Disclaimer and Acknowledgements: See Prologue.

Evangelion: Exorcism

By Akodo Tim

Plans Within Plans

"Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices [which] ye wrongfully imagine against me."

- Job 21:27

Saint Teresa's Basilica, Nova Jerusalem

July 07, 2015

"You wished to see me, Your Holiness?"

Samuel knelt on the sanctum's unyielding stone floor, his balding head bowed in supplication. He fixed his eyes downward, averting his gaze from the harsh white light that illuminated the gigantic cross before him.

"Yes, my child. I have news I wish to share with you." The Voice, as it always had, boomed out of the chamber's darkness from all around. The sanctum filled with silence as the Voice paused; despite Samuel's curiosity, he stayed perfectly still in the darkened room as he waited for it to continue. Finally, it spoke again:

"Gomorrah has fallen." The Voice was flat and emotionless, despite the news.

Samuel blinked in surprise and barely managed to resist the urge to look up. "So soon?" Despite his best efforts, he could not hide the excitement in his voice. "Then Nathaniel completed his objective?"

"Yes."

Samuel's elation at the news was quickly replaced by confusion; the Apostle's brows wrinkled in puzzlement. "I don't understand. The second phase was not to have started for at least another two weeks."

"It was." agreed the Voice. "Nathaniel should have waited; the success of his mission would have had much more impact if he had waited until the fourth and fifth units had been brought together so they could have both been destroyed in one decisive blow."

Samuel nodded slowly, thinking. "Was Nathaniel too eager, or did Judas give the order too soon?"

"Perhaps both, perhaps neither. At any rate, I am displeased that such a significant change in our plans was allowed to occur." The Voice paused, as if considering something. "I want you to ask Judas personally about this matter and to take appropriate action if necessary. I leave everything in your capable hands, my child."

"It shall be done, Your Holiness." Samuel climbed to his feet and walked out of the room, the gilded doors silently closing behind him.

* * *

Samuel strode through the busy hallway as uniformed technicians, recognizing their visitor, scrambled to get out of his way. He paid them little mind; he was here on more important business than to terrorize the staff. He reached the plain, polished wooden door and pushed; it opened easily on well-oiled hinges.

The office, like so many rooms in the basilica, was Spartan. A simple, cluttered wooden desk, two unadorned chairs, a black metal filing cabinet, and two bookshelves were the room's only furnishings. A man in his fifties was sitting on one of the chairs, reading a printout through a pair of wire-rimmed reading glasses as sunlight streamed through the window to collect in bright pools on the floor. Like Samuel, he was also wearing a rough brown robe.

"Judas."

The man looked up from his paperwork with a start, then smiled as he recognized his visitor. "Ah, Samuel! What a pleasant surprise!" He gestured to the remaining chair. "Please, come sit down."

Samuel shook his head politely. "I'd rather stand, thank you." He hesitated, then clasped his hands behind his back and looked back at Judas. "I heard about the success of Nathaniel's mission."

The spectacled man's smile grew wider. "Yes! Isn't it glorious?"

Samuel fixed Judas with a level gaze, appraising the older man's reaction. "Judging by your answer, am I correct in assuming that you gave the order to start the second phase of the operation?"

Judas' grin disappeared as he placed the pile of papers he had been reading on his desk to join its brethren. "Well, no. I don't know what happened-" Scowling, Samuel cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"You're supposed to know. You're one of our intelligence directors, and you are saying that you didn't know what your own operative was doing?"

Judas frowned and emphatically shook his head. "Samuel, this came as much of a shock to me as it did to you. Under the circumstances it's fortunate that Gomorrah fell, but I don't know if Nathaniel had a part to play in it or not. For all we know, it may have been sabotage from a third party, or it had something to do with the S2 engine prototype NERV was installing. We're still analyzing the data." He gestured to the scattered piles of paper that threatened to take over the desk.

"I see." His head bowed in thought, Samuel stood over Judas; he crossed his arms and stared at the man seated at the desk. "In other words, you had no control over the situation and left things to God's will?"

Judas angrily rose to his feet, sending the rickety wooden chair teetering backward before it fell with a clatter to the floor. "Oh, come on. You wore the mantle of Judas for years before you became Samuel. You know as much as I do that some things are out of our control, especially on deep-cover missions like Nathaniel's and the rest of the harbingers."

Samuel nodded as he stroked his chin. "Indeed. But, still, His Holiness is not pleased with the way the operation panned out." Samuel let his hands fall to his sides as Judas gulped nervously. "By the way," he added, "he sends his regards."

