Hey guys, back again. Long wait this time, my bad.
What happens next has a lot of moving parts, so I had to decide on the pacing. Not easy. There's a few scenes that I found... hard to write. Regardless, finally updated.
Here's chapter 51: "Lorenz"
"He was there since the beginning. Before I was even born. He worked from behind the scenes and rarely took the reins himself. He enjoyed it, molding the pieces on the board in-person or from afar. Pulling the strings.
He enjoyed holding power. He relished his little games… that's the kind of man Keel Lorenz was."
– Shinji Ikari.
"Congratulations."
"… yes, sir."
"Shinji, my boy, you have shown such remarkable improvement this past year. At long last, the day you have been waiting for has arrived."
The two figures walked the outer courtyard of the compound. A slice of spacious green amid the enclosed sterile white. The boy, a youth on the cusp of being a teenager, was dressed in his plain street clothes for the first time in many years, he carried with him a single suitcase, a repository for all his possessions in the world.
An Elderly Man accompanied the youth, walking cane rapping against the ground softly, escorting him personally from the grounds to the front gate. A butcher leading his lamb on the path to slaughter.
Keel Lorenz smiled at his asset.
SEELE had gathered all the data that could be attained at this time. The rest would have to come after the Freak began his piloting runs and when the Angel War resumed. The paved road ahead fit into their design, and so the boy would be allowed to leave the ward.
"… Mr. Keel… I… will my father take me home-" Shinji said meekly.
"Oh no. Gendo is a very busy man, I'm afraid. So, I am here. I wanted to see you off myself," Keel answered.
Shinji nodded, his eyes avoiding the visor, expression downcast.
Quiet. Distant. Socially awkward. Isolation has left its mark upon him, Keel noted.
Yet in spite of it all, the manipulations, the experiments, the lies, the data gathered, there was still a boy in there. That would prove useful. Keel observed as Shinji Ikari walked in a dream-like daze, a reserved and cautious thing, a barely believed jubilation as the boy's day of supposed freedom came.
"Okay," the boy said, his voice flat, no doubt expecting the answer.
Keel gave him a sympathetic look and patted his arm reassuringly. You will live long enough to fulfill your role, boy. This I promise you.
The front gate came into view, and Keel paused a moment. The boy stopped with him.
"Tell me truthfully. The Voice. Has it returned at all?"
Shinji's face grew pale, the youth shuddered inwardly. It was so sudden and subtle that Keel would have missed it if it were not for the technology assisting his decrepit optic nerves.
Perfect. Fear of the 'madness'. Adam's Vessel has been taught to ignore the infection within its brain. SEELE will not have its Freak untamed.
"No sir. Not for months now," Shinji answered. The boy had taken a second to grow firm, to gather the strength needed to openly address his supposed illness.
"And the dreams?"
"None."
The words left the child in a silent outburst. Stammered along far too quickly for normal converse.
Keel stared silently, his aged face an unreadable mask.
"I- I mean, no sir. I haven't had any dreams like that either. No seizures, no voice, no dreams, no… getting lost… not for months. I take my medicine. I do," Shinji said. The boy took his time with his words, overcompensating for his prior outburst.
Keel put a hand on his shoulder.
"That is wonderful to hear. We are placing our trust in you, my boy. You will be responsible for your continued medication from here on out. Take your pills. Please, reach out to Dr. Page if any issues arise."
"I understand," Shinji said doing his best to sound firm.
Keel nodded.
"I'm better, sir. I am. I promise. I don't have to be here anymore."
Keel saw the hope in the child's eyes, the pure relief at finally leaving the ward and re-entering the world. Once again, a resounding success. The Freak would have more than sufficient motivation to avoid a 'relapse' of his condition, to continually administer the toxin to himself, and go along the path paved for him willingly.
The boy's medication had been risky. Entire pharmaceutical departments had been secretly devoted to developing and manufacturing the pills, iterating repeatedly until it was perfected. Toxic chemicals that selectively damaged brain tissue, slowing the Angel DNA down and keeping SEELE's asset under the control of a manipulated child.
"I believe you," he told Shinji.
Keel released him and together they continued the walk to the front gate.
Dr. Page and another man were waiting outside with a car parked and ready. Shinji's eyes met the two figures as the entrance was opened for them.
"Teacher," Shinji said in a surprised greeting.
"Hello again, Shinji. Your father sent me to get you. You'll be staying with me for the foreseeable future," the man said kindly.
Shinji nodded slowly, taking in the open road ahead that led away from the ward. Awe, hope, bits of joy, it all bled into the boy's eyes. Exposed naivety.
"This is goodbye, Shinji. I wish you the very best of luck in your new life," Dr. Page said getting the boy's attention.
"Yes. Thank you," Shinji said. A feeble smile emerging on his face.
Dr. Page smiled at him, and the boy's expression fell slightly. He tried to hide it, but part of him was still uneasy.
"Let me help you with your things," Page said moving to take Shinji's suitcase.
Keel turned to Shinji's teacher and current temporary guardian.
"Do take good care of him," Keel told the man.
"Of course, sir," the teacher and caretaker said.
They shook hands, and Keel met the man's eyes. Another of his employees, an Agent of SEELE who would watch over the Freak and report on his status. An operative who had been assigned to the boy for a long time now, first as leverage against Gendo, and now to oversee Keel's asset.
CLICK.
The car trunk closed with a soft thud, and Dr. Page opened the door for Shinji. It was time to say their farewells for now.
"It's a long drive back into the city. We better get going. Did you pack your medicine?" the teacher asked.
"Yeah," Shinji said. Then in one final goodbye, Shinji turned to Keel and Dr. Page, and took a deep breath, savoring the fresh open air.
"Thank you. Thank you for helping me. I was… I'm better now. I take my medicine. I can handle the treatments on my own. You'll see. I'm responsible," the boy said.
"Think nothing of it, my boy. What matters now is that you are free. Go then, your new home awaits you," Keel said in farewell.
Keel watched as the car drove out of the lot and left the ward, disappearing into the distance heading for the city miles and miles away. Page stood beside him, his assistant through and through.
He turned to her and gave the order.
"Prepare the girl. She is to begin training as an Eva Pilot within the year. She will join Nerv shortly after the boy has."
Mari Illustrious Makinami, the plans I have for you.
"It will be done, sir," Page said. She turned to go and began making phone calls.
Keel lingered a moment watching the road leading out of the ward, aging eyes framed within artificial optics. Cold eyes that saw pawns moving into place.
The Present Day.
Bunker.
"Again," Keel called.
There was a harsh slapping sound as human skin was bruised further, blood spilled, and a teenager panted as his body wobbled in the restraints and bolted chair. A prisoner cast in an illuminated oasis within a sea of black.
Holographic stone monoliths hovered above, projected from an unseen source, a gathered SEELE observing the scene from behind expressionless avatars. Armed guards in black stood to the sides of the room, bordering the illuminated circle.
Shinji Ikari flinched, eyes closed tight, his head bobbing from the blows and struggling to breathe with the bomb strapped around his neck.
"You have developed an impressive resistance to pain, my boy," Keel noted.
The blows continued, a lone guard slamming his gloved fists into the teenaged prisoner.
Keel sat across for the scene, cool and reserved, basking in his place of power. He took the time to enjoy his little games whilst he could. An undertaking a lifetime in the making was on its way.
It had been a struggle even to survive until today, one that would have conquered lesser men, but not Keel Lorenz.
His body had begun to betray him some years ago, and so he been forced to limit himself for most matters. Age was a cruel mistress with no mercy, and thus he had had to invest resources to sustain his body, to create the technology to preserve a decaying and frail excuse of a soon-to-be carcass. A vessel that was woefully inadequate for the world's most ambitious mind.
For all his power and wealth, he had finally reached the battle that had claimed every man before him. Mortality. To know that one's days are numbered. That no matter how much he achieved, no matter how much influence he acquired, no matter how many danced to his tune, death would take him in the end.
Or perhaps not.
Human Instrumentality provided the chance to defeat mankind's oldest enemy, a victory that only the greatest of men deserved. An achievement reserved for a seldom few, paid for in blood by the plebeian masses. It was his right, his duty, his reward for his ambitions. The road to Godhood was not for the faint of heart, filled with unforeseen developments that brought about change.
