Almost everyone, reflected Gendo. Not that deceiving large numbers of people was terribly unusual. He did it all the time. The first part was true, in fact. That Genma was missing was the part that was untrue.
Floating in the gel-filled tube, as thoroughly unconscious as drugs could make him, was one Genma Saotome.
"Analyzing phase signal," said Yui Ikari as she worked, fingers deftly dancing over the keyboards at her station.
Gendo didn't feel much of anything now as he looked at what was left of his wife. He'd purged those useless emotions. Besides, it wasn't as if it was entirely HER. Not since the event he'd participated in over five years ago.
No, this wasn't his wife. At least not as she HAD been. There was a chance, as long as the body remained alive, that the soul could be re-anchored. Even as altered by the experience as her body had been, there was a chance that she could be restored.
"So the dimensional signal showing the two Saotome are not from our world is still active," noted Gendo aloud. A faint smile creased his face as he considered the guinea pig of this martial artist. There was a chance more information could be gleaned from him, and so these avenues would be pursued.
Yui Ikari glanced up at the experimental subject. "Beginning transfiguration mode."
Gehirn was involved in a number of things. They were involved in things as diverse as slave-imprinting to camping gear manufacture. They were involved in secret control of certain governments, quantum physics, mercenary forces, experimental cutting edge alchemy and pharmaceuticals, slave-maid cosplay cafes, and other more mundane activities.
Gehirn was itself controlled by a secret organization known as SEELE.
It DID have normal activities as well as not-so-normal.
Naturally, there were business rivals. In this Chained World, things could get downright nasty when the lawyers got involved but due to there being authorities being emplaced who could decide that wasting the court's time was a sign that some old traditional punishment should be thrown at the lawyers as well - things often didn't escalate too much in the court system.
In Japan, nobody wanted the Imperial Chief Prosecutor's Office to come nosing about. Even if you were completely above board and perfectly legal, that office was known for having individuals who were immune to bribes and had no sense of humor or mercy. Honor, yes. Humor, no.
Groups like Gehirn who did have things to hide kept as clean a facade going as they possibly could, but occasionally things would slip out.
Which meant that in a certain office in a certain building, someone with no sense of humor and an immense sense of duty was looking over reports just brought in by a junior member of the same organization.
"So, Saotome continues to find 'interesting' little things for us," said the senior quietly.
"As a 'stalking horse' goes, he IS exemplary," agreed the junior.
"Any details on Project E.V.A. yet?" asked the senior.
"It requires enormous amounts of power," said the junior. "We've traced the generators acquired in New Berlin, various parts and supplies from Russia, and the 'experimental fusion reactor' development doesn't seem to quite cover all the clues we've uncovered. Especially with the alchemic supplies and runic magic ingredients. That they placed their facility on a ley line nexus also indicates that they are blending magic and technology in whatever they're trying to do. Other than that, all we have is the name."
The senior considered for a few moments. "We'll need more to go on before we have the legal right to step in. Continue observation. According to this, Misato Katsuragi is now registered as a slave but legal guardian of Ranma Saotome. His father has simply vanished. Not the first time he's done that. We can track Ranma though, and if his father rejoins him we'll know."
Flesh seemed to melt and shift on the form of Genma Saotome.
Gendo watched every so often, otherwise turning his attention to the pile of paperwork he had to go through.
BREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
Gendo's attention snapped fully to a monitor. It looked as if:
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(Posted Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:31)
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