"How the world has changed…couldn't even tell we were ever at war," a young man mused loudly as he watched the citizens of Shin Tokyo stream on with their lives. Students, businessmen and women, shopkeepers, scientists, people from every walk of life passed him by. It was unfamiliar to him, to see so many ordinary people and none of the soldiers and black suits he had spent the last five years around.
"Stow that talk boy! We don't need a reminder of that hell!" a man, a foreigner though hardly out of place in Shin Tokyo, at the next table over growled loudly. The attention of the entire café was suddenly drawn to them.
The young man raised an eyebrow at the middle aged foreigner, possibly one of the many contractors brought to the city by the lure of plentiful jobs, who had growled at him. "My apologies, I didn't think it was proper to comment on someone's personal thoughts," the young man quickly responded as he stood and grabbed his black jacket. Tossing enough yen on the table to pay for his coffee, he made left the small café. It wasn't a battle worth fighting. These people would rather forget the war, forget the sacrifices, forget the death of Tokyo-2, forget the pain, forget the misery and he couldn't blame them. If he a chance he would like to forget it, but wishes were wishes and reality was reality.
"Thank for visiting. Please come again," one of the waitresses called out as he passed.
He gave the black haired woman a once over and a thin smile. She was rather pretty in a classical way and rather clam compared to her short tempered sister who also worked at this particular café. "I'll be back in two weeks, I have some business to attend to out of town," he informed the woman. He had come to like this café more than others and along with his patronage he was something of a friend with most of the staff at Ayame Café.
"Then we will see you then. I'll tell the rest later on, have a good trip, Mr. Ikari."
Hibiki was all business as they spoke. She had to maintain the image of the perfect waitress for the new customers. Only the regulars like him got to see the real side of the staff and owner. Once the sun went down and the weather was right the Café revealed its alternate function. He stepped onto the sidewalk as a certain car pulled up. His ride was here at last.
The window rolled down and a hand gestured for him to get in. Wasting no time, as it wouldn't do to annoy his immediate superior this early it the game, he stepped into the grey SUV. "Takami," he greeted the grey haired woman as he sat
"Shinji," she replied tensely. "There has been an unexpected development. Drive,' she commanded the driver, a nondescript man of middle age.
"Does it have to do with everyone's favorite idiot?" he asked. If something had gone wrong then it was most likely Minaka Hiroto's fault in some way shape or form. It was either him or SEELE, but the old men were dead and gone.
"Yes, he's decided to start the game early. I've only had time to tune half of the specimens and that moron wants to start the game already!" Takami grabbed her lab coat in anger, no doubt imagining it was Minaka's face. "We'll have to move our plans forward in response. This is bad," she stated as she pulled a cigarette from her pocket and lit it.
"He is forcing us to move in response to him. Bastard," Shinji mused idly. This whole plan of theirs was controlled by the whims of certified mad genius, plans that kept him and many others safe from those who end those he cared for. "NERV and MBI…a dangerous combination from the outsiders view. Neither can be trusted, yet once more the world must reply on us to defend it."
"The shield of the world; that was the motto your group took after the war. You should have expected this to happen. GERHIN's secrets cannot be buried forever," Takami stated. "It's time for you to do that."
He knew what she was referring to and hated it. It was an act of betrayal towards the woman who held his heart. She would learn of it, NERV knew it would happen and knew the NERV rumor mill well. Even in Europe she would learn of his betrayal at the command of the Supreme Commander of the NERV. She had given her blessings in his mission before she left, but he knew it would hurt more than she admitted. The hurt and unshed tears on her face as he walked her to her plane told him that much.
"I don't like it, Takami. It's betrayal of the highest order. Why does it have to be on such a deep level," he quietly cursed what ever fate had led him to this place. It was a pointless wish though; he could have walked away from NERV and this madness before it started, but he had chosen to stay. He hated NERV, yet it was home after a fashion. He belonged…that feeling was rare enough to make him stay.
"Look, I know you're torn over this. Love and genetically based love, hell that's nearly artificial love, but I'm not going to mince words here. It needs to be done. The Disciplinary Squad is one power that might ruin our plans by its lonesome. You are the counterbalance to Minaka's hit squad. It would take too long to bring any of the others anyway, so we're left with you whether you like it or not. Deal with it," Takami finished with a glare.
He returned the grey eyed woman's glare with a level look. She was not the scariest thing he had ever had to face. The horrors of the stars were far worse than anything a mere human could conjure. The car stopped and she broke eye contact.
"It's time to get you in this game. They are waiting for you.' She flicked her cigarette to the ground and ground it with her heel. "I'll admit I'm surprised two of them reacted to you like they did."
"Believe me; I've never had two women throw themselves at me like those two did. That was the first time we had ever met too. I thought the reaction process was supposed to take longer than one sighting."
"So did I," she answered they walked into MBI headquarters. "All the data pointed to a slow reaction similar to what we saw with the first one, but it the reaction time must have been subjected to some form of drift even though we kept them isolated."
They boarded a special elevator, hidden behind a false pillar, which had a single destination. The S-Isolation wards didn't exist in any official building plan. Minaka had created them for the sole reason of housing the specimens and the construction crew that had dealt with those rooms was now living a comfortable life outside of Shin Tokyo under the watchful eye of NERV and MBI security. Every word they spoke was monitored and the moment they spoke of the secret MBI rooms built off the record snipers would terminate them no matter the location, time or witnesses. Where money didn't work, they would use lethal force to protect the Plan.
