Evangelion Shinji and Warhammer40k

[bluepencil]

More minor edits, apologies again.

=][=

ôWhich one do you want to know?ö Kaji asked the last time heÆd met with the Defense
Minister. ôThe outline of the operation of Replenishing Mankind?
Or the truth of Second Impact?
Or the aim of the ANGEL?
Or the relationship between ADAM and LILITH and EVA?
Or the identity of the men called the committee?
Or that of what we call æthe spearÆ?
Or the aim of Commander Ikari?ö

Then, he laughed as he reached into his pocket for a cigarette. At the disapproving
look from the old politician, he just put it to his lips unlit. ôMaybe you want to know
of the plans of young Ikari. Or just what is this Treasure Box?

IÆll tell you, but you have to answer a question of my own first.ö

ôDonÆt worry about it.ö the Minister replied. ôKatsuragi wonÆt be harmed when we
have to take down NERV.ö all the while thinking it would be best if the woman died
æaccidentallyÆ as she resisted protective custody.

ôThatÆs not what I want to know. What, you think they wouldnÆt have thought it
possible that theyÆd have to suffer through conventional attack? Or that they wonÆt
have someone offering advance warning? No, donÆt answer. These questions are
rhetorical, not what IÆm looking for.ö

Defense Minister Sakata looked sour. The inquest he participated in against the
suspiciously apt preparedness of NERV way back during the Matarael incident still
burned. Through the embarrassment, he felt he was proven right. NERVÆs enemies
did the world a good deal of unnecessary pain. Things just kept on getting worse
the more power that Ikari (both of them) grasped for themselves.

Kaji smirked. ôAs long as you have a secret, a question will chase after it. I asked
Yang the same thing.ö

ôDonÆt be too presumptive of your own importance. Trying to play both sides at this
point will end badly for you.ö

Kaji took the cigarette from his lips and pointed. ôThen youÆd better take what you
see as the truth.ö he said while waving it around in a lazy spiral.

Minister Sakata considered not letting Kaji live to return to Tokyo-3, but it was the
most basic strategem to ensure oneÆs own unexpected death will just make that
much more trouble for everyone else. KajiÆs been playing the game for long
enough that just a woman didnÆt sound enough to secure his loyalty. ôAll right,
what do you really want?ö

ôAnswer me this, and honestly. What is the door for, opening or closing?ö

ôHuh?ö

ôCome on, now, this is really important to me. What do you think?ö

The Minister rubbed at his head. ôI donÆt have time for these games.ö

ôShall I tell you what Yang said? That itÆs better left to itself. Blocked, buried even.ö

Minister Sakata looked up. ôAre you talking about the technology of the Eva?ö


ôFor me the door should be opened by force. That's the reason. That's why I'm
here.ö He flicked the cigarette to the Minister's desk.


-][-

And now despite appearances, NERV was not in a power vacuum.

With the Commander and Subcommander either gone or under arrest, that left
Misato Katsuragi as utter despot over Tokyo-3. While Yang's corpse cooled, she
was in the next room over ensuring that Tokyo-3 was locked down tight; all roads
secured, all flights over the airspace other than the one bringing her back were to
be warned away once then eat an anti-air missile if it refused to comply. Only the
AA turrets didn't require resupply, since in the last attack by Evangelion-class
enemies these fast radar-guided explosive-tipped missiles were just this side of
useless.

Kaji leaned on a wall, surrounded by armed guards. He had diplomatic credentials
but all knew it that he was far less of a target than Misato. He lit up a cigarette and
took out his NERV security pass. ôHuh. Never noticed before how itÆs the color of
blood.ö

Of course, his guards made no comment. The security detail was waiting for
armored transport. Kaji had to leave ahead of Misato, since an armored limo was
good enough for him. He was no stranger to death, and seeing YangÆs face split
open like an overripe melon wouldnÆt give him (and Misato) any nightmares above
the usual. What scared him more at that moment was the sheer ûinevitability- of things.

He stretched out inside the limo and stuck his hands in his pockets. It was so tiring
having to play sides against each other. Maybe even Misato saw him as a fool.

Kaji closed his eyes, thinking a short fifteen-minute nap before having to report in
to the bureaucracy wasnÆt too much to ask.

He came to inside a dark featureless steel room.

Quickly Kaji stood up. He wasnÆt handcuffed or tied down, which was a surprise. He
then checked his pockets for his cigarettes. He took out the pack. ôLast one left.ö
Then he realized whoever had kidnapped him had taken the lighter. ôBastards.ö

The door behind him opened, flooding the room with light. Kaji turned around and
smiled. ôYo. I was wondering when youÆd show up.ö

Misato Katsuragi entered and crossed her arms. Two black-suited agents of NERV
Section Two, one tall and tanned and the other shorter and pale with age, flanked
her.

ôI donÆt need this shit, Kaji.ö Misato hissed. ôItÆs bad enough that Gendo makes my
mission a lie from the start, I donÆt need my own command staff working behind
my back, keeping secrets, as if IÆd stomach being æprotectedÆ like that. I just gave
Shinji-kun a good scolding about it. I donÆt want to have to repeat myself.ö

ôAhah. So IÆm a hostage then?ö He began to laugh. "Aha. I'm bait again."

=][=

"Sorry, miss- but orders are orders. Tokyo-3's under total lockdown. Nobody goes
in or out." said the UNIG soldier at the pass.

"This is an abuse of power!" Rika Izuna screeched from her news van. "The public
has he right to evacuate from danger zones! This is still Japanese soil, you know!"
Her faithful assistant sighed and began to reverse the van. "If we didn't try and hunt down Horaki, we could have left with the rest of the team."

"Katsuragi's not going to get away with this!" the reporter yelled out with her head
out the window.

Katsuragi had given twelve hours for Tokyo-3 to empty itself of noncombatants.
Then at noon, heavy physical barriers went up over the north and east passes.
Metal shutters lowered over the mountain tunnels. and armor slabs rose from the
roads. The only way in was through the south, and there overlooking Cerberus Base lines of JSSDF tanks straddled the highway. The entrance to Tokyo-3 itself
was blocked by the UNIG's fewer but stronger tanks. They faced outwards.

General Kiyosato Akira was one of the three generals who led the defense against
Sachiel. While events had later marginalized the role of the JSSDF in defending
against the Angels, he had been one of those very instrumental in getting the
UN support base up and running. Now, even he was denied access to Hakone.
He walked across the empty roads to meet Col. Nasuno, who was still in charge of
the city's defenses. Beside him was Captain Avrikupolous, unarmed and helmet-less, though still very dangerous in full Tactical Dreadnought armor. NNHIS
representative Tokita followed, clutching his coat against the strong valley wind.

General Akira at the soldiers beyond the pass. Some of the tanks still had the red star of the China, forces brought in some months ago with Ikari's return and then
trickling in with the UN's multinational detachments. He nodded to Nasuno. "What
do you think you're doing? It's fine if you don't want to leave, but you're edging too
close to treason here."

"I don't like it either, but those are the orders. You're going to have to find someone who can countermand them."

"From Katsuragi?" He sucked his lips in. That would have to be the UN Security
Council. Everyone was just waiting for the situation to explode.

Unfortunately, if the situation DID explode, for NERV to remain neutral would
thereafter see them utterly dominating the world stage. General Akira looked back
to the sea horizon. China wouldn't survive all-out war, what with their nuclear
arsenals just for second-strike purposes; at most a hundred, with about thirty in
submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Their most of their site-based launchers were
used up against Sahaquiel.

Unfortunately, the Eva had already demonstrated the capability to intercept
hypersonic bombardment both globally and simultaneously.

"Politics doesn't really interest me, but why is that such a problem?" spoke Captain
Avrikupolous. "Even I know that no matter how many men the Chinese have, they
have no chance of getting across the Sea of Japan."

"Ahem, I don't think even Yang-sensei can pull off miracles when he's... dead." Said
Tokita.

"Not unless they're invited here." Col. Nasuno replied while rubbing his forehead.
"If
they want to force the issue, it's either that or have a lot of people on both sides die."

Gen. Akira nodded. Unless the UN NAVY and all other forces there decided to immolate
most of the Korean peninsula facing east, the PLA had enough rockets and missiles
to kill the all world's naval tonnage twice over and reach all the way across the Sea of
Japan. It was a weird sort of MAD, since both forces would have enough advance warning
of a strike that they could launch their own counterstrikes well in time. But even if the
artillery and mobile missile divisions were destroyed, there were still others in transit from
the mainland. Yang loved the missile massacre so much. It would be much harder to
replace the ships, and without a force to screen the sea even the JSSDF's first line forces
entertained the notion they could successfully drive back a mass assault from the mainland.

The only reasonable safe platform in the debacle would be the submarines, and the PLA/N's
submarines were still less capable than the ones available to the UN and the JSSM. The
Sea of Japan however was so thick with subs and already well-monitored that it was
nearly impossible to hide. Again it would rely on whoever decides to strike first.
It was a dizzying complex sequence and that practically insured it was NOT Yang's
plan. Because they could see it, for all the difficult of predicting how it would go.
Tokita smirked. "It doesn't really matter, does it? No matter what they do, they
only have until Asuka comes back to... how's that go? Fuck their shit up."
No one had doubts about that. The Chinese would be treated to a red-haired
devil falling out of the sky, with barbarian rage and a valkyrie's spear, and verily
shit shall be fucked up.

=][=

Misato put one foot on top of the base commanderæs table and pumped her fists in
the air. ôI hereby claim this land as the Principality of Katsuragi!"

Ritsuko hit her on the head with a plastic clipboard. ôNo."

=][=

All things considered, Kozo Fuyutsuki supposed, he could be a lot more
uncomfortable. He was being held in the JSSDF base at Atsugi. His cell was clean,
dry, and spacious. He was fed three times a day, and was allowed to keep a pot of
tea warm on an electric kettle. He had a small TV to keep from getting too bored
and could borrow newspapers from the guards. Monitoring was limited to cameras
and guards outside his cell. It was not how he'd expected to spend his retirement,
but better than he felt he deserved.

Thus when the screams and explosions began he was able to restrain himself from
looking for more than just a few minutes. With a tired groan he eventually went
over to the small window to his cell. He saw fires, and tanks and trucks overturned,
and in the distance something green and fast roared past.

He heard a soft click and turned around to see Gendo unlocking his cell. "I'm surprised
you actually even bothered."

"You were there at the beginning, sensei. It only seems proper you see how it ends."

Fuyutsuki shook his head and tugged at his gray hairs. "So you set her free, I trust?"

"Just as Yui wanted."

There was a loud crash from outside and the squeal of skidding tires. "So the exit
clause has been nullified. I don't pity SEELE, but... she wanted you to become an
ally of justice. This isn't revenge. This isn't even punishment." He glanced at
Gendo's scarred hands. ôIt was never this world that took her from you.ö

=][=



"Katsuragi, this is edging very close to treason." the Prime Minister himself was
handing the remote conference. He was still fairly young, with long hair behind a
wide forehead. "Hakone is still Japanese soil. Closing it off and refusing to
cooperate with investigatorsà itÆs suspicious. Is that the image you really want to
present"

Misato remained silent, her arms crossed over her chest. She refused to sit on GendoÆs
old chair. ôIÆm fine with looking like a bad guy, if it means nobody gets to take a shot at
my pilots.ö She sniffed. ôYang died while I was talking to him.ö

Kaji, back at Cerberus base, chortled. ôItÆs like the classic mystery question, isnÆt
it?ö He pointed with his index finger and thumb out, and mouthed æbangÆ. ôWho
benefits most from the murder?ö

ôKajiàö she hissed warningly. ôI donÆt need this shit.ö

ôI guess yes, I do.ö he replied with a slight grin. ôBut itÆs not like anyone here in Cerberus
respects me anyway. In the short term, maybe.ö He leaned back on his chair and waved.

ôBut itÆs unlikely that Yang was killed for transient political power or a cassus belli for China.
In the short term, this reduces the efficiency of our forces and worsens relations. In the
long term... Yang was a relic. It wasnÆt really him that was the danger, but because he was
the best person to hold the Treasure Box.ö

ôWhat?ö Prime Minister Sato asked, annoyed at being sidelined.

ôAt the very bottom of PandoraÆs Box, after all the ills and monsters of the world was
set loose, was butterfly of hope.ö Kaji bowed his head. In the long term, who would
benefit most from YangÆs death? Misato Katsuragi. It was time for her to move out of
the shadow of the previous generation.

ôThe Evangelion isnÆt going to just go away.ö Misato replied roughly. ôWe keep on
fighting and fighting, what the hell do you think we should get out of this?ö

That left the Prime Minister speechless for quite some time. Then, with careful hostility
he said ôI donÆt know. ThereÆs a lot who believe you want to cause Third Impact.ö

öThatæs as easy as letting any Angel through into Terminal Dogma.ö said Ritsuko. SheÆd
been content to remain silent as Misato stonewalled everyone else. As she joined the
discussion, everyone connected had to pay attention. She was the worldæs leading expert
on xenobiology, the only one to successfully resist a Unity mind worm, and while
Katsuragi could be replaced, Akagi was a prize for any world power.

Ritsuko smirked unkindly. How little they knew. "NERV is a UN operation. Well, it's
supposed to be. I don't know if NERV Boston's as free from American interests, but
here in NERV Hakone we can't afford picking and choosing who helps secure that
damn Angel down below."

"Why not just destroy it?" Prime Minister Sato asked. Nothing in the past fifteen years
seemed worth all this pain.

"That might wake it up." Ritsuko replied from her laboratory. "That would be a bad thing."

"What, it's not dead?"

"The creature caused Second Impact. We do know now that the Angels don't seem
to have a specific grudge against humanity, they might not even understand why
we're so small and yet individuals." Ritsuko smirked. "It's only a matter of time
until we exhaust even the Angels... eventually, their active evolution will imitate
our strengths to such an extent that we can communicate with them."

The Prime Minister looked doubtful. "Are you sure about that?"

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to? Would you prefer to keep on throwing
away lives and money in fighting an endless war?" She laughed pitilessly. "If you all
want to play with Evangelions in your little political games after this, I don't care.
Just don't get in our way until we get this damn thing off this planet."

Misato chimed in with "Gendo wanted to cause Third Impact and become a God,
you know." She grinned. "Really, all I'm asking for is to be supplied from whoever I
want."

Kaji added. "What you do about china is your own business. Anyone trying to take
NERV would be trying to control the doomsday trigger, and that would be political
suicide. No one should be able to threaten all the world and all of humanity at once."

ôYes, that includes us, damn it." said Misato.

"Removing the alien... this is NERV's actual plan? Where are you going to put it?"

ôSomewhere in deep freeze until weÆre sure that just throwing it into the sun wonÆt
make it return angry and on fire.ö RitsukoÆs tone was the very pit of boredom, as if
daring people to think her she was telling blatant lies.

-][-


- and Shinji's scene continues from here.

 

[Sdebeli]

Over the course of reading all of this, I have come to the terminal conclusion. Bpen loves his tropes.

 

[Mercsenary]

Over the course of reading all of this, I have come to the terminal conclusion. Bpen loves his tropes.

"Gotta send the readers a snippet full of tropes. Readers love tropes."

 

[violetshadows]

Over the course of reading all of this, I have come to the terminal conclusion. Bpen loves his tropes.

"Gotta send the readers a snippet full of tropes. Readers love tropes."

Hmmm, well I do love my tropes.

 

[bluepencil]

-][-

Agent Jiro spun the wheel and sent the white news van into a sharp turn. The
cameraman/driver/flunky shielded Rika Izuna with his own body. "Hey, careful with
the equi- oof!" he tried to say as Rika in trying to get up dug her elbow into the
small of his back. Agent Kentaro grabbed Shinji by the back of his shirt before the
boy could accidentally faceplant into the reporter's breasts.

Shinji didn't even seem to notice, his attention consumed by the military radio held
up to his ears. "Turn left at the next intersection, they're ready." he said, opening
his eyes to see Rika Izuna's outraged expression. His own face showed confusion.

She was about to slap him but missed from her cameraman moving out from under
her. Just as well, since Agent Kentaro despite his dark shades radiated hostility at
trying to punish the kid for a perversion he hadn't even done. Or it could be that
the boy reminded him too much of his own younger days and strong-willed
women that dominated his teenage years.

The new van's roon caved inward, and the rear door was ripped right off. Flipping
head over heels, a blue-haired girl slid into the van. Rika screamed at seeing Rei's
feral grin, her eyes glowing like hellfire.

"Stay back! Or-! Or..." Shinji yelled brokenly. Quickly he fumbled behind him
looking for any weapon. His fingers found something soft, and he pulled.

