Hey guys, back again! Where have I been all this time?
Sadly, I came down with an illness/injury shortly after posting the previous chapter. Had to get surgery. Thankfully not pandemic related, and recovery took a while.
But I'm alive and reasonably well. I enjoy writing my little fic, and I hope that for all of you that have stuck around this long, you will enjoy reading it.
Here's Chapter 50: "Mistakes"
"I'm still paying for my mistakes. Lives that I ruined."
– The Broken Man.
The ghostly pale titans descended from the blue skies and landed with harsh heavy thuds. Amid their claw-like hands lay a red giant, wounded and weary. Eva Unit 02 was brought to its knees.
Keel watched the scene with cold wrinkled eyes that relied on technology to function. His artificial Angels lumbered carefully around the base with their prize. All around him, his private army stood gathered observing the scene with a professional mixture of attention and detachment.
THUD.
Another MP Eva landed with a prize of its own. The battered remains of Eva Unit 01. The blackened and purple titan was missing both arms, with mangled legs, and harsh burns that blurred the lines between seared flesh and armor.
The giants and the spoils from their battle stood in contrast to the humans around them. Their base was a collection of buildings within a fortified space near Shinji's old ward. Keel had purchased the entire surrounding area, miles and miles worth of real estate, years ago. The ward had been just that, everything else had been SEELE's research facilitates and now, their staging ground. It seemed fitting to end things here.
"Bring her out," Keel said.
He gave the order and the MP Evas responded instantly. Claws grasped at the spine of Unit 02 and metal screeched as the Entry Plug was ripped from the Evangelion.
The private soldiers on the grounds of the base spread out giving the titan its space.
THUD.
The Entry Plug was laid at their feet. Keel waved his hand and a pair of soldiers approached the bay doors and pulled the hatch. The metal tube opened with a hiss of compressed air.
SMACK.
A flurry of movement erupted, a rush of red, a punch to the face of the man who had opened the doors.
The girl didn't stop, she rushed past the pair of soldiers and bolted. She ran and ran; Keel watched in amusement.
BANG. A gunshot rang out.
The girl fell to her knees.
"What was your plan?" Keel asked simply.
Asuka Langley Sohryu panted, eyes wide, from her spot on the floor. The German girl was covered in minor cuts and bruises, adorned in her battered plugsuit, and staring at the bullet-sized hole in front of her.
The girl hiccuped as a soldier put the barrel of a handgun to the back of her head. Another raised their rifle and trained it on her torso.
Asuka knelt silently, breathing hard, wide-eyed at the guns pointed directly at her.
"I asked you a question, Ms. Sohryu."
The girl turned to him, and Keel strode forward patiently with Page at his side. His cane rattled against the ground, thundering softly through the quiet air, he watched as the teenager flinched in time with the sound.
"… I," Asuka stammered quietly.
Keel loomed over her and gestured for her to look up. Hesitantly, the girl did so and nearly collapsed from the sight that greeted her. An MP Eva towered over all of them, its soulless and eyeless gaze trained directly over the lone pilot. Beyond, more of the monstrous creatures stood. Seven of them in total, undead behemoths of flesh and metal.
"Where would you run? Where would you go? Do you even know where 'here' is?" Keel said simply.
The girl didn't reply, transfixed by the sight around her. A base of some kind, multiple MP Evas, and soldiers that she had never seen before. More than just a squad, a private army was stationed here. Men in black uniforms without insignia, all of them armed, all of them watching her. Mercenaries. Hired guns who fought for no nation.
Keel nodded, and the man with the gun to her head grabbed her face yanking it down to look at the one in charge.
"Agh!" Asuka shrieked. The girl made to rise, to get up and fight back, but the cold metal of the gun to her head kept her at their mercy.
"… I don't know," she wheezed at last.
There were tears at the corner of her eyes. And something more. Defiance. Even now, with all this, Keel could see the fire burning within the young lady. Impressive.
"I trust that you will cooperate?" Keel said pleasantly, a smile emerging on his aged face.
"… yes…"
"Yes, what?"
"… Yes… sir…"
Keel waved a hand and the soldiers released her. He offered her his hand and Asuka ignored it. The girl rose to her feet on her own, wearily, trying to hide her fear as she felt the MP Evas' gaze on her.
"Asuka, so nice to see you again," Dr. Page said brightly at the girl.
Asuka whirled and spotted the doctor at long last.
"You!"
