Somewhere along the lines of the complete disaster that the night was, Yui progressed past the point of inarticulate rage and straight into pantomime. They are not sure exactly what the catalyst was. It may have been the dance battle in the middle of Tokyo-3 between Rei, Shinji, and a small army of Israfels lead by a red and silver 'Prime' Israfel to the tune of "Thriller".
It could have been when Dr. Sohryu got into what is being colloquially termed by Lieutenant Makoto as a 'Bitch Off' with Claire Makinami that ended, as such things are fated to, in fire.
It could have been when Sub Director Sohryu got into a fist fight with one of NERV's high level guests that took them across much of Tokyo-3 and, coincidentally into the restaurant that the Commander took Dr. Ikari to to keep her away from the potential insanity.
Or it could have been when Nana attempted to kidnap an deflower Shinji.
Or, realistically, it could have been all of those combined that has reduced Dr. Ikari to communicating through hand gestures and a sketchbook.
But that is simple semantics. As it is, Gendo Ikari has realized he is a dead man.
Chapter 53: Fuster Cluck
"Whore. You're a big, sweaty, easy whore."
Kaji Ryoji bristles slightly, staring at his ward as she taps the controller for her video game, muttering to herself as her character dies, messily.
"I resent that statement," he says, "It's not like I'm cheating on Misato, anyway."
"You still want to nail Akagi," Mana responds, "See if she has any heterosexual left in her. Go boldly where no man has gone before."
He grimaces, scratching the back of his head.
"Yeah," he says, "We did that in college. That's part of the reason Misato and I broke up."
"Nailing her best friend does that," Mana responds, "Half the reason I don't date, Kaji. People are way too complicated for my taste."
"Hence why you like the simple, stoic types, like Mr. Sohryu."
"Who also likes the blonde, aryan types and at what point did we talk about my complete lack of love life?"
He sighs, nodding. Some subjects with her are harder to broach than others. She's been...well, depressed since the Leliel attack, possibly because of the attachment she formed with the Shinji from the other universe.
"C'mon, kid," he says, slumping onto the couch next to her, "It's not that bad. My love life's about as bad as yours, except all the opposite genders in my love life either hate me or want to seriously hurt me. Abstinence has its virtues, you know."
...
"So, about boys."
Shinji had come to believe that whatever traits he inherits from his father make him completely and utterly submissive to the women of the Ikari family. Hence, why he has somehow agreed to do this. He is going to give the Talk. To Kei.
"Boys," she responds, sitting across the living room from him, sitting on the second couch as the seconds tick by. Mom's exile from NERV is over, Asuka is back at Misato's apartment. And he is alone with Kei.
This is such a good idea.
...
The door slams open, and Pieter Sohryu steps out of the way as Yui Ikari stomps past, heading to the lift elevator. Tossing caution to the wind, he walks after her, stopping the closing doors with his hand between them and stepping in. She is clutching a folder in her hand, and he bends forward, glancing at the title and letting his eyes go wide with a start as the pieces come together.
"That's not good," he says, "What's your idea?"
"You're not involved, Pieter," she responds.
"Doctor Ik...Yui, you're planning to challenge the Marduk Report. As Sub Director of NERV, it is my job. What's your idea?"
"I'm talking to the chair of the Marduk Report. The real chair...fine. You'll be the administrative face. Agree with everything I say."
He nods.
"I go by the impression that was in my contract. 'Agree with everything Dr. Ikari says.'"
She nods with a smirk, walking out of the elevator as it hits the floor, Pieter behind her as he follows her into the domed room lined with a gold, copper grid. A snap of her fingers, and the lights shut out, the darkness split by a light shining overhead on Pieter and Yui, a single black Monolith appearing with the numbers 06 engraved on it.
"No," Yui says, "Not like this. No hiding behind the disguise."
The monolith fades. Sitting in a leather, scooped out bucket chair, a man appears. He has white hair and a white goatee, thought black, very impressive eyebrows, his face angular, sharp, everything about him suggesting severity, intelligence, and a dangerous, almost predatory charm. His face is expressionless, his suit black and white, lacking a tie and the white labcoat draped over the back.
