Chapter 18 - Big Trouble in Little Tokyo-3
It was very quiet in Tokyo-3. Too quiet. Then again, considering that the civilian population had left in droves due to an emergency evacuation order suddenly issued by NERV and the local government, it would be the case. Around NERV HQ, a number of civilian staff had also left, to minimize the number of casualties for the coming fight. Only a skeleton crew, plus security, was left to keep things running. They didn't know why they were on a First Level Alert, but they knew that it had to mean something bad was about to go down. They just didn't know what.
On the bridge, Makoto, Maya and Shigeru talked as the former two quietly and quickly brought him up to speed on the struggle to come. He was very shocked, to say the least.
"...And I thought all those conspiracy wackos I knew in high school were just, well, wackos," he said.
"If it helps, I thought the same thing when I got brought in on this," Makoto said in turn.
"If you told kid me that I'd wind up in a bizarre combination of kaiju movie and conspiracy thriller, I'd have called you crazy," Maya added.
Shigeru then took a moment to look around at the near-empty bridge, though the three of them were far from the only people present.
"I'm feelin' kinda sorry for the staff that evacuated," he mused. "They don't know the particulars, but this was definitely not in their job descriptions."
"I still can't believe a couple of SEELE plants managed to slip through the JDA's fingers," Maya said.
"Kaji was right in that they probably wouldn't have been able to get all of them," Makoto said, "but at least hopefully whatever initial forces they send our way will be weaker than they wanted."
Silence reigned for the next few minutes, until Maya broke it.
"We get out of this alive, you guys thought about what you want to do post-NERV?" she asked.
Makoto and Shigeru gave it some thought for a moment. In the end, the two of them just shrugged.
"Still thinking about it," Makoto replied.
"Same here," Shigeru answered. "You?"
"Got me right there too," Maya said.
At that moment, Ritsuko emerged from the MAGI terminal's crawlspace, a laptop in her hand, and joined the trio up top.
"Everything okay, doc?" Shigeru asked.
"Yes," Ritsuko said, nodding, "the last adjustments are made. And hopefully, NERV-2'll be ready on their end."
"Thank god we got them on our side," Maya said with relief.
Video-conference call with NERV-2, two days earlier...
What Misato and Ritsuko had informed Major Krohn and those under his command of had shocked them to the core. No one outside the room knew what had just been revealed to them, since they'd taken steps to ensure their impromptu inter-branch meeting wouldn't be monitored by any SEELE informants.
"This is...unbelievable..." Major Krohn lamented as Ritsuko finished speaking.
"I know it's hard to take in," Misato said, "but right now time's of the essence. NERV itself may have been formed to actually pave the way for Armageddon, but between our two branches, we might be able to prevent it, like we were always told. Can we count on you, Aaron?"
Major Krohn looked towards the assembled staff, from Dr. Kaga and his bridge crew to their resident EVA pilots, who all gave him approving nods of their heads. He then turned back to Misato and Ritsuko on the vid-screen.
"We've got your backs, Misato," he said, "we'll mobilize right away." He then saluted Misato, who returned it in kind. The two of them then signed off, as the screen went dark. Major Krohn then turned back to his staff.
"All right everyone, it's just as they said," he said as he addressed them. "Time isn't exactly on our side, so we'll need to move fast." He looked first at Marie and Mari. "With the go-ahead of our base commander, we'll be devoting all our manpower to sending NERV-Central reinforcements in EVA Units-04 and 05. I want the EVA carriers prepped and ready for rapid-response flight. Marie and Mari, you are to back up Units-00, 01, 02, and 03 once you reach Tokyo-3." He then turned to Dr. Kaga and the bridge crew. "Dr. Kaga, you and your staff will back up NERV-Central's MAGI system with our own. Make sure our efforts aren't discovered by the other branches-for all we know, SEELE's already got their claws sunk into them." He then pointed to his watch. "Our window's closing fast, people-let's move!"
NERV HQ, the bridge, present time...
"Do we know their estimated arrival time?" Ritsuko asked.
Makoto looked over at his monitor before answering. "At last check, within the next few hours."
"How do you think the kids are holding up?" Maya asked.
Ritsuko gave her a slightly solemn look. "When I last spoke to them, they seemed to be fine. But I know going up against other humans wasn't something they signed on for. Hopefully whatever defensive strategy Misato cooked up for them will work."