"It truly is a small world. You've grown since we last spoke," Page said in a falsely sweet tone.
Asuka glared at the doctor, at the woman who had threatened to take piloting away from her before she'd arrived in Japan. The German girl panted, and almost took a step back.
"… you can't do this. I'm an Eva Pilot. People will come for me," Asuka said slowly, voice low but firm.
"My dear girl," Keel began with a soft chuckle. How he enjoyed this, the girl was certainly something.
He leaned in, his voice growing hard and quiet. "You are in no position to tell me what I can or cannot do," Keel said.
Asuka flinched, uncertain, and yet the girl held her ground. She met Keel's gaze through the visor and did not yield to the fear threatening to overwhelm her. A child who had faced the Angels. Her eyes were wise beyond her years, scared, terrified even, but fighting to keep her cool. Intelligent eyes in their own way.
Keel chuckled softly to himself, regarding the child with a relaxed bemusement.
"You look like her, did you know that? Kyoko Langley Sohryu had the same eyes. A drive that I found simply inspiring," Keel said.
Asuka stilled at that. Her face, already distraught, grew paler still.
"… you… you knew my mom…" she whispered breathlessly.
"Oh yes. Indirectly of course. You could say that she was one of my most valued employees. I want you to know that her sacrifice was not in vain. It served a higher purpose, and does til this day," Keel said.
The old man turned his gaze to Eva Unit 02, still locked within the clutches of his MP Evas, before returning his attention to the girl before him.
Asuka stared at him. She didn't understand, and Keel could see that it added to her fear no matter how brave she was.
"Now then. Do be on your best behavior," Keel told Asuka. His tone bordered on indifference, his little games were over. Duty called, and the girl would serve her role.
Dr. Page took Asuka by the arm, gently pulling her onward. Two soldiers followed closely behind, their guns lowered.
Asuka walked numbly beside the figures around her, dragged along despite their show of politeness.
"We have a lot to discuss, Ms. Sohryu," Page said as they walked off.
...
"Sir. The Entry Plug is missing from Unit 01."
Keel paused at that, a momentary lull in his musings.
"Interesting. They must have ejected. No matter, they lost the Evas," Keel said simply.
SEELE's leader gazed curiously at the mysterious Eva Unit 01. The machine that had belonged to the Freak, that had absorbed its pilot for two months, that had actually spoken once.
Movement caught his artificially sustained eyes and Keel turned to see a newly arrived squad of his soldiers approaching with a stretcher. A lone teenage boy was strapped inside, and a medic walked along monitoring drug administration.
The stretcher was brought to a stop before him as Keel inspected the boy. Shinji Ikari lay with his eyes closed, drugged into unconsciousness, covered in dirt and dust from concrete and steel. The boy looked dreadful, pale, with minor cuts and bruises.
Shinji Ikari… Project Tabris… look at how far you've come, Keel mused. In his mind, he pictured Kaworu Nagisa's face fading away only to be replaced by the son of Yui Ikari. It truly was remarkable just how big of a role the boy had come on to take.
"He still has a bullet in his chest. As far as we can tell, the boy was never able to remove it. He will need surgery to make a full recovery," the medic said.
Keel shook his head. "That won't be necessary."
He straightened, in spite of everything that had happened, the betrayal of that spineless little weasel Gendo, the mysterious intervention of the Freak, and the exposure of SEELE, they still held the advantage. Human Instrumentality continued.
"We've arranged a containment method for him. Get him ready, and then wake him. I think it's time we finally talk. The boy and I have a lot of catching up to do," Keel said.
His men nodded, and the boy was wheeled off further into the base. Keel watched the boy go, and then glanced up at the imprisoned remnants of Eva Unit 01.
The boy was found in Lilith's Prison… and yet… who was piloting the Eva? Keel wondered.
Tokyo-03.
The Broken Man stood, breathing softly, as the water slid down his skin carrying dirt and grime with it. A dark pool gathered in the shower drain. The remnants of a ruined world being washed away after years of living with it. Filth and ashes from a timeline that no longer existed.
How long had it been since he'd had a shower? Warm water? A decade? His skin was a worn-down mess of scar laden flesh mixed with pale patches here and there. Angel DNA mixed within his own, pieces of both the Original Adam and Lilith. His skin truly was not his own, and what remained of it were the scars and that was why he never healed them.