Such ambitions had called Keel to come here in person. To preside over the undertaking himself, let lesser men cower behind their displays from afar.
"Hold," Keel said, speaking as if ordering a drink.
The guard stopped his blows, and Shinji slumped into his seat, wheezing softly and struggling to breathe.
"How do you influence the Angel network?"
"Who was piloting Unit 01?"
"Are you Adam's Vessel? Or are you not?"
"Have you been communicating with the First Angel?"
"What have you been planning?"
The questions hung in the air. Missing pieces of the puzzle that lay ambiguous. Dozens of eyes bore into the bloodied and battered teenager, and still, the silence held.
Keel tsked audibly and rose to his feet. The boy had proven a nuisance in their war against the traitorous Gendo, a mystery that they had thought solved, only to be shown variables that changed the equation.
Shinji peered up at him, wheezing heavily, bloodied eyes framed within a purple and blackened youthful face. The whites of his eyes were red from burst capillaries, it gave the boy a strange appearance, red irises framed in a sea of red.
Nearby, SEELE's Great Machine whirred as screens updated with recorded Angel network activity. The unseen threads pulled, and spear fragments reacted, an action that was entirely invisible to mortal senses.
"… Human Instrumentality…" the boy wheezed, a loose collection of words that escaped cracked and bloodied lips.
"Hmm?" Keel questioned calmly.
"… Won't work… you… can't… do it…" Shinji mumbled, his voice hoarse and raw.
"We'll see about that."
"… you're insane…"
"You are avoiding my questions," Keel said. He gestured to the guard to continue.
The boy cried out as the blows began again, fists slamming into his chest this time.
Keel leaned on his walking cane, looming over the scene. The punishment served the boy, for daring to interfere with SEELE, for the sheer arrogance to undermine their undertaking. For the audacity to deceive them, to play them along under false assertions.
An assistant appeared beside him and whispered an update.
"Sir. They are preparing for their assault. Mari is with them."
Keel scoffed. They must be truly desperate to go to her. A cripple and a traitor?
It was amusing, the lengths these little fireflies went to in order to delay the inevitable. The undertaking was already more than halfway complete.
The Outside.
Sirens blared overhead through the city and limited sections of the outskirts. Lines of cars clogged the highways, army and police forces directed traffic, and panicked faces hurried along.
The city was slowly becoming a ghost town. An abandoned concrete jungle that was the civilian sectors near SEELE's base, the 'human shield' slowly being peeled away.
It wasn't going fast enough. The Nuclear Option would take innocent lives if deployed. Exactly what Keel had been counting on.
Still, the joint military and police forces continued onward. Moving everyone they could out for their safety.
Elsewhere, two Evangelion Units were deployed miles away from the enemy base. Two manmade titans overlooking the scene. JSSDF had taken position as well, multiple remote-controlled artillery stations, small squads of soldiers spread out, and spy drones patrolling as close as they dared.
Ghostly white undead, the MP Evas, stood in a ring around the compound as the first line of defense. Silent guardians of SEELE's base. More beast than machine, each carried a replica spear, standing vigil even as the assault was being prepared. When it came to the Evangelions on land, there was no such thing as stealth.
An AT Field shone overhead in a dome-like structure, protecting SEELE's compound from bombardment, as the second line of defense. An artificial shield that must have cost an astronomical amount of funds and resources to forge.
Lastly, within the shielded compound itself, was a collection of buildings. In addition, defensive pillars and walls had been deployed from underground. It was like a miniature and condensed version of Tokyo-03's defenses, a battlefield designed for Evangelion scale combat.
JSSDF reconnaissance had also observed mercenaries patrolling with the best gear that money could buy. Intel was still limited on the layout of the compound.
A mixture of human and Eva based warfare. Three rings of defenses for a fortress that shouldn't have been possible to build on Japanese soil. SEELE's reach stretched far indeed.
…
"I'm giving you the chance to extract the children. But make no mistake. If it comes to it, I'm calling for Nuclear Release. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," Lieutenant Colonel Hashi said into the comm.
"You'll kill countless civilians in the city," Mari said slowly into the comm.
"I know that," Hashi said, his voice harsh and bitter. The Battalion Commander had not approved of her presence in the assault. Very few had.
Mari bit her lip. She would find no allies here; her presence was merely tolerated at best, and her viewpoints were downright shunned.
She pondered what SEELE would have done if their positions were reversed. What would Keel Lorenz do? She knew the answer immediately, Keel wouldn't hesitate to use the nuclear option, all sacrifices would be deemed acceptable for the mission's success.
"You do that, and we lose the Second and Third Children. We lose two of the only remaining Eva Pilots. And the Hybrid is still out there. Your nukes are little more than toys when compared to Adam and Lilith," the Broken Man's voice cut in suddenly.
Hashi scowled softly over the comm. The man had no rebuke to that, and they knew it.
"We're counting on both of you," Hashi said at last.
"We'll do our part. You do yours," the Broken Man replied, his voice strained and rough.
The plan was straightforward enough. Send the Evangelions to take down the MP Evas, destroy the artificial AT Field and open the path for invasion. Then let the JSSDF rescue the captured pilots and take Keel Lorenz into custody with support from Units 00 and 03.
Have to take all the MP Evas first. They'll never let us get close until every single one of them is put down, Mari thought. She was sure everyone had reached the same conclusion.
Mari took a deep breath, gripping the controls of Unit 03 tight. Life was strange to bring her back into SEELE's hands. The fate of the entire world was on their shoulders, it was a familiar weight, but if she was honest with herself, and she often was as of late, then that wasn't what drove her.
"This is insane… the technology that SEELE was able to develop…" Ritsuko's voice cut in suddenly. A hint of awe mixed in with the fear in her tone.
The AT Field that surrounded the compound in a dome-like structure wasn't being generated by an Evangelion Unit. Instead, the shield originated from an eerily white 'tower' in the center of the base, shining bright as the barrier was maintained. Almost like an Eva that had been purpose build to generate a shield and nothing else.
"How did Keel build this? All in the 'backyard' of his ward... this much private property is insane. A small city. Why? The amount of cover-ups, palms were greased. And the defenses, he expected an Evangelion countermeasure," Kaji said suddenly. The spy rarely spoke on the comms.
"Gendo Ikari," Mari answered.
All the others grew silent, and she imagined them looking at her expectantly in grudging respect that she may know more than they did.
"Keel suspected that his puppet had turned traitor. He prepared a scenario where Gendo would strike back. He even prepared for a JSSDF invasion. This is their endgame, they pulled out all the stops. Everything they had," Mari said flatly.
"Humph. Keel is paranoid. But no one can foresee every outcome. There's always the unknown factor," Kaji said coolly.
Unit 00 shifted its weight, stolen replica spear in hand.
Who in the world could have foreseen you? Mari thought, considering the presence of the Other Shinji.
"Clear the path for my men," Hashi said over the comm.
"Then break through the shield. Destroy the tower," Ritsuko added.
Rescue Shinji… rescue Asuka... Mari thought.
There was another pilot missing.
A haunting image of the girl who had crippled her crossed her mind's eye. Mari had been briefed; she knew what had happened to Rei. She found that she almost felt sorry for the girl, even after all that had happened.
It wasn't your fault, dummy. Don't blame yourself. You always do, Mari thought.
Even now, she could picture that sweet boy that she had betrayed. The boy who had seemed to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders, more so than any of the pilots. The boy who was too good for this world.
"We need to move. Now. They've been busy," the Broken Man cut in suddenly.
"The civilians and the city?" Kaji asked.
"Evacuations are ongoing. We can't wait any longer. We're doing our best to get them out of harm's way, but whatever SEELE's planning, they've already had a head start," Hashi answered.
"Go. The JSSDF will support you."
Mari nodded, working the controls of Unit 03. The Broken Man did the same with Unit 00. The joint operation between what remained of Nerv and the reorganized JSSDF commenced.
Evangelion Unit 00 and 02 marched forward with thunderous footsteps. Two knights heading into the dragons' lair.