Shigeru then took another look around the command center. "Y'know, I just noticed-none of our spooky 'friends' have made a peep for a while," he said.
"I know," Makoto replied. "Kind of unnerving, actually."
"Then again, these things have proven to be unpredictable, so don't get your hopes up for a relatively 'normal' fight," Ritsuko warned.
Outside the locker rooms, around the same time...
Shinji and Asuka were outside the locker rooms, clad in their plugsuits, awaiting the time to mobilize their EVAs. Toji had already gone on ahead, while Rei had made her way to Lilith's chamber to, in her words, 'prepare Gendo's surprise'. The two of them sat on a bench, holding each other as they mentally prepared for what they were about to undertake.
"You scared?" Shinji asked.
For a moment, some of Asuka's old pride crept to the surface in her answer. "HA! No."
Shinji looked at her with a bit of incredulity. Asuka's expression fell a second later.
"...I'm freaking terrified," she admitted. "All the time I spent training to pilot an EVA, I didn't think I'd have to use it against human opponents someday."
Shinji smiled at her reassuringly. "We need to trust in Misato's plan. With any luck, nobody'll get hurt."
Asuka returned the smile. "Remember what you asked me before? If I thought about what I'd do after all this was over?"
"Uh, yeah," Shinji replied. "Why?"
"...I think I finally figured it out," she said.
"Really?" he asked. "What is it?"
"I wanna..." she started to say before the alarms started to go off around HQ. "DAMMIT! Couldn't they have picked a better time to start attacking us?!" She and Shinji then both got up from the bench and started making their way to the EVA cages, eventually arriving in no time flat.
"Yo! What took you guys?" Toji asked from Unit-03's speakers.
"Oh, buzz off!" Asuka barked back. "You'll know when you see Hikari next!" She then quickly turned to Shinji. "I love you," she imparted to him.
Shinji smiled back as he responded, "I love you too." The two of them then shared a quick kiss before they rushed up the gangways to their respective entry plugs. Once in, they were readied for launch.
Up on the bridge, the reports began coming in fast. Fuyutsuki and Gendo (recovering from his Tarantino-based nightmare and his hangover) had taken their positions a few minutes prior.
"Are they after the MAGI?" Fuyutsuki asked.
"Data entry from all external nodes," Shigeru reported as he looked at a monitor. "Confirmed-they're attempting to hack into the MAGI system!"
"Just as I thought," Fuyutsuki said. "Is it coming from MAGI-2 in Matsushiro?"
"Negative, it's at least four MAGI-type units outside Japan," Shigeru replied. "Hacking verified from Germany, China, Russia..."
"SEELE must be mustering all of their forces," Fuyutsuki surmised.
"Fortunately, we were waiting for this," Misato said, surprising the two commanders. She then turned to Makoto. "Have they got the signal?"
"Affirmative," Makoto replied. "NERV-2's received the signal and have linked their MAGI units with our own. The odds just got put in our favor a bit more." He then pointed to the main screen, where all witnessed the result of the combined efforts of NERV-Central and NERV-2's best computer whizzes. An avatar of a counter-virus appeared, in a very specific shape-a round, yellow circle with a single slice missing. The look of it wasn't lost on a few present.
"Pac-Man, Hyuga? Really?" Ritsuko asked incredulously.
"What? Satsuki and I both play it to relieve stress," Makoto said. Just then, a ping sounded off from his console.
"Status report?" Misato asked.
"Just confirmed," Makoto responded. "Someone in Tokyo-2's just issued Special Order A-801!"
"Just like Kaji predicted," Misato said to herself before she addressed the rest of the bridge crew. "You heard him, people! That just happened-NERV's special legal protection's been abolished, and all command's been transferred to the Japanese government! We're on our own now, so get moving, and prepare for any incursions!"
Up in the command perch, Fuyutsuki and Gendo stared down at the scene unfolding before them in surprise.
"How-how did they know these events would happen?" Gendo wondered astonishingly.
"I definitely didn't see this coming on our part," Fuyutsuki concurred, "but even so, the MAGI hacking is only the first skirmish. The bastards' main objective will still be a direct takeover of headquarters and the EVA units."
"Yes," Gendo replied as he held his head with his left hand. "With not only Lilith, but even Adam in our hands..."
"It's no wonder the old men are so worried," Fuyutsuki said.
