Chapter 17 - Dream A Little Dream (for the last time!), Gendo
Rei was sitting in her living room reading a David Sedaris book when she felt the presence of her two ghostly partners as they phased in through her ceiling.
"Hope you guys didn't give the lady upstairs a heart attack on your way down," she said as she greeted them.
"Ah, don't worry," Beetlejuice replied, "Naoko insisted on us coming in invisible. *AHEM* Spoilsport! *AHEM*"
Naoko rolled her eyes at that. "Oh, never mind him. Anyway, we need to talk."
"About?" Rei asked.
"Now that the 17th Angel's been dealt with, in a way that nobody predicted," she explained, "the men of SEELE are going to get desperate. Even with the Angels defeated, their 'blueprint' has been pretty much taken apart, so now they're going to try starting Third Impact themselves. By force, unfortunately. Gendo'll be desperate too-the moment SEELE launches his assault, he'll probably make a break for Terminal Dogma and get ready to start it on his own."
"So that means..." Beetlejuice began to say.
"Right now, we're essentially experiencing the calm before the storm," Rei finished.
"Which also means we've got to get the right information to the right people soon," Naoko elaborated. "We need to prevent the city from being turned into a killing field. To do that, we need a plan."
"My ears are burning..." Beetlejuice cheekily chimed in. "I gotcher plan here...more than a plan, actually, since it also involves Lilith..."
"What is it, then?" Naoko asked.
"Yeah, don't keep us in suspense," added Rei.
Beetlejuice smiled his most $#!+-eating-est grin before he spoke, rubbing his hands together. "A grand finale..."
Misato's apartment, a couple of days following the battle with Tabris...
It was another 'intelligence gathering' in the home of NERV's operations director, as Misato herself, Kaji, Ritsuko, Maya, and Makoto were sitting in the living room, discussing what may come following the unorthodox defeat of the 17th Angel. White noise generators provided by Kaji had been set up to keep the bugs within the walls from picking up their conversations. The scene they painted was going to look grim. Shinji, Asuka and Rei were present as well, since they had as much stake in keeping whatever chaos to come from happening.
"All right, what do we know so far about SEELE's scenario?" Misato asked.
"Number one: Second Impact was caused by them to start laying the foundation for their scenario," Kaji replied.
"Number two: NERV was formed, in truth, to help further establish the needed conditions for their scenario to unfold," Ritsuko answered. "Building the Evangelions, obtaining the embryonic form of Adam and the Lance of Longinus, and keeping Lilith imprisoned in Terminal Dogma, all were essential elements needed to be brought together."
"Number three: their plan hinged on Angels three through seventeen being killed off by the Evangelions, themselves derived partly from Angel biology," Makoto added. "Of all of them, Angels three through 10, along with 13, 15, and 16, were successfully destroyed, while 11, 12, 14, and 17 fled; so far, none of those four have returned to try and initiate Third Impact, which has temporarily thrown a wrench in the works."
"Number Four: their scenario also hinged on them possessing the Lance of Longinus; because it vanished, that leaves them with only one other way to start Third Impact," Maya said. "Of the Evangelions in NERV's possession, Unit-01 holds the most significance because it's the only one whose biological components were based on Lilith, not Adam, making it a key to the whole process."
"But before Unit-01 suddenly became super-important to them," Shinji started to say, "it seemed like they sent Kaworu to be the trigger, since he said that he held the soul of Adam."
"If he'd succeeded," Asuka added, "he would've merged with Lilith and started the whole shebang. But he thought that it was Adam on the cross, so it seems like they lied to him."
"Just gonna throw this one out here," Rei started to ask, "but it seems like we're forgetting another question that needs answering."
"And that is?" Asuka asked.
"Why go through all this trouble to start instrumentality, to make themselves immortal? Aside from the usual reasoning of rich-cruel-old-white dudes."
"You know, I've been wondering about that for a while," Kaji admitted.
"Between Rei and myself, we can probably answer that," Ritsuko said. "I put some of the pieces together using some of that material you forwarded me from that colleague of yours."
Everybody else leaned in expectantly before Ritsuko started explaining things.
