Chapter I
Shinji stared at himself, his reflection constantly shifting and pulsing in the stream running by underneath him.
You're him, aren't you?
He nudged a pebble over the edge of the bridge with his foot, watching as the small stone fell the five or so feet into the water. He watched as the rock hit the water, his image obliterated with a soft plop as the ripples of the impact slowly dissipated.
Yeah... It was you!
Shinji looked away before his reflection had a chance to reassemble itself.
You're the one that stopped it!
He clenched his fists and reached into his pocket. He pulled the object out and ran his fingers over it, the metal still cold to his touch. He dropped his hand to his side, the revolver hanging limply in his palm.
Why?
He had had enough.
Who made you God?
Enough of constantly lamenting that decision.
Who said you could make that decision?
"I made the right choice, dammit...", he whispered to himself, those memories still fresh in his mind.
He raised the revolver and clicked open the cylinder, inspecting the solitary round that occupied one of the chambers.
I hope it was worth it...
He had done this several times over the past hour or so. It was an impulsive action, every time he had done it he had immediately placed the weapon back into his pocket.
Not this time.
I hope you're happy with yourself...
"Come on Shinji... ", he spoke to himself, gritting his teeth, "Just pull the hammer back, put the barrel to your head and..."
He pushed the revolver hard against his temple, his finger tense on the trigger.
I hate you...
A quarter mile away and behind the scope of his rifle, a man shifted on his belly.
He lit another cigarette and pulled out a cell phone. He flipped it open and dialed a number.
It was the only number saved in the phone.
A woman's voice answered after only one ring.
"Hello."
He grinned.
"It's me," he replied, "Just thought I'd let you know... I found him."
Silence from the other end, broken only by the muffled sound of tires rolling on pavement.
"Where is he?"
He pulled out a small GPS unit and glanced at the screen.
"22.4 degrees north by 34.5 west," he relayed, "He's on the old bridge on access road 4. You can't miss him."
More silence. Another voice, a woman's, asks what's going on. The voice is younger, still high and sweet. She is shushed by her companion before she replies.
"Alright. Keep your sights on him. I don't want him doing anything drastic. At least not until I get there..."
With that, she hung up.
He flipped the phone closed and tossed it aside, taking up his position behind the rifle.
He pulled a shell out of his pocket and rolled it over in his palm, feeling the weight of it. He pulled back the bolt and deposited the shell in the chamber. He pushed the bolt forward and seated the round firmly in the barrel with a small click.
He looked through the scope and focused in on his target.
He sighed.
"Alright, kid... You got two angels coming your way. Don't do anything stupid..."
Shinji leaned against the railing and stared at the sky. Small clouds meandered their way across the shattered roof of the GeoFront, the ravaged steel and stone permanent reminders of Third Impact.
Shinji shook his head and sighed, the weight of the revolver not even registering in his palm anymore.
He considered the weapon, the smooth black metal glinting in the sunlight. The NERV logo was still legible on the grip, despite his efforts to scrape it off.
Shinji was amazed at how easy it was to get his hands on the weapon.
After Third Impact, the GeoFront was all but abandoned. Nearly all NERV employees had opted to stay as far away from the place as possible. As such, the UN had closed off as many access points as possible, but this had only held for so long.
At first, people had snuck in only to find something to destroy... To satisfy some deep seated need to get back at the people they saw as responsible for ruining their world.
After a while, though, they stopped caring about destruction. They only went to satisfy some odd curiosity... Some strange need to know more about what transpired on these grounds.
"It was nothing worth knowing...," Shinji spoke aloud, fully aware that he was completely alone.
You could still find the occasional car or bike parked along one of the access roads that snaked across the GeoFront floor, the engine still warm and the chains freshly greased.
People just couldn't stay away from the place.
But, with the sightseers and pilgrims, you of course had your fair share of scavengers and thieves, people trying to make a buck off of anything NERV related.
Most items were simple, harmless. Chairs and doors and the like.
Some were a little more exotic. Shinji had seen no less than 10 news reports of governmental stings resulting in the capture of Evangelion related artifacts.
Release hatches off of the Plugs, computer terminals from the bridge. These were just a few of the items people had managed to pilfer from HQ.
Shinji had even seen a complete control panel from an Entry Plug, joysticks and all.
How these people had managed to make it all the way down into the GeoFront, locate the Plug room, and then cut out the chair before hauling it all the way back to the surface confounded Shinji to no end.
Why they would even want it in the first place confused him even further.
It was while watching yet another report on a raid on some warehouse in downtown Tokyo-3 that Shinji first realized how easy it would be to go to the GeoFront, make his way through the darkened staircases and labs and find the Section 2 armory.
From there, it was simply a matter of breaking the locks on the cabinets, picking a gun and some ammunition and walking out.
He had done it in a matter of a few hours. Even with no lights or PDA to guide him, he had nearly a year of experience in navigating those halls, and the armory was relatively well marked.
Before setting out that morning, he had left a note on the table in Misato's apartment. It was simple, short, and to the point.
He had wiped at his eyes as he folded the paper in half and set it against a can of beer.