Back on the lower part of the bridge, the enemy hacking attempts made it about halfway in a representation on the big screen, only for the NERV-Central and NERV-2 countermeasure to be triggered. Soon, the familiar sights and sounds of Pac-Man's movements could be seen and heard, as the Pac-Man-like avatar moved towards the enemy's avatar, causing it to move backward. Unfortunately for the enemy virus, it wasn't fast enough, and soon it was devoured by the not-Pac-Man whole. The familiar sound of what normally would be Pac-Man's demise was heard as the counter-viral imitation smiled and licked its lips as if it'd eaten a tasty treat, eliciting cheers from the staff.
"Hacking against the MAGI has been stopped," Maya reported. "I can only imagine the techs on the other ends didn't know what hit them."
"I take back everything I said, Hyuga," Ritsuko said as she congratulated him.
The SEELE 'war room', at the same time...
The way that NERV-Central had beaten back the hacking of the MAGI had definitely taken the SEELE council by great surprise.
"Impossible!" SEELE-06 decried. "They beat back our hacking efforts with a...with a cheap imitation of a video game! And with assistance from NERV-2 in the U.S., those ingrates!"
"*SIGH* It appears we'll have to forego acquisition of the MAGI," lamented SEELE-07.
"I had hoped to solve this with less...violent means, but that is not possible now," said Lorenz Kihl. "Give the order-initiate takeover of the entire headquarters directly, at once!"
Outside Tokyo-3, at that moment...
A JSSDF officer put his phone down after hearing the orders given. He then spoke into his radio as he relayed the order to the troops lying in wait.
"Commence operations as planned!" he commanded. Soon, soldiers began appearing out of the woodwork, aircraft flew overhead, and tanks and APC's began mobilizing and moving towards their target: the Geofront. As they got closer, they began firing volleys of missiles and other ordinance. The Geofront was about to become a battlefield again.
NERV HQ, the bridge...
"Radar sites 8 to 13 have gone dead!" a female operator reported.
"JSSDF tech battalion advancing through Goura defense perimeter!" Shigeru added.
"We've got a small battalion approaching from Gotemba!" Makoto said.
It was the same from the mouths of other operators. It did give a clear indicator that the forces sent by SEELE's pawns were of lesser strength than initially predicted, thanks in part to Kaji leading a JDA effort to clean out the other individuals that SEELE had their claws in throughout the central government. Still, it did little to assuage Fuyutsuki's worries.
"I guess that old saying has some truth," he lamented. "We have met the enemy, and it is us."
Gendo at that moment then gave the order. "General quarters-go to First Level Battle Stations!"
Maya sighed uneasily. "It's starting..."
"But hopefully, it'll end on a better note," Ritsuko said reassuringly.
Geofront entrance, topside...
A small squad of JSSDF troops made their way stealthily towards the entry gate to the Geofront, where to their eyes a lone guard stood at the ready. One of the troops quietly snuck up behind them and proceeded to stab the guard in the back with his knife. Yet to his surprise, the guard didn't slump over. In fact, said guard turned around, revealing himself to be already looking quite...dead. His face was rotten, with bits of skull showing, and his hands looked skeletal.
"What the hell are you doing?" the zombie guard asked with incredulity. The JSSDF squad was greatly surprised by the thing that stood in front of them that had just shrugged off a knifing.
"I mean really, stupid, you got this thing much too low," the zombie guard said as he pointed to the knife in his back. "It should be up at least a few more vertebrae."
The troops were dumbfounded. Not only had they encountered an honest-to-god zombie while infiltrating the Geofront, it was actually offering advice on where to properly land a killing stroke. All were hesitant about reporting this to their superiors, on the likely chance they wouldn't believe them at all. So they aimed their guns at the shambler and fired a couple of shots each, sending him to the ground. The lead troop then signaled them to follow, as they bypassed the gate and made their way inside. As the last of the group passed him by, the head of the zombie looked our way.
"Sheesh, some people just can't handle a little criticism," he said, rolling his eyes.
All across the other entrances, squads of JSSDF troops encountered the same thing, but opted to remain quiet out of concern for the sanity of their commanding officers, as they made their way inside the Geofront. Unfortunately for them, things only got weirder the further they ventured in.
All of this wasn't lost on the staff on the bridge, as they kept track of the movements of the enemy forces.
"Remember what I said about not expecting a 'normal' fight, Aoba?" Ritsuko reminded Shigeru.