Judas licked his suddenly dry lips and swallowed again. "R-really? I'm... honored. What did he have to say?"

Samuel smiled coldly and stared into Judas' eyes. "He asked me to tell you, 'But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments... I also will do this unto you.'"

Judas' eyes narrowed in confusion. "What? But-"

Samuel pulled out the flechette pistol hidden in one of his robe's loose-fitting sleeves and squeezed the trigger. The gun's motor whined as it shredded the block of plastic in the chamber and blasted the jagged shards into Judas' chest. A second squeeze sent more into the wounded man's belly. The director's eyes widened in shock, then glazed over as his body landed on the floor in a widening pool of blood.

Samuel tucked the gun back under his voluminous robes, calmly spun on his heel, and walked back to the door. He gave Judas one last glance as he reached for the doorknob. "Incompetent zealot," he sniffed disdainfully. As he stepped through the door and walked down the hallway to the elevator, he signalled one of the bustling technicians to get someone to clean up the mess in the office. She paled and rushed off.

"I hate zealots," he muttered to himself as the lift doors opened.

* * *

Undisclosed Location

January 05, 2016

Keel Lorentz, his hands clasped in front of him as he sat at his desk, nodded curtly to the images of seven numbered black monoliths as they appeared before him out of the darkened room. His lips were pressed in a thin line as he gathered his thoughts; the dim light of the monoliths' numbers reflected off his visor's lens. "Gentlemen," he announced. "I am glad that you could make it. Now that we are all here, we may begin."

"Unless my eyes deceive me, One, we happen to be a few members short," said the deep voice of Six, its voice dripping with sarcasm. "Is your shock at our failure so great that you have forgotten how to count?"

Keel's lip curled. "For someone so intelligent, you have an appallingly poor grasp of current events." His eyes wandered to the empty spaces in the ring of monoliths. "Two's, Four's and Eleven's roles in the attack on NERV's headquarters have been discovered. All three were placed under house arrest two days ago and are expected to be brought before the International Criminal Court shortly."

"Along with half the Japanese government," mused the reedy voice of Three. "They're going to be very busy in The Hague for quite some time."

"They were too eager, too confident. That was very sloppy work on their part," Ten muttered. "I trust their involvement with the rest of us will not be brought to light?"

Keel smiled grimly. "I can assure you that that has been taken care of."

"What about Eight?" asked Five's heavily accented voice.

"If the authorities are to be believed, our Russian colleague apparently committed suicide yesterday."

"And, of course, you do not believe them."

Keel smiled grimly. "Let's just say I find the circumstances of his death... suspect."

"Enough small talk, gentlemen," Twelve snapped irritably. "Why have you called us together, One?"

"Always to the point, eh Twelve?" Keel replied. "All right, then. I wish to give you an update on our current situation and to discuss our future plans now that Complementation has failed for now."

"For now?" Six's booming voice was incredulous. "We gambled everything we had and we lost. How do you propose we accomplish our goals now?"

"We can still fulfill our objectives. In time, the Evas that were lost in the assault can be replaced. Eva 01 is still active. Lilith is still in the bowels of NERV headquarters-"

"And Fuyutsuki is in command there now that Ikari is dead," interrupted Three. "We have traded one thorn in our side for another."

"The Evas can be replaced," growled Seven, "but at what cost? The UN simply will not bankroll the production of more of them, especially now that the threat of the Angels has passed. If we were to fund the construction ourselves it would take years, if not decades."

"Patience is what got us here," said Keel, calmly. "We waited over fifteen years for our first chance, and I am willing to wait another fifteen years or more for another. Remember what is at stake, gentlemen. Is the future of mankind, under our own terms, not worth it?"

Seven grunted. "So what are you suggesting we do now? Do we sit on our hands and do nothing?"

Keel shook his head. "No. But for now, we must play the hand we have been dealt until was are able to act decisively."

"What about Fuyutsuki?" asked Twelve.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about him; he won't stay around forever. If he becomes too troublesome... he can be removed."

"We should have done that with Ikari long ago," Three muttered. Keel ignored the barbed comment.

"And the fate of NERV?" asked Five.

"I have formally proposed to the UN that the Instrumentality Council be dissolved due to the end of the Angel's threat to humanity--for the sake of appearances, of course. NERV was supposed to have been disbanded as well, but the Security Council intervened and has moved that NERV be placed under the military's jurisdiction."