"According to the intel gathered over the years, despite the claims of the head council's members that they've been pulling the world's strings since ancient times, a lot of evidence points to their being active since at least the end of the Second World War, after they acquired the Dead Sea Scrolls." She pointed to some of the photocopies on the coffee table they were using. "When Yui and Gendo Ikari were brought onto Project-E, it was under the pretense that the Evangelions were to be used as 'soul arks', to ride out Third Impact and allow humanity to reform later."
"My mother can confirm that," Shinji said. "She told me about that the last time we had a test."
Rei picked up from that thread. "Another false motive they purposefully spread among the more 'in-the-know' members of their inner circle was Instrumentality only for the entire council membership. They'd be merged in an EVA unit with its own S2 Engine, in effect a godlike being. They'd make sure the Lance of Longinus was destroyed before they did it, so nobody could have the only weapon able to harm their 'body'. The result would be an all-powerful immortal with a human soul, making it the pinnacle of human existence."
"Sounds like a bad comic book plot," Makoto said.
"Then you can call this plot worse," Ritsuko replied. "Their real goal is a bit more...fatalistic." She took a moment to sip her tea. "Between what I've gleaned from sitting in on meetings with the Commander and Fuyutsuki, and some of the hacking Maya and I have done, paired with the dossiers Kaji and the JDA have been secretly building, we can conclude that SEELE is the be-all, end-all nihilistic death cult. Considering they've been confirmed to have been around since World War II's end, with all the devastation that occurred in that conflict, they would feel that humanity was too sick to survive. Thus, the ultimate goal of their Human Instrumentality Project is to forcibly unite the human race into one, ending all war and individual struggles in the process, whether the rest of the world wants it or not. World peace, by paying the ultimate price."
"More than just that," Rei added. "They're practically worshipers of Adam. He was the first to arrive on Earth, but because Lilith joined him accidentally, it kept him from seeding the planet with his type of lifeforms." Rei took a minute to sip some tea, as she gauged the confused looks of the rest of the group. "It's a long story involving ancient aliens, something to discuss another time. ANYWAY, because Lilith halted Adam's actions, SEELE sees Lilith's creations-aka us-as usurpers for dominion of the world; they think that the Angels should've been here first. Thus they see our genesis as the actual 'Original Sin'. (Man, these guys really are the religious fanatic's fanatics.)"
The rest of the group looked at each other, confused looks still on their faces.
"Forget bad comic book plot, THIS has the makings of an overly-pretentious sci-fi novel," Maya said.
"I hear ya," Misato chimed in. "Compared to this, I'd have an easier time getting through 2001: A Space Odyssey right now."
"So we know (mostly) the why," Kaji pointed out. "But how about the 'how'?"
Ritsuko and Rei looked at each other for a moment before the former answered him.
"Took me a while to figure out, but then it hit me," Ritsuko said. "The answer was under our noses the whole time-literally, every time any of us set foot in Gendo Ikari's office."
"What're you talking about?" Asuka asked. "There's nothing in there but a desk and-"
"Think about the floor of the office," Rei interjected. "What about it stands out?"
Everyone gave it some thought, until Shinji spoke up.
"Yeah, now that I do think about it," he started to say, "what's with the strange tree painted on there? And why's it also on the ceiling?"
"It's not just any tree," Ritsuko explained. "It's the Kabbalistic depiction of the Tree of Life."
"Kabbalistic?" Asuka inquired. "You mean like that weird stuff Madonna and other celebs were into years ago?"
"Sort of," Ritsuko answered as she quickly produced a diagram. "It's a symbolic diagram made up of 10 numbers and 22 letters. The numbers are the ten utterances of God in the first chapter of Genesis, where the universe was created." She then began quickly drawing the reverse on another piece of paper. "But if the 'tree' were inverted..."
When did this turn into a bible study session...? Misato thought to herself.
"Instead of creating the world," Ritsuko continued to explain, pointing to her drawing, "the world, and all who dwell on it, would be unmade."
"And how would it be done in real life?" Kaji asked.
"With EVA Unit-01 as the focal point, and with the Mass Production EVAs SEELE's probably finished manufacturing by now," Ritsuko replied. "Hypothetically, the MP EVAs would 'crucify' Unit-01 by resonating their AT-Fields around it, after its core is pierced by a Lance of Longinus. My guess is they'll have created a substitute or a close replica for their purposes. But they could perform this 'ritual' only at the same time that Adam and Lilith have merged."
