Chapter 14 - Armisael, Stretched to the Limit
The mood of the Committee could be described in simply two words: absolutely livid.
No wonder, considering the matter they were discussing with Gendo, who despite his ever-fragmenting mental state, did his best to maintain his usual stoic facade in front of the faceless holographic monoliths. It also didn't help that the meeting began with SEELE-05 yelling-
"IKARIII-you got some splainin' to do!"
"Do you realize how IMPOSSIBLE it'll be for us to track down and recover the lance AGAIN?!" SEELE-07 added.
"You had ONE job, one ADDITIONAL job," SEELE-11 began to say, "and that was to have the fricking Lance of Longinus stored safely until it was to be used!"
"And don't try to deny it," SEELE-08 chimed in, "it is our understanding that you almost ordered the pilot of Unit-00 to retrieve it to use against the 15th Angel. WHY did you even consider using it in the first place?!"
"We still don't even have the planned number of the EVA series ready yet, you dip!" SEELE-04 said.
Gendo, holding back his fraying edges, coldly looked at the monoliths as he spoke.
"I made destroying the Angel my first priority, hence my reasoning to consider using the lance," he explained. "The fact that the situation had been unexpectedly...avoided should provide you with relief."
"Yes, the actions of Pilot Ayanami and her odd 'weapon'," SEELE-09 said. "The matter of her 'commendation' will be set aside for later. But for now, the fact of the matter is the lance has disappeared, UNDER YOUR WATCH."
"Your recent actions have become intolerable, Ikari," Lorenz Kihl sternly said.
Before Gendo could muster a reply, his desk phone rang, much to the annoyance of both himself and the Committee. Fuming for just a moment, Gendo grabbed the phone off the receiver and answered.
"WHAT?!" he barked. "We're in the middle of deliberations here! What could be SO damn important that it warranted interrupting my meeting?!" He instantly toned it down when he realized it was Fuyutsuki on the other line. "Oh...I see. All right." He then hung up the phone and turned his attention back to the monoliths. "Sorry, gentlemen, but we'll have to continue this at another time. An Angel's currently drawing near."
None of the monoliths said anything at first, until one did say something ominous. "If your seat is still waiting for you, that is."
With that, the light around Gendo faded as he logged out of the call. When it was just down to the monoliths, only Lorenz Kihl's made a sound.
"Tsk tsk," Kihl said to himself. "So transparent, Ikari...do you intend to betray SEELE...?"
Central Dogma, moments later...
The air was a bit tense as everyone got to their stations. That tension was broken unexpectedly when Makoto sat down in his chair. As soon as his posterior hit the cushion, the loud sound of a rooster startled him out of it:
COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOOOO!
"GAH!" he yelped as he jumped away from his chair. All eyes turned towards his station as the surprised Makoto slowly, carefully put himself back in his chair, making sure he didn't set the noise off again (despite having no idea where it came from). As soon as he was settled, Maya got into her chair, unaware hers was 'booby-trapped' as well. Right as she sat on it, the sounds of monkeys erupted from her seat:
Oohoohoohooh-AH-AH-AH-AH!
"Yeek!" she gasped as she stood quickly back up. Makoto did his best to stifle a snicker as she slowly sat herself back down, breathing a sigh of relief after no more sounds came out. That left Shigeru, who, feeling a bit paranoid, looked over every inch of his chair to make sure it was clean. Satisfied with his 'inspection', he sat down in it, only to set off the sound of a car horn blaring "La Cucaracha".
"$#!+!" he swore as he was startled out of his chair, his initial assumption blown to smithereens. Maya and Makoto couldn't help but chuckle at their colleague now knowing how they felt, while Shigeru grumbled as he got back in his chair.
Up in his perch above the techs, Gendo arrived at his seat and sat down. The moment he compressed the seat, however, resulted in a very...off-color sound:
BRRRRRRRAAAAPPPPPP!
Everyone in Central Dogma turned around at the noise and saw it coming from the Commander's perch. Because it was so sudden, nobody had the time to consider holding it in: the whole bridge erupted into a cacophony of laughter, while Gendo groaned as he gave himself an embarrassed face-palm. Even more embarrassing for him was that the feed in the pilots' entry plugs caught the whole thing on video, making them laugh as well. No one knew that Rei had secretly commissioned the making of four chairs identical to the ones used by the bridge bunnies and the Commander and had replaced them the night before. Each was very similar to the source material down to the most minute detail, save for the fact that the bottom cushions of each contained a pressure-activated sound box...except for the Commander's, which had a built-in whoopee cushion. Everyone soon caught their breath, the anxiety and tension present among the staff having vanished for the moment.
