Chapter 73: Twisted
30 minutes had lapse since the Third Child had sunk into the hibernating Angel. Despite all the troubleshooting and ideas to try and retrieve both the male pilot and the Eva, nothing came to a plausible course of action. In the midst of the NERV crew brainstorming, a sharp ripple went all around the Angel's surface. Shigeru noticed something occurring on his readings.
"There is a large energy spike occurring in the Angel!" he stated causing everyone to refocused.
"Is it readying an attack?" Misato asked.
"No…the energy pattern is different from the Angel's…its Eva-01's!"
Everyone looked at the monitor showing the darkened floating sphere. Asuka and Rei refocused at the task at hand despite the First Child feeling out of sorts. A visual rumbling effect was occurring on the surface of the Angel in pulses. It caused a wave of mild commotion to everyone watching. Suddenly, the pulsating ripples stopped. When its surface was back to being smooth, it inflated rapidly. Parts of its body budged morbidly outward almost tearing its skin apart.
"Energy in the Angel going critical! Its…" Maya stated before being cut off.
The Angel surface budged out to three times its size and shook hard. Without warning, it exploded violently. The burst shot an air wave that traveled throughout the city and exploded many windows within a radius of a street block or two. Instead of an energy release from a destructive explosion, the Angel's insides shot out far and wide. To onlookers, it appeared as a hailstorm of gore. Nearby buildings received a short rainfall and misting of a mixture of Angel blood with red and black liquid. The bridge crew's eyes widen looking at the monitor showing the massive gore cloud.
"Energy signal of Eva-01 has come back online. Vital signs of the Third Pilot are online. Visual in five seconds," Maya announced in surprise.
Both Rei and Asuka had retreated back away from the Angel. Even from being a good distance away, they felt the burst that was released. Their AT-Fields deflected it despite feeling a small rumble inside the cockpit. Magnifying to where the explosion occurred, they saw a massive red fog develop then slowly subside. Everyone saw in the mist a dark silhouette kneeling then rising. When the blood cloud went away, it was Eva-01 standing there. It looked relatively undamaged with its eyes glowing white.
"Pull up a visual comm-link to Eva-01," Misato ordered. Maya typed it in and a window opened up to the inside of the entry plug.
"Shinji! Are you-?!" the Major stated then stopped abruptly. She and a few others recoiled back with fear and disgust.
"What…in the…world?" Ritsuko stated from the video feed.
"...!?" Gendo and Kozo said with raised eyebrows and flared hairs on the back of their neck.
[WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!] Asuka stated looking in horror.
[…Ikari?…] Rei asked feeling a mixture of emotions with wide eyes.
Inside the entry plug, numerous ripped and torn off body parts floated around. There was so much blood that it stained the LCL resulting in a thick crimson hue. Despite all the limbs being suspended in the entry plug, there was a large silhouette sitting in the cockpit. It seemed like the size of two to three people put together. No one could make out the details of its shape or face. The large amount of blood infused in the LCL blurred a visual of the male pilot.
"S-Shinji…Is that you?" Misato called quietly on the intercom.
[…] it responded.
"D-D-Dr. Akagi?" Shigeru stated with a look of perplexed tension. "I'm hearing…bizarre things from Eva-01."
"Like what?" Ritsuko asked looking away from the monitor and looking at him. He offered his headset in which she walked over. Placing it on side on her ear, she listened. The crew watched as her expression became perplexed as she listened a little longer.
"What is it?" Misato asked looking rattled a little. Before Dr. Akagi could answer, the crew heard movement from above.
"Major, order all pilots to return to base," Gendo barked bringing everyone back to attention. "I want all full report of this. Dr. Akagi, perform a full diagnostic screening of the Third Child and Unit-01. Interrogate and restrain him if he resists. Initiate normal and recovery operations."
"Yes sir," both females stated at attention. Seeing him go out of view, they turned around and proceeded with their orders. Without waiting, Eva-01 started walking forward leaving behind bloody foot prints on the street. Its eyes continue to glow white despite its body dripping with the Angel blood mixture.