"Yui," he says, the lollipop in his mouth only faintly muffling the crisp accent, "As much as you dislike protocol, they are set up for a reason. I do question why you brought Sub Director Sohryu into the meeting."
"Doctor Ikari represents Project E," Pieter says, "I'm Administrative."
"Of course. Overlooking the fact that you have no idea what this meeting is about, Sohryu, or the fact that everyone in this room knows that my daughter runs NERV in totality with the actual administrators having at most perfunctory roles in signing off on projects."
Pieter blinks. He's sure he understood some of what this man, an obvious member of the SEELE council is says, and as for his daughter...
"Your...daughter?" he asks, glancing between Yui and the man, "What do you...oh. Oh, Hell."
"Pieter, this is Katsuhito Ikari," Yui explains, "Professor of theoretical physics at Oxford University, Chairman of the Marduk Committee, member of the Committee of Human Instrumentality under the alias of Science, and my father."
"Chair of Theoretical Physics. And SEELE 06," Katsuhito adds, "While we're dismissing all of my aliases, we might as well be thorough. I agreed to this meeting, Yui, and we are both busy. What is your concern?"
Yui opens the folder, the decidingly familiar image of the girl on the front page.
"When were you going to tell me that Kei has been selected as the Sixth Child?"
...
"You want. Me. And Asuka. To have dinner with your ex wife."
Pieter rolls around his tongue, choosing his words carefully. He has to, he realizes. The wrong words could end up getting him, say, castrated.
"Yes," he responds.
Kyoko purses her lips. Wrong words.
"...please?" he continues. Her expression doesn't change, remaining gravel in front of him, standing with him in the hallway outside of her office because he wanted witnesses in case she tried to kill him.
"Excuse me!"
Both turn and step out of the way of a middle aged woman with graying, strawberry blonde hair, who steps past them and continues on.
"Huh," Pieter mutters, leaning in to watch her go, "She's heading to Ikari's office."
They walk after her, the conversation shelved for a moment. He will have his work cut out for him to convince her to go along with his idea, that much he is certain about. On the other hand, this does look intriguing.
"Did you know her?" Kyoko asks.
"No."
"Then why were you staring at her?"
He shrugs. She mutters something in German.
"Remind me again why I sleep with you."
"I'm the better alternative," he responds, as they approach the now open door to Yui's office.
"You promised me you'd keep her out of this, Yui! I want her home! I want her home RIGHT NOW!"
The two stop. The woman is braced on Yui's desk. They can't see her face, just Yui's, and there's a look of consternation on it as she rubs the bridge of her nose, weathering the verbal barrage.
"Alicia," Yui says, hands up defensively, voice pure, soothing calm, "I did not plan for an Angel to attack Berlin."
"That was the only reason I even let her get sucked into this! She'd be just as safe with me and her father! At least she can get to a shelter here and not ride shotgun on one of your giant robots!"
Rubbing her temples, Yui sighs, massaging her forehead as Pieter knocks on the door. The woman turns, spinning on her heel. Grabbing the box of tissues from Yui's desk, she dabs on her eyes, muttering something under her breath.
"How long were you listening?" Yui asks.
"Just got here," Pieter responds, "Anything I can do?"
"Charter a flight to Berlin," the woman growls.
"No," Yui says, and turns to the woman, "No. She'll be fine. As long as there's no more Angel attacks in Germany, as soon as we figure out-"
"You think I'm overreacting?" the woman snaps, "Yui, Tomoe's going insane from this! I had to talk him down from marching down here and punching Gendo in the face!"
Pieter and Kyoko exchange a glance, and turn back to the arguing women.
"I'm missing something, here," Kyoko says, "We haven't been properly introduced."
"Right, right," Yui sighs, "Alicia, this is Pieter Sohryu and Doctor Kyoko Sohryu. I'd like you to meet Alicia, my sister-in-law. It seems that there was a problem with her daughter that I may be responsible for."
"Understatement of the year, Yui," Alicia scowls, "My daughter ended up in one of your giant robots when an alien attacked Berlin!"
Which is exactly when Kyoko's eyes snap wide open and she realizes where she has seen Alicia's vaguely recognizable features before. The same hair, same face, although the fact that this woman isn't bowing and being polite threw her off for a moment.
"Guter Gott," she mutters, "Annette?"