"Okay, so what excuse could SEELE make to send the MP EVAs here?" Asuka asked. "All the Angels are mostly gone."
Kaji's face turned grim before he answered her. "I've got a pretty good idea of what," he said. "And it definitely involves the council using all their political influence, which runs deep in a number of places."
Everyone else looked intently at Kaji as he revealed the dark possibilities of SEELE's next move.
"First they'll convince any higher ups they've got under their thumb in the UN to revoke NERV's special protective status," he explained. "Then they'll most likely try and convince Ikari to surrender the organization to the Japanese government. They'll also convince the other NERV branches to have their respective MAGI hack into the main one here, to render us defenseless. Barring that, SEELE, through their puppets, will have the JSSDF attack HQ to take the EVAs by force, under the pretense of Ikari, and NERV, attempting to start Third Impact."
"Which, ironically, is something my fa-the Commander's actually trying to do," Shinji chimed in.
"It'd be a massacre," Misato grimly theorized.
"Then again, it'd definitely merit them sending the MP EVAs over," Ritsuko added.
"Why?"
"Because in their zeal, they'll tell themselves they're ending the war between Angels and humans," Rei said. "Just as Adam's the progenitor of the Angels, Lilith's ours. The Angels were 'humans that gave up human form'-which means we're practically the same. To SEELE, humanity is the eighteenth Angel."
The rest of the group stared at one another, astounded by what they'd just heard.
"Well, I'm not gonna get much sleep tonight," Makoto said.
"We've really got a lot of work to do now, and a really small window to do it in," Misato said.
"Leave the political side of things to me," Kaji offered. "I'll relay all this to my bosses in the JDA, and we'll make sure to root out the SEELE loyalists in the government. If we're successful, we'll be able to at least cut them off from some of their military options."
"But I'm guessing not all of them," Misato said. "In which case, whatever forces they'll manage to send will require us to have the EVAs deployed." She looked at the three pilots. "We'll figure out a way to defend HQ without giving them any casualties. Killing people is something I don't want you to go through."
"Thank you," Shinji said.
"With the MP EVAs, not so much," Asuka said in turn. "I think we should get NERV-2 on our side, since we know a number of people there. We do that, we can have Unit-04 and Unit-05 sent here as fast as possible to back us up. And it'll leave SEELE with one less MAGI acting against us."
Misato nodded at that idea. "I'll get in touch with NERV-2's ops commander, fill him in on what's happening. Rits can back me up in this instance."
"And I will," Ritsuko agreed. "Maya and I will also do some quick modifications on our own MAGI here, to shore up its defenses when the other branches go on the cyber-attack."
"We'll also give Kaji more evidence to present his superiors, along with whatever Makoto's dug up," Maya added.
Misato nodded affirmatively. "Just to be on the safe side, we should get an evacuation of the city set in motion. The fewer civilian casualties, the better."
Shinji and Asuka looked at their guardian. "We'll let Toji know what's going on, make sure that his family gets out early," Shinji said. "Along with Kensuke and the others."
"I'll do the same with Hikari and her family," Asuka added. "I think it might be a good idea for me to get in touch with Marie at NERV-2, let her know to expect something urgent." Asuka then looked in the direction of the fridge. "I also think it might be good to send Pen-Pen along with Hikari. I don't exactly think he's a marching kind of penguin, if you know what I mean. Besides, he seems to like her."
"You may be right," Misato agreed.
Rei then looked around at the group once again. "You all realize there's no going back after this, right?" she asked solemnly.
Everyone nodded in affirmation. "All right then. One last thing-don't expect me and Unit-00 on the battlefield at first. Gendo, once the fighting starts, will probably make a beeline down to Terminal Dogma, to get in place for his own 'ritual', and he'll be expecting me down there, since I'm the key to starting his own Third Impact."
Shinji got a worried look on his face at hearing that. "But why go down there at all?" he asked.
"Yeah, wouldn't it make sense to take the key away from him?" Asuka concurred.
Rei smiled, confusing the two. "Dr. Akagi's mother, along with myself and our 'partner', have a special surprise planned for him that'll put the final nail in the coffin for his ambitions," she explained with a wink. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."
Misato couldn't help but raise one eyebrow upon hearing her say that again. Seriously, I know I've heard that somewhere before...she wondered to herself.