[Alright you two. Once Shinji gets to where you are, head down on the lifts.]
"Yes Major," Rei said sounding a little better.
"Roger," Asuka said trying to steel herself more.
Both watched as Eva-01 walked calmly forward to where they were. However with the visual of bloody slaughter filled in the entry plug, apprehension was growing the closer it got. The sounds being produced from the dark silhouette gave the impression that he was breathing erratically and overlapping. Almost like there was more than one person breathing inside. Knowing that couldn't be right, they continued to watch.
When Unit-01 walked within a street block distance, it stopped. Both female pilots could see that the entire purple war machine was drenched with an array of both Angel and what looked like human blood. There was also a black substance that seemed to act like blood as well. Asuka cut off the comm-link and went toward a lift platform. It started going down as she mentally tried to get herself to not shake.
"…" Ayanami said feeling unable to talk. Shaking her head, she opened her mouth. She heard Eva-01 breath out deeply that felt odd. It's staring at her made her feel unnerved. Not sure why, the First Child felt it give an uncomfortable vibe. Blinking, the purple unit turned a little and walked to a lift pad that was behind a building.
"…" she said watching the purple war machine go down.
'I have to see for myself,' Ayanami thought shaking her head again and closing her eyes.
Feeling a little more focused, she got her Eva to step on an elevator pad and descended back to NERV HQ. While going down, the spirits inside the red and blue war machines could not feel the other spirit. Instead, they didn't recognize it and were unable to communicate with it. Strangely though, opening communication with Unit-01 felt eerily wrong. Closing it, they felt better not leaving it open.
When the units came into view in the Eva cages, there was a small group of NERV personnel waiting for them on platforms. Ritsuko ordered both Eva-00 and Eva-02 be docked first then Eva-01. As the entry-plugs for both female pilots were being ejected, Misato stared at the purple war machine. Despite it being powered down, something about it made her get goosebumps on her arms.
'It's probably from what is inside the entry plug,' the Major thought crossing her arms over her chest. Watching as the mobile catwalks connect with both units, both Rei and Asuka exited their Evas. Glancing at them, they seemed fine as they headed toward where she and Ritsuko were standing.
"What happened to the psycho now?" the Second Child stated with a stern looking face. Both women saw that she was trying to mask the disturbed vibe she was emitting.
"Don't know. But we will find out soon enough," Misato said trying to sound positive.
"Did he mutate into something?" the redhead asked hearing the First Child turn toward the contamination squad that entered the Eva cages.
"Who knows?" Ritsuko said the pressed on the walkie. "Dock Unit-01 closer to the platform. Use a wide mobile catwalk for the contamination team."
[Roger] a technician responded from the control room above and behind them.
Watching the yellow suited individuals walk closer to the platform edge, a short and wide mobile catwalk loaded in front of them. Hearing the gears and hydraulics lock, Eva-01 slowly came closer and stopped. Procedures for ejecting the entry plug was sounded as the contamination squad headed toward where the entry-plug hatch would open. Stating they were in position, the capsule rotated out of the purple unit's neck and stopped.
[Opening hatch] one of the squad members stated using the panel to the right.
Everyone watched in a state of suspension as the hatch released pressurized air with a loud hiss. Oddly, the liquid inside the entry-plug hadn't fully drained. All saw a waterfall of blood and LCL spill out and splash onto the platform. The contamination members moved back a little to not get too covered from the spillage. As the hatch continued to open, the smell from inside quickly came to them.
"Oh god that reeks!" Asuka said plugging her noise and grimacing.
"…!?" Misato and Ritsuko said turning their head away and covering their mouths and noise. Rei did the same but started to cough and gag a little.
[Entering entry-plug] the first two yellow suits stated and headed toward the opening. […what the…]
[Why is there some much carnage in here?] the other contamination member stated stopping and looking inside. The blood-LCL mixture hadn't drained. There was still a good amount inside the plug with various body parts and inners floating about. The two heard movement as if someone was heavily moving through water.