Alicia snaps her gaze to Kyoko. Pieter raises an eyebrow.
"Yes," Alicia says, "You've met my daughter?"
"Your daughter," Kyoko says, and turns to Yui, "And your niece?"
...
"Right. So, here's the plan. Your mother, and I are going to dinner tonight. Your cousin has had an...incident...and we're running damage control so your Uncle doesn't pitch a fit. To that extent, we'll be meeting them afterwards. Asuka's parents, Mari, and Mrs. Makinami are going out as well. Shinji; you, Asuka, Rei, and Kei will be damage control for that. Understood?"
"Yes."
"Yeeee~ep."
"Understood."
Gendo Ikari nods. Silently, he feels the tension leaving his shoulders. This could go bad. This should go bad. But he is hardly a pessimist these days, and prefers to wade straight into disasters with gusto.
Delegate and pray. That is more or less his management style these days.
"Right," he says, snapping out his watch, "Calibrate watches. Report in every thirty minutes. With luck, we won't need an Eva deployment."
...
MAGI surveillance systems are online. Would you like to play a game?
"Very funny, girls. Give us a full sweep of Target. Section, 2, report."
"This is Birdhouse. We are watching the Park Bench. Old Man and Popcorn are at the Bench."
The Big Screen flashes. The MAGI connection comes to life, real time footage of the Tokyo-3 Bistro. On the screen, they watch the five arrive at the table. Mari has been convinced to dress conservatively. White blouse, black skirt, school uniform jacket. Does remind them that if they can get an extension of her being out of MAGI, she's going back to school in two days.
Pieter is in a gray suit. Kyoko has a black dress and jacket. Makinami is wearing white, which is a point of irony for those who know her, and Maya has a NERV dress uniform on, mainly because the sensors built into it give the cameras something to home in on.
"Dogma systems are go," Makoto says, at his post, "Tokyo-3 Bistro under full surveillance, Ma'am."
"Lilly is sighted in Mari's purse."
"Rei is in the ductwork."
Reaching into her bomber jacket, Misato withdraws the cigar and chomps off the bit.
"Let's get this show on the road."
...
For the life of him, he can't understand why Maya is with Mrs. Makinami. Maya has always seemed like a nice, level headed girl. Sure, she's one of the people in charge of Project E, works with his parents and works for NERV, but at the same time she's always been kind, smiling, and just...nice to everyone.
How'd this happen?
"I'm r-really not sure this was the best idea. We're not really recovered yet, are we?"
She's right, Shinji thinks. There's still the small bit of swelling on her neck and on his. Sure, the treatments Mom has them both on cut the disease from months to a few days, but they both could use a nap.
Still, she's dressed up. The same dress from the school dance, her hair done in that three part wave with her barrettes on the top of her head. And the NERV expense card paying for everything, in theory so they could keep an eye on her family.
But in truth, so they could go out on a date.
"So," Asuka says, "What h-happened to your cousin?"
"I don't know," he sighs, shrugging, "Honestly, I haven't seen her in ten years. After Mom and Father sent me to live with my aunt and uncle, they sent her away. She moved to another country to live with I guess some family friends. No one's told me why."
"Mm. What was she like?"
He pauses, for a moment. Pursing his lips, her brings the memories to focus.
"She was a real jerk."
Scratching his head, sighing, he looks at her with a shrug.
"Really. I mean, I'd say one thing wrong and wham, I'm on the floor and she's sitting on my head."
...
The Makinami Estate, outside of Berlin.
Uri peaks his head into the bedroom. It isn't technically hers, but after much convincing and especially some prodding from Kaworu, they convinced Annette to move into Mrs. Makinami's bedroom. Which, judging from the size, should be about the same area as Central Dogma.
The ceiling is about fifteen feet high, forming into a dome with a replica painting of the Creation of Man at the zenith. The bed is four posts, five mattresses, several sheets filled with down, wool, and the feathers of cloned extinct birds.
The computer console he finds her at has six screens in a honeycomb configuration, the CPU several floors below in a water tank.
Much of what he knows about Claire Makinami tells him the justification of all this is 'Because I can.'
"Hi, Uri," Annette says, spinning the leather computer chair on its axel, changed from her maid uniform to a set of pink, bunny printed pajamas, "I was just sending an email to my cousin."
