A/N: The house's layout is the exact map from DX1,
Pull up youtube: /watch?v=uX0hU7jQ5O4
The greatest music ever made, for the greatest level ever made, from the greatest game ever made.
Chapter 10: DuClaire Chateau
"Isn't leatherhead there kind of heavy, Wondergirl?"
"My muscles are augmented."
"What?"
"...I'll explain later."
A military VTOL isn't something Parisians see on the city streets very often. This particular night, the street was blocked by the NERV aircraft that just put down directly in front of La Porte de l'Enfer to meet a tall, blonde adult woman, two teenage girls, and one teenage boy who was sleeping like a log and being carried by the girl with blue hair. The redheaded girl helped the blue one awkwardly load Shinji Ikari into the aircraft, at roughly the same time as a mustached man in a white suit and tie emerged from the club's entrance and caught up to the group.
"Wait!" He caught Elizabeth DuClaire and Asuka Soryu as Rei got Shinji comfortable and belted him down safely. "So, Beth, these are the two that you and your undercover friend have been searching for?"
"Yes they are, and you can see why."
"I don't know why my nightclub was targeted, but those two...kids...just put down an invasion."
"It was targeted because I'm not the only one looking for them. I'm getting them out of the public eye for that very reason."
"Well, before you take off, forward this 2000 credit gratuity to their credit accounts."
"2000, that's it? These kids just took down an army!"
"I can't afford to haggle. Yes, I appreciate what they did, but I have to settle things with my lawyers, clean up the blood all over my club, repair the damages, bullet holes and explosion craters-"
"Fine. I'll make sure they get it. Thanks for the VIP passes, by the way." She climbed into the VTOL taking a seat beside Asuka as Rei instructed Kaji to fly to Ms. DuClaire's destination.
The VTOL set down in the front courtyard of the majestic Chateau DuClaire, a thirteenth-century estate of the French nobility that the DuClaire family had acquired after the Second World War, and Kaji waved them on ahead as he went through the process of shutting down the complex aircraft to the point of disabling its electrical system, ensuring its locator beacon would not broadcast. Beth and Asuka disembarked and waited for Rei to assist a conscious but delirious Shinji out of the aircraft, for him to weakly lean against her as she slowly walked him towards the thick hardwood doors of the Chateau's entry hall.
Something Asuka would have never expected Rei to do, the blue-haired girl complimented the estate as the quartet approached the hall -a testament to her developed and more socially open personality.
"This home, it feels almost...magical. The only person I know with this wealth or sophistication was the late Gendo Ikari. At his death, neither I nor Shinji were to inherit any of his wealth, it all went back to NERV. Despite his millions, he lived a spartan, austere lifestyle. He raised me to do the same, and Shinji-" She shifted his weight in her arms, "is naturally frugal. Despite being stationed at NERV's primary headquarters, my 'apartment'-" her tongue burned when she mentioned the place she now hated, "was the definition of 'poverty'. I've never seen a place such as this."
Asuka cut in. "As a matter of fact, I have. Being raised in the German countryside let me see the castles and fortresses of the Barons of the Counties."
Miss DuClaire smiled as she keyed open one of the massive double doors. "For a person as paranoid as me, this place is a fortress. Everything is reinforced, the doors can hold up to cannon fire, the windows are barred and can be locked in place, and the walls are bomb-resistant. When your family is one of the most prominent of the Illuminati, you quickly militarize everything you own...you'll see what I mean a little while from now."
Before the quartet entered, Asuka spoke up. "Okay, Beth. I'm grateful that you picked me up from that hospital, but I think I deserve to know why, over the last two weeks, I've been hearing the word 'Illuminati' thrown around like a baseball."
Beth rubbed her temples in exasperation at the fiery redhead. "Because, Asuka, you are now in the employ of one of the Illuminati's ruling parties. I brought you out of Germany to keep you safe from SEELE's assassins. Shinji and Rei are already used to it after their meeting with James Dowd. That old sod is certainly a little loose in the head, but he's practically aware of every transaction of currency, every act of government, and every mobilization of force on the planet. That is what the Illuminati is, Asuka, awareness. The rifle round you were shot with turns out to be what saved your life. If you were hit by a fragmentation round or a hollow point, well, you wouldn't be here wearing that silly costume, would you?" Beth quipped, referencing Asuka's status as an undercover dancer.
The word 'shot' caused Shinji to force his eyes open and jump to his feet, breaking out of Rei's grasp. "Asuka!? Shot!? What happened!?"
"Calm down, Idiot." She answered him. She rolled down one shoulder strap of her suit, showing the scarring from the skin graft that now covered the round's entry wound. "I've got another one of these on my left side, hence the one-piece and not a top and bottom combo."