[Hearing and seeing movement inside] the front yellow suited person stated. The others in the squad got out tranquilizers, a strait-jacket, and the gas-mask contraption. Feeling ready, the front two saw a large dark silhouette coming to the opening. A lot more of the blood-LCL mixture splashed onto the platform.
[Pilot Ikari. Are you…!?]
Misato was the first one to recover and looked back at the entry-plug hatch. The first sound she heard was someone vomiting then sharply coughing from the capsule. Strangely, it sounded feminine than masculine. Looking at the squad of yellow, they slowly back up as something came out of the hatch. Ignoring the increasing amount of spillage, she saw a rather large silhouette. Looking closer at what came out, she stared wild eye and was flabbergasted.
[…!?] the members of the contamination squad said staring at who came out. They looked at the Third Child and what was around him. Despite the faces hiding behind their contamination helmets, a look of dumbfounded wonder and apprehension crossed all of them.
'W-W-Wha…' the Major thought feeling her head starting to hurt from trying to understand what she was seeing. 'WHAT'S GOING ON!?'
As if Shinji read her thought, he turned slowly toward her direction. His eyes were closed and began walking forward. Each footstep he took was heavy and slow. From the combination of what was dripping off him and the amount of weight he was carrying, it made sense. However, what he was carrying didn't. When he took one step off the mobile catwalk and onto the platform, Misato could see clearer at what the two objects that was weighing him down. Feeling apprehension growing from him, she took a sliding step back.
"GOD, it smells worse now!" Asuka said nasally from covering her nose still. The other hand was over her mouth feeling herself wanting to gap. Taking a glance back, her eyes shot wide open with fear and froze.
"…" Ayanami said controlling herself and looking back. A look of bewilderment shot on her face as her eyes widen and her mouth parted.
"…Rits…" Misato said with her teeth together and taking out of the corner of her mouth. "Rits!"
"…!?" Dr. Akagi said with a shocked face after looking back.
Everyone saw the Third Child still in his plug suit, but was drenched and stained with blood and black liquid. Despite his eyes being closed, his aura was murkier than what they remembered. What caused more of a shock was who he was carrying. In his arms, there was an unconscious naked adult female dripping with blood. She was about the height of Misato with brown hair that was longer than Rei's. Bear hugging on his back and neck was a nude female teenage equally coated with red and black blood. Oddly, there seemed to be a similarity in features between them and the Third Child.
"Oh my god," Ritsuko said recognizing the adult female and putting a hand over her mouth. Seeing something move and looking at the male pilot, fear ripped through her. Misato, Rei, and Asuka glanced over to see Dr. Akagi froze stiff and was starting to pale. Apprehension gripped her face as sweat started forming on her forehead. Following her line of sight, they saw that Shinji opened his eyes.
"…!?" both the Major and Second Child said instantly feeling their legs grow weak.
Dropping to the ground with fear, their mouths opened as they stared with scared eyes. Rei stood startled and felt much apprehension grip her. At the same time, her curiosity was slowly pulsating in her head. Taking hold of that instead of the fear, she tried analyzing while looking back at the other two females. An uncanny familiarity took hold from staring at the adult woman. Looking at the female teenager, it was breathing hard and shaking all over.
"…I…Ikari?" Ayanami asked quietly. Goosebumps ripped all over her skin seeing only his eyes move slowly toward her. He only blinked at her.
"…who…who are…they?"
"Dr…Ikari…" Ritsuko said in a quiet trembling voice still staring at the adult female.
"…!?" the Major said breaking out of her scared stupor. Blinking, she looked at her friend.
"Dr. Ikari?…you mean…it's his-"
"Yes," Dr. Akagi said quickly and remaining still.
Her legs were starting to shake, but was able to keep a firm stance. All the sudden, Shinji slowly leaned his head and neck forward like a vulture. Once his mouth was passed the woman in his arms, he opened it. A mixture of blood and LCL flowed out of it. Maintaining his stoic gaze at them, only his mouth moved as the liquid poured out and fell to the ground.
