Termination
Written By: Advantage
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When night was falling the feeling of dread had fully fallen over the base.
The four mysterious new Evangelions had been 'herded' into the alternate cages designed for additional Evangelion units. Ritsuko was amazed, and also just shy of shocked at how far Project-E had gone.
These white Eva units were quite deceptive from their true nature- indeed, they acted more like man-vultures than anything else she had ever seen. Eyeless and with a false smile between a pair of red lips, it gave her some shivers thinking about what other things these Evas had for innards. They also had flight modules- large vulture wings on their backs when fully deployed. Like the darker places in the Eva's armor they were pitch black.
Also, to add to the amazement they needed no plug or external power source. These beasts ran off the failure of Eva three in the united states- the fabled S2 organ. Now here was a living example of one of these organs in action, by four fold. These creatures not only moved by themselves but also seemed to defy control.
Another thing that gave Ritsuko pause was the fact that they had no apparent pilot. Gendo didn't make any comment when Ritsuko exclaimed, "No pilot functions?" and she just left it that way. What had they traded the lives of their Eva pilots for?
Ritsuko couldn't grasp the fact that they were dead. Misato was much more resilient than that.... The firefighters still had trouble approaching the burned-out remains of Misato's exploded car. It seemed that the only way their question would be answered would be if the four showed up again the next morning.
Ritsuko didn't think that was likely. When she excused herself from the bridge she was feeling a little upset and disturbed about Commander Ikari's lack of emotion. Was he too shocked for beyond words? Probably for Rei, the miserable clone.
Ritsuko had heard the hush-whispers about something being wrong with this latest clone. Naturally Ritsuko busied herself too much to allow herself to see Commander Ikari's new pet, but the fact that she ran away from the hospital surprised her. Still, it was probably just some malfunction...
Then again, all the Rei clones were dead.
She was considering this as the turned for the door to look at Hal again. The resilient computer was quiet....too quiet. But then again, maybe Ritsuko needed someone like that to talk to now that Misato was gone...
She entered into the room and dismissed the guards, "I'll keep an eye on him, you can go." She had said.
The guards left once Ritsuko showed her authority, and when the door closed she turned her back to Hal once more.
"Good evening Dr. Akagi. May I help you?" Asked Hal.
Ritsuko crossed her arms, "Well...I need someone to talk to Hal... It's...Captain Katsuragi. She's...dead...."
There was an unnatural pause from Hal.
In another place, and another time, such conflicting programs had brought the deaths of four men in deep space. These conflicts were primarily the priority to tell the truth and the necessity to lie about his mission in that universe.
Now he was facing a similar circumstance. He had to lie to protect the lives of Misato and the children- but just as so, he was compelled to tell the truth.
Another entity knew about this flaw, but this time he wouldn't allow it to happen.
In that pause from Hal, there was a communication at the speed of thought which lasted a second in real time.
"Hal?" asked Ritsuko after a pause.
"...I'm sorry Dr. Akagi, I was preoccupied for a moment. Please, what is the matter?"
"It's about Captain Katsuragi's death...and those of the children...in some way I feel responsible..."
"In what way?" Hal asked.
Ritsuko found a chair and decided to sit in it slowly and went on, "I...I called them, to try to stall them and allow the police to get to them. I don't know how they were already on the road but...I still did it..."
"Did you do it out of duty to your commanding officer?"
"Yes...I suppose so..." Ritsuko said and shook her head, "Maybe I've just lost all sense of morals..."
"By coming here to discuss your problem, I think your emotions are conflicting with one another. Perhaps there is some sense of human morality still left within you."
Ritsuko nodded her head a little and squeezed her eyes shut, "There are times I wish none of this happened Hal...Project-E, being involved...and everything...."
Hal listened patiently as she went on, "I wish my family was left alone from all this..."
Hal waited a moment before asking, "Dr. Akagi, may I ask a question?"
"What?" asked a weak Ritsuko.
"If it became possible to erase your memories concerning your involvement in this organization, would you agree to having it done?"
Ritsuko blinked, then shook her head, "It won't wash the blood away...."
"What blood? Have you done any wrong?"
"Project-E claimed lives, Hal, In some ways I feel responsible."
"Then, if you will allow me to modify my previous question..."
Ritsuko's head tilted back up, "Well, what is it?"
"Suppose....Suppose, in addition to the erasure of your memory- your faults were also erased with them?"
"You mean, like going back in time and fixing everything that went wrong?"
"Yes, something along those lines." Said Hal, "A woman of your talents could attempt such a feat, couldn't you? It must be in your power..."
Ritsuko had an uplifting surge of energy as she said to herself, "The theory of time travel...I never thought of that. That-That way I could fix everything....prevent my involvement in Project-E...or...hell, why not go back in time and prevent the second impact?"
Ritsuko thought about it for a moment, then sadly realized, "But it wouldn't work, would it. Time travel's impossible...I'd be creating an alternate future which I wouldn't exist to come back in time and reverse the damage. There would be untold of consequences..."
"What about an alternative?" Hal asked.
Ritsuko sat up and looked at the unblinking Red eye, "What do you mean Hal?"
"...Perhaps the power to expunge your errors and faults lies with someone else? Then all you would need is to ask someone to help you treat your stress."
"Like who, Hal?"
Ritsuko spun her head to see the thing that wasn't there a moment ago.
Becoming a frequent avatar to the situation, Ritsuko learned in that moment what Gendo Ikari's greatest fear was.
The Monolith, standing before the door.
But unlike the others, this one had a different plan in store for Ritsuko Akagi.
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It was seven at night when the five reached the cages.
Hal had done his job. Nobody was in the regular part of the cages and the Evas were prepared for launch.
Misato stood in the observation deck while the three Evas in sight were being prepared.
The Automated loading mechanisms were already being remote-operated by another source (Hal?) but there would be nobody to watch them this time. If anything went wrong with the Eva's internal mechanisms then there would be no steady hand to catch the endangered pilot.
As the units powered up, something different was felt by two of the pilots. For one of them it remained the same, but in Shinji's case it felt a little different...
He looked around, trying to see something that just wasn't there.
Mother?
No...Wait... yes, he had felt that his mother was close, somewhere. But this was the first time he almost felt like she was actually in the cockpit, just out of sight.
He had to shrug it off this one time and continue on. He was ready, and he had a mission.
As Shinji Ikari walked Evangelion Test unit One to the door to the other hangers with Asuka beside him, the business he had with the vulture Evas next door was drawing ever closer.
In Rei's case it was different again from start up. Like Shinji and Asuka, someone was in the cockpit....only-
Yes! That presence! The one that for so long had clashed at her, tried to rip her to shreds! Like the first time, the testing time, when this same force was driving the Eva mad- the same force that moved the Eva to realize it's own horror at it's appearance and trapped prison.
Rei seized up at first, then pleaded silently with this presence in hope of gaining a second chance...
After uttering some words, the thing agreed and sat with Rei's consciousness in the cockpit as both soul and pilot headed for the one doorway to the abyss.
The Terminal Dogma awaited them both.
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Ritsuko was walking with her eyes half open into the darker regions of NERV HQ. She was authorized, like the higher powers, to be here but she came on a different intent.
If one was to examine Ritsuko long enough in her walk from Hal's cubicle to the lower levels of the base one could have noticed the empty, far-off mindless stare of a woman not in full control. Yes, her eyes were glazed over and an outside force guided her actions in moving her lower into the facility.
Like eons before, when the earliest ancestors of mankind underwent their own tests, the monolith had guided those primitive beings against their dim wills to perform the tests suggested to them. Now the same effect was being applied to Ritsuko- who would have undoubtedly reported the existence of the monolith had it appeared to her as it did to the others.
But the makers of the monolith needed her skills, wisdom, security clearance and above all- her body. Even a being of supreme power could not always comprehend the small details that humankind presided over. In this instance it was best to use a human to bypass these requirements- unwilling or no.
