Unravel

by Homer's Disciple

Shinji rejected Instrumentality, but he made so many mistakes. He has one last chance to set things right, to unravel everything and save what matters. A retelling or altering of the series, an altered version of Shinji with an altered past. Life takes a different path, but do all paths lead to the same destination? Is Shinji doomed to never know happiness?

49. Aftershocks

Hey guys, back again.
Quite a long chapter, the immediate aftershocks of Wrath. A lot of plot.

Here's Chapter 49: "Aftershocks".

---

"Nothing ever goes the way it's supposed to. Plans are useless. It's the planning that counts."

- Misato Katsuragi.

---

The world of ruin looked almost peaceful in its emptiness. It was shades of white and grey stretching out for as far as the eye could see.

An old man dressed in ragged aged clothes stood atop a mountain. He watched the sun slowly rise, beginning to breathe a measure of color back into the ash-filled landscape.

Shadows whirled around the man's hands, dancing across his skin as he practiced the familiar movements. The foreign power granted to him had taken root inside his flesh, it was getting harder to remember what it was like to live without it. He didn't know if that worried him or not.

"You should sleep more."

The voice came song-like. Soft and eerily beautiful in its own way. The owner did not breathe, as she did not need to, adding to the dreamlike vocals.

"I don't need much sleep anymore," the Original Shinji said. His voice was rough, even now. Low and aged despite the changes to his very being.

"Take rest where you can."

"… you don't sleep. Ever."

"I slept for hundreds of years before Nerv imprisoned me. You are too hard on yourself, husband."

The Woman in the Dark emerged from their cave and appeared beside him. Her movements were unnatural, fast, and nigh-imperceptible. He had gotten used to her ability to appear and disappear at will.

He turned to look at her. She held his gaze gently.

Pale white skin, bold silver hair, deep red eyes with an alien intelligence and wisdom. She had the body of an angelic 26-year-old Rei Ikari. Shadows circled her in imitation of clothes, an act that she produced for his benefit. And something more in her eyes, something that made him want to look away.

Love.

The Second Angel loved him. More than just the remnants of his wife, the entirety that was Lilith loved him. She had never made a secret of it.

Please, don't. Don't love me. Bad things happen to those who do.

Lilith raised a hand mirroring his movements as the shadows danced around her flesh in a display of her abilities. Power that she had shared with him, her own shadows that now danced to his tune.

"You have improved," she said, eyeing his progress.

Shinji flexed his hand open and closed, three fingers where there should have been five. He willed the shadows away and they vanished.

"I had to. My other self… the boy… my presence will hurt him. And he's going to have a hard life. More dangerous than mine. I'll need to be there for him. To heal him. To heal anyone that I need to if it comes to that," he said.

He was grateful for the change in topic. For the distraction from the look in his teacher's eyes, a mirror image of his wife's.

"You will be there for him. You will help him," Lilith said simply.

Shinji scoffed lightly. A lifetime ago he would have laughed at himself.

"I'm not as good as you," he admitted freely.

"No. You are not," Lilith confirmed.

There was no scorn between them. Only honesty. A teacher and her student. Ten years of training had given him incredible powers and the skills to apply them. But he was no fool, there would be limits to what he could do. In this world and in the one to come.

Lilith tilted her head at him. "If you lived another thousand years, perhaps you would have skill to equal my own."

A thousand years? Who wants to live that long? The old man thought bitterly.

Shinji opened and closed his fists. He couldn't rely on the healing abilities; he would have to do everything he could to keep the boy safe in the new world. That would be a challenge unlike any other. He couldn't predict what would change. He would have to adapt every step of the way.

"Can't you come with me? Another loophole? Send your mind back to your new self?" Shinji asked breathlessly. Doing everything himself, all alone, it would be hard. The hardest thing that he would ever do. What he wouldn't have given for an ally waiting for him.

What he wouldn't have given to have a friend in the new world.

Lilith shook her head sadly.

"Not as I am now. No."

The old man grunted, eyes flickering downward. He and he alone was the loophole. His teacher could not make the leap back in time with him.

Lilith appeared at his side and pressed a warm hand to his chest. He stilled at her touch, bittersweet painful memories resurfacing in his mind.

"You will carry a piece of me with you. And you will have a piece of Adam inside you as well. This action will have consequences. You will be an anomaly in the new world."

His teacher said the words with a hint of sadness. Lowered red eyes.

Shinji mulled that over.

"The blow-back effects. And, the Angels will know. Won't they?"

"Yes, I think so. My parents could not foresee every outcome, but time travel scared them. They put in place measures against it. You will conflict with the new version of myself and my brother. Avoid fighting us if possible," Lilith said thoughtfully.

Shinji turned to his teacher in surprise. His aged tired eyes widening slowly.

"I would never fight you," he said, his voice rough and hard.

Lilith shook her head.

"Even I cannot predict what my Other will be like in your new world. My memories of before… are difficult. I was a prisoner, tortured, and experimented on. I remember your father gazing upon me as the flesh was cut from my bone."

Shinji closed his eyes briefly, as if in pain. His father had been a monster.

"By the end, I had little love for mankind. It was Rei who saved you that day. The Third Impact. She saved you, and then you saved everyone else," Lilith finished.

"I didn't save anyone. The Third Impact doomed the world. We just didn't know it yet," Shinji said bitterly.

Lilith closed her eyes and removed her hand from his chest.

"It did, didn't it? Hmm. The madness of your parents and SEELE," his teacher mused.

"… I'll save you too."

The words left his mouth slowly. A promise that he should have made years before. Another weight to add to his burden. One that he took on willingly.

He looked up at his teacher to find her tilting her head at him. A surprised almost bemused expression on her alien face. It was strange, to see remnants of his wife mixed in with the near god-like being before him. He could almost picture her again, humming softly as she helped him do the dishes.

"You would save the Second Angel? Not only your wife but Lilith herself?" the Woman in the Dark questioned.

"I won't abandon you."

Lilith smiled up at him and it was to see Rei Ikari born again. The sky bloomed with her smile, the sun had risen behind her, and Shinji found it painful to witness such beauty. She laughed. A surprisingly human reaction. Her voice was sweet and soft, pleasant in a way that no mortal could replicate.

"This is why we love you, husband. Even now, after all this, you are still a good man."

Before he could stop her, she pressed a gentle hand to his cheek cupping his face. He wanted to pull away, but she wouldn't let him.

"… I'm not," he rasped.

"I never claimed you were a perfect man. Neither have you. But your heart is still your own. This world never robbed you of it," Lilith told him simply.

She leaned in planting her lips on his cheek before she released him and walked away. The Broken Man shied from her touch.

He found himself pressing a hand to where she had kissed him. It felt warm. Perhaps the first warmth he had felt in years. Part of him wished he could return it.

There was no point in such things. He pushed such thoughts away and lowered his hand, then spoke. "I promise. Me or the boy, one of us, we'll free you too."

Lilith considered that pacing across the mountaintop and humming softly to herself.

"Your plan is complex. There are many players. Moving parts that you cannot predict. You will have to be fluid. Adaptable. Maneuver the board as it changes, always."

She stopped at the edge of the mountaintop, her back to him as she spoke. She stood there, peering out into the world of ruin above and below.

He knew the truth in her words. For all his plans, he couldn't count on things going his way. He would have to change them and constantly rework the playing field in his favor.

Finally, she turned back to him. Her red eyes shined up at him, worried.

"A word of caution, husband. Focus on the boy and then the new Rei. Save her and thus you will save me in turn. Do that, and my Other can be freed. Not before, only after."

"… you're asking me to save you last?"

"Yes."

---

The Current Timeline.

Above into the heavens, a figure fell to the world below. The object raced downward, pulled back by Earth's gravity well, the wind wiping across its surface, streaks of red beginning to emerge from the friction as it made its descent. The ruins of Evangelion Unit 01 fell lower and lower heading for the surface.

The Broken Man opened his eyes weakly. His thoughts were slow, and it took him a moment to fully regain consciousness.

He was falling. He registered that immediately. He had no arms; he registered that next. His arms being those of the Evangelion. His 'body' that he had taken by replacing his mother within Unit 01 in the new timeline.

Eva Unit 01 was a battered and broken shadow of its former self. Most of the plate armor was gone, burned and wiped away. The Eva's bones were broken, it was missing skin with muscle visible to the outside. One leg was barely hanging on by the barest thread of flesh. The other was mangled and twisted.

An eye… one of the eyes is filled with blood. It's blind, he thought. The pain he could deal with, it was nothing new, but he needed to remember what had happened.

His memories of the battle were fragmented.

...

He remembered the Dark God, the Adam-Lilith Hybrid, rising. He remembered witnessing the death of mankind brewing in the skies above and rising to stop it.

They had clashed. The powers of the Original Adam and Lilith colliding with those of the new timeline. Both he and the Hybrid had burned as the blow-back effect struck them equally. The network screaming at the conflict in time.

Space and the fabric of reality itself had distorted upon their meeting. Mirror images of the same power reflected across two different timelines. And in spite of that fact… for all the Broken Man's power and training… the new God had been stronger.

The two figures had stood frozen in high orbit as they clashed. Flesh had been severed, blood had flown. Both of them burning as the First Ancestral Race's network rejected them.

Only the Spear of Longinus had kept him alive. The one weapon that tipped the balance in his favor. He had almost pierced the God's heart and Angel Core, cutting through muscle and bone. It hadn't been enough, he hadn't been able to score a killing blow.

There had been an explosion. A flash of white light erupting from the collision of mirror images of cosmic forces. That was the last thing he remembered.

...

They're still alive. I failed…

He knew it to be true. The Hybrid, wherever they were, must have been just as badly wounded as he was. If not more so. But alive.

"The Spear… gone…" he wheezed. The Eva's mouth was too weak to move, but deeper inside, his 'soul' could still speak the words.

He didn't know where it had gone. Lost in the explosion? Far up into space? Had it landed on Earth somewhere? Was it destroyed? Too many unknowns. There was no time for that now. He needed to get back.

