Hey guys, I'm back.
Been a while huh? Unfortunately, I've had some health issues lately. Had a trip to the ER, but I'm okay. Things took a small toll on my personal and work life. I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to write, so I ended up with a long delay.
I'm doing better now thanks to my significant other and my family.
Here's Chapter 45 "Betrayal"
"There is pain you never forget. Betrayals that cut deeper than anything you could ever imagine. Wounds that you will carry for the rest of your days.
It's a burden, for the betrayer and the betrayed. To know that all the choices in their life brought them here."
– Shinji Ikari.
Present Day.
Lower levels of Nerv.
Gendo Ikari found the holding cell with ease. The door to the cell was opened to him with a crisp nod from the lone guard.
The Director of Nerv walked inside the room surprised to see the occupant had ignored the small bed inside. The food and water sat untouched on the table as well.
Even the medicine that had been issued lay undisturbed.
"Rei."
Gendo said the words, frowning as he turned and turned to find the pale girl. She couldn't have left the cell, not with the guard outside watching the only exit.
He spotted the final iteration of Rei Ayanami in the corner of the small room.
Dressed in plain white Nerv issued clothes, the girl stared unblinkingly at the wall with her back to him.
"Rei," Gendo called again sternly.
The girl stirred at his words yet never took her eyes off the wall.
Gendo scowled inwardly.
Silent as a statue, the pale girl stood staring at the wall. Sterile cold concrete held her complete attention.
Is she even breathing?
"Ayanami!" he barked.
Rei snapped to attention as her programming took hold. She turned to face him with a blank expression. Her red eyes seemed to see beyond him, her vision unfocused and dazed.
Good. The memory wipes were dangerous but necessary. Above all else, the programming remains intact.
"You need to eat and sleep. You will need your strength."
"… I am not tired or hungry."
Gendo tilted his head at that.
"You've been awake for over 32 hours now. Eat and then sleep. Your body demands it. I will need you at your best when the time comes," Gendo explained.
"I am not hungry. I am not tired," Rei parroted with hazy unfocused eyes. The words left her mouth empty and deadpan.
Gendo sighed.
"Ayanami," he called.
The command went into effect and the girl blinked then focused on him with her complete attention.
He strode to her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"The end of the project is nearing. I placed you here for your protection and you will prepare for the Third Impact. Eat. Sleep. And take your medicine. Is that understood?"
Rei was silent.
Gendo frowned. He opened his mouth to issue the command phrase a third time, it was getting harder and harder to get through to the girl. Perhaps the scrambling of her memories had done more damage than he had initially believed.
Then he noticed it.
Rei's hands were clenched into fists. Red eyes framed by an expressionless face and blue-white hair peered up at him with completely unadulterated attention, and all the while her hands were shaking.
Gendo watched, coldly observing as the pale girl's fists clenched so tight that they were beginning to turn red.
He released her, moving his hands from her shoulders.
Slowly, the girl's hands uncurled and went limp once more. Faded marks lingered along the skin.
She does not like to be touched. Instability is to be expected. I must make do with what I have, he reminded himself.
"… I understand sir," Rei answered.
"Good. I will return for you when the time comes. Go on, sleep. Then eat and take your medicine," Gendo commanded.
Inwardly, he breathed a sigh of relief as the pale girl nodded and walked stiffly to the small bed in the windowless cell.
Gendo turned and left. The cell door locked behind him and he turned to address the guard on duty outside.
"Make sure she stays in her cell."
"Yes, sir."
…
Rei Ayanami III lay in the small bed. She listened carefully and waited until the footsteps disappeared from earshot, then she rose stiffly from the bed.
She walked to the corner of the cell and reassumed her position staring out at the wall with her back to the rest of the world.
The wall was not important. It was only in the way.
What lay beyond the wall was what she focused on. The threads. Invisible to everyone but for her and perhaps one other that she knew of. A network of connections that spanned outward seemingly without bound.
Rei had started to see it upon waking. She watched the colors dance, observed the threads move, noticed the voids were Adam's Children had once been. Gaps where once mighty beings had been snuffed out by mankind and the Evangelion Units.
She witnessed the threads tossing and turning, the shift of colors that humans had no words for. The network reacted, it always did. He was out there, and he was using. She followed the movement with her eyes, tilting her head upward and out into the surface of the city. Shades of black, shadows that whirled and whirled like a living organism.
"Red eyes. Just like mine," Rei whispered. She watched as the Angel network shifted in the distance.
Far away.
Shinji panicked.
His perception of time stretched and distorted for him. Slowing down and fading all at once. An eternity captured in a dreamy fog.
I was shot… I was shot… I was shot!
A single scrambled thought that raced through his mind. He felt himself disappearing, and the sight of his own blood surprised him. It wasn't like the nosebleeds of his youth nor even the wounds from the Eva. The gunshot was numb and cold. He couldn't remember when he had felt it, only that he had.
Here on the ground, wounds were different. They were weighty. Heavy in ways that he had never experienced before.
He was falling and the red was spreading throughout his shirt.
The Broken Man took control in a snap. The boy felt his body moving on its own, unable to help even if he'd had the strength to.
He felt the air leaving his lungs in a frenzied terrified rush. His thoughts were mangled and shaky.
Mari… Rei… Asuka… Misato…
Their faces flashed by in his mind's eye. Faces of his family. He wanted them to be happy. He wanted to be with them.
Rei's face lingered. Red eyes just like his. Eyes framed by pale skin and blue-white hair.
I still need to save you. It can't end like this… Rei.
An AT Field erupted into existence in front of him. The Broken Man had raised a shield it seemed. Things were happening around him. His body was on the move, stiff and slow.
Another bullet slammed into the AT Field. The boy saw it, the lone piece of lead alloy, as it bounced away. A flicker of light upon the shield. He lost all sense of time and they were somewhere else. The world was going dark. His mind, his awareness, blanking out.
I don't want to die… I don't want to-
His Other couldn't take the pain for him. Not this time. The shock and horror of the wound in his chest hit him at full force and the boy found it overwhelming in its simplistic terror.
Mari….
He thought of his girlfriend as he started to blackout. His body was still moving, his Other was fighting to keep them alive. He gladly handed over control with what little strength he still had. He had to let the old man handle it, he would only get in the way.
I don't want to die… Mari...
He heard her voice as a memory came back to him. A moment from his time in the ward. When he had been a boy plagued by what he had believed to be his sickness.
The memory of a free-spirited kind girl holding him close. Her long hair brushing softly against his face, warm in her embrace.
"Dummy, don't be scared," the girl had whispered into his ear. She had held him close even then as they were children.
I'm scared…
He wanted to hiccup. He wanted to cry. He wanted to laugh.
He didn't black-out entirely, not yet. His body was still moving despite the damage. The Broken Man was forcing them onward, forcing the heart to keep beating, forcing the lungs to keep the flow of oxygen in and out of the body.
Flashes of the real world flew by his mind's eye. Blinking in and out of consciousness as time skipped creating gaps in his awareness.
He saw them running back through a corridor. Had they retreated back towards the safe house? He heard the sound of a car crash nearby. Kaji? The spy had been coming to pick him up… right? And then he had been shot… by who?