"Point taken," he replied as he watched the troops bypass another zombie guard. "Y'know, now I'm kinda glad we're haunted. How about you guys?"
"Hey, look at this," Maya said as she pointed to one feed showing a squad attempting to enter by rail car. Said car was almost two thirds of the way to entering the Geofront when it was stopped by a very unexpected sight.
"What's going on? Why'd they stop?" Misato asked.
"Wait a sec..." Makoto started to say. "Is that a...?"
"A...tollbooth?" a surprised Ritsuko wondered.
"A...phantom tollbooth?" Maya quizzically clarified.
Sure enough, to the bewilderment of the JSSDF detachment in the rail car, a spooky-looking tollbooth was right in front of them. A hand-shaped sign pointed them towards the coin slot, imploring them to pay to enter. The troops had tried simply going over the gate, but found themselves pushed back by some invisible wall.
"The Gaines-Ito Through-way?" the squad leader wondered as he read the sign. He then looked at the coin slot before looking to his troops. "(Can't believe I'm asking this) Anyone got any change?" The other squad members checked their pockets and came up with nothing, with a few even shrugging in confusion. "Dammit-all right, someone's gotta go back up topside and get a crapload of change!" A few members of the squad groaned in response, leading to a real-life tactical face-palm.
The bridge...
"Uh, Misato...?" Shinji asked over the comms from within Unit-01.
"How come we haven't seen any goon squads trying to kill us?" Asuka asked bluntly.
"...Not that we WANT them to..." Toji added.
Misato scratched her head as she answered them. "Believe it or not, they're being delayed."
"How?" Asuka asked.
Misato didn't answer at first, before replying with "Take a wild guess."
"Number three underground barricade destroyed! Enemy forces invading Level 2!" Shigeru reported.
"The JSSDF have committed almost an entire division..." Fuyutsuki warily observed. "It's only a matter of time before they take us over completely."
"Hold on...oh, man, you're not gonna believe this!" Shigeru said while pointing to a monitor nearby.
A hallway within NERV HQ...
One team had managed to get into the building and were making their way towards the EVA cages. When they'd gotten halfway towards the next hallway that would lead directly to the cages, they were met with a very astonishing and unusual obstacle, causing them to pause mid-stride. Standing before them was a smug-looking Beetlejuice, garbed (and with his face painted) like a medieval warrior from the Scottish highlands. Behind him was a small platoon of similarly-garbed undead warriors.
"Ye can take our afterlives..." he started to shout in a Scottish accent as he drew his sword and rose into the air, "but ye cannae take away our freeeeedom!"
The other Scottish ghouls followed his lead and drew their own swords, as they shouted "Alba gu bra!" and charged at the JSSDF team. Taken aback by the advancing undead, the squad leader decided quickly that discretion was the better part of valor.
"Fall back! Everyone fall back!" he shouted as he gave the order to retreat, which the rest of the team heeded right away as they ran off the way they came, firing off some shots to delay the marauders. Geezus, they don't pay us enough for this...! he thought to himself.
The crew on the bridge witnessed the whole thing.
"Saved by a bunch of kilt-wearing zombies...and it's not even noon," a gobsmacked Misato said.
"Uh, Major, you might want to look at this," said Makoto as he pointed to another monitor, showing another wing of HQ that led to the EVA cages.
Another JSSDF squad had gotten that far as well, but just when they were about to reach their destination, they stopped when a strange-looking man stood in their way. Again it was Beetlejuice, only this time sporting some tousled yet gelled hair, a chainsaw for a right hand, and a 12-gauged, double-barreled Remington shotgun in his left hand. He was wearing a torn pinkish collared shirt with a number of straps across his chest and back. At his back were a group of undead warriors, this time reflecting a more English medieval motif.
"Wait, is that...?" Misato started to ask.
"Ash Williams and a bunch of Deadites?" Maya finished. Everyone looked at her like she'd grown another head.
"What? Evil Dead's one of my guilty pleasures," she admitted.
The JSSDF squad drew their weapons at Ash-juice and company, preparing to fire. Ash-juice, in turn, merely smirked and shot at the feet of the squad leader, causing her to jump back.
"See this?!" he asked as he held his shotgun above his head. "THIS, is my BOOM STICK!" He then pointed it at the squad. "Get 'em, boys!"
The Deadites then unleashed a battle cry as they drew their weapons and charged at the squad, forcing them to beat a speedy retreat back the way they came.