The wind was racing against the Eva's burnt and mangled flesh. The air around him beginning to turn bright red as he fell. He gathered what power he could and found it a fraction of what it had been before. He would need time to recover.

A lone Wing of Light emerged from Unit 01's back. It was all he could manage in his weakened state. He drifted, using his one wing to guide his fall and slow his descent.

He watched with the Eva's good eye as the world came into view beneath him. He saw a messy patchwork of landscapes covered in a horrid fog… and a small warzone in the distance. The grounds of the Geofront and the ruins of Nerv.

The Broken Man maneuvered the Eva's battered form and flew towards it, aiming to drop himself at Nerv and try to regroup with whoever was left.

Uhhhh…he groaned inwardly.

Eva Unit 01 was giving out on him. His 'body' in the new timeline was too damaged and he lacked the strength to heal it.

Almost there… He thought.

The Wing of Light failed him. It faded away into nothing and left Eva Unit 01 in free fall. He was so close… he would land in the scorched earths of the Geofront. In the surrounding area that was the sight of the JSSDF's massacre and his stand against the MP Evas.

Something collided with him in mid-air with a harsh thud. He flinched inwardly as claw-like hands snatched the mangled form of Eva Unit 01.

Together, the two figures hovered far above the Geofront. A single MP Eva had caught him before he could land.

SEELE's abomination held him in its grip vicelike and then turned, spreading its own wounded and battered wings. These creatures repaired themselves at a rate that surpassed Adam's Children.

Keel is taking everything he can… can't let him… I have to… I know what I have to do, the Broken Man thought.

The MP Eva took off leaving the Geofront and Nerv behind with Unit 01 held prisoner.

"Goodbye… old friend…" the Broken Man whispered.

Deep within the core of Unit 01, the soul of the Broken Man sat and gathered what little strength he could. It was not a matter of power, this was skill-based. He had surpassed all the Eva Pilots years ago, surpassing even his own mother.

The Entry Plug of Eva Unit 01 was ejected. The metal tube released from the spine of the great titan with a silent hiss… falling below. The MP Eva flew onward seemingly unaware of the implications.

---

Down below.

The soldiers drove their truck carefully, guns at the ready. Two men that had managed to escape the massacre of the JSSDF surface forces. They had retreated when their commander had ordered them to, knowing just as 'the Boss' had, that the battle had been hopeless. 15 new and white Evangelion Units had utterly decimated the military defenses, scattering survivors in all directions.

Now, they had witnessed the scene above. They had watched two Evangelion Units, one mangled and deformed with missing arms, and another pale and white, hovering above before flying off.

The soldiers had watched as the Entry Plug of one of the Eva Units had been ejected and fell to the earth.

"Our orders stand. High priority targets," one soldier had said to the other. The driver had nodded, nervous hands taking the steering wheel and putting the truck into drive.

The soldiers approached the fallen Entry Plug and the crater it had formed slowly, the truck shaking lightly in the rough terrain. They radioed in to report their findings and found the connection troubled but audible.

"New orders: I want that prisoner taken alive," Lieutenant Colonel Hashi responded. The men were surprised when they found themselves talking directly to the battalion commander.

"Sir?"

"There's too much bullshit going on. I want answers. Take the pilot alive. We're sending you the coordinates of the Mobile Command Center," Hashi ordered.

"Yes sir!"

The comm line went dead. The soldiers exchanged glances and slowly stopped the truck a few feet before the crater.

Disembarking with their rifles, the pair descended into the crater and approached the doors to the Entry Plug silently. Their breathing the only sound that filled the air.

Eva Unit 01 was inscribed upon the sealed doors to the metal tube.

One soldier raised his rifle whilst the other covered him from behind. The man raised a fist and banged on the bay doors loudly. "Come out with your hands raised!"

They waited. Silence was their answer.

It was time to do this the hard way. The Point Man pulled the hatch on the bay doors and they slid open with a hiss of compressed air.

The Entry Plug opened, and a flash of purple light blinded the soldiers.

"Come quietly! We-" the Point Man tried to shout.

The soldier was struck by something his partner couldn't see and then the man was sent flying back several feet into the air. The Point Man landed with a hefty thud outside the crater and didn't move.

The other remaining soldier stumbled back rifle raised. Orders forgotten as he fired his rifle into the entrance of the Entry Plug.

BANG.
BANG.
BANG.

The chorus of bullets rang out and the purple light flashed again from inside the Entry Plug. A figure emerged carrying the light with them, walking forward as a luminescent shield absorbed the gunfire.

CLICK.

The soldier had run out of bullets. He stumbled backward beginning to reload, ejecting the current clip and reaching for another.

The last thing he saw was the figure rushing towards him… an old man with mix colored eyes. Then the light, the shield, struck him and he was sent flying too.

…

The Broken Man wheezed out in the open air that was the wastelands outside Nerv. The grounds of the Geofront.

His lungs shook, his skin paled, his muscles ached, and his bones cried out. He took deep breaths wheezing the oxygen in and out of his lungs and getting them used to it again. Years of not having his original body had taken its toll.

Nearby, the Point Man from before groaned and coughed from where he lay. Injured but alive.

The Broken Man glanced at the other soldier and found the man unconscious, having slammed into a wall of the crater.

"Stay down. I only need your truck."

He spoke the words and found that they burned his tongue and caused the gums of his teeth to shudder. His voice came out rough and haggard. Vocal cords that had not been used in over five years.

The old man released the AT Field and hunched low in agony. He found himself bombarded with the overstimulated senses that came flooding onto him. It was painful, moving so quickly after returning. He almost fell to his knees but gritted his teeth and stayed on his feet. His clothes he had managed to bring back with him, a collection of ragged battered scraps.

Lilith... I couldn't save you… I failed again.

That realization struck him harder than any blow. Another mountain of failures to shoulder. First Rei, and then Lilith too. Their weight was crushing. There had to be more, he was still alive, still on the board, and that meant there were moves he could still make.

He hissed in pain and gritted his teeth. What remained of his human body cried out from his exertions. The Angel flesh within him held steady, a cold numb thing with little feeling.

Need to keep going. Move, Old Man. Regroup. Adapt. Maneuver the board, always… he thought.

The Broken Man took a pistol from the unconscious soldier nearby as well as two reloads, then he climbed out of the crater and took the truck. His legs screamed at him the entire way.

He found the keys inside and restarted the vehicle. The truck came to life with a low rumble. A military comm unit was inside as well. A series of coordinates flashed across the tiny device's screen.

They wanted to take me alive. Seems the Boss wants answers. He always suspected something.

The truck reversed and began pulling away, leaving the Entry Plug and its crater behind in the distance.

He reached out calling for his Other. He needed more answers.

Boy… boy… can you hear me?

There was no response. Nothing. He reached out harder and felt a dim presence, alive, but unconscious. No… not just unconscious but drugged. He could feel it even from afar, he couldn't take control of the boy's body even if he'd had his old strength.

The Old Man was on his own.

He drove off heading for the ruins of Nerv itself. He re-arranged his plans. He needed a tool to stop the fighting and give him the advantage.

---

Nerv.
During the flash-forward from Wrath Part 1.

Ritsuko woke in the hallway with blood sliding down her face. She shakily got to her legs in the dimly lit corridor. The entire building was in ruin. Torn apart from within.

She wandered the wreckage and found a gun as she searched for Misato. Upon finding her friend, she had had to help the woman get out from underneath a slap of concrete.

Thankfully, they had both survived the incident. Both covered in dirt, ash, and blood from their minor wounds.

Together, the two women had tried to make their way forward and instead found their path blocked by a gaping hole in the compound itself. A massive void of destroyed hallways and entire floors that split Nerv in two. A tunnel that ran from the bottom-most prison and up into the harsh skies above.

"Lilith," Ritsuko had croaked. A mad little whisper that sent chills down her spine. The realization struck her, and her knees almost lost their strength.

Their only weapon, a stolen pistol, nearly fell from her grasp but Misato reached out and steadied her. The old friends exchanged worried looks. What were they going to do? What had happened? Was the fighting still going on? Where was Shinji?

FLAK.

FLAK.

Their musings were cut short as the sound of distant gunfire echoed through the wreckage. Shouting and more bullets responded in kind elsewhere.

"The fighting isn't over. We can't stay here. Give me that," Misato said, blinking rapidly. The early stages of shock were pushed away, old reflexes and training kicked in.

Ritsuko handed her the pistol.

We need… we need to stop the fighting…

Together, the two limped back the way they came. Stranded in a compound torn asunder and still locked in a war zone.

---

They wandered for what seemed like hours. Moving quietly through the wreckage.

"What about Shinji? Still no answer?" Misato asked as they sneaked past war-torn and crumbling halls, former labs, and office space.

The boy had had another phone, a burner. Given to him by Kaji. One that had been Ritsuko's link to him. The plan had been for him to reach out after having saved Rei and stopping his father.

"The lines aren't working. I think it's the entire city. The explosion… or whatever happened in the sky… I think it brought all the phones down," Ritsuko whispered.

"And the comms?" Misato whispered back.

"… look at what just happened to Nerv. All our comms are down too. At this point, only the JSSDF can communicate with each other," Ritsuko whispered. She sighed, exhausted, and weary from the day's ordeals.

The scientist slumped against a bullet-ridden and blackened wall. She rested her eyes and blinked noticing that the path to a nearby stairwell was completely gone. In its place was a heap of shattered steel and concrete.

Just great… how the hell do we get out of here?

"Hey. We gotta keep moving. You have a plan, right?" Misato asked. Her friend crouched low beside her, gun in hand, and eyes scanning the area for movement.

"… I don't know. It wasn't supposed to be this way," Ritsuko whispered.

"Nothing ever goes the way it's supposed to. Plans are useless. It's the planning that counts," Misato whispered. A brief flash of her old self coming back in the horror that was their current reality.

Ritsuko smiled weakly at her.

"That's why you're the Captain, and I'm just the scientist," Ritsuko said weakly.

Distant gunfire sounded off followed by a harsh thud and bang of concrete slamming into the floor. It stole the brief levity from the room.

"Idiots are still fighting. They don't know anything else," Misato cursed under her breath.