Mari was fully equipped with her rifle, a holstered pistol and knife, and finally a recovered replica spear. She held the spear in her hand, with the rifle sheathed on her back.
Her partner needed no guns whatsoever and favored another stolen spear and seemingly nothing else. This 'man', this Abomination that not even SEELE had foreseen accurately, wielded powers that no other pilot did. Not even her Shinji.
Hold on, dummy. We're coming.
Together, the reformed Eva Team Two marched through the empty lands that separated the base from the rest of the city and even the mental ward. Miles of empty streets and grassland.
With their movement, the ring of MP Evas that surrounded the compound stirred. The undead horde broke their silent vigil and stepped forward one by one.
Mari began to breathe hard, exhaling and inhaling, her prosthetic leg whirling its mixture of mechanical and electronic ambiance. Her plugsuit ran loose on her, she was thin and almost gaunt, most of her body fat had been burned away, having lost too much weight since being hospitalized.
Her body ached silently with every movement. A constant reminder that she was a cripple pulled along at great cost by alien forces and unheard-of levels of drug and steroid use.
"HZZZZZ" – the unnatural hiss of the undead titans murmured. It sent the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.
Seven of them marched forward. Seven white dragons coming to face the opposing Knights head-on.
"Two stayed at their post. They don't abandon the shield completely," the Broken Man said into the comm.
Mari noticed that this Other Shinji beside her was right. They really would have to kill all of them to get through.
Suddenly and without warning the oncoming MP Evas broke into a run. They stormed forward with a feral almost animal-like savagery. The ground was cracked and mounds of dirt were sent up into the air as the white titans charged across the land.
Four of them leaped into the air with strange wings spreading as they did so. Propelled into the sky by AT Forces that SEELE had stolen from the Angels, the MP Evas flew overhead casting long eerie shadows.
The three that remained on the ground charged forward. An attack from two fronts, sky, and land.
Light flashed, almost blinding in its brightness, and Mari flinched as beside her Unit 00 was momentarily engulfed in white. Then, Wings of solid light materialized from the Eva's back and the Broken Man took to the skies as well.
Unit 00 shot off like a missile. It tore through the skies at a near-supersonic speed. The marvel of human engineering left a stream of bright light in its wake as it charged the airborne dragons.
The Broken Man collided with the four MP Evas and they clashed. Four against one. The spears met sending sparks into the air, the AT Blade flashed, and white flesh parted sending blood dropping down below.
It was a whirlwind of dogfighting between Evangelion Units.
Mari let the stolen spear drop from her hand, tossing it to her Eva's feet beside her, and unsheathed the pellet rifle. She took up her stance and fired in a two-handed grip.
She fired in short, controlled bursts, sending dozens of truck-sized rounds screaming into the skies above.
The dogfight above was interrupted, multiple MP Evas flinched and wobbled, as bullets slammed into their backs and wings. Mari was careful with her targets.
The Broken Man landed a solid spear thrust in a weakened MP Eva's torso. The undead giant screeched as it was hit. The corpse was forced from the spear and fell below in a crash, an upheaval of dirt that left a crater in its wake.
Another MP Eva fell from the sky, wounded but not dead, it spiraled before reasserting itself mid-air. With a sickening hiss, the creature flew upward coming to re-join the battle with Unit 00.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
Mari put three rounds into its wing and the MP Eva spiraled once again. She helped her partner with crowd control and gave him the space he needed to balance the fight in his favor. Her support couldn't last forever though and they both knew it.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
Cover me. Cover me, Mari thought.
The three MP Evas that had never taken flight were coming for her, spreading out in a pincer attack to take her from all sides.
BOOM.
A fireball engulfed the MP Eva coming for her right.
BOOM.
Another fireball engulfed the MP Eva coming for her left.
Both undead titans were sent stumbling back by sheer kinetic force as rocket artillery slammed into their torsos. Burns littered the pale white flesh exposing bits of muscle underneath. They hissed in that monstrous way of theirs, their bodies already beginning to repair the damage.
Artillery and other conventional weaponry could not kill these beasts, SEELE's wrath upon Nerv and the JSSDF had proven that, but it had also proven that such weapons could damage and slow them down.
The MP Eva coming for her from the front charged forward, undeterred by its slowed brethren.
Mari shifted, lowering the barrel of her rifle from the sky, and fired the rest of her clip into the oncoming MP Eva. She held her finger on the trigger until the clip was out.
Bullets tore through undead white flesh and the MP Eva flinched back wobbling and forced to come to a stop. Mari sprayed the beast across its torso and legs, aiming to disable its mobility for as long as she could.
The MP Eva roared as one of its knees disappeared into a tangle of red mesh and bone. The titan fell to the ground forced to crawl.
BOOM.
The crawling undead was hit by artillery and slammed into the ground. It wouldn't stay down for long.
The other two had recovered and were coming for her. Left or right? Which to handle? It sent her heart-pounding to be in combat once again. Forced to make decisions in split-seconds that would decide whether she lived or died.
She chose.
Mari didn't have the time to reload, she hurled her rifle at the beast coming for her right. The pellet gun slammed into the MP Eva's face and the creature wobbled with a shriek.
Mari whirled, scooping her stolen replica spear from the ground, and planting her Eva's feet moments before the third undead titan came upon her.
The foul creature leaped like some kind of rapid cougar, having dropped its spear, and came for her. It tried to pounce on her, to bring her to the ground and devour her.
Mari plunged her spear into the MP Eva's heart mid-leap. The spear tip pierced through the white flesh and struck true. She felt the impact as the S2 engine was shattered.
"Ahhh," Mari grunted, gasping for breath as the phantom sensation struck her.
Her leg… her leg wasn't right. The prosthetic leg hummed along, responding to her brain and moving as close as possible to her original limb, the Eva responding in kind, but there was still something missing.
She felt her leg buckle awkwardly and her muscles straining. The Eva's phantom sensations conflicted with her body where the nerve endings had been surgically severed. The result was a sharp and lingering burn as the ghost of a limb cried out in pain.
Toes that were no longer there curled in agony. Bone that no longer existed shook.
It wasn't just her missing leg that hurt. It was her entire body, her 'real' body, it rattled from the strain brought about by the phantom sensations. Her muscles screamed at her… whatever had been done to her… it wasn't natural… she still wasn't fully healed.
"Mari!" Ritsuko cried into her ear via the comm.
No time! She thought. There was a battle waging.
Mari whirled her Eva, struggling to hold the spear up with the weight of the impaled corpse. She flung the dead beast free of the spear. She hurled the corpse to one of her foes.
The MP Eva that had been coming for her left skittered back, raising its arms to block the hunk of mass tossed its way.
The one she had brought to a crawl, having destroyed its knee, was back on its feet. Its flesh was whirling, repairing the burns along its torso, rushing forward with a spear raised.
Mari's eyes widened as she saw the throw coming.
"No AT Field. They cut through them!" Ritsuko cried over the comm.
WHOOSH.
The burned MP Eva launched its spear at her, and Mari swerved having to put weight on her prosthetic leg. She gritted her teeth from the effort.
"Ahhhh," Mari hissed as the spear grazed against her Eva's side. Where the metal passed by, it cut into the plate armor like it were paper and scrapped against Unit 03's skin.
Blood dripped down staining the metal of the Eva's armor. A graze that had torn through the metal and flesh of Unit 03. It stung, a line of weakness that crept into her body.
Her foe was still coming for her. She wobbled, having to fix her footing, and swiped with the spear forcing the beast back.
In the back of her mind, a warning flashed. A reminder that there were two beasts that had charged her.
WHOOSH.
A spike of pain erupted across her back just as she tried to swerve. A spear tip emerged from Unit 03's upper torso as the weapon impaled her Eva in the upper back near her left shoulder blade.
She cried out in pain brought to her knees, the Eva following suit. Ritsuko and Kaji's voice called to her on the comms but she couldn't hear them. Her world turned black.
No time…
She was rusty. Her time away from piloting, her time away from even training, was starting to show, and her body's weaknesses added to the toll.
Mari raised her hands, both of them, and reached deep within for the alien forces of the AT Field.
The two MP Evas leaped at her, pouncing on their prey in a coordinated attack. Twin shields of solid light erupted into existence moments before they made contact.