"Aheh, aheheh, all EVAs launch," Misato said as she regained her composure. Right beside her, Ritsuko was taking a few breaths to settle down.
Soon, all four EVAs rocketed to the surface and made their way to the intercept point, where the Angel was waiting. Said Angel was certainly the strangest-looking they'd seen yet: it resembled a floating, brightly-glowing ring with a double-helix pattern. It almost looked like an actual angel's halo, the more one would think about it.
"Target hovering over Ohwakudani, continuing to rotate in place," Shigeru reported.
"Target's AT-Field is still active," Makoto added, before something startling got his attention. "Pattern cycling from blue to orange!"
"What's that mean?" Misato asked.
"MAGI indicates it can't find a solution," Maya replied.
"We don't have enough data to come to an answer," Shigeru added.
"One thing's for certain," Ritsuko began to say, "that shape isn't a fixed form."
Misato looked at the monitor grimly. "So we can't make the first move," she said, before addressing the pilots. "Pilots, we're going to wait and watch for a while, so stand by."
"Uh, small problem with that, Major," Toji said warily, "'cause it looks like it's not a fan of waiting!"
At that very moment, Armisael, the Angel of the Womb, began to change.
So, these are the toys my brethren fell before? it thought to itself as it shifted. Feh, it falls to me to do what they could not. I'll show them how to properly start Third Impact-MY way.
Soon the halo shape that Armisael was in split, as the double-helix formation solidified into a long, almost-serpentine form. One end of it then quickly headed towards its first target: Rei and Unit-00.
"Rei, counter it!" an alarmed Misato ordered.
"No good, she won't make it in time!" Makoto alerted.
His words proved true, as Armisael managed to penetrate Rei's AT-Field. Rei gripped a portion of the Angel in Unit-00's left hand, while using the other to empty her rifle's ammo into the glowing strand. Unfortunately, its AT-Field wouldn't budge. Soon, all witnessed Armisael begin to infect the EVA, as strange veins began to appear in the left forearm.
"Target's in physical contact with Unit-00!" Shigeru reported alarmingly.
"How's its AT-Field?!" Misato asked.
"Operational," Maya reported, "but the Angel's eroding it!"
"No way," Ritsuko said, "is it aggressively trying to make first contact?"
Soon, Rei could start to feel the sensation of the veins as they appeared on her own left forearm.
"Oh, that's just NASTY!" she grimaced. "You're worse than Bardiel, you overgrown glow worm!"
"Like you're one to talk, Lilith-spawn," Armisael said. "I've observed your kind for some time, and quite frankly, sometimes you make me want to retch! By the time I'm finished, you'll be reworked to my particular brand of perfection! Don't fight it-won't you become one with me...?"
Maya observed the graphs as they began to degenerate. "Not good, it's invading Unit-00's organic parts!" she reported concernedly.
"Units 01, 02 and 03, move in!" Misato ordered. "Get that thing off of Rei!"
"Right!" all three pilots said as they started moving. Each of them grabbed a part of the Angel and tried to yank it off of Unit-00, but it remained stuck in the blue giant.
"AH, more potential converts," Armisael mused. "Don't worry, plenty of room in here!" As he said it, the veins began to appear on each EVA.
"The other EVAs are showing signs of infection!" Maya said alarmingly.
"No, not now!" Misato cried.
Meanwhile, in a mental plane, Rei found herself face-to-face with Armisael, who, in an attempt to break her psychologically, mirrored her own form. Rei was not amused.
"The Angel Armisael, I presume?" she asked.
Armisael was slightly taken aback. "So, you know my name," it said in a voice like Rei's. "I'll ask you again, because I don't recall hearing you answer. Won't you become one with me?"
Rei wasn't fazed. "Sorry, but I'm me, not you. So, PASS."
Armisael shook its head. "I see-but it's no use. It's too late now." It then smiled a wicked-looking smile. "I'll share what's in my heart with you. I'll share this feeling with you..."