Ritsuko mulled that over. "Kaji," she said finally.

Misato looked back at her surprised. "Kaji?"

Ritsuko nodded. "He's coming back for us. But whatever happened with Lilith… that changed things. Maybe we can… I don't know… get outside and find a way to contact him."

"If the JSSDF don't stop us first," Misato said sounding doubtful.

Ritsuko rose, pulling her aching and bruised body from the wall she'd been leaning on. She gave her longtime friend a wearied look and shook her head. There had to be more that they could do. More than wander around in dimly lit floors that were barely standing, avoiding the small pockets of fighting that were still ongoing.

What could we do? How can we stop the fighting?

"… There's communication equipment in the hangar? A direct line to the military. The old command center, right?" Misato whispered suddenly.

Ritsuko nodded slowly. The Angel War had required a direct line of communication between Nerv and the military. A connection that had been deactivated when the assault had been launched.

"If it's still there, maybe we can reach out to the JSSDF. Negotiate a ceasefire. Get our forces to stop killing each other and help any survivors," Misato whispered.

Ritsuko watched as the wheels turned in the woman's head. Even now, Captain Katsuragi was a planner. Working with what she had and finding choices amid that chaos.

"… they might not listen. But we have to try," Ritsuko said slowly.

...

They began to move. Their time for rest was over. They recognized some of the remaining walls and signs, finding themselves maneuvering through the wreckage. They climbed barely surviving stairs and squeezed through gaping holes along the walls.

"Stop," Misato hissed suddenly.

They had climbed onto a new floor and found it mostly intact. A cluster of standing halls, rooms, and blinking lights left them in an eerie quiet zone at the edge of the fighting.

They heard footsteps nearby coming from up ahead. Ritsuko began to shake, she held her breath and Misato tightened the grip on their only gun. Together, they crept backward as the footsteps grew closer.

Ritsuko and Misato sneaked around them, stepping carefully and going around a hall and leaving the newcomer to head in the other direction.

A nearly silent sigh of relief escaped their lips, but then the sound came.

Crack.

A single shard of broken glass shattered as Ritsuko's shoe crushed it to pieces. A fragment from a firefight during the Second Wave. The disturbance froze the world for a single second before the women acted. There was no time to cast blame or regret, they simply moved.

I'm sorry, Ritsuko thought. Unable to give voice to her mistake. She had undergone training but she was no soldier. She had no experience in the ways of war or stealth. She had been a scientist, her battles had been ones of information analysis and experimentation.

She grimaced as they put more distance between them and the newcomer that they had avoided, sneaking past with Misato in the lead as they moved.

They turned around the corner and Misato froze, a quiet gasp escaping her throat. A lone surviving JSSDF soldier emerged into their view. A bloodied and wounded man moving through the floor with a stealth they had lacked.

BANG.

The shot came instinctively as Misato reacted and pulled the trigger. The shot, rushed and frenzied, came wild and flew inches past the soldier's head. The man was already moving, taking cover, and raising his rifle.

"Run-" Misato tried to shout. Ritsuko already moving back the way they had come.

BANG.

BANG.

BANG.

The chorus of gunfire rang out and drowned out their cries. Pistol vs rifle. Whatever else Misato had tried to say died in her throat as Ritsuko ran.

She pleaded and pleaded with the universe, with whatever higher power may have existed in the world, that her friend was at her side. She found a door and rushed through it without knowing where it led. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Her mind was racing with thoughts moving multiples times their normal speed.

Was Misato with her? She had been right behind her… hadn't she? Had the soldier followed them? Did the man recognize Misato and her as high priority targets? Was there another soldier out there? The one they had sneaked past before?

All those rush thoughts came to a dead end as Ritsuko realized where she was. She had found the employee lounge for the researchers and staff on this floor. A small space with a coffee pot, a table here and there with chairs, a tv, and a semi-stocked fridge. One way in and one way out.

Ritsuko jolted as she heard a rifle being reloaded just outside. She panicked and reached for the glass coffee pot filled with stale and several hours old coffee.

Footsteps thundered nearby. Familiar in their own way. The one she had sneaked past before? The running was loud and not even trying for stealth.

BANG.

BANG.

BANG.

BANG.

The rifle rang out. Ritsuko's eyes widened as the muzzle flashes danced across the edges of the door.

"What the-" a male voice cried out. The soldier's?

Ritsuko flinched as another flash of light dominated the hall just outside the employee lounge. Her view restricted to the slits from the door.

THUD.

Something slammed into a wall. Soft gurgling sounds followed.

Ritsuko's lips twitched. Her heart was still pounding in her chest with only a coffee pot for a weapon. Footsteps were approaching the door. She raised the glass in her hands feebly. Her only play being to throw and then rush outside. Find a way to escape.

Aim for the eyes. Glass... aim for the eyes!

The door opened slowly and Ritsuko raised her only weapon… then stopped dead in her tracks.

A walking scarecrow of an old man stood in the doorway. He was thin, almost gaunt, dressed in ragged aged clothes that had withered to a harsh brown. A mop of greying hair framed a mixed colored pair of hollow empty eyes. One red and one normal. Hard lines ran along his face, signs of a difficult and turbulent life.

"Ritsuko. Where is Misato? I heard her."

She flinched back, coffee pot falling from her grasp. She realized what was happening and managed to catch it before it fell. The world had just stopped making sense.

How? How could he be here? Was this another illusion of her mind? A projection? No… that had been a one-time thing and it had cost the Shinji(s) to do it. To show her the truth and her old fate. This, whatever this was, was 'real'. Here and now. Physical.

The Broken Man was in front of her and he touched her. He grabbed her hands gently, prying the coffee pot away and setting it down as he spoke.

"Misato. Where is she? She told you to run," he said gently. The voice that emerged was quiet and low, rough as though the vocal cords strained from the movement.

"… the soldier found us… we ran… I ran… and she… Misato tried to fight," Ritsuko stammered. The realization dawned on her and she nearly broke down. She had been alone hiding in the employee lounge. She had left her friend behind.

"Where? Show me," was all the Broken Man said.

Ritsuko nodded and let the Broken Man take her outside into the hall again. She glanced to the side and spotted the wounded soldier from before. The rifle lay cut in two, rendered useless. The man himself was sprawled on the floor, unconscious… with minor cracks in the wall above him.

"He'll live."

Ritsuko found it hard to care. She focused and fought to pull herself back together, letting her companion take the lead as she retraced her footsteps. The sight that found them stole the breath from her lungs.

Misato Katsuragi lay where she had fallen. Multiple bullets having slammed into her torso and torn through her clothes and skin. Fresh blood stained her shirt. Her eyes were opened, staring ahead lifelessly.

Ritsuko felt numb. She lost all sense of awareness as a haze rushed over her. This couldn't be happening... her friend... her old roommate... it just couldn't be. The Broken Man scooped an object from the floor and thrust it into her hands.

"Cover me!" The Broken Man barked at her, a haggard rasp.

"What-"

"Cover me!"

Ritsuko glanced down at the new object in her hands. It was a gun, Misato's gun. She blinked forcing herself back into the world. She couldn't allow herself to freeze like this again and again. She grasped the gun in a two-handed grip.

The Broken Man had Misato's limp body in his arms and she followed him as they returned to the employee lounge. Once there, Ritsuko closed the door and guarded it with the gun raised. She breathed, trying to calm herself.

She heard the Broken Man take a deep breath, grunting from the effort as he placed the body on the floor. She glanced back and witnessed the shadows crawling alongside the old man's skin.

…

"Cover the door," he said.

Ritsuko blinked but turned back to her guard role. Gun at the ready for any intruders.

The Broken Man returned his attention to the limp figure before him. Misato was bleeding out, the blood beginning to pool, the entry wounds shining in the dim light of the room.

He let the shadows engulf him, he embraced the powers given to him by his teacher so long ago. His skin roared its protest. He was burning and he didn't care.

Not again… not again, he thought.

He placed his hands atop her wounds. The shadows spread from himself to her and seeped past the blood to the torn organs and muscle. He closed his eyes and it was like another universe of information was open to him.

The complexity of the human body was enormous. He peered through the information as a programmer studies lines of code. He could see every single cell in her body, could see the biological routines being run, could see her body fighting and screaming as it began to fail. Loss of blood, oxygen reaching dangerously low levels, muscle and tissue damage, the brain pleading for assistance to maintain itself.

He witnessed her soul fading away.

No.

The Broken Man reached in and pushed power into the cells. He gave them strength and commanded them to repair. It was difficult. A skill that he had never fully mastered, one that he doubted any human could. He focused on closing the wounds, on stabilizing the internal organs. He ignored the bones, he didn't have time. Heart, lungs, brain. That was his priority.

She was slipping away.

"Misato," he croaked.

He was a boy again. The memories came flooding back to him, He re-lived it all in the blink of an eye. Misato was dragging him through Nerv's underground. She was wounded, with a bullet in her back.

"Shinji. Listen to me. From now on, you're on your own. You'll have to make your own decisions. No one can do it for you."

He had refused. He'd been a boy drowning in self-hatred. He had argued feebly, telling her that he was worthless. That he had done something terrible to Asuka. That he had killed Kaworu.

She had slapped him. Telling him that she wasn't going to feel sorry for him anymore. That crying didn't solve anything. That he still had choices to make. That they were his and that meant he still had options. She had given him a resolve to try.

She had kissed him. Anything to motivate him to 'act', to pilot and to try no matter the odds.

That was the last time he had seen her. A final glimpse just as the bay doors closed. And then he had been a lone child in the aftermath of his Third Impact. The last human on earth.

Hmmmm hmmm.

The Broken Man winced at the sound. A soft humming, a lovely tune, played in his mind's ear as he poured power into Misato's wounds.

The Woman in the Dark was behind him. Not physically. It was in his mind, at least he thought it was. He didn't know what she was. A memory? A remnant? Whatever was left of his wife and his teacher inside of him? He doubted he would ever know.

I'm not as good as you… the old man thought bitterly. Misato was slipping away from him. He was failing again. Another ghost that would haunt him doubly so. He felt his fingers slip as the inevitable came. She was dying again, wasn't there anything he could do right? The boy... oh, the boy...

