Disclaimer: So where was I? Oh yeah, Tokyo-3!
Author note: It's a Sahaquiel time kids. How will our heroes deal with him? Let's find out, shall we?
The Reprint and Repackaging of Evangelion
Chapter 13 Holding the Hand That Holds Me Down
by Marik Kurakashi
The flow of time went on once more and suddenly, it was four weeks after Rei had returned and curbstomped Matariel into the dirt. But as is customary, the good times and halcyon days had to come to a stop in a sudden, jarring moment. In fact, NERV HQ was dealing with it at the moment.
"These images that were sent from one of our defense satellites. There is an unknown object floating above the Earth, positioned over China right now, drifting to Japan." Misato led the briefing, the pilots seated on the bridge in front of her looking at the screen.
A massive orange shape appeared on screen, its elongated shape twisting into a giant three toed foot, with three large eyes visible as well.
"Always with the eyes." Shinji muttered, having seen the footage of Matariel vs. Rei. At least it wasn't eyes on top of eyes this time.
"It looks stupid." Asuka put in, eyes roaming the picture as she frowned.
"But it's smart enough to hide in space, we can't reach it." Rei decided to get the bad news out of the way.
"Yet." That was all Misato said.
"Yet?" Shinji parroted, now fully intrigued.
"We're working on it." Misato left it at that, and the pilots could only wonder what that meant.
"I don't know about you, but I get this funny feeling we're going to end up with something crazy when this is all done." This was Shinji speaking from experience here. He made a few snide comments about the weapons and look what they had now. Hell, he wasn't sure why they needed a napalm launcher, but he wasn't going to complain.
"How crazy do you think? Jetpack crazy?" Asuka would pay money to seem them put one of those on the Evangelion.
"That maybe a bit too crazy." Rei stated, before realizing she was raining on the parade a bit. "But it would be pretty cool if it happened. With all the crazy extensions to the cables they've been doing, it wouldn't surprise me to see them fireproof them so we could use a jetpack."
"Well now we have to put that on the list." Misato said to herself, careful not to let the kids know that a jetpack hadn't been on the menu. "Anyways, it'll take it another day to make it over to Japan so we shouldn't worry too much."
"Wait wait, hold up. It just did what?" Aoba had been watching the Angel when a piece of it fell off and entered the atmosphere.
"The Angel has seemingly dropped a piece of itself onto Earth." Maya said, shaking her head as she wondered what was going on.
"It's not burning up, it must be protected by the AT-field." Hyuga announced, stunning everyone there.
"Then, it's trying to use the rotation of the Earth along with gravity to do its dirty work." Misato exclaimed, breath leaving her.
"We have to go." Rei said, looking as the piece slammed into the ocean and kicked up a lot of spray. It was a long way off, but they couldn't let it just drop itself with impunity.
"The Evangelion are being prepped immediately, using the MAGI to track and find an optimal intercept route." Hyuga was already on it, not even waiting for orders.
"But what do we do when we get there?" Asuka asked as the trio speed off the bridge for the cages.
"We'll have to play it by ear." Shinji's face grew grim, letting his fellow pilots know how serious this was.
/-\ /-\ /-\
"The Evangelion have reached the intercept point." Maya announced fifteen minutes later, a tense time spent wondering if the next attack was going to come while they raced there.
"Patching in recent data from the MAGI," Aoba was next, feeding a steady stream of possibilities for the descent of the next piece.
"Running simulations to determine the nature of the Angel's attack." Hyuga came last, relieved that they had made it in time.
"I can see it." Rei was oddly quiet about this, as she turned Unit-00 to face the direction where Sahaquiel lay dreaming in the sky.
"I can't." Shinji said, but trusted Rei and pointed Unit-01 in the same direction.
"I can't either." Asuka admitted, but turned Unit-02 in the same direction.
"Close your eyes and take a deep breath." Rei instructed, knowing that it would be difficult even with her guiding them. "Open your hearts and let go of the doubt that blinds you. Know that it is there, and that you CAN see it."
The other two did as instructed, and when the opened their eyes, they could make out the distinct shape of Sahaquiel in the sky.
"Well I'll be damned, it worked!" Shinji, having faith in Rei, was still surprised it was that easy.
"I can't believe it's that simple." Asuka shook her head and focused on the Angel.