"Uh, Rits-what time is it?" Misato asked.
Ritsuko looked at her watch. "Five to noon. Why?"
"Oh, no reason..." Misato answered back as she looked to another monitor. "OH-kaaayyy, now I've seen everything."
As the bridge staff watched, in yet another wing of HQ a JSSDF squad faced opposition from an unusual newcomer. It was Beetlejuice again, though this time, it was multiple Beetlejuices. All were dressed in the same way: pink-ish flannel shirts with bandoliers slung across the left shoulder, black-and-white striped jeans, mullet hairstyles, and pairs of Ray Ban sunglasses on their faces. Each had a revolver tucked into their pants, a nightstick tucked into a loop on the back of their belts, and a single-barrel shotgun held in their right hands.
"You're kidding, now they're ripping off They Live?" Shigeru wondered back on the bridge. "THIS is just stretching it."
The Beetlejuices smirked at the JSSDF squad cockily as they raised their weapons.
"We have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass," they all said simultaneously, as they cocked their shotguns, drawing worried looks from the opposing squad. "And we're all outta bubblegum."
The Beetlejuices then shot at the feet of the squad, making them jump back and quickly turn around, with the BJ's in pursuit.
The bridge...
Up in the command perch, Gendo was looking more and more worried and paranoid. The battle with the JSSDF wasn't turning out at all like he expected, and if this could happen to SEELE's puppet armies, it could happen to him too. He abruptly got up from his chair and turned to Fuyutsuki.
"This doesn't matter anymore," he said to his former professor. "I don't know about you, but I'm not taking any chances. I've got to put the scenario into motion!"
Fuyutsuki looked at his former student confusedly. "Ikari, what are you-?"
"Fuyutsuki, take care of things here," a now manic-sounding Gendo ordered, handing over command. "I've got a date with the Second Angel, if you'll excuse me." He took a quick moment to look around at Central Dogma, as if for one last time. "It's quite a ship we've built, old friend-I think you should go down with it." He then turned and quickly began making his way to the elevator to Terminal Dogma. "Goodbye!"
"Ikari? Ikari! Where are you-?" Fuyutsuki called after him. "My god, of all times for you to lose it..." He then glanced upwards for a moment. "Yui, forgive me, I couldn't stop him..."
Back on the lower bridge, the staff was astonished by how the tide of the battle was turning. In every part of HQ, the JSSDF squads were being turned back by the very same ghosts, ghouls and other freaks that had run amok for the past several months within their walls. They then began to notice something peculiar about the way they were being driven back.
"Hang on, something just occurred to me," Misato observed. Then a lightbulb went off for her. "The JSSDF troops-they're being herded back up!"
"What? Why?" Ritsuko wondered.
"For once, I don't have a clue," Misato answered. "But we'll worry about that later. Right now, I think it's time we put the fear of God into the armored divisions topside." She then called up the EVA pilots on the comms. "You guys ready?"
"Ready!" Shinji, Asuka and Toji replied.
"Evangelions, launch!" Misato ordered. Soon, the catapults went into motion and sent Units-01, 02, and 03 topside, where they landed some yards in front of the main building.
JSSDF command post, Mt. Futagoyama...
From what few urgent communiques the division commander was receiving from his troops, things weren't going the way they'd intended. Halfway into their infiltration and storming of the Geofront and NERV HQ, troops were suddenly being driven back by rejects from a horror movie-and not even one titled The Devil's Rejects.
"This is more difficult than expected," the commander observed.
"We never get the easy jobs," his sub-commander lamented. "I mean, sure, we've had our fair share of difficult ops, but this just takes the cake!"
Terminal Dogma, cloning lab...
Rei stood in front of the empty, LCL-filled tank that once held her other counterparts, doing tricks with a yo-yo, feeling quite bored. She then looked at her watch.
"Hmmm, Gendo should be here right about...now," she said, just as the aforementioned ex-NERV commander stopped at the threshold of the lab, panting.
"Rei...*huff* I thought *huff* you'd *huff* be here," Gendo said, winded from his mad dash to Terminal Dogma. God, I'm out of shape, he thought to himself.
Rei turned and looked at him, faking a neutral, emotionless expression on her face. "Of course," she said in a monotone fashion. "The promised time has come. Let us go."
With that, the two of them headed towards the Chamber of Gauf.
The bridge...