All four of them felt a tremor go through them seeing a couple small pieces of inners and eyeballs coming out. When no more came out, he moved his head and neck back straight. Closing his mouth, they heard him swallowed. Misato and Asuka paled then turned around to throw up onto the platform floor. Ritsuko stood stiff feeling her heartbeat beating fast with cold sweat dripping down her face and back. Rei felt herself starting to shake not able to cope with all the questions, apprehension, curiosity, and trying to compose herself.
"My apologies for my appearance madams," he said stoically calm and bowing slightly to them. His action caused Dr. Akagi and Ayanami to flinch.
"May I have medical assistance for these two please?"
"What?" Ritsuko said immediately with a blink. His eyes slowly moved toward her causing her to tremble a little.
"May I have medical assistance Dr. Akagi?"
"…s-s-sure…" she said after swallowing the lump of fear in her throat.
Looking over at the contamination squad, they had slowly inched closer to them. Giving them a new order, they all stopped and looked at the Third Child. Watching him turn around slowly, he took a step forward toward them. All of them recoiled a little with a couple members taking a step back. Seeing the male pilot stop, one member saw the male pilot's arms starting to shake.
The front squad person closed his hands into fists and slowly walked closer to him. Focusing on the adult female than the Third Child's eerie eyes boring at him, he stopped in front of him. Slowly reaching out, he saw Shinji place the adult female in his arms. Taking hold and watching the pilot step back, he wondered if something bad was going to happen. Instantly flinching, everyone watched the Third Child bow slightly to him.
"Thank you sir," he said then stood back up. Slowly turning away, he turned back to the bewildered group of females.
"If you will excuse me madams, I will be-"
He stopped talking as the female on his back lost her grip and fell backwards to the floor. Quickly grabbing behind him before she slammed the back of her head, Shinji eased her to the ground. Standing up again, he turned around and looked down at her. Rei was the first willing enough to let curiosity take over. Walking closer and closer to him, she stood nearby and looked down at the female teenager. Another wave of bewilderment came on her face from looking at the person's appearance.
"…who is this Ikari?" she asked not looking at him.
"This is Rana," he said. Ritsuko felt brave enough to walk closer. Asuka held onto Misato from behind as both inched closer as well. Putting some distance between and standing opposite of where he was, they looked down in wild wonder.
"She is…" he began to say waiting for a voice to interject or surprise him. Hearing nothing, feeling nothing, seeing nothing, smelling nothing, and tasting only vile blood, no one responded to him. Quickly collecting himself, he continued.
"…my twin…sister."
"…!?" everyone said looking back and forth between the Third Child and the female teen on the floor. Their resemblance was striking and caused Ritsuko to blink in confusion.
'I don't remember there ever being a twin,' she thought despite what she was seeing. Needing to take control of the situation, she looked up and froze. Shinji was staring at her.
"Shall we go to the medical facility Dr. Akagi?" he asked with a blink.
"…" she said swallowing. "Y-Yes. Let's go do that."
In the NERV hospital, a couple of new patients arrived. When medical staff saw Dr. Akagi leading the group, all became baffled. Watching as the small party pass by, they stared at the three bloody individuals in which two were naked and passed out. Looking and recognizing the Third Child, the sight of his eyes and aura made them lean back. Ritsuko admitted the three in and assigned them to separate rooms. Ordering medical staffers to do screenings and diagnostic scans for the two females, they nodded. Splitting up to their assigned patient, the medics pushed the strollers down the hallway.
"…" Dr. Akagi said watching the two females go away. Blinking, she nervously turned to the Third Child. He was waiting patiently nearby and was staring at nothing. A shiver went through her seeing his blood stained appearance and the dead look in his complexion. Seeing his eyes slowly move by themselves at her direction, she looked back at a clipboard.
"I need to do some screenings for you Ikari so we will go to an examination room."
"Very well," the Third Child said and blinked.
"You can take the two pilots home for rest and recovery Major."
"S-Sounds good to me," Misato said then nervously looked at the male pilot. Only his eyes moved to look at her which gave her the creeps.
"N-Nice to have you back S-Shinji. We'll…keep in touch."