"Cousin?" he asks, "Odd. I didn't know you had a cousin."
He walks over to the bed, sitting on it. He sinks two inches, raising an eyebrow.
"I haven't seen him in ten years," she responds with a sigh, "At least he's better than when he was six. He was kind of a hopeless dork, then."
...
"I mean it! I'd say one thing wrong and she'd pound me! I swear, Annette was insane!"
"Isn't Uri's girlfriend named Annette?" Asuka asks, head tilting in confusion.
He shrugs, handing the menus to the waiter.
"Yeah," he responds, "No way that's her, though. I wouldn't wish Annette on anyone, especially Uri."
"She was that bad?"
"Asuka, the only reason she didn't take my lunch money was because we weren't in school."
A shuffle. Someone sits in one of the corner booths. Shinji stares, Asuka turning and seeing the newly arrived couple.
"Is that Dr. Akagi?"
"And Mr. Kaji?"
In truth, the surprise was not seeing them, but the possibility of seeing them. After all, neither knew Mr. Kaji past him being Misato's 'Special Friend', which itself scared them as they were using Rei terms, and the words 'Ritsuko Akagi' and 'Social Life' were not used in the same sentence by many at NERV.
...
"I'm still surprised Misato agreed to this."
Kaji shrugs, every present smirk on his face. He has a black suit that has seen better days, she the closest thing she has to a formal black dress that would still be considered conservative by most priests.
"Misato's still convinced I'm going to cheat on her," he responds, "I guess she wanted to take the initiative, this time."
"Awfully defeatist of you, Kaji."
"That's the way it is," he responds with a sigh, "I think we don't want to have a happy ending. There's too much in our past to allow it. What she's done against the Angels, and myself..."
Ritsuko nods. She sips her wine, adjusting her glasses as she gazes on her old friend.
"I honestly never thought of you as a father figure, Kaji."
"That depends on whether you find it attractive."
"No joke. I mean with Mana. She knows, doesn't she?"
He nods, sipping his wine, wishing it was beer.
"That I threw the grenade back in my old anti establishment days? Yep. She figured it out about when I was appointed her handler. She's a smart kid."
...
"And here we are. I must say, you're a bigger woman than I, Dr. Sohryu, for agreeing to this. You must really be supportive of my husband to agree to this."
Kyoko smiles. It is a forced, terrible thing, as she folds her unmanicured hands on the table across from Claire.
"Ex-husband," Kyoko corrects, "When you left him for your hairdresser, you did send him the divorce papers."
Pieter groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. He really should have seen this coming, but on the other hand he did marry both women, so perhaps his judgement of their character is slightly blinded.
"Really nice restaurant, Dad," Mari chimes in.
"Thanks," Pieter groans, shuffling slightly as Kyoko pulls her chair, sitting directly across the table from Claire, "Kyoko. Please, for the love of God..."
"I can tell you don't like me," Claire says.
"You're smart. I can tell," Kyoko says, and sighs, tapping her lip, "A stupid person does not involve themselves with the Old Men and live this long."
"I'm just here for my daughter."
"You're horrible at lying," Kyoko responds, "Which is odd, to. It makes my respect of you go down a bit. Then again, going down is probably one of your greater strengths."
...
In Central Dogma, the control nexus of NERV erupts with a mighty cry of "Oh, SHIT!"
"Did I just see that?" Misato asks.
"Hot damn!" Makoto yells, "We got ourselves a BITCH OFF!"
...
"Still, I have to respect you," Claire responds, raising a carefully crafted eyebrow, folding her hands in a bridge under her chin, "The second to Dr. Ikari. All that hard word, those degrees and awards to climb you way up to just underneath Yui Ikari. That has to be an accomplishment for you."
"Not to mention I have two children who kill Angels," Kyoko responds, not noticing Pieter shrinking into his seat, "Admittedly, I could have done a much better job raising them. But on the other hand, I had to raise them alone."
"Ah, yes. Your son."
"And my daughter, the smartest girl in this restaurant," Kyoko responds, sipping her wine, "Who, after my wrath misdirected at her for sixteen years has found it in her heart to forgive me. That automatically makes her a better person than I."
