Angel

A Mother's Embrace

The Artificial Research Laboratory was in chaos.

Alarms were blaring, scientists and security were running around wildly, areas of the complex were being locked down, it was utter pandemonium.

Gendo, Yui, and Kyoko sat in the command centre, fearing the worst. Yui looked over towards her husband, a rare look of fear etched into her expression.

"What do we do?" Her eyes looked lost. She felt her whole life coming apart at the seams. Her husband was in his traditional signature pose, as he usually was during times of crises like this. But even behind his tinted glasses, Yui could see that the man who could keep his composure in most situations was panicking. His response never came, his eyes fixated on the large monitor in front of him. Satsuki, Kaede and Aoi were sitting at their posts, barking orders.

"The MAGI are at a 32% intrusion level! Sever the network links with the outside!"

"The virus is... mutating!? Nothing we do is stopping it! Morphing the logic is having no effect!"

"Vice Director, what do we do!?"

Yui bit her lip. This was a bold move, even for SEELE. Everything they had been working on for years... All the research and data. All of it! Teetering on the knife's edge of being totally stolen away. Their contribution to not only the future of the children but to all of humanity was mere moments away from ending up in the hands of the fools that would rather see the world go to ruin.

This spectre had been haunting them for long enough. It was time to deal with the ghost in the machine.

Yui whipped out her phone, speed dialling a number in the swift action it took to get from phone to ear.

"Misato, bring the kids. I want them to do some ghostbusting."

---

"I love your mother, I really do... But her references are showing her age. And in doing so, it's making ME feel old!"

"I hate to break it to you Misato but the chicken that represents your life is no longer in it's Spring. If anything, I'd say the first leaves that drop in the Fall are a better representative than-... HEY!" Asuka's scathing remarks were rudely interrupted by Misato's swerving Alpine taking the inclines of the road as ramps.

"I've never seen the Fast and Furious movies but I'd stop Asuka, before we start to reenact them-... gurghhh!" The car landing back on its wheels managed to shock the air out of Shinji before he had a chance to delicately finish his sentence. His lunch was threatening to paint the car interior with bile and judging from the hue on Asuka's face shifting slowly to a greenish colour, she wasn't far behind.

"Anymore smartass comments and I'll show you my drifting skills next, Asuka." Misato grinned evilly. The ride back to the Artificial Research Lab was significantly quieter after that.

Rolling into the lab's underground car park, Misato had the kids up the command centre as quick as possible, give or take a few detours and consulting a technician for directions.

"You've been here how many times Misato!? God, I'm so embarrassed..."

"Yeah, thanks for all your help Asuka, you've been here before too!"

"All of once! Why on earth would the Ikari's make this place a labyrinth? How do they ever find their way around this place?"

Skidding into the command centre, all three of them panted, desperately trying to get some oxygen into their lungs. Yui grinned weakly at the dramatic entrance.

"Glad to see you eventually made it."

"No problem at all. But if I may make a request, can someone give me a map? Would be really useful to get these guys here as quickly as possible." Misato wheezed. Shinji spotted a familiar blunette standing behind his mother.