"I recall Dr. Akagi ran into a similar issue with Project E-2 two years ago. The only explanation was drift due to evolutionary factors, but that was an Angel. After all each of them was different so high speed evolution to combat natural predators would be expected. Though if we applied that to Project S…I wonder what would drive the specimens to such ends. Mating cycles? Subtle environmental changes?" Shinji threw ideas out as they ascended the tower.
"Maybe," Takami said thoughtfully. "Ritsuko used an active crystalline inhibitor in the new LCL didn't she?"
"I think so, but from what I've heard it failed after the first few successful startups," he answered with a shrug. "I really don't know."
"A temporary fix…" Takami trialed off. "It wasn't like this before those old men raped the world. Things made sense back then, up was up, down was down and aliens were aliens!" She let out a frustrated sigh. "Damn them! Before Impact my specimens didn't show nearly as much drifting. It wasn't just the specimens, but the rest of my old department was complaining about unforeseen drift just last week in other experiments. Second Impact did more than we thought and you were just the start."
"Imagine what a Third Impact would do," he joked grimly.
The white haired scientist snorted. "We'd be screwed, but…" she drawled, "Minaka would probably be dead in a gutter or soon to be dead by my hands."
There was a ding as the elevator reached the top floor. The pair stepped out and looked out over the balcony. In that white room a hundred alien beings had once lived, trained, fought, ate, socialized, argued and were made ready for the game of a madman. In the hidden rooms of MBI headquarters they waited to take Shin Tokyo by storm in the unavoidable game to come. Now less than half remained, many moved to offsite locations to wait for the signal to move or in the case of the truly powerful ones, allowed to roam as they pleased.
"The socialization programs Dr. Akagi suggests have been working wonderfully, though it was one hell of a time getting that bastard to accept the change," Takami informed him.
Shinji hummed in acknowledgement. Dealing with the CEO of MBI was…very difficult and sometimes dangerous task. Takami was one of the few who could defy Minaka without consequence. Shinji quickly amended that thought; Minaka was obsessed with Takami for that reason.
Looking down he could pick out a number of Sekirei by name. He knew of a few that Minaka had released for his own purposes, namely Hibiki, Hikari, and numbers one through ten though a few had broken out on their own. The upper numbers were long gone and a few other key ones to the Plan were ready to be winged. By the end of the week up to fifty of the aliens would be set lose in Shin Tokyo to winged and herald the start of the game. It would have been controlled chaos according to the NERV agenda. In small doses they could control the Sekeri and, by extent, Minaka until a permanent solution could be formed as to what fate MBI's CEO would face. Death was too good for the CEO and if life or death was all that mattered then Shinji was sure he could end the CEO's life without much trouble, but the greater picture held him back. MBI and Minaka were needed for the war that they fought.
To fight the alien, traitor and heretic NERV was ready to do great violence, ally with the evilest men to safeguard humanity. Angel, human, Evangelion, Sekeri…all stood to face utter ruin if nothing was done. Across the globe NERV and MBI hunted in the shadows, across hundreds of labs scientists and researcher sought to understand their enemies and form countermeasures against creatures born out of nightmares. The Angel War was over, but the war for survival had yet to be fought. The Angels had been the opening shot of the war all of humanity would soon be consumed by.
"It's time. The window will be getting smaller now," Takami stated as she hit a button on a small console attached to the railing. The balcony platform began to descend when Shinji heard the elevator ding. Looking up he heard a familiar cry that he wished he wasn't so familiar with.
"WAIT FOR ME TAKAMI!"
"Oh hell no!' Takami punched the console controls over and over. "Why can't this piece of junk go any faster!"
Shinji saw the flash of a white coat falling towards them and wisely stepped aside. A second latter Minaka hit the platform and rolled. He sprang to his feet and straightened his coat as he spoke, seemingly unharmed by his fall. "My dearest Takami, how could leave without your dear husband?"
"First off, we're NOT married," Takami snapped. "Second, you are a lunatic and nothing more. Third, you are not needed for this operation."
"On the contrary, I'm the head of MBI and the Project-S falls under my control as CEO of MBI. By attending this experiment I am fulfilling my duties in the oversight clause of my CEO contract," Minaka explained rationally.
Shinji noted that the madman made no move to dismiss the lunacy charge. The worst part was Minaka was correct; the CEO contract, created by Minaka himself, gave him nearly unlimited power over almost everything in Shin Tokyo though few people knew it. Takami was looking away, angrily gripping the railing. "We should proceed with the next phase of the plan chairman," he nodded towards Minaka, "director," he acknowledged Tamki's formal title as the woman let go of the poor railing and slowly let her anger out.
"You are correct. The age of the gods cannot wait any longer! Today we take the first steps towards the dawn of a new age of the gods!" The platform came to a stop with a small shudder. Minaka stepped away of the other two and strutted down the small ramp, still speaking in flowery prose. "The call of destiny lies heavy on this day. Here we shall change the course of the world! Today history will be made that will echo down through the ages as the day man created new gods! No longer will we be blinded by the lies of men, cursed by weak willed men, hidden from the eyes of the alien. For this is the new age of the gods ! The eternals! The guardians! The shield! The sword! The wisdom! The power! The wrath! The fury! The-"
"ENOUGH! SHUT UP!" Takami suddenly screamed.
Shinji gave the enraged woman an inquisitive look. Was it not better to let Minaka get all his prose out now rather then later? It had become rather annoying though, Minaka's delusions were grating. It was pity she wasn't even looked at him as she steamed.
"But I wasn't finished," Minaka whined pitifully.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Takami continued to scream. "KEEP YOUR DAMNED DELUSIONS TO YOURSELF!" She stomped away, further into the crowd of alien beings.