Beth entered at this point, explaining this reunion to Shinji and Rei. "When the Illuminati got wind of the attempt on Miss Soryu's life, we stepped in and took her under our protection. I appeared at Charite Hospital and paid her treatment in full, on the grounds that Mr. and Mrs. Soryu allow me to have her until the attackers are brought to justice. After you two were configured at Sarif Industries, the 'brought to justice' part became your job...That reminds me. The dining room and kitchen are this way." She entered the house and turned right moving from the great hall to the dining area. Asuka and Rei followed her.
Rei and Shinji noticed the instrumental music that began playing throughout the house after Beth entered. It was a piano piece that began slow and subdued, but quickly picked up tempo as it became a synthesized electronic beat. It sounded alien and otherworldly, but still very inviting.
"I can think of two kids who critically require their synthetic dietary supplements." Beth called from her kitchen. She regarded the maid of the house, instructing her to prepare two servings of Coq au Vin for herself and the redheaded guest, before bringing out a standard array of Cyberboost nutrition. Rei helped Shinji into a seat and sat beside him while Beth mixed their drinks. The pair ate while she resumed her explanation.
"For my day job, I'm an assistant administrator of the French office for the World Health Organization. One of the WHO's primary purposes is standardization of treatment, which means ensuring that all processes for medication, surgery, or therapy are concurrent across regions and nations. You two are (not) mechanically augmented, so you don't fall under the standard treatment for cybernetics. Technically, your augmentations don't even exist, you aren't Neuropazyne users despite the billions of artificial implants inside you, and you've never been to a LIMB clinic. Sarif are decades ahead of their time in that respect, but they can only create a single biocontroller and a single population of nanites in a production run. They can't yet mass produce them, and that's what's keeping them from putting these nano augmentations of yours on the market. No supply."
"Wait wait wait-" Asuka interjected. "You people keep saying 'augmented'. Augmented means you're using extra equipment to give you more power during a task. Shinji and Rei don't have any prosthetic limbs."
"Sunglasses, you two."
Shinji and Rei smirked to one another. The sunglasses came off and Asuka screamed.
"THE EYES! Oh My God the EYES-" * SLAP *
"Calm down Asuka." Beth ensured the girl got her composure. "Between the three of you, you're the lucky one. Shinji and Rei were nearly killed in a missile strike. Nanite reconstructive surgery is what saved their lives. It's also what killed Versalife's physiopharmaceutical assassins."
"Fizzy O'whatsit? The assholes at the club?"
"As opposed to cybernetic limbs, or Shinji and Rei's experimental injections, the physiopharmaceutical operatives use a combination of strength training and military drilling, steroids and opiates, chemical and biological immunizations, and brainwashing to create an inhuman killing machine capable of gunning down a bunch of cowering dancers in a club. I had no idea that they'd been deployed yet. If Shinji and Rei hadn't been configured as two nano-augmented-"
"How did you know about them?"
"Because SEELE-02 is the one enabling them. Bob Page, only 29 years old, so far, already owns Page Industries and Versalife pharmaceuticals. He uses Page Industries' security services to train the agents and Versalife's drugs to weaponize them."
Rei asked the next question. "How are you and Dowd certain Page is SEELE-02?"
"Simple, sweetheart: I am SEELE-03." Shinji and Rei went silent.
* CLICK * A handgun was loaded and Kaji walked into the dining room.
"You really shouldn't say things like that when I'm within earshot."
"Finished making your bird go dark? Put it down, love. I have no intention of harming Shinji, Rei, or Asuka. Do you not think the Illuminati has somebody inside every rogue organization on this sick and depraved planet?"
"And you expect me to believe you're a double agent just from your own words?"
"You've been happily doing my bidding ever since I intercepted Shinji and Rei on that subway train. That's right, Shinji stumbling all over me was planned from the beginning. As was Asuka sending an anonymous, untraceable tip to NERV headquarters. If I wanted to kill you, Shinji, or Rei...I would've had it done long ago. So, with that unpleasantry out of the way, let's get cooperative, shall we?"
"Fine. Why are you helping us?"
"Ah yes, the wonderful 'why'. I'd thought you'd never ask. The answer is simple: payment for services rendered. I am an Illuminatus embedded in SEELE to prevent it from completing its Singularity, and NERV is the organization to do the job. All I ask in return for the Illuminati's support is...a daughter."
Asuka went wide eyed. "Look, sorry, but I'm not leaving my dad-"
"I'm not trying to keep you Asuka. I plucked you from that hospital to protect you from SEELE, but I am (not) adopting anybody." She turned to Rei. Shinji noticed this.
"She's not up for adoption, either!"
"When did I say I wanted to adopt anybody?" The implication dawned on Shinji, who tried to play it off.
