Аннотация: The showdown with Ray's apartment. Katsuragi's report on the number of dead civilians. Analysis of the battle.
Chapter 11. Katsuragi's lies about the death toll.
"So, Shinji" Katsuragi walked leisurely in front of a small interactive whiteboard with her hands clasped behind her back. "From now on, I will regularly conduct tactics classes with you, where we will analyze your actions in battle together and evaluate their effectiveness. It's not enough just to teach you how to shoot accurately, fight skillfully, and drive an Eva well - you still have to learn how to think. And preferably not during the fight, but before it. And, of course, it would be better if you consider these classes to be just a friendly conversation, rather than a tedious duty, so dialogue is welcome. Is that clear?"
I shifted slightly in my easy chair and nodded.
"That's wonderful," the girl smiled. "First of all, I want to ask you if you have any questions about the Third Object A? By the way, the staff pundits assigned him the code name Sakiel or Objekt A of Water. I don't really understand what the point of this is, but it doesn't really matter... So, is there anything you're interested in?"
Well, finally! Finally, something worthwhile! Naturally, I have questions about how to avoid this...
"Here's a question to start with, Misato. How could such a huge machine get to the city virtually unnoticed? Why wasn't she stopped on her way to Tokyo? Or is detonating N2 bombs right in the city limits some kind of special trick that I just don't understand?"
The captain thought for a while and answered me:
"Well, then, I'll try to tell you everything in order... So, the wise guys didn't call Sakiel the Angel of Water for nothing - he did most of the way underwater. The data obtained from various video and photo cameras allowed us to establish that he had something similar to gills, and Sakiel himself, if you might have noticed, looked somewhat like an amphibian... was. If only we had his body at our disposal, instead of a puddle of blue blood smeared over the territory of three blocks..."
"Of course, I'm terribly sorry, but it didn't work out any other way." I was slightly indignant. "That fucking Godzilla..."
"Calm down, calm down!" Katsuragi reassured me. "No one is accusing you of anything, Shinji - you've already done more than we expected."
"More than nothing?" I asked.
"Ah... eh... So you're saying, why couldn't we attack the Object A earlier?" Misato was a little alarmed.
"Yeah," I nodded sarcastically. "That's what I'm interested in."
"Yeah... Well, that's it..." Katsuragi calmed down, avoiding the unpleasant topic of the catastrophic failure of the combat operation. "To be honest, we just didn't expect something like this. Sakiel slipped unnoticed past our patrol vessels and planes and was discovered after he got to the surface...
"Wait," I was genuinely surprised. "But if my memory serves me correctly, then the "Troika" is separated from the sea by a fairly decent distance?"
"Hmm, it looks like he's cheating," Katsuragi chuckled. "Have you forgotten about the half-submerged ruins on the approach to Tokyo 3?"
Oops! And the geography has changed here, however...
"Aaa..." I said vaguely.
"Yeah," the girl mimicked me. "So the Angel calmly got out just a couple of kilometers from the city and quickly moved towards it. Units of the United Nations contingent stationed near the city were alerted, but their attack was unsuccessful - Sakiel simply incinerated a dozen combat helicopters, scattered a tank battalion and continued on his way. We tried to stop him with the help of aviation, but that didn't help either, so in the end, it was decided to drop an N2 bomb on the Object A."
"And anyway, detonate a bomb almost right next to the city..." I grumbled. "No, it's just crazy! What if civilians had been injured?"
"Don't worry, there was no threat to ordinary people - they were all evacuated in advance."
So. But there's definitely something wrong here-I can clearly sense some kind of falseness in Misato's voice. I hardly know how to lie myself, but I feel pretty good about lying in others - is this another manifestation of my introversion?..
"Evacuated, you say..." I said thoughtfully, looking past Katsuragi. For some reason, the captain was trying to hide her gaze from me...
Something doesn't add up here... There's something about this version that doesn't suit me... But just what? Evacuation, evacuation...
Stop.
What the hell kind of evacuation?! The alarm was announced right before the Object's A invasion of the city! If everyone was evacuated, then why the hell was I hanging around the city? And I wasn't the only one on the train!..
Hmm, that's funny... Shinji's memories are starting to mix with mine-curious, extremely curious... To hell with it! That's not what we're talking about right now!!!
