"I'm the dumbest motherfucker in the universe."
I sat on a bench with cuffs around my wrists. I was in a holding cell with a translucent wall that served as the door. I could easily break out, but that wouldn't really solve the overarching problem. Plus, there was no way there weren't some defensive measures in place to prevent me from escaping. Gendo wasn't stupid enough to really leave me in a normal cell without countermeasures.
Not too long ago I managed to accidentally admit that I was half Angel to my fellow Eva pilots. They were less angry and more confused and a little betrayed, or at least Shinji and Asuka were. Rei was hard to read as usual. Gendo and SEELE both knew I was an Angel already since they were the ones that had Zero created in his backstory, but they'd be in deep shit with the ignorant NERV staff if they admitted it so they played dumb and imprisoned me.
The last battle led to about two-thirds of Central Dogma getting destroyed. The Magi were fine so NERV would still be able to function relatively well. The NERV staff were beginning to set up shop in the stable parts of the base's remains and in some of the other areas of the GeoFront. The holding cells of Central Dogma survived the catastrophe so that's where I was. I took a nap since I was exhausted from the earlier battle against the four Angels, then I woke up and paced around my cell until I got tired again and took another nap. I realized at that point that I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon so I started keeping track of the passage of time. There were two guards posted outside my room at all times and the guys on duty would be swapped every now and then. I assumed the average shift was about eight hours and counted the number of times the guards were switched out to approximate how much time had passed. I ended up sitting in that cell for around three days. I didn't get any food or water, which didn't matter since I was part Angel and thus had an S² Engine sustaining me, but that didn't stop my stomach from twisting itself into a Gordian Knot. I'm a person with a short attention span so I began going stir crazy real quick. I tried talking to the guards, but they wouldn't even speak a word to me and would sweat a bit when I got too close to the glass. I was a monster in their eyes.
I needed to convince everyone that I wasn't an enemy or Asuka would be the only one who could fight the last Angel. She could use my sword and her super A.T. Field when she's near Shinji which would probably be enough for the regular OC Angels, but the Ritsuko Angel was still out of her league. Unit-00, 01, and Ω were all wrecked and the plot might summon more power boosted canon Angels, so Asuka would be screwed if she didn't get some help.
The problem was that nobody would talk to me. Nobody had visited me in my cell because they either weren't allowed to or they didn't want to. As long as I was stuck, I had no way to fight the plot. The only fleeting hope I had was that someone else would take the action necessary to free me, or at least grant me the opportunity to plead my case.
What were the chances of that?
I heard footsteps followed by the sound of the guards standing at attention. Misato and Gendo stood at the glass wall and looked at me.
"Give us some privacy." Mistao said. The guards looked to Gendo who nodded. The guards left and I stood up and walked over to the glass.
"Hi."
"Captain Katsuragi has briefed me on your story." Gendo pushed up his glasses.
"Okay. Do you believe me?"
"From what the Captain told me, you clearly predicted future events that I know, as someone who was involved in your creation, that you should have no more knowledge of than I or anyone else. That does not necessarily prove all your statements correct given how outlandish many of them are, but it does make it clear that you at least possess knowledge you shouldn't, such as the details of Human Instrumentality and my plans."
I swallowed some spit.
"Alright. And?"
"From what Misato told me, my plans fail and, though I am reunited with my late wife, I regret my actions."
"That's correct."
"One of the Angels from the last attack looked like my wife." Gendo adjusted his glasses again and I felt myself shrink back. "Why?"
"I never came up with a reason. I wrote it when I was young as something shocking for my fanfiction."
"I feel an instinctive repulsion, but I can't admonish you given you didn't do any of this intentionally if you are to be believed." Gendo looked upward. "When I saw the Angel that resembled Yui, I felt a conglomerate of sensations. For a moment, I thought I had finally been reunited with her and yet I didn't feel happy nor any kind of zeal. What I felt was shame."
"Shame?" Misato said.
"Yes. I wasn't thinking about the fact that an Angel looked like Yui, all I thought was that I wanted nothing more than for that Angel to not be her. Part of it was because I didn't want some perverted form of her to be her reincarnation, but the other was because I didn't want her to see the man I had become, to see how I had treated our son. In that moment where the possibility of meeting Yui became tangible, I realized that I can't face her. I want to, I dream of it every night, and yet I understand now that I can't. Everything I've done in order to see her again has made me different from the man she fell in love with. I don't know if she would despise me, but I would despise myself, I already do. I don't know how I never realized this before." Gendo looked at his hand. "Perhaps, despite my passion, I never really thought that my plan would come to fruition, that Human Instrumentality would be achieved. I never thought about what reuniting with Yui would truly be like because of that."
"Um." I wasn't expecting the introspection from Gendo. Seeing the Yui Angel must have really messed him up. Makes sense. Either that or this Gendo was different from the canon one. Considering that this world wasn't the real world of Evangelion, but a simulacrum of it that my child self created, it might have been possible that the characters weren't perfect matches for their canon counterparts. I had assumed that after breaking the Gary Stu influence Zero had over everyone that things would be like in canon, but perhaps not. "I'm surprised to hear you feel this way. I don't mean to sound rude, but why did you bring it up? You're the type to keep things private unless there's a reason."