"That's not hard, in this day and age," Claire sighs, holding out her glass as a waiter dutifully walks over and refills it, "After all, what have we done to get by? Surely, none of us are innocent."
"And most of us have not given lap dances to Chairman Kihl."
...
Deep in the Earth, deep in the Geofront, long green fingers stroke along the spine of a book before digging into it and sucking out the words through ink stained feelers. Ah, he thinks, a good read.
"Hi, Wuffles!"
Junior, first and only of the Sandolim, shudders. Something within him vibrates to the tone of mating cicadas. The speakers were an afterthought, and a constant remind of what could find him if he physically wandered out of Sheol.
Greetings, children. To what do I owe this visit?
Holographic projectors flicker to life. Five giant Rei Ayanami heads appear, one of them with a head band and for some reason one of them with cat ears.
"Weeee~ell, we found a lot of little Israfels out in the city! So, we wanted to give you a chance to deal with them!"
Children, if I leave Sheol I will be attacked by NERV. How do you propose that?
The circle on the center of the floor opens. Junior shudders, his eyes taking a diagonal configuration connected to sheer, bladder squeezing horror. This means, of course, that the girls can get to him if they want to. He does not like the implications of such information.
"Don't worry, Wuffles! We made an avatar body for you!"
The capsule rises, opening. Junior stares at it, mouth tendrils twitching for long moments as it takes in the masterwork of the Rei.
If I had tear ducts, I would cry in joy.
...
Maya shifts in her seat, pulling her seat over slightly to sit next to Mari.
"I think we're being ignored," Maya sighs.
"Tell me about it," Mari says with a shrug, "I figured Mom would be happy I was alive but noooo."
The glasses wearing girl sighs, dramatically, waving her hands in frustration as the veiled insults continue flying between the two former wives of Sub Director Sohryu.
Half of her wants to watch the sparks fly. Half of her wants to calm them both down and just, for once, have the illusion of a normal family, which is a moot point because her sister wasn't invited.
"Well, look at the time," Kyoko says, tapping her watch, "Got to go."
Pushing the chair out from the table, Kyoko rises with a whistle, picking up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder.
"If you'll excuse me," she says, adjusting her glasses, "Pieter, please try not to impregnate her again while I am gone."
Pieter stares at her, his eyes darting between his two former wives. Exchanging a glance with Claire, he shrugs as, without another word Kyoko exits the restaurant. Mari runs out after her, leaving him with the other two women.
"I have no idea what that was," he sighs, draining his wine glass.
...
"Twice in one week. Either Sohryu is better and keeping things under control at NERV than Kozou ever was, or you're trying to hide something from me."
Sipping his wine, Gendo smiles, his wife sitting across from him at the restaurant table. He always chooses the best. This restaurant is a five star accommodation. The breadsticks cost 500 yen each.
Their usual table was not available. He may have to have the city council member visited by one of the girls to better explain how things work. But that would be petty.
Instead, he will...
Will...
F_.
There is someone in a diving suit walking across the apartment building roof across from the restaurant. The seals are leaking yellow, the helmet filled with a yellow liquid. The backpack slung over the shoulder, he can see, is filled with plastique explosives.
Unfortunately, the problem is that Yui read the reports from last time. She recognizes the look, and turns to the window. Tapping on his PDA, the bracelet he gave her for their anniversary gets to work. Small needles prick her, and in mid turn her expression goes glassy eyed, and she collapses to the floor with a giggle.
...
"So, I'm impressed. That's was actually pretty classy for you to do that, Dr. Sohryu."
Turning slightly, Kyoko is not surprised to find Mari following her. Snorting, she slows her pace and lets Mari catch up, walking beside her.
"About?"
"Walking away," Mari responds, "Not letting my Mom suck you into a fight."
Kyoko smiles. It is not the same horrifying sight her smile normally is, but there is a glint in her eyes as she does so that peaks Mari's curiosity. Often, Mari Makinami wonders what not only attracted her father to this woman, but roped him back in once again.
"It saddens me, Makinami, to realize you inherit your father's judge of character."
Mari stares back, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry?"
"I didn't leave the dinner to be a 'bigger woman,' which is untrue as your mother has at least five kilograms on me, ass wise. In all honesty, that little exchange was a distraction, nothing more. I left because I have something more important to do."