"Ahhhhh!" Mari cried as the twin dragons landed atop her shields. Her arms strained and she felt her chest constrict as her Eva struggled under the collected mass of the undead titans.
The MP Evas didn't stop their assault. They clawed and shrieked, pressing her into the ground so hard that it cracked. Her shields held like a dome of solid light, a hardened bubble that separated her from her foes.
Warning signs flashed across her display. Warnings about her heart rate and vital signs. She ignored them.
THUD.
The three titans were breaking the earth under all that collected mass. Together they began to slowly sink into a newly forming crater. She was pinned, unable to escape from an onslaught that her shields couldn't stop forever.
"Artillery. Fire… on my… location…" Mari wheezed.
Shinji always made this look easy… two shields…
"Mari?! Your shields-"
"They'll hold! Just… do it!" she screamed, closing her eyes tight.
"Firing," Hashi's voice cut in before Ritsuko could protest on the comms.
Mari knelt there, pinned by two MP Evas, protected by her twin shields, for what seemed like an eternity. She peeked a glance to the sky, and beyond the nightmarish sight of the undead titans trying to reach her, she glimpsed Unit 00 dogfighting with three more of the white blurs above.
Her partner couldn't help her. Not yet.
BOOM.
Rocket artillery slammed into her position. The fireball engulfed the two MP Evas pinning her, and her AT Fields held strong keeping the blast at bay.
"HZZZZZZZZZZZ," the dragons shrieked. The sheer kinetic energy behind the attacks startled them, the fire burnt their flesh, yet still, they pressed forward trying to break her shield.
It was the element of surprise that had truly slowed them down the first time. Now they were growing accustomed to such bombardment. Even now, bones crunched as they rearranged small fractures, flesh expanded stitching itself back, dead burnt flesh was replaced with new growths.
"Again!" Mari cried. The foul beasts repaired themselves.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
Six strikes of continuous bombardment came and fell upon them. Each hit ringing her eardrums and shaking the earth. Each followed by feral savage shrieks. Yet her shield held.
Mari refused to let her AT Fields break. She fought for more than her petty excuse of a life. She could not fall. Not yet.
The MP Evas burned and bent from the blows. Their bodies twisted and flailed until finally their savage attempt to break her shield slowed and then stopped…
Now!
Her foes had taken enough damage to momentarily stop them in their tracks. It wouldn't last, even now they were already repairing themselves.
"Stop!" Mari cried into the comm.
She gritted her teeth and shot up to her feet. Her Eva followed suit, rising from the ashes and newly formed craters with a whirl of movement. The alien forces of her AT Fields repelled against the rotting undead atop them and sent them flying back.
With upheavals of dirt the MP Evas crashed landed on either side of her with force enough to make bones snap. Still, the beasts did not die, they stirred trying to regain their footing, their bodies twisting and turning to repair themselves.
With a grunt, Mari pulled the impaled spear out of her upper back. LCL gushed outward, weeping from her Eva Unit's shoulder blade, and she had to fight to stay upright.
"Oh my god. Mari, your vitals are-"
"I can take it!" Mari snapped back.
She wielded the spear in her hands and brought it down upon the closest MP Eva she could reach. The MP Eva roared in agony.
Mari cursed. She had missed the S2 engine. The beast reached a clawed hand up to grab the spear impaled in its chest.
CRASH.
Another two MP Evas came falling down from the skies, dead. The Broken Man was still battling overhead, a glowing streak of light overhead that clashed with swarms of white.
Mari yanked the spear free of the MP Eva she had stabbed. The creature howled as blood gushed out, a wound that would not and could not heal.
She slammed the spear down a second time. She felt the impact as the S2 engine was hit, the internal battery shattered to pieces and the white titan drew its last breath.
… stay down… just… stay down… Mari thought, her eyes alight in a rage. Things weren't going fast enough. Shinji… Shinji needed her.
Footsteps thundered behind her as the other MP Eva rose, its skin healing, its limbs having corrected themselves. Mari unholstered her pistol and fired three shots into the dragon lazily.
All three rounds hit their mark and the beast shrieked.
Mari pulled the spear free again, slashing wide and putting distance between her and her foe. Her arm was heavy and slowed from her wounds…
Forward onto the base itself, the remaining guards left their formation and took flight. Two more MP Evas were joining the fight. The reinforcements splitting to join the fray, one titan heading for Mari and the other heading for the Broken Man.
At the same time.
The world around him was a sea of dark blues with streaks of red.
Distantly, he could hear the roar and screams of a battle being waged. The ripple of titans as they clashed. Here, wherever here was, it was distorted, but there was no mistaking that familiar rumble.
Evangelions were doing battle nearby. SEELE's endgame was in sight and a countermeasure had risen to challenge them. And what was Shinji Ikari's contribution as the fate of mankind hung in the balance?
Nothing. He was a prisoner. A teenager in the clutches of familiar jailors.
His eyes were narrowed tight, almost closed, as his head hung as low as it could with the bomb around his neck. His face stung him, his lungs felt heavy, and his ribs ached in a way that he'd never known before.
Shinji Ikari was no stranger to pain. Not after the Eva Program, not after his many seizures, not after having walked in the shoes of another. Yet even still, pain is pain. It hurts no matter how accustomed you have grown to it. Physical pain was always weightier than those of the phantom sensations brought from the Eva.
Wounds upon the real body lingered in a way that phantom nerves didn't register. They ached; they blurred the senses together sapping away at your energy. They hollowed you out bit by bit from the inside.
Part of him wished the bomb would go off. That it would just end and at least he could take a few of them with him. Would the blast get Keel too? Would it even help? What of the other SEELE members watching from the safety of their holograms? But no, SEELE had known what they were doing, the bomb wouldn't detonate until they wanted it to.
There was still so much he needed to do. So much that he didn't know. What of Rei? What had happened to his friend… was she gone… had he failed her yet again? What had happened to Asuka? The Broken Man? Misato and Ritsuko? Kaji? Mari?... Mari…
So many questions that he pondered in the space between his wheezed agonized breaths. Wasn't time supposed to fly? Wasn't it supposed to blur as minutes passed? No, for Shinji, it was as if the clock was running three times slower.
Liquid ran down his face and over his lips. The familiar taste of iron registered on the tips of his taste buds. An old friend from his younger days filled with seizures.
Pointless… why do they even care about me…
"Ahhhh," he groaned softly.
His chest was wrong. It was cold… so very cold with throbbing pain that stretched deep into his ribs and beyond. The bullet… the bullet was still there, and the beatings were making it worse. He could feel it. His internal organs were hurt.
A hand touched his face and if he'd had the strength he would have flinched. Someone was brushing aside the blood from his face and mouth with a handkerchief. He could breathe a little easier.
"There, there, Shinji. Why do you make this so hard on yourself? What good can come of this? You are a child, not a soldier."
He opened his eyes wider glaring up at the newcomer.
Dr. Page was wiping his face clean. Her expression was concerned, and he knew it was fake. She didn't see people, she saw puzzles, patterns, objects to be studied and analyzed. An ominous figure in his life that had never fooled him.
"Aren't you tired? We can end this. Let us help you. We can make it stop-"
He spat in her face.
She dropped the handkerchief. Her cold eyes peered down at him as his blood-laden spit splattered over her face and stained her glasses.
"You don't get to do that. Not anymore," he croaked.
Page stared at him, expression cold and unreadable. The soldier from before, one of Keel's private guards, stepped forward but Keel raised a hand to stop him.
"No more lies. No more pretending to care. I never thought you did. I think I always knew… deep down…" Shinji rasped.
He had to strain himself not to wobble, to look into the eyes of this psychotic 'doctor' that loomed over his childhood. A haunting figured that had overseen his so-called treatment, for all he knew, she had had a hand in Mari.
These people… Keel… Page… SEELE… they play with our lives as if it were a game. They manipulate and sacrifice people over and over again with no end in sight.
They disgusted him. These old men and women who were so afraid to die. How many had paid the price for their ambitions? For their greed? Everyone in the Second Impact, Misato's father, Kaji's parents, Asuka's mom, the entirety of the Angel War, and now this, their ledger was bursting to the brim.