He felt a warm hand on his shoulder. The familiar touch of a friend long since past. A teacher. 'She' whatever she was, she sang to him. Humming softly. A glimmer of light amid his harsh and cruel reality.

No. I'm not that little kid anymore. I still have a choice. To try. That's what my Misato tried to teach me so long ago. To try.

And so he tried, he fought to keep Misato in the land of the living. He held her there at the edge of death. He closed the gaps in her flesh, sealing them as best he could, and maintained her internal organs. The damage to her torso couldn't be healed completely, not by him, but it didn't need to be. She would live.

He opened his eyes and the shadows faded from his body. The Woman in the Dark was gone. He looked for her briefly, but she was nowhere to be found. Had it all been in his head? Ritsuko made no mention of it.

"You're done? Is… is she?" Ritsuko stammered from the doorway, gun still raised.

The Broken Man breathed in deep, relishing the relief for what little it was. He managed to not fail at least once.

"She will live. But she needs a real doctor. Proper treatment. She may never be the same," he answered truthfully.

Ritsuko paused at that, finding no words.

The Broken Man's face lightened briefly as Misato breathed weakly. Alive, but unconscious. The blood had stopped for now. The wounds were closed but she would need surgery as soon as possible.

Ritsuko turned to face him, relieved beyond words, but she faltered. She stared at him, a flash of concern emerging on her battered face.

"You're burning," she said in a low voice.

The Broken Man looked down and found that his hands were shaking. Fingers twitched as the skin around them took on a reddish tint. The pain was so familiar to him now that he barely even noticed it anymore. It rippled across his body, stretching from head to toe, a sharp burn that was already starting to fade.

"It's the blow-back effect… that's why you needed the Eva… to protect your original body," Ritsuko said slowly. Even now, her scientific mind put the pieces together.

"And now it's gone. We need to keep moving."

"But you-"

"I'll live. Don't worry about me," he said flatly. He opened and closed his fist, and his nerves calmed. The human body sometimes reacted to pain of its own accord, but it didn't slow him down.

He rose, lifting Misato's body with him carefully as he did so. Ritsuko moved to help him, together they shouldered her weight. The scientist observed the bloodied clothes with a detached expression, a forced outlook that the world demanded of her.

"What were you planning to do?" he asked.

Ritsuko watched her friend's bloodied face for a long moment before she answered him. She looked up at him saying, "we were heading for the hangar. Wanted to reactivate the direct line to the JSSDF and negotiate a surrender or a ceasefire."

He grunted. "Good plan. Might not have worked. My way will. Let's go."

Ritsuko blinked at him. He carefully handed Misato over to her and took the gun himself. It would be hard, but they couldn't leave Misato on her own.

The Broken Man took the lead, his own gun and his shield at the ready. It would have to be him, he could lead them through to the hangar. They would have to move slowly, and Ritsuko would have trouble carrying the comatose body.

He felt Ritsuko's eyes on him as they departed. Countless questions left in the air with no time for them.

---

Later.

The journey to the hangar had been difficult. The Broken Man had had to protect them twice from distant gunfire and more than once they'd simply been able to move past the small pockets of fighting amid the ruins of Nerv.

It was such pointless violence. The leftover squabbles of SEELE's pawns and Gendo's canon-fodder.

By the time they had reached the hangar, having navigated the maze of destroyed paths and barely standing infrastructure, Ritsuko was near collapse from exhaustion. Yet the scientist carried onward, fighting for the life of herself and her friend.

"… the command center… it's gone…" Ritsuko panted as they emerged onto the scene. Misato's wounded body was still slung over her shoulder, with the scientist forced to drag her along under the protection of her companion.

Lilith's rising had torn the compound asunder. Breaking through multiple floors and destroying countless rooms and infrastructure. The damage had been more than the simple path skyward, the wreckage had spread out like a disease and sent ripples of destruction in all directions. The hangar itself was left with scars. In place of the command centers for both the Eva Teams as well as the Director, were ruins of the platforms. Even the railings were gone, shattered by the sheer force of the Second Angel rushing to her freedom.

The Broken Man turned to the remaining launchpads. Eva Units 00 and 03 were there. The machines had fallen from their pads. The titans of human engineering lay intact but slumped to the remaining halls of the enormous chamber. The bay doors above the launchpads littered the ground, having fallen some time ago.

He noticed the leftovers of the JSSDF's fortifications as well. The turret gun that he had disabled.

"We don't need the command center. I know where the Battalion Commander is."

Ritsuko turned to look at him, sweat staining her face as she struggled to hold Misato up. Her eyes widened as he started moving.

The Broken Man raised his hands up as if in prayer. He reached out with the Angel senses and felt the simple presence of the Evangelion Unit. They were not complete life-forms, but rather a blend of machine and 'almost' life. They ran on little more than instinct without a pilot to guide them. And that was how Nerv wanted them.

Hear me. Wake up. - He called to Unit 00.

The Evangelion stirred. The white titan shifting slowly as if breathing from within its armored shell. It rose, moving slowly as if coming to life for the first time. A newborn that had only ever dreamed, for it knew nothing else.

Ritsuko gasped as Unit 00 rumbled to life. The near-living machine towered over them. Its massive body was left almost unscathed from all the fighting. It lashed out, flaying wildly and screamed in an ear-ringing shout.

BANG.

The Evangelion slammed a fist into the wall behind it as it yelled. Thunderous roars of metal screeched and echoed across the hangar, thick steel dented, and the entire building shook from yet another impact.

Unit 00 reacted poorly to waking. It clutched at its head and was on verge of going berserk. The hangar shook again as the Evangelion lumbered confused and scared. New dents burst forth on the chamber floors as the marvel of engineering stumbled over itself dangerously. It could bring the entire floor down on them if left unchecked, it could crush them like a bug, step on them. They were at the mercy of an artificial imitation of life that barely had a consciousness.

Stop. I'm a friend. Friend. - The Broken Man called to it. Ritsuko stumbled back behind him, terrified at the sight of the mad titan.

He brought forth thoughts of his wife and let them fill his mind, letting it project across the Angel network to the awakened Eva Unit before him. Rei.

Unit 00 stopped. It calmed. It did not understand much, barely alive itself, but it remembered the pilots. It remembered and it stilled. The artificial Angel lowered itself to a sitting position and craned its neck slowly.

Thank you. Friend. - The Broken Man called.

With a hiss of compressed air, the Entry Plug was released and the metal tube descended.

"… amazing," Ritsuko gasped. She had trembled behind him, Misato held firmly, as the Eva had almost lost control.

Misato breathed weakly, still unconscious but desperately needing a doctor. Ritsuko frowned heavily at the near corpse slung over her shoulder.

"We're working on it. Just hang on," Ritsuko whispered concernedly to her friend.

The Broken Man turned to them. He saved Misato, but she wasn't cleared just yet. They needed to end this stupid fighting and get help.

"Come with me," he said.

Ritsuko blinked back at him, confused.

"I'm asking you to trust me. What we're about to do is very dangerous. I will need your help. You can patch the comm systems and talk to the remnants of Nerv. I will handle the rest," he explained.

He told her the plan and Ritsuko nodded slowly. They had no other choice. He reached out to help her, and together they loaded Misato's wounded body into the Entry Plug, before climbing in themselves.

It was cramped with the three of them inside. Modern Entry Plugs hadn't been designed for adults, let alone three of them. The Broken Man found the controls familiar and natural, he entered the commands and piloted Unit 00.

---

The surface.

The world shook as a white figure leaped from the underground. The newcomer emerged from a launchpad of Nerv's hangar and landed onto the wastelands that were the surface. The aftermath of all three waves of SEELE's assault.

JSSDF vehicles and equipment lay scattered across the scorched and crater filled lands. Ruins of aircraft, tanks, trucks, and human bodies.

Among the wreckage were several rotting corpses of the Mass Production Evangelion Units. SEELE's monsters left where they had fallen in battle.

Eva Unit 00 surveyed the lands around them. Searching for what it needed.

...

"Only have five minutes of emergency power. Need to be quick," Ritsuko whispered to him in the Entry Plug.

Misato lay propped up against them, they'd done their best to make her comfortable in the cramped space of the cockpit. She almost stirred, breathing weakly but lost to the world.

The Broken Man nodded from within the seat of the cockpit. He clasped the controls in his hand and reached out once more, speaking to the Eva itself. Telling the almost living machine that it was about to get an upgrade. There was no more reason to hold back, the time for secrets had ended, and so he maneuvered the board with every tool he could reach.

..

Eva Unit 00 turned the corpses of the MP Evas over, searching the wounds to discover how they had died. The Broken Man found what he was looking for. A corpse that had been killed with a Spear of Longinus thrust. An S2 engine that was still intact.

CRUNCH.

Unit 00 tore the pale corpse apart as it reached a single hand inside. Nerv's Eva Unit grasped the S2 engine from SEELE's monster and tore it from its vessel.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh – Unit 00 growled as it opened its mouth slowly. The plate armor broke, shattering with a shriek of metal as its mouth was revealed.

With a single swallow, the S2 engine was stolen from SEELE. The Broken Man braced himself, fighting to control the Eva as it roared. Light flashed through the artificial Angel's flesh, and it found itself changed. No longer bound by a power cable. An unlimited source of energy for itself.

---

Miles away.
JSSDF Mobile Command Center.

"Sir!" a voice stammered suddenly.

Lieutenant Colonel Hashi, known by his men as 'the Boss', looked up from his seat. He had sat there after more than an hour of trying to coordinate with the survivors of the ground forces. Those who had managed to escape the wrath of 15 new and foreign Eva Units. The men still fighting within Nerv, he had no assistance to give.

Whatever reinforcements the General had promised him were nowhere to be seen. He'd lost so many men, KIA and MIA, and no Intel had come forth about the Angel in the sky… the explosion. He couldn't even imagine what the civilians must feel like.

"Yes, what is it, soldier?"