He wanted to make a sarcastic quip, but he had no desire to get on Minaka's bad side so soon. Though the chairman couldn't kill him, he could be cut out of the loop and denied information through a bilateral investigation into his personal conduct.
"I'm just getting to the good part too! Come on Takami," Minaka begged his lead scientist as he ran after Takami.
"NO! SHUT UP AND DON'T TALK! EVER!" Takami's fist collided with Minaka's head, sending the CEO flying.
"Oh, I love it when you get so hot and bothered!" Minaka giggled perversely. "It makes the sex all that much better!"
"GO TO HELL!" Takami roared, rushing the man with her clip board rose to greet the CEO's head.
Shinji moved quicker than her arm and put on a last burst of speed, passing the CEO. He caught the arm as it descend, sparing the unfortunate CEO. "ENOUGH!" he growled. "We have business to attend to and this," he indicated the crowd of curious Sekeri that had gathered around them as if they were some kind of spectacle, "is not our business, Takami."
Angry grey eyes bored into his then that anger slowly faded. He felt her arm slacken and let down. The limb fell to the scientist's side slowly. "Alright, you win Ikari. He," she jabbed a finger in Minaka's direction, "doesn't suffer right now. Later though …" she purposely trialed off.
"I can't wait for tonight! Make-up sex here I come!" Minaka declared, jumping to his feet.
Shinji sighed when her heard the tell tale crack of Minaka's skull being introduced to Takami's fist. Sometimes it was better not to get in the way of married couples; Misato had taught him that lesson with her own relationship. He began to walk away from the couple. Sekeri let him pass without a word. They knew him or rather than knew his power, his unnatural and dangerous presence, that was so much like their own yet utterly alien to them.
"A race of demi-humans defending humans. How ironic," he murmured to himself then snickered at irony. He wasn't human, perhaps he was once human, perhaps he never was he had no idea. Several of the more bold Sekirei greeted him with nods and short hellos that elicited a small, polite wave or nod of his own; the product of his uncle and aunt strict rules during his youth. He pulled a keycard from his pocket as he reached the wall and placed it against a small scanner. There was a click and the outline of a door formed in the wall. The door automatically slid open and he stepped inside. Takami and Minaka hastened after him, sliding in just as the door started to close.
The door shut, leaving them in complete darkness. For many minutes there was darkness. He heard the clicks and grinding of cogs, the only signs he was still in a physical place. Slowly light began to creep in. In the pit of his stomach he felt fear grow for the first time in several years. He was going to commit his betrayal in this place. Here a relationship born out of desperation and impulsive desire, but eventually turned to love, would be torn, but he hoped not broken.
He uttered a brief prayer to any deity that might be listening that things would not go too far. The light source came into view with a final click of the cogs. Before him stood a thin screen were a lamp sat on a small desk behind the screen. He could make out the shape of two couches and two nude female figures rose to their feet. He could make out every curve in their bodies and sighed. At least Minaka was mercifully silent. "As per the agreement you will leave," he reminded Minaka.
"Of course! I am a man of my word after all. Now go and bring the new age of the gods to men!" Minaka cried indignantly.
Shinji heard a crack and walked towards the screen. "Keep that voyeur in line Takami."
"Got it, just finish this. One injection should be enough to create the connection," the scientist reminded him one last time. "Oh yeah! Before I forget, have a bit of fun first. Makes it easier," she suggested crassly.
Shinji was glad the scientist couldn't see his face. Her advice was unneeded. Before he had had left Tokyo-3 he had spent several days with his girlfriend, most of them filled with every perverted act they could think of. She had been insatiable or perhaps it had been desperation. That was always a very real possibility of no return or worse in their line of work. He placed a hand on the screen and pulled it back, trying not to look. He kept his thoughts centered on her, he vowed it would be her face he would see when he did the deed.
"Ashikabi," two melodious voices greeted him as he stepped in and pulled the screen back to it original position.
"Let's get this over with," he murmured as two soft sets of hands embraced him.
Dawn broke over Shin Tokyo as he sipped his tea. Most of the warmth was gone, but the mere action put him at ease. Cold spices sent a familiar tingle down his spine. Golden sun illuminated the city, chasing away the night shadows. Slowly the city was coming to life, but he didn't see it anymore. Shin Tokyo to the rest of the world was a shining example of the future, of what other cities could be become, a beacon of hope. In his eyes he saw none of that hope for a better day. It was a city built in lies and slavery, MBI and NERV were both equally responsible for the slaves. The life blood of the city was not the clean hydroelectric plants, but the espionage and murders carried out in the night. In bars and in brothels off of hidden alleyways agents played games, men and women died by the dozens and never a word about it was spoken. A city of blood, a city of rot, a city of lies, a city with no hope of a better day…if this was the better day then he should have let the Angels win.
Slowly the sounds of two females arguing took his attention away from the sound of cars and trains passing far below. Waiting for the phone call was hard enough, but waiting for him with two freshly winged Sekirei was far worse. What had once become a long quiet wait was now a noisy one. He glanced over his shoulder and shook his head as the Sekirei argued each filled with nervous energy. "Enough you two," he gently reprimanded them.
"But Taki wouldn't give me the last cookie!" the redhead whined as she tried to reach the cookie held just outside of her reach.
"Really! All I said we would should offer it our Ashikabi," the grey haired Taki replied, sliding behind a sofa.
"The playground is not a playground Saki," he chided them as Saki dove over the armrest of the sofa in an attempt to get the cookie in Taki's hands. "Come here and bring the tea pot with some cups for yourselves." Standing he grabbed his teacup and walked over to the smaller of his two sofas, letting himself fall into the plush material.