When he was done, he found the clothes that Ritsuko had left for him and dressed. He already stood out far too much, and his appearance being below even the worse homeless had only made matters worse. It felt strange, to be 'clean' again. Hot showers, electricity, and fresh clothes… it was unfamiliar to him after so long.
He found no enjoyment in these things. None whatsoever. It all served a purpose, from here on, he was out in the open, and he needed to play the cover that Kaji had crafted for him. An asset to the spy, an ally to the investigations and war against SEELE.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock,
The sound rattled against the door. "Kaji's back," Ritsuko's voice called from outside the room.
"Did he get her?" the Broken Man rasped. His vocal cords were still strained, talking was getting easier, but each word pained him. A consequence of returning to his original body.
"… yes… there were… complications… a few injuries but no deaths," Ritsuko answered back hesitantly.
He opened the door and found Ritsuko waiting outside. She frowned at him, he was dressed like Kaji and the others now, another employee for the Japanese Intelligence Agency.
"Where is she?" he asked.
"They have her in a room. They… they don't like this… I don't know if I do," Ritsuko said slowly.
"It's worth exploring. We're going to need all the help we can get."
…
Ritsuko led him through the halls of the building and finally into the observation room just outside the cells. They had left the Nerv site hours ago and relocated to the government compound to continue their operations for now.
Kaji and his boss Director Ginoza were in the room. The two spies spoke quietly, watching the series of screens showing their recently acquired prisoner. Both men turned when he and Ritsuko arrived.
"SEELE had people watching her. Getting her out wasn't easy. No deaths on our side," Kaji said in greeting.
The Broken Man nodded, watching the prisoner on the display screen, but listening intently.
"Even if this works… what do you expect her to do? In her state…" Ritsuko said speaking up hesitantly.
"Leave that to me. I can bridge the gap for the doctors," the Broken Man said.
Kaji shifted uncomfortably saying, "you're asking a lot of us to even try this. After what she did…"
"I know," the Broken Man said softly. He thought of the boy and closed his eyes in a brief moment of regret.
Director Ginoza stepped forward, a fully poised man who led an Intelligence Agency, sharp eyes framed within a soft stern face. "We're putting a lot of trust in you. But I believe you understand the stakes better than all of us. Don't make me regret this."
Then, without another word, Ginoza turned and disabled the security footage in the observation room. The display screens went dark and the video feed stopped recording entirely, leaving the prisoner unwatched but secure.
Kaji nodded, and the Broken Man followed him out.
Interrogation room.
The room was small and bare, with white walls and no windows, a single table, and cameras that had been deactivated. They found the prisoner sitting in her chair, handcuffed, with hollow somber eyes that showed a lack of sleep.
She looked up at them when they entered. The Broken Man watched her silently, but Kaji met her eyes and regarded her with a professional animosity.
"It doesn't matter what you do to me. These people… they win… they always win," Mari said. The first words she had spoken in hours.
"Maybe not," Kaji countered simply, his voice flat.
Mari scoffed lightly at that. Scorn at such naivety.
Kaji stepped forward and stood across from the teenager, she didn't avoid his gaze. She had no fear, even held in the interrogation room, even after the extraction. Her gaze held only defeated regret and exhaustion. Eyes that no teenager should have.
"Why did SEELE have guards in your hospital?" Kaji asked straight to the point
Mari almost laughed. A flat sorrowful chuckle. "They weren't there to protect me. They were for Shinji if he was stupid enough to come back."
Kaji shook his head.
"What you did to the boy? From one spy to another, that was cruel," Kaji said.
Mari looked away.
Kaji turned and headed for the exit, leaving the Broken Man alone with the prisoner. The door closed softly behind them.
Mari barely seemed to notice when he took the seat across from her.
How old was she? When did SEELE get to her? Did they really start that young? The Broken Man thought.
Looking at the girl now, at this crippled teenager with short hair and burn marks across her once beautiful face, and missing limb, he was reminded of someone else. A woman he had known in another life, older than the former pilot sitting across from him, a ghost that haunted him.
He remembered digging a grave for his Mari so long ago. He remembered how he had left her in that old house, alone. How she had loved him and not been treated in kind. This person here in front of him, she was someone else entirely, and yet… maybe she wasn't. Would the boy ever forgive him? He didn't think so.
"Who the hell are you?" Mari asked suddenly.
She finally turned to look at him, hollow defeated eyes surveying him carefully, taking in the greying hair, clean but battered skin, hard lines on his face, and mixed colored eyes. He saw the barest hint of recognition in her sunken eyes.