The one who had spoken was a communications officer. Young but promoted fast, experienced enough to serve directly with him. The others in the room turned to listen. Hashi hadn't bothered trying to keep secrets now, with everything that had happened, he wanted all his men to know.

"Sir… there are reports from our scouts… from soldiers who escaped the massacre of the new Eva Units… the ones who are trying to get back…" the man was stammering.

Hashi rose to his feet. The communications officer was terrified, losing control of himself.

"Yes, yes. What is it? Have the High Priority targets been eliminated? What do the reports say?" he asked. The assault was still ongoing, the General's last orders were still in effect.

"Sir… another Eva Unit has been deployed."

The room grew silent. More than a dozen military officers and command staff, technicians, and communication experts froze.

Hashi felt a stone grow in his chest. A cold thing that nearly broke his composure.

"Explain," Hashi ordered.

The communication officer pointed to his screen where pictures had been uploaded by scouts on foot. A tall, white Evangelion without a power cord was on the move. Not one of the strange foreign builds, but one of Nerv's. Eva Unit 00.

It… the Eva is heading for us… Hashi realized. He steeled himself up and began giving orders to the officers. Orders that would spread to the remaining men on the surface and those continuing the assault.

"Halt the re-grouping process. Send any scouts or stranded forces away from us. Startup the engine, we're retreating further back. And someone get me a line to the General. I don't care how many times it takes. We need reinforcements!"

…

The JSSDF Mobile Command Center, a fortified vehicle designed for in-field deployment, came to life and began moving. Distantly, footsteps thundered across the wastelands of the Geofront.

Evangelion Unit 00 emerged from the distance. A titan running at frightening speeds and coming directly for the JSSDF's officers and Battalion Commander.

THUD.

THUD.

THUD.

A rumble of gargantuan footsteps that shook the ground as the JSSDF tried to escape. It was hopeless. A toy racing against a giant.

Hashi cursed from inside the mobile command center. Some of his men clutched at their guns uselessly. They had weapons, but none that could stop an Evangelion head-on.

It's only supposed to have 5 minutes of power!

The Mobile Command Center's turret fired off round after round as it tried to speed away. The bullets slammed harmlessly into the Eva's plate-armor. It was a futile effort and everyone knew it.

A single foot came crashing down in front of them and the military vehicle swerved. The Eva had caught up to them.

"… It's been an honor," Hashi said to his men. He watched the view screens of the command center as a massive hand came reaching for them. The JSSDF braced themselves. Death did not come.

The Eva grasped the JSSDF Mobile Command Center within its palm, lifting it like it was little more than a toy. Inside, the men grunted and almost fell as their world shook. Then… nothing. They were still alive. Eva Unit 00 hadn't killed them. It hadn't crushed them into dust. It simply held them within its hands.

A ringing sound blared, loud as a trumpet. The communications officer, shaking as he did so, pointed to the military comm unit at his desk. The sound went on and on, everyone was too stunned to act until finally Hashi stepped forward and answered the call.

"Who the hell is this?" he asked.

"The Eva Pilot who chose not to kill you."

The voice on the other end of the line was rough and hoarse, vocal cords that hadn't been worked in some time. And something more, the voice of an older man. Impossible. Adults couldn't pilot an Eva Unit.

"… How did you get this comm unit?" Hashi asked, doing his best to retain his composure.

"I took it from your men. They tried to take me prisoner. But they're alive. I only needed their truck and a way to talk to you."

It was him! The reports of an Entry Plug falling from the sky. The men I told to investigate and imprison the pilot…

"… why are we speaking?" Hashi said. His dignity was gone, held at the mercy of the Eva Unit, but he owed it to himself and his men to remain calm.

"Because this fighting is pointless. You know that you don't have the full story. 15 new and foreign Eva Units. The Angel in the sky. The denial of nuclear weaponry. And the so-called 'reinforcements' from the General."

"… why are we speaking?" Hashi repeated again, keeping his voice level. The questions ate at him. He knew there were secrets being kept. Too many unknowns.

"Because I want to make a deal. A ceasefire. Call your men off. Stop the assault inside of Nerv."

Hashi almost laughed.

"In return for? I hope you know, my life isn't something I value highly. The Director of Nerv has been planning an Impact Event. Do you even know what Gendo Ikari was up to?"

"You really believe your mission is still valid? After all this? An Angel rose from inside of Nerv. Not a sample, but a fully-realized God-like entity. It warped reality around itself and darkened the skies. And it failed. The secrets add up, Hashi. You know there's more to this. More than what they're telling you."

How did he know my name?

Hashi scowled. He hated agreeing with the enemy.

"The General has given orders-"

"Your General has abandoned you. There are no reinforcements coming. There never was. You're expendable to him. He's just a pawn, and all of you were used. Deep down, you know it. You feel it in your bones."

Hashi's expression grew hard. He knew there was truth to this mysterious adult Eva Pilot and his words.

"You are suggesting that the General is being controlled. That someone is maneuvering things behind the scenes…" Hashi said slowly and carefully. Even he couldn't deny the reality of his situation. Held hostage by an Evangelion and his strange orders.

"Yes. Call off the assault. End the fighting. And I will give you the answers."

"How can I trust you?"

The danger was there. An Evangelion Unit was one of the most powerful weapons ever built. He had to consider the possibility that after ordering the ceasefire he and his officers would be murdered.

"Because I'm trusting you. I will work with you and order any surviving Nerv forces to stand down and surrender. We can work together to help the wounded and set up aid stations. I will personally surrender to you as well. The Eva Unit will stand down."

As the words left the comm unit, Hashi stumbled as the world began to move. The JSSDF Mobile Command Center was lowered to the ground once more. Gasps filled the room and people clutched the railings for support.

Eva Unit 00 stood towering over them. Waiting.

Hashi considered his options carefully. He made the call. With a gesture to his communication officer, the line was set up and the channel opened for all JSSDF personnel. The surviving ground forces, the scouts, and those still fighting within the ruins of Nerv itself.

"Attention. This is Battalion Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Hashi. I hereby order all units to stand down. I am calling a ceasefire. Disengage all combat and retreat to a safe location. Await further orders."

There was a pause on all the comm channels. Then, the confirmations came in. Dozens of squads and scattered soldiers reported in acknowledging the new orders.

Hashi turned the channel on his comm unit back to the private line with the adult Eva Pilot.

"It's done. I trust you were listening?"

"We were," a new voice called on the line. Hashi raised his eyebrow. A woman was with the newcomer inside the Eva.

"I need your communications officer to help patch me into Nerv's frequencies. We can use your system to broadcast, and I will order all remaining forces to surrender," the woman said.

"Who is that?" Hashi said.

"… Doctor Ritsuko Akagi," the woman answered.

A high priority target. The thought spread through the room. What in the world was going on?

The adult Eva Pilot returned to the comm channel and spoke. "We're surrendering. I have an injured woman with me. Can you get her treatment from your medics?"

Hashi narrowed his eyes. They had agreed to a ceasefire and he had new prisoners. He calmed himself. He needed answers, and those 'people' may be the only ones to give them. Best keep them alive.

"I will send for them. Exit the Eva," Hashi said.

The JSSDF slowly left their Mobile Command Center, filing out into the empty space that was the border zone in-between the Geofront and the outskirts of Tokyo-03.

Hashi watched with his own eyes as Eva Unit 00 stepped back giving them plenty of space, before kneeling down and craning its neck. With a hiss of compressed air, the Entry Plug was released. The metal tube descended to the ground and the bay doors opened.

Inside were 3 individuals. Two women and one man. One of the women was unconscious and badly hurt, covered in blood from gunshot wounds. She most likely wouldn't make it. It was a miracle she was even breathing. The other was Ritsuko Akagi herself, still dressed in her lab coat.

The scientist held out her hands peacefully. The man, the adult who piloted an Eva Unit, was old. He looked almost homeless, yet more withered somehow. A man with hollow empty eyes, scarred by the things he had seen. Hashi had seen the like before, broken men and women, haunted by war.

"Call your medics. She needs help," the man said to them. Soldiers circled around the deployed Entry Plug before them, their rifles lowered.

Hashi nodded and made the call for the medics. He watched as some of his men stepped forward and took the wounded woman from the Entry Plug gently. Their personal medics would see to her for now, they'd have to call a helicopter for medevac by the looks of it. The General may not have sent reinforcements, but the medical corps was always on standby. Fine, the first official start of rescue operations.

Misato Katsuragi… Hashi realized once he got a better look. Another high priority target. "See to it that she lives. Medevac her to a military hospital on high priority. I'll want to question her later," he called.

He turned back to the remaining prisoners.

Ritsuko stepped forward, her hands still raised in surrender. "Nerv's comm systems are down. I need you to help me broadcast to them," she said.

Hashi turned to the communication officer from before and gave the order. He gave the pair an escort just to be safe. He watched the pair disappear back into the command center.

Finally, the JSSDF Battalion Commander turned his attention to the Eva Pilot. To the old man sitting patiently in the cockpit of the Entry Plug as soldiers surrounded him. The man… he didn't seem fazed or scared at all. Mixed colored eyes stared straight ahead regardless of the soldiers around him.

"You kept your word," Hashi said.

"You kept yours," the Broken Man responded.

Hashi ordered the man to be taken into custody and the Eva Unit was left disabled. The Entry Plug held on the ground. The pilot was placed in handcuffs. Minutes passed, and another comm channel was opened and broadcast onto Nerv's frequencies.

"This is Ritsuko Akagi. Gendo Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki are currently missing in action. As Nerv's highest-ranking official remaining, I hereby order all security forces to stand down. Disengage any and all combat. You should have already noticed the JSSDF retreating. A ceasefire has been called. We will begin coordinating rescue and medical operations shortly."

It was done. The senseless violence brought forth by the pawns of SEELE and Nerv had been called off.

---

Hours later.

"You aren't giving me a lot of answers."

"Because I don't have all of them."

"And you're still holding back. Don't deny it. Who the hell are you, and how can you pilot an Evangelion?"

"It doesn't matter. Consider me a friend. Everything else is true. That should be enough."

"True? What you say is borderline ludicrous?! What proof do you have? All I have is your word on these claims?"