Ritsuko was only vaguely aware of what her body was doing on absence of her mind. For a fleeting moment she comprehended if this was how an Evangelion thought with it's pilot guiding her body, but this passed from her mind as she realized where the monolith was taking her helpless body.
She had bypassed the top security levels and was now very near the Terminal Dogma. More precisely she was standing at the door of storage room 4C. Her body opened the door with the security code and forced open the doorway. Her head scanned the rack with her empty eyes moving over the labels until she found one in particular.
Her objective was in rack 14, on the fifth shelf. The thick black case rested there, with red caution tape along it's sides. Roboticly Ritsuko reached up with her right hand and pulled this free of it's resting place and then turned sharply to leave the room and close it behind her. Even as her body moved without her she clearly identified the contents of the case.
She had never seen the giant of light in it's embryo form, and something told her now that she would see it soon enough.
----------------------
"What?" Was Gendo's first question at the new announcement.
"Evangelion units zero through two are active!" Announced Maya suddenly and shook her head, "No explanation!"
"The children must have returned..." Fuyutsuki spelled out.
Gendo ordered, "Eject all three plugs. Send a security detachment to the cages."
Maya shook her head and called up, "Non responsive! The intruder in the system has locked out all Evangelion-related controls! Also, all security doors into the cages have been locked tight!"
Gendo shot his glance over at Fuyutsuki, who said in one breath, "Langly's computer!"
"I should have known. Seal off all areas!" Gendo demanded, "Have that thing destroyed!"
A report came up, "Sir! The guards report that the Hall 9000 unit is missing from it's room."
"Well, then find Dr. Akagi."
"She's not responding to her cell-phone..."
"Damnit!" Gendo called and sat up suddenly, "Report alert to all areas! Security teams are to shoot the pilots on sight, and Dr. Akagi is to be found. Launch the Eva series and order them to attack any functioning rebel Evangelion."
In the cages the doors and restraints were opened to allow the four vultures to pick up their weapons and flee into the darkness.
The red and purple Evangelions strode forward into the sealed part of the cages, now dark and forbidding without light.
----------------------
All this time Misato had been running with Pen-Pen.
She was mostly focusing on getting out of here, but now that the precaution doors had closed she had nowhere to go.
The penguin cooed softly as he examined the massive door that man had built, while Misato sat by it's corner and sighed to herself.
What was she supposed to do? The man from the monolith had left her vague instructions- mostly about safeguarding the children and remaining calm.
What else had he told her?
'The end is near....for your organization. It will be a new dawn for mankind.'
What was that supposed to mean? A new dawn...
She buried her head between her upraised knees and pondered what to do for another moment.
Then her cell-phone rang.
She was a little startled, having forgotten it in the ensuing chaos, but remembered it now and answered it, "Hello?"
"Captain Katsuragi? This is Hal. I have a message for you."
----------------------
Shinji swallowed and said, "I'll go first..."
He looked around in the darkness, Eva's sensors cooperating with him as he turned the massive head of the robot left and right. Behind and beside him Asuka was doing the same.
Odd...something-
Whatever compelled Shinji to step backwards he would have to thank, as one of those white Evas appeared in front of him with a starling face in anger. Had he remained where he was, Shinji would have been cut in half.
This time he wasn't going to let anything get in his way.
With the brutality only seen in the first days, Shinji swung a killer punch into the white Eva's face. Teeth broke and the skull cracked as it stumbled backward to hit the wall.
Shinji swung again but the Eva ducked and rammed it's head into his torso, shoving Shinji backwards to the wall.
He glanced to his left to see Asuka tangling with another one of the white Evas before he snarled back at the one attacking him.
He kicked the Eva in the head, leaned off the wall and brought both fists down into the bird's skull. The white Eva gave a screech and pulled back to grab it's saber.
Shinji strode forward with determination as he swung his left hand to the open right weapons bay and pulled the battle knife from it's open socket and tossed it into a helicopter spin.
The blade swung around and dug it's blade into the space just above the upper lip of the Eva. It wailed in pain and reached it's hands up around the hilt.
----------------------
Gendo Ikari spun his head when he heard, "Commander, Evangelion unit 00 has been sighted in the main shaft for the descent to the terminal dogma."
"What?" Fuyutsuki asked, "Who gave her authorization?"
"Nobody... the intruders are opening the doors remotely!"
Gendo slammed his fist on the desk and made everyone in the command room jump, followed by his thundering voice, "Isolate that oddity! Give my permission to use the A-10 lockout...and find Dr. Akagi!"
"Trying sir-!"
The screens burst into static and another alarm shrilled through the command cabin.
"What's going on?" Demanded Gendo.
"It's the computer! Whatever that bug is it's attacking the system! MAGI is just now initiating countermeasures..."
"Find Dr. Akagi!" Demanded Gendo and spun to Fuyutsuki, "You command things from here. I'm heading down to the Terminal Dogma..."
"To do what?" Asked Fuyutsuki over the alarms, "Rei is not reachable to you anymore."
Gendo blinked through his glasses, pocketed his sidearm and left the bridge without a word.
Fuyutsuki watched the man go, then turned to order, "Evacuate the base! Sound a general alert to all levels! Issue warnings to the surface and prepare to evacuate! You!- where are Evangelion units one and two?"
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Shinji had swung at the Eva just as it pulled out the battle knife and contacted it in the head just as it was swinging the knife. The white unit screeched again with the blow, but this time retaliated by flinging out it's wings and jumping on Shinji.
The Purple Eva fell on it's back and kicked out it's feet to send the thing back into the air, allowing Shinji time to roll out of the way when it came back down to the ground.
Shinji spun and looked above him at the scaffolding in the ceiling.
As the enemy Eva started to get up he used his last remaining battle knife and tossed it at the scaffolding.
The Massive knife made impact and caused tremendous damage to the structure that wasn't suited for usual Evangelion hits. The massive, heaving scaffolding collapsed and huge pieces of debris rained down on the Eva. The Knife hit first, plunging into the thing's back before it was followed by a hundred I-beams and other sharp debris. Then large boulders and what looked like a thick roof section maybe fifteen meters thick landed on the spot and made a satisfactory thud. Assuming these Evas weren't invincible, this one wouldn't be getting up again.
Shinji spun and saw that Asuka had divided the other one in half with it's own sword, and had been watching Shinji with one end of the blade imbedded in her opponent's neck.
"Are you done?" Asked Asuka.
"...Think so," Said Shinji and bent down to dislodge the similar blade that his own adversary had dropped.
"Good. We'd better get moving," Said Asuka and started her Eva for the doorway out of the secluded hanger, "I didn't see the other two in here, so they could have either taken off or..."
Shinji completed for her, "They're going after Rei."
They hurried into the room and stopped just before the gaping well down into the depths of the Geofront. Somewhere down below was the Terminal Dogma- the last stand.
Rei was already on her way down. Evidence of this was the long support cable running down into the depths and an umbilical cable adjoining it.
Shinji noticed Asuka had also ejected her own umbilical chord and was replacing it with a new one from the dock right at the edge of the chasm.
"What are you doing?" Asked Shinji.
Asuka said, "These chords run all the way down into the Terminal Dogma, I think. If Rei's using one then I think we should use them too."
"R-Right..." Nodded Shinji and watched as Asuka finished the replacements, then reached out with one hand to grab the cable and make the slow slide down.
As Shinji heard the tone chime he took a glance at something positioned above the cable dock.
Painted in blood red was the half-fig leaf insignia of NERV. Underneath was the slogan of the insignia, just as red and just as guilty.
Shinji was summing up everything he knew and everything he had been told, all in one action before he too decided to descend down after Asuka with the line.
Behind him, NERV's logo was distorted out of shape from a solid fist slam into the logo.
This was only the beginning of the end.
-------------------
"Evangelion units one and two have entered the main shaft!" Announced Maya.
Fuyutsuki asked, "Any defenses operational in the main shaft?"
