Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion and all related characters belong to Production IG and Gainax Studios. All Marvel Comics character names and likeness belong to Marvel, and the Eva-verse versions thereof belong to Mike313, OrionPax09, The Rei-Fan, ArchDruid-Sephiroth, and everybody else who contributed to this new universe. Excelsior!
Author's Notes: Hey everybody! Thank you to everybody who reviewed so far; I didn't think I get so many so quick. Wow! This chapter is not only the introduction of the first of the Horsemen, but also an explanation as to why Gendo just jumped in with Apocalypse, and more importantly, why Kozo decided to jump in at all. I hope you all enjoy, and get a sense of satisfaction, if not enjoyment from my little tale. Now, ride on, Horsemen!
'Why in the world did I make this goddamn Faustian bargain anyway?!' Thought the person who had once been Kozo Fuyutsuki, and was now the ghoulish super human Soul Taker, 'Just look at me! I look like Death's gay brother!' Soul Taker was looking at himself in a free-floating full length mirror that the machines Apocalypse had sent over had fashioned for him. The machines did it not because he had specifically ordered it, but simply because he was curious about his new appearance.
The machines had literally read his mind and made the mirror in a space of seconds, and the newly minted mirror flew out a machine whose circular face was a shimmering pool of liquid metal surrounded by a baker dozen mechanized arms connected to a heavy metal ring that rimmed the metallic pool. He was amazed at the work the other worldly machines could do, but soon wished that weren't quite so good at it when he saw his own reflection. He jumped back, profoundly startled, at first thinking the Grim Reaper had finally decided to get off his bony ass and take his soul, but he sadly came to realize that he was looking at his own reflection in the new mirror, all seven feet and two inches of it. He wore suit of glossy white armour that was both remarkably futuristic, but at the same time medieval, in design style and construction. Carved images of lost souls and death were everywhere, even the golden edge work on each individual plate of armour. He could see glowing circuits in places not covered in plate, and hear the soft cat-like purr of delicate yet power machinery within. Over the armoured suit he wore a billowy white trench coat that scraped the floor as he walked or floated as though a gentle breeze were lifting it when no wind of any kind was present.
From his back, out through slots in his coat and armoured joints on the shoulder blades of his armour, rose a pair of enormous black raven-like wings; when spread fully, their span was at least twenty-five to thirty feet. All of that was fine, if a bit ostentatious, but what made him cringe was the skull-like face he now wore. He had no nose to speak of, only a triangular hole where it should be. His cheeks were sunken, and those bones were painfully pronounced. Soul Taker still had his lips, but they were very thin but still covered his teeth and came together. His new eyes were constantly glowing an icy shade of blue which matched the color of their sclera. Colorless pupils and scant slits complete the frightening structures. They were also sunken in midnight black flesh in the sockets, making Soul Taker's overall appearance truly horrific, if not overdone.
He wondered to himself again and again why he would even have made such a bargain in the first place, considering his current circumstances. He had stood by while his former pupil had wronged the entire world, had even helped him, in fact, and had been truly content with being punished for it, knowing that he'd spend the rest of his life behind bars, because the world would be safe from Gendo and the SEELE council's insane ambitions to initiate a controlled version of Third Impact. Each had there own plans for Third Impact; Gendo wanted to use it to retrieve his beloved wife from the depths of Eva-01's core. Either would have spelled the end for humanity, and left the planet as devoid of life as a graveyard. He was truly glad there were those who stood against the darkness, but now they were going to face a power that had waited a long time for mankind to get this far, for whatever reasons. Each and every one of those reason were probably horrible, and that was what allowed Soul taker to answer his own question.
He glanced over to his former pupil, now reborn as the inhuman monster 'Mr. Sinister'. he was floating above the door, just staring at the Second Angel, The mother of Humanity, Lilith herself, smirking like an idiot. If Sinister was going to Apocalypses certified super-powered attack dog, then Soul Taker would be the super-powered leash. When apocalypse had approached him with promises of power, Kozo had simply sat back and tried to find his place in the copy of Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' he was reading. Apocalypse quickly got his attention when he mention Gendo's new role.