They were sitting outside the ruins of Nerv. A series of tents had been set up as a base of operation for the ongoing rescue attempts. The JSSDF forces, those who had survived the MP Evas, as well as those who had retreated from Nerv's underground, had gone to work clearing space and making room. Nerv's employees, everyone from technicians and general staff, to security forces, had surrendered and slowly come out leaving the wreckage behind.

Tensions were high as men and women who had tried to kill each other hours before, worked together to clear up space for the rescue operation, and tend to the wounded. Nerv's employees had been declared prisoners but were given a promise of safety by the Battalion Commander himself. The entire camp was cast under a gloomy and ominous glow, as the sky overhead was still grey with bits of red bleeding in.

Hashi himself sat in the center of a sea of military tents with his two prisoners. All in all, less than half of his total forces had survived the assault on Nerv.

"We've told you all we can. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is. We were all used," Ritsuko said.

The Broken Man glanced her way, he had been as cold and still as a statue until speaking, and she barely talked as well. She looked exhausted, with her face and lab coat covered in dirt and blood. Blood that was hers as well as her oldest friend's.

Hashi scoffed saying, "a shadowy organization with worldwide reach planned the Angel War? That they have connections to the UN and have corrupted the General? Big claims."

"SEELE. They're real. Who else could manufacture 15 Evangelion Units? The funding alone would bankrupt any single nation. Honestly, they probably spent almost everything they had to do it," Ritsuko answered.

"You're old enough to have lived through the Second Impact. You remember it, don't you? Adam's Wrath upon mankind. That was the start of the Angel War, and SEELE fired the first shot. It was all for their gain. They wanted to study the Angels and learn the secrets of immortality. Director Ikari was in on it, but he turned against his masters. They fought and this was the result."

The Broken Man watched as Hashi considered that. The Battalion Commander paced the field quietly, eyes darting to the ruins of Nerv, to the kneeling figure of Eva Unit 00 towering over them in the distance, to the outskirts of Tokyo-03 far away. There had been little reports about the civilian side of things.

"Hmm. We lost contact with the black ops units. Deployed alongside us with a mission of their own," Hashi murmured to himself.

The Lieutenant Colonel mulled it over, his prisoners watching as he paced back and forth inspecting the aftermath of the failed assault.

"… I believe that we witnessed Adam rise again this day. And his sister too. I saw that. My scouts took pictures. I believe you there, but the rest… without proof your claims are dangerous," Hashi said at last.

"If we had had proof we wouldn't have had to work underneath Director Ikari's nose. We wouldn't have had to wait until they made their move. Look at the corpses," Ritsuko said haggardly. She pointed to one of the pale white mountains of flesh that was a fallen MP Eva.

Everyone, JSSDF, and Nerv alike, avoided and kept a clear distance from the bodies of the monstrous creatures. They lay unmoving, with their skin beginning to rot, ghostly scars from a battle only hours old.

"This was their move. There was no going back from here on out. No more secrets. It's too big to hide this time, and they didn't care anymore. They're ready to leave this world behind," the Broken Man said.

A sound began to rumble overhead. Everyone stopped what they were doing. JSSDF and Nerv looked to the skies as a series of aircraft appeared. They flew in loose formation, some as small as a helicopter, others as larger as a transport ship. Medical planes and other government planes. A convoy of aircraft that streaked through the nightmarish red-grey skies.

The newcomers began landing, giving the sea of military tents a wide berth as the gathered mix of people watched anxiously.

A government helicopter large enough to transport a contingent of troops landed close by, and when the doors open a group of men in suits were revealed. One of them rose and immediately strode forward heading for Battalion Commander Hashi.

Ryoji Kaji approached, lit cigarette in his mouth, dressed in a standard suit, with a bulletproof vest covering his dress shirt and blazer, and a stern expression planted on his face. Behind the Japanese spy trailed two older men in suits.

"Director Ginoza," Hashi said in greeting. A surprised expression appeared on the military man's face, it wasn't every day that the leader of Japan's Intelligence Agency made a field appearance.

"Gratitude for calling the ceasefire. You saved me and my team quite a lot of work," Ginoza said calmly. He was an older man with plain features that could blend into any crowd, his composure was perfectly calm, unfazed in the slightest by the hellish imagery all around them.

Kaji spoke up, looking around the field and the gathered mix of Nerv and JSSDF. "Place looks like a war zone. Sorry about the wait, we had to coordinate and get enough medical supplies ready. We thought we might need military action to get you, idiots, to stop fighting, but then somehow you called a ceasefire. Glad you started using your brains."

Hashi narrowed his eyes at Kaji, having never met the man. He calmed himself, he needed more Intel and by the looks of things there had been developments.

"What of the civilians? How have they reacted?" Hashi asked. He turned to Director Ginoza for answers but was surprised when Kaji replied instead.

"Civilians are terrified. They don't know what's going on. A war started in the far outskirts of their city, multiple Evangelions were spotted fighting each other. An Angel rose, massive and larger than any other previously recorded, and there was an explosion in the sky. One that rippled for miles. Tokyo-03 got no warning, no sirens, no instructions to hide in the bunkers. Their windows got shattered by the blast, they lost access to the phone lines, and they still have no clue what happened. Just scared people, minor injuries, and a few packed hospitals. It's the same story for at least 5 other cities," Kaji said sternly.

Hashi stared at him. "Where is the leadership? The Mayor? The General? They should be assuming control. Working to bring the phone lines up again and assisting any overstretched hospitals?"

"We have news for you," Ginoza said suddenly. All eyes turned to the quiet man, he commanded a calm authority that made people listen. One does not become a leader of spies easily.

"The General has been arrested. As well as the Mayor of Tokyo-03 and the Vice-President of Japan. The first in a series of crackdowns on corruption and blackmail, as well as conspiracy and crimes against humanity," Ginoza explained. The man wasted no time getting to business. He spoke softly with a weight that carried without needing to raise his voice.

Hashi handled the news as well as could be expected. He frowned, deep in thought, before speaking. The man turned to his prisoners, to the Broken Man and Ritsuko Akagi.

Ritsuko nodded at him.

"It seems you have had some briefings of your own. I assure you, there is a vast conspiracy at work here. One that has been playing the long game. The JSSDF was used as a pawn. So was Nerv. My operatives have been working undercover for some time now," Ginoza said. The man glanced over to Ritsuko Akagi.

When Kaji met her eyes, he glanced at the old man at her side. Ritsuko widened her eyes and pleaded silently as she looked pointedly at her companion. 'It's him' she managed to mouth in little more than a whisper.

Kaji stepped forward saying, "I see you've taken them prisoner. We'd like them released now. We're going to need them back in the field for what comes next."

The Broken Man turned to Kaji and nodded his thanks. Director Ginoza spared no glances to any of them, cool and calm, letting Hashi and the others believe that this was all according to plan. The leader of Japan's spies trusted Kaji.

Hashi scowled saying, "so they were working for you? You knew this would happen? You let my men be used as pawns in some game?!"

Ginoza nodded without hesitation. "I could not know entirely. This operation has been a long time in the making, and for better or worse, everything is out in the open. SEELE has been foiled for now, but it's not over."

The third man, a government official of some kind, finally spoke.

"The military serves the civilian government. And despite this conspiracy of vipers within our own ranks, that fact holds true. Your ceasefire was a good start. But I was sent by the president to order an official end to all hostilities. These revelations have exposed corruption on an international scale, purges will be had. We need to lick our wounds, discover what happened, and plan our next move."

Hashi crossed his arms. The day's insanity simply would not end.

"We will be taking control of operations from here on out. Release my operatives and we can begin debriefings and planning," Ginoza said.

…

Helicopters and planes flew back and forth throughout the night, delivering much-needed supplies and manpower to the site. The wounded were being treated or else flown out elsewhere for surgery.

Government restructuring was ongoing, and the military was brought back under control. Investigations were underway. SEELE was officially recognized as a threat to the nation, with efforts underway to have them recognized by the global community. It was news that would shock the world, all revealed by the Japanese Ministry of the Interior and its Intelligence Agency led by Director Ginoza.

Nerv was fully searched for any leftover survivors and scoured for any piece of information.

Kozo Fuyutsuki was found exactly where Ritsuko had left him. Locked inside a test Entry Plug. The metal tube had kept the elderly man safe amid the chaos that was all 3 waves of the Assault on Nerv.

A sealed lab was discovered to have housed more than 100 non-essential Nerv employees. They were hurt, with the room having nearly collapsed in on itself during Lilith's rising. The JSSDF had been moments away from breaking inside when the ceasefire had been called. The people had lived.

Secrets that Nerv had kept hidden for years came to light. A prison at the very bottom of the compound was discovered. Hidden labs with strange experimental data, tissue growth chambers, and all manner of illegal research that had managed to survive the violence.

Finally, the former Director of Nerv himself was found. Gendo Ikari had been discovered in the ruins of the enormous prison at the bottom-most level. The medics were utterly astounded to find him alive. The man's internal organs were crushed, most of his bones were broken, and more amazingly still was that the man was awake.

Gendo had wheezed to the medics when they had found him, barely able to speak at all. He had pleaded with them to kill him. They hadn't expected him to live long, only to be surprised to find that his condition never deteriorated. It also refused to improve. Pain killers and anesthetic proved to be useless. As if the man's body had been programmed to ignore all such drugs.

---

"Let us in. We need to see him," Kaji told the guards.

The pair of JSSDF soldiers paused momentarily. The new hierarchy was still uncomfortable at times. Lieutenant Colonel Hashi still commanded his battalion, as well as the new soldiers brought in to help recently, but the military forces here as a whole now answered to the Government Official and Director Ginoza.

Kaji showed his badge and reminded them that Director Ginoza had given him full access to investigate any and all leads from the wreckage. That included people.

The guards moved aside, revealing the door to the private tent.

Kaji nodded and stepped forward with his companion following close behind. The Broken Man was under the spy's protection, and that was what allowed him to move unmolested through the operations.

"How long do you need?" Kaji asked once they were inside. The door closed softly behind them.

"Not long."