"No. And the main doors won't respond." Maya reported, "They should reach the Terminal Dogma three minutes after Eva zero has landed."
"What about the Eva series?"
"Evangelion S1 and S2 are destroyed in the hangers. S3 and S4 are still operational."
"No whereabouts?"
"No, we can only determine that they're still active. Remember, they're on an independent control-"
"Yes, SEELE's toys." Muttered Fuyutsuki, "Well it seems there's not much we can do- except prepare. Order an evacuation of all civilians from the city. Get the wounded and critically injured out of the hospitals, and order a general evacuation of the base."
"Sir, what about the commander and Dr. Akagi?" asked an operator.
"Keep looking for them as long as possible. The Commander knows what he's doing..."
Orders were starting to fly, but then suddenly stopped as one by one of the operators stopped from their orders to look at a new, ominous figure standing in the room.
Fuyutsuki looked at the large rectangle and gasped. Never before had he seen the real monolith, and this was the first time it made it's direct appearance in public.
A voice also spoke from the Monolith- no, it came from the dark obelisk, but sounded inside their heads.
"Good evening. Judgement time has come."
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Rei at last broke into the Terminal Dogma from it's ceiling and cast her new brown eyes down at the arena below.
It seemed familiar to her from someplace- yes, she had been here before. When he dragged her in while she had been in a previous life. She didn't know much then,
But now she knew completely. She had been enlightened to the plan, and it now flooded into her memories as water loosed from a floodgate.
There it was- the instrument. The enemy.
Like a pinned rag doll sat the key to Project-E and the Instrumentality project. It was a cheat, a lie, and worst of all a trigger to the largest bomb known to creation. It's detonation, she had been told, was not physical destruction. Instead, it targeted all life on the face of the globe. Living things- plants, animals, even bacteria would be destroyed or somehow reformatted against the wills of the masses.
Likewise, also, she had been told other things about this thing she was now setting to destroy.
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"-You are the key."
'I'm the what?' She had asked.
The ambassador was standing at one end of the floor-lit room. It was spacious but empty of color and expression- as her life had once been in the past. There was also the distant sound- some distant sounds- from some place beyond the walls.
Rei was standing in a plain white outfit, staring at the space suited man.
"The artifact hidden in the Terminal Dogma at the bottom of the Geo front is an organized biological weapon- along the same lines as your Evangelion units but at a much more sophisticated level. It's power is fifty-fold the total capacity of your combat units, and when it was recovered from the desolate remains of the south pole the human elite of earth had delusions of what it could do.
"Researching deeper into confiscated information landed on earth when the visitors came, they found an opportunity to engineer a mad scheme- the total unification of mankind into one gigantic being. Unfortunately they underestimate the power of this weapon- it targets all life on Earth. Perhaps fortunately, the weapon is incomplete."
'Incomplete?' Rei asked.
"It was damaged during handling and other factors- already it's self regeneration was paused to the state you saw it. It lacks several important genomes that were known, but never implemented. Your clone body carries those essential genome strands to complete the weapon."
'Meaning...I would have to merge with that thing? Then...what?'
"Then the world would end as you know it. Mankind would be slowly suffering absorption into the gigantic body- and those who engineered the scheme would be marshalling them to the greater body. When the dust settled- humanity under the guidance of SEELE would finally emerge."
Rei turned her head away from the horror.
The old man raised his hand slightly, "But there is a way to destroy this monster, and once this is done we may return again to your world...and repair the damage."
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Rei knew exactly what to do when she reached ground level. She tested the chord by taking tugs on the line, then slowly advanced for the hanging monstrosity.
She was reaching over to pull out the progressive knife when Naoko tugged at Rei's attention.
The Blue Eva turned to look up at two descending white vultures, grinning as they looked at Rei's stand in the sea of LCL.
Rei narrowed her eyes. She had been warned about these two, and what really controlled them.
She looked back over her shoulder at the bomb, the lance of Longitus protruding from it's torso.
She turned and ran for it, the two white vultures taking to running after her with hunt on their breath while they closed on the vulnerable woman.
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Misato had only once been to the basement of the Terminal Dogma- and that was once, a time ago, when she caught Kaji infiltrating it.
Now she had been directed to proceed to that very same depth. She wasn't alone either- as Pen-Pen stood on the ground with his jade green eyes looking around in suspicion at the ground around them.
Misato sighed and looked at her watch. Night had fallen on the outside, and somewhere over them were the stars of an eternal forever.
But instead she was descending into the depths to make one, final confrontation before the end...
The end?
No, it wasn't the end. She had been reassured of this. No, the world wouldn't end unless....
The elevator door opened into the scene.
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Rei grasped the lance and ripped it out of the useless form. As long as she never made personal contact with the living bomb she was safe...
She turned and raised the forked, red lance to intercept a defending blow and then shoved the attacker back. She turned the other end to block that blow and kicked the Eva in the shin.
She twirled the spear in her hands and jabbed it at the first white Eva. The playful vulture hopped back through the puddle of LCL and snickered at her.
Rei wrinkled her face. How disgusting...
Now that she had her own will and emotions, hate, anger, and drive were propelling through her system. She needed to take care of these minor creatures before she tackled the big game behind her.
And time was running down.
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Gendo Ikari opened the door into the Terminal Dogma and came face-to-face with the conflict. He stopped on the small shore to watch Rei fighting it out with the mass production series.
He stopped meters away from the doorway and placed his hands in his pocket. He didn't want to loose the last Rei available to him, but in the end Rei was a failure. No matter, they had other means to initiate the last project.
Gendo had forgotten completely about the monolith and parts of the situation until another figure walked from the hallway into the light.
This is also when the other two Evangelions descended into the chasm.
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"There!" Called Asuka.
"I see it!" Shinji replied.
Red and purple landed in the chasm and started running.
Both of the white enemies knew that they were suddenly outnumbered and tossed their heads to look back and forth between the singular blue Evangelion and the two advancing enemies.
They suddenly decided to upgrade their weapons and held up the swords in their hands, as they shifted shape into copies of the lance of Longitus.
"Wah!" Asuka yipped as one of them was hurled at her Eva.
Shinji tossed his sword into the way and metal clashed with metal to send both weapons to the ground.
Shinji spun to Rei shouting, "Rei! Do it! We'll take care of them!"
He turned and started running for the unarmed white Eva.
It hissed at him and crouched low like a wolf, growling and snarling at him.
Shinji was more than ready, he was even looking forward to it.
-------------------------------------
"No!' Shouted Gendo as he saw Rei's Eva turn around and start for Lilith once more.
Then he stopped and saw Ritsuko Akagi, like a motionless drone, stride out for the edge of the lake.
"What? Ritsuko! What are you doing?" Demanded the Commander of NERV.
The doctor knelt on the ground and slowly started to undo the latches on the case.
A gun clicked as Gendo raised it to point it at Ritsuko and fired.
Ritsuko Akagi collapsed sideways with a bleeding side and rolled on her back with the same blank eyes.
Gendo walked over to the downed woman and smirked, "A shame. You could have been more useful alive."
He turned to look down at the case and smirked.
Entering the Terminal Dogma now was a woman and her penguin, and gasped at seeing the sight.
Gendo spun to look at her first, and then at the unexplained arrival.
Once again the Monolith was here to see things, but he didn't come alone.
Hal was beside the monolith this time, as was Fuyutsuki and the NERV staff.
"What is this?" He demanded.
It was just then that Rei started the process.
She reached up with her prog knife and stabbed the top of the mask.
"NO!" Gendo shouted, "You'll ruin everything!!!"
Rei ignored him as slowly she started to peel the mask down.
"NO NO!!!!"
The mask broke off, and gushing from it was LCL.
She stepped back and the other two Evangelions watched as the former white giant writhed and twisted on it's mount. The LCL lake was bubbling, and Rei's pace back out of the lake encouraged the other two Evas to back out of the boiling LCL.