He saw two men in military gear, black styled vests, and automatic rifles, closing in on him. Grown men come to kill a boy.
Gunfire roared and the Broken Man kneeled down with two AT Fields raised. Lights flashed as bullets rained down on the shield.
Time skipped for the boy. The Broken Man was struggling to keep them alive. Maintaining the shield, holding control of their body, and trying to heal all at once. Young Shinji slipped further away into the nothingness and gasped forcing himself back.
Kaji appeared from somewhere behind them, his gun raised. Like a specter, the spy emerged onto the scene, quiet as the wind.
BANG.
Young Shinji watched, barely able to process the imagery, as blood splattered on the wall. One of the men's head tore open and bits of brain and blood gushed out onto the floor.
Fragments of the dead man's skull landed close by.
Is that all we are? Blood and tissue held together by bone…
A firefight broke out and he saw through strained blackened visions as the Broken Man moved, wielding the AT Shields like battering rams. Kaji was on the move, disappearing behind cover and gunshots rang out. It was so fast and incomplete for him, combat in a closed-in and small area.
Violence on this level was heart pounding. No Evangelions. No Angels. The ground, human and raw.
Shinji was lost again, and time skipped once more. He wheezed or at least he thought he did. His mind moving as if trapped in a glass of milk.
The Broken Man had an AT Field raised with one hand. And in the other, he held up the gun they had stolen from Nerv's Section 2 forces.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
More gunfire. More men in black military gear from somewhere he couldn't see in his strained consciousness.
Time skipped again, he almost disappeared into the nothingness and then he found Kaji running alongside them with a stolen rifle.
"Hold on!" the spy was calling to him.
I don't think I can… the boy thought weakly.
The Broken Man was leaning on Kaji. The spy hauled them forward with the new gun raised, an AT Field covering their flank through a series of hallways.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Kaji was firing. Short controlled bursts fired around a corner. The sound rang in his ears in-between the brief windows of lucidity that he clung to.
Oh god…. How did this happen? I… agh…
Stay calm. You need to control your heart rate.
I don't think I can… I'm sorry… I…
Even here in his head, having released any control of his body, his words were slurred and slow. His world was closing in around him, his vision losing color, devoured by the nothingness.
He couldn't hold on anymore.
His mind was leaving him for good this time. It all went black. If he could have wept, he would have. The black was taking him, robbing him of all his senses. He only hoped the Broken Man could keep him alive. That there would be more. That he would wake up.
Please… let me wake up. I don't want to die… I want to wake up.
Rei… Mari… Mari…
I don't want to die…
I don't want-
I don't-
I don-
I-
Elsewhere.
Hospital.
The sterile halls had returned to their proper state. Hours after the attack, after the emergence of Armisael, and life was returning to normal. People had departed their bunkers and gone about their day, heading to work or else back to bed.
Emergency services had rolled out with military efficiency, and in some cases that statement was literal. The JSSDF helped maintain order to the chaos by aiding medical, police, and other city services to return to their stations.
That was how Mari found herself back in her old room at the hospital less than a day after the attack. Her bed had been untouched, and her things lay exactly where she had left them. All except for the lone envelope she had tucked into her shirt, a letter that she hid from the world.
She sat in bed. Her hair that was growing back every day covered the burns and scars on her face. Her remaining leg rested calmly whilst the stump of what remained from the other lay awkward on the bed.
The TV was blaring, and she stared ahead watching the talking heads.
"Reports from the police earlier today about an incident in the city. A boy was seen fleeing Nerv forces in the middle of traffic," the reporter was saying.
Low-quality footage played from a cellphone showing Shinji Ikari getting to his feet in the middle of traffic, cars honked, vehicles almost crashed, and people audibly gasped. A Nerv car drove backward with two men dressed in black running after Shinji. A dented taxi car was stopped in the middle of the road.
"City officials have received reports that this boy is currently wanted by Nerv. If the leaks are to be believed, the boy was an Eva Pilot who was infected by a virus of an Angel nature. Nerv and police are continuing the manhunt," the reporter continued.
Mari wanted to throw the remote through the tv and into the reporter's face.
"If you have any knowledge of the boy's whereabouts, or have spotted him in the last 24 hours, please call this hotline. Any valid assistance will be rewarded monetarily by the city," the reporter finished.
A phone number flashed on the screen and stayed there for over a minute.
Mari hit the mute button. She hated that stupid tv. She hated the news agencies and the city officials. She hated Nerv.
She sat there seething before taking a deep breath and pulling the envelope out of her shirt.
The letter had been left for her when her boyfriend had last visited. Shinji put it on her bed and she had woken to find the envelope with her name written in neatly organized handwriting. It was honestly better than some adults' handwriting, but that had always been the case with him.
She ignored the muted tv. She opened the envelope, and with trembling hands, she pulled out the letter.
Dear Mari.
I left this for you because I didn't have time to explain myself. By the time you read this, I won't be able to answer any questions in person. I still can't. Not fully and not for a while. I know that's hard and it's not fair.
There were so many days when I wanted to. Where I would have given anything to tell you the truth. But I couldn't. I had to compromise. "It blows" as you would say. Ha.
You will hear things about me soon. On the news or else through Nerv or even the city itself. You won't understand and they will never tell you the whole story. I want you to know that they're all wrong. Whatever lies they try to tell you… you know me.
You've been part of my life for almost as long as I can remember. You know me better than anyone.
So whenever the time comes and the lies start, just remember that. Remember the dummy that found his voice with your help, that took months to take a hint, and who made you breakfast.
I promise that everything will be okay in the end. I'll come back. I'll always come back for you.
Until then, you can't tell anyone. You can't trust Nerv anymore. If they come to question you, tell them the truth. That you don't know anything.
Be safe. I love you.
- Shinji.
Tears landed on the folded paper and neat handwriting. The letter strained as her hands shook. Mari sobbed harsh cries that she hid from the world like another scar across her flesh.
She sat there alone in the hospital room weeping quietly.
Later.
Time is a strange thing. It passes on regardless of your involvement.
When Shinji blacked out, he had been terrified. Losing control to the nothingness invokes a primal fear. The fear not only of death but of the loss of your life. Your thoughts and memories. Your emotions, the thing that makes you… you.
It is the closest the boy had ever come to experiencing death. When he did wake, he did so in a melancholy gush of awareness.
His limbs felt like they had gained over ten pounds each. His chest felt rigid and stiff, weak and fragile, like a single touch would break his ribs. His lungs burned as if he'd ran the longest marathon in history.
The worst was his mind. It came back to reality reluctantly, frightened and shaken to its core.
"Ahhh," he tried to groan. His voice came out feeble and low, like that of a man on his last days.
"Don't move yet. Just lay back," Kaji's voice called.
"Kaji? Kaji… is that you?" he whimpered.
"Yeah, kid. It's me. We made it out. The old man held you together. Sniper is still out there but we got away or else he cut his losses and reported back."
"Sniper…"
"Yeah."
"I was… I was shot…."
"You were. Damn lucky to be alive, kid."
His vision came back into focus and he found Kaji crouched beside him. There was blood on his gloved hands. Where did he get gloves? Shinji glanced down as much as he dared.