Page's expression didn't falter. Her static analytical eyes regarded him, and he could practically see the thoughts running through her head. She was calculating the damage to his body and studying him even now for hints of communication with the voice.
"How rude. Very well, no more games," Page told him. She wiped her face clean with the sleeve of her shirt.
Shinji scoffed inwardly, and immediately regrated it.
His ribs ached so hard that he slumped into his seat. He grimaced, his eyes closing tight momentarily from the strain. It was more than ribs, more than his chest, his internal organs were damaged. He could tell… he could feel something wrong deeper.
"You were very well cared for. Mr. Keel's generosity saw to that. And this is how you repay that kindness."
"You made me think I was insane!" Shinji managed to rasp through gritted teeth.
He wrenched his face up and glared up at her.
"All my life… I never trusted myself! I couldn't trust my own eyes and ears! You were there from the beginning… manipulating me… poisoning me…" Shinji wheezed.
He felt tears almost well up inside him. A bitter somber glare emerged from anger and sorrow. It was too much, back in the hands of SEELE after having learned the truth behind his life. So many painful realizations that shocked him to his core, only to end up back in his cage.
He coughed violently and blood came out once more.
Come on! Come on!
He reached for the abilities that had been shared with him. He flexed his fingers within their restraints, struggling to open his palm, and call forth an AT Field. What he wouldn't have given to break free and then… and then do what?
SEELE's men surrounded him, Keel's private guard, and surely more soldiers outside. Multiple MP Evas were outside as well, he could hear them. There was no way to escape.
Silence was his answer putting the fantasies to a dead end. The drugs kept his powers denied to him.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Keel was standing over him, leaning on his walking cane.
"Come now, Shinji, we both know you enjoyed yourself. What teenage boy wouldn't have loved the attention that she gave you. The experiences that she allowed you to indulge. Ah, to be young again," Keel said.
Mari…
The words hung at the tip of his tongue. The betrayal was still fresh for him, and the box that he had placed all his pain into from the betrayal, rattled inside him. It was a wound that cut deeper than any injury upon his body. It was to see his life back at him darkened. Tainted. Every moment of joy, of intimacy, of love, turned to ashes in his mouth.
Shinji looked away unable and unwilling to speak of her. Least of all to the man who had pulled the strings.
"Mari Illustrious Makinami," Keel sighed, remarkably civil in his mockery.
Shinji felt his lips tremble at her name given voice by SEELE.
"I must say, she was a rather disappointing investment. All that work and even she couldn't get you to talk. I even went to the trouble of getting her sterilized, all for you. There were to be no unwanted accidents," Keel continued. He spoke as if it was a minor inconvenience, their lives were his playthings.
He enjoys this… he revels in his power over people. He sticks his hand into the wounds and twists them. All that wealth and influence, and it's still not enough for him, Shinji thought.
There was no benefit to this. It was done to hurt him, Shinji realized.
Keel's tone grew stern and menacing. "But you are correct, my boy. The time for games is over. And as entertaining as this has been, the Undertaking awaits."
Another voice emerged.
"Hum Hummmmm."
Shinji blinked, bruised and purple eyelids closing and opening slowly. The sound of humming whispered into his ear, not Keel's voice, or even Dr. Page's. There one moment and then gone the next.
Keel was talking, gloating and calm in his assertions. He waved a hand and guards around him began to move.
There was no sound. Like all the world had been put on mute.
What… what's happening?
Time slowed and his vision blurred. Dr. Page beside him dissolved into a splatter of white and solid colors before fading to black.
Keel himself vanished. Disappearing into a black void that began to encompass everything.
The guards disappeared next.
The projected holograms of SEELE faded to black. The light illuminating his imprisoned form cut out.
He was in an endless void of black.
His head was hurting him. He felt it. He felt 'something' moving underneath his skull, like tiny blades cutting through his brain tissue. An old familiar sensation.
Shinji gasped and found that his lips didn't move. His body was his and yet not his.
"Hummmm" a voice hummed behind him.
A presence was with him in the blackened void, humming softly.
The Woman in the Dark wrapped her arms around his chest. Embracing him from behind. A comforting touch amid the bleak enemy-filled world around him. A lone respite in the ugliness and cruelty of his imprisonment.
You… he thought.
Soft pale ethereal hands held him. Angelic skin. The Woman in the Dark raised a hand to cup his cheek, her fingers brushing against his skin. A comforting touch. She ran her hand down his face gently and in her wake, he felt his head begin to throb with activity.
Yet no seizure came. Not this time. He was used to such things now. He had been stabilized ever since returning from the memories of the Broken Man.
Shinji blinked.
The Woman in the Dark was gone. The sea of black had vanished and, in its place, stood his prison amid SEELE's base of operations once more. Less than a single second had passed…
"-move to more drastic measures," Keel was saying.
His head was killing him. He felt Page's eyes upon him, they were always on him, and so he bit into his lip hard wincing from his many wounds. He mixed the sensations, his aching head, and his bruises, masking what he was about to do.
Hello… Old Man… Old Man… hear me! Hear me!
There were footsteps from nearby followed by the rattle of handcuffs and a teenage girl's voice.
"Let me go!" the newcomer said.
Old Man… I'm here… I'm here… I-
Boy… I… Hear… You…
… FINALLY!
… how… we're… not… right… this… is… strained…
Page. Her medicine… they… made me… take… it…
Two soldiers emerged into the room with a teenage girl pushed along. Shinji's eyes widened and he felt fear, true bone-chilling fear, for the first time since waking in SEELE's clutches.
Asuka was shoved into the scene, dressed in the plain white clothes that he been made to wear in the ward, handcuffed, but unharmed. The girl was glaring at everyone and everything. She was lost and confused with so few answers.
Keel smiled, aged lines on his face cracking, as Asuka was brought into the illuminated center of the room with them. The projected holograms of SEELE's monoliths loomed overhead, Page and her boss stepped aside, and the soldiers escorted the girl forward.
"Hey!" Asuka shouted nearly falling as she was pushed.
We're here… outside… the Broken Man's thoughts whispered into his mind.
I know… can… hear… the… fighting…
Left Unit 01… coming… for… you… where are… you…
Don't… know… Keel… is here… too… a room… no… windows…
Asuka panted taking in the scene around her, the holograms projected above her from an unseen source, the soldiers surrounding the carefully lit center, and finally the people around her.
"Shinji?" she said, her voice low.
Her eyes widened at the sight of him, her gaze traveling over the device wrapped around his neck, the restraints keeping him bolted to the chair, the busted capillaries in his eyes, and the bruises that littered his face.
"What have you done to him?!" Asuka shouted.
She lurched herself forward to his side and Shinji wobbled as he felt her grab ahold of him. Her grip was tight, frightened.
"Asuka… are you okay…" he rasped. To see her here in their hands, it drained him and left him hollow. Not her… not her too… how many had suffered for his failures.
She looked at him long and hard, disbelief etched in her face, and he saw tears form on her exhausted expression.
They didn't hurt her… they didn't hurt her… Shinji thought. He found solace in that.
He managed to smile weakly at her.
He felt Page's eyes watching him even now. He wheezed, breathing hard heavy breaths, and Asuka winced at the sight of him.
"Misato… is she safe…" Shinji croaked.
"I… I don't know," Asuka answered him, her voice low and tearful. He felt her grip tighten on his shirt.
She's alive… we're coming to… save you…
He felt Page's eyes drilling into him, confused and uncertain.
"… Ritsuko… the others…" he wheezed.
"I- I don't know," Asuka repeated.
They're fine… Kaji… Ritsuko… they're helping… stay… strong
"Shinji…" Asuka whispered, staring at the wounds he bore.
"Have to hurry. They're… almost… ready," he whispered carefully.
"What? I don't- what did they do to you?" Asuka said, holding his faltering gaze.
I can sense… it… stay alive…
Asuka glared up at the observers watching them, her eyes alight with a newfound rage.
"What a fiery one she is. Now then, to the matter at hand," Keel said coolly from the sidelines.
The men who had escorted Asuka to the scene moved once more, they came for the girl and Asuka flinched. She held onto him tight, eyes darting back and forth looking for an exit, a weapon, anything to use but found none.