It is soon enough that Mari realizes they were heading in the direction of the school. In particular, the gymnasium. Taking out a key, Kyoko undoes the lock, walking in. A set of speakers and a disc player are set up in the far corner of the otherwise empty gym, lights flickering on as they enter.
"What is this?" Mari asks.
"Me attempting to make up for a mistake," Kyoko responds, "Any good scientist goes back and analyzes past mistakes. Realizes how things should have gone better if given the chance to repeat. But people are not like experiments. Very rarely do you have the chance to repeat interactions."
The doors open again. Glancing around at the gym, Shinji and Asuka enter. Kyoko clears her throat. For a moment, just a brief, brief moment, Mari could swear that the elder Sohryu is nervous.
"I didn't have time to decorate," Kyoko says, "But I thought we could try this again."
...
"We just keep getting locked in a cycle," Ritsuko sighs, her salad half forgotten in front of her, "Misato has her issues, you have yours. And you're never going to find any happiness as long as the two of you keep dancing around your feelings."
"We're pretty clear about our feelings," Kaji sighs, fork embedded in the steak, "Misato told me to cheat on her, for God's sakes."
"That isn't feelings, Kaji. That's defeatism. Neither of you want to accept that you actually have a future or actual damn feelings, so you set up this series of gambits and games that end up with you apart."
"Takes one to know one, Ritz."
"And what the Hell does that mean?" she demands, stabbing her knife into the salad bowl, "I don't even have a God damn love live to ruin in the first place!"
"And isn't that fantastic."
He chuckles, pinching the bridge of his nose as she stares at him, incensed.
"It's in front of you and you don't see it," he sighs, "You know what the secret is, Ritz? You know how I'm going to win Katsuragi's heart?"
"Enlighten me."
"I'm going to show up at Central Dogma in a chicken suit."
He says it with dignity, with distinction. It is the paradoxical nature of the ridiculous plan and the confidence behind it that makes her brain skip, for a moment, like a pebble across a pond.
"But...why?"
"Because it's spontaneous," Kaji responds, "It's unexpected. And Ritz, in all honesty, if you ever want to find happiness, you have to try something you would never try under any circumstances."
...
"I have figured out, to an extent, that the worst thing I have done to you...outside of everything else...is how I completely and utterly ruined your school dance. I can't just say I'm sorry for what I've done. All that is empty unless I try to make up for it."
Sighing, Kyoko takes off her glasses, filing them in her purse and staring at Asuka. The girl shakes her head, smiling, squeezing Shinji's hand before walking over to Kyoko and hugging her.
"You d-didn't have to do this," she says.
"I did. And besides which, Pieter wanted the entire family together," Kyoko responds, "And more than him, you are my family."
A slow, steady clapping. Sighing, running her hand through her hair, Claire Makinami walks into the gymnasium. Glancing at the bare wells and sighing, she clears the distance between herself and Kyoko, arms folded as she taps her foot.
"That was rude, running out," she says, "Especially for this."
"Believe it or not, as second in command of Project E I have more important things than proving my ability to carry my weight in an insult fight."
"History says otherwise," Claire says, raising an eyebrow as the doors open again and Pieter skids in, "Really, Sohryu. You spend sixteen years as the poster child for mandatory sterilization and now you spend your time as the touchy feely mother figure?"
"Even if I belittled her, at least I did not outright ignore my daughter," Kyoko responds, "Congratulations, Makinami. You may actually be a worse parent than I."
"Oh, for God's sake," Mari sighs, snatching off her glasses and rubbing the bridge of her nose, "Dr. Sohryu, Mom, will you please-"
"That thing," Claire snaps, finger held at Mari, "Is not my daughter."
Pieter chokes. The room goes silent. Mari's glasses drop to the floor.
"You honestly think the Chairman didn't tell me?" Claire asks, "I know all about it. I know how the Angel you completely and utterly failed to kill wormed its way into my daughter's head and ate her. And now you parade around an Angel wearing her skin."
Heals clap against the floor. Mari runs out, and after a moment Shinji and Asuka follow suit. Pieter, on the other hand, simply continues staring at his second ex wife. He simply continues staring as Kyoko purses her lips, folding her arms as Claire clenches and unclenches her fists, coming down from her outburst.