"Have you given top priority to isolating Terminal Dogma?" Fuyutsuki asked.
"Already taken care of," Makoto replied. "Though I wonder why they didn't just try to blow up Central Dogma."
"They can't-they'd take out the MAGI in the process," Ritsuko said.
"At least they're not using BC weapons," Shigeru noted. "Didn't exactly prepare a defense against that."
"Same with N2 weapons," Maya added. Just then, a large explosion was heard. After managing to get camera access back online, the staff saw what it was: the Geofront had been opened up by the dropping of an N2 warhead.
"You just HAD to say that," Shigeru said as he eyed Maya.
"Aren't they being a bit overkill?" Makoto asked.
"Playing rough, aren't we?" Fuyutsuki said as he cynically smirked.
The office of the Japanese prime minister, a couple of minutes later...
"Those idiots!" the Prime Minister shouted. "Thanks to them, the phone lines are dead!"
"Yes, sir," his secretary said. "Ballistic warhead impact was confirmed three minutes ago."
The Prime Minister grumbled as he turned to the other person in his office at that moment.
"So these are the lengths SEELE will go to," he said. "Attacking innocent people, just to initiate Third Impact...the mere thought sends shivers down my spine."
Kaji nodded at the Prime Minister's statement. "Compare them to some of the worst dictators of history, and there'd be no contest," he said.
"What will we do now?" the Prime Minister asked.
Kaji looked out the window towards the direction of Tokyo-3. "Hard to believe, but it's now all on a group of kids to turn the tide...and prevent the end of the world in the process. Still, we have to believe in them."
The secretary shook her head. "Jesus Christ, when did life turn into a shonen mecha anime...?" she asked rhetorically.
The Geofront...
The three EVAs had ducked out of the way as the hole had been blown in the Geofront, pushing their AT-Fields to the max. They then quickly got back on their feet as they saw the advancing armored column heading their way. Shinji turned on Unit-01's speakers as he addressed the column.
"Attention all JSSDF troops!" Shinji said. "Stop your advance and turn around. We do NOT want to harm you in any way. Our AT-Fields, if not our 12,000 plates of special armor, are impervious to artillery fire, you cannot harm us! Turn back now and we can settle this peacefully."
Good job, Shinji, Yui thought to herself from within Unit-01's core. Just like we rehearsed...
"In other words," Asuka started to say through Unit-02's speakers, "SCRAM, or we'll treat you like a bunch of cheap GI Joes!"
"ASUKA!" Kyoko chided from within Unit-02's core.
"...Sorry," Asuka sheepishly apologized. "It's been a pretty tense morning, okay?"
At that, the JSSDF troops and their vehicles immediately began to back away in retreat, not even bothering to make an attempt to sever the EVAs' power cables.
The SEELE war room...
The SEELE council was further incensed by the way the battle was going.
"*HHHHHH* First our troops are driven back by ghosts, and now the loathsome Evangelions..." Kihl muttered. "Do they stand in our way yet again? It seems we must fight fire with fire..."
NERV HQ, the bridge...
"Radar's picked up nine bogies closing in!" Makoto reported with alarm.
"Are they what I think they are?" Misato asked.
"Affirmative," Makoto replied. "The specifications fit. They're EVA carriers."
"Then that means..." Misato began to say.
"The EVA series..." Asuka finished. "They're here..."
END Chapter 18.
**Author's Note(s)**
This is almost the end...Almost the end, my friend(s), the end...
Yes, the two allied NERV branches beat back the hacking of the MAGI using Pac-Man. Gotta get my laughs where I can.
Mel Brooks gets riffed on in a few instances here. The zombie guard giving advice to the JSSDF squad, and Gendo telling Fuyutsuki to 'go down with the ship', comes from Spaceballs; the tollbooth bit is lifted from Blazing Saddles.
Said tollbooth, as described by Maya, is described as such in a riff on Jules Feiffer's 1961 children's book The Phantom Tollbooth.
The name of the through-way is a portmanteau of Maxwell Gaines, the founder of EC Comics, known for its array of horror and crime comic books; and Junji Ito, legendary horror manga-ka.
Beetlejuice adopts the guises of, and paraphrases, three different iconic movie heroes when he and his armies drive off the troops: William Wallace from Braveheart, Ash Williams from the Evil Dead franchise, and Nada the drifter from They Live.
Coming soon: a climax that'll leave you astounded!...I hope...