"Got it! Get the tea and cups Taki."
"No," Taki replied with an easy smile as she swiftly made her way to him. She slid up to up, tucking his arm against her side.
Saki let out an angry growl. "Don't hog him!" she cried when saw Taki's position. "Making a girl work like this…"
Shinji sighed as his Sekirei's actions. Saki had much to learn about the real world. She was literally the product of a specimen brought up on only TV and limited contact with the real world. Her delusions of girly fantasy ideas were the stuff of fairytales and nothing more. At his side Taki hummed contently and he had to admit the warmth was welcomed. They were affectionate creatures, Sekirei, and they only wanted one thing and it just so happened to be love; the one thing he the most trouble giving.
"You weren't looking at us last night were you?" Taki asked suddenly. She used her free hand to break the cookie in half and started to offer it to him.
Gently he pushed her hand away, Hand feeding was a step he wasn't ready to take, but the dejected face she made after that almost broke him then and was no reason to lie, not to these two aliens who had sworn to love him forever and ever yet that alone would be reason enough to lie. "No, as much as I tried I couldn't do it. The face I see is yours," he traced Taki's jaw line with his free hand.
"What about me?" Saki demand, hand on hip. She had already placed the tea tray on the coffee table and snatched half of the cookie from Taki's hand. "Or do you only see her face?" she demanded pointing to Taki as she munched on the cookie.
He could have missed the victorious smirk that Taki shot, but didn't. The dejected face was gone for the moment at least. "Damn me for a fool for saying this, but I see each of you and no one else." The youthful gray haired Sekirei pressed deeper against him, making a pleased sound. He was acutely aware of her breasts on his arm and her soft breath over his bare skin.
"Pig!" Saki cried at Taki as she jumped in his lap, shoving her ample breasts into his face. "We know anyway. It's alright if you want to imagine her face on of these nights. After all, its love right?"
Taki hummed her agreement as she tilted her head and kissed his neck. He could have done something inmate with them. He could have gone for Saki's ticklish spot just below the waistband of her white skirt. He could have met Taki lips. He could have taken them here and now, on the penthouse couch as the sun rose. He did nothing, he would not and could not. As much as his body ached for their touch and the feelings of sex, it would only drive the nails in his relationship deeper. The first bout of sex had been for a reason, beyond that it was learning his partners abilities and skills. The third time would be for pleasure alone, selfish reasons that would drive those nails in deeper. It was a stroke of luck when his phone started to vibrate in his pocket. "That's mine," he said, gently pushing Saki off his let go of his arm slowly, watching his every move. He pulled the simple phone, a plain thing colored silver and black, and stood as he answered. "Yes?"
"There's been an incident."
Minaka. Minaka had called him personally. The madmen rarely did that. The pretty secretary Minaka had or Takami normally gave him his assignments. For the CEO to call him…the assignment was vital to MBI and NERV security. "I assume this is of a vital nature."
"Yes, a Sekirei has fallen into the hands of one of our…competitors. This cannot stand. They must be punished and the Sekirei recovered. There can be no survivors, no witnesses, but I don't think I need to tell you that."
"Who and where?" Shinji asked. He motioned his two Sekirei to quite their newest squabble and started to pace around the penthouse. He gave the tea a longing glance, the chances of enjoying another cup were dying by the second. "Which group or is it another cult?" He honestly hoped it wasn't another cult. Cultists were stupidly ignorant and every time he was sent after them they ended up quickly summoning whatever strange horror they most definitely were not trying to summon. He didn't need to see another incident like the school and those damned horny demon spawn with too many eyes.
"The Ashford Foundation."
Shinji almost swore, but held barely held back. "Are you sure? It was the Ashford Foundation?" he pleaded. Dealing with the Ashford Foundation was annoying and dangerous. Founded by a group of business men and political leaders in 1930's with a passing interest in the occult, the Foundation was a cancer that grown out of control. When seemingly ordinary things began to change in the post Impact world they emerged as the lead authority on paranormal events and occult activities in the Western Hemisphere. With bases and sympathizers in every country they were the primary opposition party to GERHIN, and later, NERV and MBI in the race against all things inhuman. The many times a NERV operation had gone sour when Ashford agents entered the area was beyond count. The problem lay that the UN had given them the same autonomous authority as NERV during then Angel War and the Foundation had all but gone rouge when the War was declared over publicly.
"The Foundation has one of my single digits, number zero-three, Kazehane," Minaka growled. "Get her back and slaughter them. Leave none of them alive. I'm sending the Disciplinary Squad with you. Kazehane is being held in a facility in the Greater Southwest Territory of the American Confederation."
There was no arguing with Minaka when he spoke like that. The CEO of MBI wanted this done and he wanted it done badly. The Foundation had stepped on his ego personally by taking one of the first Sekirei the man had personally awaken and even Shinji knew it was better not to wake a sleeping oni. If anything he felt sorry for those fools at the Foundation. "I'll make the call and assemble some strike teams to contain. Send your lackeys to the normal location with the intelligence and I'll meet them there."
"Destroy everything! They have dared to defy the coming of new age. Make them pay for it! Am I clear?"
"Crystal clear," Shinji replied tensely before he snapped the phone shut. The echo of plastic hitting plastic rang over the suddenly quiet penthouse. Saki and Taki watched him with worried eyes. He knew he would appear tense and it was appropriate in light of the newest mission given.
"What's happened?" Saki asked quietly.