While it was engaging in a mental duel with Rei, at the same time it was also trying to torment the other pilots enough that they would surrender mentally. The veins had spread further, covering portions of each EVA's torso. Yet as all in Central Dogma noticed, it hadn't gotten that far on Unit-00.
"How is-how is Rei holding it back like that?" Ritsuko wondered. The sight wasn't lost on Gendo, who stared at the monitor with his mouth agape.
Back in the mental plane, Armisael was going right for Rei's 'jugular', trying to reach out to her very soul. Unfortunately, as soon as it got close to the chest of Rei's mental 'avatar' it abruptly hit a wall-a black-and-white brick wall, to be exact.
"Wha-what is this?!" a stunned Armisael wondered as it staggered backwards.
Rei smiled at the Angel's disconcerted reaction as she folded her arms while waving a disapproving finger. "Yeah, you trying to exploit my 'loneliness'? Don't think so. 'Cause the truth is, bright-bait, I didn't come to this fight alone. Isn't that right, partner?"
The minute she said that, a pair of wild, crazy-looking yellow eyes and a big toothy grin emerged on the brick wall. "Howdy there, Armie, SO NICE to meetcha," Beetlejuice sarcastically greeted. "Let's wrestle!"
Suddenly, a wrestling ring appeared in the middle of the mental plane, while "Real American" by Rick Derringer started playing in the background. Armisael stood dumbfounded in one corner, while Rei and the wall were in the other. The wall then shifted into Beetlejuice, who then started to change again. He grew taller and more muscular, while his clothes changed into a pair of trunks, athletic shoes, wristbands, and a headband. A prominent handlebar mustache grew underneath his nose. An awestruck Armisael didn't know enough of human culture to recognize the form resembling pro wrestler Hulk Hogan, who sneered at the unnerved Angel of the Womb.
"Lemme tell ya somethin', skinny," BeetleHulk started to bark, "at a time like this, when you find out you're fightin' in the wrong weight class and the odds just got stacked against ya, you just gotta ask yerself ONE question, brother: WATCHA GONNA DO, when Beetlemania, runs wild, on YOU?!" Rei rang the bell, and BeetleHulk then pushed back on the ropes, which he then used to launch himself into the air. He soon body-slammed the surprised Armisael's mental avatar, knocking the Angel right out of Rei's mindscape, and causing it to retreat from those of the other pilots, much to their astonishment. Out in the real world, the veins retreated from the infected mechs rapidly as Armisael was knocked backwards and away from the EVAs.
"Whoa, look at that!" Shigeru marveled.
"The AT-Fields of all the EVAs-they're regenerating!" Maya cheered.
Misato and Ritsuko watched what was happening with awe.
"I can't believe it," Ritsuko said with stunned surprise. "How did Rei even do that?"
"I don't know," Misato said as a small smile began to appear on her face, "and right now, I don't care."
"Major!" Makoto shouted, "Pattern tie-dye detected-it's coming from Unit-00!"
"WHAT?!" exclaimed nearly everyone on the bridge.
Armisael was seeing stars as it floated, dazed by the impact it received from the mental plane. After shaking its 'head', a pair of angry eyes emerged from the tip that faced Unit-00.
"I will NOT be denied, heathen!" Armisael shouted, "You WILL become one with me, even if I must force it!"
It then snaked its way quickly towards Unit-00's torso again, but seconds before it reached even the surface, one of Beetlejuice's eyes took the place of Unit-00's lone red one. The restraints on Unit-00's mouth broke as it turned upwards in a king-sized toothy grin. Unit-00 then grabbed Armisael by the neck before it got within an inch of the torso.
"WHOA there, slinky-dink," Beetlejuice chided, "buy me dinner first, why dontcha?" Beetle-00 then brought Armisael, eyes now looking very worried, up to its face. "Looks like things ain't goin' the way ya wanted, eh? Well, get ready, 'cause it's about to get a WHOLE lot worse. Heheheheheheheh..."
Beetle-00 then proceeded to stretch Armisael every which way but up like rubber, and then pinched the Angel's 'lips' together. Beetle-00 then took a big breath, and then did something that shocked not only the Angel, but the other pilots and the staff on the bridge: it blew into Armisael, causing the Angel to inflate like a skinny, glowing balloon. Beetle-00 then stretched the Angel's 'lips' and tied them in a knot to keep the air in. Armisael had a very frightening idea of what was happening, since this very scenario was its worse nightmare.