"Well, you're in trouble now," Kyoko says, "I am reasonably sure that by calling Makinami a monster to her face you have pissed off several people who like her. Including one who has a tendency of using air ducts."
"Don't patronize me," Claire growls, her voice a low, dangerous whisper, "I've read the reports. You're a perfectionist, self-fulfilling prophecy. Megalomania, arrogance, god complex and transferring your own inadequacies towards that stuttering walking carpet you call a child. How unpleasant do you have to be when your husband won't come back to you when he realizes you had his child, hm?"
Kyoko narrows her eyes. She leans in, inches away from Claire.
"You did not just insult my daughter."
"Oh, of course. That's your job," Claire responds, a smirk crossing her face, "No wonder your children are so screwed up."
Kyoko smiles. It is a forced, horrible thing.
"It is fate, you know," Kyoko says, "We do things that serve us later. Only now do I have an answer to my question?"
"Which is?"
Which is when Clair notices the slender, metal rod with the trigger on the handle.
"If I don't smoke, why did I keep a barbeque lighter with me?"
And with that, Kyoko sets Claire's hair on fire.
...
"Crap. We lost her."
Wheezing, Shinji paces the empty field near the school, Asuka's hands clenching and unclenching as he takes out his cell phone, dialing up the number.
"Misato! Mari just ran off...yeah, her mother went off on her. We left her with Dr. Sohryu and the Sub Director-"
A blast of light knocks the cell phone out of his hand.
The first rises through the ground. It is red, with silver highlights, the three hole face rotating before it plants its feet on the ground and raises an accusing finger towards Shinji and Asuka.
More emerge. Dozens. Maybe over a hundred, each shades of blue and green with silver, each identical; a foot tall, heads mounts on the shoulders, three fingers and three toes each.
"I thought they were gone," Shinji whispers.
The Israfels stand straight, the lead one lowering its arm. One sets down a purloined boombox, tapping the play button.
'Thriller' begins playing. Asuka tilts her head. Shinji turns pale. The Israfels begin dancing, shuffling forward in a strange, almost comical gate.
"Um..."
"Asuka, we need to run."
"It's...dancing-"
"It's a song about zombies eating people! RUN!"
He grabs her wrist, running and dragging her with him. The Israfels run in pursuit.
...
Mari came to a stop half a mile away from the commotion, finally slumping on a tree stump near the Tokyo-3 city limits. Face help in her hands, her shoulders shake. This must be what her sister felt like, she thinks Rejected by her own mother.
"She does have a point. You are no longer human."
She turns. Rei walks to her...no, not Rei.
"Kei?"
"You are not human," Kei explains, "And therefor not bound by human laws. You realize that, do you not? That you are not simply what you were before Ramiel?"
She smiles. A small, knowing smile.
"What are you getting at?" Mari asks.
"A curiosity," Kei responds, "I wanted to...question...you. About how human you really think you are."
...
They quickly ran out of field, ran out of road. This part of Tokyo-3 is still more or less empty, and soon they found themselves in a parking lot, the only exit blocked by the advancing Israfels.
"Shit," Shinji growls, "REI!"
No answer. The Israfels advance, shuffling towards them, as Shinji places himself between them and Asuka.
The Israfels pause. Maybe because of the heroic gesture. Maybe from something else. More than likely, it is from the rumbling beneath the ground, as the cement underneath them begins to show hairline fractures.
The ground underneath the Israfels explodes upwards, tossing several of them through the air as something emerges. Gunmetal gray skin replacing the scales, its two eyes locked in a vertical configuration. The arms end with three long, serrated blades, the body held aloft by two vents spewing thrust right above the long, finned tail.
Shinji's jaw drops. Asuka tilts her head.
"Junior?" she asks.
"Wuffletron 9000 online," Junior's voice booms through the head mounted speakers, electricity sparking between the mouth tendrils, "Pilots, the Ree have constructed this remote operated combat body. Please find cover while I deal with the Israfels."
The arms distend, a specialized connection to the Dirac Armory forming into two massive chainguns, as four tentacles burst out of the back, each holding a miniature copy of the Triple Heavy Maser.
"Suck it down."