NERV-2, Nevada, USA, the next day...
Marie Vincennes had just arrived for the day when she was alerted to a text message on her phone. Taking it out, she saw the following:
Heads-up, girlfriend-
You might be in for an emergency meeting today. Why? You'll find out once you hear the announcement.
-Asuka S.
Meanwhile, Kaede Agano was glancing at a magazine when she heard a ping coming from her console. Turning to check out the source of the alert, she discovered a new email with 'Important: Ops Commander's Eyes Only' emphasized in the subject line. Kaede, sensing the urgency in it, quickly got on the phone and dialed in to the tactical commander's office. Said commander picked it up as soon as it rang.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Major Krohn?" Kaede greeted in turn. "Just got an urgent-looking email now, and it's meant strictly for you. Forwarding it right now."
Major Aaron Krohn then looked at his inbox, which promptly updated to show the forwarded email waiting to be read. He quickly opened it up, and gave it a quick glance. Surprised by the contents of the message, he gave it a second, more thorough read, and his expression shifted to one of grave concern. He then spoke back into the phone.
"Kaede, tell everyone, including the pilots, to meet in conference room 5A, emergency mandatory meeting. This is big, we've got no time to waste..."
Tokyo-3, outside the Horaki residence...
The scene was a bit tense for everyone gathered. The Horaki family's car was already packed up with most of their belongings, with an additional trailer they rented hitched to the back. The pilots and their friends were standing outside, talking. The moving was a bit easier for Toji's family; Sakura had healed enough that they could move her out of the hospital. Mana and Mayumi, along with their foster parents, had evacuated early, so they were out of danger first. So now it was down to the pilots saying goodbye, for now, to Hikari and Kensuke. Hikari was holding Pen-Pen in her arms while Asuka was going over how to take care of him.
"...And remember to make sure he's got the latest issue of Fortune," Asuka implored, "he likes keeping up with the 500, and it's almost time for this year's list."
"Got it," Hikari affirmed. Even after hanging out with Asuka and the others for so long, it still astounded her that they lived with a penguin smart enough to express an interest in finance. She then turned to Toji before turning back to Asuka. "Watch his back, okay?" she asked.
Asuka nodded, a small smile on her face. "Don't worry," she replied, "we'll make sure the lug comes back to you whole."
"HEY!" Toji groaned. He then looked back at Hikari. "I promise, I'll be careful," he confidently said.
Hikari smiled back at him. "You'd better," she warned, before reaching up and planting a quick kiss on him.
At that moment, Kensuke finished setting up a tripod with a camera on top. "All right, let's make this one count, people!" he said. "I wanna make sure it's perfect-this'll be the last time we're all together, at least for a while."
The others chuckled as they then got into place. Kensuke then set the timer, and then quickly dashed over to join the others. Luckily, he made it in time. They checked the preview on the camera, satisfied with the result.
"If you guys all make it back," he started to say, "let's make this an annual thing. Sound good?" The others nodded in approval.
Soon goodbyes were exchanged, and Hikari (along with Pen-Pen) got into the car with her family, which then drove off.
A meeting between Gendo and SEELE, the following evening...
The air was still as Gendo stared down the holographic monoliths that faced him.
"The promised time has come," Lorenz Kihl stated. "Though the battle with the final Angel turned out...far from what we ideally envisioned, the moment is now indeed upon us. With the Lance of Longinus now lost, complementation using Lilith is now impossible. Our only hope is to proceed with EVA-01, Lilith's sole clone."
"...While differen' from SEELE's scenario...?" Gendo replied, a slight slurring in his voice. Fuyutsuki, out of the view of the gathered council, cringed slightly at the sight. Earlier, before the meeting started, he'd noticed Gendo had come in with a scent of alcohol on his person. That alone worried the vice-commander of NERV; for the first time in all their dealings with the council, Gendo was going to be drunk for the proceedings. There could only be one possible way this would end.
*Sigh* We're doomed...he grimly thought to himself.
"I mean, c'mon, us HUMANS oughta evolve into a new world, riiight?" Gendo continued. "That's why we built the frickin' EVAs."
The council, though their faces were hidden, were confused by the way Gendo reacted.
"Ikari, are you drunk?" Kihl asked.