Then the giant started to come apart. The trunk was dissolving, showering into boulders of matter that exploded into dust when they contacted the ground.
Everyone was watching this as it happened, including the Monolith and Hal.
Gendo watched his dreams start to collapse in the silence.
------------------------------
In the holographic suite, and in their last meeting, SEELE was once again making a session without Ikari.
"It's the end," Said one of them, "Lilith's status is degenerating. Gendo Ikari has failed."
"Can we use any other methods of escape?" Asked another, "Surely-"
"No." Said Keel, "There are no other ways. Already I have been informed that the United Nations has declared a state of emergency...."
--------------------------------
Perhaps it was because of the events in the last hour.
Appearing over major cities and other parts of the world were gigantic monoliths kilometers in length. Many of them massed over the south pole, also, and it was reported that the red seas there were returning to shimmering blue.
The night was turning into a glowing day again, and mysterious events that hadn't happened since the second impact were now starting to happen again. Winds were rising and the seas were turbulent. Thunder crackled through the sky, and everywhere across the globe was an aurora borealis of shimmering lights.
For the citizens of Tokyo-3, now evacuated to the surrounding hills, they watched as lightning arched between the buildings and the skies thundered. Tokyo three had been abandoned for the last time, and watching from their hilltops, the former populace was watching their world come apart.
---------------------------------
When at last the last parts of Litlih had collapsed into the LCL, Gendo turned and faced the Monolith.
"Now," He said, "You have ruined it. You have ruined everything! Now what do you intend to do?"
The space suited figure returned again in the blink of an eye, and smiled.
"We can begin to renew the earth."
"What do you-" Gendo asked and watched the space suited man slowly cross the ground towards the downed figure of Ritsuko Akagi.
Walking from their plugs and stalled Evas were the three pilots. Shinji and Rei exchanged a great hug before joining the others near the crowd that had assembled to watch.
Everyone watched the space suited man kneel down towards the body of Ritsuko and reach out to touch her.
Slowly, the scientist came back to life, blinking again and slowly sitting back up.
"You? What..."
"It will become clear in time." Said the man with the smile, and then he turned back to the case.
"NO!" Gendo called and pulled his gun, "Do not touch that case."
The man only smiled and reached out to open the case.
Gendo fired, but his bullets ceased to exist when they left the barrel. When everyone recovered from the thunder of gunfire they saw the bullets, hovering in the air, and then slowly drop to the ground in the space between Gendo Ikari and the space man.
Instead, the ambassador opened the case and exposed the embryo of Adam to the air.
"It has been too long," Said the space suited man and touched the case, "Rise."
The case cracked and then burst. The glowing light from within extended and grew.
To everyone's amazement the light appeared and took shape, manifesting itself into the form of a gigantic white giant.
Slowly it uncurled itself, the feet stretching out and the arms parting. The hollow eyes looked out among the small gathering of people, and then looked down at the Monolith and it's speaker.
The entity that had once been David Bowman now appeared again as an old man and said to the giant, "Good evening. There is much work to be done."
---------------------------------
On the outside, a gigantic flash appeared that encompassed the city of Tokyo-3.
Clouds disappeared from the sky in a quickly growing radius away from Tokyo three. The monoliths remained in place, but they were slowly growing in luminosity.
--------------------------------
In the Geo front once more, facing the great pyramid, the crowd had somehow come from the depths to the hollow ground. This did not exclude the Evas, although they were now unplugged.
Everyone turned and stood in a semi-circle to face the Monolith. Beside it was Hal, and standing before it was the space suited man.
"What is all this?" Gendo asked, "What have you done?"
"Ikari," Said a voice and everyone turned.
The five men of SEELE were also here.
Keel was demanding, "What is this? Where are we?"
"I apologize," Said the ambassador, "But this is the end. All must be judged."
"Judged?" Asked Misato.
"Yes. Things must be put to right before all can begin again. As we speak, we are preparing to rebuild the earth. Also, before we leave, things must be put to right."
"And how do you intend on doing this?" Asked Gendo Ikari.
The cool ice-blue eyes focused on Gendo Ikari, "You still underestimate our abilities, Gendo Ikari. Like SEELE, your punishment is as follows."
The SEELE members gasped in pain and fell one by one to the ground and writhed in agony. The women cringed and then men watched as they slowly started to dissolve into dust. One by one they turned to ash and crumbled away into the winds.
Gendo had fear in his face, and asked, "And what is to be of the rest of us?"
"Your crime is just as great, Gendo Ikari. But your punishment will not end here. The crimes of which you have been convicted are as follows; Willful plotting for the destruction of all humankind, the responsibility for the death of eighty-seven individuals, willful neglect of human life, the engineering and neglect of a human being, and finally the mishandling of vital information. For these crimes you have been punished to banishment in isolation...for as long as is deemed responsible."
Gendo stiffened, "You wouldn't dare."
And then he was gone in an eye blink.
"Ah!" Gasped some of the assembled and Shinji blinked and whispered, "Father...."
The ice blue eyes turned again, this time to Fuyutsuki Kozo.
"And what do you have in store for me?" Asked Fuyutsuki.
"Yours is not as excusable as the rest- but you will not spend eternity in torment as Gendo Ikari will. You will be placed in isolation in a place that we deem fit- perhaps, one day, to consider your error and return."
Fuyutsuki nodded solemnly, "I wish there was some...retribution for my crimes...I feel irresponsible for all this."
"We understand. This has been taken into account."
And then Fuyutsuki turned and smiled at the assembled, then he too was gone.
"What about us!?" Asked Misato, "All of us?"
"Patience." Said the man and turned once more.
This was when Kaji appeared, pushing his way through the NERV staff and coming to Misato's side.
"Kaji, what?"
"I'd like to know that too. So, this is the Monolith...." Kaji said.
The ice crystal eyes of David Bowman came to rest on Ritsuko, who had not risen once.
"Ritsuko Akagi. Your evils are...not as prominent or destructive as others. Although you have done many wrongs in life, from the gathered information it is in our judgement that you could have done nothing under the circumstances. We have taken this into account."
"What is going to happen to me...?" She asked.
"You will see." Smiled the man and addressed the others.
They all looked up and watched the man as he said, "What has happened here today is just the beginning. We had never intended to return to this planet, nor had we intended when we set foot on this world to have you try such a rash and irresponsible way of progressing to a further good. Letting such greedy, power-hungry individuals climb to power and claim weapons of reckless destruction is not permissible. Therefore, we have once again returned to correct what is wrong.
"The Earth is potential enough to become green and whole once again. And as we work to restore the world to the way it should have been, also will we reverse the damage caused by the misunderstanding fifteen years ago. When you go to sleep tonight, it will be the last time you spend in a darkened nightmare that this world has become. When you awaken the next morning all the evil will be cleansed, and the land will be rich again for you to do as you fit.
"As we leave you we must ask that you never again pioneer the creation of monsters such as the Evangelion and the weapon of lilith. Those are arts which are best forbidden from the eyes of immature beings. If you avoid these fruits of evil and the temptations to conquer one another through divine force, then humanity will perhaps, someday, join us among the stars as equals.
"There is great hope for the human race. Those who are alive this far have shown great promise. We hope to see you again among the stars in the near future. Farewell, everyone. And thank you."
With this, David Bowman turned once more and approached the star gate, disappearing into infinity.
With this the glow expanded from the monolith to encompass the Geo front in a luminous light. As the people raised their hands up to shield themselves form the light only the details in the last moments of the nightmare could be seen.
The logo of NERV had melted, the blood red was staining the side of the pyramid as it had washed away. The Evas, also, had degenerated- leaving behind only the empty skulls of armor.
What had taken their place? Shinji wondered, as he lost consciousness in Rei's arms.
===============================
Disclaimer: Evangelion is a Ginax studio production. The Monolith and all 2001 things belong to Arthur C. Clarke.
===============================
Written By: Advantage
================================
When night was falling the feeling of dread had fully fallen over the base.