"The analysis is complete... sempai!" Maya called, Ritsuko coming over to see what was going on.
"To think, that is what it's doing." Ritsuko rubbed her chin as she ran this data through her head. "Okay, I got it, patch me through to the team."
"Ikari here, what's up?" Shinji was the one who answered, even if it was directed at them all.
"We've discovered how the Angel did the whole body part drop attack." Ritsuko announced, drawing grins from the trio. That was their support staff alright.
"So enlighten us, Professor. How did it do what it did?" Asuka answered for them this time.
"Our first guess was wrong, it wasn't the AT-field protecting it, but..." Ritsuko left it hanging for them to work out, seeing as they were bright enough kids.
"...firing it through the atmosphere like a railgun, speeding it through re-entry fast enough that it doesn't burn up because the field is actually both shielding it and accelerating it!" Shinji exclaimed, drawing stares from the other two. "Sorry, I've been studying railguns a lot so I had a bit of a nerd moment there."
"What he said is right though, it isn't just dropping the piece, it is using its field to send it through faster in an attempt to outdo the rotation of the Earth and hit Tokyo-3. The lazy motion of it is a diversion." Ritsuko jumped in for back-up.
"But that isn't what's important here." Asuka said, a nasty grin covering her face.
"It's not?" Rei, who had been silent, piped up.
"If it can do that with an AT-field, then so can we." Asuka snickered as the other two adopted similar grins.
"Everyone in position!" Shinji ordered, as they formed a large triangle. "When it fires again, we're gonna have a surprise for the bastard." In an act of pure coincidence, Sahaquiel chose this moment to attack again.
"Readying fields!" Asuka cried, projecting her field.
"Focus on the point displayed by the MAGI." Ritsuko chimed in, already conducting this op well enough Misato sat back and watched.
"Don't try to deflect it back too soon." Rei said, her field joining Asuka's in the sky.
"Just slow it down first, then seize it. We'll throw it back once we have a grip on it." Shinji added, his field to the mix.
"The piece has passed the point of any possible course change." Aoba announced, causing Ritsuko to jump back and thrust a fist out.
"Expand AT-fields now!" She cried, and the Evangelion pilots obeyed.
The piece came to a sudden stop, pushing futilely against the combined field before said field surged up around it and enveloped it. One field kept it straight, as another stretched ahead, forming what could be suggested as the barrel of a gun. The third and final balled itself up behind the makeshift bullet, ready to return it to sender.
"Oi, Angel, you dropped something." Shinji quipped as the AT-field expanded, launching the piece right back at Sahaquiel.
It would be an understatement to say the Angel had been caught off guard. He had thought himself safe in space, away from those nasty Evangelion and their deadly weapons. Alas, he had thought wrong, and in the moment before his improvised shell was returned to him, he realized how wrong he was.
The makeshift bullet tore right through him like he was made of paper, causing a wail of agony to erupt deep from within his massive frame. Blinded by pain, he didn't notice until it was too late that he had be pulled into Earth's gravity and that he was falling to the planet below. His mind wandered for a second, to the stars above and what mysteries they held.
And then he crashed into the ocean, kicking up a small tidal wave and a lot of spray.
He was finished, alive but too injured to regenerate fast enough to form some kind of defense. He could only moan pitifully when they came for him, weapons out and eyes shining with murderous glee. In his final moments before his life was extinguished with extreme prejudice, Sahaquiel looked to the heavens once more and wondered.
With a silent shudder, the Tenth Angel was given to silence and became still. No one would ever know what great epiphany it had on the precipice of death. It was even safer to say no one would remember who this Angel was, nor would they even really care. He was a threat to humanity, and as such, had to die.
No one would mourn the end of Sahaquiel, he who gazed to the stars and wondered.
/-\ /-\ /-\
"Well, that was exciting." Asuka said, sometime later after they had returned from killing the Angel. "It went relatively painless, though we didn't have much of a fight."
"I'll say." Shinji muttered, crossing his arms in a fit of pique. "I was hoping it'd put up enough of a fight and we'd have to get jetpacks to deal with it."
"Now now," Rei soothed from his side. "We have to give them time to work their miracles."
"Like a day?" Asuka hazarded, drawing a sharp laugh from the First Child.
"Exactly." Rei grinned and sidled closer to Shinji, for no real reason than to play around.