"Interesting," said the silky voice of Nine. "Did they give any reason?"

"Some of the more paranoid members wanted to keep them around in case the Dead Sea scrolls had been misinterpreted." Several voices chuckled ruefully at that. "Also, the threat of two supposedly rogue Eva units was enough to convince the Council that NERV is still needed."

"Ah, yes," said Nine. "Units 06 and 11. What are we to do with them? They are still instrumental to our plans, but we cannot afford to let them be found."

"That has already been taken care of. They have been deactivated and will be sent to the ocean floor for the time being; they can be retrieved when we need them. The blood on their hands will not be on ours."

"So where does that leave us, then?" asked Six gruffly.

"Our position is still secure. Despite our failure, nothing damaging to us as a whole has been revealed. We can manipulate the fools on the Security Council just as easily as we did those on the Instrumentality Council." Keel smiled grimly. "All we have to do is be patient and make our move when the time is right." He paused. "Now, if there is no further business, gentlemen...?"

Silence greeted his question.

"Very well. Dismissed."

The monoliths winked out, leaving Keel alone in the shadows with his thoughts.

* * *

Saint Teresa's Basilica, Nova Jerusalem

January 05, 2016

His Holiness leaned back in his chair and silently watched through the monitors as Samuel left the darkened sanctum next door. He sat there for a few minutes until, satisfied that he would not be disturbed by the Apostle, he pressed a button on his console and waited as a section of the mahogany-paneled wall slid open to reveal a large projection video screen. With a few keystrokes, he called up a replay of the satellite feed from over Tokyo-3 from four days ago.

"Keel, you old fool, what were you thinking?" he murmured in a tired voice as he saw the battle unfold in front of him again. He watched the events on the screen in rapt attention until, finally, the JSSDF forces and the remaining two white Evangelion units retreated. He paused the video and tapped his chin with a long, thin finger.

And again, mankind's pride and ambition becomes his downfall.

The frail, elderly man stared at the arched ceiling of his office, lost in thought. As he watched the floating dust motes catch the warm rays of the afternoon sun, he considered his options and the potential consequences of each plan of action for the millionth time. After a while, he flipped a switch on the console; the screen, still showing the battle's final moment, switched itself off and silently retracted into the wall.

I'm sorry, old friend, but you have forced my hand.

The schedule had to be moved up; there was no other choice. He picked up the phone next to his chair and dialled it with practised ease. The line rang once before a gruff voice answered.

"Yes?"

"John, my child," the elderly man spoke; the handset's built-in voice modulator turned his wavering voice into one that was immediately recognized by the man on the other end.

"Your Holiness!" John's voice sounded surprised, but he quickly recovered from the shock. "You honor me with your call. I am at your command."

"Excellent," said the Voice. "I wish to see you in the sanctum immediately."

"Of course. Do you wish me to bring anything?"

"Yes," the Voice replied. "I need your knowledge of the preliminary plans for Operation Sagittarius."

"Sagittarius?" Surprise crept into John's voice again. "Have things gone that far?"

"I shall brief you on what has been happening on Japan, then you can give me your opinion."

"As you wish, Your Holiness. I shall be there shortly."

"Excellent. I will be expecting you."

The frail man hung up the phone, activated the panel that controlled the sanctum's lighting and sound systems, then turned his attention to the monitors again and waited for John to arrive.

* * *

Classified Location, Nevada Desert

January 09, 2016

"Sir, let's get going. Those clouds are moving in fast."

Corporal Bradley Liang shifted in the seat of the hum-vee as he analyzed the oncoming clouds. "We've still got another hour. That's enough time for us to finish our patrol."

Private David Connor shrugged as he turned the key in the ignition and grasped the wheel. "You're the boss," he replied as he put the vehicle in gear and drove down the hard-packed road that circled the hundred mile-wide crater. "Sir," he yelled over the roar of the engine, "remind me again why we're out here in the middle of nowhere guarding a hole in the ground."

"We're here 'cause Sergeant Anderson heard you saying she was a bitch, remember?" Liang shouted back.

"Funny."

"I try." Bradley peered into the gigantic crater that had once been the location of NERV's Second Branch. He was just about to reach for his binoculars when he was thrown hard into his seatbelt as David slammed on the brakes. He glared at the man behind the wheel. "Geez, Dave, why-"

David signalled for quiet as he turned off the engine. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked Bradley, rubbing his sore shoulder.

A faint rumble, clearly audible now that the hum-vee's engine had been turned off, cut through the air. "That," said David nervously.

