I don't own anything. (My new idiot-proof disclaimer.)

Lycanthrope

-Chapter Eighteen: The Next Act

"Shinji!" Misato jerked awake wildly and looked around. That hadn't sounded like Yuki. Why would anyone else be screaming Shinji's name this late? "Get your lazy ass out here! We've got problems!" Misato stumbled to her door and slid it open.

"What's the matter?" Shinji's voice asked.

"He's making his move," a different voice said. Misato leaned out of her doorway and saw a young man standing in front of Shinji's door.

"Damn," Shinji growled.

"Suzuhara?" The young man turned and regarded her coolly.

"You might as well know too."

"What's wrong?" Misato asked tiredly.

"The Seventeenth Angel has begun to make his move," Touji said. He didn't look very good. He was pale, well paler, and there were bags under his blood-red eyes.

"How do you know?" Misato demanded.

"I just do," Touji said. "Trust me."

"I trust him," Shinji said. Misato glanced at her young charge. He didn't look much better then Touji. "Wake up Asuka."

"Is it a good idea to let Misato do that?"

"No." Shinji pushed past both of them and walked into Asuka's room.

"How could you possible know what the Seventeen Angel is doing?" Misato demanded again.

"I can feel him," Touji said. He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a cigarette. "We're the same."

"What do you mean by that?" Misato asked, taking a step away from the young man. He laughed tiredly.

"Touji is as much of an angel as he is a human." Misato turned and saw Shinji step out of the Asuka's room.

"You're an angel?" Misato asked as she backed up even further.

"Partly," Touji said. "NERV didn't tell you?"

"They didn't tell me anything," Misato said. Shinji must have noticed her fear.

"Don't worry about him. He's probably as much human as he is not," Shinji said with a tired laugh. "But if you want non-human then you don't have to go far."

"What do you mean?" Misato asked. Touji laughed loudly at that.

"I'd hate to tell you," he said. "But you're the only human living here."

(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)

Tabris stared at the hulking red monster in front of him. 'This is not right,' he thought angrily. "You should not be conscious!" The red Eva's silence seemed to mock him. 'The soul of this unit should have retreated.' Tabris cursed. Nothing was as it should have been. "It doesn't matter." Tabris allowed the power he had held at bay to fill him and felt himself lifted off the ground.

(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)

Misato's cell phone rang and she picked it up. "What's wrong?"

"The Seventeenth Child has been identified," Ritsuko said.

"The Fifth Child?" Misato asked dryly. Her car jerked sharply and Asuka yelped in surprise from the backseat.

"Slow down please?" Touji begged. Misato ignored him.

"How did you know?" Ritsuko demanded.

"Remember Shinji saying that the Fifth Child was good?" Misato asked.

"He knew all along?" Ritsuko demanded.

"They all did," Misato said. "We're coming to you."

"Where are you?" Ritsuko asked.

"About two minutes away," Misato answered.

"You were already heading over here?" Ritsuko demanded.

"All of the children already knew," Misato repeated.

"Well hurry up!" Ritsuko yelled. "The Seventeenth is already in Terminal Dogma!"

"Alright." Misato hung up and glanced at Shinji. "Ritsuko says to hurry up."

"We topped out," Shinji said. He jerked the wheel sharply and pumped both the emergency brake and the brake. The car went sideways and shot across an intersection and across a corner they couldn't have made any other way.

"Where did you learn to drive?"

"Bob taught me," Shinji said.

"You haven't gotten any better either," Touji groaned. "So how far along is he?"

"He's already in Terminal Dogma," Misato answered.

"Shit," Shinji cursed. "Is Rei there?"

"She should be by now," Touji answered. "What's the plan?"

"Asuka and I get in our Evas and you two neutralize his AT field," Shinji answered. "Short and sweet."

"What about after that?" Touji asked.

"Well I made a promise to Asuka," Shinji said. "So she gets to do what she wants to do with him."

"Yea!" Asuka threw her arms around Shinji from behind and Misato was forced to clamp her hand over her lips as the car swerved wildly.

"I'm going to be sick."

(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)

Asuka slipped into her Eva's plug and watched the hatch seal behind her. The plug was inserted and all of the screens lit up brightly. On one screen to her left she could see her sire. "Ready to go Shinji?"

"Yeah," the black-haired man said.

"How about you Rei?" Asuka asked, turning to look at the young woman perched on her Eva's shoulder.