NO...NO, HE WOULDN'T...! Armisael thought to itself fearfully. But it was too late.
Beetle-00 then turned and faced its 'audience' of EVAs, and via their feeds, Central Dogma. "WHO LIKES BALLOON ANIMALS?!" he asked loudly and with wicked glee as carnival-esque music could soon be heard. Then, before the astonished eyes of every human watching, the possessed EVA twisted and shaped the now-pliable Angel into a four-legged creature with a long neck.
"Oh, man," Shigeru noted, "It's like my fifth birthday party all over again..."
"We have...a giraffe!" Beetle-00 said, showing off the twisted Armisael, who was looking pretty uncomfortable right now.
This is so demeaning...Armisael thought to itself as Beetle-00 twisted and shaped it again at a ludicrous speed. AND nauseating...
"Now we've got...a pretty butterfly!" Beetle-00 said as it showed off the Angelic balloon animal with a big wingspan. The human spectators were awestruck.
"Did you...know that an Evangelion could do that?" Misato asked.
"No..." Ritsuko answered. "...Not till now, at least."
"And now, my FAVORITE!" Beetle-00 said as it twisted and shaped Armisael a third time, at a speed so fast human eyes couldn't keep up. After about a few seconds, he held up his handiwork, resembling a four-legged creature with a fluffy upper body, head, and tail. "A French poodle!" Armisael, by the way its eyes looked, felt humiliated. Unfortunately for it, Beetle-00 wasn't done JUST yet.
"Sorry folks, looks like we got a mad dog here. 'Fraid I'll have to put 'em down!" Beetle-00 said as it took out an object from behind its back. The eyes of both Armisael and the humans went wide when they saw what it was: a gigantic safety pin.
"No way," Shinji marveled.
"That means he's gonna-" Asuka started to say.
"No no no no no NOOOOO!" Armisael managed to get out before Beetle-00 poked it with the pin. The result was as expected, as the punctured Armisael started flying all over the placed as it deflated.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" the Angel screamed as it went zooming out of control, air whooshing out of it. Finally, it landed in a deflated heap in a bare field a short distance away from the initial battle site. Beetle-00 walked over to where Armisael landed as control was handed back to Rei, made apparent when the eye of the blue EVA returned to its normal state.
"You...you've had your fun," Armisael gasped defiantly. "This indignity may be a mere setback, but you still haven't gotten to my core! I'm still in this!"
"Yeah, I wondered about how to deal with getting at your core," Rei started to say, a knowing smile on her face, "but then I had a brainstorm and came up with a REAL fun way to do it." The smile of hers then became a full-on smirk. "It's showtime!" she whispered.
"*AHEM*" Beetlejuice cleared his throat, as if he were correcting her.
"Oh, right," Rei said as she slipped on a pair of gold-rimmed Aviator sunglasses. "It's Hammertime!"
Beetlejuice smiled as he snapped his fingers. For a moment, Unit-00 was covered entirely in a puff of purple smoke, surprising everyone else. When the smoke cleared, their jaws did a collective drop at what stood before them. On its upper body, Unit-00 was now wearing a golden yellow jacket with a black and gold-flecked left sleeve. On its lower body, Unit-00 now wore a pair of black and gold-flecked Hammer pants. On its head was a lone, gold-rimmed Aviator sunglass lens, and a gold chain hung around its neck. Rei then hit a button in the entry plug, causing speakers to emerge from her Unit's shoulder pylons, which soon blasted out a certain song. From there, Rei manipulated Unit-00 to do something that further shocked all who witnessed it:
Unit-00 was now dancing all over Armisael.
(Oh-oh oh oh oh-oh-oh) U can't touch this
(Oh-oh oh oh oh-oh-oh) U can't touch this
(Oh-oh oh oh oh-oh-oh) U can't touch this
(Oh-oh oh oh oh-oh-oh) Break it down!
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
"OW-OW-OW-OW-OW-OW-OW-OW-OW-OW!" Armisael yelped out while Unit-00 musically trampled it.
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Stop! Hammer time!