"Wak?" said Pen-pen. The bird saw it was face to face with Lillith and began to
scream in panic.

"BEHOLD MY PENGUIN LASERR!" Shinji shouted with his eyes tightly closed.

"Wak." said Pen-pen.

"What." said Lillith.

Shinji squeezed the side of Pen-pen's belly, and the penguin's eyes glittered bright.
A cross-shaped flash burst out, clipping the pale blue hair just above Lillith's ears, and
blowing off a skycraper's top in the distance.

A long uncomfortable silence stretched within the vehicle, interrupted only with the
clanking of the motor and short bumps as the van rolled over the broken highway.

"... in my defense, I wasn't expecting that to work, like, at all." the boy whimpered.

Pen-pen spun around in Shinji's hold and began to viciously assault the boy's face
with his claws and feet. "Wakwakwakwakwakwrakrakrak!" As Shinji let out a

"Yargh!" of pain and let go to protect himself, Pen-pen dropped to the floor and,
giving a last contemptous sniff, waddled over towards the front of the vehicle.

"Um..."

There was a whump, as a second set of footprints appeared on the van roof, and a
slim arm reached down to grab Lillith by the hairs at the back of her head.

As quick as she had appeared, she was gone.

"... wasn't that Ayanami?" asked the cameraman.

Again they all had to look for support as the van skidded into another sharp turn.

As the van rounded the corner, it passed a line of large armored mercenaries, the
Legio Terminatus, all sixteen of them.
Wrathbone was horrendously expensive. Psychically-charged material however,
was apparently almost the same thing as the Lance and could break through
passive AT-field protection.

The Legio Terminatus, the twelve with 30mm autocannons, were burning through
about three hundred million dollars worth of psycannon rounds per second. All of
that just to keep Lillith pinned down. If Her AT-field was focused on defense, then
it was not being used to tear to shreds everything in sight. Overlapping hexagons
flared all around her and she had to drop to the ground.

Above here, on the roofs on either side were the Psykana. Lama Pagnor was there,
in full Terminator armor and with the experimental psychic hood. The rest of the
were wearing lighter armor but still with the strange tall helmet. They were all
wielding spears of black metal.

A third of the city was rubble. Half of the rubble was on fire. Shinji winced at
feeling three broken ribs. His elbows were scraped and bleeding. He was grinning.
Ayanami was worth an army. But what about Ayanami PLUS an army?

The white van lurched to a stop, and slowly those inside got off. A penguin hopped
out of the front side seat and began to berate the driver in unintellegible squawks.
Agent Jiro shot a wild 'help me I don't know what the hell I'm doing here' look
to his partner. They were supposed to Shinji's sentries, kept a comfortable distance
away from his zone of weirdness.

"What's happening?" Rika Izuna asked, while jabbing at her companion to get
his camera up. "I heard part of your conversation with Katsuragi. You seem to know
a lot about this latest Angel attack, Pilot Ikari. What is Lillith? What was that thing
about removing Ayanami's ability to trigger Impact and implanting it into yourself?!"

By the gods, just when she thought that any Ikari's power-grubbing ways couldn't
surprise her anymore, they just go several more shameless steps further!

Agent Kentaro stepped between the reporter and the boy. "No comment." He put
his hand over the camera lends. "Thank you for your patience while we
commandeered your vehicle, but now it's best if you left. It's dangerous here."
The reporter mulishly stuck her jaw out. "No. I'm not afraid of you." she said while
holding her microphone like it was a dagger. "I'm not afraid to chase after the truth!"

"That's... brave of you." Agent Kentaro lifted an eyebrow. "But stupid."

"You fascist assho-"

"No, just one twenty kiloton N2 device isn't enough." Shinji said into his radio. "It's
going to take at least ten megatons to overwhelm Rei's AT-field, and timing all
those N2 mines is going to be tricky." He blinked. "Yes, I want to preserve the city.
No, we're fine. Just bring them to the surface, please."

"Wait. Did he just say what I think he heard he said?" the reported asked shrilly.

Agent Kentaro pointedy looked past her. "Maybe you'd better turn that camera
around. We all have to fight for survival in our own way. The truth also contains
what people give of themselves."


=][=


ôSo this is how it ends.ö said Pagnor. HeÆd lived a long time, like most of the
masters of Javaal, eating the pain of the living world. HeÆd always known that the
hatred from the color of oneÆs skin made no sense, but it was still odd to have all of
that put to stark insignificance by one strange blue-haired young girl.

He looked to his left and right. These were the warriors made for final war
prophesied over five thousand years ago. When he first learned of his own abilities,
contacted in the streets of Chicago in 1938, he'd been hateful at being prevented
from using his powers to make change, to make them all pay.

The Thule Society broke his illusions of people of his abilities being any more moral
or worthy to rule. He'd been brought to Javaal for training, and and fought in the
scarred wastelands created by the sacrifice of millions, in worlds half-formed and
in the shadows behind men's eyes. But it was just one piece of the puzzle. A
greater horror lay in wait.

To SEELE, the war was just an excuse. The Japanese Imperial Government had
opened up the geofront, and thought they could use the dead monsters within
as their trump card. The metal wasted for the battleships Yamato and Musashi was
nothing compared to those sunk underground. It would have been a fortress
beyond anything the world had known, a city in darkness, an empire in secret. That
was the last counter-invasion plan. A shadow moon, untouchable, slid sideways in
time where one may counterattack with impunity.
SEELE had no need for Imperial Japan. They need the secret broken, the Allied
powers in excited frenzy at this power beyond their atomic weapons, pouring
more funding into research that must be hidden from the rest of the world, for
the victorious mood should not be broken by the proof of man's insignificance
in the universe.

To more subtly and inevitably nudge the powers behind nations into the
ultimate blasphemy.

There had always been monsters in the shape of man.


ôThe temptation is too much.ö Shinji had said. ôThe Dummy Plug System sounds
like a mercyà or at least efficientà compared to having pilots like me, but itÆs still a
trap. I wonder how many worlds before us were consumed by tainted self-interest?ö

ôAre you saying that manÆs shape is not unique in the universe?ö

ôIÆm saying itÆs inevitable. Where did the story come from, I wonder, the undying Mother
who wears Her daughters' faces?ö

Pagnor took a deep breath, lightning sparking around his face like a blue halo. He slammed
his helmet over his head and growled. He lifted his spear and jumped off, running down the
side of the building in defiance of gravity. It would end here. The others followed
without hesitation.

The world had changed around them, in the distant past someone had cut a sliver out
of time just to make sure there were those who could stand at the right moment -
mortals with the power to slay a god.

Rei Ayanami pulled at her opponentÆs arms, her knee on her doppelgangerÆs back. The
power behind their punches was an explosive release of the AT-field. Leverage still
applied, and with such an pin not even a being of LillithÆs power could do anything with
Her shell in such a pose as if crucified. She could only be forced to watch as, like host
of descending golden raptors, the Psykana threw themselves off the building.

Their spears crackled with power, the AT-field blazed red, and was pierced through!

There was just a staccato of heavy thuds as they drove their spears down with both
arms and all their strength. The pavement cracked under their boots.
There was the scent of burning meat as eight long spears impaled deep into AyanamiÆs
body and out the back. Rei just gave a slight wince as the blades over-penetrated to
make shallow stab into her own flesh. Steaming blood dripped down the blade coming
out of LillithÆs neck and stained her pale green hospital dress.
Lillith let out a strange gurgling noise. The primordial being was trying to laugh even
as Her lungs filled with blood.

Shakily she reached out to grasp a grim, scowling helm of the Psykana. Gently she
cupped the long chin and spluttered ôà the keyà the gift is all mineö She threw her
head back, the heavy spear straight through her eye breaking her neck.

An invisible wave spread out, pulling out dread and despair from everyone. It soaked
down through the ground, and forced those in the geofront to hug themselves. It
slid through the air to the sea, and the warships in Sagami Bay looked towards the
city in horrified realization. The heartbeat of the world seemed to skip, and those
asleep on the other side of the world woke screaming.

All shared a vision of a murky dark sea, and from its still waters two needle points
began to rise. The two-pronged spear met in a long coiled shaft.

Thick amber liquid burst out of the neck of the armored form she was touching. The
suit flopped wet and empty onto the road.



Down below, Maya screamed ôITÆS AN ANTI-AT FIELD!ö

ôA what?!ö Misato screamed back.

There was high droning noise, and the sensors went wild. ôBlue Pattern detected!ö

Shigeru shouted. ôIt's... IT'S AN ANGEL!ö

"God damn -"


High above Tokyo-3, a spot in the sky grew bright, then abruptly shattered outward.
Threads of energy shot out like from a broken loom, weaving together into the counter-
rotating helix that was Armisael.

The Angel swung in mid-air, letting out a hard twanging noise, to hover above the place
where Lillith lay. Ritsuko had a brief flash of panic- the Second Angel was out of the
geofront. Contact between it and an Angel born of Adam would cause runaway Third
Impact. She held her breath and steeled herself to watch the world end.

The empty space within ArmisaelÆs rings flared bright, and a bright hot pillar of raw
star-fire lanced down. It had nothing but hatred for the very idea of Lillith. The shock
of the beam caused the air around it to burst out in a shockwave, sending cars
tumbling over and into buildings. The particle beam pulsed continuously but,
impossibly, was deflected. The beam blasted down at an angle into the geofront,
effortlessly burning through layers of earth and armor to scar the green fields beneath.
Monitors fizzed out into static, and the ground shuddered.

There was flame, and there was smoke, and then there was silence.


Ayanami crawled. Her elbows and knees were scraped raw and half her face was
covered by blood. Slowly she moved by shifting on her side, snake-like, pushing with
her thighs in. Her only thought was to see Shinji safe. He was not born to this power,
and thus she thought it only fitting that she should suffer. Her strength was his, and
his own strength was the one that kept her living.

"Ayanami..." she heard faintly.

She smiled. He too was on his knees, coughing, trying to find his way through the
dust cloud. She knew in her heart that, if they were to just touch, then everything
forever would be all right. They were like broken mirrors whose jagged pieces fit
perfectly. Shinji had never really healed any of Rei's issues with her self-worth. They
had channeled it into a more productive purpose.

Rei could not bring life onto the world. Thus she had to be the preserver.

Behind her came the the light clacking of footsteps, the concrete screaming where
shoes touched. Rei flinched. She saw Shinji gasp in wonder, and she regretted
having been unable to spare him this pain.

The floating cloud of debris burst, clearing away right and left as if blown away by
the flapping of great wings. The white of a laboratory coat shone eye-hurtingly white.

Yui Ikari smiled.

Armisael above began to furiously spin its helix. Hostile light bore down and splashed
against a monstrous AT-field. The Angel didn't let up. Instead, it compressed the
beam and pulsed even quicker, like it was screaming DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! with every
flare.

Until, finally, a pencil-thin beam broke through. Yui Ikari skipped lightly, to the side,
the beam singing the edge of her coat. Her left eyebrow lifted in fascination. Her
fingers twitched, and there was a sound not unlike that of a piano key.

Yui lifted her hand to her face. Delighted, she wiggled her fingers. The sounds
formed by the interaction of the AT-field she now controlled took on a more musical
timbre.

Humm.

Yui shifted the position of her handm up and down, held out and to the sides.

Humm.

Hummm.

Hummmm...!

She stretched out, exulting as her muscles strained, and sliced up with her open palm.
There was a sound not unlike a harp string being cut, and then the air rang with a
scream.

Armisael staggered in mid-air, unraveling. Cut straight through, its strands leaked
thick red blood as it crashed onto the buildings. It exploded into ichor.
Dead.

Yui Ikari resumed experimenting, on her face a look of delighted inquiry. Tall buildings
began tumbling down around her.

Down delow, Ritsuko Akagi slumped defeated on her seat. "So this is how the world
ends..." she whispered. "To the strains... of F³r Elise."


Rei felt herself being picked up by the back of the neck, weak as a kitten. 'We were
wrong...' she thought. 'People are separate because being together brings pain.
That which cuts through the AT-field... is what we call the Spear.' Lillith's own lance,
the trigger of evolution. The grip began to tighten and she couldn't breathe.

"Ayanami!"

Shinji's panicked cry pulled her back from the abyss. From her peripheral vision she saw
him attempt to leap to help, only to fall to his chin as he was tackled from behind.

"Dammit, Ikari!" Agent Kentaro whispered fiercely and with regret "Remember you're the
trigger for Third Impact now!"

The blood from Armisael's stringy yet gargantuan corpse was starting to flood the edges
of the avenue.

"I won't sacrifice Ayanami... not again!" the boy blubbered, desperately and in futilility
reaching out with his right hand. Fear and hate and shame bubbled through his veins, for
he knew that this too, was likely his fault too.

Yui turned to look at him while still effortlessly holding up Rei by the neck with one arm.

She tried to speak, but there were no words. A metallic shriek was all that she could
make. Though she might wear the shape of a human, the region of space she occupied
might as well have been a different universe in itself, a singularity in a soul.

The plaintive twang of strings seemed to croon 'It's going to be fine.' Yui turned back to
Rei, and gripped the girl's neck with both hands. 'It's all going to plan. I'm going to fix
everything, you'll see.'

There was a loud crack, and Yui's head snapped back. A crumpled dart fell from her
cheek. It had a tungsten carbide penetrator head with a psychoplastic material core.

Yui looked annoyed.

Within the fifth floor of a cark park several blocks over, a UNIG sniper shivered with
sudden, maddening fear. His eyes met hers through the scope and he opened his
mouth to scream. There was an explosion of blood and an empty uniform and an
anti-material rifle slapped onto the garage floor.

Slowly the Tactical Dreadnoughts of the Legio Terminatus and a few weary Psykana
shuffled back into the street. Lama Pagnor's armor was dented inwards. Many of his
comrades had not fared so well, devoured by Lillith's presence or had their bodies
crushed by debris. Faith and willpower had not served as well as thick layers of armor.

They couldn't attack, fearing that Yui would use Rei as a human shield. They looked
to the anguished plea on their employer's face and saw that the boy had nothing
left. He'd met the foe he could not defeat through raw insanity. He was still pinned
to the ground, his chin to the road surface. He would not be able to let go of love
and pride.

Never again. Not to Ayanami!

Yui looked to Shinji, then to Rei, and tilted her head aside as if to ask: 'Is this
enough?' It was loyalty. Wasn't it just a transaction of emotions? Ayanami was
being loved as payment for her power. She had never stopped being a tool.

Anger flashed across Rei's face. Her lips curled up in a slight snarl. Of course it
was enough! She was replaceable. Sohryu could become a mother. She existed
only to die for him.

Pride and delight spread across Yui Ikari's features. Gratefulness shone in her eyes.

'You have done well.' she mouthed out. The girl had fulfilled her purpose to the
outmost. The tool had served very well, until the time the Project could be
completed.

And now the tool must be put down.

Yui squeezed. And squeezed. Someone was screaming. There was a squelching
noise and a crack.

Rei Ayanami's body fell limp onto the blood-slicked road. Her head went another
away.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Shinji screamed himself hoarse.

The street lit up in fire. Autocannons and Storm Bolters blazed away. The shots
struck and sparked off Yui, standing there casually with her hands in her pockets,
all futile as shooting Superman. She still had that sad, yet satisfied smile.
As long as
Ayanami existed, there was the possibility of Lillith leaking out.

Armisael's blood was now a thick red tide through the street, carrying loose debris
with it.

Agent Jiro's shock allowed Shinji to flail his limbs out of the hold and crawl out. The
boy shakily crawled on all fours like an animal towards Rei's corpse. His clothes
were stained by flowing Angel blood.

He reached out, and plucked Rei's head as the Angel blood draining towards the
lake brought it closer. "Ayanami..."

Her face in death was peaceful as ever. She had no regrets. "Ayah... ayana.. mi..."
Shinji sobbed and embraced his beloved's decapitated head, cradling it to his chest.

He remained there, bent over and weeping even as others around him continued to
fight. And die.

Their mistake was thinking that, because psychoreactive material could erode
AT-fields, was that they would work against all Angels, even Lillith. Except, as it
turned out, all that the psyker activity throughout humanity was to rebuild Lillith's
own Lance.

"Get him out of here!" Lama Pagnor roared to Agent J, as he and the Custodes
tried to force back whatever this abomination wearing a dead woman's body. He
put two fingers to his temple, and then pointed. Lightning flashed out from his
fingertips. Yui stepped back. Good; he thought. If she... it... didn't want to get
hit by a psychic attack, then there might still be something they could do. His
combat focus was powerful, but the other masters had other esoteric methods.
He looked aside for a moment to check, and saw that Agent Jiro and the reporter
were dragging an insensate Shinji away from the fighting.