Bandages and gauze covered his chest underneath his shirt. He could only look for the briefest of moments before he turned his head away shuddering.
It's alright, boy. We made it. You're alive.
Shinji breathed a sigh of relief at the voice. He flinched, gritted his teeth at the pain trickling down at his chest. Where the… where he had been…
The pain cooled. A numbness replaced the sensation all across his chest.
"Thank you…" the boy wheezed.
You'll live. You'll be able to move. The rest will have to be fixed later.
The bullet?
Still lodged in. We couldn't remove it.
I have a bullet in my chest... he thought slowly. It was surreal. Bizzare to think that his life had led him here. Or maybe he was still in shock.
When this is over, you'll need a doctor to take it out properly.
What did- what did you do to me?
Held you together. You'll live. You'll be able to function, but it is temporary. We need to get you full medical treatment.
Shinji lay on his back, breathing slowly and taking it all in.
"If it weren't for the Angel powers, then you'd be dead. It's a goddamn miracle, never seen anything like that," Kaji said, his voice somewhere between awe and fear. The spy had been oblivious to the inner conversation from seconds ago.
Now that he was awake and thinking clearly, Shinji took in the barely lit room and realized that they were in an old building. An abandoned factory of some kind. Kaji and the Broken Man had propped him up on the floor and patched him up in a hurry.
"Where are we?" the boy asked.
"Empty building in the deserted zone. I broke in to stitch you up. Thankfully I had time to grab medical supplies. Those men were so focused on you that they barely cared about me. Sniper almost got me, but they wasted six shots on you and that shield of yours," Kaji answered.
The spy rose to his feet and Shinji's eyes followed him weakly. He spotted the stolen rifle propped up against a wall. Even in the dimly lit room, Shinji could tell it was military and not Nerv security. Not Gendo's Section 2 forces.
Kaji was still in his disguise. Shinji had taken a moment to realize that fact, but there the spy was dressed like a warehouse worker.
"The package?" he asked weakly.
"Stashed," Kaji answered.
Good. That's good.
Shinji took a deep breath, letting his heartbeat come back to him. Strength was returning to his limbs, but the damage was still there.
"We can't stay long. We're risking a lot by stopping like this," Kaji said suddenly.
Shinji tried to rise and hissed at the resistance his body gave. The pain was there, he knew on an intellectual level, no matter how much of it the Broken Man had redirected. His chest was stiff and he'd have to watch it from here on out, he wouldn't be able to move as he had before.
Kaji watched him as he slowly and deliberately sat up and breathed harsh heavy breaths.
"Can we even still do this? The boy is hurt. You hear me, old man? The boy can barely move."
Shinji almost glared at the spy.
"He'll manage. I've helped him along. The boy is stronger than he looks."
The boy felt his lips move on their own. The Broken Man was speaking, and he didn't bother trying to fight it.
His Other was right. There was too much riding on them. They had to… he had to keep going.
The mental projection of the Broken Man appeared nearby. The older man dressed in rags nodded at him and Shinji returned the gesture.
Kaji glanced at the empty space, no doubt trying to guess where the illusion was in the room.
The spy turned back to him.
"We have another problem. I'm sure the old man is thinking it too. Those men," Kaji began.
"They weren't Nerv. Section 2 doesn't have that kind of gear," Shinji guessed. He winced as he spoke, wanting to clutch his chest.
More than that. They played the attack safe. They knew we could defend ourselves but not how much.
It was planned.
"SEELE."
Kaji said the words and Shinji shuddered. All three of them reached the same conclusion.
They always knew SEELE would be a threat. But this early? It was so soon. Sooner than his Other would have liked. The looming figures that had been behind everything since the beginning.
"It's worse. They knew you were there. They had time to set up a sniper and a small ground force. They were waiting for the time to strike," Kaji said flatly.
Shinji paused. The spy was right. They had to have known. But how?
"… could there be another mole? In the agency? Director Ginoza? Or-" Shinji began.
"No. Only the Director is in the loop. And he's no traitor. Believe me," Kaji cut in without hesitation.
The Broken Man was staring at him with somber heavy eyes.
Shinji blinked.
"They're tracking you, boy."
"You're being tracked."
The Spy and the Broken Man said the words at the same time. The same conclusion.
Shinji frowned. "How? We're careful-"
Both men gave him hard cold looks. Kaji was stern and straightforward. The mental projection of the Broken Man was solemn, and he seemed to shrink into the corner.
The adults knew something that he didn't. They were of a similar mind.
"What?" the boy asked, looking between the two.
Kaji exhaled sharply, reaching for a cigarette that he didn't have.
The Broken Man tilted his head low, regret in the edge of his hollow aged eyes.
"Your contact lenses, boy. Take them off." The Broken Man rasped.
Shinji blinked utterly confused.
"I'm sorry, kid. Give me those lenses of yours," Kaji said.
The spy held out his hand and the Broken Man made no move to stop him.
Shinji stared at the two. He opened his mouth and found no words.
"… my contact lenses. No… they were a gift. They're painted to look like my old eyes. They… they're not…" the boy stammered.
The memory of that night came back to him. Hauntingly bittersweet.
"Hey, dummy... I... I have something for you," Mari said. The older girl sat on her motorbike, uncharacteristically shy and uncertain as she handed him the gift.
"What?" he had asked surprised.
"... you said you didn't like the red. Overexposure to LCL. That you missed your old eyes. So, I tried to find the closest brown ones I could get. It's harder than you think. I don't have any pictures of you, dummy. The center of the lens lies over your pupil, not the iris, so it's clear and you can still see perfectly," Mari said hesitantly.
He had kissed her in gratitude. He had been thankful beyond words at such a small gift. To know that she had gone out of her way to think of him that much.
"You're wrong," Shinji said. His face, already pale, grew whiter still.
"Boy-"
"You're wrong," Shinji parroted, almost angrily. He avoided their gazes and felt his hands shaking. The tremor he had developed so long ago had returned.
He sat up trembling. His bullet wound forgotten as the words danced at the corner of his lips, he refused to voice them because doing so would make them real. It would make them true. SEELE.
Mari… Mari…
He felt tears in his eyes. He remembered the girl he had met in the ward so long ago. His very first friend in all the world. The girl who had disappeared in and out of his life. The first one to accept him, who had held him close as a child and as a teenager. His first kiss… his first… everything.
A rot began to settle in his heart. In his very soul.
Memories that he had held close, a light amid the tragedy that had been his life. A joy in the heart of an unloved child. They twisted. Whatever beauty there had been withered, taking on a new harsh reality.
He remembered it all. How she had found him on the Over the Rainbow, how she had helped push Asuka to work with him, how she had chased after him. Showing up after school to take him on adventures. How she had kissed him in the rain.
In his mind's eye, he saw a lingering shadow behind his girlfriend. A darker presence that lay underneath the mask that had been Mari Illustrious Makinami.
He gasped, blinking through the tears.
"You know it's true. I had my suspicions, but I could never confirm it. We fought so much for the wrong reasons."
The Broken Man peered down at him with hollow empty eyes. Eyes that had seen it all.
"I was afraid that the accusation alone would divide us more. So, we compromised. We kept her out of the loop… and here we are anyway."