Bradley removed his helmet and ran his fingers through his gritty black hair. "That's probably thunder."

"Nope." David shook his head. "The forecast didn't call for thunder at all today. It's too loud for that, even if it was."

"Then what-"

Another rumble, much louder than the first, accompanied a tremor that shook the little vehicle, raising clouds of dust and sending pebbles skittering off the hood. The two soldiers looked at each other, confused. "Wasn't me," David said defensively.

Bradley reached behind his seat and finally pulled out the binoculars. "I'm going to have a look-see." He stood in his seat and scanned the crater below him. As he brought the binoculars to his eyes, a flicker of movement far below caught his attention. He spun the focus knob, braced his elbows against the vehicle's rollbar for support, and tried to find its source.

A perfectly round patch of blackness, easily visible and very much out of place against the pale ashen gravel of the crater floor, caught his eye. As he watched it, the darkness suddenly pulsed and grew; another tremor rocked the hum-vee a second later.

"What the...?"

The binoculars dropped from his grasp and bounced against the rollbar. He caught them by the neckstrap and looked through them again.

Faint golden, geometric patterns played across the blackness, swirling over the shadow faster and faster. They grew in intensity until a disc of dazzling brightness replaced the darkness. Suddenly, something--a pair of hands?-- thrust through the center of the disc and clutched the brightness as if it was a piece of shimmering, golden cloth and ripped it in two. The light disappeared.

Bradley nearly lost his balance as another quake, much more powerful than before, shook the desert.

The hands grasped the edge of the portal. Gleaming, silver fingers dug into the desert floor, gouging deep furrows in the gravel. After a moment, a grotesque, menacing head and a slender, black and silver armored body followed the hands out of the pit. Its eyes glowed with a ghastly, vermilion light.

Satan was climbing out of the depths of Hell.

Holy mother of God... "DAVE! Radio HQ and call in support!" Bradley kept his binoculars trained on the beast below, watching with a mixture of morbid fascination and terror.

With a final effort, the hulking brute pulled itself out of the pit and collapsed on the crater floor. The light in its eyes flashed, then flickered and died. The dark portal by its feet dissolved, as if evaporated by the desert heat. The rising wind blew clouds of sand around the metal skull-like face that grinned back at the two men above.

* * *

Freighter Akashi Bridge

Philippine Sea

January 14, 2016

"Mayday! Mayday! This is the freighter Akashi Bridge. Our current location is 13 degrees, 4 minutes north by 140 degrees, 22 minutes, 19 seconds east. We have encountered heavy seas and are taking on water. Repeat, this is the freighter Akashi Bridge..."

The stricken freighter's captain barely heard his radio operator broadcast the distress call. He stoically stood on the ship's bridge and stared out the window as another wave broke over the deck. Crewmen scrambled to secure the two enormous containers sitting exposed to the driving rain as the wind howled around them. As the men scurried around on the slick deck below, he watched as his ship, his livelihood, and his lifelong dreams foundered in the storm.

The microexplosive charges he had detonated in the cargo bay below the waterline an hour before hadn't helped the situation, either.

There would be an inquiry, of course. The board would hear how he had misread or ignored the weather reports and had steered the ship into the teeth of the typhoon in a vain attempt to shave some time off their run to Sydney. His crew would testify that he had refused to alter their course even after the storm had caught up with them, and how the ship and their lives had become victims of his pride. It didn't really matter to him; he was being paid well enough to scuttle his vessel that he could retire comfortably even if he never set out on the water again. Still, the loss was painful for someone who had lived practically his whole life at sea.

Breathing a deep sigh, he reached for the microphone and flicked the transmit switch. "Attention; this is the captain!" he barked. "Man the lifeboats! All hands, abandon ship! Repeat, abandon ship!"

As the freighter finally slipped beneath the waves an hour later, the only sounds aboard the sinking vessel were the creaking of overstressed bulkheads, the rumble of shifting cargo, and, for a brief second, a loud, tearing sound from the two containers strapped to the deck as they burst open. Evangelion Units 06 and 11, free of their confinement, shot to the surface, erupting from the water like a pair of gigantic white porpoises. Ignoring the fury of the typhoon, they spread their wings and glided over the storm-tossed waves on their way to their new rendezvous point; their shark-like mouths twisted into feral grins as their dummy plugs processed their new programming.