He turned back and saw that Yui Ikari was already at his face. Her face was
solemn. She held up a slim finger and touched the hollow of his throat. Then she
was ripping him open in one easy flick from neck to groin. Blood and viscera
poured out of torn composite armor.

The Legio Terminatus were falling back. There was another roar, and a bright
flash, and steel rained from the skies as an artillery strike landed. Corpses left
on the battlefield, including Pagnor and Ayanami, were torn to unrecognizable
shreds.

Yui Ikari walked out, dusting off flesh of metal ash from her lab coat. She sneezed
a small cute 'higu', and rubbed at her nose with her palms together as if praying.

-][-

Inside the geofront, Kaji popped back into the conferencing window to say "Katsuragi,
I'm going to order that all UN assets launch all their N2 strategic missiles now. Any
objections?"

"No." Misato said, suddenly so very tired.

"All right. We all die in five minutes." Kaji looked aside and gave a hesitant grin. "Those
words I couldn't say before, I suppose they won't be a comfort now. But let me just
say... it's been real, Katsuragi."

"Yeah. Good-bye, Kaji."



---------------------
UGH. Still dissatisfied with this. Yui-Lillith needs to be scarier and more unnaturally alien. Kind of like a female Alex Mercer, only instead of having to stab and absorb memories and biomatter, all she has to do is to look at you and you're goo.

This entire chapter is supposed to be about a massive Xanatos Stockpile crashing down. Hmm. Should I finish writing a draft to close up the plot, or smooth out the structure? In any case, gimme another week. What's one more compared to the year it's lain fallow?

 

[datenchi]

epic PENGUIN LASERR

 

[Sdebeli]

epic PENGUIN LASERR

Indeed. :rofl:

 

[bluepencil]

Changes in this version:

Better explains the source of psyker power
Shinji is no longer just a passive observer; suits up, kicks ass
References adjusted to be more blatant


After ten thousand years, I'm free! Time to conquer Ear... wait. I mean, after almost a year of doing nothing, time for a new update! This is the FF.net ready version, except that for some reason I can't log in. The captcha isn't showing up. Anyone else having this problem?

Warning: this post strips out formatting.

-----------------------------------------------------------


Tumbling down part 2

o
o
o

(snip unchanged early portion for 60k character limit)


=][=


=][=

æItÆs kind of convenient that Tokyo-3Æs empty of civilians just when an Angel thatÆs
human-sized comes along.Æ the Prime Minister was thinking as he was cut off from
the conference. æItÆs just like as Kaji said. The Angel attacks are nothing more than
a smokescreen.Æ
Misato gave no thought to Kaji, who merely bowed aside to watch her work. There
was truth in her relief at hearing the boyÆs voice. It sure made a difference, having
something or someone to protect.
Kaji looked around his own battle command deep within Cerberus Base.
This was Case Zero: an attack by a human-sized Evangelion-class enemy. Like
Nagisa. Or, say, Ayanami.
Shinji Ikari very nearly wrote the book on anti-Angel combat. Certain parties
compiled transcripts and offhand remarks and collected them into a small handbook.
An Uplifting Primer, one might say.
There was a section discussing why an Angel with human awareness and human
ruthlessness was the most dangerous enemy of all. Evangelions were all but
useless against them.

"Angelspawn are different. The Angel is not a gestalt consciousness, but within its
region of absolute territory it has no problem having whatever form of Self it wants.
Angelspawn are dangerous, but destroying them has as much harm to the Angel as
cutting off hair for a human.
A hybrid like Nagisa, who embraces all the power of his Angel half, can strike
with all the force of an Evangelion and all the subtlety of a human."
And when asked why doesn't Kaworu Nagisa just attack without having to use
the Earth's Cradle, he had this response: "Because while it takes an Evangelion to
kill an Angel, by wearing the human form the enemy is as easy to kill as you or me.
You just have to get through the AT-field. Nagisa doesn't dare attack me head-on
anymore because I've proven I can get past his AT-field anytime to give him a dagger
to the face."
How could a simple human without any special powers, as Shinji Ikari -claimed- to
be, get through an AT-field? Wasn't the whole reason for building the Eva because
no conventional weapon could bring down an AT-field?
And here the boy laughed. "It's strange, but you see... AT-field is the light of the
soul. It is the zone of absolute territory where the Angel may exist. If you're in one,
you feel as if you're being torn apart. There is this great presence that shouts
YOU ARE NOT.
It erodes the Ego Border that maintains our existence. It makes you doubt that you
have any worth in this universe. It destroys your personality from the inside, it burns
and mutates your body from the outside.
But through all this, I've found... it doesn't take any special gift, no bloodline, no
mystical ceremony, no technological aid. It's just that simple. We are all souls self-
evident. We can WALK THROUGH an AT-field."
It was just surviving the trip that was the problem.
Cerberus Base personnel had long resigned themselves to serve as a speedbump to
buy enough time to the pilots to get to their Evangelions. Now that NERV had no
functional Evas, they were faced having to repulse an Angel attack on their own.

That it was -the- sort of Angel attack that they were actually equipped to handle
still only brought on a feeling of panic.
Colonel Nasumo grudgingly had to applaud Katsuraig's paranoia. With most of the
city retracted into the geofront, he had a clear view for his artillery. The VTOLs
didn't scramble, their rockets would be useless when their target was small and
capable of kicking away at mach speed on a whim. The laser air defense towers
however, were active.
"Deny the enemy the sky." the section on Case Zero said. "The AT-field could
be used to wrap around lasers to split or turn them into homing lasers. We have
now access to psychoreactive materials, which have proven corrosive effect on
AT-field. There is another anti-Angel weapon... I call it the Thought Bomb.

Something like it won't destroy the typical giant Angel. But against a smaller
enemy, it can destroy its concentration. Anti-air defenses can be loaded with
psycannon shells, and lasers can be focused through crystal impregnated with
psychic power to act like a Personality Beam. As much as the AT-field destroys
our sense of being, so is it that when we project our own identity on the enemy's
region of absolute territory, we also taint it, we can weaken it, eventually to bring
the enemy down to the ground where it may be destroyed."
As much as a strong enough the AT-field could distort spacetime and serve as super-
ECM against trying to target it from beyond visual range (not much of a problem as
Angels tend to be big and conspicous anyway), it is also a massive beacon to psychic
awareness. Much as white-noise ECM tends to emit radiation that an ARAD missile could
home in on, warhead seekers could be made to take advantage of how wires of
superconductive wraithbone 'wrinkled' to follow or track an AT-field emitter.

Two targets on the main screen flared their AT-fields to repulse criss-crossing fire from
automated turrets around the city. "The AT-field can be used for defense, or offense,
but not simultaneously..." the Colonel murmured.
But Shinji Ikari, still carried by Rei, could attack anyway. Lightning crackled through
the sky even as the pair swooped for cover. Lillith had no choice but to go lower.
-][-

Most of Tokyo-3Æs central business and residential buildings were safe underground.
There still remained plenty of freestanding buildings all around the city center however,
and these were torn through by a pair of glowing blurs. Lillith blasted unhindered
through rows of tall tenements until she reached the other end of the city.

She floated there, confused. Her quarry had vanished. She looked up, but there was
only the bright glare of the sun. The defenses hemming Her in were annoying, but not
enough yet that she deemed it worth it to be distracted from her hunt.

While the awakened ancient maker looked around, Rei and Shinji were actually clinging
to the side of the second building in. ôAnd of course she senses AT-fields.ö Shinji sighed
as he slumped against a fire escapeÆs railing.
ôLike a shark.ö Rei agreed. She placed a hand over his. ôDo not worry. I will protect you.ö

ôI do have some small amount of masculine prià no.ö Shinji sighed again. ôNo, I donÆt. I
canÆt beat Lillith on my own, not with Unit One still locked down.ö He took a deep breath
and pushed off to stand straight. Whatever was necessary to win, pride and strength were
but tools to reach the goal. This was not the time to play the brash hotblooded idiot. It
was only him that was at risk. ôYouÆll have to distract her for a few minutes while I get
things ready.ö

ôUnderstood.ö
ShinjiÆs eyes widened. ôI know that tone... this isnÆt a suicide mission, Ayanami.ö He
gripped her by the shoulders and put his forehead to hers. ôDonÆt do anything too rash.
Wait for me, okay?ö

Now would be an appropriate time for a hug; Rei thought. So she did. ôTwo shall stand.
One shall fall." she whispered, and then began to glow. With a crack, she was zooming
off over the city and towards the surviving point defense platforms. She was going to
test her body-copy's resistance to antimatter.

Shinji looked down at six floors and wondered if he should have asked her to float him
down before leaving. He began to run down, muttering imprecations to contain his panic.
He could perform some feats of above-human ability, drawing upon the intangible
connections between himself, Rei, and Unit 01, but now he mused that stealth was still
the most useful trick. It was why Angels just couldnÆt comprehend that people were
actually living, self-contained souls. At best, larvae. Souls unable to express themselves
were barely living, by their perceptions.

Lillith would have as much respect for individuality as one might have to the grains of
wheat at harvest time.

He heaved for breath when he finally touched down at the alley. He needed to find a
payphone or something. He heard a loud screech and something darkened the end of the
alley.
It was black car. Tinted windows rolled down, and sunglasses-wearing faces showed.

ôWark.ö greeted Pen-pen from the back seat, the bird leaning out the window. Yes,
he too was wearing special custom-fit sunglasses.

ôWeÆve sunk to a new low.ö said Agent Jiro. ôTaking directions from a damn bird.ö
ôOh. Right.ö Shinji said with an appreciative whistle. ôYou can track and navigate
with AT-fields too.ö
=][=

"Ayanami's a clone? Did you know about this?" Col. Nasuno asked Kaji.
"Of course." Kaji replied cooly. The extent of how the Dummy Plug System relied
on Ayanami was only known to a select few in the government, but it was enough
have some people see her as a parallel to Heisenberg's nuclear research under
Nazi Germany.
The soldier groaned. "So now Ayanami's gone rogue. Is there anything NERV
can do about this?'
"Unit Zero's missing a head. Unit One is missing both arms." Misato spoke from
the main screen of Cerberus command bunker. "WeÆre lucky that AyanamiÆs still
fighting on our side.ö

ôBut in another sense, Ayanami HAS gone rogue.ö Ritsuko put in.
ôWell, care to explain that?ö Misato tilted her head down to ask. She was standing
up in the CommanderÆs station, but unwilling to sit down in GendoÆs seat. She
wasnÆt directly involved in the fighting, she felt the least she owed her children
was to stand and face the danger with them.

ôNo. I have no explanation.ö Ritsuko replied. She was sitting far more relaxed, her
ahoge swaying from side to side. "I just know Pilot Ikari has something do with this."
There was a chuckle from from behind, as the door to the UNIG command center
opened to let in Shiro Tokita and Kensuke Aida. Kaji raised his right eyebrow
inquisitively. With the Land Dreadnought just as useless as the Evangelions, he
wondered why they still stuck around.
"NERV doesn't have the forces to deal with this, but we do." said Tokita. "We're
the support base for Legio Terminatus too. We just saw them and the PSYKANA set
out."
Kensuke nodded. "Shinji told me about Case Zero just in case Tokyo-3 goes silent.
I think he was hoping I'd evacuate too, but what the hell." He looked up at the
screen. "Huh. I wonder why Aya... the other... the Angel? Why it's fighting outside
instead of heading down the geofront like usual?"
Ah. Aida could consistently be counted on to focus on his martial obsessions.
Where most people would be worrying about dying, Kaji mused that Kensuke would
worry about how it wouldn't be a cool enough end. The boy's words sapped some
of the tension from the command center. Kaji could see some of the operators
ease their shoulders slightly. There was still this formless terror weighing them all
down, more than the usual near-panic of an Angel attack.
The communications to NERV fizzled for a moment as a large explosion rocked the
surface. One of the ammunition buildings just went up in flames.
"Hang on - Katsuragi-san, we've got contact." Shigeru's voice broke in. "It's Shinji!"
Up on the overhead tactical displays another armament building winked out of
existence. A few moments later however, they managed to get another signal.
-][-
A battered vintage black automobile screeched as it bounced off a fallen lamp-post.
Shinji had on a headset connected to the heavily modified radio on the dashboard.
He was belted in. Beside him sat Pen-pen, likewise wearing a seatbelt that was too
loose for his tiny avian body. The bird screeched in protest.
In a voice all too calm Shinji said "You're the one with an AT-field for no readily
explicable reason. You make sure we don't fall wheels up and get crushed to death."
Pen-pen let out an irritated trill and tried to cross his wings.
The car landed wheels-down and bouncing back up hard, its suspension nearly
cracking. Agent Jiro fought to get the wheels moving again. He licked at a chipped
tooth and adjusted some buttons on the dashboard. There were different 'flavors'
of the AT-field, and only a few served as a natural ECM. Unfortunately most shielding
effects fell under this heading. After a while, there was a crackle and steady buzz.

"We've got a link to the geofront." the agent said. "NERV, this is Section 2 unit Sigma
Three. Stand by for communications with Pilot Ikari."
"Shinji!" Misato shouted while putting both palms on the commander's table. "Where
are you? Are you all right?"
"... hello? Oh! Excuse me, Misato-sa-" there was the loud shriek of skidding tires. The
link faltered for a few seconds as Pen-pen's mediocre AT-field repelled a failling girder.
"Ugh. I'm fine."
"Situation report!"
Shinji took a deep breath. Misato was in her uncompromising command mode. Plans
and possibilities danced within the boy's skull. This was explicitly the worst thing ever.
To survive... somehow, Misato must be -persuaded- to deliberately try and trigger
Third Impact.
His father choosing to go away with Nagisa... was this yet another of Gendo's
scenarios?
"We're under attack. One of Ayanami's... other bodies... has been compromised. But
it's a Power-type enemy instead of an Infitration or Infestation-type, so defeating
this one should prevent the others from activating. It's... the Second Angel."

"What? What the hell did you do, Ikari?!" Ritsuko's voice cut in suddenly.
ôUmà sorry. There's-ö Pen-pen squawked suddenly in alarm. ôCan we talk about this
later?ö
"Explain yourself or face my wrath."
Shinji sighed. He could feel a tingle at the back of his neck telling him that once
again either Lillith or Ayanami was nearby.
The communication was cut off. The front of the car separated from the rear half,
the boy and his penguin grimacing as sparks flew below their feet, as the metal frame
scoured against concrete. The front with the engine continued for a while longer
before sliding to a stop. Little slivers burned Shinji's shins.
Hurriedly he pushed at the release button for his seatbelt. He fell forward onto the
street, and Pen-pen obligingly slid out of his own seatbelt and onto the boy's back.
The bird let out a frantic warning. A shadow passed over them.
Shinji had no time to get up and run. He rolled across the pavement, while Pen-pen
scampered in place above him like riding a rolling log.
Whump! The rear half of the sedan was flattened by the tangled wreck of billboard
frame.