"Misato, that's not true," I said calmly, crossing my arms over my chest. "I was in the city when the alarm was sounded. And they did it right before the Object A entered Tokyo 3. Of course, I admit that it doesn't take much time to lower buildings underground, or transfer residents to shelter basements... But what about those who were on the street or on the trains at that time? You saved me, but I wasn't the only one wandering around the city, was I?"
Katsuragi was dejectedly silent.
"There are still victims among the civilians, am I right?" I asked harshly, starting to get a little angry. They lied to me! The freaks, they lied to me...
"Yes, Shinji. There are dead and wounded among the civilians, but we do not advertise this." Misato said reluctantly. "We tried to cover all tracks, but..."
"How much?" I asked in a flat voice, although God only knows what it cost me to keep such a voice. I was almost shaking with anger-I must have had a nervous day.
"The exact number is unknown. So far, over three hundred people have been confirmed dead, and about five hundred more have been injured, many seriously..." Katsuragi replied in a flat voice. It was obvious that it was very hard for her to say all this. "There were many wounded during the attempt to stop Sakiel with tanks on the outskirts of the city. He actually destroyed the entire battalion and hit several residential buildings. But most of the people suffered when all trains were stopped due to an alarm - two trains were hit by an Object A and were almost completely destroyed. THE NERVE... The NERVE is trying its best not to let it all leak out and cause panic. Many of those who allegedly left for other cities are among the victims of the attack..."
That's it, Victor. It wasn't shown in the cartoon. Big robots could fight with passion in the middle of a huge metropolis, but it was never said how many civilians were injured. Get used to it, Vitya - it doesn't look too much like a movie.
"That's how it means" I said softly. "And why did you lie to me?"
"We didn't want you to worry too much, so we only mentioned military casualties..." For the first time in the last few minutes, Misato looked into my eyes. "When you first came to your senses and started asking if you had accidentally killed any civilians, I did... I decided that it would be better to do it that way."
"Misato," he said softly, also looking into her eyes. "Please don't lie to me ever again. I really don't like it. Let it be better to have the bitter truth than..."
"So what do you want with that truth, Shinji?" Katsuragi asked me point blank. "Does that make you feel better?"
"No, just harder." I answered honestly. "But I think it's better this way."
"All right, Shinji." The captain sighed. "From now on, no more lies, okay?"
"Agreed" I nodded.
There was an awkward silence.
"Maybe we should get back to our main topic." Misato asked, breaking the silence in the small tactical room first.
"Yes, I suppose so," I agreed. "Which of the weapons used proved to be the most effective against the Object A?"
"Evangelion," the captain admitted honestly. "In second place is the N2 bomb."
"I was actually referring to ordinary weapons," I chuckled.
"Heavy and powerful," Katsuragi replied laconically. "Cruise missiles, large-caliber shells and bombs."
"It wasn't very noticeable that they had somehow hooked him..." I grumbled. "But why would you continue to attack even after you realized that conventional weapons are ineffective?"
"They caught baitfish," the captain confessed. "We thought it was possible to fire his cannon, but the Angel had to lower his defense for a short moment, and it was at that moment that we had a chance to damage him in some way..."
"And how?"
"But there's no way," the girl sighed.
"It sucks," I concluded, scratching my head.
"And who's arguing?" Katsuragi said philosophically. "Are you okay with the questions?"
"Umm..." I searched my memory. "I think so!"
"Okay, then let's move on to your fight." My tactical commander took out a small remote control from somewhere under her desk and turned on an interactive whiteboard. Turning into a large screen, she began to show a recording of my battle with Sakiel - the image was not so good, but in principle, it was quite satisfactory.
Misato shrugged when she saw me staring at the board with disapproval:
"We cleaned this record up and put it in proper shape - it was much worse... And, in general, if you don't like it, don't look!"
"What about me? I'm fine," I began to justify, without looking up from the screen - the sight was really quite entertaining, even despite the quality. It's not every day that you see yourself in battle.
"In general, considering the level of your training... Or rather, the absence of one, yeah... In general, you acted very well - you didn't try to hit me head-on, you used your weapon well, and you were constantly moving... A lot of fighting experience?"
"Great movie watching experience" I replied. "I don't know how to fight, and I don't like it."