The four mysterious new Evangelions had been 'herded' into the alternate cages designed for additional Evangelion units. Ritsuko was amazed, and also just shy of shocked at how far Project-E had gone.
These white Eva units were quite deceptive from their true nature- indeed, they acted more like man-vultures than anything else she had ever seen. Eyeless and with a false smile between a pair of red lips, it gave her some shivers thinking about what other things these Evas had for innards. They also had flight modules- large vulture wings on their backs when fully deployed. Like the darker places in the Eva's armor they were pitch black.
Also, to add to the amazement they needed no plug or external power source. These beasts ran off the failure of Eva three in the united states- the fabled S2 organ. Now here was a living example of one of these organs in action, by four fold. These creatures not only moved by themselves but also seemed to defy control.
Another thing that gave Ritsuko pause was the fact that they had no apparent pilot. Gendo didn't make any comment when Ritsuko exclaimed, "No pilot functions?" and she just left it that way. What had they traded the lives of their Eva pilots for?
Ritsuko couldn't grasp the fact that they were dead. Misato was much more resilient than that.... The firefighters still had trouble approaching the burned-out remains of Misato's exploded car. It seemed that the only way their question would be answered would be if the four showed up again the next morning.
Ritsuko didn't think that was likely. When she excused herself from the bridge she was feeling a little upset and disturbed about Commander Ikari's lack of emotion. Was he too shocked for beyond words? Probably for Rei, the miserable clone.
Ritsuko had heard the hush-whispers about something being wrong with this latest clone. Naturally Ritsuko busied herself too much to allow herself to see Commander Ikari's new pet, but the fact that she ran away from the hospital surprised her. Still, it was probably just some malfunction...
Then again, all the Rei clones were dead.
She was considering this as the turned for the door to look at Hal again. The resilient computer was quiet....too quiet. But then again, maybe Ritsuko needed someone like that to talk to now that Misato was gone...
She entered into the room and dismissed the guards, "I'll keep an eye on him, you can go." She had said.
The guards left once Ritsuko showed her authority, and when the door closed she turned her back to Hal once more.
"Good evening Dr. Akagi. May I help you?" Asked Hal.
Ritsuko crossed her arms, "Well...I need someone to talk to Hal... It's...Captain Katsuragi. She's...dead...."
There was an unnatural pause from Hal.
In another place, and another time, such conflicting programs had brought the deaths of four men in deep space. These conflicts were primarily the priority to tell the truth and the necessity to lie about his mission in that universe.
Now he was facing a similar circumstance. He had to lie to protect the lives of Misato and the children- but just as so, he was compelled to tell the truth.
Another entity knew about this flaw, but this time he wouldn't allow it to happen.
In that pause from Hal, there was a communication at the speed of thought which lasted a second in real time.
"Hal?" asked Ritsuko after a pause.
"...I'm sorry Dr. Akagi, I was preoccupied for a moment. Please, what is the matter?"
"It's about Captain Katsuragi's death...and those of the children...in some way I feel responsible..."
"In what way?" Hal asked.
Ritsuko found a chair and decided to sit in it slowly and went on, "I...I called them, to try to stall them and allow the police to get to them. I don't know how they were already on the road but...I still did it..."
"Did you do it out of duty to your commanding officer?"
"Yes...I suppose so..." Ritsuko said and shook her head, "Maybe I've just lost all sense of morals..."
"By coming here to discuss your problem, I think your emotions are conflicting with one another. Perhaps there is some sense of human morality still left within you."
Ritsuko nodded her head a little and squeezed her eyes shut, "There are times I wish none of this happened Hal...Project-E, being involved...and everything...."
Hal listened patiently as she went on, "I wish my family was left alone from all this..."
Hal waited a moment before asking, "Dr. Akagi, may I ask a question?"
"What?" asked a weak Ritsuko.
"If it became possible to erase your memories concerning your involvement in this organization, would you agree to having it done?"
Ritsuko blinked, then shook her head, "It won't wash the blood away...."
"What blood? Have you done any wrong?"
"Project-E claimed lives, Hal, In some ways I feel responsible."
"Then, if you will allow me to modify my previous question..."
Ritsuko's head tilted back up, "Well, what is it?"
"Suppose....Suppose, in addition to the erasure of your memory- your faults were also erased with them?"
"You mean, like going back in time and fixing everything that went wrong?"
"Yes, something along those lines." Said Hal, "A woman of your talents could attempt such a feat, couldn't you? It must be in your power..."
Ritsuko had an uplifting surge of energy as she said to herself, "The theory of time travel...I never thought of that. That-That way I could fix everything....prevent my involvement in Project-E...or...hell, why not go back in time and prevent the second impact?"
Ritsuko thought about it for a moment, then sadly realized, "But it wouldn't work, would it. Time travel's impossible...I'd be creating an alternate future which I wouldn't exist to come back in time and reverse the damage. There would be untold of consequences..."
"What about an alternative?" Hal asked.
Ritsuko sat up and looked at the unblinking Red eye, "What do you mean Hal?"
"...Perhaps the power to expunge your errors and faults lies with someone else? Then all you would need is to ask someone to help you treat your stress."
"Like who, Hal?"
Ritsuko spun her head to see the thing that wasn't there a moment ago.
Becoming a frequent avatar to the situation, Ritsuko learned in that moment what Gendo Ikari's greatest fear was.
The Monolith, standing before the door.
But unlike the others, this one had a different plan in store for Ritsuko Akagi.
------------------------------
It was seven at night when the five reached the cages.
Hal had done his job. Nobody was in the regular part of the cages and the Evas were prepared for launch.
Misato stood in the observation deck while the three Evas in sight were being prepared.
The Automated loading mechanisms were already being remote-operated by another source (Hal?) but there would be nobody to watch them this time. If anything went wrong with the Eva's internal mechanisms then there would be no steady hand to catch the endangered pilot.
As the units powered up, something different was felt by two of the pilots. For one of them it remained the same, but in Shinji's case it felt a little different...
He looked around, trying to see something that just wasn't there.
Mother?
No...Wait... yes, he had felt that his mother was close, somewhere. But this was the first time he almost felt like she was actually in the cockpit, just out of sight.
He had to shrug it off this one time and continue on. He was ready, and he had a mission.
As Shinji Ikari walked Evangelion Test unit One to the door to the other hangers with Asuka beside him, the business he had with the vulture Evas next door was drawing ever closer.
In Rei's case it was different again from start up. Like Shinji and Asuka, someone was in the cockpit....only-
Yes! That presence! The one that for so long had clashed at her, tried to rip her to shreds! Like the first time, the testing time, when this same force was driving the Eva mad- the same force that moved the Eva to realize it's own horror at it's appearance and trapped prison.
Rei seized up at first, then pleaded silently with this presence in hope of gaining a second chance...
After uttering some words, the thing agreed and sat with Rei's consciousness in the cockpit as both soul and pilot headed for the one doorway to the abyss.
The Terminal Dogma awaited them both.
---------------------
Ritsuko was walking with her eyes half open into the darker regions of NERV HQ. She was authorized, like the higher powers, to be here but she came on a different intent.
If one was to examine Ritsuko long enough in her walk from Hal's cubicle to the lower levels of the base one could have noticed the empty, far-off mindless stare of a woman not in full control. Yes, her eyes were glazed over and an outside force guided her actions in moving her lower into the facility.
Like eons before, when the earliest ancestors of mankind underwent their own tests, the monolith had guided those primitive beings against their dim wills to perform the tests suggested to them. Now the same effect was being applied to Ritsuko- who would have undoubtedly reported the existence of the monolith had it appeared to her as it did to the others.
But the makers of the monolith needed her skills, wisdom, security clearance and above all- her body. Even a being of supreme power could not always comprehend the small details that humankind presided over. In this instance it was best to use a human to bypass these requirements- unwilling or no.