"I am ready Pilot Sohryu," she answered. Asuka was temporarily surprised by the lack of an urge to squad her. 'And I always thought I wanted to kill her.'

"Let's go folks." Asuka looked up as Shinji's Eva stepped forward. Asuka stepped forward and followed after the purple Eva. It reached the hole that would lead down further into Terminal Dogma. "Hang on Touji." Asuka watched as the purple Eva simply disappeared. She stepped up.

"Ready Rei?"

"Yes." Asuka stepped forward and gravity caught the massive human-shaped weapon and sent it speeding downwards.

"Well here we are falling," Shinji's calm voice said. "Anyone know any good jokes?"

"This is serious," Misato snapped.

"It wouldn't be if you had let us kill him in the first place!" Shinji bellowed. "So shut up!"

"I was wrong and you were right," Misato said angrily. "Happy now?"

"A little."

(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)

Tabris grinned as he finally landed at the bottom of the shaft. "It is time." He raised his hand and the huge metal door in front of him was wrenched off its hinges. He stepped into the cavernous room and stared at the crucified figure before him. "What?" He stepped further into the room. "Lilith." Something impacted with the ground behind him and Tabris turned to see the purple Eva with glowing green eyes stooping to get through the doorway. "You!"

"Me," the abomination said. He looked up and the Eva stared at the angel in the middle of the room. "Lilith?" Suddenly the pilot began to laugh. "The old bastard had us all fooled."

"You knew that Lilith was down here!" Tabris accused.

"We had no clue," Bardiel called. He too was laughing so hard that tears were plainly visible on his cheeks even from where Tabris stood.

"He's mine!" Tabris turned and saw the red Eva pounce at him. He raised his AT field and watched as the red Eva ran into it head first. It stumbled back and lunged again.

"You fool!" Tabris shouted as he raised his AT field to its peak with every intent to destroy the red Eva. To his shock the red Eva tore through the AT field and seized him in one massive fist. "You. . .!" Tabris's anger was so complete that he could not even speak as he stared at the shadow of Lilith perched on the Eva's shoulder.

"We are nothing alike Tabris," the young woman said as she smirked maliciously.

"I'm leaving," the abomination said. "Have fun Asuka."

"Don't you want to play?"

"Sure," the abomination said. "I'm just going to play in a different way."

"Huh?"

"He's going to go home and bone Yuki!" Bardiel called from the purple Eva's shoulder.

"Oh," Asuka said. "Have fun!" The purple Eva waved its massive hand and stepped back through the doorway. The massive red Eva flopped down and folded its legs in front of itself. Then Tabris could only scream in rage and pain as his left leg was slowly tugged from its socket.

(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)

"Do you think its over?" Misato asked.

"I don't know," Ritsuko said. "Those two AT fields are still canceling each other out." Misato nodded and seemed to want to speak. "Something wrong?"

"Shinji isn't human, is he?"

"No," Ritsuko said. "He isn't."

"Then what is he?" Misato asked.

"He's a lycanthrope," Ritsuko answered tiredly.

"What?" Misato asked.

"A werewolf," Ritsuko said. She began to laugh at the sheer insanity of it all. The human race's savior was only saving humanity so that he could feed off of it. "This is ludicrous, absolutely insane!"

"You called?" Misato turned and saw Shinji's Eva leaning into its maintenance rack.

"Where's Asuka?"

"She's still down there having fun with the Seventeenth," Shinji said. "I'm going home."

"Have fun. Hey wait a minute!"

"By."

"Damn it Shinji if you take my car then I'm going to find something silver and cram it up your ass!"

"He already logged off ma'am," Maya said. Her shoulders were shaking as she tried to suppress her laughter.

"Let's get something clear!" Misato said. "Everyone does know that the world may have been destroyed today, right?"

"We know," Shigeru said. "We're just saving the break downs for later."

"When we're good and drunk," Makoto said.

"You guys need a drinking buddy?" Misato asked. "I just know that I'm not going to get any peace and quiet at my place."

"I hope you see what I had to go through back in college," Ritsuko growled.

"We weren't that bad."

"Every night!" Ritsuko yelled. "I had to go to sleep wearing head phones!"

(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)

"It is done," Gendo said as he watched the screen showing Unit Zero-Two slowly tugging body parts off of the Seventeenth Angel.

