Not that standing with his hands clasped behind his back as he stared at the red lit diagram on the wall of his office was much different. Still, even he needed to stretch his legs sometimes, and he felt like doing it. Despite what it might have seemed, not everything that he did had a meaning... though he did have to admit that there was a certain... effect that came from creating an imposing figure like he was doing right then.
Plotting was what he did best, and the fact was that he knew that he constantly had to do that sort of activity. Strategies had to be adapted, and he didn't want his plans to get derailed by whatever new events were coming up. Events were still progressing how he wanted them to... but he wasn't about to ignore how certain developments could cause issues in the future.
His son's abilities were one such 'problem', but weren't of the sort that could simply be gotten rid of. If he removed the one posing the threat, he'd lose the boy, and that was not workable at all. At the same time, the boy's talents were proving to be useful against the Angels, which was welcome. The giant creatures' activities had to be stopped in order for the controlled activation of Third Impact to be done according to his plans, and so they had to be destroyed. Honestly, the Third Child's abilities were helpful in that regard, and it almost made him wish for more pilots like him.
And then a thought hit the Commander's mind, with only a slight tightening around his eyes showing any sort of indication to the outside world. Certainly all of the boy's powers couldn't be duplicated, but the fighting capability could be taught. Having the other pilots learn how to fight with even a fraction of that strength could make things much easier in the combat situations, allowing him more time and energy to apply to his real plans.
Besides, it would have other benefits as well. Being in close contact was just the sort of situation that would make it ever so much more likely that the German girl would be able to get into... intimate encounters with the boy. Rei would have the ability to keep an eye on the Third Child, since she would have a legitimate excuse for staying around him. It'd allow her to pass on the knowledge to others as well. And on top of it all, it would keep the boy occupied, and out of trouble in the mean time.
Allowing a small smile to curl his mouth up, Gendo congratulated himself on his plan, and considered its usefulness to be a good allocation of resources that would benefit him in the long run.
He just hoped that someone, like those old men at the table, wouldn't bumble their way into his plans.
Keel Lorenz had never been someone who hid from any sort of conflict, and sat tall at the long table in front of him. It was a solid structure, built out of a single piece of material, with the room giving off a similar 'monolithic' feel. The visual representation of the other contributors to this meeting didn't help in that regard, with each using the usual 'black slabs' as representations of themselves.
Considering the fact that this was a collection of the most powerful individuals on the planet, that 'overwhelming power' concept seemed to fit. At the very least, they could wield enough power to make small nations vanish, and were expecting to control the evolution of the human race. They were used to having dominion over the planet, and expected that to continue.
"The boy is not what we expected," commented SEELE-04 in a tone one might expect from a doomsayer. "He is an unstable element."
One could almost hear SEELE-07 nod. "Not only has he shown both accomplish feats beyond human norms, and an inability to follow instructions, but has not hidden that fact."
"If the public finds out that such a person can exist, then the uproar will be massive."
"Which begs the question as to where Ikari got the boy," Keel murmured, frowning thoughtfully.
"What did you say?"
"Are you saying that I misspoke?"
"Actually... no. What I was thinking was that it was simply unnatural for the boy to be this capable. Do you agree?"
The cybernetically enhanced man nodded. "Yes. And your point is...."
"That is that his son had to be created somehow. Human bodies simply can not do the things that he has managed to, and we know that Ikari's offpring has managed to do just that."
"And so you suggest that he might have had some sort of gene engineering in his past," SEELE-09 suggested.
"Exactly. We know that such things can be done. Look at what has been accomplished with Ayanami and our own experiments."
"But we know that the boy was born. He was clearly birthed by Yui Ikari."
"True, but who is to say that he hasn't done something to the boy."
"Not just Ikari. His wife was also a brilliant scientist. They could have adapted the boy to suit their needs as they had the chance to," SEELE-02 put in.
"Basically, yes. They could have decided that rather than following in their intellectual pursuits, he would be better used by having powerful physical capabilities."
"I rather doubt that either one of them could become an accomplished fighter."
"Be that as it may," SEELE-03 grumbled, "what we need is to figure out what we can do about it."
"You're suggesting that we act."
"Why not? If left unchecked, Ikari will use this power to his own advantage, and I don't think that any of us want to see him gain from this sly use of his son."
"True, but we must take care in what we do."
"We may want samples of the boy's DNA," SEELE-05 drawled.
SEELE-08 hummed a bit. "Having an agent there to monitor and manipulate the boy may also be good."
"If nothing else," SEELE-07 commented, "we may want to remove this boy as a threat to our plans... permanently."
As he heard the discussion over their plans really get underway, Keel thought of Gendo Ikari, and wondered what the man was really up to, while:
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