The tent was a private medical unit, complete with air conditioning, with a lone occupant lying atop a bed. A luxury that a prisoner of the man's importance was granted out of tradition, a private room with a hospital bed. The prisoner himself lay barely moving, alive, and awake despite the many wounds to his body. Doctors and medics alike had been amazed to find him alive and then terrified to find that their medicine had no effect whatsoever on him.

Gendo Ikari lay struggling to breathe, lungs never quite working, with broken bones and crushed organs. He should have died hours ago, with no hope of recovery even with the use of a medevac, but still, the man lingered in the land of the living. He was a pale shadow of his former self, a withered husk of what a human being was supposed to be. An emaciated prisoner handcuffed to their bed.

"Mr. Ikari. We meet again," Kaji said in greeting, his tone dry.

The disfigured husk opened beady red filled eyes and spared them the barest hint of a glance. Bloodstained bandages littered his frail body, and thin wrinkled lips parted.

"… uhhh… kill… me…" Gendo whispered. His voice was low and almost incoherent.

"Not sure that we can. But cheer up, this is far more than you deserve," Kaji said, before heading back to wait by the door. The spy had nothing else to say to his former employer.

The Broken Man observed the living corpse with cool detached eyes. Gendo wouldn't look at him, the man's eyes closed as tight as they could, silent agony radiating openly.

"The worlds have been cruel to me. Never would I have thought I would need to do this. To give you a gift. Life has a twisted sense of irony. Doesn't it?"

He stepped forward and towered over his 'father' in the private hospital bed, the makeshift prison cell for the former Director of Nerv. Gendo still wouldn't open his eyes.

The Broken Man breathed in deep and the Angel senses took over for him. His suspicions were proven correct, he saw dark shadows twisting and turning through the flesh before him. Invisible threads that coiled back and forth, flowing through the body and simply refusing to let the host pass on. Lilith had wanted Gendo to suffer for an eternity. No human medicine could help the man.

He placed a hand to his father's shoulder and hated himself for doing so. Shadows flowed through his own body and reached to clash with the pattern Lilith had branded upon Gendo. They conflicted, his own skin burned him as the blowback effect flared, and the Broken Man fought onward.

"Ahhhhh," Gendo gasped.

I can't break the spell. Even if I wanted to. Can only weaken it, he thought. He numbed the cells and slowly fought against the currents of shadow that was Lilith's sorcery.

"… thank… you… ah… god…" Gendo wheezed. The former Director of Nerv opened red bloodstained eyes at his savior and when the moment of realization came, he cowered in fear. If he could have run, Gendo would have. The frail body flinched weakly, barely able to move at all.

Mix colored and hollow empty eyes stared back unblinkingly.

"You know me, do you? How?"

Gendo whimpered and tried to turn, looking away.

The Broken Man lightened his grip on his father, letting his own magic fall from Lilith's spell. The Second Angel's power came back with a vengeance, the pain returning.

Gendo stirred, eyes moving rapidly as the agony flared. The man gagged unable to speak, unable to cry out.

"I can numb it to a degree. I can give you a measure of peace. Or I can leave you here, unable to die, in eternal suffering. The choice is yours," he said simply. There was no malice, not yet, he stated the facts.

Gendo nodded slowly. The Broken Man tightened his grip and loosened the hold Lilith's sorcery held.

"Talk."

"… I saw you… in the… paintings…" Gendo whimpered.

The Broken Man frowned. Thoughts came flooding to him. He reached into his mind, searching all his memories with an Angel precision, a recollection that was perfect.

"Shinji never drew me. Not once. Explain," he rasped.

Gendo blinked, red filled eyes disappeared momentarily. "Not… not the freak's… it was… Rei. She drew… she drew… paintings... impossible things… figures… moments… an older man with my resemblance…"

The Broken Man's eyes widened. The revelation astounded him. He should have known. That night, when Gendo had murdered her… she had told the boy that she would consider being an artist. He had thought she was lying, trying to cover up that she knew nothing… he had been wrong. He should have known!

His grip on Gendo's shoulder tightened as he balled his hand into a fist. Gendo flinched, bloodied face contorting in pain once more. He stopped himself, he needed answers.

"When? When did she start?" the Broken Man spat.

"I don't… know… I found… the paintings under her bed… she tried to hide them… from me. She drew the same… some of the same things that Shinji did… and different things… more... a couple in the woods… a Woman in the Dark… Angels… and you… it scared me. So I… I destroyed them…" Gendo wheezed weakly.

"Why?!"

Gendo flinched as if struck. "Because… because they were a distraction. I thought… I thought the Angels were affecting her… and I needed her to resist. She needed to focus on controlling them… making Adam and Lilith submit… to my will… Yui… she was supposed to bring her back… to me."

The Broken Man stared at his frail father lying before him. Eyes as cold as steel.

"You killed her that night. When you saw what she was doing," he said the words and knew it wasn't a question.

Gendo bobbed his head, the closest to a nod he could manage.

The Broken Man almost lost control. He almost let go and let Lilith's spell consume his father in agony again. He had to fight every bone in his body to keep the spell in its weakened state. There was more to the puzzle. He needed answers.

"Tell me what happened in Lilith's prison."

It took quite a while. Gendo croaked the answers slowly and reluctantly, enjoying the break from his pain, stretching the story out longer and longer. The Broken Man listened silently, letting his monster of a father tell him what had happened.

The boy had done it. Shinji had broken through to Rei Ayanami III. She had been hearing Lilith's voice, a song, in her head. She had doubted if she could control Adam and Lilith. She had rejected her mission, choosing to leave her creator and follow Shinji. So Gendo had shot her… realizing that Lilith was awake and had been caring for Rei. He had tried to force a bargain, not caring if Rei lived or died, convinced that Lilith would take his deal and bring Yui back to him. Convinced that the Second Angel would save Rei, and then be forced to make his dream a reality.

"She rejected you. She mocked you, in her own way," he said flatly.

Gendo shuddered, terrified of the memory. "Lilith… she knew… she knew my words… what I had told… Rei II… she threw my words back at me… she knew our language."

"Hell hath no fury… you taught the Second Angel the meaning of pain. You taught her what it means to hate. You madman, you never knew what you made, did you? Humph. You modeled her off of your dead wife! You didn't have to do that! Rei never shared a single cell of the same DNA as Yui! You goddamn pervert."

He was breathing hard, human even if for but a moment. The Angel in him was cold and distant, unfeeling, and unfamiliar with such disgust.

Gendo trembled, shying away from the harsh words.

"How… how do you know these things… you… how… what… are you?" the former Director of Nerv stammered.

The Broken Man calmed himself, letting the rage slide away. It wouldn't do him any good. He leaned down close and spoke, repeated the words from his mother's grave months ago.

"You know what I am, father. I'm your son. And I am the son of Yui Ikari too."

Gendo's eyes widened harshly. Bloodstained irises shook at the revelation. The man remembered the incident at Yui's grave. Remembered trying to slap his own son months ago.

"Ahhhh…. You!… the Freak… you're the thing… inside the boy's head… Adam? No… you… impossible?! You… all wrong…" Gendo stammered weakly. The man coughed violently and droplets of stale brown blood splattered on his bandaged chest.

The Broken Man leaned back, his face hollow and empty. Stripped of emotions.

"Yes and no. You never realized the truth. Neither did Keel. That worked in my favor. I am your son. I swam through the rivers of time to come back. I did this because you failed. Seems to be a constant. In every world, you never see her again."

Gendo shook his head weakly, eyes wide at the figure standing over him.

"It's ironic. In my world, Yui rejected you. At least she made it quick. She never loved you. She didn't even love me. Not when it counted."

The Broken Man lowered his eyes, remembering his long life. The choices he had had to make. The revelations he had had to live with. God, he really had lived so long, hadn't he?

"… lies… you lie!… you... FREAK!" Gendo coughed, struggling in his handcuffs.

The Broken Man tilted his head, watching as his father writhed on the bed as a living corpse. What an empty victory this was. Shouldn't he have felt something else? A vengeful joy? A bittersweet taste of revenge? A cruel enjoyment of a monster's suffering? He felt none of that. Once more, it was ashes in his mouth. Meaningless. Cold and hollow. Too much lost and not nearly enough gained.

"I hated you for most of my life. You really were a monster. But weak. A foolish man who played with powers he never understood. Life has a twisted sense of irony, you were doomed from the start. Yui is gone, I killed her the day I came back. That hurt me. But you… I feel so little for you anymore. How many lives have you and Keel ruined now? I've lost count," he mused somberly, his voice soft and low.

Gendo was glaring up at him. Red tinted eyes fuming uselessly, trapped in a crippled and corpse-like body.

The Broken Man lifted his hand and the rage vanished from his father's mangled face. Gendo whimpered, expecting the pain to come flooding back. The bravado, the rage, it all disappeared the moment his hand was removed.

Just a small man trying to make himself seem big, he thought.

Gendo blinked back, surprised as the pain remained at the lowered state. Weakened, the spell held but did not overwhelm. A life of constant pain, a cripple through and through, but not brought to the brink of madness.

"It's more than you deserve. You'll need to be lucid for what comes next. For once in your life, do the right thing. Cooperate with the investigations. Confess to the Japanese Intelligence Agency. Don't make me come back. And maybe one day, you will be allowed to die," the Broken Man said.

Without another word, he turned and left his father behind.

Kaji was waiting for him by the exit. "How's the hand?" the spy asked as he approached.

The Broken Man glanced down and saw his fingers shaking, the skin bearing a tinted red. The blowback effect was still burning him lightly.

"It's done. He'll cooperate," he said simply, dismissing the question.

They left the field prison, the former director of Nerv watching them go.

---

They found Ritsuko already waiting for them in the meeting room, sitting with a cup of coffee and cigarette in hand. She looked up as they approached, face framed by fresh bandages, healthy but tired.

"Fuyutsuki started talking. He's cooperating. Gendo?" Ritsuko asked in greeting.

Kaji shook his head saying, "it's done. We got some new Intel too. The Agents treat you well?"

"Your story holds. I was one of your moles in the operation. We worked together under the orders of Director Ginoza. I gave them everything I could about Nerv. Are we still cleared to help?" Ritsuko said, speaking quickly.