As The Soul Taker, it would be his duty to keep Sinister from going off on his own and running amuck. He was to keep Sinister on track, and on schedule. If any divergence was discovered, then Soul Taker would reduce Sinister to a primordial soup by dis-incorporating his AT field. Something that could either happen thanks to A) one of Soul Taker's abilities or B) a currently unidentified super woman. Sinister had a wickedly elegant self-destruct mechanism encoded into his DNA; the only thing that would undo the mechanism would be Apocalypses version of Third Impact, which would turn ten percent of the world's population into super-humans, and in the rest mutation that would kill them outright, or, in the lucky, the potential for super-human transformation; if they don't change, then the potential will be passed onto their children, and their children's children, and so on.
In other words, Kozo had agreed to become Soul Taker so to keep Sinister from going on a bloody rampage, to limit civilian casualties as much as possibly, and maybe, just maybe, dump a bucket of monkey wrenches into everybody's plans, and if he was really lucky, he could pull off a minor miracle and get out of this whole evil mess with his soul still intact; if he had any left to salvage, that is. He thought about this as he checked the readings on the machines to see if the first horseman was ready to go yet. The machine signalled that while collection of the remains and reconstruction of whom would become the Horseman Pestilence was complete, the actual transformation and armouring was still on-going, and would be complete in several minutes; Not that He, personally, cared.
What he was worried most about was Sinister's apparent fervour for Apocalypses plan.
'What is going through your twisted mind, Ikari, that has you in such a good mood? You can't really be so shallow as to help Apocalypse all for the sake of being immune to one little super woman's power, are you?! What is really going on?'
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'My Yui lives again!'
This was the single thought that occupied Sinister's mind at the moment. Apocalypse had told him, through visions and memories, that Yui Ikari had somehow rescued herself from Eva-01's core, and in the process of doing so, became a super human herself.
'The Phoenix. What a perfect name for you, my darling. You have risen from beyond, and have become the Goddess you always deserved to be'. To say that Sinister was pleased would be like saying that the Pope was somewhat religious. He was psychically viewing a video caption of Yui emerging from Unit-01 during the fight with the Thirteenth Angel. She was engulfed in a fiery aura that took on the form of a glorious bird like in the myths of old. She looked even more beautiful than Sinister remembered, if such a thing were possible. She had fallen back to Earth while Spirit had been flame broiling the Thirteenth Angel, and was almost assimilated herself for her troubles. Sadly, if He went came anywhere near his darling Yui, her bio-energy would reduce him to a puddle, no thanks to Apocalypses tinkering.
He swore than he would help Apocalypse bring about his global evolution, if only for the chance to touch his beloved again. He also realized that after all he done, Yui would probably melt him to goo just because he had done so many terrible things. He realized that no amount of rationalizing would convince her to spare him, and as Mr. Sinister, he also now realized that Yui was far better at relating to people than he ever was, one of the reasons for his version of Third Impact. He had thought that every other person was simple offal to cast away into the ether, but now he realized his own inadequacy. His FORMER inadequacy. He would make sure that the human race survived, and more to the point, that it would rise to heights the gods of old would be envious of, whether by Apocalypses designs or his own.
But how could he improve humanity if he couldn't relate to it. With his face like it was now, he'd probably incite a few modern day witch hunts or five. He simply focused his mind, and in the time it takes to open and close your eyes, he looked as an ordinary human man, except he had chosen a face of European decent instead of Asian to present to the world at large. He had gone for a elegant English face, and had even to chosen a new name to go with his other face.
"Now what have you had done to yourself, Ikari?"