The boy in question raised his eyebrow, but said nothing.
"Oh I get it, we're having fun are we?" Asuka responded, getting closer to Shinji as well.
And now he was sweating a bit, that pesky romantic comedy nonsense was back!
"You catch on too fast for me to put anything past you." Rei sounded happy about this, even as she yanked one of Shinji's arms free from his earlier pose.
"I'm just that good, I suppose." Asuka preened as she coyly took his other arm.
"Don't I get a say in this?" Shinji wasn't exactly upset, but this was just ridiculous to him.
"No~" The girls chorused as they drug him away for some nefarious purpose. Or perhaps lunch, but if it was the cafeteria, then it became just plain evil.
"They get along well." Ritsuko noted to Misato, the pair having watched the exchange from around the corner.
"It should put my mind at ease, but I worry about those three sometimes." Misato bit her lip for a second.
"Afraid of another surprise event?" Ritsuko had to laugh when Misato jumped straight into the air in a hysterical manner.
"Don't remind me of that!" And on her first day too, no less.
"This is a door." Ritsuko walked over to a nearby door that just happened to be there by sheer luck. "You knock on it if you think someone is in there and wait for them to give you the okay to enter."
"You know, this is the part where I'd growl about how I know that, but coming from someone having sex at work, I feel I should point out how you're dodging the issue by making it look like I'm the one who messed up." Misato crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes as if to say, 'your move'.
"Oh come now, not the old, 'why were you having sex at work?' defense." Ritsuko shook her head, same old prudish Misato, even with her drunken escapades and week-long sex fests, she was still close minded about certain things. "As if you'd turn down Kaji if he came on hot and heavy to you."
"I would at least lock the door if I couldn't control myself!" Misato hated when Ritsuko came back to Kaji on every argument. EVERY argument. She didn't know what her having copious amounts of sex with him had to do with time travel, but she figured if that was the only card her old friend could play...
"Alright, alright, I have to get back to my office. I was a little excited after the latest breakthrough with the AT-field and Maya wanted to celebrate." Ritsuko scratched her nose as she blithely changed the subject.
"You two still do it here?" There was a reason love hotels existed for the love of the questionable existence of Christ.
"It's my office, and after you and Kaji celebrated your reunion by testing the weight limit of your desk, I'll kindly ask you to shut the fuck up." Ritsuko was done bantering, now it was time for the big guns.
"In my defense, we were absolutely hammered." Misato blushed, remembering answering the door for Ritsuko buck naked and without listening to what was said, proceeded to bite her on the tit. When she came back to her, she found Maya tied to her ceiling stark naked, Ritsuko slumped against the wall in exhaustion. Oh and Kaji was still balls deep in her, drooling on her neck in his drunken slumber.
"Why do you drink so much when you do such crazy shit when smashed?" Ritsuko really wanted to know this, because loose inhibitions didn't cover Misato's sex fiend antics when all liquered up.
"I dunno, really. It's just, ever since I was rescued, it's been a real comfort to me." Misato preferred this answer to the one where she was drinking to forget the death of her dad. Oh and Second Impact as a whole as well. "Anyways, I'll come with and see how you're coming along with your technique, can't have Maya fall off the ceiling if you fuck up your knots."
"I'd ask why you know so much about bondage, but I don't really think I want to know." Ritsuko so did, but she was being polite to her college buddy by letting it drop. Plus, this meant she could torment her for even longer, yay!
"I wouldn't tell you anyways, no one knows that, not even Kaji." Misato shrugged, hoping for some entertainment out of this mess.
"...holy shit." Ritsuko was stunned into silence at that.
/-\ /-\ /-\
"Here it is, just as ordered by the Committee, the embryo of Adam." Kaji said, laying the glass jar on Gendo's desk. "Had to kill some decent folk to get it, but here it is."
"I trust the other package has been secured?" Gendo asked without even looking at the jar.
"The Lance of Longinus was secured yesterday and is being shipped in total secrecy. The only other person to know what is in that plane is dead." Kaji took his job seriously.
"You do fine work, Mr. Ryoji." Gendo smirked to himself, before narrowing his eyes behind his shades. "I trust you have some... questions."
"Just one." Kaji tensed, this was it, what he had been searching for sense he took the gig to infiltrate both NERV, which was Gehrin back then and SEELE. However, he was silence before he could ask his question.