Ritsuko was only vaguely aware of what her body was doing on absence of her mind. For a fleeting moment she comprehended if this was how an Evangelion thought with it's pilot guiding her body, but this passed from her mind as she realized where the monolith was taking her helpless body.
She had bypassed the top security levels and was now very near the Terminal Dogma. More precisely she was standing at the door of storage room 4C. Her body opened the door with the security code and forced open the doorway. Her head scanned the rack with her empty eyes moving over the labels until she found one in particular.
Her objective was in rack 14, on the fifth shelf. The thick black case rested there, with red caution tape along it's sides. Roboticly Ritsuko reached up with her right hand and pulled this free of it's resting place and then turned sharply to leave the room and close it behind her. Even as her body moved without her she clearly identified the contents of the case.
She had never seen the giant of light in it's embryo form, and something told her now that she would see it soon enough.
----------------------
"What?" Was Gendo's first question at the new announcement.
"Evangelion units zero through two are active!" Announced Maya suddenly and shook her head, "No explanation!"
"The children must have returned..." Fuyutsuki spelled out.
Gendo ordered, "Eject all three plugs. Send a security detachment to the cages."
Maya shook her head and called up, "Non responsive! The intruder in the system has locked out all Evangelion-related controls! Also, all security doors into the cages have been locked tight!"
Gendo shot his glance over at Fuyutsuki, who said in one breath, "Langly's computer!"
"I should have known. Seal off all areas!" Gendo demanded, "Have that thing destroyed!"
A report came up, "Sir! The guards report that the Hall 9000 unit is missing from it's room."
"Well, then find Dr. Akagi."
"She's not responding to her cell-phone..."
"Damnit!" Gendo called and sat up suddenly, "Report alert to all areas! Security teams are to shoot the pilots on sight, and Dr. Akagi is to be found. Launch the Eva series and order them to attack any functioning rebel Evangelion."
In the cages the doors and restraints were opened to allow the four vultures to pick up their weapons and flee into the darkness.
The red and purple Evangelions strode forward into the sealed part of the cages, now dark and forbidding without light.
----------------------
All this time Misato had been running with Pen-Pen.
She was mostly focusing on getting out of here, but now that the precaution doors had closed she had nowhere to go.
The penguin cooed softly as he examined the massive door that man had built, while Misato sat by it's corner and sighed to herself.
What was she supposed to do? The man from the monolith had left her vague instructions- mostly about safeguarding the children and remaining calm.
What else had he told her?
'The end is near....for your organization. It will be a new dawn for mankind.'
What was that supposed to mean? A new dawn...
She buried her head between her upraised knees and pondered what to do for another moment.
Then her cell-phone rang.
She was a little startled, having forgotten it in the ensuing chaos, but remembered it now and answered it, "Hello?"
"Captain Katsuragi? This is Hal. I have a message for you."
----------------------
Shinji swallowed and said, "I'll go first..."
He looked around in the darkness, Eva's sensors cooperating with him as he turned the massive head of the robot left and right. Behind and beside him Asuka was doing the same.
Odd...something-
Whatever compelled Shinji to step backwards he would have to thank, as one of those white Evas appeared in front of him with a starling face in anger. Had he remained where he was, Shinji would have been cut in half.
This time he wasn't going to let anything get in his way.
With the brutality only seen in the first days, Shinji swung a killer punch into the white Eva's face. Teeth broke and the skull cracked as it stumbled backward to hit the wall.
Shinji swung again but the Eva ducked and rammed it's head into his torso, shoving Shinji backwards to the wall.
He glanced to his left to see Asuka tangling with another one of the white Evas before he snarled back at the one attacking him.
He kicked the Eva in the head, leaned off the wall and brought both fists down into the bird's skull. The white Eva gave a screech and pulled back to grab it's saber.
Shinji strode forward with determination as he swung his left hand to the open right weapons bay and pulled the battle knife from it's open socket and tossed it into a helicopter spin.
The blade swung around and dug it's blade into the space just above the upper lip of the Eva. It wailed in pain and reached it's hands up around the hilt.
----------------------
Gendo Ikari spun his head when he heard, "Commander, Evangelion unit 00 has been sighted in the main shaft for the descent to the terminal dogma."
"What?" Fuyutsuki asked, "Who gave her authorization?"
"Nobody... the intruders are opening the doors remotely!"
Gendo slammed his fist on the desk and made everyone in the command room jump, followed by his thundering voice, "Isolate that oddity! Give my permission to use the A-10 lockout...and find Dr. Akagi!"
"Trying sir-!"
The screens burst into static and another alarm shrilled through the command cabin.
"What's going on?" Demanded Gendo.
"It's the computer! Whatever that bug is it's attacking the system! MAGI is just now initiating countermeasures..."
"Find Dr. Akagi!" Demanded Gendo and spun to Fuyutsuki, "You command things from here. I'm heading down to the Terminal Dogma..."
"To do what?" Asked Fuyutsuki over the alarms, "Rei is not reachable to you anymore."
Gendo blinked through his glasses, pocketed his sidearm and left the bridge without a word.
Fuyutsuki watched the man go, then turned to order, "Evacuate the base! Sound a general alert to all levels! Issue warnings to the surface and prepare to evacuate! You!- where are Evangelion units one and two?"
--------------------
Shinji had swung at the Eva just as it pulled out the battle knife and contacted it in the head just as it was swinging the knife. The white unit screeched again with the blow, but this time retaliated by flinging out it's wings and jumping on Shinji.
The Purple Eva fell on it's back and kicked out it's feet to send the thing back into the air, allowing Shinji time to roll out of the way when it came back down to the ground.
Shinji spun and looked above him at the scaffolding in the ceiling.
As the enemy Eva started to get up he used his last remaining battle knife and tossed it at the scaffolding.
The Massive knife made impact and caused tremendous damage to the structure that wasn't suited for usual Evangelion hits. The massive, heaving scaffolding collapsed and huge pieces of debris rained down on the Eva. The Knife hit first, plunging into the thing's back before it was followed by a hundred I-beams and other sharp debris. Then large boulders and what looked like a thick roof section maybe fifteen meters thick landed on the spot and made a satisfactory thud. Assuming these Evas weren't invincible, this one wouldn't be getting up again.
Shinji spun and saw that Asuka had divided the other one in half with it's own sword, and had been watching Shinji with one end of the blade imbedded in her opponent's neck.
"Are you done?" Asked Asuka.
"...Think so," Said Shinji and bent down to dislodge the similar blade that his own adversary had dropped.
"Good. We'd better get moving," Said Asuka and started her Eva for the doorway out of the secluded hanger, "I didn't see the other two in here, so they could have either taken off or..."
Shinji completed for her, "They're going after Rei."
They hurried into the room and stopped just before the gaping well down into the depths of the Geofront. Somewhere down below was the Terminal Dogma- the last stand.
Rei was already on her way down. Evidence of this was the long support cable running down into the depths and an umbilical cable adjoining it.
Shinji noticed Asuka had also ejected her own umbilical chord and was replacing it with a new one from the dock right at the edge of the chasm.
"What are you doing?" Asked Shinji.
Asuka said, "These chords run all the way down into the Terminal Dogma, I think. If Rei's using one then I think we should use them too."
"R-Right..." Nodded Shinji and watched as Asuka finished the replacements, then reached out with one hand to grab the cable and make the slow slide down.
As Shinji heard the tone chime he took a glance at something positioned above the cable dock.
Painted in blood red was the half-fig leaf insignia of NERV. Underneath was the slogan of the insignia, just as red and just as guilty.
Shinji was summing up everything he knew and everything he had been told, all in one action before he too decided to descend down after Asuka with the line.
Behind him, NERV's logo was distorted out of shape from a solid fist slam into the logo.
This was only the beginning of the end.
-------------------
"Evangelion units one and two have entered the main shaft!" Announced Maya.
Fuyutsuki asked, "Any defenses operational in the main shaft?"