"You dreamed of me, once. The boy told me. I hadn't expected that."
Mari frowned, staring ahead at him.
"I'm a lot older than the man you saw. 'Don't worry, everything's going to be okay'. Humph. That night, I told you not to leave your room. You didn't listen."
Mari stared at him, face contorting in confusion, burn marks shifting across her face. Her eyes widened ever so slowly. He saw her put together the pieces, the man she had dreamed of, a consequence of him using his powers on her as a child. He saw her remember what he told her when he'd been controlling the boy.
...
The memory flashed before his eyes, and the Broken Man remembered taking control of the boy in the ward. He relived the memories of that night as if he was there all over again, sneaking into Mari's room, using the powers to heal her.
He had fixed her. Cured her of her disease that was only barely beginning to manifest. He had told her to stay. Then he had walked to the cafeteria so that when the seizure began, the boy could be found by the nurses and helped.
Mari hadn't listened. She had followed him...
...
"… 'go away… you cannot help us' …" Mari quoted, mumbling the words he had whispered into her ears more than five years ago. The night that Shinji had his seizure, and days before she had been released from the ward.
He nodded.
"… that's… that's impossible…" she stammered in a low murmur.
"More impossible than the Angels? I think not. Tell me, did SEELE ever know about your dreams?" he asked, his own voice just as tired as hers if not more so.
"That's private."
"You owe me."
"I owe you shit."
"I'm the reason you left the ward, girl. I got you out of there."
"… you have any idea what you did by doing that? SEELE never knew but they suspected… it's why they chose me… why they picked me twice."
Mari narrowed her eyes at him. She breathed softly, her expression changing to a mix of horror, fascination, and indignation.
"… you're the Other Shinji," she said at last.
"Is that what SEELE calls me?" he asked flatly.
Mari scoffed saying, "they called you 'the Freak.' Both of you."
The teenage cripple shook her head, chuckling madly to herself. How long had SEELE been wanting answers? How long had the mystery of Shinji Ikari alluded them? And here she was, face to face with the answer and not caring in the slightest. He could see it in her damaged face, the somber irony of her situation. She no longer cared about her mission.
"I never told them about the dreams. They never even asked… can you believe that? It's funny, they never considered it. Such a tiny thing… there one day and then gone the next," Mari answered him at last.
She looked him up and down, tracing the hard lines of his face, and found familiar patterns underneath the wear and tear.
"I answered your question, return the favor," she said simply.
"You already know what I am. I'm the voice in the boy's head. I'm what Shinji could have been in another life. A harsh one. And SEELE sent you to learn more about me, didn't they?" he asked finally.
Mari paused at that; eyes downcast. She sat there wordlessly, lost in her own mind.
The Broken Man leaned in and spoke quietly and firmly.
"They sent you to spy on the boy. To learn what I am. They made you into everything Shinji could want, the one person he could and would tell everything. They wanted him to fall in love with you."
Mari stayed silent, she opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her eyes, already sunken, took on a faded glint. Distant, her mind wanting to be anywhere but here.
The Broken Man continued, pressing forward and leaving her with no escape. He didn't raise his voice; he didn't need to.
"You played your role well. His first friend in the whole world. When he didn't pursue you, you pursued him. You took him on adventures after he spent years being isolated. You were always on his side. A single constant in his life."
Mari's lips began to tremble, the girl's composure beginning to break down as she started shaking in her chair.
"When Shinji needed to be comforted, you were there. Never judging him. You were his first kiss, the first shoulder he could cry on, and you took his virginity. You made him feel wanted, loved, something that he's never known."
The memories came to him easily, watching from a distance and choosing not to stop the boy. He had allowed Shinji to do these things, letting his younger self spend so much time with his girlfriend. In hindsight, the Broken Man could see that his initial suspicions had been correct. And he could see the pain that the truth had caused the boy. And now, another.
Mari flinched, shivering in her chair as the words landed upon her like blows.
His voice took on a softer tone. "He wanted to tell you everything. Did you know that? I had to stop him. And when you were hurt… he risked so much to save you. He never stopped loving you, not even the scars changed that. But this? It's hard to say-"
"I know!" she snapped.
Her eyes came alight with life, blaring out with anger, regret, sorrow, and pain. So human and alive in stark contrast to the husk that had been there before. She glared at him, breathing heavily, wobbling in her chair as the phantom pains of a missing leg flared.