Shinji hung his head low, tears in his eye. He didn't want to hear this. He didn't want any of this.
Kaji was speaking to him too. Telling him things that he only half heard.
"It's not uncommon. Spies have been doing it since the Cold War," Kaji said softly.
Shinji turned away. He didn't want to hear this. He didn't want to hear any of this.
The boy reached up and slowly removed his contact lenses, the gift from his girlfriend. Wordlessly, he handed them over to Kaji and sunk into a sitting position against a wall. Red eyes lay exposed to the world once again.
Eyes that were just like Rei's. The eyes he had returned with after his time absorbed inside Eva Unit 01, and the memories of the Broken Man.
Kaji was speaking again. "I'll ditch these, and then we'll head out."
Shinji barely heard the spy. The Broken Man made no argument and Kaji left the room with the contact lenses in hand.
The whole world was little more than white noise to him. He sat there against the wall; head hung low with silent tears in his red eyes. His Other appeared beside him silently. A ghost in a world that was not his own.
"… I need to go to her. I need to know why-" he stammered.
"Absolutely not."
Shinji whirled at the Broken Man wanting to shout.
"You know it's too dangerous. SEELE will expect that. They'll have people stationed there as a precaution," the Broken Man told him sternly.
Shinji sat there under his Other's gaze. He wanted to shout, to argue, to yell, to blame him, to blame anyone, and in the end, he knew his Other was right.
The Broken Man's mental projection shifted somberly. Greying hair and rough aged skin deepened as the man closed his eyes in a harsh reflection of the boy.
"However much this hurts… this pain… we don't have time for it. I am sorry, but we don't. Put that pain in a box. Store it away somewhere deep inside. One day, you'll have to open it up again. One day, you'll have time for it. But not this day."
He scoffed. "Is that what you did? Put your pain in a box?"
"No. I let mine consume me."
Shinji looked away again. He wanted to shut the world out. He wished he had never woken up at all.
"I don't want to hear it. I'll do it, alright. Just leave me alone," Shinji cut in harshly.
The mission is more important. That's what you're going to say. I've already heard it. I agree… so back off.
The Broken Man watched over him before looking away too. The mental projection vanished leaving the boy in silence.
There is pain you never forget. Wounds that will never close. He was just a boy and his entire life had been cruel. Little more than a pawn in someone else's game.
He sat there in the room feeling more alone than ever and wept silently. One moment, that was all the time he could afford his grief.
Later that day.
Men in military gear moved into the abandoned building. They swept through the rooms silent as ghosts, weapons raised.
The target was nowhere to be found. On and on they searched with no sight of Shinji Ikari.
One of the men found the tracker. A single pair of contact lenses discarded hours ago.
Hospital.
Mari had wiped her tears away. It left her eyes red and weary.
The TV blared on as she listened for news of the boy. It was all she could do. Wait and wait. Her role in this had been decided long ago.
Footsteps approached the door to her room audibly. She hurriedly hid the letter under her bedsheets and forced herself to look out the window.
The door to her room opened and a figure stepped inside.
Mari sat in her bed, stone-faced, ignoring the newcomer.
"Oh my. Why so somber, miss Makinami?"
Dr. Page closed the door behind her. The tv blared on as neither spoke.
Page pulled a chair free and sat across the hospital bed.
"Go away," Mari scowled.
Page gave her a bemused look.
"Now, now. Is that any way to talk to your manager? After all my associates and I have done for you? For access to the best surgeons in the country?"
"… that was Nerv."
"Please. Gendo suspected for months now. He didn't spend an extra penny that he didn't need to in order to keep up appearances. That is where we stepped in."
Mari still wouldn't face the woman. She avoided Page and hid from the world. Hid like the scars that littered her body.
Page looked her up and down. Those damn eyes of her never missed a thing. Mari felt the weight of them like a stone, traveling her damaged body.
"How disappointing. You haven't been reporting in. Not since the Crisis. Of course, we always had eyes on you. But not one phone call? Not a single report? You simply must have known this day would come. A face to face meeting," Page said calmly.
"… go away," Mari said again.
Page continued as if she hadn't spoken.
"You have disappointed us, Mari."
She raised the volume of the TV higher and higher. Drowning out Page and her words.
The would-be doctor sighed and simply reached up and tugged the power cord from the wall. The TV turned pitch black in an instant.
If Mari still had her legs, she would have stormed out of the room.
"Your previous work was so promising."
Mari flinched as if she been slapped. Her face fell and the tears threatened to emerge once more. She held them in.
She glared at Page, finally looking at her.
Page watched her coolly.
"Now that I have your attention. What was their plan? He must have told you something. He wouldn't have left the love of his life with nothing. Surely, our dear Shinji must have-"
"I don't know where Shinji is!" Mari shouted. Her voice came out agonized and hurt, ripping right through Page's calm demeanor.
Mari seethed taking a savage satisfaction at watching Page's mask drop slowly. Gone was the posed and polite doctor, and in its place was the cold agent of SEELE.
Page leaned in and spoke in a low dangerous voice, trying to push Mari back into her bed, a psychological trick used to back people into corners and make them feel small.
Mari refused to back down and sat up ignoring the pain from her missing leg.
"Our team found the contact lenses discarded. How did he know?" Page said, voice cold as ice.
He got away… he got away…
The thought almost made her smile, but she caught herself at the last moment.
"… he must have figured it out on his own," Mari snapped back.
Page was unphased.
"A pity. All it took was a bullet for him to learn the truth," Page said casually.
Mari couldn't stop the shock from flashing across her face. And then the horror. Shinji… her Shinji had been shot.
Page never missed a thing. Sharp, observant, and soulless eyes peered through her. Mari knew in that moment that every facial tick, every muscle movement, every one of the million features that played across her face and body language had been observed. Analyzed.
Mari hated it. She hated all of them.
"You really don't know. You didn't want to know. Tsk tsk. Disappointing. Don't tell me now that you've come to care for the boy," Page said flatly.
Mari looked away her lips trembling.
"You have. Hmm. I trust the boy is the same. Wonderful. That's why you'll live. You may still be of use. I'm sure I don't need to explain that there is no one you can go to for help. Not your nurses. Not the security here in the hospital. If you try, then people are going to get hurt. All in your name," Page said.
Again, the woman spoke flatly and plainly. No doubt as to what would happen but a firm reality.
Mari felt the walls closing in on her. They had been doing so for months now. She sat there in silence. No retort. No comebacks. Nothing but Page and that same pair of cold eyes.
They think Shinji will come to find me. Because he knows… God… he knows… and they want him to come. It's a trap. It's a fucking trap. Shinji... stay away… stay away from me.
Page rose. There was nothing left to say. The door opened and closed.
Mari blinked back fresh tears. She peered at the door and wondered how many people were outside in the hospital. How many men and women were prepared for Shinji to come back and demand answers.
The 17-year-old spy sat there and wept once more. Silent and despairingly. Alone in her room knowing that she was the worst woman in the world.
Night. The city.
"They haven't been able to follow us. It's time we move forward," Kaji said.
The spy spoke carefully, his eyes darting back and forth as he walked through the back alleyways of the city block.