Shinji discerned a warm light from the corner of his vision. Painfully he tried to get
back to his feet.
He looked up to see the two Section Two agents get out of the front half of their
vehicle, and ineffectually firing their pistols at LillithÆs AT-field. Fortunately Rei
intercepted the wave of force that would have turned the agent into so much meat
paste.
A heavy blanket of fear hung over the city. Shinji forced his way through it with
sheer hate. Lillith had a bored expression on Her face, but it was different from
Kaworu's arrogance. Feral madness glittered in Her eyes. She was a broken creature,
made of jagged pieces that didn't quite fit, and what she wanted were souls to jam
into the cracks.
That expression didn't belong on Rei's face. How dare this being defile Ayanami's
existence! Shinji wondered if this was indeed the slumbering god held captive within
the geofront, or a dead echo from a dead world.
A dim part of him noted how perfect it was: Rei Ayanami, who could renew herself,
could shed mortal shells like a serpent may shed its skin - should now hold the
primordial beast that sculpted worlds and carried the law with her teeth.
Rei nodded; go. She was radiant. She was almost smiling, content and fulfilled in
her purpose. And yet, even with all her powers unsealed it was still an unequal
battle. It was just skill and experience that carried her, and her heart was not
immune to the fear of Lillith's unmatched potency. If Lilllith had his and Rei's
memory, she would know about Case Zero.
Shinji was bait. On the other hand, Lillith couldn't focus completely on fighting
against Rei as long as she was made to worry he would get away. Lightning
crackled the the space between Shinji's fingers, but he had no choice. Indirectly
he was helping Rei more by being nowhere near her.
Shinji let out a soundless snarl and turned away. He ran, carrying Pen-pen under his
arm like a football.
There were tunnels all over Tokyo-3. He saw that the agents were already opening
a hatch. It was a calculated risk, he saw. Lillith wouldn't be able to find them so
easily. But if neither would she have any problem punching through the street level
to corner them underground. They would be as helpless as a rat in the path of a
pipe cleaner with a head of spinning blades.
There was only dim red light to see with within the claustrophobia-inducing tunnel.
There was another benefit to going underground however. Agent Jiro forced open
one of the maintenance lockers to take out a hardened radio that could tap into
the underground communication lines.
Unfortunately, this link wouldn't be as encrypted as that from the Section 2
radio transciever.
"NERV command, this is Ikari. Are you tracking us?"
"Yes, we can see you Shinji." Maya replied. "That's the access tunnel M5. There's
an intersection leading north and south ahead."
"Where are the Pyskana deploying?"
"We can guide them over to your position, but the main road to Cerberus Base is
to the south."
"Ikari, I haven't forgotten." Ritsuko cut in again. "You still owe me an explanation!"
Shinji sighed. He would have to explain on the move. ôFine. Rei told me she could
feel always the presence of the Angel from whose genetic information she was
designed. That thing that the Committee calls Lillith. Nagisa keeps calling us humans
as Lillim, remember? That creature is also the source of all life on this planet.ö

ôEver since First Impact.ö Ritsuko replied. ôAfter billions of years, the Second Angel
chooses now to wake up?ö AdamÆs release during Second Impact should have
done something. How curious. It wasnÆt like Lillith was dead, otherwise theyÆd
never have been able to grow the Evangelions. ôDonÆt tell meà this whole mess.
You woke the damn thing up, didnÆt you?ö

ôIÆmà not sure? What I did really shouldn't have an effect like this. Father had the
Lance. He was waiting at Terminal Dogma. I don't know if he did something before
leaving with Nagisa..." Or if it really was, as he feared, that a malevolent force
followed him across dimensions.
"Ther-... zzzt."
There was a long pause as the tactical map showed Shinji and two others were making
use of a sewer access. It may be smellier, but also wider and thus they could move
faster. The sewers needed to be large to funnel floodwaters out of the city. Such a
paranoid measure had proved insufficient when the city did end up being flooded
anyway... but better than nothing.

Unlike the maintenance access tunnel, it was dark inside the sewer outflow tunnel.
Agents J and K put on slightly goofy-looking LED flashlights on headbands. Agent Jiro
couldn't help but to mutter it was the perfect time for some sort of crawling alien
terror to appear.
"Stop!" Shinji yelled and pulled hard on the agent's collar. "Don't move!"
"What is it? What is it?! Oh god it's a xenomorph isn't it?!"
They were all thrown back as the tunnel in front of them collapsed inwards, and
choking heated air filled the confines. Up on NERV's tactical map, an entire city
block vanished.
Rei Ayanami leaned against a TV tower, breathing heavily. "... my body is mortal."
she whispered. That was the whole rationale behind Case Zero. While she could
use the AT-field like the Evangelion, unlike the god-machine she burned calories
with every movement. Eventually even Lillith in her shell must tire.
A few more of those wasteful cross-shaped energy blasts...?
Rei grit her teeth and pushed with her bare feet off the metal frame. The steel
buckled inwards, and she shot off with a mumbled 'ere we goes again'.
Agent Jiro popped his head out a manhole and let out a girlish scream as a tire
just narrowly stopped in front of his face. It was connected to a white news
van. He climbed out and rested on the road, with a hand to his chest. It was bad
enough there was a terror aura pressing down on everyone in the city, but a few
more shocks like that and he'd get a heart attack. Meanwhile his partner wasted
no time in commandeering the vehicle.

-][-

"Shinji!" Misato gushed, relieved, as the boy turned his radio back on. The tactical
display showed his beacon moving at a good clip south. "Good. Listen, the forces
from Cerberus Base are already set up at one-six-five-niner. Get there as soon as
you can, I'm raising some more armament buildings to cover you."
"Our systems still can't discern which AT-field source is Ayanami and which is the
Angel, Katsuragi-san." Makoto said in a tone he hoped didn't sound insubordinate or
second-guessing her orders.

"Use the manual override and get some gunners to aim the things."
"Understood. Switching control over to the secondary command platform."
Makoto began speaking to the operators below the bridge-like command tower.

"Raise barriers!"
Thick slabs of composite material rose from street level to block the way. Designed
as shields for the Evangelion, its ablative surfaces rated against what energies Angels
were expected to unleash, Misato hoped it would still trap or delay the human-sized
enemy. She was finding it a personal surprise, that despite having gained some
emotional attachment to the blue-haired girl with her own subtle brand of humor,
Misato was having no problem thinking of Rei as just another Angel to be destroyed.
Had it really been just a few hours since she felt so sickened by what Ritsuko was
doing with the Dummy Plug project?
Speaking of the doctor, Akagi had once again seized upon Shinji's inability to
elucidate properly. Just because he was fleeing for his life was no excuse.
"Ikari! If Lillith is self-aware, then because WE'RE NOT DEAD YET it can only mean
that it has Self but no Body. I already know you're insane, but what idiocy is this
to send Ayanami out to fight that thing?! She might trigger Impact in contact with
it!"
"... that's actually the least of our problems. Ayanami is formed from the genetic
material of the Second Angel, but I never liked how people can be made to hate her
unfairly or want her as a tool used for self-extinction. We can't win this war until
we're free from that risk."
Ritsuko scoffed. ôSo to preserve her from further experimentation and exploitation,
tell me now, what did you do?
There was a long uncomfortable silence though the channel, broken only by distant
grinding sounds as downtown buildings were torn apart.
ôIkari!ö
ôUmà I... weà kind ofà removed ReiÆs ability to trigger Impactà?ö

ôHow?ö
ôUmàö

ôI can see youÆre not in danger or out of signal range. Answer the damn question.ö
ôI can synchronize with Rei like with an Evangelion, all right? We duplicated motherÆs
Contact Experiment and I transferred that piece of her soul into myself.ö He left out
the part of it being done by accident and from possibly from tearing his way out of
some other timeline or universe. And done only via Lillith's own consent. "As a human,
that would just kill me long before the process can complete."
Ritsuko groaned and bit her cigarette in half. "What -is- this I don't even."
Misato slammed her palms onto the table. ôShinji, that is unbelievably stupid. Why
would you even do that?!ö Other than the obvious reason, she supposed. Ah, young
idiots in love.

ôCloning me would be useless.ö Shinji replied all too evenly. ôSo if humanity ever
needs the Evangelions in the future, the Dummy Plug System would still functionà
but if we get rid of the First and Second Angels we wonÆt have to worry about
an Impact event ever again.ö

ôBut if you canà this isnÆt good, Shinji. YouÆre just asking to get a bullet to brain.ö
Misato grit her teeth. This sort of grand self-sacrifice was an insult. She hated
that obsessive sort of selflessness from her father, and it was hypocritical to see
it from Shinji. ôSeriously, if you say you think itÆs a fair trade, IÆll hit you when
you get back.ö

The screen fuzzed out for a moment as the containment systems for a positron
cannon ruptured, unleashing a flare of antimatter annihilation into the air.
ôShinji!ö Misato gasped as the locator signal vanished. This was very different
from sending the Children out to fight inside an Eva.
When the static cleared, everyone was relieved to see ShinjiÆs radio beacon
moving at good clip south. A camera on the far end of the avenue caught glimpse
of a white news van.

In a strained voice, Shinji finished with ôWeÆll have to deal with it anyway. Sorry,
Misato-san.ö

Eh. Misato shrugged. They were already used to cleaning up other peopleÆs
problems. ôRitsuko, options?ö

ôAll our previous scenarios involve delaying action just to get the pilots to their
Evangelions. But we have no functional Evangelions. The enemy is too agile or too
small for many of our remote weapons. Ayanamià is doing surprisingly well.
Anything strong enough to take out the enemy is likely to kill her as well.ö

ôIÆm not shoving every N2 mine we have up to the surface, Ritsuko.ö

ôThat boy of yours made himself the target. Stupid martyr tendencies. Like it
mattersà someone still has to die. Hah.ö At a peeved look from Maya, Ritsuko
relented. ôThere are more exotic methods out there. Methods that were
never under NERVÆs control.ö

Shinji Ikari brought in an army. The problem was that a full unleashed Rei, as
an Angel, could devour whole armies and everyone knew it. Getting her so
unflinchingly loyal to him, that was a cunning move. Ritsuko smirked. Whatever
words the boy might use to justify it to himself, he was a user like his father. He
just took better care of his tools.


-][-


Agent Jiro spun the wheel and sent the white news van into a sharp turn. The
cameraman/driver/flunky shielded Rika Izuna with his own body. "Hey, careful with
the equi- oof!" he tried to say as Rika in trying to get up dug her elbow into the
small of his back. Agent Kentaro grabbed Shinji by the back of his shirt before the
boy could accidentally faceplant into the reporter's breasts.
Shinji didn't even seem to notice, his attention consumed by the military radio held
up to his ears. "Turn left at the next intersection, they're ready." he said, opening
his eyes to see Rika Izuna's outraged expression. His own face showed confusion.

She was about to slap him but missed from her cameraman moving out from under
her. Just as well, since Agent Kentaro despite his dark shades radiated hostility at
trying to punish the kid for a perversion he hadn't even done. Or it could be that
the boy reminded him too much of his own younger days and strong-willed
women that dominated his teenage years.
The new van's roof caved inward, and the rear door was ripped right off. Flipping
head over heels, a blue-haired girl slid into the van. Rika screamed at seeing Rei's
feral grin, her eyes glowing like hellfire.
"Stay back! Or-! Or..." Shinji yelled brokenly. Quickly he fumbled behind him
looking for any weapon. His fingers found something soft, and he pulled.
"Wak?" said Pen-pen. The bird saw it was face to face with Lillith and began to
scream in panic.
"BEHOLD MY PENGUIN LASERR!" Shinji yelled with his eyes tightly closed.
"Wak." said Pen-pen.
"What." said Lillith.
Shinji squeezed the side of Pen-pen's belly, and the penguin's eyes glittered bright.
A cross-shaped flash burst out, clipping the hairs just above Lillith's ears, and
blowing off a skycraper's top in the distance.
A long uncomfortable silence stretched within the vehicle, interrupted only with the
clanking of the motor and short bumps as the van rolled over the broken highway.
"... in my defense, I wasn't expecting that to work, like, at all." the boy whimpered.
Pen-pen spun around in Shinji's hold and began to viciously assault the boy's face
with his claws and feet. "Wakwakwakwakwakwrakrakrak!" As Shinji let out a
"Yargh!" of pain and let go to protect himself, Pen-pen dropped to the floor and,
giving a last contemptuous sniff, waddled over towards the front of the vehicle.
"Um..."
There was a whump, as a second set of footprints appeared on the van roof, and a
slim arm reached down to grab Lillith by the hairs at the back of her head. As quick
as she appeared, she was gone.
"... wasn't that Ayanami?" asked the cameraman.
Again they all had to look for support as the van skidded into another sharp turn.
As the van rounded the corner, it passed a line of large armored mercenaries, the
Legio Terminatus, all sixteen of them.
Wraithbone was horrendously expensive. Psychically-charged material however,
was apparently almost the same thing as the Lance and could break through
passive AT-field protection.

The Legio Terminatus, twelve armed with cut-down anti-tank autocannons, were
burning through about three hundred million dollars worth of psycannon rounds per
second. All of that just to keep Lillith pinned down. If Her AT-field was focused on
defense, then it was not being used to tear to shreds everything in sight. Overlapping
hexagons flared all around her and She had to drop to the ground.

Above here, on the roofs on either side were the Psykana. Lama Pagnor was there,
in full Terminator armor and with the experimental psychic hood. The rest of the
were wearing lighter armor but still with the strange tall helmet. They were all
wielding spears of black metal.

A third of the city was rubble. Half of the rubble was on fire. Shinji winced at
feeling three broken ribs. His elbows were scraped and bleeding. He was grinning.
Ayanami was worth an army. But what about Ayanami PLUS an army?

The white van lurched to a stop, and slowly those inside got off. A penguin hopped
out of the front side seat and began to berate the driver in unintellegible squawks.
Agent Jiro shot a wild 'help me I don't know what the hell I'm doing here' look
to his partner. They were supposed to Shinji's sentries, kept a comfortable distance
away from his zone of weirdness.

"What's happening?" Rika Izuna asked, while jabbing at her companion to get
his camera up. "I heard part of your conversation with Katsuragi. You seem to know
a lot about this latest Angel attack, Pilot Ikari. What is Lillith? What was that thing
about removing Ayanami's ability to trigger Impact and implanting it into yourself?!"
By the gods, just when she thought that any Ikari's power-grubbing ways couldn't
surprise her anymore, they just go several more shameless steps further!

Agent Kentaro stepped between the reporter and the boy. "No comment." He put
his hand over the camera lends. "Thank you for your patience while we
commandeered your vehicle, but now it's best if you left. It's dangerous here."
The reporter mulishly stuck her jaw out. "No. I'm not afraid of you." she said while
holding her microphone like it was a dagger. "I'm not afraid to chase after the truth!"

"That's... brave of you." Agent Kentaro lifted an eyebrow. "But stupid."
"You fascist assho-"
"No, just one twenty kiloton N2 device isn't enough." Shinji said into his radio. "It's
going to take at least ten megatons to overwhelm Rei's AT-field, and timing all
those N2 mines is going to be tricky." He blinked. "Yes, I want to preserve the city.
No, we're fine. Just bring them to the surface, please."
"Wait. Did he just say what I think he heard he said?" the reported asked shrilly.
Agent Kentaro pointedy looked past her. "Maybe you'd better turn that camera
around. We all have to fight for survival in our own way. The truth also contains
what people give of themselves."
Shinji Ikari smiled thinly. From an armament building, a metal box shot out and
landed close by. The box opened with a steaming hiss, exposing a Mark III
armored plugsuit.
Now, he could fight.
After all, Kaworu Nagisa could do everything that Rei could. Case Zero relied
heavily on his experience fighting Kaworu, hand to hand, in the desert of Sinai.
The Mk3 armored suit instead of a full-body suit was instead separated into
pieces for the chest, arms, thighs, and knee-high boots. Armored joint covers
vent over his knees and elbows.
With a thought, wraithbone fibers grew, linking plates together. Shinji took out the
strange eye-shaped medallion he was given at Javaal. Its secrets were uncovered
in his Egyptian expedition. They called it the Stone of Kings.
He slid it over the belt buckle of his plugsuit, incidentally over the chakra point over
the groin.
He'd run away long enough.
=][=

ôSo this is how it ends.ö said Pagnor. HeÆd lived a long time, like most of the
masters of Javaal, eating the pain of the living world. HeÆd always known that the
hatred from the color of oneÆs skin or the faith held by one's fathers made no
sense, but it was still odd to have all of man's old grudges put to stark
insignificance by one strange blue-haired young girl.

He looked to his left and right. These were the warriors made for final war
prophesied over five thousand years ago. When he first learned of his own abilities,
contacted in the streets of Chicago in 1938, he'd been hateful at being prevented
from using his powers to make change, to make them all pay.

The Thule Society broke his illusions of people of his abilities being any more moral
or worthy to rule. He'd been brought to Javaal for training, and and fought in the
scarred wastelands created by the sacrifice of millions, in worlds half-formed and
in the shadows behind men's eyes. But it was just one piece of the puzzle. A
greater horror lay in wait.

To SEELE, the war was just an excuse. The Japanese Imperial Government had
opened up the geofront, and thought they could use the dead monsters within
as their trump card. The metal wasted for the battleships Yamato and Musashi was
nothing compared to those sunk underground. It would have been a fortress
beyond anything the world had known, a city in darkness, an empire in secret. That
was the last counter-invasion plan. A shadow moon, untouchable, slid sideways in
time where one may counterattack with impunity.
SEELE had no need for Imperial Japan. They needed the secret broken, the Allied
powers in excited frenzy at this power beyond their atomic weapons, pouring
more funding into research that must be hidden from the rest of the world, for
the victorious mood should not be broken by the proof of man's insignificance
in the universe.

To more subtly and inevitably nudge the powers behind nations into the
ultimate blasphemy.