"You're son will be a problem," Fuyutsuki said.

"He will be disposed of," Gendo said.

"Are you sure you're able to do that?" Fuyutsuki asked. "He is already far from your control."

"We know what he is and there fore we can eliminate him."

"What of the other children?" Fuyutsuki pressed.

"They will not be trouble," Gendo said.

"Not one of them is under your control," Fuyutsuki said quietly. "Not even your precious Rei."

(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)

Shinji leaned back against the tree behind him and yawned. "Tired?" Touji asked. Shinji nodded absently. "Man Yuki, what did you do to him?"

"What didn't I do to him?" the brown haired woman leaning against Shinji asked coyly.

"Ew," Asuka said. "I don't want to know about your sex life."

"I guess they are kind of like your parents," Touji said. "You're awfully quiet Rei." The blue-haired woman turned and regarded him calmly.

"I was led to believe that I was always unnaturally quiet," she said calmly. "Wouldn't that make my silence natural to myself?" Touji's face lit up in a bright grin and he rolled back onto the green grass as he laughed.

"You guys just saved the world, right?" Yuki asked suddenly.

"I think so," Asuka said.

"We kept it around for the humans to destroy," Shinji said with a shrug.

"Shouldn't we get a free trip to Disney Land, or something?" Yuki asked.

"Disney Land is underwater Yuki," Shinji said.

"What happened to Mistress?" Yuki asked. Touji looked up to see something he hadn't seen in a long time.

"You're blushing!"

"Blow it out your ass!" Shinji bellowed. "Just because you're not getting any from the class rep doesn't mean you can rag on me!"

"I'm not getting any from the class rep because we both feel that we're too young," Touji said as his eyes narrowed.

"Wow," Shinji said. "Bardiel must have been a eunuch." Touji glared at his friend. 'I'm going to be sorry for asking this.'

"What makes you say that?"

"Because Suzuhara was such a major bag of hormones that he'd probably be humping. . ." His tirade was interrupted as Yuki turned his head to the side and sealed his lips with hers.

"Thanks Yuki." The young woman batted a hand at him.

"They do that very often," Rei said.

"Kissing?" Touji asked. "You're right. They do that more in a single day then most people in a whole lifetime."

"That's not all they do," Asuka growled. "Damn paper-thin walls."

"I do not understand," Rei said. Touji felt his jaw drop in surprise.

"Well. . .uh. . .you see," he began hesitantly. "Asuka will explain it all to you."

"Why do I have to explain the fact that those two bang each other's brains out every time they're alone?" Asuka demanded.

"This is a family park," Shinji growled as he prodded Asuka with the toe of his boot.

"And you call that family behavior?" Asuka demanded.

"Calm down children." Touji turned and saw Bob and Angel walking towards them hand-in-hand.

"What's up?"

"We're leaving," Bob said.

"We were on vacation when you met us," Angel said.

"Where are you two off to?"

"Probably Germany," Bob said.

"Avoid the local cuisine," Shinji advised. "It's horrible stuff. I mean it's really tough and spoiled."

"You bastard," Asuka growled. Shinji ignored her.

"You sure you don't want to stick around for the next part of the show?"

"What next part?" Bob asked. "I thought this angel business was over."

"That part is," Shinji said. "But there is one final act that has yet to unfold."

"You seem to jump from inane babbling to lines that only a professional script writer could come up with," Touji commented. He expected Shinji's answer to be sharp and harsh.

"I guess you're right." Well he had expected Shinji's answer to be sharp and harsh.

"So what's going down?" Yuki asked.

"What angel was supposed to be in Terminal Dogma?" Shinji asked.

"Have I ever mentioned how much it pisses me off when people answer a question with a question?" Yuki asked.

"I'll make it up to you later," Shinji said. "Now. Anyone know the answer?"

"It was supposed to be Adam," Touji said.

"NERV has Adam," Shinji said.

"If they have him and Lilith was in Terminal Dogma," Asuka began. "Then where's Adam?"

"That's the million dollar question," Shinji said.

"We're in Japan."

"That's the 110,210,000 yen question," Shinji said.

"Do you think Commander Ikari has it?" Rei asked.

"Oh yeah."

-End

(:::::::::::::ii::::::::::::::)

-Author's notes. I think there's only one more chapter of this coming. I just thought I'd warn you about that. This marks the ending of the story base on the television series. Up next are the movies.