Shinji Ikari followed behind numbly. He wore a simple jacket over his old clothes, it wasn't much but it was something. Kaji had been resourceful but it was a thin disguise that wouldn't hold up upon close inspection.
Leaving the deserted zone had been dangerous but Kaji had kept them moving. Never staying in one place and ditching their getaway car almost immediately. He knew his way around the city and not even the Broken Man challenged him on how they stayed ahead of the police, Nerv, and SEELE.
It had been exhausting to be on the move for hours on end until night had fallen. Going nowhere and everywhere, staying away from the crowds and donning the disguise. Yet though his legs ached, though his chest still registered the damage, he barely felt any of it.
He was numb to the world. Closed off and reserved. All of it, everything that had happened today, he placed in the box.
"Kid. You still in there?" Kaji asked as he approached a car parked in the back of an apartment complex in a lower-income city block.
"I'm here," Shinji answered distantly. He kept his head low, the red eyes he'd returned with after being absorbed into Unit 01 stood out. They had passed an electronic billboard once and the police had been given photos of him with his old eyes and his new ones.
"Don't dwell on it," Kaji told him suddenly.
Shinji watched as the spy successfully broke into the car and hotwired it within a span of minutes
"… I don't," he said flatly.
Kaji peered up at him just as the stolen car came to life.
"You're good at that," Shinji said gesturing to the stolen car, his voice empty.
"I spent years living on the streets. You learn these things in order to survive," Kaji said with a shrug.
They got into their latest car and Shinji buckled in as Kaji drove them out of the lot and back into the main roads. The two drove on in silence for several moments before Kaji spoke again.
"You have the look now. Seen it before and I hate it."
Shinji stared straight ahead. He was tired of talking.
"Aged before your time. Doesn't matter what color they are. You have the eyes of an old man and I'm not talking about your Other," Kaji continued.
"What's your point?" Shinji asked, finally speaking. Bits of bitterness crept into his voice and he stared ahead not wanting to face anyone. Let alone Kaji of all people. In truth, he still barely knew the man.
Kaji sighed in the way that adults did when they thought they knew everything. There were times when Shinji missed the old Kaji, the mask that the spy had worn when they'd first met and not the real man underneath.
"You've been through a lot. Eva Piloting, your dad, all this with SEELE, your whole life, kiddo. All of it. It's not fair," Kaji continued softly.
"I've already had this conversation with the Old Man. I know, Kaji. I do. This is more important than me-" Shinji began, just wanting this to be over.
"Well, I can't hear those conversations. I don't know what the Old Man told you. But I want to know if you can still do this. Things have gone so wrong already. I can promise you that things will get worse before they get better. They always do," Kaji cut in, his last words adopting a dark tone.
Shinji felt his anger flickering. The box he had put his emotions in shook. It was there locked away with everything else, the pain in his heart, the fear, the disbelief, the rot that ate away at him, and so he shut it away even harder.
Before he could rebuke, he felt the Other take control.
"Enough. The boy can handle it-"
"No offense. I wasn't talking to you. I know you're in this till the end. Let the boy spoke for himself," Kaji interrupted.
The Broken Man studied him as they drove. Red eyes that bore into the spy. The Other lowered his head in thought, hollow empty eyes downcast, his expression unreadable.
Shinji took control again. The boy stared out the window watching the empty roads in silence.
"What do you want me to say? That I'm fine? I'm not," Shinji spat. His voice shook at the words, anger, regret, sorrow, all of it threatened to escape. So he locked it tighter inside the box, forcing it all down.
"I know. I just want you to hear something," Kaji told him.
"What?" he asked feeling exhausted.
"Don't let yourself get dragged along. That's no way to help anyone."
"I'm doing my part. I'm not being-"
"There's a difference between being forced into something. Dragged along by obligation, or duty, or because others tell you to. And choosing to walk in willingly. That choice makes all the difference in the world," Kaji told him.
Young Shinji's face fell, and he closed his eyes as if wincing in pain. The box was slipping again, wounds on the verge of leaking. More than the bullet. He held it in once again.
"It's not that simple. We don't always get that choice," he said at last.
"You always have a choice," Kaji said.
The spy almost laughed, and instead, he smirked, a humorless thing that emerged on his face. "I'd call you 'kid', but you're not. Haven't been for some time," Kaji continued.
Young Shinji was silent, mulling over the words.
"You chose this once. So, remember why you did. It was more than just your girlfriend," Kaji said, his tone growing heavy.
Don't. Just don't. I don't want to talk about her.
"Sometimes you forget why you started it all, so remember. Remember what drove you in the first place. That's the only way to move forward," Kaji continued.
Shinji considered that. Kaji was a spy and he had nearly walked into his own death willingly. The man had accepted dangers beyond imagination to become a double agent for Gendo and the Japanese Intelligence Agency. Had fought against SEELE fully knowing the risk. Yet Shinji had never once seen him hesitate.
Why did I choose this the first time? Shinji wondered. The thought came to him slowly and melancholy. He felt a pang in his chest.
When he'd first arrived in Tokyo-03, all he had wanted was to see if his father cared about him.
He had only piloted because he hadn't wanted Rei to get hurt. From there it spiraled to include others, Asuka, Mar… Misato, even Ritsuko. So, he had played along, he became an Eva Pilot.
Then he learned the Broken Man's truth and he learned more than he ever could have conceived of. More than he ever wanted to know. He chose this because he had people he had cared about. That hadn't changed. Whatever else, he still had to save them. That's what he could do, what he could focus on.
The box inside him would have to wait.
His thoughts were interrupted when the car stopped. Shinji snapped out of it, and Kaji spoke saying, "we're here."
He looked up and realized that they were at the edge of one of the 'lived in' zones of the city. Back near another deserted area.
...
They got out of the car and together they found the van stashed away in the parking garage of a fading business. The Angel War had taken its toll on the city, creating the deserted zones scattered throughout here and there. Places where businesses and buildings that had once been occupied were left vacant.
Kaji opened the van's backdoors and together they stepped inside.
A large coffin-sized container sealed shut, a package shipped out discretely from Nerv HQ, and then stashed away for safety, was inside. Neatly tucked into the back of the van was also a small gym bag with a fresh set of teenage sized clothes.
Shinji ran his hand over the package and found the material to be cold to the touch. It made his skin crawl. He felt his face grow hard at the thought of what lay inside.
It's unsettling…
It's necessary. Ritsuko risked everything to finish it on time.
Kaji stepped past him moving to open the coffin-shaped container. Shinji looked away. He didn't want to see it.
The container was opened. Shinji still didn't look inside. The boy put a hand to his chest wound, where a bullet was still lodged inside him. The wound was healed enough for him to move, his pain redirected so he could breathe.
He forced himself to look inside the coffin-sized container and found Kaji studying the contents with sharp experienced eyes.
Inside lay the husk of a human being. A near-perfect copy when viewed from the outside. A clone of Shinji Ikari made with no higher brain function. Created by Ritsuko using a vial of his blood. Molded to be a decoy, a ploy that would not hold to scrutiny for long.
But it was enough. It would take a genetic analysis to see the truth. Nerv had no time for such things with SEELE coming for them.