She didn't want to leave him; she didn't want to abandon him to his fate with these people. It made his heart ache.
"… go… run," Shinji croaked. He hung his head low; he couldn't watch this. Anything but this. Pain he could take, it was nothing new for him anymore, but her… not her… please not her too…
Asuka lashed out as the men closed in on her, trying to fight, trying to punch and kick in spite of the handcuffs. She was overpowered, a teenager against grown men.
"What do you want?! Why are you doing this?!" Asuka shouted.
The German girl winced as she was forced to her knees beside him. Another captive at the whims of these cruel adults.
Keel moved to stand over him once again. Still, Shinji kept his head hung low.
"Leave him alone!" Asuka cried out.
Keel turned his attention to her, and Shinji heard every footstep as the man moved to her. Time ran in slow motion as the reality of what was happening sunk in.
I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…
Stay alive… stay… alive… we're coming…
Asuka narrowed her eyes, held prisoner by two grown men, glaring up at Keel as he approached.
"Such a pretty thing this one, isn't she, my boy? Such a spirit behind those eyes. Just like her mother," Keel said calmly.
Not her… not her… pick me… not her… just leave her alone… Shinji thought on the verge of tears.
Keel held out his hand and Shinji flinched as he glimpsed a soldier handing over his pistol. The walls were closing in on him. His heart was beating faster than he had ever remembered. His head was throbbing, aching with activity.
Come on!
He reached for the Angel Abilities once more. To bring forth the AT Fields and break free of his restraints. He almost felt something, the barest hint of solid light at his fingertips just out of reach. It wasn't enough… it hadn't come back yet. He could barely speak to the Broken Man let alone reach deeper.
"Please… don't," Shinji begged. He finally looked up pleading with Keel and Page.
Asuka had grown silent. Too afraid to even breathe. Her eyes trembled and her hands began to shake.
"Such bright eyes. I contemplate firing a bullet into each of them," Keel said carefully and calmly.
Shinji struggled uselessly against his restraints.
Keel placed his wrinkled finger on the trigger, bringing the gun to rest atop the girl's head.
"I'm not!" Shinji shouted.
The world froze, Keel with the pistol over Asuka's head, Dr. Page watching him, the soldiers standing guard, and the holographic monoliths hovering above.
Shinji panted feebly, not even trying to stop the tear that slid down his cheek. No one spoke, no one moved, the only sound being SEELE's Great Machine whirring nearby.
"Explain," Keel said sternly. He didn't lower the pistol.
"… I'm not Adam's Vessel," Shinji said.
"And yet Kaworu died. You affect the Angel network, don't deny it. There is Angel DNA inside your brain. What are you?"
"I'm… something new. But only a piece of a larger whole. The abilities that I have, they are shared. I'm not the source. I never was…" Shinji wheezed.
"The source?" Keel asked patiently.
He could feel Dr. Page's gaze on him. Reading him even now.
"Adam and Lilith…" Shinji croaked.
"You are not Lilith's vessel. That was Gendo's little pet," Keel said, nearly spitting at the mention of Rei.
"No… I'm… I'm the result of time travel…" Shinji said slowly, his voice hiccupping as the words left his mouth.
Keel lowered the gun, he had made his point, and turned to Shinji once more. The man leaned on his walking cane; gun held firmly in his hands.
"Are you lying to me?" Keel said, leaning in, his voice cold and menacing. The threat of violent consequence in every syllable. The elderly man never yelled, he didn't need to, the sheer icy rage boiling within made Shinji flinch.
Shinji almost laughed. He swallowed hard, his throat raw and hoarse.
"No… you people… you never understood this power. You still don't. There was another player in the game. One whose seen this all before. Because he lived through it… he saw you fail… he saw you doom the world anyway… and then he leaped backward in time to stop you… he had to take the Angels' power to do it. Adam and Lilith… he took from them both."
Keel stared at him silently. Truly at a loss for words. Even Page stood open-mouthed at the answer at long last. Asuka only panted, looking at her friend and never knowing the full story. SEELE's holographic monoliths watched from above, their expressions hidden behind their technology.
I'm sorry… I had to do it. Asuka… not her too. Not my sister… I had to… I couldn't watch her d- I just couldn't…
Stay alive… stay alive… nothing else matters…
Keel glanced to the Great Machine operating nearby. SEELE's alternative for the Human Instrumentality Project, their method of reading and manipulating the Angel network. Even now, it was recording intense readings, reacting to the battle waged outside.
"The source. They shared power with you… you conflict with our Adam and Lilith, including their vessels. Blowback… Kaworu… Rei…" Keel said, his voice low as his aged mind raced.
"The contact experiment. The same day that Yui disappeared, and his first seizure," Page said thinking aloud.
Shinji watched them piece it together at long last. The deception was over, SEELE had reached the wrong conclusion all those years ago, and that mistake had influenced every decision they had made. It had sent them on a path down the unknown. Yet it hadn't been enough, they had had their suspicions, they had adapted with the limited information that they had.
"The traveler was the other pilot. The voice in your head. But the dreams… the seizures. Why?" Keel asked.
"… I wasn't stable. It took years… I wasn't complete until… until…"
"Until he was absorbed by Unit 01," Dr. Page finished for him.
Shinji nodded glumly. What good would all these revelations do them? Why push him again and again to speak the truth?
"Who is the traveler?" Keel asked him suddenly.
"… me… another me... much older."
Keel's aged face shifted, wrinkled lines cracking as surprise once more took hold of SEELE's leader. Shinji took some bitter joy at that, knowing that the Broken Man's deception had fooled these men and their plans for years. That when their wrath came, they had found themselves forced to rethink their conclusions.
Finally, the holographic monoliths spoke. Projected voices of SEELE members from around the world, booming out from above, an audience speaking out to the center stage.
"We should have disposed of the Freak ages ago."
"He dared. He dared to interfere, to deceive."
"Punish him."
"The boy and the traveler, they tried to deny us. They must pay for their arrogance."
"He is a nuisance just as his traitorous father was."
"The End is Nigh. Kill the boy and let us continue on the path to Godhood."
"No, the boy must be punished. Let him suffer first."
"Yes, he must be punished. He must pay for his crimes."
"We waste time. End him now."
The voices showered down from above, men and women, with different accents. A diverse set of backgrounds and ethnicities with only one common trait, wealth.
"Enough."
SEELE grew quiet. When Keel spoke, the others listened.
"His punishment is at hand; I see to it personally. I decide when he lives and when he dies. My friends, the mystery has been solved. He poses no threat to the Undertaking," Keel said, speaking to the holograms.
"Our day has come…" SEELE said, the multitude of voices mixing together in a chorus of frightening zeal.
"The Human Instrumentality Project continues," Keel said, joining in with his compatriots. Page and the hired guns in the room joined in as well, speaking calmly and assured that all was right in the world.
Asuka wheezed, gazing up at the cult around her and utterly lost, panting from the shock of nearly being murdered. Shinji tried to reach for her, to comfort her as she had tried to comfort him, the restraints held him in place.
"It won't work…" Shinji hissed, struggling uselessly against the chair.
He felt their eyes on him, the gathered SEELE watching from behind their technological masks, from the safety of their seats far away, and Keel himself.
"I saw her… I saw Lilith and what she did to Gendo. She rejected him… she hated him. What do you imagine she'll think of you? It won't work," Shinji said, his voice hoarse and broken down.
"I disagree," Keel said flatly.
Shinji laughed weakly. What had he expected? He slumped into his restraints again staring at his torn and weathered shoes, they were very much like himself, covered in ash from Lilith's Rising at Nerv, torn and beaten down, worn and faded.
To the people all around them, the hired guns that did the cult of SEELE's bidding, Shinji spoke. One last mad cry.
"What do you think happens if they succeed?! They won't share their power?! Immortality for themselves alone! You're all just fuel for them… pawns to be thrown away just like I was…" Shinji cried.
He was met with soul-crushing silence.
Shinji looked pleadingly to the henchmen around him, the men holding Asuka prisoner, the guards surrounding the room, and found them all with blank faces.