He surpassed the urge to rub his head and headed for his armchair. "Could one of you get the pill bottles on the top shelf in the kitchen and a glass of water?" A headache was coming and the familiar pain in his gut was coming back. Was it close to time for the next dose already?
"I'll get it," Taki answered as she rose to her feet.
He let himself sink into the cushy armchair. Idly he noted that the white dress Taki favored enhanced her natural alien grace, accented her beauty. She was a rather lovely creature and, for the number of non-human beings he encountered, one of the most even tempered and agreeable ones. Playing with the phone he stalled for time, not wishing to answer Saki's question quite yet. Slowly he opened the phone, dismissed the call ended screen and punched in a number he was none too happy to know by heart. Switching the phone over to speaker, he tilted it so the camera was pointing at his face.
"Agent Ikari."
"Supreme Commander," Shinji acknowledged the gray screen with the red words SOUND ONLY. "I need several strike teams to Air Field S-137, four Infiltrator VOLTS, and clearance to enter the American Confederation."
"I know the situation already. The teams and VOLTS are on their way. Do what you can to placate the CEO, save his specimen and seize the Ashford data banks if the chance is given otherwise destroy them. Do not let the Ashford data to fall into MBI's hands."
"Understood." Shinji moved to end the call, but hesitated. Technically he was mated to these two aliens now and the Commander was his father. It was only human to introduce ones wife, or in his case mates, to her father in law, but he was leery to do so. Gendo Ikari would already know about it, to introduce them would lead to another sharp comment from him about wasting his valuable time on trivial matters. It was better to avoid such things, they were barely father and son as it was. As far Gendo Ikari was concerned Shinji was just another agent in the field, a tool to be used and discarded.
"You should know that a shipment is on its way to you. It will be the last shipment Dr. Akagi can send for some time. Make it last."
With those final grim words the elder Ikari ended the call. Sighing, Shinji closed the phone. Once more nothing had changed between them. Would the day come when they might experience the bonds of family again? He had a few memories of his father laughing with him at the TV program as his mother called them for dinner. Precious childhood memories were few between them and so long as they both lived there was a chance, even though hell had a better chance of freezing over first, that they could have at least one more memory as father and son.
"Shinji?" Saki called out respectfully.
"Hmm?" He gratefully took the pill bottle from the tray Taki had sent on the coffee table and popped on of the blue pills into his mouth. Following it up with a swing of water, he opened the other bottle and took the red pill. Relief flooded his gut, the aches faded and his headache vanished like the mist in the morning. "I suppose I should explain," he muttered, settling back into the chair.
"That would be nice," Taki said, picking the tray up and returning to the kitchen.
He had to give it to her, Saki had a nice body. Her voluptuous form was the dream of many women and target of many men, yet to the Sekirei it was normal for the most part. He knew of very few flat chested Sekirei, but they existed. Like humans, Sekirei came in all shapes and sizes. "Alright then, we have been assigned our first mission."
"Really? Nice!" Saki cheered, excitement in her eyes.
"Indeed, it will be a chance to prove our devotion and power," Taki added as she placed the glass in the small dishwasher.
"I wish it was. That is not the case. One of your kind has been taken prisoner by the Ashford Foundation." He ignored the gasps of disbelief from the two Sekirei and cut off their question with a raised hand. "I don't know how those bastards did it or why and anything else. We'll find out more when we link up with the Disciplinary Squad. The Foundation cannot be taken lightly though," he warned them. "They are competent non-human fighters. If they took Kazehane then they will know ways to counter your superior strength, speed, endurance, skills and powers."
"We could take them!" Saki declared boisterously"They must have taken number three by surprise. When I come for 'em, they won't know what hit 'em!"
"Did they really take Kazehane?" Taki asked quietly as she returned to the couch and sat down.
"As much as I'm inclined to agree with you Saki that will not be the plan. They expect us to act like you suggest. A different approach will be needed against the Foundation." Shinji watched the redheaded Sekirei's face fell, disappointment written all over it, but there was little he could do at the moment. "So far as my intelligence says, it was Kazehane. Why?" he asked curiously, turning to face Taki.
Surprisingly, a small blush came over Taki's pale face. "She use to visit me while Takami was finishing my adjustments. She…comforted me in the pain," she finished looking down at her feet. "I don't know why, but she just did."
"Oh? Is that so?" Taki purred with a teasing smile on her face. "So sad! You couldn't save yourself for your Ashikabi. Were you so desperate that you turned to other Sekirei to give you relief?"
The gray haired girl blushed fiercely and raised her hands in rebuttal, frantically waving in denial. "No, no, no! Nothing happened! Nothing!"
"Oh my! Anything you say," Taki said with false sincerity and a wide smile on her face.
"Nothing happened!" Taki insisted over and over. Her gaze falling further and further to the floor as her arms fell to her sides. A slight tremble ran though her frame and she stood.
He leaned back and shut his eyes for a moment. Hecould have stopped them, but he didn't. It wasn't worth it. Over the cookie it had been worth it for the sake of a peaceful sunrise, but this was sometime they would have to address on way or another if they chose to make it a real issue rather than teasing. His mind was a thousand miles away, preparing for the violence he was about to commit in the name of humanity against humanity. There was little hope for the fools at the Foundation and even less for those who had taken Kazehana. They would die horrible deaths; by sword, gun, and strange might they would be broken and maybe allowed to die.