Shinji stared at the near lifeless copy of himself. It had his eyes, but they were empty, staring ahead at nothing in particular. An oxygen mask had been packed inside the container, ensuring that the clone would survive the transfer.
Kaji gave him a curt glance.
"We need to make it look real," the spy said reaching for his gun.
Shinji looked away.
Have you done things like this before? For the Agency? … you've seen a lot, haven't you Mr. Kaji?
Nerv HQ.
The halls of the compound were quiet and eerie. Employees had been issued warnings about gossip and its effect on morale. Through the Geofront, people worked in tense silence. Fear permeated the air, ever-present.
The worst kind of fear is that of the unknown. A terror that loomed above with no answers. Discussion forbade by the highest levels of the organization.
Nerv was expecting a fight. Eva Unit 01 had been imprisoned within its launchpad and its pilot was wanted for 'quarantine'. Unit 00 and its pilot were unavailable. Unit 03's pilot remained hospitalized.
And Unit 02 was on-call and combat-ready. Deployable in minutes.
Despite the efforts of Nerv Section 2 Security forces, rumors and whispers emerged among the ranks of the employees.
"What are we fighting? The last Angel was killed."
"One Eva Pilot… only one left."
"How long can they keep us in emergency status? Days? Weeks?"
On and on the whispers spread. A battle was coming, and no one save for the highest-ranking members of Nerv knew what for and who the enemy was.
…
Gendo Ikari sat solemn and silent at his desk. The displays around him kept him up to date relaying information from all corners of the operation in real-time.
The full defense of Nerv HQ could be deployed at a moment's call. The ritual could begin within a few hours afterward. All the pieces were there, Lilith herself, the Adam Sample that had been surgically implanted into his hand… the First Angel that had been allowed to regenerate at a controlled rate…
Yui… we will be reunited… soon… so very soon.
This world could burn. It no longer held any value to him.
Yet he was locked in place by one factor. One single point of failure that left him or even SEELE themselves from moving forward.
The Abomination that was Shinji Ikari.
The playing field was not yet cleared. Neither Gendo nor Keel could move until all the forces of Adam were removed. So long as Adam's Vessel remained in effect, the Human Instrumentality Project could not be risked.
All these long years had led to this moment. The entire Evangelion Program was never meant to protect mankind, it was meant to remove any threat from the Third Impact.
Gendo scowled as he reread the reports.
Reports of gunfire in an abandoned zone of the city. Shinji perhaps? Fighting who? Keel and private militaries?
Almost 24 hours since he had sent men to the Katsuragi household for the boy, and they had made no progress. Shinji remained outside their grasp and on the run.
"Only a matter of time," Gendo murmured to himself. An unhealthy habit he had picked up so close to the realization of his life's work.
The boy could only run for so long. The entire city was looking for him. All exits from the city had police checkpoints. That meant he must still be in Tokyo-03. If Gendo had to, he would force the mayor to mobilize the police to check door-to-door with Nerv as support.
The JSSDF was a lost cause and could no longer be trusted. Keel had his fingers there.
When the call came, it surprised him. The same line that he himself had used only twice before. The point of contact to the freelancer that he had used and thrown away.
Gendo picked up the phone and answered.
"Mr. Ikari."
"Mr. Kaji. You survived."
"No thanks to you," Kaji laughed bitterly.
"You volunteered for the mission. Fuyutsuki warned you, did he not? You were paid. I see no reason to protest."
He survived SEELE's wrath all this time. Impressive for being the little pawn that he is.
"I'm sure you don't," Kaji replied, voice filled with cold mirth.
Gendo smirked. You chose this occupation, Mr. Kaji.
"What do you have for me?" Gendo continued.
Kaji had proven to be an unnervingly successful agent for hire. The one who had stolen the Adam Sample and delivered it to Tokyo-03, the one who had rescued Fuyutsuki and return him in one piece, all whilst under the guise of a Nerv employee.
Gendo's suspicions were confirmed almost immediately.
"I have what you want. I have your boy," Kaji said smugly.
"And how is that? Section 2 failed to extract the boy."
"Your men aren't an army. They're not special ops. You're deluding yourself if you think so. They're all defense, nothing more," Kaji told him coldly.
Gendo felt a flicker of annoyance. A cold sense of something almost like anger.
"Careful. You are treading on dangerous ground."
"I've already tread on dangerous ground. We're on dangerous ground right now," Kaji countered.
Gendo scowled quietly.
"I have what you want," Kaji continued smugly.
The phone vibrated and Gendo looked to see that he'd received a message. The picture showed a bound and unconscious Shinji Ikari, imprisoned somewhere dark with only his face visible.
"… you are much more than I thought you to be, Mr. Kaji. What do you want?" Gendo said, reluctant respect in his tone.
He could practically hear the spy smirking on the other end. They were not children; it was pointless to play these petty games of egos and semantics. Gendo was not Keel. The Director of Nerv cut straight to the heart of the matter.
Kaji was silent for several moments.
"We both know a war is coming. A dangerous man is coming for you and your secrets, whatever they are. Keel Lorenz is not known for his mercy," Kaji said.
Gendo could feel the man's abrupt change in tone, and he knew that the smirk had been wiped off the man's face. The spy for hire was gravely serious. Gone was the arrogant and easy-going demeanor, and in its place was the truth. A man on the run.
"Nerv vs SEELE? I don't care one way or the other. I want out. I want an aircraft delivered at a spot of my choosing. With supplies and unmarked bills. I want the airspaces cleared for me," Kaji continued flatly.
"Planning to leave the country, are you?"
"Do you care?"
"No. I don't," Gendo admitted freely.
"It seems to me that you are in the lower bargaining position. Keel has signed your death warrant. What use is the boy to you?"
"None. He's a bargaining chip. You need him. All I have to do is let him go again and take my chances. Back to square one, no loss to me. Why so greedy, Mr. Ikari? Is my price truly that steep for a man with your resources?" Kaji continued slyly.
"… I will send an intermediate. To confirm that the boy is in your possession. Do we have a deal, Mr. Kaji?"
"Deal."
An hour later.
"You did what?"
"I made a deal."
"That's- how could he have taken Shinji? Section-2 couldn't," Fuyutsuki said.
"It no longer matters 'how' he did it. Only that he did. We must move forward," Gendo dismissed with a wave of his hand.
The two men were walking the grounds of the Geofront. Three trucks loaded with fully armed Section-2 forces lay ahead waiting for orders.
Fuyutsuki gaped at his superior.
"You are taking too many risks. There are too many unknowns."
Gendo's face grew hard and a stern glare emerged behind tinted glasses. "There is no time. The Third Child must be dealt with."
Fuyutsuki stared at him. The man that had been Gendo's right-hand man, partners with the devil.
"Mr. Kaji has a proven track record. A pawn that proved much more useful than I ever imagined. I know the risks, they don't matter anymore. This is the end," Gendo said sternly.
The Director of Nerv was cold and uncompromising. A man with no concern of consequences.
Fuyutsuki shrunk before the younger man. The former professor made to rebuke, to protest the sudden decision and 'deal', to voice his concerns of the time. But the elderly man lost his voice under the sharp eyes of Gendo Ikari.