They're insane… they're all insane…
It happened suddenly and without warning. A jolt as slowly, ever so slowly, his Angel senses began to return to him. The drugs were wearing off… it was too soon… but it was true… Shinji could feel it.
And all around him, he witnessed unseen threads gathering around. The invisible bond between Angels was being unnaturally bent and twisted, forming a knot in the compound. It had been gathering strength all this time, and now… now the collected weight was staggering.
Keel and Page glanced to their Great Machine and Shinji understood.
All of this, the torture, the interrogations, the games SEELE had forced him to play, it hadn't been necessary. Their Machine had been working in the background all this time, more than recording activity, it had been building up power for their mad plan. All of this, it had all been to satiate their curiosity before the end. One final mistake that had gnawed at them demanding to be answered.
"The Machine is ready. Gratitude, my boy, for tying up these loose ends," Keel said.
They're doing it… now… now! Shinji cried out to his Other.
Before Shinji could scream, shout at the lunatics and their cult, the men around him began to move, taking Asuka with them.
"What?! Don't touch me?!" Asuka cried as she was pulled to her feet.
"Asuka!" Shinji shouted; his wrists were turning red from the strain as he pulled uselessly against his restraints.
He watched, helpless, as his sister was taken, dragged kicking and screaming out of the room. She met his eyes one last time before disappearing.
"What are you going to do to her?! Please… let her go… let her go… use me… use me instead…" Shinji pleaded.
"Fear not, my boy. We have found a use for the girl. We had thought to abandon such methods, yet… she can strengthen our plans. You, on the other hand," Keel said, taking his time with his words and drawing out the tension.
It made Shinji flare with anger and hate, a hatred that he had only ever known for Gendo.
"This day was reserved for your father. I wanted him to look upon my victory, to witness my ascension. He was to live just long enough to realize the true depths of his failure. His punishment for interfering. You will take his place, I find this quite fitting," Keel said at last.
The elderly man spoke in a calm bliss, quiet and powerful, with no need to proclaim his intent. Keel did so because he could.
Outside the bunker.
Asuka cursed, her heart pounding from her near-death experience, her nerves on edge, as the men pulled her along.
The protective shield over the compound cast her world in a sea of dark violet. The artificial AT Field that held the battle outside. Even now, in the midst of this insanity that she knew not, her instincts kicked in.
She turned and witnessed the war waging just outside. MP Evas were battling Eva Units 00 and 03, explosions rocked off some near and some far away. The sheer sound of it all was ear-deafening as the ground was pummeled, craters formed, and dirt was blasted into the air.
Unit 00 soared through the skies above, engaging in sharp dog fights with MP Evas that swarmed it. Down below, Unit 03 fended off these cult's monstrosities.
Ghost white corpses lay on the grounds as well. MP Evas taken down during the fighting, but it hadn't been enough, Eva Team Two hadn't managed to break through in time.
There was rumbling nearby as the garage doors to a massive hangar opened, revealing Eva Unit 02.
Her Eva lay imprisoned inside, bolted in place with two pale titans on either side of it. MP Evas that stood guard over Unit 02, each with a spear in hand.
Asuka stared as she saw that her Eva was attached to a strange metal structure. Similar to the replica spears, strange alien metal pierced deep past the plate armor. There was a pattern there, a reversed tree of life, protruding out from the floor of the hangar and into Unit 02 itself.
The Entry Plug lay at the feet of her Eva. Scientists dressed in white, silent as the grave, worked around the metal tube finishing their modifications even as Asuka was dragged to it.
"What are you doing?!" Asuka shouted.
No one even responded to her. Not the muscle dressed in black that forced her along, not the sea of white lab coats. All of them ignored her.
"If you let me pilot, you'll regret it!" Asuka shouted franticly.
None of them acknowledged her.
"I'll… I'll… I'll kill all of you!" Asuka shouted, panting harshly as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
This is wrong… it's all wrong… what are they doing… what are they doing…
Before she could protest any further, she was shoved forcefully into the Entry Plug. She slammed into the seat of the cockpit, cast in the red of the emergency light, and the bay doors closed with a hiss.
"Shinji…" Asuka wheezed as her world shifted. The Entry Plug was reinserted into the Eva.
Asuka slammed her hands onto the controls waiting for the computer systems to come online. The moment she had a sync rate all this would be over. She would show that stupid creep of an old man. She would bust her way out of their hangar, squash these soldiers in black, and grab Shinji.
It was a child's fantasy that came crashing down as her controls never came to life. The computers stayed dead. SEELE had removed her ability to pilot, never giving her the chance to fight back.
…
Keel raised his hands as if leading prayer. A series of holographic screens appeared around them in the dark. Footage from the outside blared.
Shinji watched, turning from holographic screen to screen, as Asuka and her Eva came into view guarded by two MP Evas.
They're doing it! They're triggering instrumentality! Shinji practically screamed to his Other.
SEELE's Great Machine whirred louder and louder. The lights began to flicker all around them and the air itself seemed to grow heavy. Shinji winced as he felt the movements in the Angel network. The power that had been shared with him, the kindling little spark that had begun to return to him, ran through his veins and burned him.
He wanted to scream. He could only imagine what it must have felt like for the Broken Man.
The invisible threads, the bonds that connected the creations of the First Ancestral Race, twisted and turned, building SEELE's knot tighter and tighter. It formed a nexus point, pulling all towards it like a singularity, a black hole forcing everything towards it via gravitational force that neared infinity.
The nexus point wasn't with Keel. Shinji realized that it was with Asuka. SEELE's machine was funneling everything it had, manipulating the network, and channeling all paths to Eva Unit 02. They had found a method to combine their original plan with their alternative.
Asuka was to be the trigger for Human Instrumentality.
Outside.
The Broken Man gasped, his entire body burning him from the inside. The Angel DNA within his body was reacting to the ritual. It all went haywire. The pieces of Adam and Lilith within him were pulled along in a way that he hadn't known was possible.
Blood was beginning to fill his eyes. His aged heart was beating faster and faster, his vision was blurring, and he felt the barest hints of a seizure begin to overtake him.
The human in him allowed him to press onward. He was no vessel for the Angels, nor was he a true Angel either, he was an Abomination crafted by the Original Lilith. What little remained of his humanity allowed him to resist, it gave him the strength to hold onto his consciousness.
He gritted his teeth and flew faster and faster. MP Evas swarmed after him, rushing to keep him and Unit 00 from the barrier.
The Broken Man raised his stolen spear and let the ritual guide him. It pulled at Adam and Lilith towards the nexus, and so he let it pull him. He allowed himself to be guided to the trigger for Human Instrumentality and was nearly overwhelmed in the process.
"Ahh," he hissed, biting his tongue, as Unit 00 was impaled through the back. The enemy spear tip erupted through the Eva's torso and blood gushed out.
He wobbled in mid-air as an MP Eva slammed into his side trying to force him down to the ground.
"No…" he grunted, fighting with everything that he had. He called upon Adam's Might, letting the power flow from his body to Unit 00, and forced himself forward.
He slammed into SEELE's artificial AT Field and shattered the solid multicolored light. The projected shield crumpled from existence violently as he crashed into it. Like glass being shattered.
It's Asuka! They're… using… her! The boy called to him.
The MP Eva clung to his Eva, clawing at the impaled Unit 00 as they flew together. The monstrous slave grasped the spear impaled in his Eva's back and forced it deeper. Pain registered but still, the Broken Man flew forward.
Asuka… Asuka… hold on…he thought.
Another of the white titans slammed into him and the Broken Man wavered, two of the MP Evas were dragging him down. He began to fall even as he raced for SEELE's hangar. The three of them faltered, the combined weight, the wounds to the Eva, the burning effects brought about by the ritual, it all took its toll.
"Asuka!" he roared.
He crashed.
The combined weight of the MP Evas pulled him down, the wings of light disappearing from Unit 00's back.
BOOM.
The mess of titan flesh landed hard. Buildings were hit in the descent, as all three of the Evangelions slammed into the unprotected compound of SEELE. Showers of concrete and steel rose into the air, the grounds rumbled like an earthquake, and still, the fight continued.
The Broken Man rolled, struggling against the MP Evas as they fought to keep him away from the hangar. They bit and clawed at him like a pack of beasts, dogpiling on him with their weight.