The sun was just starting to crest the horizon when he locked the apartment door behind him, his backpack stocked with bottles of water and a flashlight. Before the door had shut, Shinji had taken one last look inside, had considered the two women still blissfully asleep within their rooms.
"I'm sorry," he had whispered as he shut the door with a soft click. He locked the deadbolt before throwing his key down the garbage chute, listening to the small plinks as it fell.
He had set out then, heading in the general direction of the GeoFront.
Few pedestrians were out and about at this time of day, so Shinji didn't have much to worry about as far being recognized. He had stopped by a small cafe for a cup of tea, choosing to sit at an outside table.
He had barely taken his first sip when the woman, no older than Misato, had come up to him.
Shinji had clenched his eyes shut when she spoke.
"Y-you're him, aren't you?"
In the year or so since Third Impact, life on Earth had slowly fallen back into some sense of normalcy.
True, the oceans and the moon were still stained red, but... The large portion of the populace was steadily getting back into their Pre-Impact lives.
Among the many downsides of Third Impact was the fact that, while in that awful state of dissolution, everyone was completely exposed to everyone else.
Nothing was held back... Fears were brought to the surface... Deep, dark secrets were exposed for all to see. Memories of a past you didn't experience...
All of these things now belonged to everybody.
Shinji had seen the darkest parts of people's souls, but not without a price.
Everyone was aware of his presence in their minds, unwillingly taking in everything around him.
They shouted and screamed at him to leave them alone, to let them be.
Shinji had no choice, the more they screamed, the more he saw.
Their hurt. Their pain.
Or, more precisely, the lack thereof.
They were happy now. No one was alone.
There was no sorrow, no pain. Only the infinite depths of the collective consciousness, warm and inviting.
"Stay with us!," It yelled, "You'll never be alone! You'll never have to worry about rejection! Everyone loves one another! It's perfect here!"
In the end, though, it didn't matter.
Nothing mattered.
Despite their pleas and screams and threats, Shinji still made his choice.
The choice to end Third Impact, to bring everyone back into their separate forms.
With one determined thought, shock waves rippled through the entirety of humanity.
Three billion souls screamed in anger as they were ripped apart, thrown back into their solitary forms without so much as a whisper of warning.
Shinji stood alone in his decision, and he was constantly reminded of it.
Just like the woman in front of him, he could never escape it.
He could never escape the fact that maybe...
Just maybe...
He had been wrong.
Shinji had sat in silence, hoping against hope that the woman would just give up and go away.
No such luck.
She had stepped closer, angling her head to get a better look at Shinji's down-turned face.
"Yeah! It was you!," she had said, walking right up to him, leaving only a few inches between them.
"You're the one that stopped it!"
Shinji had closed his eyes and sunk slightly, his shoulders drooping as he realized the woman wasn't going to go away.
"Why?," she had asked, "Who said you could make that decision?"
Shinji didn't reply. He had gripped his tea tighter, the small cup threatening to shatter in his grasp.
She had grabbed his chair and spun him to face her, his eyes still pointed downward.
"Who made you God, huh?," she demanded, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him to her.
Shinji had braved a glance into her eyes. They were dark brown, and there was something burning behind them...
Hate.
Their gazes had locked, Shinji refusing to look away.
They had stayed this way for what seemed like an eternity, several pedestrians giving them strange looks.
She had finally released him, shoving him back into his chair as she backed up and crossed her arms.
"I hope you're happy with yourself," she had seethed, her teeth clenched and a sneer on her face.
Shinji had just sat there, looking at her, a blank expression on his face.
She had stood there for a few more minutes, her lips quivering as she stared at him.
Finally, she had let out a rough sigh and walked off, passing by Shinji as she did.
Before she was out of earshot, she had uttered one last, definite thing.
"I hate you."
Shinji stood alone on the bridge, the sun starting to disappear behind the roof of the GeoFront, shadows playing across his face.
"Yeah... I hate me too," he whispered, his words lost in a soft breeze.
The sound of tires squealing in the distance broke him out of his reverie.
He looked toward the sound and grinned.
He couldn't help it. He knew they would find him eventually, but their expediency in the matter still surprised him.
He knew who was in the vehicle, and, judging by the speed, who was driving.
He realized the revolver was still in his hand and he nearly dropped it. He slipped the weapon back into his pocket and started walking, trying to put some distance between him and the approaching car.
He still hadn't built up enough nerve to do the deed yet, and he didn't want the women to witness the actual act.
After all, out of the entirety of the human population, they were the only two who had not opposed his decision.
So, I got bored awhile back and started looking over my stories, this one included. I realized that I have come a long way in the year or so that I've been on this site. My chapters have gotten better, my dialogue has improved and other things like that.
This story is a result of that. I pounded out the original version of "Intervention" in a couple of hours one day about a year ago, and it always bugged me. I was never really happy with how it turned out.
So, I decided to redo it.
Originally, it was just a oneshot, but not this time. It will have more than one chapter. But, don't expect it to be a year in the running. I'll be lucky if I get 3 chapters out of this thing.
Any who, having said all that, please R&R and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome, as well as ideas.
Enjoy!