Sinister turned to his former mentor and spoke, in perfect English, and with an accent even, "My dear teacher, my name, or should I say, my new name while I wear this face, is Essex. Nathaniel Essex, if you please". With a simple gesture, "Nathaniel Essex" lowered himself to the floor and strode to the LCL factory door. He waved his hand like he was waving hello, and the door slide open with a prolonged groan and roar. He strode through the partially opened door and began to whistle a merry tune. It was the British national anthem, of all things. He spun on his heal, and, walking backwards, merrily called out, "Now don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
Soul Taker could have simply swore after him, or made some sarcastic comment, but simply decided to plop down on a French sofa the manufacturing machine had made and finish reading his book from earlier. The Second Angel now resided in an enormous, green fluid filled cylinder, with all manner of gadgetry stuck in her. She cocked her head at Soul Taker, and sourly wished that the poor man could simply find some peace in this world. The two only bright spots in this whole sick debacle. The other one was the fact that she was physically whole again, and she was even in the process of getting her sexual characteristics back. She'd be a lady again! Now if only she were human sized………
"Now, sweet Lilith, I think your just a tad bit too old for Soul Taker, though I can see the attraction. He is quite the noble soul". Lilith almost jumped in her tank as the voice popped into her mind, but soon felt a great wave of mixed emotion as the owner looked up at her from the LCL pool, luminous green eyes staring at her. She felt both joy and sadness. She felt joy that the child she could see as her 'step son' was alive again , but also profound sadness when remembering what his new purpose in life was.
"I wish for better days, as well, mother, but it seems I have no choice in the matter. I'll try to keep Shinji and Rei out of it, if I can".
The Second Angel only nodded her head weakly. She would weep bitter tears if she still had tear ducts. She knew that the young man taking shape in the LCL pool really did care for Shinji, quite a lot in fact, and even somewhat his friends and Rei Ayanami. She only prayed that he would be merciful to the others.
"A Horseman does not show mercy, for he knows not what that is. When I face the super women, they will all die. When I face Rei, it will simply be a swift death, that is all. Pestilence simply does as it always has, and never pauses to consider. You, of all people, should know that".
Lilith wanted to scream in dismay as the owner of the psychic voice began to emerge from the LCL. He was sheathed in menacing looking powered armour like Soul Taker wore, except instead of visions of death, his armour, a sickly green-grey mix, was decorated with carved images and decorative pieces emulating poisonous animals, or body parts of said animals. He had a wicked-looking robotic scorpion tail mounted in the middle of his back that swished back and forth like a dog wagging its tail excitedly. He had four pairs of long, bony arms, with each fore-arm decorated with iron spikes, like-wise for his shins.
His armour had design elements that made Soul Taker think of medieval armor, but with a distinctly fiend and wicked design; all jagged and curving sharp edges, made of numerous interlocking plates like an insects carapace; his helmet was elongated like a saurian's head, had a sweeping metal fan around the base as a neck guard, and was lined down the middle with more iron spikes, completed with a mouth piece in two parts that would make a person think of huge insect mandibles which covered almost all of the newcomers face except for his eerily glowing green eyes. He walked across the surface of the LCL pool like it was a solid object until he reached its edge and stepped onto the solid metal walkway with a rather unpronounced clink and clatter of metal, despite him being over eight feet tall.
As he walked, wispy strands of something akin to spider silk filtered out from vents in the arms and shoulder of the suit, and seemed to begin weaving themselves into something. With an electric crackle of energy and a ripple of light, what remained was a long tanned silk cape that the armoured fiend draped around himself like a toga. He bowed a sweeping bow to Soul Taker who looked up from his book and stared with an almost disinterested manner at the newcomer.
"Welcome back to the world of the living………" Soul Taker began so as not appear rude, but stopped as he didn't know if the newly minted Horseman would keep his original name, or would identify himself with his new identity. The First Horseman regarded the skull faced super human with mock hurt, but also with a good bit of playfulness when he replied, "My Lord Soul Taker, surely you know who I REALLY am?" And added a dramatic flourish at the second last word. Soul Taker heaved a sigh of non-amusement and said, "Alright………welcome back to world of the living, First Horseman Pestilence".