Lights flickered as the artificial AT Field began to reassemble itself. Slowly, bit by bit, like footage of a mirror shattering but played in reverse, the shield started to return covering the compound.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
Three gunshots sounded off, loud and harsh, and the suspected tower was struck across the middle. Craters formed, and the tower collapsed in on itself sending dust and debris flying, mercenaries shouted, distant figures vanished in the cloud of clutter. A solid hit.
SEELE's protective shield vanished. Gone for good.
He had opened the way and Mari had finished the job. The Broken Man struggled against the dragons clinging desperately to him, trying to break into flight, but SEELE's guard kept him grounded.
The AT Blades erupted into existence as he fought to free himself. Heavy thuds sounded behind him as another MP Eva emerged to swarm him, having abandoned Mari to stop him. Three against one.
Save them… the Broken Man thought, drawing as much of the monsters to him as he could.
Mari stormed into SEELE's compound searching for Instrumentality's trigger alone. Her previous opponents had fled their battle with her to chase after the Other Shinji.
The Abomination that was the Other Shinji had opened the path for her in a mad rush to stop the End of the World, allowing her to take the shield down. She didn't have to communicate with him, she knew that he was holding them off so she could get in.
Ritsuko had been right, the white tower had been generating SEELE's shield. But the Battalion Commander's plan was in ruins, there was still MP Evas standing, and even now she could hear Hashi on the comm shouting orders.
JSSDF forces were being deployed. The storming of SEELE was underway regardless of the MP Evas' presence. It was to be a bloodbath. A desperate push to stop Instrumentality and rescue the captured pilots.
Mari panted as she planted one foot in front of the other, the ground shaking as her Eva left cracks in the cement. She stormed through the maze of walls and structures that mirrored the defenses of a smaller Tokyo-03. People cried out underneath like ants, scrambling to get away, scientists and mercenaries alike.
She spared no thought as the sky above began to darken. She wobbled; her Eva having been heavily wounded from the fighting. LCL-like blood was stained across her Eva's side and upper torso.
The hangar! Mari realized as she spotted the outline of the red plate armor imprisoned on a tree of metallic structures. In that split second of recognition, she understood what Keel was planning, she had found the trigger. Asuka.
SEELE's mercenaries fired at her with what they could. Tanks and armored trucks with heavy turret guns blasting uselessly at Unit 03. Several scored direct hits at her camera feed, attempting to obscure her vision and keep her away from their hangar.
Mari swept them aside with a single swing of her Eva's boot. Steel rain and clouds of red mist followed in Unit 03's wake. Countless men and women died. She didn't stop to care, she ran forward, racing through the compound.
The Other Shinji had been brought down; she saw from the corner of her eye as the tangle of battling Evas crash-landed nearby. The force of the crash sent ripples of force outward, like miniature earthquakes.
Mari raised her Eva's pistol just as she reached the hangar. She saw them, she saw the familiar red titan with its guard.
The twin MP Evas stationed beside Unit 02 went into action. People on the grounds screamed as the white titans moved with thunderous footsteps. SEELE's own men died at the sheer scale of Eva combat. Henchman caught in-between the clash of giants.
Mari fired two rounds, hitting one of SEELE's monsters in the face. She cursed, turned for the other, swerving to the side, with reflexes that had faded after all her time in the hospital.
"Ahhhhh!" she screamed as something collided with her Eva's torso. The phantom sensations went wild with agony. Her leg… her prosthetic leg… if she had her real leg, she would have been able to dodge it in time.
A replica spear impaled Unit 03 through the stomach. The force of the blow sent Mari wheeling backward and landing atop a building. Concrete and steel strained, cracks formed along the bunker-like structure, as the building barely held her Eva's weight.
No! Not yet… keep fighting! Shinji… Shinji…
A cloud of dark mist had formed far above them, massive in size, it spread and spread like a living thing solidifying into a fleeting black void. Like the foreign and alien distortions that had premediated Armisael's appearance. A portal that distorted space itself.
No! Mari realized in horror.
Mari grunted fighting through the phantom sensations and tried to get up. To push her crippled and struggling body along with the Eva's, to get up and fight. To put an end to the ritual.
She was beginning to rise, the Eva sitting up slowly.
WHOOSH.
A second replica spear came flying.
She raised her hand in a weak attempt to slap the weapon aside. The spear tip sliced across her hand and two fingers fell from the Eva. The spear kept going and partially impaled itself into her Eva's neck.
Blood gushed from Unit 03, and Mari screamed, brought down by her many wounds, and finally collapsed. The earth shook as the Eva slammed into the ground... two spears impaled in its body.
Her world went dark…
The bunker.
The gather SEELE watched in awe as the projected screens showed the scene outside. They bore witness as Unit 03 was brought down by its wounds; they bore witness as the ritual brought forth a dark portal above them all.
"Mari…" Shinji whispered, his voice shaking. What was she doing here? How? When?
A thousand emotions raced through his hollow and drained heart. From rage and sorrow, denial and relief, to joy and surprise, bittersweet love, and vibrant anger, the emotions wared within him all at once. The box he had placed the wounds of betrayal in shook, beginning to open, threatening to overwhelm him.
Mari was here… she was piloting alongside the Broken Man, fighting against her former masters. He felt his heart shatter all over again.
Keel tsked audibly. "Such a disappointing investment. For the both of us, it seems," the man said.
Shinji glared at him. He gasped as the burning inside his body intensified, the unseen threads pulled and pulled, calling him, almost forcing him to move. It felt like boiling hot strings were tugging on his body like he was a puppet. There was a singularity in the network that would force him to obey.
Yet he was not an Angel. Nor was he a vessel. He was something new. A human with Angel abilities shared with him. His humanity is what allowed him to keep his mind and his body… but he knew that it would not be the case for another.
Keel watched his struggle with a bemused distant look.
"The End is Nigh. I want you to watch this, my boy. My ascension is at hand," Keel told him.
Shinji struggled uselessly in his restraints. He couldn't help but watch the screens projected around them. He saw it.
The surface.
Hurricane winds thrashed overhead. A nightmarish black mist had emerged in the blue skies above them, a wild living thing, an abyss that was not of this world.
Eva Unit 02 stood guarded by twin undead titans, imprisoned within an altar for SEELE's ritual. The centerpiece for a reverse tree of life forged in an alien metal.
Something was being forced through the whirling cloud of mists above. A pale mesh of damaged flesh. An Angelic entity dragged into the world, dropping onto the scene as if from some dark void separate from our reality.
The portal spat out the deformed and weakened figure that was Adam and Lilith.
The Hybrid was pulled through the portal. It was a shadow of its former self, with two arms and two legs, humanoid, a head shorter than an Evangelion unit, with pale white skin littered with burns and cuts. Remnants from its battle with the Broken Man.
Its face, a moving thing that shifted from Adam to Lilith and often blurred, contorted in silent agony. The unseen threads created by its parents burned and forced it along like a puppet pulled by its strings.
A god was brought low.
The Hybrid had been summoned against its will… bound by a ritual set about by mortal men. Adam and Lilith twisted and contorted, forced to walk forward heading for the imprisoned Unit 02. Another pawn on the board.
SEELE was succeeding where Gendo Ikari had failed.
…
Keel watched the scene from the safety of his bunker. An exhilaration a lifetime in the making filled his decrepit aging body that had been preserved into its nineties.
He was proving victorious over mankind's final enemy, death itself. His reward for his ambitions. He was to be the greatest man who had ever lived. A man who had bound a god and ascended into immortality himself.
"My will be done," Keel said with a smile.
Hell of a cliffhanger. Next update will come much sooner I promise.
Keel is quite something. I doubt many readers realized when this fic started how big of a role he would have. He's shaped Shinji's life arguably more than Gendo has. And that poor kid has been through so much. His entire life was spent being manipulated.
Does seeing more of Keel's effect on Young Shinji make you re-think the earlier chapters? The reason why he was slow to trust the Broken Man or 'lacked critical thinking' according to some. It was all by design...
What do you think of Keel now? Poor Asuka. Poor Mari. And the Hybrid has returned. Adam and Lilith have their part to play.
Thanks for Reading and please Review!