There had always been monsters in the shape of man.
ôThe temptation is too much.ö Shinji had said. ôThe Dummy Plug System sounds
like a mercyà or at least efficientà compared to having pilots like me, but itÆs still a
trap. I wonder how many worlds before us were consumed by tainted self-interest?ö

ôAre you saying that manÆs shape is not unique in the universe?ö
ôIÆm saying itÆs inevitable. Where did the story come from, I wonder, the undying Mother
who wears Her daughters' faces?ö
Pagnor took a deep breath, lightning sparking around his face like a blue halo. He slammed
his helmet over his head and growled. He lifted his spear and jumped off, running down the
side of the building in defiance of gravity. It would end here. The others followed
without hesitation.
The world had changed around them, it was as if in the distant past someone had cut
a sliver out of time just to make sure there were those who could stand at the right
moment - mortals with the power to slay a god.
And then there was lightning.
Lama Pagnor looked down to see that Shinji Ikari had finally joined the fray. Physically
the boy was weak, and to try and wrestly with the Chaos Serpent.
"When above" the heavens did not yet exist nor the earth below, Apsu the freshwater
ocean was there, "the first, the begetter", and Tiamat, the saltwater sea, "she who bore
them all"; they were "mixing their waters".
Adam and Lillith. Apsu and Tiamat. While it was sufficient to think of this as a reflection
of the civilizations arising on the banks of a great river empying out into the ocean,
where both farming and fishing provided freedom from hunger, there were also strange
symbols hidden in the memories of man. Water, the Dead Sea scrolls that contained the
writings of a long-dead ancient race said, had always been the metaphor for life. Fire had
always been the reference to intelligence.

The First Angel, Adam, was rendered dormant by Lillith's arrival. And yet, so was Lillith
exhausted by the struggle that the life that emerged was not yet a copy of Herself.
But it was inevitable - the Dead Sea Scrolls were sections of the Tablets of Destiny,
and whoever possessed Dup Shimati was supposedly ruler of the universe.
The Tree of Life needed the light of intelligence to bear fruit.
"We were born to no purpose." the boy had said with a laugh. "How arrogant it is to
think we are the ultimate form of life in the universe, when two gods sleep with us.
And these beings of near-omnipotent cosmic power were created as mere
Gardeners."
Psykers had no explanation for how the hell Shinji Ikari could do the things he did.
The closest that anyone could get was that he had a passive synchonization with
Unit One going on all the time. While psykers could impregnate psychoreactive
materials with energy, Shinji could only drain it. But he could do it swifly, explosively,
and somehow Not Die. Wearing a suit of superconductors only made it easier for him
to will electrons out of the air and into punching lightning out of his fists.
Shinji's palm slapped onto the stiff surface of an AT-field. Lightning crackled inside
the field towards the one creating the field. Lillith pulsed the field, throwing off both
Shinji and Rei in a shockwave, and in dropping the field narrowly avoided being flash-
fried.
Chimera tanks with 110mm cannons pumped out high-explosive rounds at Lillith,
forcing her to raise her AT-field again. While the attack would do no damage
whatsoever, the more she used it, the more She would tire out.
Her presence filled the air. Her demented laughter scratched at the insides of
everyone's skulls. Nagisa, like all the Eva pilots, could enjoy combat, the artistry of
those who clashed in personal battle. This enemy did not lust for the confirmation
of one's own power and existence, as Kaworu indulged in.
There was only hunger.
Slowly, She walked forward, uncaring of the hot flashes continually battering Her
shield. She bared her teeth and leapt. The glacis of a tank caved inward, and a
driver was pulled out screaming.
She drank of his terror. Corporal Hideaki Toba, age 20, had a girlfriend who he
was afraid was seeing someone else due to his reluctance to propose and the
danger of being assigned to Tokyo-3. His name, his past, his hopes and his
dreams, Her red eyes pulled out the kernel of his identity. The soldier screamed as
his flesh bubbled and broke open into bloody sores under an intensely strong
AT-field. The Ego Border collapsed, and he exploded into a gout of blood.

Blood which drained off the stained tank hull and into her shadow. Aside from the
empty uniform, it was as if he'd never existed.

Lillith frowned. It was not enough. The void inside of her just ached more from
having tasted the bounty.
"We too are tenders." Shinji Ikari had said, in a planning session with the
PSYKANA and over his father's own copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls. "We are but
leaves in the Tree of Life, and eventually... we were meant to be consumed."
Superconductive wires lashed out like the heads of a hydra, spinning together into
threads, then a rod, then a staff. Lightning blasted across Lillith's side, and with a
grimace She forced the mortal shell to endure. She thickened Her defensive field
considerably on that side and turned with a look of annoyance. At the other end of
the street, Shinji's face was set in defiant snarl om return. He shone with the hopes
of billions.
That should sate some of her hunger.
There was just enough time to react, to take the premonition and turn to get Rei
Ayanami's fist in Her gut. Then a jab to her throat, and while Lillith didn't need to
breathe the flush of pain disoriented Her anyway. She failed her arms out to keep
balance and was caught.
Rei Ayanami pulled at her opponentÆs arms, her knee on her doppelgangerÆs back. The
power behind their punches was an explosive release of the AT-field. Leverage still
applied, and with such an pin not even a being of LillithÆs power could do anything with
Her shell in such a pose as if crucified.

She could only be forced to watch as, like host of descending golden raptors, the
Psykana descended in the culmination of Case Zero.
Their spears crackled with power, the AT-field blazed red, and was pierced through!
There was just a staccato of heavy thuds as they drove their spears down with both
arms and all their strength. The pavement cracked under their boots.
There was the scent of burning meat as eight long spears impaled deep into AyanamiÆs
body and out the back. Rei just gave a slight wince as the blades over-penetrated to
make shallow stab into her own flesh. Steaming blood dripped down the blade coming
out of LillithÆs neck and stained her pale green hospital dress.
Lillith let out a strange gurgling noise. The primordial being was trying to laugh even
as Her lungs filled with blood.
Shakily she reached out to grasp a grim, scowling helm of the Psykana. Gently she
cupped the long chin and spluttered ôà and nowà the gift is all mineö She threw her
head back, the heavy spear straight through her eye breaking her neck.

An invisible wave spread out, pulling out dread and despair from everyone. It soaked
down through the ground, and forced those in the geofront to hug themselves. It
slid through the air to the sea, and the warships in Sagami Bay looked towards the
city in horrified realization. The heartbeat of the world seemed to skip, and those
asleep on the other side of the world woke screaming.
Mankind in all the billions shared a vision of a murky dark sea, and from its still waters
two needle points began to rise. The two-pronged spear met in a long coiled shaft.

Something in the depths of their souls wanted to burst out, hurting and alone, and
out there was something that wanted to end their pain.
Bloodburst out of the neck of the armored form She was touching. The mailed suit
flopped wet and empty onto the road. Lama Pagnor winced and managed to push
back, letting go of his spear. Others, too slow, were dragged in as their spears were
sucked into Lillith's torn flesh. Rei's skin began to flake off, she grimaced in pain but
refused to let go.
A cross-shaped blast rose high over the cityscape.

-][-

"Is... is it self-destruction?" Misato asked through the tense silence that permeated
the command center.
There was high droning noise, and the sensors went wild. ôBlue Pattern detected!ö
Shigeru shouted. ôIt's... IT'S AN ANGEL!ö
"Oh come on - !" Misato snarled. "Can't we catch a break?!"
High above Tokyo-3, a spot in the sky grew bright, then abruptly shattered outward.
Threads of energy shot out like from a broken loom, weaving together into the counter-
rotating helix that was Armisael.
The Angel swung in mid-air, letting out a hard twanging noise, to hover above the place
where Lillith lay. Ritsuko had a brief flash of panic- the Second Angel was out of the
geofront. Contact between it and an Angel born of Adam would cause runaway Third
Impact. She held her breath and steeled herself to watch the world end.
The empty space within ArmisaelÆs rings flared bright, and a bright hot pillar of raw
star-fire lanced down. It had nothing but hatred for the very idea of Lillith. The shock
of the beam caused the air around it to burst out in a shockwave, sending cars
tumbling over and into buildings. The particle beam pulsed continuously but,
impossibly, was deflected. The beam blasted down at an angle into the geofront,
effortlessly burning through layers of earth and armor to scar the green fields beneath.
Monitors fizzed out into static, and the ground shuddered.
There was flame, and there was smoke, and then there was silence.

-][-

Ayanami crawled. Her elbows and knees were scraped raw and half her face was
covered by blood. Slowly she moved by shifting on her side, snake-like, pushing with
her thighs. Her only thought was to see Shinji safe. He was not born to this power,
and thus she thought it only fitting that only she should suffer. Her strength was his,
and his own strength was the one that kept her living.
"Ayanami..."
She smiled. He too was on his knees, coughing, trying to find his way through the
dust cloud. She knew in her heart that, if they were to just touch, then everything
forever would be all right. They were like broken mirrors whose jagged pieces fit
perfectly. Shinji had never really healed any of Rei's issues with her self-worth. They
had channeled it into more productive purpose.
Rei could not bring life onto the world. Thus she had to be the preserver.
Behind her came the the light clacking of footsteps, the concrete screaming where
shoes touched. Rei flinched. She saw Shinji gasp in wonder, and she regretted
having been unable to spare him this pain.
The floating cloud of debris burst, clearing away right and left as if blown away by
the flapping of great wings. The white of a laboratory coat shone eye-hurtingly white.

Yui Ikari smiled.
Who, after all, could have told Gendo Ikari it was possible for a mere human to claim
the powers of a god? To trap it within flesh-and-blood body? Gendo had sought her out
for her connections to SEELE, but it was she who decided to betray them.
Armisael, above, began to furiously spin its helix. Hostile light bore down and splashed
against a monstrous AT-field. The Angel didn't let up. Instead, it compressed the
beam and pulsed even quicker, like it was screaming DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! with every
flare.
Until, finally, a pencil-thin beam broke through. Yui Ikari skipped lightly, to the side,
the beam singing the edge of her coat. Her left eyebrow lifted in fascination. Her
fingers twitched, and there was a sound not unlike that of a piano key.
Yui lifted her hand to her face. Delighted, she wiggled her fingers. The sounds
formed by the interaction of the AT-field she now controlled took on a more musical
timbre.
Humm.
Yui shifted the position of her handm up and down, held out and to the sides.
Humm.
Hummm.
Hummmm...!
She stretched out, exulting as her muscles strained, and sliced up with her open palm.
There was a sound not unlike a harp string being cut, and then the air rang with a
scream.
Armisael staggered in mid-air, unraveling. Cut straight through, its strands leaked
thick red blood as it crashed onto the buildings. It continued to break apart into glowing
strings, which darkened and dissolved into thick red ichor.
Dead.
Yui Ikari resumed experimenting, on her face a look of delighted inquiry. Tall buildings
began tumbling down around her, with every gesture cut straight through their metal
support beams; with every gesture a perfect note on the most perfect piano.

-][-

Down delow, Ritsuko Akagi slumped defeated on her seat. "So this is how the world
ends..." she whispered. "To the strains... of F³r Elise."
-][-
Rei felt herself being picked up by the back of the neck, weak as a kitten. 'We were
wrong...' she thought. 'People are separate because being together brings pain.
That which cuts through the AT-field... is what we call the Spear.' Lillith's own lance,
the trigger of evolution.
The grip began to tighten and she couldn't breathe.
"Ayanami!"
Shinji's panicked cry pulled her back from the abyss. From her peripheral vision she saw
him attempt to leap to help, only to fall to his chin as he was tackled from behind by his
Section Two bodyguards.
"Dammit, Ikari!" Agent Kentaro whispered fiercely and with regret "Remember you're the
trigger for Third Impact now!"
The blood from Armisael's stringy yet gargantuan corpse was starting to flood the edges
of the avenue.
"I won't sacrifice Ayanami... not again!" the boy blubbered, desperately and in futilility
reaching out with his right hand. Fear and hate and shame bubbled through his veins, for
he knew that this too, was likely his fault too.
Yui turned to look at him while still effortlessly holding up Rei by the neck with one arm.
She tried to speak, but there were no words. A metallic shriek was all that she could
make. Though she might wear the shape of a human, the region of space she occupied
might as well have been a different universe in itself, a singularity in a soul.
The plaintive twang of strings seemed to croon 'It's going to be fine.' Yui turned back to
Rei, and gripped the girl's neck with both hands. 'It's all going to plan. I'm going to fix
everything, you'll see.'
There was a loud crack, and Yui's head snapped back. A crumpled dart fell from her
cheek. It had a tungsten carbide penetrator head with a psychoplastic material core.
Yui looked annoyed.
Within the fifth floor of a cark park several blocks over, a UNIG sniper shivered with
sudden, maddening fear. His eyes met hers through the scope and he opened his
mouth to scream. There was an explosion of blood and an empty uniform and an
anti-material rifle slapped onto the garage floor.
Slowly the Tactical Dreadnoughts of the Legio Terminatus and a few weary Psykana
shuffled back into the street. Lama Pagnor's armor was dented inwards. Many of his
comrades had not fared so well, devoured by Lillith's presence or had their bodies
crushed by debris. Faith and willpower had not served as well as thick layers of armor.

They couldn't attack, fearing that Yui would use Rei as a human shield. They looked
to the anguished plea on their employer's face and saw that the boy had nothing
left. He'd met the foe he could not defeat through raw insanity. He was still pinned
to the ground, his chin to the road surface. He would not be able to let go of love
and pride.
Never again. Not to Ayanami!
Yui looked to Shinji, then to Rei, and tilted her head aside as if to ask: Is this
enough for you? Lillith was a beast out of the primordial Chaos. Yui understood the
human yearnings that beat within the young girl's heart. It was loyalty. Wasn't it just
a transaction of emotions? Ayanami was being loved as payment for her power. She
had never stopped being a tool.
Anger flashed across Rei's face. Her lips curled up in a slight snarl. Of course it
was enough! She was replaceable. Sohryu could become a mother. She existed
only to die for him. Rei now valued herself, but because of that she could also offer
herself. There could be no sacrifice without having worth.
Pride and delight spread across Yui Ikari's features. Gratefulness shone in her eyes.
'You have done well.' she mouthed out. The girl had fulfilled her purpose to the
outmost. The tool had served very well, until the time the Project could be
completed.
And now the tool must be put down, so that the hand could be free to grasp new
things, to reach for new heights.
Yui squeezed. And squeezed. Someone was screaming. There was a squelching
noise and a crack.
'So Sohryu wins after all.' was the thought. It was pleasant anyway. Knowing
love and friendship, no one could take that away from her.
Rei Ayanami's body fell limp onto the blood-slicked road. Her head went another
away.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
Shinji screamed and screamed until his throat cracked.
The street lit up in fire. Autocannons and Storm Bolters blazed away. The shots
struck and sparked off Yui, standing there casually with her hands in her pockets,
all futile as shooting Superman. She still had that sad, yet satisfied smile. As long as
Ayanami existed, there was the possibility of Lillith leaking out. She blinked and put
a hand to the sides of her face. Strange. Was she weeping? Ayanami's soul was
more beautiful than she had expected.
She looked at Shinji, still cowering in despair, and met Agent KentaroÆs eyes. The
older agent had removed his sunglasses, and his weary expression seemed to ask
æwhy?Æ. He had been an acquaintance of Yui even back when NERV was still GEHRIN.
Part of her bodyguard detail, in fact. He got his answer, but to no avail.

Agent Jiro twitched horrified as blood spattered over his back, and sunglasses fell
to break near sensible black leather shoes.
Down below, the clones in the tank began screaming even through their drugged
mindless state. Armisael's blood was now a thick red tide through the street, carrying
loose debris with it.
Shinji body jacknifed about uncontrollably, the wild flailing of his limbs forcing him out
of Agent JiroÆs shocked hold. The boy curled into a fetal position, shaking. Perhaps he
should have been more careful about constantly declaring Rei to the be 'the other half of
his soul'. It seemed the universe perversely paid attention to things like that.

The boy's shaking subsided, his sorrow not at all. Shame at his weakness, hatred at
being unable to prevent it, and even more self-loathing at the side of him that
reminded him to just get up and move on. She would never have held him at fault,
and would have wanted him to use her death to serve his purposes. The war needed
to be fought.
But he'd never realized before just how much he relied... how he needed that pure
faith. He'd always feared he would prove unworthy of it. Rei was gone! That was his
new reality. He didn't want it to be real. He wasnÆt as ruthless as heÆd imagined himself
to be. Fighting in an Eva, no matter how gruesome, somehow there was still a facile
veneer to it, that he could somehow deny the worst-case scenario.