Already he could imagine their specters rising up to join the hosts of the dead that screamed for his head every night. A thousand bodies faces screaming his name, withering in endless agony, gashing teeth seeking his flesh and new faces; faces he didn't now would join them in the never after. Perhaps one day they would rest, but it would come when he fell before the might of another like him. They had no hope, the dead, and neither did he. More would join them. By the hundreds or lonesome the dead host would grow as he killed and killed again. The curse lay heavy on his shoulders, the curse that few knew and even fewer understood that had born by an ungodly hybrid he was.
"It's no use," he muttered and opened his eyes. Standing he walked towards his bedroom and froze…technically it was his Sekirei's bedroom too. It would take time to get use to that idea. It was…odd to think in those terms again, not as an I, but as we. They had pledged their everything to him; bodies, powers, minds and even their souls. To think such a bond could exist in a world of lies…it shook him with the idea of such purity. Such a thing was nearly unheard of in the post Impact world.
"Is something wrong?" Taki asked with a hint concerned. Across the table the redhead looked at him, her head tilted with concern
"Ah…nothing, just thinking," he offered weakly. How long had he been standing there? "You two should prepare. We leave in thirty minutes." He was in no rush to meet with the Disciplinary Squad. The VOLTS and tactical teams would need at least three hours to reach Shin Tokyo and the airfield was only an hour away. "Time to go to war…again," he said with a sad nod. More pointless death and destruction over powers man insisted on messing around with when they should unify to face the greater threats.
Perhaps one day he would no longer be needed. He almost smiled at that optimistic thought. There was no end for him, not from war, death and killing. Once he stopped killing the pills would stop coming. He would die, but he hoped he would have enough time to flee to the secluded mountains. There, in some distant village that had been lost to the world, he could meet his painful end. Who knew, maybe the cherry blossom would be in bloom when the day came.
He opened the closet door and pulled his long coat out. The black leather still bore the blackened and faded stains of blood. No human or alien could tell were the spots were, but he knew each and every one. Each and every stain was a different story that bit deeply into his soul, leaving their eternal mark. "Enough Shinji," he chided himself. "It's time to work. She wouldn't want me to act this way. We have to live in the moment or suffer and we'll suffer enough when we die…"
A moonlit night fell over the southwestern desert as two dozen figures made their way across the desert. Lone jeeps driven by the outermost guards of the Foundation were the first to fall. None would live to see the dawn. Swift gabs and steel daggers killed with ease. Black clad soldiers escorted the keys to the operation with fearful wariness, rightfully born from experience, across the desert floor.
Shinji easily kept pace with the soldiers, keeping his hands in his pockets as he walked. Overhead an owl screeched, but they never stopped moving. At the foot of the final hill before the Foundation base they halted. He beckoned Saki with a nod. She reached his side as the soldiers began to fan out. Behind them the Disciplinary Squad strolled, keeping their own timetable he noted with distaste. They were so confident in their power and felt that nothing could harm them, let alone humans, because they were powerful Sekirei. How little they knew of the world, Shinji found himself thinking. Outside of a few times MBI kept Minaks's pet aliens within Shin Tokyo, they were largely ignorant of the world and the dangers in it. Saki tugged on his sleeve, pulling him back to reality, and puckered up. He met her lips as the wings of light erupted form her back; the wings of their contract, the norito, came to life. He felt her leech at his power, taking it and converting it into a useable energy for her alien physiology. She tried to prolong the kiss, but he pulled away quickly.
"Ah!" She pouted then perked up. "When I get back then," she vowed.
He nodded and motioned one of the soldiers to drop the burden he had borne over the last mile of their trek. The man gratefully dumped the body of a woman dressed as a guard on the ground. Saki knelt beside the cooled corpse and studied the face. With deft hands she opened the uniform and stripped the corpse down to nothing, setting the underwear aside carefully to avoid getting it dirty. "Ever changing perception, cast off the shackles that bind my Ashikabi!"
Shinji watched with interest as she unveiled her power to him. Her body changed, parts flattened, others shifted and expanded as the Saki he knew was quickly replaced in by the dead woman. The entire process had taken little more than a minute and he couldn't see a difference between Saki and the dead woman at first glance. She quickly dressed in the dead woman's clothes and hugged him tightly before she strapped on the woman's belt. Slinging the assault rifle, an unknown model Shinji assumed was exclusive to the Foundation; she sauntered up the hill with a cheery wave to him.
He settled on a rock and waited. Taki drifted to his side as the soldiers kept the watch. In the moonlight he could see her pale skin where the black shirt had been cut away. It had been a chore to get her to switch to black clothing instead of her usual white dress. Finally he had forced her into the black pants and a heavily altered shirt with no small amount of kissing when reason failed. All was fair in love and war; though it was exploiting their natural instinct to be intimate with their mates.
Across from him the Disciplinary Squad sat, one of the three watching him intently with those grey eyes as if finding something amusing about him. Karasuba, the Black Sekirei, was amongst the most dangerous foes he had ever encountered. The alien woman was the last of the original Disciplinary Squad still in service to MBI and a dangerously powerful. Her kills ranged from spies to foreign soldiers to traitors within MBI; each life taken with the same glee as her nodachi ran red with blood. She toyed with the hem of her miniskirt as the other hand ran down the edge of her nodachi. "What?" he asked her quietly.
She blinked as if surprised he had addressed her directly for the first time since they boarded the VOLTs. "What?" she echoed with a smirk.
He didn't give her an answer. Taki tugged slightly on his jacket, her message to leave the Black Sekirei alone clear. He had no illusion that Karasuba wouldn't hesitate to cut down both of his Sekirei and himself for little to no reason. Neither of them was a physical type of combatant, weapon user or and Saki's element wouldn't hold her long.
If anything his lack of response caused her smirk to grow. "You're an odd human."