Every time you see me, that Hammer's just so hype.
I'm dope on the floor, and I'm magic on the mic.
Now why would I ever stop doing this,
With others makin' records that just don't hit.
Fuyutsuki, back on the bridge, noticed that an exasperated Gendo was now banging his head on the desk.
I've toured around the world, from London to the Bay.
It's Hammer, go Hammer, M.C. Hammer, yo Hammer,
and the rest can go and play-
U can't touch this (oh-oh oh oh-oh-oh)
U can't touch this (oh-oh oh oh-oh-oh)
Rei's dance steps eventually hit paydirt, as everyone could hear a loud CRACK!
U can't touch this (oh-oh oh-oh-oh)
Yeah, u can't touch this
I told you, u can't touch this (oh-oh oh-oh-oh)
"Bugger...clever girl..." Armisael said as it started glowing brighter.
Too hype can't touch this
Yeah, we outta here-u can't touch this
(Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh)
Rei jumped off of Armisael as the Angel exploded. Unit-00 then stood back up in a hip-hop-type pose as a final U can't touch this blared from its speakers.
Surprisingly, most of the techs on the bridge applauded and cheered at the EVA's 'performance'. Rei had Unit-00 take a bow as another puff of purple smoke enveloped it, before dissipating to reveal the outfit it'd been wearing was gone.
"Dayum, that girl's got moves," Toji said, bewildered.
"How long has she been holding out on us?" Asuka wondered.
Back in Central Dogma, Misato was issuing the orders to stand down.
"All pilots, mission accomplished," she said, beaming as she turned her attention to the bridge crew. "Call off the alert."
"Roger that," Makoto replied, "switching immediately to Condition Green."
"All EVAs are now returning to base," Maya added.
A meeting of the SEELE council, a short time after the battle's end...
"*SIGH* This was not the way I wanted that particular battle to go..." Kihl said resignedly. "Still, sixteen Angels have been defeated, whether they were killed outright or otherwise. Our journey has been long, and the sacrifices have been great. And yet, our efforts to follow the Dead Sea Scrolls to the letter have been seriously hampered by all the x-factors that have emerged of late. We need someone who knows the truth."
"Indeed," said SEELE-04, "first ghosts and other supernatural freaks invade NERV-Central, and then cause trouble at the other branches; then Angels 11, 12, and 14 flee in terror for reasons we still cannot determine; then the Lance of Longinus goes missing! It's abominable!"
"We have more than enough reasons to relieve Ikari of his command," SEELE-07 mentioned, "his fraying mental state among them. And don't tell me you all haven't been seeing it, he can posture all he likes-the man's going cuckoo!"
"Yet with a mind like his," SEELE-02 began to say, "he's still smart enough to know the significance of our abduction of Fuyutsuki. Granted, we allowed him to return safely, but only so we could eliminate a different obstacle! Instead, said obstacle escapes unscathed, and our assassin is now residing in a padded room!"
"We need another human sacrifice to counter Ikari," SEELE-05 suggested.
"Unfortunately, none on Ikari's staff will fit," SEELE-10 countered. "For some reason, everyone in NERV-Central seems to be...happier than our scenario called for. When they aren't being terrified out of their wits by whatever phantasms decide to make their presence known, they actually seem more satisfied with their lives. Even the pilots are in better spirits. That runs counter to our plans greatly!"
A pregnant pause emerged among the gathered holographic monoliths. Then Kihl spoke up.
"It's apparent then," he started to say, "that the annihilation of Tokyo-3 must be the material upon which to advance our plans. We must hurry to their completion."
"Five Evangelions are already being prepared," SEELE-03 said.
"Which leaves four more," SEELE-12 added.
"That will be our promised day," Kihl vowed.
NERV HQ, afternoon...
The pilots had gotten out of their EVAs, showered off, and changed back into their civvies. While Toji headed home, Shinji, Asuka and Rei were called aside by Misato, Ritsuko and Kaji. Today was the day they were going to see it all: Terminal Dogma, and the secrets within. Maya and Makoto stayed topside in order to run interference, making sure no one else knew of their visit. The six soon filed into the elevator, and began their descent into the deepest levels below Central Dogma. Ritsuko noticed something as her ears tuned in to an odd song playing out of the elevator's speakers. She then realized what it was: a muzak version of the "Imperial March".