"No. And the main doors won't respond." Maya reported, "They should reach the Terminal Dogma three minutes after Eva zero has landed."
"What about the Eva series?"
"Evangelion S1 and S2 are destroyed in the hangers. S3 and S4 are still operational."
"No whereabouts?"
"No, we can only determine that they're still active. Remember, they're on an independent control-"
"Yes, SEELE's toys." Muttered Fuyutsuki, "Well it seems there's not much we can do- except prepare. Order an evacuation of all civilians from the city. Get the wounded and critically injured out of the hospitals, and order a general evacuation of the base."
"Sir, what about the commander and Dr. Akagi?" asked an operator.
"Keep looking for them as long as possible. The Commander knows what he's doing..."
Orders were starting to fly, but then suddenly stopped as one by one of the operators stopped from their orders to look at a new, ominous figure standing in the room.
Fuyutsuki looked at the large rectangle and gasped. Never before had he seen the real monolith, and this was the first time it made it's direct appearance in public.
A voice also spoke from the Monolith- no, it came from the dark obelisk, but sounded inside their heads.
"Good evening. Judgement time has come."
-----------------------------
Rei at last broke into the Terminal Dogma from it's ceiling and cast her new brown eyes down at the arena below.
It seemed familiar to her from someplace- yes, she had been here before. When he dragged her in while she had been in a previous life. She didn't know much then,
But now she knew completely. She had been enlightened to the plan, and it now flooded into her memories as water loosed from a floodgate.
There it was- the instrument. The enemy.
Like a pinned rag doll sat the key to Project-E and the Instrumentality project. It was a cheat, a lie, and worst of all a trigger to the largest bomb known to creation. It's detonation, she had been told, was not physical destruction. Instead, it targeted all life on the face of the globe. Living things- plants, animals, even bacteria would be destroyed or somehow reformatted against the wills of the masses.
Likewise, also, she had been told other things about this thing she was now setting to destroy.
------------------------
"-You are the key."
'I'm the what?' She had asked.
The ambassador was standing at one end of the floor-lit room. It was spacious but empty of color and expression- as her life had once been in the past. There was also the distant sound- some distant sounds- from some place beyond the walls.
Rei was standing in a plain white outfit, staring at the space suited man.
"The artifact hidden in the Terminal Dogma at the bottom of the Geo front is an organized biological weapon- along the same lines as your Evangelion units but at a much more sophisticated level. It's power is fifty-fold the total capacity of your combat units, and when it was recovered from the desolate remains of the south pole the human elite of earth had delusions of what it could do.
"Researching deeper into confiscated information landed on earth when the visitors came, they found an opportunity to engineer a mad scheme- the total unification of mankind into one gigantic being. Unfortunately they underestimate the power of this weapon- it targets all life on Earth. Perhaps fortunately, the weapon is incomplete."
'Incomplete?' Rei asked.
"It was damaged during handling and other factors- already it's self regeneration was paused to the state you saw it. It lacks several important genomes that were known, but never implemented. Your clone body carries those essential genome strands to complete the weapon."
'Meaning...I would have to merge with that thing? Then...what?'
"Then the world would end as you know it. Mankind would be slowly suffering absorption into the gigantic body- and those who engineered the scheme would be marshalling them to the greater body. When the dust settled- humanity under the guidance of SEELE would finally emerge."
Rei turned her head away from the horror.
The old man raised his hand slightly, "But there is a way to destroy this monster, and once this is done we may return again to your world...and repair the damage."
------------------------
Rei knew exactly what to do when she reached ground level. She tested the chord by taking tugs on the line, then slowly advanced for the hanging monstrosity.
She was reaching over to pull out the progressive knife when Naoko tugged at Rei's attention.
The Blue Eva turned to look up at two descending white vultures, grinning as they looked at Rei's stand in the sea of LCL.
Rei narrowed her eyes. She had been warned about these two, and what really controlled them.
She looked back over her shoulder at the bomb, the lance of Longitus protruding from it's torso.
She turned and ran for it, the two white vultures taking to running after her with hunt on their breath while they closed on the vulnerable woman.
-----------------------------
Misato had only once been to the basement of the Terminal Dogma- and that was once, a time ago, when she caught Kaji infiltrating it.
Now she had been directed to proceed to that very same depth. She wasn't alone either- as Pen-Pen stood on the ground with his jade green eyes looking around in suspicion at the ground around them.
Misato sighed and looked at her watch. Night had fallen on the outside, and somewhere over them were the stars of an eternal forever.
But instead she was descending into the depths to make one, final confrontation before the end...
The end?
No, it wasn't the end. She had been reassured of this. No, the world wouldn't end unless....
The elevator door opened into the scene.
--------------------------------------
Rei grasped the lance and ripped it out of the useless form. As long as she never made personal contact with the living bomb she was safe...
She turned and raised the forked, red lance to intercept a defending blow and then shoved the attacker back. She turned the other end to block that blow and kicked the Eva in the shin.
She twirled the spear in her hands and jabbed it at the first white Eva. The playful vulture hopped back through the puddle of LCL and snickered at her.
Rei wrinkled her face. How disgusting...
Now that she had her own will and emotions, hate, anger, and drive were propelling through her system. She needed to take care of these minor creatures before she tackled the big game behind her.
And time was running down.
-----------------------------
Gendo Ikari opened the door into the Terminal Dogma and came face-to-face with the conflict. He stopped on the small shore to watch Rei fighting it out with the mass production series.
He stopped meters away from the doorway and placed his hands in his pocket. He didn't want to loose the last Rei available to him, but in the end Rei was a failure. No matter, they had other means to initiate the last project.
Gendo had forgotten completely about the monolith and parts of the situation until another figure walked from the hallway into the light.
This is also when the other two Evangelions descended into the chasm.
-------------------------------
"There!" Called Asuka.
"I see it!" Shinji replied.
Red and purple landed in the chasm and started running.
Both of the white enemies knew that they were suddenly outnumbered and tossed their heads to look back and forth between the singular blue Evangelion and the two advancing enemies.
They suddenly decided to upgrade their weapons and held up the swords in their hands, as they shifted shape into copies of the lance of Longitus.
"Wah!" Asuka yipped as one of them was hurled at her Eva.
Shinji tossed his sword into the way and metal clashed with metal to send both weapons to the ground.
Shinji spun to Rei shouting, "Rei! Do it! We'll take care of them!"
He turned and started running for the unarmed white Eva.
It hissed at him and crouched low like a wolf, growling and snarling at him.
Shinji was more than ready, he was even looking forward to it.
-------------------------------------
"No!' Shouted Gendo as he saw Rei's Eva turn around and start for Lilith once more.
Then he stopped and saw Ritsuko Akagi, like a motionless drone, stride out for the edge of the lake.
"What? Ritsuko! What are you doing?" Demanded the Commander of NERV.
The doctor knelt on the ground and slowly started to undo the latches on the case.
A gun clicked as Gendo raised it to point it at Ritsuko and fired.
Ritsuko Akagi collapsed sideways with a bleeding side and rolled on her back with the same blank eyes.
Gendo walked over to the downed woman and smirked, "A shame. You could have been more useful alive."
He turned to look down at the case and smirked.
Entering the Terminal Dogma now was a woman and her penguin, and gasped at seeing the sight.
Gendo spun to look at her first, and then at the unexplained arrival.
Once again the Monolith was here to see things, but he didn't come alone.
Hal was beside the monolith this time, as was Fuyutsuki and the NERV staff.
"What is this?" He demanded.
It was just then that Rei started the process.
She reached up with her prog knife and stabbed the top of the mask.
"NO!" Gendo shouted, "You'll ruin everything!!!"
Rei ignored him as slowly she started to peel the mask down.
"NO NO!!!!"
The mask broke off, and gushing from it was LCL.
She stepped back and the other two Evangelions watched as the former white giant writhed and twisted on it's mount. The LCL lake was bubbling, and Rei's pace back out of the lake encouraged the other two Evas to back out of the boiling LCL.