"Then why look at Rei? She doesn't have any sisters or anything...Why don't you and Kaji just-"
"Whoa whoa whoa, easy there kiddo!" Kaji cut him off and Beth continued.
"In the past, Rei had hundreds of sisters, didn't you, Rei?"
"...You know."
"Now don't give me that look. Have I acted like that's a bad thing? Have I treated you like you're less than a person?"
"Beth, what the hell is going on?!" Asuka was getting confused and frightened. She didn't like being either. All this SEELE-Illuminati whatever was grating on her nerves, and now Beth was implying that Wondergirl was one of a hundred? What?
"You don't know, Asuka? About Rei?"
"I know that she basically turned into Lillith! What else is there?"
"You never told her?"
"Shinji and I were...afraid of her reaction."
"Well the truth is out. So, Asuka, your friend is a human being grown in an LCL factory from the DNA of the Second Angel, Lillith. What do you think of that?"
"Wha-..."
"She was grown using cloning technology."
"Huh..." Asuka's eyes glazed over. Beth ignored the catatonic girl and turned to Rei and Kaji.
"I brought you out here to set the terms: NERV sees SEELE fall, and I get access to NERV's cloning facilities."
"That's what you want?"
"Every relationship I've had has failed. I want a family to carry the DuClaire name, but no man has been right for me. If I can barter usage of NERV's laboratories in exchange for the Illuminati's power...I think you can see the outcome. The rest of the council will certainly be surprised when I introduce you."
"How did you know about me?"
"Didn't James tell you about the Illuminati's data collection?"
"Well, yeah." Shinji spoke up. "But he never acted like Rei was-"
"Why does he need to? Why do you or I need to? I don't care that Rei is synthetic, all I want is the ability to have a sweet little girl of my own, and NERV has the ability to do so properly."
Asuka spoke up. "This is the part where the somebody tells the villain that they're completely mad!"
"In the world you joined when you came here, Soryu, sanity will get you killed."
The maid collected their dishes and Beth led the group into the kitchen. She keyed open the stairway door down to her wine cellar and ordered the group inside.
"No way! This is probably some kind of medieval bondage torture!"
Kaji narrowed his eyes and slowly turned to Asuka. "How do you know about 'bondage torture'?"
"Not from you, if that's what you're implying."
"This is..." Shinji stared around the holodeck in wonder.
"This is an identical environment to Gendo Ikari's communication system." Rei confirmed.
Beth had opened a secret wall in her wine cellar by removing a candle from a candelabra, and led the group up a flight of stairs to the massive computer monitoring network and communications station she had hidden in her bunker. She was seated at the desk in the room while she waited to activate the virtual communication channel to the other SEELE Units.
"The SEELE separatists all severed ties with the Illuminati when they decided that we were too selfless. Despite the Illuminati's wealth, we do not pursue much in the way of political power. SEELE's attempt with the Third Impact was a movement to raise themselves to emperors of the merged consciousness of humanity. Obviously, the Illuminati chose to put somebody on the inside, so I cut ties with Dowd and several other high voices of the Illuminati until SEELE was organized...After I joined them, I began recording and delivering the communications to Dowd to be dispersed to the other voices. Now their attacks on NERV illuminate their current plan, in this case, they plan to eliminate the force most likely to overpower them."
"And telling them that we're here will help, how?"
"You'll know your enemy. Lorenz is somewhere in Germany, but I don't know his current residence. Page is with Versalife at NERV branch 2, Zhao is high in her penthouse in Hengsha- she'll be the easiest one to pursue, next." She activated the console. The walls melted away and the desk, with Beth and her company, was surrounded with towering stone slabs, each illuminated with the snake and apple, SEELE's mark.
SEELE-01 SOUND ONLY: "You have called an emergency meeting. Why?"
"Because, Lorenz, I'm afraid there's been an emergency change of plans."
SEELE-01 SOUND ONLY: "You just violated our policy of anonymity. You will (not) refer to any of us by name."
"Well then, it's a good thing that I don't ever follow your rules."
SEELE-01 SOUND ONLY: "You are placing yourself in grave danger by speaking above your place."
"Ask Bob how much danger we were in, tonight. His performance-enhanced assassins didn't stand a chance against two experimental teenagers. Quite a bit of egg in the face for his physiopharmaceutical research, wasn't it?"
SEELE-02 SOUND ONLY: "What is it you're going on about?"
"The two Nanite Biochips produced by one of NERV's mutual friends have been implanted and activated. I think you can guess who has them; they made a mockery of your conditioned killers."
SEELE-02 SOUND ONLY: "Three, I believe it is time that we end our association with you-"
"You'll have to try, corrupt bastard." A certain, augmented young man's voice cut off SEELE-02.
SEELE-02 SOUND ONLY: "Ikari. Your father's failure will only be a prologue to your own."