"…" he said blinking then turning toward her. He did a small bow.
"Very well. Till we meet again, good day."
"…" Ayanami said watching Misato give a nervous smile before turning around and walking away.
Asuka stated earlier that she needed to use the restroom that was down the adjacent hallway. In looking back, the First Child saw that she was standing around the corner. The redhead made no attempt to move closer even when the Major was heading toward her location. Ignoring the two, she turned around to see Dr. Akagi looking over papers on her clipboard. The Third Child blinked then turned his head toward her. Both stared at each other in silence.
"Alright, this way Ikari," Ritsuko said starting to head down the hallway.
"Yes doctor," he said blinking.
"…" Rei said feeling too tired and drained to think or contemplate anything. Before he turned around and followed, he lifted his hand and gave a small wave. Blinking, she slowly returned the gesture. Watching him turn toward the doctor, he followed her. Turning around herself, she saw Misato wave at her. Going forward, she felt a little better that it seemed that the Third Child didn't change too much.
Over the course of the evening and night, a female patient was lying in a bed. In a hospital gown, she was shifting about in her sleep. Small trickles of sweat were dripping down from the sides of her face. Her eye muscles twitched a little as if a bad dream was occurring. An onlooker carefully wiped the sweat off of her with a dry towel. Placing it on the nightstand, he reached into a swallow bowl grabbed the cold washcloth in it. Squeezing the excess cold water out, he applied it to her forehead. It seemed to help her calm down a little.
"…" Gendo said adjusting his glasses and continued to wait and ponder.
When he heard the news, both he and Kozo expressed an alarming surprise. Verifying on the security camera, both saw the missing scientist. The Commander nearly dropped the phone from the sight. With anxiety, he ordered the medic team to double their pace of getting the female scientist medically checked and screened. Ordering Kozo to take command, he ran out of his office.
NERV employees stopped and watched in surprise as Gendo ran with haste down hallways. After several minutes went by, the administration of the medical facility jumped in surprise seeing the Commander breathing hard and sweating. Getting the room information of where Yui was put in, he ran towards it. Ever since then, he has been at her side and never left the room.
'Another bad dream dear?' he thought placing his hands on his knees while watching her. Gendo was still in a mild state of shock from what happened after the defeat of the Angel. He had been in and out of deep contemplation and forgot what time passed by.
'The scrolls did predict that the Third Child would be absorbed into the Angel. It would then emerge as the victor…however…' he thought watching the woman shift again in the bed and winced a little bit. Moving his arms, he crossed them over his chest.
'The scrolls did not predict the Third Child to be altered that dramatically. The brain scans that Dr. Akagi provided in the report analysis earlier are still hard to believe. It stated his mind is acting normal now…almost as if cured…' Gendo thought moving his glasses up his nose.
'In addition to that…Yui came back with the Third Child as well as another person…but how? The scrolls did not state that the rebirth would occur until the last Angel appears. That and along with other operations to proceed…' he thought frowning. He didn't like the buildup of unanswered questions and how things got out of his control.
'…not only that…the Third Child is not aligning with the scripts from the Dead Sea Scrolls. In fact, he has become an anomaly. Even SEELE is baffled from the events that occurred…that's fine, the old men can contemplate longer in improbabilities,' he thought sighing. Letting his arms come down, he rested his hands on his knees again. Glancing at the female patient, he felt his face relax.
'All the work…the planning…the plotting…and analysis has finally paid off,' he thought slowly reaching his left hand out and grasping Yui's right hand. 'I got you back. Though in an alternative result, it doesn't matter…it got you back to me.'
"Now…we can be together again…Yui," the Commander said quietly with a small smile on his face.
Yui was running down the murky hospital hallway filled with doors that was in the Third Child's subconscious mind. A figure was deeply laughing at her and chasing her. Glancing behind her, it was the captor of the Eva-01. It was a reoccurring event that happened whenever her soul felt down or something happened to the pilot. However, there was something a little different about this time.