The first of Apocalypses Horsemen smiled behind his evil looking mask and sat down on another couch near to Soul Taker and smirked as he asked if Soul Taker was enjoying the book. Soul Taker heaved an exasperated sigh and simply ignored Pestilence, or at least he tried to. For the next couple of hours, Pestilence continued to ask Soul Taker questions of every kind, for every possible topic. Instead of being satisfied by each lazily delivered answer, he kept asking for a more elaborate answer than was given the first time. Both parties knew he was just being an ass, but where one was quickly losing patience, the other found profound amusement, and even giggled a bit at Soul Taker's mounting frustration.
"Why me?" Thought Soul Taker, who was very much inclined to turn the First Horseman into hamburger.
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While Soul Taker tried to read his book in peace, or something vaguely like peace, Mr. Sinister walked down the halls with a hop in his step, morphing his clothes into a regular maintenance uniform. He even materialized a work cap and placed it on his head backwards, then continued to whistle rather gaily as he thought about what he was going to do today.
"Now that I'm back, so to speak, lets see who I can screw with today", he whispered to himself. He was just walking by the executive offices when he noticed a name on one of the doors: Ritsuko Akagi. Sinister smiled a pearly white array of miniature knives and psychically picked the electronic lock on the door; another of Apocalypses gifts. Dr. Akagi wasn't there, but her work station was on, and test results from some experiment or other were displayed. Sinister quickly walked over to the computer, minimized the programs on screen and inserted a flash drive into one of the USB ports on the face of the computer. He uploaded several AI programs that would work his will while he played; they would issue false alarms, fake and alter sensor telemetry, randomly changing pass codes (while sending him the new ones), downloading classified material to ghost servers he had set up years ago, just in case he needed 'assurances" that SEELE would not stab him in the heart.
The AI programs would, most importantly, also allow him to take control of Nerv HQ as a whole after they finished decompressing and spread throughout the entire system. He would make it look like Akagi had been planning world conquest or something equally ridiculous since she started working at Nerv. All the while as She stewed in her own juices, he'd pretend to be a sympathetic ear and seduce her a second time, but when trial time came, he'd be the damning witness called to the stand. He was going to burn that traitorous whore without every physically harming her. Then he'd break her AGAIN by making it look like little Maya Ibuki was a willing accomplice, among 'other things'. The many rumours she and Maya were lesbian lovers would cease to be rumours, and everybody would think Maya assisted her 'Sempai' out of love, and was just as crazy.
"Two OR MORE super women for the price of one", Sinister smirked as he finished working. If he fabricated the right kind of evidence, Misato Katsuragi would come to believe that her old college friend had always been a villain, and had even been manipulating the other super women to achieve her goals. He had just clued up his hacking job and brought back up the test results that Akagi was going over when the women herself unlocked her door and entered her office, and nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of the handsome European man sitting at her computer station, looking like the proverbial kid with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Excuse me, but who are you and how did you get into my Office?" Ritsuko asked, and in a tone of voice that, while it amused Sinister, he realized that if he smiled, the game would be somewhat ruined, so he faked a stutter and replied, "W-well, Dr. Akagi, we had reports of some jerk off dumping e-bombs into the system using old security codes that weren't decommissioned". Lame, the excuse was, but he hadn't thought to come up with one.
Akagi suddenly looked upset, but not because she had seen through the lame excuse. She cursed, "Christ, not again! Who keeps doing that?!" Sinister looked at her with a genuine look of surprise, but caught himself when she turned back to him. He responded, "I do apologize, Dr. Akagi, but this guy is a real pro. Anyway, I came up with this little program that blocks that garbage, as well as hacks the sender right back. It allows a person to find out who's pulling this nonsense, and nick this thing in the bud".
Akagi smiled a small, but genuinely amused smile. She never knew they had such a talented, not to mention handsome, programmer on staff. She sized him up discreetly, checking out the man. He had high cheek bones, an excellent complexion, stunning blue eyes, and a smile that was both roguish and charming, and yet sad at the same time. The one thing she didn't like about his appearance was that Amish reject beard of his; reminded her far too much of a certain bastard she tried to kill when she first received her spider powers from that mutated Rei clone. He was smiling like the Cheshire cat, at the moment though, and was in the middle of saying something.