"Um, why is-?" she started to ask.
"Had the boys in maintenance install it," Rei replied. "Felt it added to the ominous ambiance for this part of HQ."
Everyone just stared at her, for some reason not surprised that she was responsible. Soon, they reached their first stop on this leg of the 'tour': Annex No. 3 of the original Artificial Evolution Laboratory. The lights came on, revealing the room to all gathered inside. It looked like it'd seen better days...MUCH better days. Something resembling a hospital bed sat in the center, with a pile of old boxes behind the headboard. To the side facing a back wall was a table with old pill bottles and a beaker on top, along with some unopened tablets. Next to that was an old console, flanked by a hanging surgical curtain.
Except for Rei and Ritsuko, all were shocked and appalled by the conditions.
"It...it looks like Rei's old room," Shinji noted with dread.
"It's because..." Ritsuko solemnly said as she took a breath, knowing it was going to be hard to explain, "it WAS her old room. This was where she was born and raised."
That caused the rest of the group to become disconcerted.
"This...this DUMP..." wondered Asuka as she looked to Rei.
"Is where she was born," Ritsuko clarified as she also turned to Rei. "Your subconscious must have a strong impression of this place, since you've come into your own."
"Oh yeah," Rei replied. "Am I glad I traded up."
The group then returned to the elevator and continued down, reaching another level. When they entered it, they saw a cross-shaped chasm open before them, with multiple round pits in each square surrounding it. Within the chasm and the pits, the group noticed piles of bones. Bones too large to belong to any known animal. Eventually, it hit them.
"EVAs?!" Shinji wondered, horrified.
"There must be...gott, there's so many..." Asuka added.
"Are these...?" Kaji began to ask.
"Yes," Ritsuko immediately replied. "The very first ones. The failures. They were scrapped ten years ago."
"Then this is...a graveyard?" Misato asked hesitantly.
"In a sense," Ritsuko replied somberly, as she looked to Shinji. "This is also the place where your mother was absorbed into Unit-01. Where you witnessed it..." Shinji swallowed at hearing that, while Asuka took his hand to comfort him. At that moment, the group heard a sound-the sound of bones rattling. Suddenly, one of the EVA skeletons reassembled itself, frightening all but Rei and Ritsuko; the reach of the ghosts running amok in Central Dogma definitely had extended down to Terminal Dogma too.
"YAAH!" Shinji and Asuka cried as they held each other tight, while Kaji and Misato on instinct drew and pointed their guns.
Ritsuko, on the other hand, simply face-palmed. "Oh, for crying out loud...!" she groaned.
The hunched-over EVA skeleton then hissed menacingly as it looked at the assemblage below it. Then, as music started to play, it stood straight up, grabbed a top hat and a cane, and then got into a certain song-and-dance routine:
Hello my baby!
Hello my honey!
Hello my ragtime gal!
Except for Rei, everyone's eyes went wide with surprise at this development.
Send me a kiss by wire, baby my heart's on fire!
If you refuse me,
Honey, you lose me,
then you'll be left alone
Oh, baby telephone, and tell me I'm your ooooowwwnnn!
The skeleton then collapsed back into a pile of bones the moment the music finished.
A pregnant pause emerged, until Ritsuko then cleared her throat.
"*AHEM* Moving right along..." she said as she guided them back to the elevator.
The final stop for the elevator took them to the laboratory next to the Chamber of Gauf. Ritsuko brought them to a lone cylinder in the center of the room, filled with LCL. It was connected to a large apparatus hanging from the ceiling above, which disturbingly resembled a human brain.
"*UGH*" Asuka grimaced, "looks like something from a bad cyberpunk movie."
"This is..." Misato began to wonder.
"The source of the no-longer-used dummy plugs," Rei finished her thought.
"More than just that," Ritsuko said, as she took a remote and activated a sequence. Soon, lights came on that illuminated a larger tank of LCL that encircled the room, with a strange, orange-yellow glow. But it was within the tank itself that really mortified everyone but Rei and Ritsuko: floating in the LCL were Reis. LOTS of them. It was a truly disturbing sight.
"Rei..." Shinji wondered.
"They're all Rei..." Asuka said, just as unsettled.
"You're not saying that the dummy plugs were..." Kaji started to ask.