Burnt, crushed, decapitated û a god-machine was still a flesh-puppet. The entry plugs
were located in a place hard to target and hard to damage. HeÆd used improbable battle to
feel alive.

He felt dead inside. Everything in his mind fled. He was beyond terror.
He suddenly was drained of hate, of stubborn self-importance. He shakily crawled on
all fours like an animal towards Rei's corpse. The white of his plugsuit was being
stained red.
He reached out, and plucked Rei's head as the Angel blood draining towards the
lake brought it closer. "Ayanami..."
Her face in death was peaceful as ever. She had no regrets. "Ayah... ayana.. mi..."
Shinji sobbed and embraced his beloved's decapitated head, cradling it to his chest.
He remained there, bent over and weeping even as others around him continued to
fight. And die.
Their mistake was thinking that, because psychoreactive material could erode
AT-fields, was that they would work against all Angels, even Lillith. Except, as it
turned out, all that the psyker activity throughout humanity was to rebuild Lillith's
own Lance.
It was inevitable. It was the flowering. Humanity was one fractured being, and
that being was the next generation of the Lillith-lifeform.
"Get him out of here!" Lama Pagnor roared to Agent Jiro, as he and the Custodes
tried to force back whatever this abomination wearing a dead woman's body. He
put two fingers to his temple, and then pointed. Lightning flashed out from his
fingertips. Yui stepped back. Good; he thought. If she... it... didn't want to get
hit by a psychic attack, then there might still be something they could do. His
combat focus was powerful, but the other masters had other esoteric methods.
He looked aside for a moment to check, and saw that Agent Jiro and the reporter
were dragging an insensate Shinji away from the fighting.
He turned back and saw that Yui Ikari was already at his face. Her face was
solemn. She held up a slim finger and touched the hollow of his throat. Then she
was ripping him open in one easy flick from neck to groin. Blood and viscera
poured out of torn composite armor.
The Legio Terminatus were falling back as fast as they were able. There was another
roar, and a bright flash, and steel rained from the skies as an artillery strike landed
right over their previous position. Corpses left on the battlefield, including Pagnor
and Ayanami, were torn to unrecognizable shreds.
Yui Ikari walked out of the hellstorm, dusting off flesh of metal ash from her lab coat.
She sneezed a small cute 'higu', and rubbed at her nose with her palms together as
if praying.


-][-

Inside the geofront, Kaji popped back into the conferencing window to say "Katsuragi,
I'm going to order that all UN assets launch all their strategic assets now. Any
objections?"
"No." Misato said, suddenly so very tired. ôRitsukoà?ö
ôHeading down to self-destruct the MAGI now.ö She closed her eyes and only saw Yui
IkariÆs triumphant expression. ôWeÆve have to face it. WeÆve lost.ö
"All right. We all die in ten minutes." Kaji looked aside and gave a hesitant grin. "Those
words I couldn't say before, I suppose they won't be a comfort now. But let me just
say... it's been real, Katsuragi."
"Yeah. Good-bye, Kaji."
In the Sea of Japan and just outside Sagami Bay, submarines surfaced and hatches
opened. Many of the boomers could have fired off safely from underwater, but here
independently from each other they had decided that for this they would not hide like
sell-swords in the night. From the waters rose pillars of flame. From the mainland,
atomic arrows shot out. Half a world away, decades-old silos opened and for the first
time fired in anger. The UN had a pre-set staggered launch schedule, timed that the
first wave would strike at sufficient delay that the missiles wouldnÆt uselessly spend
their fury in fratricidal detonations. The next wave would arrive five minutes later.
Then the ICBMs would rain down continuously five minutes after that.

The Flying Castle Sturmbrand was still nowhere to be found; not in the sky, not anywhere
on Earth.

-][-

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[ranmatoushin]

It's awesome to see that your still working on this, and that the quality is still just as high as ever, i am waiting to see how Shinji recovers froms this, and hope theres a way for Rei to come back.

 

[ragnarok1337]

While I have enjoyed this story as it has gone on, it has officially Jumped the Shark. It did over a year and a half ago. By now, it's kind of getting repetitive, and not really going anywhere. That's why I stopped reading it awhile back.

 

[Belgarion213]

Sadly I'm going to have to agree. The story after the rather awe inspiring 'getting the angel missile things all around the world' has just meandered and become confusion. I still read some of it but it just seems rather confusing.

 

[bluepencil]

At this point I too think that way (what for did I stop for a year if not in despair?), but fuck it. Like a doomed session of Dwarf Fortress, I WILL FINISH IT. There must be proper, if horrid, end.

 

[image]

Ah, so your so going for the Earth Scorpions route I see, disappointing but understandable.

 

[bluepencil]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maya Ibuki screamed and violently jerked about in helpless convulsion. Blood dripped
out her nose and her mouth.

"Medical team to the command tower!" Shigeru shouted in panic, while Makoto and
Ritsuko tried to restrain her.

Ritsuko flipped back her lab coat to expose a belt of catridges, pulling out a hypodermic
jet injector. She stabbed it straight into the fleshy part of Maya's neck. The NERV
lieutenant relaxed immediately, unconcious. No one was surprised that Ritsuko now
carried enough sedatives on her at all times to knock out an elephant if she wanted
to.

The scientist looked up at the timer. 13:52. More than enough time. Ritsuko stood up
and gave Maya's sleeping form a gentle look as the medical team put her onto a
stretcher. The NERV crew worked quickly and efficiently, not even allowing a flicker
of "What's the frigging point?'" to cross their faces. How many times now had they
been totally, absolutely -doomed- with no chance of escape? Impending destruction
was meaningless. They all had a job to do, and that was enough to occupy all their
attention.

'Hmf. Such callous disregard for those dying up on the surface. If your precious little
boy wasn't up there, would any of you hypocrites even care?' she thought
while clacking her tongue.

People under great stress did not develop fine nuances to their character. They
had all been conditioned through repeated Pavlovian stress to hone their useful
qualities to a fine point.

Ritsuko turned to look towards Misato, and her expression hardened. "I'm going
down to set the self-destruct for the MAGI."
That cracked Misato's resolve a bit. Part of the psychosomatic dependencies was
the faith that Ritsuko could loophole them out of anything. Her actions can't be
turned around. Without the MAGI, NERV might as well not exist.

Ritsuko stepped onto the personal elevator and descended into the innards of the
command tower. There were also the buried N2 mines all over the place to make sure
no one may uncover the geofront to begin the madness all over again, but those
felt like icing on the cake.
Her eyeglasses glinted in the dark. "Fools." she whispered. Herself, the two (now
three) Ikari, SEELE, the UN, et cetera. "Reaching out to push the God Mode button
just means you get to deal with God-level problems."


---------

They cowered in an alley. Shinji still carried Rei's head. His eyes were blank, and
offered no resistance as he was dragged along. Agent Jiro grunted as he let go,
stopping to rest.
Rika Izuna refrained from touching the boy any more than she needed to. Carrying
around pieces of a corpse was creepy, but she had never really hated the boy. She
could muster more anger towards Misato Katsuragi than Shinji Ikari. They might be
kids with monstrous power, but they were still kids! The pilots - it was inevitable, she
didn't want to be proven right like this - they would break.

Carrying the weight of the world, pretending they're monstrous enough to bear it all,
until they finally slip and fall- and everything shatters. They shatter.

Shinji was shaking. He lifted Rei's head as if he wanted to kiss her cold lips. Tears
tracked down his cheeks, but his eyes lacked all feeling. He pressed his forehead to
hers and deep inside, he refused to say goodbye. Rei was gone. He refused to
acknowledge that. Asuka, when he returns, she too would cry and demand why he
didn't try his best to bring her back.

Death was not supposed to be easy to defeat. He opened his eyes. All that remained
of Rei exploded into a gout of blood in his hands. Brain, bone, skin and all - reduced to
thick red LCL, dripping down to the dirty alley ground.

He stared numbly at the ichor remaining in his cupped palms.

And then he raised his palms up to his lips and drank. Blood ran down his chin and
stained the front of his white shirt. Rika shivered. Creepy children. NERV was entirely
to blame for this.

The light from the end of the alley brightened considerably and a feminine silhouette
blocked that exit. Agents Jiro grimaced. "Go!" he shouted to Rika and her cameraman.
"Just get out of here! I'll hold it off!" And in a lower tone "... somehow."
They had all seen how the toughest armor and psychic power failed to even delay Yui,
but the cameraman nodded. "Come on, Rika." He grabbed around one of the boy's
armpits and pulled.
Rika make a face. With blood all over his face and down his neck, pale from shock,
he looked like some sort of vampire. This was everyone's last hope? It was too
ridiculous. She rubbed at her eyes and bent over to help.

Suddenly, Shinji's arm shot out to the side. His fingers dug into plaster.

"Don't be stupid, kid!" the cameraman hissed. "We can't let you throw your life
away." He grunted and tried to force Shinji to his feet. "Ayanami wouldn't like that,
would she?"

Shinji's palms clenched into fists. Rei was dead. Even recovering a clone wouldn't
bring her back, the memory download wasn't like that. Her little smiles, the times
they shared, the promise they made to Asuka... gone.

Shinji took a deep breath and failed in trying to stand up. He couldn't see the face
of his mother, as two men in black suits barred the way. There was a piece of him
that wanted to go out there and... what?

Hatred and longing smashed against his heart, and not all of those emotions were
his own. It was like his resolve was being drained away.
He closed his eyes. "Ayanami..." he breathed.

He had one last promise, to make sure there was still a city for Asuka when she
returned. It was like there was an echo in his heartbeat. He needed to see the sun.

Being held up by the arms, he was just barely able to stagger forwards.
The three left without look back. Agent Jiro felt such pride in how three people who
had just the barest fifteen minutes of contact had united their priorites.

Agent Jiro felt like a bug under a boot. The light at the end of the alley overwhelmed
even his polarized sunglasses. The warmth was kind of pleasant, rolling off in waves
like being inside a womb. He was starting to feel sleepy, but knew that closing his
eyes would mean sleeping forever. So would looking up towards the brighter light.
He kept his eyes firmly on Yui's shoes. Inexplicably she remained unmoving while she
had his attention.

He didn't care why. If somehow this bought them a few more seconds to get away...
he chuckled. He was still young, and there was still so much he wanted to do. Being
NERV Section 2 was more tedious than he expected, but it paid well. He wanted to
get married someday, own a small toy or candy shop maybe. His kids would grow up
and learn something useful, a doctor or dentist maybe.

And Agent Kentaro would have to be the godparent for them. All of them. He'd have
to buy them expensive presents on their birthdays. Just to spite the old man he'd
have, like, a dozen kids muahahaha.

"It's a social contract, you know that?" the older agent had said. "It has to be
voluntary. If I'm under duress it doesn't count."

What the hell. Agent Jiro grit his teeth. They both knew the risks, just from living in
Tokyo-3, but this city just kept on sucker-punching those who kept faith that things
would get better.

"Do you believe in Hell, rookie?"

He flinched. It was Agent Kentaro's voice, exact with the bone-weariness the old
man, who lived through post-Impact as a teenager, often displayed. He could almost
smell the scent of cheap cigarettes stubbed out halfway from being burned through.

"Then you'd best be prepared to accept an eternity of pain. None of us here are
good people."

Agent Jiro refused to look up. He focused on those slim feminine ankles. Huh. Yui
Ikari wore short white socks. In the darkness behind his brain something with too
many eyes and teeth laughed.

"Why would you want to go to the heaven built by a being that made us just to
suffer? Why would you want to reincarnate back into a world which offers only
fleeting peace? Zen and nirvana, they're not that far from dying, are they? There's
no one that answers when we call out, never has been, never will be. What's
happened before will happen again. And again. And again.

It's not so bad, being like this. You don't have to be afraid of anything anymore."

Agent Jiro grit his teeth. These words were lies. They'd followed a boy's stupidly
simplistic views because they both believed there was worth in staying alive. Ah.
Dislike for Gendo Ikari, weariness at how the government kept on trying to bleed out
NERV, he'd followed the older agent's lead because it made sense to take the risks
so that others wouldn't have to.
This Angel was just trying to unsettle him. The pressure made his knees feel like
little twigs and his body so heavy. Fear pounded inside his heart.

But ah! What would be the point? He was one frail human? Why would it even
bother? He shook his head and stood his ground.

"So what?! I remember what my partner said! There comes a time when it's the
smart thing to just give up. There comes a time when life itself wants to push you
down! What can you do in that time?

You make the shout!"

Those grueling days spent training again, crashing through the same course as the
UNIG to prove their worth, learning about new weapons and techniques... they'd
chosen to be more than just mere bodyguards.
Those who lived in the city didn't do it for pride or money. It was an oath they
swore to themselves. The world will NOT fucking end, not on my fucking WATCH!

He dropped to his knees, but only to stomp his foot on the ground. "To yourself!
"You get up! You get up! You get up! Can you hear me?! Old man! I watched your
goddamn classics! I'm not moving!"

Agent Kentaro was shaking. His tanned skin was starting to turn red and break out
in watery boils, as if being roasted over an open flame.

The wall beside him was smashed open, and a large yellow hand reached out. Agent
Jiro's eyes widened as he met glowing red eyeports of a bear-like angular helmet.

Yui moved. Captain Avirkupolous' right hand pushed at Agent Jiro's chest to force
him to the ground. His left hand was held up, having finished throwing something
behind his back.

A Thought Bomb Grenade detonated in front of Yui's face. The shockwave sluiced
forcefully through the alley, and the strong back of Terminator armor took the brunt
of the blast.
With groaning servos, Captain Avrikupolous got up from his half-kneeling position.
Despite how futile he felt this last charge would be, he never before had he felt so
powerful.

"Move." the Custodian rumbled out.

Through the rear-view camera in his suit he watched Yui nonchalantly wave in front
of her face to fan away the smoke. He had a wife and child. He didn't come to the
city for mere money. He believed the self-important promises of a boy because he
wanted a world where his son could grow up in without the fear of war or hunger.
He would not move. His world extended outside of him and it would not end!

He only had left the trust that the boy would somehow live up to his boasts. Even
with Case Zero in shatters... to surrender, to lie down and die, what the hell would
that accomplish?! Survival instincts rang for him to run, but here he decided to all
but turn off his brain and just refuse to be budged.

For some reason Yui remained locked in one place. She put her arms into her lab
coat's pockets and her glow intensified. Shadows deepened and stretched out.

He smiled as a TAG signal on his HUD began blinking, and turned red. Compared to
how much his powered armor cost, a targeting designator and an overpowered
transponder was cheap. He had all-band signal ports both front and back.

Three ultra-thin LCD displays provided him with a view as if he wasn't wearing a
helmet. A ghostly white hand slid out of the front screen and caressed his jaw.

"Too late, monster." he said with a fierce grin.

------

On distant hilltop, a cannon finished acquiring a targeting lock and fired. Air broke
apart as the positron beam lanced through buildings and into the alley. Everything
in its path simply disintegrated.

--------

The trio had just cleared the alley. The Positron blast struck sideways through
multiple buildings, and the shockwave it caused blew blew them out of the alley.
A hot wind carried them out into the next avenue. Shinji felt boneless, and there
was no pain when he landed flat on his back, and skidding to a stop. He felt as if
he was looking at his body from the outside, it was a meat-puppet held together
only because he had nothing else.

He looked up at the sky, and its blueness was pale and bleak. The moon was a
barely-discernible white shard in the afternoon light.

 

[ranmatoushin]

Nice, shinji really isn't handling Rei's death well, but i can't wait till he hits the anger stage, and unleashes hell on the 'angel'.

 

[Sdebeli]

After all of this, there really has to be a rage phase. I am fully expecting a 'Give Ayanami back' moment. Why? Because it's perfectly within his nature and character.

 

[ranmatoushin]

I just had a thought, we are all forgetting about Raka, and the Golden Saint, it would be awesome if they turned up and helped Shinji with a three way beat down on the angel.

 

[dragondude0]

I just had a thought, we are all forgetting about Raka, and the Golden Saint, it would be awesome if they turned up and helped Shinji with a three way beat down on the angel.

If i'm not mistaken, Raka's body was possessed by lillith; who became or took the form of Yui Ikari.

 

[ranmatoushin]

I just had a thought, we are all forgetting about Raka, and the Golden Saint, it would be awesome if they turned up and helped Shinji with a three way beat down on the angel.

If i'm not mistaken, Raka's body was possessed by lillith; who became or took the form of Yui Ikari.

Realy?, i thought that Lilith used one of the bodys from the 'Reiquium clone tanks', after all Raka is half-Rei, and half-Shinji.

and i thought that Raka's been running around ddealing with other matters while Shinji's been out of commision, there was mention of an induvidual meeting Yang that could have been Raka.

