Disclaimer: Evangelion and Secret of Blue Water belongs to Gainax. Paranoia Agent belongs to Madhouse.

Traitors of the Stars: Genesis

Chapter 10: Masters and Student

Tower of Babel

Keel Lorenz and his loyalist forces stared at the tower. "So the Tower exist after all." He saw a control panel in front of it and noticed a diamond shaped hole to insert the Blue Water. "Everyone! You have done an exceptional job finding this place. I relieve you of your duties!" He used his machine gun to kill all of his forces. They screamed for mercy, but it was for naught. He then saw the spirits of the men he killed go into the Blue Water. 'What is this? Is this some kind of Soul Gem?' He was shocked, he then looked at the architecture "This place as alot of blood on it, doesn't it?" He ask himself. He then found some hieroglyphs showing the Arwall Family crest and some kind of oni next to it. "This isn't possible." He coundn't help but laugh. "I really made a mess of things now. But I'm willing to bet you don't care, do you."

Atlantis Docks

Shinji and Nadia walked down to the others. "I'm going after Keel Lorenz." Everyone, even Nadia, was shocked when they heard Shinji said that.

"Shinji, it's a suicide mission. Not only is there a army of SEELE soldiers with him, there's also an army of Neo-Atlanteans between us and him." Nemo said.

"Don't worry. Shinji has plans." Neo told the Captain. "I trust him."

"I need to do this. I'm the reason this happened." Shinji said. "I need to be the one that takes him down."

"Why do this?" Nemo asked Shinji. "Why risk your life for our sake."

Shinji was deep in thought until he turned to Nadia. "Do you need a reason to help a family member?"

"I see." Nemo said.

"The best techniques are passed on by the survivors." Shinji said. "I will fight Lorenz. Consider it my reason to help you. So you can survive."

Nemo was awestruck by this. He was right, they had nothing to do with all this until now. "Alright, we need a distraction to help Shinji through the Neo-Atlanteans, so he can have a clear shot to Lorenz."

"I'm in." Neo said.

"I usually don't like being caught, but if it's for the good of humanity." Grandis said.

"We're right behind you." Hanson said.

"You two would still stay with me?" Grandis asked. "Even at the end?"

"Of course. You took us in when everyone else shuned us for no reason." Sanson said. "You are the only one we'll follow."

"Thanks." Grandis said.

"I'm also in." Nadia said.

"No. The last thing I need is another dead family member." Shinji told her.

"Shinji, he killed my father." Nadia said really angrily at Shinji. "If anyone deserves death it's him."

Shinji took a moment before he spoke. "Understood." He then looked at Jean. "Jean, can you take care of Marie?"

Jean nodded. "You can count on me, Shaun."

"It's..." Shinji started to say, but stopped when he got it. "I'm counting on you, buddy."

"The Nautilus II is the only safe haven." Nemo said. "I'd hold out there."

"Let's go, Marie." Jean said.

"Shinji!" Marie shouted. "Promise me you'll save us."

Shinji patted Marie on the head. "That's my intention."

"Alright, Shinji, there's some shadows close to the pillars, use them to your advantage." Nemo said to Shinji.

"Understood, Captain." Shinji said.

"I highly doubt we can get Gargoyle here, considering he's going after Lorenz." Neo said.

"True." Nemo calculated. "That's why we need a distraction. Get some of his forces to be cut off."

"I'll sneak up on them and follow them." Shinji stated.

"Then take this." Neo gave him a sub-machine gun. "Normally I wouldn't give something like this to you. But you were a SEELE Soldier, you know Lorenz better than anyone else here." He put his hand on his shoulder. "Now get out of here."

Shinji ran towards the shadows and continued.

Atlantis Corridors

Gargoyle walked through the halls until he heard gun shots. "Ten of you, come with me. Everyone else, take care of that." He continued to walk 'Looks like Nemo is fighting back. Not that it matters.' He just sighed. "Goodbye, old friend. I'll be sure to put your name in the archives... as a traitor."

All of a sudden, bullets were raining down on his forces, killing everyone but him. "The only traitor here is you, Master Fuyutsuki." A familiar voice called to him.

'There's only one person that calls me that.' Gargoyle thought. "Come out, Shinji or am I speaking to a ghost?"

Shinji came from the shadows. "I have to give you credit. Without your training, I would have ended in a despression based coma. So being here now, it's all you I have to thank."

"You think because I helped you, you became a better man?" Gargoyle asked. "I had to go undercover from that baffoon and I have been waiting for ten years, waiting for the oppertunity to strike. Looking for the Blue Water was my ultimate goal. If anyone finds out what it's capable of, we'll all die."

"How is it different than what you're doing?" Shinji asked.

"Humans destroy everything! If they see something they don't like, they kill it! If there's one thing I can do, it's free everything from their grasp!" He yelled.

"So you're telling me, 'we should all die, because of what some of us are doing.'" he asked more.

"Evil begets evil!" Gargoyle was ranting more. "Not long, the only thing the earth will be is a huge desert, nothing to give life to! Even the underwater plants and animals won't be immune!"