"Shouldn't be a problem. We're making this up as we go along. Wasn't supposed to end up like this," Kaji said.

The three of them had finally regrouped after having coordinated with the relief and investigation efforts. Ritsuko had been acknowledged as one of Kaji's assets in his mission to uncover the truth about SEELE and Nerv. And then the Broken Man had as well, that had required quick work on Kaji's part. There were a lot of uncomfortable questions regarding their time traveler, for now, they did their best and sealed those questions up under classified information.

Their meeting room was a modern tent that had been supplied by the Intelligence Agency.

The Broken Man paced the room quietly. Thinking to himself, a solemn figure that stood in stark contrast even to the others. His clothes gave him a visage worse than the poorest homeless, and his eyes set him apart from everyone. He found that he cared little for such things anymore.

"You never explained. I thought the Eva was your body now?" Kaji asked suddenly.

"I had to leave it. Unit 01 was mostly destroyed, and SEELE had their hands on it."

Kaji accepted the answer. The spy had had to accept a great many things during their inner workings. Kaji had played his part well. Whilst the assault on Nerv had played out, he and Director Ginoza had made moves of their own to finally expose SEELE and arrest several of their agents within the government and military. They had already been working towards it for years.

Only it hadn't been enough. All their efforts, their planning, and things had gone so wrong. What victories they had were temporary, and felt like they could be wiped away at any time.

Kaji lit a cigarette of his own, taking a whiff of the chemicals, as his face turned bitter. The spy scowled, finally saying it, "it all went to hell. Misato's in critical condition. Asuka and Unit 02 are missing. And Shinji, our Shinji, is gone too."

The Broken Man watched as Kaji shook his head in anger and frustration, smoking to cool his nerves.

"Captured. SEELE has them. The Other… him, he could sense it. Our boy has been drugged and the MP Evas were spotted flying away with Unit 02," Ritsuko said slowly, glancing at the Broken Man.

"Yeah, yeah, Gendo confirmed it. He saw the black ops squad, SEELE's men within the JSSDF, do it. They gassed Shinji and left with him..." Kaji muttered.

Ritsuko bowed her head low.

Kaji breathed in deeply, calm, and collected once again. "Why? What could they want with a pair of teenagers and some half-dead Eva Units?"

"They're not going to give up."

The Broken Man's words made Kaji and Ritsuko look up. They were still uncomfortable to see him here in the real world. To see this 'Abomination' from another timeline up close. Dressed in rags and withered. His presence alone changed everything, and now he was safe only under the protection of Kaji.

"SEELE will try again. They'll have a way to call forth Adam and Lilith. Human Instrumentality. They still have their MP Evas and the replica Spears," the Broken Man said.

"And you're sure that Adam and Lilith are still alive?" Kaji said slowly.

The Broken Man nodded, he closed his eyes as if it pained him. The memories of the battle were not pleasant. "If I survived that fight than they did too."

Kaji took a step towards him, face growing stern with hints of concern. Whatever the spy had lived through, an Impact Event was the end and they all knew it.

"Can they do it? Can SEELE trigger Instrumentality?" the spy asked.

The Broken Man thought it over. Keel must have had resources beyond what he'd had in the original timeline. There had been more MP Evas in this world. Could it be done? Could Keel Lorenz succeed where Gendo Ikari had failed? Could SEELE bind a New God to their will?

He opened his eyes. There were too many questions. Uncertainties.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully. His voice low and strained.

Ritsuko and Kaji exchanged grave looks. They'd managed to save lives, they had gotten the JSSDF back under civilian control, exposed SEELE, they had even managed to save the world, but it hadn't been enough. Gendo's madness was over. Keel's madness continued.

"What about the Spear? You haven't been able to find it?" Kaji asked, looking for anything to tip the side in their favor.

He shook his head. "I've tried. It won't respond to my calls. It's possible it was damaged."

Kaji cursed.

"And Rei?" Ritsuko asked suddenly.

"She's gone," the Broken Man said, his voice flat. The words hurt him, another pain he would have to carry. It left him hollow, more so than ever before. He carried forward because he had nothing else. Even the fate of all mankind was a poor substitute for the promise of a dream. A better world that had never had a place for him. The taste of ashes in his mouth was all too familiar.

"Adam and Lilith have been merged. It was Gendo, he tried to trigger Instrumentality but he was rejected. Everything he did to Rei… it all added up. The Second Angel learned the meaning of real pain and despair, because of him."

"Why did he kill her?" Ritsuko asked carefully. They needed to know. They needed to retrace and look for clues.

Kaji made to speak up, willing to say the words so that he wouldn't have too. The Broken Man didn't let him.

"Rei was drawing pictures. She saw the Original Timeline. More than I ever thought possible. She kept it hidden, but Gendo found out. She… she clung to those memories… a life that was not her own. He wiped her memory to stop her breaking free. She was already rejecting him when it happened," the Broken Man said. The words left his lips of his own accord. Many people often found speaking hard truths to be done on autopilot, but never him. He knew that he failed, he hadn't pieced it together in time, so those words were his and his alone.

"… you couldn't have known. It's not your fault-" Ritsuko began, reaching a hesitant hand to comfort him.

He turned to her with harsh empty eyes and her hand fell before ever touching him. "Everything in this world is my fault."

Kaji spoke up stepping between them and saying, "can she be saved? Rei… Lilith now… can you still get her to stand down?"

The Broken Man lowered his eyes. He shouldn't have done that to Ritsuko.

"No. You saw what Lilith did to Gendo. That wasn't my teacher. She wanted him to suffer, and when I saw her… when I had to fight her…"

He stammered, shaken, and filled with a weariness that made his bones heavy. His own words echoed back to him, another promise that he had failed to keep. "I would never fight you," he had claimed.

"… she was terrifying. Filled with rage. Agonized and angry. She learned hatred. I saw it in her eyes. That was her lesson from Mankind. She hated the world and everything in it."

"… and what of Adam? Maybe he's caused her to change," Ritsuko added quietly.

"Her brother corrupted her, no doubt of it. But I saw it with my own eyes. Lilith tried to kill the human race. And Rei… she died so harshly. Painfully. Adam used that to twist his sister. Lilith has Rei now and the Second Angel is so angry. It doesn't matter what Rei wanted anymore. The Hybrid is our enemy now."

Silence filled the room. A silence as solemn as the grave. The reality of the world around them left them anxious and worried. This was all uncharted territory now. Facing an exposed SEELE and a new Dark God.

Kaji spoke up first, recovering quickly. "What can we do now? We don't know where the Hybrid is? Can't you find them? Your abilities… there has to be something?"

The Broken Man shook his head saying, "they're hiding from me. Probably recovering just as I was. Until they're found, we have to deal with SEELE. They took the children for a reason, they must need them for their plans."

"A way to call Adam and Lilith to them. Just like you said. Whatever it is, it needs them. Bait, to trigger their Instrumentality," Ritsuko said, putting the pieces together.

He nodded, and Kaji took another whiff of his cigarette.

There was a rapping sound against the door, and Kaji called for whoever it was to come in. Another agent peered inside.

"Agent Kaji. Director Ginoza needs you in the briefing room. All of you," the woman said, looking to each of the gathered trio.

Kaji frowned. "What for?"

"Sir… we've found them. We found SEELE's base."

---

Upon being escorted to the briefing room, they were met with a wall of monitors filled with satellite footage and live feeds. Director Ginoza and the Government Official were speaking with Lieutenant Colonel Hashi in the center of the room. The reinforced JSSDF was gathered inside as well, joined by government aides and Intelligence Agency members.

The footage on the wall displayed a series of buildings on the outskirts of a larger city in Japan. The video was playing on a loop that showed multiple MP Evas landing with the remains of Eva Units 01 and 02. Then the MP Evas took up guard positions around the mysterious compound.

"It's the ward… or rather… the area surrounding it," Kaji said slowly.

Director Ginoza nodded saying, "local reports from the area confirm the presence of the MP Evas. They're not trying to hide."

"Because SEELE doesn't care anymore. They're confident they can win. They're using the nearby city as a human shield. No nukes. And the MP Evas can stop any air force bombings," the Broken Man said, voicing what they were all thinking.

Hashi scowled at the familiar sight of the ghostly pale Mass Production Eva Units. It was clear he had no wish to go up against the monstrosities a second time.

The looped satellite footage continued, showing trucks and aircraft arriving shortly after. A private army fortifying a new enemy base of operations. SEELE was ready for a fight and had apparently been planning for one.

"Whatever Keel is doing, he's planning to call the Hybrid back. They haven't given up on Instrumentality, Sir," Kaji said to his boss.

Ginoza turned to the Broken Man and all eyes followed his gaze. The sight of the multiple MP Evas was enough to invoke fear in any sane man or woman. The full might of a JSSDF Battalion with artillery and air support had failed to stand against the creatures.

"The reinforced military is back under control. But we all know it's not enough. Can you still pilot an Evangelion?" Ginoza asked pointedly to him.

The Broken Man ignored all the eyes on him, safe only under the protection of Kaji and his boss Ginoza, and silently stared ahead at the MP Evas. He counted them. He took note of their wounds and the repairs that they had made to themselves.

"Yes."

---

No Asuka and Young Shinji this time. Sorry, but we'll see them soon.

A lot happened in this chapter. The thing to remember is that the Broken Man can be a force to be reckoned with. He can maneuver the board in BIG ways. And now that the secrets are out, he isn't holding back and he's using every tool he can. I hope he doesn't seem too overpowered, I never intended for him to be, but as a writer, I can't just ignore what he has. His powers, his mind, and his will.

As for Kaji and Government actions, I did want to explain and remind readers that the Japanese Intelligence Agency were already investigating Nerv and SEELE and the conspiracy. So the Broken Man worked to point them in the right direction and give them the help they needed to act within the Unraveled timeline. It's actually not too far fetched.

What did you think of the ceasefire? Misato? Kaji's return?

What did you think of the Broken Man and Gendo finally having a proper talk?

Thanks for Reading and please Review!