Kozo Fuyutsuki flinched. Elderly hands shook and knees buckled.
"You will have protection. These men will ensure that you return regardless of the outcome. I have been lenient with you considering your kidnapping. But you're wearing on my patience. We have come this far, you and I. There is no backing out," Gendo told him flatly.
"… You're mad. You're taking too many risks… jumping to conclusions-" Fuyutsuki stuttered.
"I do what I must. As did you. You chose to walk this path with me," Gendo cut in.
The Director of Nerv placed a hand softly on the old professor's arm. Gendo led him to the car and the men stationed inside.
"See that the Deputy Commander returns unharmed," Gendo ordered the Section-2 forces.
The men in black nodded.
Fuyutsuki shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Gendo handed him the phone and the old professor took it reluctantly.
The Director of Nerv saw them off. The convey left the grounds of the Geofront with a small force of Section-2.
The exchange.
The sun was beginning to rise by the time they arrived at the agreed-upon location. Bits of clear sky bled through the mid-night blues of the evening from before, along with white light that cast the world anew.
Kozo Fuyutsuki breathed and kept his eyes on the scattered buildings around him. He was apprehensive, stiff, and quiet. The men on either side of him had paid him no mind until they stopped.
Slowly, the elderly man got off the car with two bodyguards flanking him. Fuyutsuki hesitantly waited outside.
The other cars were nearby, their engines running.
Fuyutsuki answered the phone and looked back and forth, scanning the area for where the caller could be.
"Of course, Gendo would send you," Kaji said over the phone.
"Mr. Kaji… I'm glad to see you survived," Fuyutsuki said slowly. His throat was dry, and he closed his eyes at the memory of his rescue from SEELE. Flashes of hours in the dark, of men in black military gear, of his limbs being bound, of the death and bullet fire that surrounded him.
Fuyutsuki shook his head, focusing on the here and now.
"Relax. If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't have saved you in the first place," Kaji replied coolly.
The men in black, Section 2, were scanning the buildings. Ready to pull him back into the car and drive off in a moment's notice.
Fuyutsuki gulped. "Where is Shinji?"
"Funny. You're the only one who calls him by name anymore."
"Kaji-"
"Change of plans. You deliver on your end first, then I'll tell you."
"I… it will be done," Fuyutsuki said hastily. Whatever judgments and precautions that he had disappeared when he'd been commanded to oversee the exchange.
He signaled to the men around him.
A call went out and overhead an aircraft, small and maneuverable with a full tank of fuel, flew by and passed them up to land in an empty lot nearby. Requisitioned by Nerv under the Director's orders, it made a strange sight in the middle of a deserted zone, the aftermath of an Angel attack that had been severe enough to be abandoned.
The aircraft pilots exited the craft with the engine running and hurriedly walked away heading for Fuyutsuki and the Section 2 forces parked.
His bodyguards shifted and Fuyutsuki looked to see Kaji himself emerge onto the scene heading for the aircraft. The spy looked well from a distance, able to survive on the run all this time, and he held the contact phone to his ear as he approached the aircraft.
"Thank you, Fuyutsuki. There's a parking garage on your right. You'll find a van inside. It'll be unlocked," Kaji said over the phone.
Fuyutsuki watched as the spy boarded the aircraft loaded with supplies. Within minutes the aircraft came to a hover and then rose higher and higher leaving them all behind.
Kaji disappeared.
What a strange man. No loyalty to anyone or anything. Leave quickly Mr. Kaji, a war is about to begin. Then again, very soon nothing in this world will matter... Fuyutsuki mused.
The bodyguards escorted him to the parking garage and upon finding the van, they ushered him back whilst the men opened it.
Inside they found a coffin-sized box.
Fuyutsuki held his breath as his bodyguards secured the area and searched the box before beckoning him in to confirm. He stepped inside to see for himself.
There lay the corpse of Shinji Ikari. Two wounds littered the body. A single bullet was lodged into the boy's head, a point-blank shot. As well as another wound to the chest, dried blood had left heavy stains on the boy's shirt.
Fuyutsuki knelt to examine the wound to the head. It was fresh, a recent kill, and much newer than the bullet to the chest had been. Everything else matched, down to the clothes the boy had been wearing when Section 2 had failed to transport him to the bomb site.
How had things gone down?
The reports of gunfire from earlier? Had Shinji been there? SEELE? Had the Abomination been wounded before Kaji managed to capture and kill him somehow?
Staring at the lifeless teenage body, Fuyutsuki wondered how 'she' would have taken the sight.
What would Yui have made of all this? Fuyutsuki thought. He felt shameful standing over the corpses of a boy he had known for over a decade. Only ever from a distance.
Cold lifeless eyes stared ahead at nothing in particular. Red eyes. Eyes that haunted him even now. The mental image of the Rei Clones flashed, and it left Fuyutsuki shuddering, the sight of the bio-waste recycling system devouring the corpses would never leave him.
He hurried out of the van and almost threw up. He felt pity for himself. A doctor, a professor of medicine and technology, traumatized by the sight of a dead body. It was almost comical in how cruel life could be.
Cameras whirled and clicked as the men documented the corpse.
"Pack it up. Gendo needs to know. Shinji Ikari is dead."
Fuyutsuki spoke the words in a low rasp. The men in black did as ordered and he hurriedly made his way back to the car.
Back at Nerv.
Gendo stood, waiting for them in the secured garage of the compound reserved exclusively for Section 2. Even still, upon arriving Fuyutsuki and the men were ordered to follow the Director of Nerv further inside.
The container was wheeled in and Gendo stared, expression hidden by tinted glasses, as Fuyutsuki gave his report.
He informed the Director of the exchange, of how Mr. Kaji had apparently killed the boy prior to their arrival. Of how the spy for hire had disappeared with his aircraft as per their agreement. The man could be anywhere by now.
"I would like to run some tests. The two wounds, they were at different times. I can further examine the… the body in the lab," Fuyutsuki continued.
The former professor glanced at the container once more, Gendo hadn't taken his eyes off of it.
"Something about this all seems strange. I would like to verify the body more thoroughly than a physical inspection."
"How long would that take?" Gendo said, speaking for the first time since Fuyutsuki had returned.
"A few days at worse. I can begin immediately. And with Dr. Akagi's help, we can-"
"No. You already verified the body. That will do," Gendo cut in.
"Sir, I would not recommend that," Fuyutsuki protested carefully.
The Director of Nerv opened the container and stood looming over the corpse inside. The man stared and stared, expression and thoughts unknowable to all save for the man himself.
Fuyutsuki watched as the father reached down and ran a finger along the bullet entry wound, a single shot to the head, of his own son. The movement was stiff and surgical, without any trace of warmth or familiarity.
"Yui's son is dead. He died a long time ago," Gendo said at last. The words came out flat and Fuyutsuki did not know how to respond.
The Director of Nerv rose to his considerable height and pressed a gloved finger to his glasses straightening them.
…
Gendo closed the container and the sight of the corpse disappeared. He gave orders to the Section-2 forces stationed nearby and saw to it that the body was moved to storage out of sight.