"That's right," Ritsuko explained, "the part that becomes the core of the dummy system. And this was the manufacturing plant for it. But it hasn't been used ever since the disc containing all the data went missing during the battle with the 13th Angel."
"So that means these...girls are just..." Misato started to say.
"'Dummies'," Ritsuko finished. "And nothing more than 'parts' for Rei." Ritsuko closed her eyes as she continued. "Man found God, and in their joy, tried to make Him theirs. That's why there was divine retribution. That was fifteen years ago. The God they found had also disappeared by then. Then they tried to resurrect God on their own: the result was Adam. And in imitating God, they created people from Adam. The result was the EVAs."
Shinji and Asuka looked at her. "We learned this from your mother," Shinji said. "How the EVAs are more like cyborgs than robots."
"Yes, but they're not entirely human either," Ritsuko elaborated. "The EVAs don't intrinsically have souls, yet Unit-01 and Unit-02 have human souls embedded in them. The only vessel that contained a soul was Rei, the only one born without a soul. The Chamber of Gauf was empty, you see. These things here that look like Rei have no souls-they're just vessels."
"How...how were they made?" Asuka asked.
"They were genetically engineered," Ritsuko replied. "It began in the wake of the contact experiment that took Yui Ikari. The Commander undertook a 'salvage operation' that was attempting to recreate her body and return her soul to it. Unfortunately for him, it failed; what happened instead was the creation of a clone, with half of its genetics, and a portion of its soul, coming from Lilith, the Second Angel. The other half of its...her genetic makeup, came from Yui Ikari."
Shinji and Asuka stared, wide-eyed, at Ritsuko. "Then...then that means..." Shinji started to realize.
"YES," Rei said in a vocoder'd voice that caused all to look her way, where they were startled by the Darth Vader mask she now wore. "Shinji, I am your sister. *KHOOOOH PUUUHRR*"
Everyone just stared at the masked Rei dumbfounded. Rei in turn took off the mask.
"Sorry, just wanted to lighten the mood," she said. "But yeah, we're siblings, Shinji! Well, technically half-siblings, but tomato-tomahto...C'mere, big brother!" She then proceeded to give the still-surprised Shinji a hug. Shinji, at Asuka's facial urging, returned it. "Although it now makes the time you accidentally fell on top of me just a bit more awkward," she added while wryly rolling her eyes. Shinji blushed heavily as soon as he remembered that day. "Let's be glad you and Asuka managed to get together-if the two of us went any further, THEN we'd know how Luke and Leia felt."
"Luke and Leia?" Shinji and Asuka both wondered aloud. Their eyes went wide as soon as they realized what Rei insinuated. "EEEEEWWWW!" they both cringed. Misato and Kaji both tugged on their own collars at the thought as well.
"But there's more to my story than just that," Rei continued, with a tone more subdued than before. "I'm actually the second Rei."
"Second?!" Asuka asked.
"Then...what happened to the first...?" Shinji asked in turn.
"Do you remember Naoko telling us about how the Commander manipulated her?" Rei posed. "How she was goaded into killing a pawn he sent to her?"
Both pilots' faces fell as soon as they started putting it together. "You can't mean-" Shinji started to say.
"That pawn was me," Rei said somberly. "The first me. She...I was a little kid at the time. For as long as I can remember, I was molded and raised as the Commander's tool, his puppet. He wanted a pilot who'd be totally obedient to him; one who'd very well die for his cause. All those times you called me a doll, Asuka? In a way, there's some truth to that. In my first...incarnation, he raised me like a normal little girl...until he used me to send Naoko Akagi to her death. My own 'death' was short-lived; moments after Naoko met her end, the Commander had my body put in Unit-00's entry plug. Using a complex process, they ripped out a part of my soul and placed it within Unit-00's core. Once done, my body was removed and discarded. In this very lab, he 'uploaded' the rest of my soul into a new body. Just like that."
"Then...what part of you's in Unit-00?" Shinji asked.
