "Which means it isn't creating a peaceful world without violence that matters to them, it's just not having to keep seeing constant reminders about it."
Asuka wouldn't blame someone wanting to live their life away from the reality of the world. It's her job to protect normal people from annihilation. However, the idea of playing God and creating a world where you can just snuff people out and never have to think about it again.
It disgusts her.
Its at that point they become the kind of monster she's supposed to stop. "Well guess we'll see if your hypothesis is correct soon enough." Her tone takes on this certain level of intensity, an edge to it. "Because this has got to stop before they make an even bigger play."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"People can be deceived into doing horrible violence." His eyes get distant for a moment. "They can be so consumed with grief that dying at an 'enemy's' hand is all they have left even when there's people pleading for them to live on."
He might be in the middle of an old battle memory, but he is still paying attention. "So you're going to make a play of your own, then."
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Asuka eyes him; as Koji - in her eyes appears to wax poetic, or reminisce, she's not certain which it is. At first she looks annoyed like she's about to say 'What are you, stupid?' but, then something eases up in her face. As she remembers Relena and her father.
Who didn't even appear to care if Treize's people shot her dead for pulling a gun in his presence. She takes a deep breath, and tears her eyes away from him with an audible harumph - as if upset that he made a good point.
"Yeah. Of course." As she cants her chin at the paper again, "That brat, Anti. We're going to have a talk. Don't think he'll run away or pull out that saw of his if its me."
He betrayed Asuka's trust. She stretched out her hand to him and he bit it, but at the same time, she thinks she knows enough about what makes him tick that he doesn't have the heart to attack her outright.
"We can't make a bigger play than that... in the sense of being proactive. Tsutsujidai doesn't really work like that. You can't just bring the Fortress of Iron in there unless the space allows that - usually when a Kaiju is attacking."
Asuka shrugs her shoulders, "Don't ask me how that works. My Eva shouldn't even be able to get there, or function properly without NERV's logistics division hooking it up, but... it does."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"The train definitely seems to be a crucial part of the entrance - flying Z in there would definitely not work." Something else might, but that needs further testing. "... From what I understand about the nature of that space - at least, how my contact's described it - you probably don't want to think too hard about why it works beyond accepting that it does and embracing that fact." This might be 'don't think about pink elephants' advice, but on the other hand it might help.
"So you plan on confronting him inside Tsutsujidai, then." He nods. "I have a meeting in there arranged myself, I'm supposed to be meeting up with some locals there to learn more about the kaiju, so I wanted to get as much information from this side as I could."
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
"It definitely is. At one point in the past someone in a Death Knight that called himself 'The Protector of Tsutsujidai' attacked that station. Probably to collapse the entrance. Might be the brat. Might not be. The DG Cells were inactive - which was pretty unusual."
The 'don't want to think about it too hard' causes an audible groan out of her. She hates this kind of thing. She likes to think there's a scientific explanation for everything, that there's not some esoteric, abstract rules that are the playthings of a higher power. However, she can't deny that the place does indeed work like that.
"Yeah... that's the long and short of it. Hate that place."
After a moment though, she explains her intention, "Yeah, not going alone obviously - have orders not to. Got another Boosted Human coming with me just in case he turns hostile." A beat, "He won't though. Doubt he'll turn on his big sister given the amount he already tolerates from her. He goes dumpster diving pretty much every day just to eat. ... but he's talked before... if he talks again then that's all I'll need."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
To Koji, who literally has a profession based on the research of a power source and substance that defies the current understanding of thermodynamics, an extradimensional space where ideas themselves seem to have power isn't that far-fetched, even if he doesn't understand the full mechanism of its operation, so he just kind of smiles wryly as Asuka objects to it. "You get used to stuff like that after enough exposure. Sometimes the Rules just haven't been determined yet, that's all."
"Going in with backup is the strategically sound option." He nods. "Dumpster diving... hmm. He'll want good food, then. A reason to talk. He probably isn't going to be moved much by the threat of violence if he's already experiencing that."
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Asuka looks like she's muttering under her breath when he says she'll get used to it. She knows that he's not /really/ condescending her, but she hates the idea that there's in fact people who have been doing this longer than her and know more than her. The idea that she'll 'get used to it'... she doesn't want to get used to things like this. She just wants to already be an expert at everything she does.
"I know that." As she snaps at him very mildly, more that she's just annoyed by the fact that it is good sense. Though she appears to scale it back after a moment, she's not REALLY mad at him, "Yeah, last time all it took was two cheap pizzas from a mall food court to get him to talk. Then enough money to buy his next few meals."
She almost considers telling him that she offered to bring him to Tokyo-03, get him a place to stay, make sure he wasn't food insecure ever again. However, she's embarrassed... that offer is what put Liam into the hospital.
"And nah, not really. All else fails... he can't stand a girl yelling at him." The look she has right now, there is this small trace of shame in her expression, "Not really hard to guess why that is."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"Mm. I'd be careful about resorting to that option, though. You don't have any way of knowing where his break point is, or what he'll do when it's reached. People who feel like their backs are to the wall have a way of surprising the people who put them there." It worked for him on any number of occasions, after all. "Especially since he probably still feels indebted to protecting Shinjo."