They will know. Somehow, Keel will know, Gendo thought. It was a certainty. SEELE had their ways no matter how secure he had made Section 2, no matter how hard he had personally built the force.
He marveled at how quickly things were starting to progress. It seemed he was almost in a dream. No. Not yet, but the road to his dream.
For whatever his reasons, perhaps the boy had been too difficult to contain long term, it didn't matter. Mr. Kaji had done the job for him. The path was clear. No Children nor Vessels for Adam remained to challenge Instrumentality. Only SEELE remained and for all their wealth and power… they were men. Mortal and fallible.
Ryoji Kaji. The man who killed Shinji Ikari, Gendo mused.
The Director of Nerv opened and closed his fist, feeling the Adam Sample within his palm stir.
"Walk with me," he told Fuyutsuki. He didn't wait for a response but nonetheless heard the hesitant footsteps behind him. His Sub-commander, one of the few people who had been with him since the beginning. It was only fitting that they walked to the end together.
He opened the commlink and began issuing orders.
"Dr. Akagi," Gendo said, switching to the private comm channel.
"Sir," Ritsuko answered back.
"Declare a state of emergency. Brace for an attack. I will lead the ritual personally. I entrust Fuyutsuki and yourself to see to the defense of Nerv."
"… how long do we have… sir?" Ritsuko asked.
No more than a day. Keel will know. It was always going to come to this.
"I cannot say. Minutes? An hour? SEELE will come for us. Keel will know that we are moving," Gendo said.
It was time. The end was at hand. Adam and Lilith had to be controlled. This world had run out of time.
…
The sirens blared overhead. The booming ear-ringing sound stole the attention of everyone in the compound, from the Section-2 Forces, to the clueless technicians and emergency staff, to the last remaining Eva Pilot.
Asuka rose from her seat in the cafeteria. What in the world was going on? Adam's Children were dead… and things didn't make sense… Shinji?
No… there were still things that no one was explaining. The boy had known this would happen. Yet he never tried to harm her in any way. He had gone out of his way to save her… to help her and… there was more to the story. Nerv wanted her to pilot. Pilot against what?
Her comm went off and Asuka angrily answered the call.
"Pilot Sohryu. Report to the hangar immediately," Ritsuko's voice came in.
Asuka crossed her arms suddenly feeling a lot older than she was.
"What the hell is going on? Is it… is it Shinji? Is he… you want me to… to… I won't. I won't do it-"
"It's not Shinji. We're being attacked. Report to the hangar," Ritsuko cut in.
The call ended before Asuka could add another word.
The German girl seethed quietly. This was such bullshit. She stormed off heading for the hangar.
Misato was there waiting for her by the time she arrived. They shared a look.
The woman who had been her temporary guardian alongside Shinji grabbed her by the hand and squeezed gently. Asuka felt the unease even through the fabric of the plugsuit.
"I'll be with you on the comm. No matter what it is. I swear," Misato said.
Asuka stared at her. She was scared. Misato was scared. That didn't happen often. She hated this, she hated being kept in the dark just as much as Misato did.
What happened to Shinji?
The words went unsaid. A moment passed between the two as the sirens blared overhead in the hangar. Their relationship had always been difficult. Misato had been closer to Shinji, and part of that was Asuka's fault. She had been mean and cruel, a bratty child, a lifetime ago. Asuka regretted that now. She regretted not having gotten closer to her temporary guardian.
Misato cared… she cared about her.
Asuka squeezed the woman's hand back.
The moment was over, and Misato let her go. She walked along the hangar heading for Eva Unit 02, the red titan recently reintegrated into combat status.
Asuka passed the imprisoned Eva Unit 01 on her way. She paused for a second, watching the crystal contained giant looming over them all. Many found it unnerving as if the Evangelion itself was watching them.
She felt it herself. Felt the gargantuan red eyes of 01 on her and she found that she was not afraid. Somehow, she knew that she was safe with the Evas. All of them.
Evangelion Unit 01 would never hurt her.
An undisclosed location.
The holographic display of the stone monoliths surrounded Keel, his assistant, and the bodyguards in an enclosed circle amid the faintly lit chambers.
"You shouldn't be there. It is… dangerous," one of SEELE said.
Keel tilted his head at the voice. He knew the man's face and name; he knew every one of the men who hid behind their imagery. Even now, he could picture the man on the other end of the call avoiding his gaze.
"Nonsense. These are times that require a personal touch," Keel said dismissively.
When he spoke, all others listened. The might of SEELE was at his command and the society of some of the world's richest and most powerful bent to his judgments.
"The machine is showing activity. It seems the traitorous Director of Nerv has plans for an Instrumentality of his own," another of SEELE remarked. The voice came from the hologram.
"Yes. And there are reports from our low-level moles within Nerv that an emergency status has been declared. Gendo is expecting us to retaliate for his insolence," Dr. Page said speaking up for the first time.
"What of Shinji Ikari? The Freak has always been an anomaly that we would have to deal with," a member of SEELE spoke.
"Gendo believes the boy is gone it seems. That will have to do for now. Fear not, there are contingencies," Keel responded calmly.
"And the girl?" the member from before asked.
Keel tilted his head to his assistant.
Page spoke up saying, "she is of little importance anymore. She played her part and ultimately failed. With Gendo making his move, it isn't worth pursuing."
Mari Illustrious Makinami. What a disappointment she turned out to be, Keel mused absentmindedly. A long-term investment that had shown promise, but in the end had fallen short of its initial appraisal.
"It's time. Send in the First Wave. Send in the JSSDF."
Keel gave the order and the holograms disappeared. The old man felt a cold smile emerge on his lips, the cannon fodder had been set loose. What an exciting time to be alive. Insolence must be punished, and betrayals were seldom taken lightly.
…
Elsewhere.
Bribes and favors had been called in. Manipulation of local and state governments had seen the Japanese Strategic Self Defense Force gather in Tokyo-03 discretely. There the bulk of their force, hidden within their bases, the military had awaited orders.
Now the JSSDF began to move. Orders from up high claimed that Nerv had betrayed mankind and was planning another Impact Event. The bulk of the gathered military began deploying within minutes.
Local city officials, including the police, were pushed aside as the city came under martial law. The state had assumed control.
Ground forces emerged onto the roads leading to the Geofront. Air forces emerged above. The military might of the Japanese Ministry of Defense brought forth in rapid response. Men and women in body armor and guns, tanks and mobile infantry, artillery, and air support.
The Assault on Nerv was underway.
My health problems aside, this chapter was a bit challenging to write. There's a lot of things that happen, both onscreen and offscreen, and we're moving the plot along in addition to a few reveals and character moments.
It was actually two chapters that were merged together. It's a strange choice, but ultimately I did it for the sake of a better timeline and plot pacing. I hope it worked.
There was not a lot of 'action' this time, I hope you don't mind. I had written more action scenes, but I felt that they didn't add anything to the story that you didn't already know. So I cut them down a bit to have a 'leaner' entry, I think it worked out okay.
Did you expect the truth about Mari?
Shinji's been through a lot, and just as Kaji told him, "things will get worse before they get better."
The JSSDF has launched its invasion of Nerv. The Third Impact is near.
Thanks for Reading and please Review!