"I'm fine! G'wan, g'wan, please, continue," Gendo implored, waving a dismissive hand.
"Er...very well," SEELE-09 said. "The fact of the matter is, we've no intention of giving up our human forms simply to enter the Ark called EVA."
"It is merely a rite of passage," SEELE-12 concurred. "to bring about the rebirth in those who are imprisoned."
"The fate of destruction is also the joy of rebirth," SEELE-05 said.
"A sacrament to unite God, humans, and all other life forms in death," added SEELE-04.
There was an awkward, pregnant pause before Gendo spoke up again. What he said next took everyone by surprise.
"Y'know what? It's funny, 'cause you actually believe all that," he drunkenly chuckled. "I mean, tha's what you old buzzards are really, a global death cult...an' yur gunna make us all drink th' punch, willin' or not!" He then laughed, then slightly hiccupped, before Kihl spoke.
"Ikari, this is not protocol-"
"I don' remember askin' you a GODDAMN thing!" Gendo barked at the hologram labeled SEELE-01. "You dunno what I've had to sacrifice so's you can make everyone on the planet into a big...Tang...thing, an' what I've had to sacrifice more of so's I can do my OWN thing...an' the funniest thing about this, is my wife, a daughter of one of yur mos' senior members, stopped believin' in what you were sellin' way before she ever set foot in the purple people eater. She convinced me we were gonna screw you guys over, but she didn' tell me how! I mean, don' gemme wrong, I love her, but did she hafta leave me alone with th' kid? Sorry, tangent there...And if that weren't enough, fer the past several months I've had to deal with my base bein' haunted by ghosts an' other things that, last I checked, weren't s'posed to be real! They've been driving me crazy, screwin' up our operations, an' in addition, 'cause I dunno how, but they've even been screwin' with my dreams! I haven't gotten a good night's sleep for months, MONTHS, d'ya hear me? An' you still think I'm gonna lie down an' let ya waltz in here and get this party started like th' good lil' servant you think I am? Especially with th' tit-fer-tat we've had goin' on fur 'leven years? What I'm tryin' ta say is, you wan' Unit-01? The same thing my wife's stuck in? Well, la-di-FRICKIN'-da! Too bad, 'cause you sanctimonious coots ain't gettin' SHQWAT! Yur not gonna get it, 'cause I'm gonna start my own Third Impact without ya! You an' the resta th' world can burn, I'm gonna get my Yui back even if it kills me! So screw-frickin'-you!" The moment Gendo finished his rant, he collapsed out of his chair. A sheepish-looking Fuyutsuki then leaned forward, finger on the disconnect button.
"Gentlemen," he said as he pressed it, causing the hologram to fade out.
There was a long pause left among the assembled council members, before someone cleared their throats.
"That was...unexpected," SEELE-03 said. "*SIGH* At this point, we would be doing him a favor, putting him out of his misery."
"Indeed," Kihl concurred. "Very well, Ikari. You wanted to do this the hard way? Then the hard way is what you shall get..."
Rei's apartment, that night...
"So, where're you two off to?" Rei slyly asked her two spectral companions.
"Oh, I wanted to give Gendo one last terrible night's sleep before the 'big day' tomorrow," Naoko replied.
"Shoulda seen the way he blew up at the geezers while blitzed," Beetlejuice said smarmily. "When we're through, his hangover's gonna be even worse! *SNICKERS*"
"Hmmm...can I make a suggestion?" Rei asked. "Here's one that you and Beej can both collaborate on..."
Gendo's bedroom, later that night...
Gendo tossed and turned fervently, since Naoko and Beetlejuice were going to give him one hell of a nightmare yet again. What he didn't know was that this time, they'd gotten input from Rei for the theme. In his dream, Gendo noticed that he was bound at the wrists and ankles to a chair with duct tape, which also was over his mouth. He looked around at his surroundings, which turned out to be some kind of warehouse. He heard a sound, and saw Naoko-wearing a white dress shirt with a black tie, a shoulder holster, a black skirt, and black cowboy boots-lift one leg onto a workbench. She then removed a straight razor from a hidden pocket of the left boot and opened it up.
"Say, Gendo..." Naoko began to ask nonchalantly, "you ever listen to K-Beetle's "Super Sounds of the Seventies"?"
Gendo then noticed there was an old-looking radio on the workbench, which Naoko kneeled down to get a better look at.