"You're right." Shinji said. "There are some scumbags on earth. Maybe more if it goes unopposed." Shinji was lost in thought, looking at his gun. "But..." He then shot him in the legs and arms. Gargoyle was screaming in pain. "There won't be anyone to stop that, if you do this. Goodbye, Master." He walked away from him. "I'll let the Atlantean Loyalist have their way with you."

"Shinji! You son of a bitch!" Gargoyle yelled. "The Atlantean Loyalists are dead!"

"Oh, I wouldn't count on that." His phone beeped. "This is Shinji."

"The Neo-Atlanteans have been neutralized." Kaji said over the phone.

"Glad to hear it." Shinji said. "Can you put Nadia on?"

"Sure." Kaji handed Nadia the phone.

"Shinji?" Nadia asked. "Are you there?"

"Yes and I have a gift for you." He walked back to the broken body of Gargoyle. "Give her a quick shout-out." Shinji stepped on one of his injured limbs, causing him to scream. "Did you get that."

"Yes." Nadia said. "Hoped you left some for me."

"Don't worry, I left you best part. He's not going anywhere." Shinji looked at Gargoyle again. "I made sure of that."

"You better get going then." she said. "Lorenz is still out there."

"Understood." Shinji walked towards the direction of the throne room.

Atlantean Throne Room

Shinji entered the room and saw the Tower of Babel. "Whoa." He was in shock at the machine.

"The Tower of Babel." Shinji turned to see Keel Lorenz and immediatly aimed the gun at him. "I was expecting the Neo-Atlanteans, but your even better."

"What are you talking about?" Shinji asked.

"I was planning to use the Blue Water as leverage to get Nadia from them." Lorenz said. "But from what I discovered, only the blood from the Royal Family can be used for it to activate the Tower."

"What does this have to do with me?" Shinji asked.

Lorenz pointed to the wall with the hieroglyphs. "Take a look for yourself."

Shinji saw the wall then saw the crest. "This can't be."

"It's your family crest. YOUR blood can be used in a different way." Lorenz said. "The blood of the Royal Family can be used to kill every being that has the slightest human DNA. Yours on the other hand, the Tower can be used to open a portal."

Shinji lowered the gun. "What's your gain?"

"To help the weak, to help humanity." Lorenz looked at the tower. "And hopefully, to find them a true home."

"We're happy where we are." Shinji said.

"Are you?" He asked. "Seeing people get killed? Seeing people die due to disease and sickness? Seeing homes get destroyed? Is that really the world you want to stay in?"

Shinji was lost in thought. "There are some people who are willing to kill just to get a laugh." Shinji admitted. "But as long as there's one man who can save people, there's always hope."

Lorenz chuckled. "I'll spare you the times I told myself that."

"Give me the Blue Water." Shinji pointed the gun at him again.

"Or what?" he asked. "How about this? Put the gun away and I'll give you the Blue Water."

Shinji puts the gun away and pointed to the ground. "Put it on the floor."

Lorenz moved closer to Shinji, stopped midway, and placed it down, moving back after. "There you go."

He moved closer to the Blue Water and picked it up. "Now listen, If you come peacefully I can encourage them to get you off light." Shinji offered.

"To be honest. I have you right where I want you." A knife was close to Shinji's throat. Lorenz was the man holding the knife. "The wonders of holograms." He said as the hologram of him disappeared.

He took the gun from Shinji. "How? Holograms can't carry objects."

"I used a special device that uses things to give off the appearance of levitation." He proceeded to the Tower with Shinji. "I was planing to use this tactic against the Neo-Atlanteans, but like I said, you were better."

Shinji noticed the dead bodies close to the Tower. "What the hell is this?"

"These men served me well." Lorenz said. "Gave them an early retirement." He continued walking until he got to the control panel. "Now bare witness to the power!" Lorenz inserted the Blue Water in the panel. "That will save everyone!" He grabbed Shinji's hand, removed the knife from his neck, and sliced his hand. "Open the door to paradise."

The blue water glowed green. The tower activated and, from there, a portal opened. "What is this?!" Shinji asked.

Lorenz laughed. "This, my friend, is the portal, the door, to everyman's desire!" He basked in his victory. "Noah's Ark!"

"Noah's Ark?" Shinji was stunned.

"The same ship from the story." Lorenz cheerfully said. "And you are going to be the first to experiance it."

"No." Shinji said. "Not now or ever. I've seen this done in several stories. We're happy where we are and if we have to leave, we'll leave by our own accord."

"This is our destiny. Do you think I would go through all this just to have power?" Lorenz asked.

"You're trying to force us to do things we don't want to do yet." Shinji retorted. "That sounds like power."

"You're family's been with me since we had to clean up that mess ten years ago." Lorenz reminded him. "You had it right then."

"Keyword being 'then'." Shinji pointed out. "NOW. Now, I'm going to kill you."

"Do you honestly think you can take me on?" Lorenz asked, laughing at him. "I was in three wars in a row! I was tortured to death by all those enemies! They all tried to crack me for information, all ending in failure. I became a stronger man from those events. What do you have?"

"YOUR TRAINING!" Shinji yelled.

Tower of Babel. Royal Family: Glows Red, World destruction. Ikari Clan: Glows Green, A portal to another plane of existance.

The Ikari Clan and the Royal Family. Connection: Questionable.

"What the Hell?"