"… I'm a terrible person… is that what you wanted to hear? Fine… go away now…" Mari stammered, her voice cracking. She was on the verge of tears.
The Broken Man watched silently, mixed colored eyes never blinking.
When he didn't move, she only grew angrier. If she wasn't handcuffed, if she still had her leg, she would have stormed out. Instead, she sat there seething in something more than rage or even pain or even regret. A harsh mixture of them all.
"What do you want from me?" she whimpered. She sunk into her seat and looked so small there, a crippled teenager with eyes beyond her age.
"I want to know what your plan was," he answered softly.
Mari scoffed, head hung low, saying "what plan? Why are you doing this? Go torture someone else."
"Because you don't add up."
She looked up at him slowly, wide awake but sullen and withdrawn.
"You tried to help him. You warned him not to tell Dr. Page about his dreams. And towards the end… you told him to run away."
"… guess I'm a shitty spy too. Sloppy," Mari said bitterly.
The Broken Man tilted his head. "You care for the boy, don't you?"
He saw it. He saw the regret she carried because he carried a similar weight himself. And he saw the same look in this teenager's eyes. The look that a woman he had saved had often given him, a look that he had never returned. In his mind's eye, he pictured the woman who had shared his bed for years, soft and so very kind in her own way. This girl here, she was different and the same all at once.
Mari nodded slowly. She looked so very old at that moment. The memories of a corpse that he had buried flashed before his eyes.
"SEELE has Shinji and Asuka. The boy has a bullet in his chest. I healed it, but it's not perfect. He'll need a real doctor. And soon."
At his words, her eyes widened, and he saw the concern in them.
"You wanted to save him. You wanted to run. Where? And for how long? Where were you planning to meet up again? And in your condition?" he spoke softly and skeptically, eyes traveling over the teenage girl's crippled frame.
"… no… I… I don't know… it all happened too fast," Mari croaked out.
"You what? You had second thoughts?"
"I only… I wanted him to run away and hide… somewhere they would never find him. I didn't plan any further… I didn't know how… but… these people… Keel… you don't hide from him. Not for long. I tried to push Shinji away, but he wouldn't go… and then it was too late. Adam's Last Child was killed. And I…" Mari croaked, eking out the words in a low rumble.
She was stuck, unable to say the words. So, the Broken Man finished it for her.
"You sat back and let it unfold."
Mari flinched as if struck. "It wasn't like that!" she stammered.
"You could have told him. At any time. You had months," he said, his voice growing hard and stern.
I could have helped you. I could have saved you too… if I had been stronger. If I had been willing to push the boy and confirm my suspicions. If I hadn't healed you in the ward. So many mistakes. So many burdens to carry, the Broken Man thought.
The guilt was his as much as it was hers. He had been afraid of alienating an already terrified Shinji. It had blinded him. And he had been unsettled, almost jealous, that the boy had found a form of 'happiness' on his own… without Rei. He had been so determined, so sure, that Rei was who he was meant to be with. That she would be his soul mate in this life that was not even his own. Naivety on his part. Arrogance to believe that love could transcend time.
He had focused on the wrong issue. He was still paying for his mistakes, just as Mari was only beginning to pay for hers.
"No… I couldn't have told him… it would have destroyed him… and I was being watched. They're always watching me…" Mari whispered.
The Broken Man tilted his head. He realized that he had the answer.
"The scar on your back. They surgically implanted a tracking device. In your spine," he said slowly.
The memory came flooding to his mind. He was arguing with the boy, telling Shinji that he was too young for such things, and he spotted a scar on Mari's bare back as she walked away. He had told Shinji to watch, and when the boy hadn't, he had forced him to.
Mari nodded slowly.
"Every time Shinji was with me, he was with SEELE too. Even before the contact lenses, they knew where he was and what he was doing. They knew… that the voice didn't like me. They knew… that he stopped taking his medicine," the teenage spy admitted glumly.
Mari laughed, and it was a sad defeated little thing.
"They know you have me here. And they don't care. Not about me, I'm useless now. And they don't care about the Agency either, they don't consider them a threat," she continued shakily. Her voice was bitter and cold, beyond her years.
You were just a pawn, weren't you, Mari? A child caught in the schemes of the adults. A kid playing at being a spy. Used and then thrown away. Another cruelty of Keel Lorenz, he thought. That didn't absolve her of her crimes, far from it, but he understood now.