 

[bluepencil]

That was Raka. She needed the power to stand up to an Eva, to Kaworu's Trident Dominatus 'last episode' and in reaching too deep opened a hole for Lillith to use.


Anyway:

-----------------

------------
Rika Izuna coughed and heaved for breath. He felt herself being lifted up. Her head
was throbbing with pain and, dazily, the past few months flashing behind her eyes.

"Rika? Come on! Get ahold of yourself!"
She felt stinging pain on her cheek and woke up fully. "Wha... what happened?"
"We're outside. Come on, we've got to move." Her cameran got up and began to
go over to where Shinji Ikari continued to lie as if lifeless. He paused, sensing that
Rika remained sitting. The reporter had pulled her knees up in a fetal position.
"Rika? Hey!"
"It's not fair..." Rika mumbled. "Why should we have die for something we don't
understand?."
"Dammit, Rika! If you don't want to die, help me!"
Numbly the reporter started to get up, only to fall back to her knees. Tears were
tracking down her cheeks. "I don't want to be here!" she sobbed. Slowly she crawled
over to him. She sat back and looked at Shinji's distant, ashen expression. "Look at
this... if even he's given up... what chance do we have? Just leave him behind."

The cameraman grimaced and began to pull the insensate boy away anyway. "And
run where? Like it or not, this kid is our only hope."
Dimly he noticed one more strangeness. Back in the alley the boy's hair, normally
cropped close at the back, was neck-length. Now it was rather girly locks flowing
down past the boy's shoulders.

"He's broken. We're all broken." Rika looked down and trembled. "There's nothing
left. We used it all up." Her hands clenched into fists. "I tried to tell them... I tried
to make them listen... don't throw your life away chasing after the impossible.
Don't make someone believe they have to be perfect. It's too cruel."

There was a loud bang from behind them. They turned to see Agent Jiro stagger
out, gasping for breath, from the smoke and dust still billowing out the alley they
just left.

And then there was light.

An empty suit of Terminator Armor came flying out in two halves.

Yui Ikari walked out, perfectly nonchalant. Her clab coat and the shoulders of
her purple shirt had been blasted off, exposing the swell of a breast. They could
see her garments starting to reform out of nothing, stitch by stitch, weave by
weave.

Agent Jiro took off his glasses, and shook his head sadly. He looked at the pair
frightened nearly out of their wits just by the feel of Yui's presence. Behind him
was the perfect predator, and her sustenance was not mere flesh and gristle.
Only souls would satisfy her. The gardener had come to reap the harvest from
fields she had sowed. In front of him lay a boy trapped in his sorrow.

'Is this it?' he asked himself. 'Have we lost everything? No more plans. No more
miracles.' Agent Jiro looked up to see a web of bright white contrails coming like
claws. 'Everything except hope...'
"THERE WILL BE A NEW DAY!" he shouted. "I PRAY!
All this sorrow, this endless sorrow! To all the dying we offer the peace we protect!
We don't look back! We keep on trying to fight! We wreck our grief and anger as we
strike! There will be a day after this!

I believe!" He pointed to the sky. "We go up! We go up! We go up!"

He dropped his hand, exhaling heavily. He reached into his shoulder holster to take
out a small service pistol. He could just hear his partner's gruff voice.
"Put your fear... in your gun... huh?" Agent Jiro touched the tip of his Beretta to his
forehead and smiled. He turned around and aimed, baring his teeth. "Shoot them out!
Shoot them out! Shoot them out!"

The cameraman stared up at the Section 2 Agent standing there, whose exposed
skin were bleeding sores. His weapon was tiny, his stance was shaky. And yet, in
his resolve he was immortal and unconquerable.


Rika was shaking, numb with terror. She shouldn't be here, she shouldn't have to put
herself between stupid broken kids and monsters and... "Toshiro! What are you
doing?!"

Her cameraman stood up and looked around. He saw a piece of rebar nearby and
went over to pick it up. "Sorry, Rika. I guess you'll have to manage things by
yourself from now on." He stood with his back to hers, refusing to look back.

"You... stupid! I won't do it! There's no hope..." Rika's hands were shaking. "I'm not
strong enough. I can't... don't leave me. Not now. What's this boy done to you?!"

"I'm not doing this for him. I'm doing it for you!" Toshiro Manabu shouted. It was
like he was leaping right out of his own skin. The glowing figure of Yui Ikari pulled
at him as much as it inspired primal terror. "Rika... what an annoying woman you
are." He turned his head aside and smiled. "You're selfish, you're loud, you're so
full of yourself. You're so afraid of not being seen. The woman I love is stronger
than this!

Dry your tears, Rika. You have to survive!"

Brave fools, but fools nonetheless. They knew there was nothing they could do
that would give even semi-permanent harm to Yui Ikari. Rika Izuna bit her lip, still
sobbing, and hesitantly began to drag away the still-insensate boy.
She stumbled, and dropped on her side. "Toshiro!"

"Survive, Rika!" the cameraman shouted while rushing forward, holding the metal
pole two-handed like a baseball bat. "... goodbye, Rika."

It was mere seconds before the first wave of missiles would hit the city.

The boy's paralysis was a hard shell of grief, true, but within it compressed to
cold clarity was RAGE. He had considered the possibility of loss, he had already long
accepted that they might have to keep on fighting by walking on the bones of their
loved ones. Ayanami, Sohryu, Kirishima... there were many times they could have
died. That they survived for so long was just a testament to their forced growth as
child-warriors. The power of the Eva could never protect, just allow hitting back the
enemy with equal force.

He hated his body in all its weakness.

He hated the enemy who would not give them any peace.

He hated the world in all its filth and promise.

He hated, because his heart had known love.

He hated that he wouldn't be allowed to rest.

He hated being a human being.

He hated being afraid of turning into a monster.

He hated that he wanted to return his mother's embrace, wanting to feel safe
and protected.

He hated being himself, being asked by that little boy so long ago, just where did
he stop being a good boy?

His strength drained away from his limbs and into his heart, just to contain that
acid regret. Behind his plans was the animal howling against the inevitable. He was
motionless, emotionless, because otherwise all he had was this unthinking beast
that hid at the bottom of every human's psyche.

It clawed and raged and roared and cried in the emptiness of his mind, and in
being trapped it was being punished. He was punishing himself for his weakness.

The berserker had no room for grief, and he would not let go of that. It was all
he had left of Ayanami.
Unit 01 roared and slammed against its cage, the crippled beast unable to add its
power to break through the shell. In Lillith's presence, it was more a liability than a
weapon.

When did he start to twist reality? Before Ayanami pledged herself to his purpose,
before they split their souls into each other, he'd been just a strange boy with
strange delusions. He was not made to rule. The world after the war, he'd always
felt it was for someone else to inherit.
The gap within was a conduit for Lillith to enter, and he armored his being against
the onslaught with his sorrow. The release was just a hand's reach away, a
promise to be reunited with those whom he'd lost. And end to all the pain.

A quick, shattering release. Impact.

Suffering boiled under pressure. So much had already been given up. He wanted
to scream, to escalate things, to burn this sinful world that demanded such
sacrifice! It would take from him everything! He had given up pride. His own death
was nothing to fear. He had only one last sacrifice to make, to throw away the
capacity to love, and he screamed and screamed his refusal to let go of this last
thing that he owned.

"You useless idiot!"

... Asuka?

"You can't let them do this! Haven't you satisfied your ego enough, Ikari? Too
many people believe you can save them. Too many people have DIED for you!
You coward! You moron!"

... that wasn't Asuka. But strangely, being insulted, it felt good. He felt distant
pain, someone beating on his ribs. When did masochism start being a normal part
of his daily experience? Huh. If he didn't like the feeling of being alive from his
nerves on fire, he probably wouldn't have been able to power through physical
pain in his fights.

"Wake up! You're supposed to be a hero! Act like it!" The voice broke down into
unintelligible sobs. "... they're all dying."

There was a pulse, like a heartbeat.

"... Ikari-kun." the wind whispered.

Yui took one step forward. Agent Jiro fired; bang! bang! bang-! Nine pulls on
the trigger, nine hollow-point bullets shot out. His shots were on-target, plinking
off Yui's cheeks. And then her hands were on either side of his head.

"Raaarggh!" Toshiro yelled and charged, whomping the metal pole across Yui's
back, uselessly bending the metal. The shock stung at his palms.

"... nobody dies."

Shinji Ikari blinked. The light of intelligence returned to his gaze. He grit his teeth.

"No more death." He struggled to get back up. His hair flowed long behind his back.
"No more heroes. No more..."

His consciousness burst. He remembered now his childhood days gone by, when all
was warm and alive and fun. His mother, the wind, and the sun. He remembered
Gendo's hand ruffling his hair, a tolerant half-smile on the man's face. He now
remembered Yui's gentle tone, saying:

"Live forever, Shin-chan. Live forever and tell the universe - we will give it love
and peace forever."

Even the black holes would carry this message.

----------

Ritsuko put in the master code for the self-destruct and waited as the MAGI began
to purge itself. The three supercomputer cores were Naoko Akagi's crowning glory,
and according to the scientist she'd put herself in it as a mother, a scientist, and
a woman.

The MAGI's three core icons turned red on the console, but then the last, MAGI core
Balthazar, blinked blue. It had rejected the order. Shortly, the other cores turned
blue again.

"... what does this mean?" Ritsuko whispered to herself, while lying back completely
exhausted. "Mother... what is it that you regret?"

----------

And time ceased to have meaning.

The sky seemed to turn inside-out, and a shadow moon slipped out of the unreal
depths. A black pearl hung in the sky, and a dead soul shone. Petals of sunfire
spread out. A deadly mushroom rose high, the white clouds darkening the valley.

Lillith stood alone. Rika Izuna had fainted.

There was the rattle of blue bolts from a Burst Cannon, and Yui raised her arm to
shield her face, not to protect herself but to keep her vision from being occluded
by the bright blue glare.

A strange walking machine, with a broad blocky chest and feet ending in cloven feet
landed with a thump near Shinji Ikari. It picked up the boy by the backplate of his
plugsuit and jumped away, jets burning to safety.

"Ayanami..." Shinji breathed.

"Oh, that's fine." Kaworu said. "No need to thank me or anything. It's not like I just
-saved your life- again."

"... haah." Shinji's breath misted out. A clump of his long, silken hair stretched out
and twisted together, coiling into an screw-edged shaft, which began to spin. The
improvised drill bit flipped around and bore straight through the armor of the
Crisis Battle Suit's cockpit.

"GAH! Dammit, Ikari!" Kaworu gurgled out. "Just when I think you can't be any more
of a thankless wretch, then you try to KILL ME WITH YOUR HAIR." The Crisis Suit
jumped clear to a nearby building as Kaworu clutched the hole in his stomach. He
reached out for a glob of sealant gel and applied it to the wound.

He looked to the main monitor inside his walker and saw that Yui's attention was
on him. He felt as if something had sunk its claws into the back of his brain and
yanked, hard. He grimaced and took quick, deep breaths. The part of him that was
made from Adam recoiled with 'I DON'T BELONG YOU!' He coughed, tasting blood at
the back of his throat. 'I AM HE THAT REFUSES YOU.'

If Lillith... Yui Ikari(?)... just had access to a Lancea Longini, it would already been
over. Not even the massed missile strike would have stopped Third Impact. He
looked up at the sunlight filtering down the cloud cover, the shards of light giving
the blasted city a chapel-like air. Gendo was wise to remove the Lance from
Tokyo-3.

Or was it intentional? The failure of Case Zero, Kaworu considered that it may be
the success of someone else's scenario. Seeing Yui Ikari standing there, he could
only rage in futility at Gendo's greed.

"Haaaaaahh...!" Shinji looked up, his eyes wild and unfocused. He shambled forward.

One step. Faster. Faster. He was running. There was a sticky feeling in the air, just
like before a thunderstorm.

"It's not going to work, Ikari..." Kaworu whispered with pity.

Shinji punched out, uncaring that his puny fist driven by a body still numb with shock
wouldn't harm anything even vaguely solid. Yui looked vaguely disappointed.

He slammed onto an AT-field barrier. Kaworu sighed. A human may resist and force
through an Angel's AT-field because a human has his own sense of identity. The
Ego Border, if it doesn't collapse, merges its outermost bondaries with the Angel.
The human dies, mutates, goes insane... or with utter willpower remain untouched.

Not like this. The berserker can only try to force through. "The power of the Eva is
closed to you now, Ikari. It would like asking Lord Ruby-Eye, hey, lend me your
power so I can kill you (with your own power)." Kaworu didn't want to see his
chosen rival act throw aside his intellect and survival instincts. "Anger only gives
the feeling of power."

Shinji's hammering on the AT-field slackened, until finally he slumped exhausted
against the barrier. He dropped to his knees, his hair falling in a rather dynamic
wave.

Kaworu stared with an unamused gaze. "Seriously, what is up with that, Ikari?'
he muttered. "That was just too suspiciously stylish. And you dare talk smack to
me about my being too effeminate?!" Focusing on the absurdity of his rival's
follicles kept him from emphatizing too much. This wasn't how he wanted to see
Shinji be defeated.

This was his loss! In this humiliating and nerveless reality, Kaworu felt utterly
defeated too. As long as he could look outside at someone whom he could use to
measure his existence, he could vicariously experience terrifying freedom.

He touched the puckered wound on his belly. Drill. Hair. "Mnggh." Kaworu ground
out in irritation. It was as if the family Ikari existed just to piss him off in every
way possible.

--------

Down in the geofront and at Cerberus Base, people were coming out out of their
(quite and useless) duck and cover pose. "We're alive? Why the hell are we still
alive?" Misato crowed. As the monitors cleared, she let out a long 'Oooh...!' of
awe and horror at the mushroom cloud rising over the city.

"Radiation levels are minimal." Shigeru reported. "We got his by N2 bombs." He
sagged on his chair. "For now."

"Okay, so who pulled our fat out of the fire this time?"

The monitors slowly began to recover. A lot of Tokyo-3's communication and
observation systems were hardened to the point of surviving a near nuclear
detonation. What if there was an Angel that attacked with some sort of super-
EMP effect? For all that people knew back then when the city was still being
built, the AT-field might end up creating new elementary particles that
spontaneously arrange into lattice arrangements that messed with atomic
charges. Surprisingly, the combination of old and new technologies proved to
be the most reliable. A series of camera obscura lenses, within thick metal
poles, fed a fiberoptic sensor. Views from all around the city flicked through
the main screen as the operators searched for survivors.

Of course, the kilometer-wide black ball impossibly hanging in the sky over the
city made it obvious who was responsible for the immense barrier.

"It's Gendo." Misato mumbled, rubbing at her forehead as a camera view
expanded to show the reunion of the family Ikari. "Somehow it's like I'd feel
better if I'd died instead. What's he up to, saving us now?"

--

Yui turned around to see Gendo emerged from the gray shroud of mist billowing
through the streets. He was wearing his usual scowl, his orange glasses oddly
reflective, his hands were wrapped in fresh white leather gloves. The wind tugged at
his jacket and hair, and he walked towards her through a fair bit of air resistance.

Delight spread across Yui's face. She put her bloodied hands back into the
pockets of her lab coat and murmured with dark pleasure. "Gen-chan.."
Gendo raised his right hand over to his right shoulder and swiftly swept it out.

The back of his hand smacked hard against Yui's cheek, and despite her godlike
state her head jerked aside. She stumbled back, and fell.

--

Ritsuko Akagi stepped back into the command tower. She looked up at the main
screen and lifted her eyebrow in fascinated inquiry.

"Excuse me, everyone, but did I really just see Gendo Ikari bitch-slap Lillith?" she
asked aloud. "The Second Angel's human host." she clarified, belatedly remembering
that they weren't supposed to know about that.

----------

Yui touched her jaw. That... that hurt! She ran her thumb over the edge of her
lips and wiped away blood. She looked up and there was only betrayal and confusion
in her demeanor.

"Gen-chan... why?!"

"Stop. Wearing. Her face." Gendo ground out.

Yui got back up, her expression never faltering. "Gen-chan! It's me! Don't you
remember? April Nineteenth! The trains!"

"You have her memories. That doesn't mean you are her. She is just one more mask
that you wear."

"I am NOT! LILLITH!" Yui replied angrily, the pressure of her presence blowing out
the smoke around them.

"No. Of course not." Gendo said in a tired tone. "Lillith is not a being. That is
not your name. You are an ideal. A belief. The endless spiral, the Serpent rising out of
Chaos."