"Wonderful," he replied with false sincerity.
"Does death bother you?" she asked suddenly as she slid her palm down the flat of herblade. Without waiting for an answer she started talking, keeping her voice low. "Most humans fear death in the end. In the last moment as my blade slides out of the other side of their chest the fear begins. Soldier, civilians alike it's always the same fear. No human is immune to that paralyzing fear of death the moments before death takes you humans. Yet you…" she trailed off as if inviting him to speak.
"I've faced things worse than death," he told her slowly. "I've been in hell since I was young, fought with gods, walked with legends, slain monsters out of the depths of time, and fought horrors born from the blackest nights. Death has touched me, but never taken me. I won't allow it until my task is done and every sin is paid for."
She gave him an odd look, titling her head as if confused by his answer. "You seek forgiveness? That is why you kill and kill some more."
He gave a shrug and looked to the stars. "Maybe. As much as I hate it, I continue to do it. I could have left this life behind and been anything else, but here I am,' he recalled sadly. After the Angel War was declared over a dozen nations had offered him citizenship along with numerous monetary rewards. Hundreds of companies approached him to be their spokesmen and every single on he had turned down. He had chosen to stay with NERV, to fight and kill with those he was familiar with rather than face total strangers. In the darkness he was willing to admit the grim truth to himself; he was addicted to the thrill of battle. Only in the darkness and comfort of his own bed would he admit such things to himself. "I don't know any other way to live," he murmured to the stars, but Karasuba caught them.
"A human who is willing to admit he likes to kill, imagine that," she said with a wry grin. "You have no idea who rare that trait is in you humans. But…" she paused for a moment, "you were born, trained and enhanced to kill like no one else. The product of madness and genius born for the sole reason to be the sword of humanity, I think the reports put it. Sickening theatrics if you ask me."
"You sounded like Minaka there," he replied sardonically. He kept face schooled in a mask of normalcy. Allowing the Black Sekerir to throw him off balance here was a danger to the mission, though she had a point, he had been made in a weapon.
"Hmm, I guess I did. Damn! He's rubbing off, his melodrama must be contagious."
There was snicker here and there from the other Sekirei and more than one soldier near them. Shinji found her little joke rather amusing and gave her thin smile. "That would explain Takami's reason to contain him as much as possible. Otherwise we'd have a pandemic on our hands."
She nodded with that wry grin still plastered over her face. "A cancer, known as the madness of Minaka Hiroto, slowly eating away at the world. Damn, that Minaka would love that! Hey, you're pretty good at the insult thing."
It was Shinji's turn to blink in surprise. Did she just…compliment him? Was such a thing even possible from one of the oldest Sekirei? "Did you just…"
"It was a compliment," she said languidly. "You do know I'm more than my MBI profile says," she told him seriously. "Beneath out powers and superior bodies we're only a step above you humans, though it's a massive step that humans will never cross," she offhandedly said.
"With a similar tastes in black humor and inflated ego apparently." It was getting close to time for them to move. Soon the guards on the gate would be dead and the assault would begin. The flare would come, regretfully bringing the killing along with it.
"Is this the part where you show us some of your high and mighty 'magic'?" Karasuba asked with some degree of interest.
Her interest in human magic was little more than a higher being watching a lower one perform some trick, revolutionary to the lower being, but nothing to the higher one and Shinji knew it. "It's not magic," he replied with a hint of anger. "This is no stage trick with rabbits or cards. This is the Artificial Terror, Absolute Territory. This is not magic. This is potential!" As he finished talking he commanded the implant by touching an area just below his laryngeal prominence.
Fire coursed in his veins as coils wrapped around his muscles came to life. The humming of a thousand bees filled his body as he shut his eyes and began to focus. Implanted circuits kicked into high gear, sending bottles of pain and pleasure through his body. His body screamed for him to stop, screamed as the nature of his being changed. The human he was changed for an instant and metamorphosis was painful. He was driven to his knees, but batted away a hand that came to his shoulder.
Slowly he forced himself to stand as the world faded away. Sounds were replaced by the endless beating of his heart, the pounding of drums filling him with a pure and primal sound. Even the sound of breathing passed away as he began his work. Had he been in an Evangelion he might have just commanded it to have and crafted it to some degree, but not here. Now he was both the pilot and the Eva. This was the reason most pilots died from the implanted enhancements. They lost themselves and self-destructed without the Eva there to take the brunt of the pain. It explained why the Eva was the beast that is was. It had been driven mad by the pain so the pilot would be spared. Yet another secret NERV kept locked up tight.
He extended, there were no words to describe how he moved in this state, his reach into the ionosphere. Time held no meaning in this state and he waited. Colors appeared for a moment and he waited for the dim red of an ELVES. Expanding his sight he found it- maybe it was near to maybe it was far because space no longer matter. He simply was. He captured the dim red light and contained it. The orange hexagons he was so familiar with flared to life as the ELVES resisted his command.
He gathered other ELVES close, was that even a proper term, to the first after trapping them. Smashing them together he crafted a massive orb, glowing that dim red that he had once associated with Angel Cores. Slowly he forced himself back to the ground. Physical sensations began to return and he opened his eyes. The world of the Angels was gone, yet he still stood in it. Some called it the transcendent space; a space between human and Angel. Here and here alone could he use the AT field from the Angels within the human space.
Overhead the dim orb pulsed as the hexagons flared. He opened his clenched fist and set the orb in place, over the facility he intended to bombard. He felt the nitrogen feed off the collisions of their electrons as electromagnetic pluses fired off and ended, lived and died. The endless symphony of destruction echoed what he felt as his body rippled in pain. His physical form was weakening; the sack of flesh called a body would soon expire under the stress of the Angel State, as Dr. Akagi had coined it.