The closed doors in the hallway suddenly flew open. Inhuman screams and scraps of metal sounds exploded from them. The usual ending of the nightmare was drawing near. Running to a dead end with double doors, they would be locked. However, this time they were unlocked. Her vision went static and glitched a little. Hearing the captor of Eva-01 roar behind her, she turned around quickly. Thinking she would be engulfed by its darkness, a dark silhouette viciously impacted with it. Taking it by surprise, both fell to the ground.
"…?" Yui said looking more closely at the dark silhouette. She saw the features of it were slowly getting clearer. It looked like Shinji who was on top of the Eva captor. Surprised, the male pilot's back was facing her while he was choking the dark being on the ground. The thought of helping the boy came when Yui instantly froze with fear.
"…# $^ #$…" the teen boy said bending his back toward her. Moving his head back, she could see the boy's upside down face. Her eyes widened as something was growing inhumanly wide on it. A gruesomely loud pop was heard as the Eva captor's neck limped over between the boy's hands. It made Shinji's inhumanly wide and elongated mouth pull his skin apart as he stared at her with black-red eyes.
"heeheeheeeeeee…!#$ ^ $HaHaHahAhAhAh %$& " he cackled with morbid distortion. Tentacles shot out from the boy's back and impaled the Eva captor's shoulders. Slowly, the evil Shinji began pulling its head up. Tendons and skin kept bulging and stretching from the dark figure as terror rapidly built up in her. The environment around her started morphing into a slaughterhouse as the dark clone continued.
"AHA…AHA!…AHA!-AHA!-AHA!AHA!AHA!AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! #$^ #^" it shouted louder and louder. Suddenly, everything became quiet as a booming blood cartilage rip emitted. Yui's back was pressing hard against the double doors seeing the Eva captor's head get ripped off its body. Instantly, the black-red eye Shinji was in front of her face as she shook all over.
"w #$^A #$^k #$^! e#%^*#Y#%^&w&*(%^A!#$%!k ~$*E!#$^yRRRRREEEEEEJJJJEEEEECCCCTTTTTTTT!" the evil voice screamed so loud that it cause the entire dream realm to shake violently with horror flooding in it.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!…AHH!-AHH!-AHH!-AHH!" Yui jolted up from the bed panting heavily and screaming.
She immediately heard someone and felt two hands grab her shoulders. Trying to breakaway, the person was too strong. She suddenly heard the same voice though it sounded familiar. Slowly stopping her struggling, she peered open her eyes. Blinking and slowly seeing the environment around her coming into focus, the person holding her was to the side of the bed she was in. Slowly, the figure became clearer wearing dark colored cloths and dark red tinted glasses.
"…?" Yui said with wide open eyes staring at who it was.
"Yui," Gendo said feeling goosebumps that she was alive and felt real. He gave her a relieved smile.
"Welcome back."
"…Gendo?…" she said softly and blinking. "Are you…real?"
"Yes," he said moving his hands from her shoulders to holding onto her hands. She recoiled a little feeling his fingers against hers.
"…how am I…" she continued looking around the room with lost wide eyes. "Here?"
"I am not sure how or why. Based on the scrolls, humanity would be restored at the end of the Angel war."
"…does that mean," she stated blinking and turning back to him. "There are no more Angels?"
"…no…we are only in the middle of it."
"…what?" Yui said in a whisper looking very confused. He continued holding onto her hands while taking a seat on the chair that was beside her bed.
"…but…that is not possible…the scrolls never indicated that there was an alternative way…how did I come out?" she asked suddenly feeling a massive migraine on her forehead. Letting go of his hands, she held her head and rubbed a little. Blinking, Yui felt his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her back to the bed.
"You should rest for a little bit till you get your strength back," the Commander said gently. He was taken aback a little when she sat back up and was in front of him.
"That can wait…tell me what happened...uhhh," she stated firmly and winced again. Rubbing her head, she saw him smirk at her as he took off his glasses. Gendo felt almost amused.
"You haven't changed a bit. Just like you to be the stubborn scientist."
"…well…someone has gotten older," she said with a slight smirk. Gendo snorted a little then proceeded to recap Yui of what has happened so far since her absence.