"...My emotions," Rei replied. This shocked everyone further; as she progressed, she was starting to sound like her old self. "My fear and despair were predominant. It's why for the longest time I had such difficulty syncing with it. Why it lashed out on those two occasions a while back." She then turned to look at the apparatus. "Each time I was brought in to be tested, I'd have my memories copied and uploaded into that apparatus. The soul transfer isn't without flaws-my memories become muddled with each transfer, hence the need for 'backups'. To date, this has only been done once, when my first self perished." She then looked back at the others. "That was my life...until Shinji arrived in Tokyo-3." A small smile started to appear on her face. "The more we interacted, the more you helped bring me out of my shell. It was incremental at best, but it still helped. I probably would've still been in this emotional limbo, until things radically changed one night..."
"What happened?" Ritsuko asked curiously.
"It was a short time after we'd destroyed the 10th Angel," Rei explained. "I was in my apartment when I was visited by two ghosts. One was Naoko Akagi...and the other was the man she'd hired while on the other side. What she hired him for was simple: ruin Gendo Ikari's life, by scaring him out of his mind. The fact that both his and SEELE's scenarios would get thwarted in the process was a nice bonus. They appeared to me because the man needed someone to cause some low-level mayhem around the base, just to keep rattling the Commander's cage further and further. To do that, they needed a third partner..."
It didn't take long for Misato and Asuka to figure out who she'd been referring to, as their eyes lit up with realization.
"YOU?!" they both guessed.
"Give 'em a prize," Rei replied. "The man, who for now wishes to remain anonymous, went inside my head and turned on something long ignored: my sense of humor. Though I think he might've cranked it slightly up to eleven." She giggled after saying that. "Which is why I'm my warm, lovable self you see here."
"So you're the one who switched the coffee with kombucha the day the 11th Angel struck!" Misato stated.
"Mmm-hmm," Rei affirmed.
"And lemme guess, you swapped out the chairs on the bridge?" Asuka asked.
"Definitely," Rei replied.
"And you must be the reason why the Commander's head is...shinier these days," Ritsuko added.
"Indubitably, among other things," Rei confirmed in a faux-British accent.
Shinji, at that moment, let out a bit of laughter. Now he definitely was glad NERV became haunted. He soon took a moment to catch his breath, and then turned to look at the clones again.
"So, with the dummy system gone, what'll become of...well...them?" he asked.
Ritsuko looked at the remote in her hands before she answered him. "I'd intended to destroy them when I came down here. Just to throw another wrench into the Commander's plans. Other than that, they're empty, not truly alive. They wouldn't last out in the world."
Just as she began to cycle through an activation sequence on her remote, Rei took hold of her wrist.
"Yeeeah, we're not gonna do that," she said.
"What? But why?" Ritsuko asked.
"Me, your mom and our partner came up with a better solution," she explained. "We'll tell you about it in due time. For now though, let's just get out of here. I don't know about you, but I think too much time in the 'mummy's tomb' is unhealthy. Tell ya what, Doc-tomorrow, you come back down here and check the tank again. Then check the machinery to see that the sequence hasn't been activated. You'll know then that we've been here."
Deciding to trust the blue-haired pilot, Ritsuko pocketed the remote, and the group then headed back to the elevator to make their return to the surface. They had a new thing to focus on now: the arrival of the 17th and final Angel.
The study of Lorenz Kihl, Germany...
Lorenz Kihl was speaking with an operative he'd had waiting in the wings for some time.
"It falls to you to carry out your directive," he emphasized to the other person. "You know what must be done, and how to go about it. Do not be deterred by the strange occurrences at your destination, it's merely window dressing. Above all, failure will not be tolerated. Do you understand?"
Across from his desk, an unnaturally pale, ashen-haired, red-eyed teenage boy smiled at the old cyborg.
"Of course, sir," Kaworu Nagisa replied. "I look forward to fulfilling my destiny."
END Chapter 14.
**Author's Note(s)**
A bit light on Burton nods this time, but I left a few breadcrumbs from some other things to keep you guessing. Anyone up to the challenge?
Rei's defeat of Armisael was one I was definitely looking forward to writing. Originally it was just the possessed Unit-00 turning Armisael into a balloon animal, but the rest of it suddenly came to me one day, so I made a note of it for later. Well, it's now later...
On the artistic side of things, over on DeviantArt I put up a 'mockup' of the Hammer-fied Unit-00 for all to see. Just type in the search bar 'NERV Gets Juiced: U Can(not) Touch This'. I also have a mockup of the Dolemite-ed Jet Alone as well.