"I've decided that I will abandon my plans. Human Instrumentality must be stopped. To that end, you must destroy Adam and Lilith." I assumed he'd given up on his plan as soon as he mentioned his reservations about meeting Yui again.
"Why are you trusting this to me though? Asuka could use Unit-02 to destroy them. It's not like she doesn't at least know that Lilith exists since she saw it when retrieving the Spear of Longinus. At least I assume she did."
"Asuka and Shinji still don't know the details of what's going on in Terminal Dogma. You already do and you share the same goal I currently do."
"I could be lying to get close to Adam or Lilith to start the Third Impact." I have no idea why I was bringing up reasons Gendo shouldn't trust me.
"If that was your goal, you could have easily destroyed all the Evas while they were without their pilots and then just broke down every wall until you found Adam and Lilith. There's nothing that would be able to stop you. Even this cell couldn't hold you if you really tried." I was surprised that the cell didn't have any kind of special sci-fi something or other that would stop me from breaking out. "I trust you."
"Thank you." I smiled at Mistato. "Thank you too, Misato. I'm surprised you decided to go out on a limb for me."
"I still don't know about the thing about this world being fiction, but you clearly know about the threats to come. Speaking with Gendo and him confirming that his plans were what you said they were cinched it. Plus, you really helped Asuka, Shinji, and now Rei too. You even nearly died during the last fight while protecting everyone." Misato had a small smile on her face. "You seem like a good person."
"That's nice to hear. I was worried you hated me."
"We shouldn't waste time." Gendo pressed some buttons on a panel next to the glass wall which then lifted. Gendo removed his glove to reveal Adam which was infused into his palm. Seeing an eyeball on somebody's hand in real life was real weird, let me tell ya. "Take the whole arm if you have to."
"I'll try to limit the damage." I was sweating as Misato took the cuffs off my wrists. I placed my hands close to Gendo's and activated my A.T. Field with as much precision as I could muster. Invisible force pressed into Gendo's palm and the Angel matter began turning to mere wisps before fading into nothing.
"Go deeper. Adam's roots have reached up to within my shoulder."
"Got it." My A.T. Field reached inside Gendo's arm and destroyed all of Adam, taking much of the flesh around it as well. By the end of the procedure, Gendo's entire arm was gone. "Sorry."
"Adam is gone, that's all that matters." Gendo winced. Misato ripped off her sleeve and tied it around the remaining stump to stop the bleeding. "Next is Lilith. Follow me."
Misato and I followed Gendo through the remnants of Central Dogma and into Terminal Dogma where we arrived at the room where Lilith was crucified. It had regrown its legs thanks to having the Spear of Longinus removed from it. I wasted no time in using my A.T. Field to release a shockwave that destroyed the entirety of the Angel and shook the room.
"Wait a minute, we can't harvest anymore LCL now. Is there enough stored up for the last few battles and training in-between?" We might have just rushed into this without thinking.
"There's no need to be concerned, we have enough LCL to last us years as long as we're economical with it."
"Okay good. I thought I fucked up for a second there." I put a hand to my chest and exhaled. My mood leavened now that there was no way for the Third Impact to occur. I could focus solely on thwarting the machinations of the plot. Once that was done, everything would be settled.
"We should get you to the infirmary, Commander." Misato said.
"Oh, first I have a request." I said. "Misato told you about Dr. Akagi's plan?"
"Indeed. It was part of your fanfiction." Hearing Gendo Ikari say fanfiction was weird as shit.
"Well I've been trying to meet up with Dr. Akagi to convince her to give up on her plan. Pointing out the flaws in her plan should break the plot's influence over her. The problem is that she keeps making excuses not to meet with me due to the plot. I need you to force her to meet with me. Just ordering her probably won't work, so you'll probably have to have guards physically bring her to me so we can talk."
"Very well. She's the only major threat remaining so it's best to deal with her as soon as possible. I'll have it done while I receive medical attention. Go to interrogation room 3 and wait. Misato, escort him so nobody panics. I can go to the infirmary by myself."
"I think people will still panic when they see an Angel walking around free." Mistao said.
"Just do what I say."
"Fine." Misato rolled her eyes and led me to the interrogation room. Thankfully the areas of Central Dogma we traveled through were still barren from the fight the other day. There were a few people working on salvaging whatever they could from the base's remains, but they were mainly working on other parts than where we were going. We did still pass a few people, but Misato usually just said, "It's fine, he's restrained." and we kept on walking. I obviously wasn't restrained.
The interview room was just a metal table and four chairs at the center of a room. There was a one-way mirror for outside observation from a separate room.
"I'll be watching from the room next door." Misato pointed her thumb to the mirror. "I can contact Gendo if things go south."