"It's my personal favorite," Naoko said. She then turned the dial and then began to tune it till it was on the right station. The disguised voice of Beetlejuice soon came on over the speaker as Naoko then got up and walked past the nervous Gendo to another end of the room they were in. As she walked, she made a 'shaving motion' on her face with the razor, as if to tease Gendo.
"...Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty were a duo known as 'Stealers Wheel' when they recorded this Dylan-esque pop/bubblegum favorite from April of 1974," Beetlejuice recounted. "That reached up to number five, as K-Beetle's 'Super Sounds of the Seventies' continues."
The song in question began to play as Naoko, looking over an unknown body slumped on its side, looked back up at Gendo with a wicked smile and then slowly stood up. She then did a bit of a jig as she headed back towards Gendo, at which point she began singing along with the song:
"Well I don't know why I came here tonight...
I got the feelin' that somethin' ain't right...
I'm so scared, I guess I'll fall off my chair!
And I'm wonderin' how I'll get down the stairs...
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you..."
Her dancing took her right in front of the bound and now-terrified Gendo, and at that moment, she lashed out with the razor, leaving a slash across Gendo's left cheek. Naoko leaned down and then gripped Gendo's face, as if she were trying to hold him still, while the song continued to play.
Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you,
And I'm wonderin' what it is I should do...
It's so hard to keep the smile from my face...
Losing control, yeah I'm all over the place...
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you...
Naoko stood back up, holding Gendo's right ear in her hand, which she then showed to him as he uttered muffled cries of pain.
"Was that as good for you as it was for me?" Naoko teasingly asked. She then 'spoke' into the ear she now held. "Hey, what's goin' on?" She then looked back up at Gendo. "You hear that? Heh heh heh..." She then tossed the ear aside and wiped her fingers on Gendo's clothes. "Don't go anywhere-I'll be right back..."
"YAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Gendo screamed as he bolted awake, panting heavily as he felt with his hands to confirm that his ear was still attached. He frantically looked around his darkened bedroom, then down at his bedsheets. Thankfully, he'd remembered not to drink anything before bedtime, yet that still held little comfort for him as he collapsed back onto the bed, another night of sleep cinematically disturbed.
Naoko and Beetlejuice reconvened minutes later at Rei's place, where she was eagerly awaiting them.
"How'd it go?" the bluenette asked.
"Kinda gave me a small part there, kid," Beetlejuice said. "But yeah, pretty cool idea ya had." He then smiled a mocking smile. "Phantom pain's gonna be a bitch for him in the mornin'."
"I definitely underestimated you," Naoko said. "I thought I was the only one who appreciated Tarantino's underlying sense of humor."
Rei smiled and gave a slight shrug. "What can I say? He's black comedy's Hitchcock, no arguments there."
END Chapter 17.
**Author's Note(s)**
Yep, we're almost there, to the End of Evangelion...or at least MY take on it.
The discussion at Misato's apartment was, I admit, hard for me to write. If anyone's got any critiques or suggestions for improving it, I'm all ears.
The SEELE plot of using EVA as a vessel for godhood, with no lance to destroy them, comes from the 2003 Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 game for the PlayStation 2.
Ritsuko's mention of SEELE feeling that 'humanity was too sick to survive' is lifted from the original Ghostbusters, from the scene where the title characters discuss the history of Dana Barrett's apartment building while in jail. (Also makes it the second fic I've written where Rits quotes Harold Ramis. Funny, huh?)
I've been told often that one would have to be high to 'get' 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Bonus points to anyone who spots my little joke about a certain documentary on a certain species of flightless bird.
Rei once again invokes the catchphrase of the title character from Sledge Hammer!.
Major Aaron Krohn is named after the voice actor who was the first English dub voice for Ryoji Kaji, in ADV's original dub of the TV series and the original two films.
Kensuke getting a group photo set up was inspired by JimmyWolk's classic story "The 2nd Try".
Gendo's rant to the SEELE council was inspired by the many loud rants of the title character from Duckman, though more drunk-sounding.
Naoko and Beetlejuice's dream-time torture of Gendo, this time around, is based on an iconic scene from Reservoir Dogs, with Naoko filling in for Michael Madsen.
Hold onto your seats, things are gonna get wild come next chapter...