"I beg your pardon? I'm sorry, I blanked out for a minute, you were saying something?" Akagi responded, quite nonplused with herself for getting distracted with that. The tech just smiled again and said, "No worries, Dr. Akagi. People say I have a voice that grates like nails on a chalk board, so they tend to filter it out anyway". Ritsuko looked genuinely hurt by his words, and softly said to him, "I think you have a lovely voice". The English tech chuckled lowly, got out of the seat and smiled warmly at the good doctor. He even got on one knee, took her hand gingerly and kissed it. He had removed his hat and had it against his chest, and with a small flourish got back to his feet, and said with a low but inviting growl, "and I think you are one of the most beautiful women on this planet".
He bent down as if he meant to kiss her, and Ritsuko found herself inexplicably drawn to him like-wise. Their lips were about to touch when a frigid chill ran up and back down Akagi's spine, followed by a painful blast of her new found spider-sense. The spider in her started screaming at her to either tear the man's throat out or get the hell out of that room. She almost jumped out of her skin; unfortunately her extra limbs did. Where she screamed in surprise as she felt herself change, the charming tech simply smiled like the cat that ate the canary.
She was just about to open a Dirac Sea and warp out of there, when she noticed his face again. It too, had changed. His skin was now a ghostly white, and his dark hair was perfectly glossy black. The tech's uniform disappeared and was replaced by an ensemble that was one part body armour, one part vampire chique. He had physically grown to almost seven feet in height, and had a physique Hercules would be proud of. The features that really got her heart pumping with fear were the demonic red eyes he had, and the blood red diamond tattoo centered on his fore head, which to her felt like an extra eye that was leering at her.
"Forgive me, My dear, but in my rudeness, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Mr. Sinister, a bit theatrical I know, but it suits, don't you think?" No matter how hard she tried, no matter how the spider within thrashed, she just make her treacherous body move. The vampire-like being who had revealed himself to her was suddenly right on top of her, his clawed hand gently cupping on side of her face. He spoke softly, but his voice carried a strength she couldn't hope to overcome. The sheer terror in her eyes made the wicked looking man, if that was what he actually was, smile all the more broadly.
"Ah, My sweet Ritsuko, I could end your life in ways that would break your soul, or leave you drifting up to heaven. For the immediate future, though, I simply have far too much to do. So, my dear, simply………forget".
Ritsuko tried to fight, to raise her hand and claw his face off, but she could resist this ghoulish man's commands, and felt her legs give way as she fell asleep standing up. Sinister caught her and gently placed her on the couch in her office and walked right out the door, but now before making a few 'additions' to his work. Sinister knew Apocalypse would question him about the changes, but they were something he could very possibly go along with. Besides, it never hurt to have an inside man, or woman, in this case. He morphed back into the human tech and, checking to make sure that no one was watching him, he snuck out of Ritsuko's office, invisible to the camera's thanks to his invasive AI's. He only had to worry about the odd naked eye.
Sinister was so sure he wasn't being observed, he never saw a pair or brown doe eyes peeking at him from around the corner. He adjusted his cap and walked away as Maya Ibuki came up from behind him. The mysterious tech whirled around and psychically knocked Maya out as well. He simply let her drop to the floor in an unceremonious heap and even had the gale to kick her in the ribs, breaking several of them. He took off at a jogging pace and slide into a waiting elevator, pushing aside a couple of bridge crew that had patiently been waiting.
"Hey, man, what the fuck's your problem?!" Shigeru Aoba swore at the abrasive man who had knocked him and Hyoga Makoto to the floor without even a word of apology or warning.
Hyoga massaged his aching head and joined in. "What an asshole! Damn technicians think they're some shit and run the whole show because they fix shit. If it breaks down, we can't do OUR jobs and these pricks get off on making us wait!"