He let the ELVES go high over the Foundation base and slowly began to shut down the implants. Pain was the first thing to return. He fell to the desert floor, doubled over in pain and panting for breath. Then came sight. Even as he shut in eyes in pain, he saw the bright light as the electromagnetic pulse went off, directly over the facility. Then came hearing; the sound of explosions from overloaded electronics and profanity greeted him.
"Holy shit," more than one soldier cried in awe, as the special harden electronics they had given suddenly made sense.
Slowly he opened his eyes. The pain was starting to fade, but he knew his skin would be hot. He felt as though he had a slight fever, but pushed it away. It would fade shortly. The implants weren't perfect and a heat dispersal system was too bulky to place inside him at the current stage. That would come later, once Dr. Akagi and her team had a working system in hand. The first real sight he saw was a dumbfounded look on the Disciplinary Squad's faces. Without aid, he stood, even though it hurt to move. "This is the potential of mankind. This is where they could go, where they might go, where they will go. Raw potential and this is the power of that potential!"
He saw Karasuba mouthing something and then laughter came from her. High and piercing laughter as the facility suffered total electronic failure, as gunfire erupted where NERV and the Foundation clashed. "This is it!" she cried, looking to him with a dangerous gleam in her eye. "This might, this power! Godly! I haven't felt like this in years, nothing excited me this much since Yume and I first fought! The raw power!" Karasuba's face was flushed as she went on. She took long, slow strides towards him. "And to think it would come from a human, a human!" She laughed and laughed as the gunfire grew in intensity. "I've never met a human who might actually have the strength to make a world burn until now." She licked her lisp sensuously as she stalked towards him with that dangerous look in her eyes. "Such power! The might! To think something like this even existed. Beyond Sekirei, beyond human! I want it! I want to taste it, fight it, revel in it, cut it, be cut, kill it, be annihilated by its godly might!"
Shinji slowly started backing away, but the Black Sekirei came towards him regardless. In a few steps she was in his face and he gulped as wide eyed gray eyes peered into his. The devil may care smile and burst of mad laughter did nothing to set him at ease. He looked to around for aid, but found none. His other Sekirei was gone, Taki was following the mission plan as they had planned, but for a moment he hoped she would abandon the plan and come to him. Anything between him and this, clearly battle crazed, alien would be welcomed now.
"I want it, I want it, I want to taste the power!" Karasuba whispered; her hot breath on his face. "So powerful…" Her hand trialed down his cheek, tracing a line with a finger as she pushed him to the desert floor, pinning him down. "The power…the thrill…give it to me," she whispered breathily, slowly lowering her mouth to his neck.
Shinji found himself frozen in place as the mouth of the Black Sekirei drifted closer to his jugular vein. He fancied she could hear his heart pounding as the unpredictable alien left a trail of saliva across his neck. Karasuba's breath gave in short bursts, as if she were hyperventilating. For a moment he could have sworn he felt unnatural heat from her as she slowly kissed the skin where the vein ran.
He thought he heard her mummer something about another time, but wasn't sure. Her weight on his chest suddenly vanished and she was away from him in a moment. Blinking in surprise he pulled himself upright. Karasuba had reclaimed her sword and gave the edge on last glance.
"It's time to work. We can have our fun later," she told him with a saucy grin. She strode away, up and over the hill. The other two aliens followed a bit behind their leader. The one with the claws made some remark and Karasuba looked back, giving him a brief wave. Imprinted politeness made him acknowledge the wave with one of his own. She looked pleased at his response and continued up the hill, sword resting on her shoulder.
"What just happened?" he asked himself, as he stood and dusted his coat off. Only bursts of gunfire answered.
A/N: This was something of a summer project. Most of the inspiration for this story is comes from In Flight, Demonbane, and Lovecraft. Whereas the manga Sekirei has a shiny Shin Tokyo wanted to hint at the darker side and the divergences from NGE are glaringly obvious. The histories of these two worlds are obviously different than cannon, but I tried to keep the characters close to what they were originally. Shinji is an older version of his 14 year old self with some hints of past issues and a host of new ones. NERV teeters on the borderline between ethical good and ethical evil, but is more than willing to walk the line with questionable test and experiments.
This work was also inspired in part by HP Lovecraft and his successors work on cosmic horrors beyond the understanding of man. This allowed me to shape NERV from anti-Angel to an anti-nonhuman organization, make MBI an ally to explain why they be allowed to keep the Sekirei, a potentially dangerous nonhuman race. The Foundation was created as the foil to NERV in an anti-nonhuman game and inspired somewhat by the SCP Foundation as well as other sources from various fanworks and official series works.
Originally I wanted to include a magic system akin to what was seen in the Type-Moon stories blended with some elements of Demonbane magic, but ultimately I abandoned that route. I decided to go a magic-less route that was dangerous to the user with the AT field. In the post Angel war the reason behind the raging beast like mind of the Eva was uncovered as mental degeneration brought on by the use of the AT field. Ritsuko uncovered a way for humans to use the AT field outside of the buffer of an Eva and this technology was later used on the pilots to become weapons against all things nonhuman; a monster to fight monster motif.
Expanding this into a full story is not a task I plan to take on anytime soon though I would like to. I'd like to get back to this universe, but most of the details need to be hashed out before that and Chaos Stars: Madness Rising is taking up more of my writing time. If another author wants to take this idea and run with it then PM me first.
Read and reveiw! Till we meet again, ta!