* * *

Commander Fuyutsuki's Office

NERV Headquarters

January 19, 2016

Commander Kouzou Fuyutsuki stood in front of the shatterproof window of his office; the heat from his teacup warmed his hands as he watched the technicians working on the Evangelion units below. The light pouring in from the cavernous bay holding the launch cages provided the only illumination in the spacious room.

It looked like things were more or less back to normal at NERV's Third Branch. As he watched the final repairs being made to Unit 02, Fuyutsuki's gaze wandered to the hole in the wall left by Unit 01 in its fight against Zeruel, then to the numerous bullet holes and scorch marks still on the metal walls of the bay.

The sound of someone entering the office brought NERV's commander out of his thoughts. He turned and greeted the two figures silhouetted against the open doorway with a nod as he walked to his desk and set the teacup down. "You're early," he said with the barest hint of a smile as they entered the room.

"Well," said a young spectacled man, "this is pretty exciting news." Makoto Hyuga, NERV's new operations director, grinned. "So, when's our new arrival coming?"

"Unit 04's arriving from America tomorrow." Fuyutsuki took two files from his desk and gave one to each of his visitors. "Of course, once it shows up we'll need a full battery of tests performed, including structural integrity checks and a full biomechanical diagnostic. All relevant logs and black box recordings also have to be reviewed and examined before we can even think of putting a pilot inside, for obvious reasons." He looked at the other person in the office. "I trust you can handle this much work on your first week at your new job, Doctor?"

Maya Ibuki's face eagerly smiled back at the older man. "Just try and stop me, sir."

Hyuga smiled as he glanced through the file in his hands. "Something tells me you'd be working on it on your laptop if you were bedridden, too." His fingers flipped through the papers, then froze. "Hey, what's with this?"

"Where?" asked Maya, opening her folder.

"Page five."

Maya's eyes widened in disbelief as she read the page.

"Oh," Fuyutsuki said nonchalantly. "Those are suggestions that the military has made for upgrading the Evas. Apparently, someone higher up wants the Evas to have anti-personnel capabilities, in light of what happened during the attack-"

"Absolutely not!"  Maya closed her booklet with a loud snap. Her brown eyes smouldered. "With all due respect, sir, the Evas were designed to fight Angels--not to be killing machines!"

"Still, from a tactical point of view," Hyuga mused, "It would make the Evas more flexible in a battle against smaller targets without changing their design parameters-"

"To Hell with your parameters!" Maya growled at her fellow officer. "It was bad enough to force the pilots to put their lives on the line before. Now you want them to kill, too? Do you know how killing someone practically face to face will affect those children emotionally?"

"Need I remind you that Shinji already had to do kill Pilot Nagisa?" NERV's commander asked evenly. "Whether Nagisa was known to be an Angel at the time is irrelevant. If Mankind is now our worst enemy, it will only be a matter of time before a pilot will have to do kill again."

"You can't be serious, sir!" Maya gasped and turned to Fuyutsuki.

The older man shrugged. "It wasn't my idea; I'm simply playing Devil's advocate. The final decision is mine, though."

"And what do the MAGI say about this?" asked Hyuga.

"Two in favor, one against."

The brunette was aghast. "So... we're going to go ahead with the modifications?"

Fuyutsuki took a deep breath and considered the matter for a minute. "No."

"You're overruling the MAGI on this?" Hyuga asked, surprised, as Maya breathed a sigh of relief. "Not that I'm complaining, but may I ask why?"

Fuyutsuki gave a slight smile. "Call it an old man's intuition." He looked at Maya. "And a very persuasive program director." She blushed, smiling. "Now, I suggest that you two go over the rest of the readouts. We've got a lot of work ahead of us."

"Yes, sir." Maya and Hyuga turned to leave the office. They were almost out the door when Fuyutsuki spoke again.

"Oh, Captain Hyuga?"

"Yes, Commander?" The young man stopped and turned around.

"Do you play shogi?"

Hyuga looked at him, confused. "Sir?"

"Shogi. Do you know how to play?"

"No, sir."

"You should learn. You might find it... useful."

Hyuga thought for a moment. "I'll... keep that in mind." he said as he turned again and left the office.

* * *

In the next chapter of Exorcism:

Old friends are reunited as Asuka and others begin their 'Long Journey Home'.

A/N: If anyone was confused about the whole 'Fourth Unit/Fifth Unit' thing, gomen nisai. You're not alone; I tripped my prereaders up on it too. Count Unit 00 as the First Unit and take it from there; I didn't think the 'holy men' would distinguish between the prototype, test type, and production models.