Then the giant started to come apart. The trunk was dissolving, showering into boulders of matter that exploded into dust when they contacted the ground.
Everyone was watching this as it happened, including the Monolith and Hal.
Gendo watched his dreams start to collapse in the silence.
------------------------------
In the holographic suite, and in their last meeting, SEELE was once again making a session without Ikari.
"It's the end," Said one of them, "Lilith's status is degenerating. Gendo Ikari has failed."
"Can we use any other methods of escape?" Asked another, "Surely-"
"No." Said Keel, "There are no other ways. Already I have been informed that the United Nations has declared a state of emergency...."
--------------------------------
Perhaps it was because of the events in the last hour.
Appearing over major cities and other parts of the world were gigantic monoliths kilometers in length. Many of them massed over the south pole, also, and it was reported that the red seas there were returning to shimmering blue.
The night was turning into a glowing day again, and mysterious events that hadn't happened since the second impact were now starting to happen again. Winds were rising and the seas were turbulent. Thunder crackled through the sky, and everywhere across the globe was an aurora borealis of shimmering lights.
For the citizens of Tokyo-3, now evacuated to the surrounding hills, they watched as lightning arched between the buildings and the skies thundered. Tokyo three had been abandoned for the last time, and watching from their hilltops, the former populace was watching their world come apart.
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When at last the last parts of Litlih had collapsed into the LCL, Gendo turned and faced the Monolith.
"Now," He said, "You have ruined it. You have ruined everything! Now what do you intend to do?"
The space suited figure returned again in the blink of an eye, and smiled.
"We can begin to renew the earth."
"What do you-" Gendo asked and watched the space suited man slowly cross the ground towards the downed figure of Ritsuko Akagi.
Walking from their plugs and stalled Evas were the three pilots. Shinji and Rei exchanged a great hug before joining the others near the crowd that had assembled to watch.
Everyone watched the space suited man kneel down towards the body of Ritsuko and reach out to touch her.
Slowly, the scientist came back to life, blinking again and slowly sitting back up.
"You? What..."
"It will become clear in time." Said the man with the smile, and then he turned back to the case.
"NO!" Gendo called and pulled his gun, "Do not touch that case."
The man only smiled and reached out to open the case.
Gendo fired, but his bullets ceased to exist when they left the barrel. When everyone recovered from the thunder of gunfire they saw the bullets, hovering in the air, and then slowly drop to the ground in the space between Gendo Ikari and the space man.
Instead, the ambassador opened the case and exposed the embryo of Adam to the air.
"It has been too long," Said the space suited man and touched the case, "Rise."
The case cracked and then burst. The glowing light from within extended and grew.
To everyone's amazement the light appeared and took shape, manifesting itself into the form of a gigantic white giant.
Slowly it uncurled itself, the feet stretching out and the arms parting. The hollow eyes looked out among the small gathering of people, and then looked down at the Monolith and it's speaker.
The entity that had once been David Bowman now appeared again as an old man and said to the giant, "Good evening. There is much work to be done."
---------------------------------
On the outside, a gigantic flash appeared that encompassed the city of Tokyo-3.
Clouds disappeared from the sky in a quickly growing radius away from Tokyo three. The monoliths remained in place, but they were slowly growing in luminosity.
--------------------------------
In the Geo front once more, facing the great pyramid, the crowd had somehow come from the depths to the hollow ground. This did not exclude the Evas, although they were now unplugged.
Everyone turned and stood in a semi-circle to face the Monolith. Beside it was Hal, and standing before it was the space suited man.
"What is all this?" Gendo asked, "What have you done?"
"Ikari," Said a voice and everyone turned.
The five men of SEELE were also here.
Keel was demanding, "What is this? Where are we?"
"I apologize," Said the ambassador, "But this is the end. All must be judged."
"Judged?" Asked Misato.
"Yes. Things must be put to right before all can begin again. As we speak, we are preparing to rebuild the earth. Also, before we leave, things must be put to right."
"And how do you intend on doing this?" Asked Gendo Ikari.
The cool ice-blue eyes focused on Gendo Ikari, "You still underestimate our abilities, Gendo Ikari. Like SEELE, your punishment is as follows."
The SEELE members gasped in pain and fell one by one to the ground and writhed in agony. The women cringed and then men watched as they slowly started to dissolve into dust. One by one they turned to ash and crumbled away into the winds.
Gendo had fear in his face, and asked, "And what is to be of the rest of us?"
"Your crime is just as great, Gendo Ikari. But your punishment will not end here. The crimes of which you have been convicted are as follows; Willful plotting for the destruction of all humankind, the responsibility for the death of eighty-seven individuals, willful neglect of human life, the engineering and neglect of a human being, and finally the mishandling of vital information. For these crimes you have been punished to banishment in isolation...for as long as is deemed responsible."
Gendo stiffened, "You wouldn't dare."
And then he was gone in an eye blink.
"Ah!" Gasped some of the assembled and Shinji blinked and whispered, "Father...."
The ice blue eyes turned again, this time to Fuyutsuki Kozo.
"And what do you have in store for me?" Asked Fuyutsuki.
"Yours is not as excusable as the rest- but you will not spend eternity in torment as Gendo Ikari will. You will be placed in isolation in a place that we deem fit- perhaps, one day, to consider your error and return."
Fuyutsuki nodded solemnly, "I wish there was some...retribution for my crimes...I feel irresponsible for all this."
"We understand. This has been taken into account."
And then Fuyutsuki turned and smiled at the assembled, then he too was gone.
"What about us!?" Asked Misato, "All of us?"
"Patience." Said the man and turned once more.
This was when Kaji appeared, pushing his way through the NERV staff and coming to Misato's side.
"Kaji, what?"
"I'd like to know that too. So, this is the Monolith...." Kaji said.
The ice crystal eyes of David Bowman came to rest on Ritsuko, who had not risen once.
"Ritsuko Akagi. Your evils are...not as prominent or destructive as others. Although you have done many wrongs in life, from the gathered information it is in our judgement that you could have done nothing under the circumstances. We have taken this into account."
"What is going to happen to me...?" She asked.
"You will see." Smiled the man and addressed the others.
They all looked up and watched the man as he said, "What has happened here today is just the beginning. We had never intended to return to this planet, nor had we intended when we set foot on this world to have you try such a rash and irresponsible way of progressing to a further good. Letting such greedy, power-hungry individuals climb to power and claim weapons of reckless destruction is not permissible. Therefore, we have once again returned to correct what is wrong.
"The Earth is potential enough to become green and whole once again. And as we work to restore the world to the way it should have been, also will we reverse the damage caused by the misunderstanding fifteen years ago. When you go to sleep tonight, it will be the last time you spend in a darkened nightmare that this world has become. When you awaken the next morning all the evil will be cleansed, and the land will be rich again for you to do as you fit.
"As we leave you we must ask that you never again pioneer the creation of monsters such as the Evangelion and the weapon of lilith. Those are arts which are best forbidden from the eyes of immature beings. If you avoid these fruits of evil and the temptations to conquer one another through divine force, then humanity will perhaps, someday, join us among the stars as equals.
"There is great hope for the human race. Those who are alive this far have shown great promise. We hope to see you again among the stars in the near future. Farewell, everyone. And thank you."
With this, David Bowman turned once more and approached the star gate, disappearing into infinity.
With this the glow expanded from the monolith to encompass the Geo front in a luminous light. As the people raised their hands up to shield themselves form the light only the details in the last moments of the nightmare could be seen.
The logo of NERV had melted, the blood red was staining the side of the pyramid as it had washed away. The Evas, also, had degenerated- leaving behind only the empty skulls of armor.
What had taken their place? Shinji wondered, as he lost consciousness in Rei's arms.
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Disclaimer: Evangelion is a Ginax studio production. The Monolith and all 2001 things belong to Arthur C. Clarke.
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