"What exactly is going on? I am correct to assume this is what you want to know, yes?" Now that was unnerving. Gendo's ensuing chuckle froze the blood in his veins. "Knowledge is power and power is dangerous. Why, a mad grab of power is what has lead us here to today. You, fulfilling your role as a spy, and me in my role of the grand conspirator. However, there is a slight problem with this picture."
"And that is?" Kaji was ready to bolt if Gendo made for a gun.
"I am not the grand chess master you think me to be. I am not the man pulling the strings of this world, I am just a man, like you." Gendo grabbed Adam and promptly stuffed it into a cryogenic tube he had installed for this very purpose. "But, fret not, you have just saved the world. The Third Impact will not come to be thanks to you. To repay you for this, I won't allow you to die."
"What are you talking about?" Now Kaji was really getting freaked out.
"SEELE has sent an assassin out to deal with you should you return to them. If I were the callow sort, I would shoot you at this moment. If I were the scheming sort, I'd ensure that no one would know who killed you. But I am no long the unfeeling person of so long ago, so I will not allow you to die. You are a valuable asset and I have a habit of keeping those around." Gendo stood suddenly, causing Kaji to flinch away.
"So what you're saying is..." Kaji tried to make sense of this.
"To SEELE, you have outlived your usefulness. They already know you're playing both sides and are ready to eliminate you know that the job they gave you is finished. But I need you alive, if for nothing more than the continued sanity of our dear Captain Katsuragi. And you have a far better job to fulfill for me, one that will ensure we all get what we want." Gendo stretched his arms, as Kaji regained his footing.
"Can't you just tell me now?" Kaji seemed upset that Gendo was holding out.
"Consider it a reason to keep you on my side and alive. You won't need to play both sides and get killed for it, and I get the best man for this job of mine." Gendo laughed, causing Kaji to shiver in stark terror. "Besides, fool, greater men than you have tried to figure out what is really going on in this world and they are either dead or wishing for it. With this, you are guaranteed your answers and your life. Come and stand at my side, and see the truth peeled back before your very eyes."
"What the hell, I'm in." Kaji extended his hand, and it was shook in short order.
"Now if you'll do me a favor and stay here for the next couple of minutes, the Sub-Commander is going to take care of our problematic assassin. He'll deliver them, without fail, to death. Don't underestimate the man because he is old, he did some wet work in his youth." Gendo let it hang in the air what he meant.
"I'll just nod and agree and hope that no one kills me." Kaji stated, feeling as if there was a joke in there he couldn't see.
"If you think it best." Gendo retook his seat and pulled a bottle of champagne from under his desk. "Now come and have a toast with me, to celebrate you saving the world from Third Impact."
"If you insist, boss." Kaji grinned, feeling as if he had finally taken that step forward to the truth, after all these years.
End chapter 13
Teaser for chapter 14 "I Set My Clocks Early, 'Cause I Know I'm Always Late":
"Rei isn't coming to school today?" Asuka asked Shinji as they prepared for school in the morning, now a full week after Sahaquiel made planet fall.
"Misato got a call from Dad, said she'd be at NERV all day for test, would be done just after school." Shinji shook his head, not wanting to know what was going on there.
"Great, now it's going to be boring today." Asuka sighed in a theatrical manner that managed a slight laugh out of Shinji.
"Am I that bad of company?" Shinji pouted for a second, before Asuka pinched his cheeks and began wiggling his head like you would a dog's.
"Oh no no no! It's just far more fun to mess with her AND you at the same time!" Asuka realized his face and adopted a snooty pose and gave the traditional noblewoman's laugh.
"Gah, don't do that!" Shinji's ski crawled for a second there.
"Do what?" Oh now she was playing innocent.
"You know what you did." He took a step towards her in a threatening fashion.
"So what if I do? What are you going to do, spank me?" She turned around and wiggled her bottom at him, causing him to freeze for exactly 2.7 seconds before his brain fixed itself.
"If I have to." Another step, just in fun.
"Kinky, I didn't know you were into this sort of thing." Asuka spun away from him with a flourish, hands keeping her skirt in check to prevent any accidents.
"Maybe I just want an excuse to touch your ass."
Author note: We'll stop here. See you next time for some filler fun. Hurray.