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Unfortunately, this is sort of a sore point to her, as Kaworu before the assassination attempt called her out to the rest of NERV for her treatment of Anti. Eventually the tension builds up and... well she doesn't go into an all out furious rage, but she definitely raises her voice, "I know that! It's not like I want to do it anyway. You think I'd enjoy comparing myself to her?"
Fortunately, unlike with NERV she doesn't need to double down on this one, pretend she doesn't care enough that it doesn't matter to her if she hurts him.
She looks away, letting some of the anger going out of her voice, "Even if he does feel that way... he'll talk to me. I'm sure of it. It's just the way he is."
Thinking back to the way they met, when Akane had him running around Nouvelle Tokyo looking for Tarabaman, shouting like a fool, because she didn't bother to inform him that's a fictional character. She feels stupid now that she didn't realize Akane was the girl he was talking about.
And she remembers how fixated he was on her every word as she berated him for not having any self-respect.
"He can't help himself."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"He's trying to reach out and doesn't know how, maybe." He didn't study child psychology like Sayla did, this is very much out of his wheelhouse - but there are people in pain in Tsutsujidai and it's getting worse and worse, by the sound of it.
"Try and remember that even if he's causing harm, he's a victim of what sounds like a cycle of abuse to me. What was his motivation for attacking the person under your protection?"
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
It makes sense, though Asuka isn't a child psychologist either, she's new even to the idea of feeling empathy for other people. It wasn't too long, she was too self absorbed in her own situation, her own pain to bother caring about other people.
Still though, she doesn't answer Koji on that, because even thinking about the abuse of others is uncomfortable to her. It makes her think on her own situation, and denying it's relevant...
... because she's not a person at all.
It's more comfortable to talk about the facts of the situation, "Unknown at this time. Though if I had to make an educated guess... the victim was a state of the art combat cyborg that escaped from a black site in Area 11, along with a Prototype Gundam. My guess is the kid was contracted to get him back, because he was trying to take him alive." Crossing her arms again, she just gives a small shake of her head, "Which makes even less sense - because why's someone in Tsutsujidai being given that duty? My guess is that since the 'Devil' concerns himself with the affairs of the outside world more than its residents, that he either has projects besides Tsutsujidai - or contacts he occasionally performs favors for."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"... I can think of a very specific organisation that would have a black site in the Occupied Region, love new kaiju to work with on a regular basis that they don't have to spend any actual time growing in their forges... and have enough of an awareness of threats to their operations that they'd contract a hit on the OCU's anti-kaiju task force."
Unlike with 'the Devil', whose name they're avoiding, this name just is so obvious it doesn't need mentioning: BioNet.
"The Devil killing time with the biggest science criminals in the Earth Sphere would certainly check out."
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
He doesn't need to say it for Asuka to know the name of BioNet. Even just thinking about the organization makes him think of Renais, and that conversation at the cafe.
"Yeah it makes sense, but we haven't had any examples outside of a single ZAFT GINN Rat that got duped by him of his Kaiju being deployed by other organizations. He's at least discreet enough that he's not flinging his weight around everywhere."
Apparently she really doesn't like ZAFT. "It's a good working theory at least. Just, need more evidence before I'd call it a lock."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"Agreed. Something to bear in mind as a possibility, even if it's not the only possibility. A BioNet-related motive was all the strategic analysts in the OCU military could come up with for Shiro being targeted, but they couldn't make a call on it because the kaiju didn't match any known BioNet deployments - but if they're using Tsutsujidai's 'devil' as a regular source for new kaiju, then it becomes clearer. Especially since he seems to be creating hybrid kaiju simply by fusing concepts together, rather than actually having to grow new hybrid entities."
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
"Yeah. Every time he does that trick, it's with two that had been previously been destroyed. We have no idea what mechanism he uses for it. However, the Tsutsujidai Kaiju are becoming more and more deadly. Which means his combinations... even moreso. So unless we figure out a way to confront him quickly..."
She just leaves the implications hanging there, there's no need to really say that.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"And the creator's becoming more and more desperate. That was how it worked with Hell - his kikaiju became more and more devious and dangerous the more battles we won and the thinner his resources were stretched. This is the first time I've seen a kaiju creator being used to do damage on a wider scale, though."
He sighs. "Nothing for it but to get more information. I definitely feel like this is more pieces of the puzzle, though. Thank you for looping me in on this, Captain."
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Asuka's read up on Doctor Hell. She understands the threat he posed academically and finds herself... interested, it's just she's too proud to ask about what it was like, or about his experiences first hand. That would be tacit admission that she has something to learn from other people
"As I recall, Dr. Hell had a flair for the dramatic though... so he was at least the Devil you knew." She says in a dry tone, "Which makes this 'Devil' we don't frustrating in how he's keeping to the shadows and keeping his hand hidden. If he's desperate - we wouldn't know it."
Asuka seems to shrug off that thought not long after, "I'll continue my investigation at least. If anything major comes up, I'm sure my superiors will have me drop by again - so they don't have to deal with it."
There's a pause at his thank you and... "Wasn't a total waste of a day." Whether Koji realizes it or not, that's basically as complimentary as it gets from her.