"Is that a threat? I used to be pretty bad about those, but not anymore. Your freaks might have morphine and brainwashing to blunt their fear of pain, but we have nerves of steel. Based on Miss Duclaire's advice, tell SEELE-05 that we're coming after her, next."
Beth cut the other shadow leaders off from a retort. "Shinji, I'm impressed. Your dossier placed you as a relative-"
"I'm not a coward anymore. I'd keep fighting even if I didn't have nanotech superpowers."
"Then what you need to do next is have your colleagues back at the GeoFront begin researching Hengsha and Tai-Yong Medical. A word of warning before you decide to attack Zhao, she uses mechanical augmentees for her security, but unlike Sarif's systems, they use brute strength over precision and stealth. I'll see to it that you get material support in China, but your opponents will be more dangerous than Versalife's assassins."
"What about now?"
"You rest." She ushered the group out of the holodeck and led them back through her electronics bunker and into her wine cellar. She paused for just a moment to select a bottle of Chablis and Crème de Cassis de Dijon. She reentered the kitchen and instructed the maid to ensure the selection was chilled, before organizing the arrangements for the evening. Out from the dining room into the great hall, she instructed Kaji to occupy the writing office to the left of the courtyard doors, using the sofa inside as his bed. She then took Shinji and Rei upstairs to her guest room, through the door immediately after the stairway's upper landing.
"Where will Asuka be staying? This guest room doesn't appear to have room for three..."
"With me. She's been staying in the master bedroom on a hideaway bed since I evacuated her from Germany. Now wash up, SEELE won't be getting any weaker as we sleep..."
Rei had finished in the nearby bathroom as Elizabeth walked in, carrying a paper-wrapped and string tied package.
"Sweetheart, you don't have anything comfortable, do you?"
Rei was confused for a moment. "...If you mean my clothing, then not really. Shinji and I packed multiple sets of personal protective equipment, but we never expected to be staying as guests in a mansion."
"Well, I was able to guess your sizes. Shinji doesn't like dry drinks does he?"
"I am not particularly aware..."
"Download the instructions to pour a glass of Kir, but use one third over one ninth...and try not to make too much noise tonight." The mysterious woman smirked to Rei as she opened the package...
"This is...-"
Beth softly cut her off. "This is what will ensure that boy of yours belongs to you for a very long time..."
"Why are you giving me this?"
"Because I know your history, dear. I know how much that young man has improved your life. The Illuminati may be an ancient conspiracy, but we are a benevolent one, and the two of you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, yet again. Don't you think you two've earned some happiness, especially considering what you've survived, even since coming here? Tell me, why are you still alive?"
"...Because Mr. Sarif and Dr. Darrow treated me."
"No, before that. When your bastard creator used you-"
"The other Children fought me...Shinji saved me after Lillith was killed."
"And? You do plan on keeping him for your own, don't you? Trust me, this will make you just as happy as it will make him."
Rei emerged from the bathroom and returned to the guest room, just as Shinji was thoroughly examining the cocktail ingredients that had been delivered to the room. He used various wines and liquors Misato owned in several of his recipes, but he had never held a 150 Euro bottle of wine, before, and now he was looking at it and its partner in a bowl of ice, along with two crystal glasses the maid delivered. He turned to Rei when she opened the door and saw...
"Oh my god-"
"I would seem Elizabeth had...this, as a gift, waiting for me. French women have little inhibition, it would seem..." Rei was now wearing a translucent sky-blue slip and thigh stockings...Shinji began coughing and sputtering as she walked past and opened the two bottles. "I don't understand why she is treating us so exquisitely, but she wants us to enjoy our stay...if this is supposed to be a bribe of sorts..."
Shinji was trying to pay attention, but was far too distracted by Rei's legs. "Ar-...are y-you really wearing that?"
Rei poured two samples of the cocktail, increasing the volume of blackcurrant liqueur to overcome the bitterness of the dry burgundy, herself not quite believing Ms. DuClaire's motivations for the evening. She tasted her glass, the dry white wine was bitter at the beginning, but the blackcurrant quickly sweetened the taste, resulting in a distinct range of flavor as she sampled.
"...Shinji." She handed him his glass. "I do hope you approve."
He drank his serving, looking her in her eyes. Those eyes, those red eyes, contrasted against the blue fabric and her blue hair. In fact, now that Rei was a blossoming young woman, her hair spread south, but was still vibrant blue in both locations. Shinji sputtered some more "...W-wonderful."
The music looped and continued.
She took his hand and led him to the queen-sized four poster bed.
"Rei...are you sure? I-If you don't want-
Rei, wait!
Rei, there's-there's no going back from this..."
"I know, Shinji...But...I want this..."
"Rei!
...Rei...
That-that feels amazing...Oh!
Rei...I love you."