"Got it." I paced around the room. I wasn't the type who liked sitting for a long time.
"Be careful. I still don't buy the whole 'this is a fanfiction and purgatory thing,' but it's obvious something is manipulating things. If this is really the last thing we need to deal with before this is all over, then whatever's manipulating things is going to do everything it can to stop you."
"I know. I honestly don't know if this will work, but I have to try. I just hope I don't have to…" Kill Ritsuko.
"I hope so too. Good luck." Misato went into the other room.
I continued walking around the interrogation room while trying to keep my breathing even. I kept getting chills whenever I thought about all that could go wrong.
I still didn't know what the plot wanted me to learn. I was supposed to figure out some kind of lesson or I'd go to Hell or some shit like that. This was so stupid, what lesson could I possible need to learn through reliving my old Evangelion fanfiction and why would trying to fix things and make everyone happy get in the way of that lesson? Shouldn't God want me to try and help others and stuff instead of selfishly indulging in a materialized escapist fantasy? Maybe God already considered me a good person so being nice didn't matter? Then what was I lacking? I tried to think of my flaws, but I then realized the list was really long and that just made me depressed.
By the time Ritsuko was pushed into the room by armed guards, I was sitting with my head on the table.
"What is this?" Ritsuko kept her voice measured, but it was as clear as the air that she was pissed.
"You're gonna wanna sit down." I sat up straight. "We've got a lot to talk about."
"Such as?" The guards shut the door behind them as they left.
"Your plans to become an Angel."
Ritsuko's facial features tightened and she took a seat across from me.
"How much do you know?"
"Everything. You plan to fuse with Angel DNA, an S² Engine, the Magi, and Evangelion parts to become powerful enough to destroy everything and get revenge on Gendo for using you."
"You really do know everything." Ritsuko brought a cigarette to her lips and lit it.
"Let me ask you something."
"I can't really say no."
"Why does your revenge plan involve killing literally everyone? Why does it even involve becoming an Angel? You could just roll up on Gendo and pop him in the back of the head." I formed my fingers into a gun shape.
"I…" Ritsuko hesitated as she inhaled enough that half her cigarette turned to ash and fell onto the table.
"Do you not know?"
"It's because I'm angry." Her demeanor shifted to be completely taciturn. The plot was stepping in.
"Mind elaborating?"
"I just want to lash out at this world, a world that lets someone like Gendo become powerful and thrive." She spoke brusquely.
"You just want the world to burn."
"Exactly."
"Because Gendo manipulated you and your mother for his own ends."
"Yes."
"And that makes sense to you?"
"What do you mean?" Ritsuko's face twitched.
"You'll kill everyone due to the cruelty of one man? That seems out of proportion. You always came off as far too mature to throw a tantrum like this. I assumed you would be more meticulous and focused in your revenge." I needed to prod at Ritsuko's true personality to grant her control over herself again.
"I don't get where you're going with this." Ritsuko sucked in her lips.
"You aren't acting like yourself right now."
"Yes I am."
"Then why are you doing this? Your plan is bizarre and needlessly large scale. Killing everyone won't make you feel better. Killing Gendo won't either, but at least you'd be following a logical escalation when doing that."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying you aren't acting like yourself. Do you, Ritsuko Akagi, think this revenge plan of yours is something you would decide to enact on your own?"
"I…" Ritsuko was shaking.
"Don't you think the fact that you can't immediately answer that question is suspicious? You can't admit that your actions are one's that you would make. That's strange right?"
"It is." Ritsuko's leg was bouncing up and down.
"It's almost like you've been acting out of character."
Ritsuko grabbed her head and leaned forward while grunting in pain.
"What's…"
"Ritsuko?" I stood up.
"I can't…"
"What's wrong?" I ran to her side.
"I-I can feel it! It won't-" Ritsuko's body spasmed before becoming still.
"Ritsuko?"
"Nice try." Ritsuko stood up and looked me dead in the eye. Her gaze was not that of Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. It was the same glare that the plot gave me when it took the form of Zero. "The end starts now."
An expansion of light filled the room and the next thing I knew, I was outside the base in the GeoFront. I stood on a field of grass, looking up at the roof of the cavern and its buildings that hung down like stalactites. I turned and saw Ritsuko's body floating in the air. Hovering around her was an S² Engine, the remains of Units 00, 01, and Ω, a mass of Angel matter, and the Magi. The white goo grew and stretched to encompass Ritsuko and all the other components of her metamorphosis. All the materials gathered together and became an amorphous globule that began shaping into something new. This wasn't the same as the Angel that appeared in my fanfic. This was something more powerful and vastly more horrifying. It looked like a series of giant white hands that had been fused together so they acted as the petals of a makeshift rose yet to bloom. It was 700 meters in diameter and that was before the flower bloomed and a pistil came out that morphed into the upper body of an Evangelion. Its armor was white and smooth with six wings coming out of its back that looked to be made of brain matter, wrinkles and all.
It was time for the final battle and I wasn't ready.