Yui looked as if she might cry, her fists balling up. She looked down dejectedly, then
after a few moments, looked up with a different emotion on her face. Now she carried
only an imperious certainty.

Yui smiled. "All that live know my name in their heart." Her red irises spun violently.
"I am everyone and no one. Will you fight me as you are? Will you scream your loyalty
even as you try to kill me?"

Gendo took a deep breath and sighed aside. "The name that the universe knows...
is the Spiral Nemesis."

Yui's expression switched back into sorrow, her tone so vulnerable. "I'm still Yui Ikari.
Gendo, why? Was it just a lie after all? Don't you love me?"

A look of pain flashed across Gendo's face. "You... have no idea just how much."
He raised his hand to chest level. "Yui! Remember this!"

Gendo grimaced and clenched his hands into fists, holding them up near his face and
hunching over as he looked to contain an overpowering rage. He then swiftly moved
his left arm up straight over his face, then bringing it back down bent at waist level.
His right arm in an eyeblink copied the motion and held it there, completing a 'V'.

Slowly he swept his right arm overhead from left to right, holding it again with his
palm blade-straight

"I remember clearly." Yui tilted her head to the side. "Yui Ikari only makes you cosplay
as a Kamen Rider. What did you expect would happen?"

Gendo kept the pose up. "Why do you people keep on falling for my diversions?"

Honestly, it seemed that the greater the power one may possess, the easier it was
to get them to get distracted by something unexpected. The image of their universe
that made sense in their mind, it was so swiftly coddled and protected in response.
change.

"... wha-?"

WHAM!

There was a flash of gold, and Yui was knocked clear across the road by a fist as
big as her head.

"Haah. Haah..." Shinji gulped for breath. His arms were comically huge, wrapped
in the gauntlets of a Tactical Dreadnought's Power Fist. Somehow his long hair
had voven thick enough, serving as artificial musculature, to support the heavy
gauntlets without breaking the boy's spine. Technically, being rooted to his head,
his hair should have broken his neck anyway... but it was no more ridiculous than
Gendo still standing there holding the pose.

He had also repurposed a UNIG flag, with its falling star insignia, as a cape for
some reason. His hair had stitched itself into the fibers.
Shinji glanced aside, his eye betraying a 'what the hell are you doing?' look. He
then nodded, acknowledging his father's presence without wasting any more
thought on it. He had to focus on the bigger threat. Gendo just nodded back, holding
himself with quiet dignity.

"Ayanami..." Shinji whispered. He looked up at the disc of clouds in the sky and
the sunlight streaming down, and asked "... is this all right? I have no power other
than what others choose to give me. Their trust, their loyalty, love and friendship!

SO I ACCEPT. Let's all burn away our lives together!"

He blinked away his tears and looked back at the ground. "Ayanami is gone." said
Shinji, pointing with an oversized fist. "But in your heart she still survives. A lot of
people died today. You ate them up!

You may wear my mother's face but you're just another monster to me!" he
shouted with desperate exertion. "You ate them up AND I WILL HAVE THEM
BACK!"

He rushed forwards. Shinji, at best, could only control someone else's AT-field. Lillith
yankng out the split part of his soul that was Rei (and the small portion of Rei's soul
that was Shinji) left a hole, a tiny conduit. His improvised cape stiffened out, like a
glider wing.

Just before reaching Yui, he shifted his shoulder and the cape spun to the side, and
counterbalance to the motion he tilted to the side and hooked a punch up to her ribs.
Yui blocked with her elbow. There was a cruch as metal caved inwards.
Shinji, snarling, reached out with his left hand and grabbed her lab coat. "GIVE THEM
BACK!" he screamed as he pulled, while pushing off the road. His forehead met her nose.
Again. "GIVE HER BACK TO ME!" Pull. Headbutt. "GIVE HER BACK! GIVE HER BACK! GIVE
HER BACK!"

Yui shook her head, dazed. Annoyed, and with that thought she pulsed her AT-field. A
telekinetic wave spread out, and flinging Shinji all the way back across the street and
crashing through a shop window. Not satisfied with that, she gestured and flung a car
into it.

"What a disfunctional family this is." Kaworu muttered as he fired away from his perch. The plasma particle bursts from Fusion Blaster couldn't even tickle.

A spread of homing lasers shot out from the sides of the Shadow Moon, and he directed
the beams to strike at the awakened primordial creature. While he couldn't connect to
the Hivemind for great accuracy, his battlesuit did have pretty good line-of-sight retina
tracking.

The cascading torrent of beams splashed against an AT-field.

Gendo dropped his right hand to shoulder level, forming a fist. "Henshin." he said flatly.

"What." said Kaworu.

There was a flash of light. The only change was that Gendo was now wearing an
armored chest plate instead of an undershirt. Steam hissed out from under his sleeves.

"Toh." said Gendo. The AT-field shattered under his punch.

For the first time, fear showed on Yui's expressions. Gendo raised his right hand, the
glove burning away to expose Adam's veiny flesh and unblinking eye growing out
the back of his hand.

Gendo smirked. "This hand of mine... glows with an awesome power."

--------

Back at Cerberus Base someone screamed. "NO! NO! You of all people don't get to
say that! YOU DON'T!"

--------

"... its shine calls for me to defeat you."

--------

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Aida's gone berseker! Run for your lives!"

-------



... Anyways, LOVE AND PEACE is the Black Hole Message. You can bet I'm going to be referencing the shit out of that in any setting that uses black holes. Graviton Beam Emitter? Love and Peace. Singularity Laser? Love and Peace. Vash the Stampede? "This Death Star of yours is no match for the power of Love and Peace!" BLACKHOLE'D.

 

[Sdebeli]

You just haaaad to do it

 

[bluepencil]

I really want to rewrite the whole thing from the start so that whatever cunning plan Gendo makes turns out just him trolling everybody. Sometimes it's just better to get things down so that the urge is out and proper editing can begin.

Anyway, you do remember that it's been hinted he's in a time loop scenario, right?

... man, I realize we've already had a time-traveling Gendo, but there's so much fun we can have with a different personality at the head of NERV. Slacker Gendo, stoner Gendo, actually competent politician Nice Guy? Gendo, supersititious Gendo, and etc.


edit:

This is shit and I am shit writer. Rewrite time. Also, hopefully less random power-ups.

 

[ranmatoushin]

Rewrite, After you've got the whole story down otherwise it might end up never getting finished.

and even if you think it's bad i think it's still one of the best Eva storys i've read.

Edit;
unless you mean this chapter, then rewrite away, i've just seen too many people start to redo a story and never finish it.

 

[bluepencil]

Might as well get rid of this too:

00000000000000000000000000000000


ôHowà how can you do this?ö Yui gasped, warily leaning away from Gendo. Only AdamÆs
power could oppose Lillith. Yet she could feel it û it was a dead power, but no less potent
for that. She grimaced, feeling the pain from the hits on her body. Gendo had never hit
her, never! Yui Ikari was certain that sheÆd been his entire world. SheÆd been certain that
she held his one true loyalty.

Where did this rage flowing from his fists come from, then? Had Gendo always been a
wife-beater at heart? Did he hide his hatred that well?

ôDonÆt try to make me pity this shell.ö Gendo said, his stance so unbearably proud. ôI do
this because IÆm the only one who truly remembers her name. I remember what you
made yourself forget! Yui!ö

Yui cackled and coughed. ôThatà that makes no sense.ö

Gendo stepped forward. Yui flinched. ôYuiàö he crooned.

Gendo extended his left hand. "I've been looking for you for so long. Only I remember
your name. How many times must you condemn the world for the same little ingrate?
Come home, Yui. You have always been my anchor. I will bring you back." There was
gentleness in his eyes. His voice dropped to a plaintive whisper. "Come home, Ichijou."

Yui blinked. The bright red glow in her eyes faded, become confused brown eyes.
She looked at Gendo and slowly recognition dawned. Hesitantly she reached out to
touch his hand. Gendo grasped her fingers tightly.

"Come home." he said. "Come back, Yui."

He pulled.

And, strangely, YuiÆs flesh flowed as if liquid. Another set of slim fingers emerged, pulled
out and held within GendoÆs scarred hand. Yui gasped, and Yui fell out. A girl, looking no
more than fifteen years old, dressed in a white plugsuit similar to Rei AyanamiÆs, stepped
out into the sun. Her steps were wobbly as she was made to walk away from her former
shell.

She looked up, amazed. ôGeà Gen-chan?Æ she whispered.

ôHello again. Yui.ö

She smiled hesitantly. ôYouà you came back.ö Her eyes showed such anguish and relief.
ôLike you promisedàö

A young boy wearing a striped shirt, a young girl wearing a white sundress, on a hill
overlooking the resort town of Hakone û a monstrous white face in the heavens û and a
promiseà time itself was no barrier to a person who went beyond monster and man, beyond
demon and god. A man who trapped himself in the cycle of suffering, knowing only that only
love could raise him higher than prayers.

Lillith blinked, red eyes confusedly looking down at the apparition that in front of Her. The
confusion was replaced by unthinking hatred, and she reached out to -

Lillith fell over face-first into the concrete. A green blur screeched to a stop near
Gendo.

"Battle Hopper!" Yui said excitedly. The green motorcycle blinked its bright red head-
lamps on an insect-like chassis and revved in greeting.

"It's not just SEELE that I've had to contend against" said Gendo, gently touching
Yui's cheek with the back of his index finger. "Sometimes it is GENOM, or SHOCKER,
or CRONOS. It doesn't matter. I'll always bring you back."

"Gen-chan..." Tears misted her eyes and bawling, she hugged him. Gently Gendo
patted her back.

"Every part of you that's missing, until we're both whole again."

"Oh that's IT! I HAVE -HAD- IT!"

Lillith remained unmoving on the road, still in the form of Yui Ikari, but everyone else
turned to look at Kaworu stomping over in his Crisis Suit. The cockpit hatch was open
and they could all see his expression of enraged frustration.

"Stop. Stop it right there. Hold it!

Let me see if I have this straight... SEELE uncovered Adam and caused Third
Impact in an attempt to attain godhood. It failed. This released the Angels that,
according to the Dead Sea Scrolls, must be defeated before they could try again.

Yui Ikari opposed this and engineered her absorption into Unit 01 and the
development of the human-Angel hybrids like me and Ayanami to sabotage the
Red Earth Ceremony despite that we are the tools to make it possible."

He pointed to Gendo. "SEELE created NERV and put you in power to defeat the
Angels. The Evangelions were created not just to defeat the Angels, but actually
clear the way for Third Impact to happen.

I decided to act against the wishes of SEELE to ensure that the human race
maintains its physical existence. With the same goal but different methodology,
so did Shinji Ikari.

BUT! It turns out that the continued use of the Evangelion would inevitably
release Lillith anyway, since the human race IS the next larval stage of the
Lillith lifeform. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the geofront were deliberately designed
to tempt whoever uncovered them to make this happen."

"You should start at the beginning, with why the First Ancestral Race created two
opposing philosophies on the development of life."

"SHUT UP! I'm not finished. SEELE thought that you might want to start Third
Impact on your terms and claim godhood. Yui Ikari wanted you to preserve the
scenario she'd crafted, that would rely on Ayanami to trigger and control Third
Impact and leave the final result to Shinji Ikari's choice.

But Shinji Ikari doesn't want Third Impact to happen and instead use the power
of the Eva to settle the stars.

But inevitably, human struggle would force them into overusing the Eva or melting
into a communal mind that would release Lillith anyway. Even my Hivemind would
switch into this philosophy on encountering the Adam-life out there.

Yui Ikari knew this, and in my creation implanted in me the urge to continually test
myself against her son, help him reach his potential, so that humanity would grow
into a being that would not be overshadowed by LillithÆs oversoul.

But you knew this. Damn it, you knew and you didn't care what weirdness your
son was doing, as long as you got your wife back.

But then it turns out that it wasn't Yui Ikari that you wanted anyway, but...
who is this anyway?"

The black-haired girl with the bob-cut haircut who, if Kaworu was inclined to recall...
bore an uncanny resemblance to a certain Little Miss Death Star with a Silence
Glaive, fearfully hid behind Gendo's arm. She did bear an astonishing resemblance
to Shinji Ikari.

"Yui Ichijo. Pilot of Evangelion Unit One." Gendo replied for her.

"... I am not going to go into that. But what the hell? Is it a time loop, huh? Have
you been replaying this scenario over and over? I have received visions from
my future self and none of this ever happens! No, you just made me think that
was up with you. That was just a lie. We're just too predictable."

Of course Gendo wouldn't care about anyone. They might as well been meat-
puppets. There was no indignity he couldn't shrug off, no enemy too terrible to
overcome, no sacrifice too great to make. This overpowering purpose, this mean
miserable was, was the measure that both Shinji and Kaworu both denied and
wished to be like. To give of their entire being to one goal, to live sustained
only by their willpower... they were children who hoped to surpass someday their
father.

Kaworu remembered Gendo standing impassively over the travel Core of the
Shadow Moon to murmur 'The twentieth century was so long ago...' And relayed
through the gestalt genius of the Hivemind, all possible conclusions were reached
other than Gendo Ikari was a goddamn fanboy at heart.

Oh. Oh gods that he didn't believe in. This explained. So much.

So much hate flooded Kaworu's veins.

"So this leaves me to conclude... you're a dimensional traveler, aren't you?"

"The proper term is 'Slider'." Gendo replied evenly.

Kaworu turned around and began to indiscriminately fire with his Burst Cannon. He
roared and spat out a loud sequence of expletives. It took quite a while for him to
calm down. "Was this one of your scenarios?"

"No, all these stupid plots have entangled and ended each other by accident."
Gendo replied. His voice, while not warm, did convey a benign amusement.

"I hate everything. I HATE EVERYTHING!" Kaworu let out a primal scream and,
gulping for breath, brought his pallid face back into cool control. "So. Ghk. So. You
needed Adam to neutralize Lillith."

Battle Hopper revved its engines as if to grumble 'I did that, thank you very much.'
Kaworu ignored and repressed. Heavily.

"So. What now, Ikari?" he hissed. "What now?!"

"Now I leave." He looked up to the distance, seeing streaks of approaching
missiles, then down to where Lillith was beginning to stir. "Are you going to ask to
come along?"

"Hell no!"

"Then do not attempt to hinder me."

"You come along, mess with people, and just leave? How dare you, Ikari!" Kaworu
could endure hatred, fear, or even cool contempt. This patronizing arrogance rankled
in the way that even he had to admit was quite hypocritical of him. But for all his
own arrogance at least he had a purpose that others could pick up and carry with
him.

"Why not? You do and the boy do it, manipulating people into twisted reflections of
what they should be, all to satisfy your own egoes."

"Because we LIVE HERE! Whatever the result, we have decided to live with our
actions! This is our world! Why should we have to accept what bitter old men say
about what we sort of people we should be?"

"You're no Prometheus, Nagisa." Gendo replied, patting the girl hugging his waist.
"You're still trapped in the labyrinth, trying to outrun your minotaur." He looked at
Lillith, starting to get back up. Then back to Kaworu. "Do you think there is some
outside observer who awards you points for character development? Changing
everything around you to deny being controlled by anyone... why should I give a
damn about yet another kid Icarus?

Prodigies burn out." Gendo exhaled roughly. ôI know that too well. Ideals mean nothing
in the end. The world turns, the world ends, but those you love give meaning to your
life. It is a childish desire to be acknowledged. The one who loves only oneself has never
grown up.ö

ôYou donÆt get to judge me, you thieving shit.ö

"If the choices you made were actually your own, I would have, Angel of Free Will."

"Rargh!" Kaworu punched at his own face again and again, as his Angel soul refused
to contemplate even harming its creator, while his human half wanted to go wild. It
was another thing which he envied Shinji: being able to go berserker.
His mind - ! A man could never be truly enslaved as long as his mind was his own.
Kaworu could not claim that much. He snarled out "You arrogant assho-"

Kaworu glanced down at Yui, and glared. The glare gave out a frightened 'eep' and
hid behind Gendo. This was the one thing that Gendo Ikari valued in any way. If-
Hurk. He couldn't breathe. It was as if something was squeezing his heart. Gendo's
eyeglasses glinted. 'Even contemplate bringing harm to her, and I will -end you-'

00000000000

I don't know why, but trolling Nagisa is just so fun.

Yui Ichijo is, of course, based on the pre-production sketches of Yui Ikari/Rei Ayanami.

In the right light, even Gendo can look a little dorky. I can certainly see THIS Gendo making goofy Kamen Rider poses without shame.

 

[Weresmilodon]

I couldn't stop grinning for the entire while i read that.