Shigeru agreed emphatically, "Fuckin' A, man! Damn bastards! That's it, we're taking the stairs" . Hyoga wailed in protest at having to walk up more than fifty flights of stairs. Shigeru cuffed him on the back of the head and nodded in the direction of the nearest stairwell. As they began to walk, they each felt a bizarre electrical tingle across their skin. Before they had a chance to even begin to comprehend what was going on, they were hit with an excruciating blast of electrical energy. Both men didn't even have time to scream as they writhed in agony. When the electrical field abated, both men began to fall to the deck, but before they ever got close, simply faded away into the ether.
From around the corner, the Horseman Pestilence chuckled at what his new master had in mind for the two unfortunate souls he had nailed with a localized electrical field his armour had generated. The Master had come to the decision that the so-called 'super woman' never really had a challenge worthy of them; that challenge was other super humans. What made the whole thing perfectly comical was the fact that Dr. Akagi, in her insatiable curiosity, had inadvertently given Lord Apocalypse and Mr. Sinister the information, and research material on many of the super women, herself included.
She even had biological data on the She-Hulk and Spirit, whom are considered to be the most powerful of the super women. She had recently acquired data on Storm, and had quite a bit on the Silver Surfer. With Lilith in their possession, and even Adam himself being restored- though how that was being done, even Pestilence didn't know- The Master and his servants would be able to not only allow Pestilence to finish his own personal evolution, but they would be able to create the other Horsemen.
He had a pretty good idea about how Lord Apocalypse was going to acquire the subject who would become Famine, The Second Horseman, but as to how he was going to be changed, well, he simply was left in the dark. There were several things about his own transformation he found very hard to believe, but found to be genuine.
What he found most extraordinary was the fact that Lord Apocalypse had found a way to safely combine Adam and Lilith at the genetic level. Within him was this 'Super Angel' DNA, created from The All-Father and the Mother of Humanity. At that very moment, he was more powerful than any of his kin, even the First and Second combined, or even the super women. He had yet other advantages over everyone else that had quite an 'infectious' charm all their own.
All he had do right now, though, was simply wait until his newest helpers were ready to go. Then he'd pay a visit to a certain someone he cared quite a bit for, and then he'd pay a very harsh visit to Spirit. He'd drop in to her home, and give her a very personal lesson about respect for someone else's parents. Adam may have been an unintentional monster, but he was still Pestilence's biological parent, and Spirit was going to pay for turning him into custard, necessary or not. She wasn't the only one.
When Dr. Akagi tried to kill the former Nerv Commander, she was interrupted by a dutiful, but somewhat ditsy maid. She had wanted to EAT Adam! He'd personally introduce her to Famine when he was ready, and see how SHE liked to get chewed up and spit out. Well, chewed up, at least.
Rei was next on his hit list. She tried to blown Adam to bits when he was being transported on the Super Carrier 'Over The Rainbow'. Adam had somehow escaped destruction by being moved to a spare container Ryoji Kaji had hidden in his cabin. Pestilence wasn't sure if what the Surfer had destroyed was an elaborate decoy, or maybe something else had been at work; Pestilence could guess at what, or WHO that 'something' was.
In the end, it didn't really matter. He was going to collect the final pieces to the next Horseman, and when he did, the remaining two that followed would be quite unstoppable. With the Phoenix out there somewhere, all he had to do was track her down and assimilate just a taste of her cosmic power, and every Horsemen, himself included, would have access to the Power Cosmic, as Apocalypse called it. Even if all the other Angels were to assail the Horsemen, with the Power Cosmic, they'd run them into the ground.
Just like they were going to do to the so-called 'Super Women of Tokyo-3'.
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Author's Notes: Well, folks, I hope this chapter answers some questions for you, and I hope it raises some as well. Brace yourself for the next chapter because the gals are about to get a surprise even they never saw coming, or maybe even more than one! Oh My stars and garters!