The Broken Man rose from his seat, Mari's gaze following him as he did so.
"I'm going to offer you something that you don't deserve."
Mari only stared at him.
"I'm going to rescue Shinji and Asuka. I want you to help me. It won't make what you did any better. It won't forgive your crimes. But we need to save them, and you can help."
Mari stared at him open-mouthed. She glanced at her missing leg and almost broke into that same defeated laugh again. Instead, she shook her head.
"I've already saved you twice now. Once in the ward, and then after the Five Angel Crisis. You remember it, don't you? When Death held you in its embrace, another presence was there. One that pulled you back before you disappeared completely. Me."
The Broken Man raised his hands and power flowed throughout his body. The shadows of the Original Lilith danced around his left arm, and the glow of the Original Adam's Might flickered over his right. He let her see and her eyes went wide.
Mari scoffed and shook her head in disbelief. "… you've been in my life since the beginning, haven't you?"
Yes. And I ruined your life in this world too.
"Do they really trust me to pilot again? After all this?" Mari asked in disbelief.
"They're not trusting you. They're trusting me," he answered.
"… what will happen?" Mari asked, she didn't turn away or cast her gaze aside. A cripple and burn victim, she stared straight ahead at the man who held the powers of two Angels. Unblinking. A resolve born of cold acceptance of who she was.
"Your body hasn't finished recovering. It would take years; we don't have years. I need to push it close enough for the doctors to take over. Drugs. Steroids. A prosthetic leg. And then you can pilot again," the Broken Man explained simply.
"… do it," Mari said, her voice flat. He saw her make the choice. She loved the boy, she really did.
The Broken Man stepped forward, the shadows rippling through his body, and the glow of Adam's Might dimming as it was diverted to fuel Lilith's sorcery. The air around them tensed and seemed to throb from the sheer energy in the air.
Mari didn't look away. "For Shinji…" she whispered as he approached, words that were meant for herself and not him.
"I have power, but I am not a God. This will take years off of your life. Decades. It will be a painful experience-"
"Shut the fuck up and do it," Mari interrupted. She held no fear, no hesitance at all.
The Broken Man paused, staring into the teenager's unblinking gaze. He brought his hands to her face and let Lilith's sorcery wash over her. An entire universe of knowledge was open to him at that moment, he could see and feel every single cell that made up her body. He could alter it, could pour power inside, and command it.
This was different than saving Misato or even Shinji, their bodies had been screaming and on the verge of death, he'd needed to act quickly. Mari's body had already been stabilized by doctors. Here, he would have the time he needed.
For the third time, he used his powers on the girl. Mari's screams filled the room.
Hours later.
The ruins of Nerv.
The city of tents still lingered at the ruins of the building. Part of the on-site investigations into the conspiracy behind the Angel War. However, the area outside the old hangar lay untouched and cleared of all personnel and equipment. All except for one single remaining corpse of an MP Eva.
The grounds rumbled and out of the nearly collapsed launchpads, a titan of human engineering emerged into the air and landed with a heavy crash on the surface.
Eva Unit 03 stood tall, an Evangelion that had gone through extensive repairs after the First Breach of Nerv, and then had laid mostly unused after the Five Angel Crisis. Now, the machine was momentarily awake, it breathed into the night air with a low rumble.
Inside the Entry Plug, the Broken Man sat and drove it forward. He brought the Awakened Unit 03 to the remaining MP Eva corpse and ripped open its torso revealing the power source inside.
Unit 03 swallowed the stolen S2 engine with a single gulp, accepting the upgrade just as its sibling had the day before. The Eva breathed out in harsh heavy breaths as its veins throbbed with light before fading back into its normal state. No longer would the titan be bound by a power cable, unhindered by a time limit, an inexhaustible source of fuel at its disposal.
Use every tool that we can. Take SEELE's advantages and make them our own. Maneuver the board, always, he thought to himself.
The Broken Man panted, raising his hands inside the Entry Plug, and brought Unit 03 back to sleep. He let the internal computers take complete control once again, for no one else save himself could command an awakened Evangelion.
"Your vital signs are fluctuating. It's these powers… you're using them too much. You have to be more careful," Ritsuko's voice said on the comm.
"I'll live," he answered back.
"… I wish Misato was here," Ritsuko sighed into the comm, sounding tired and drained even over the encrypted line.
"We did what we could for her. The rest is in the doctor's hands," the Broken Man said. He didn't have time to spare any thoughts on the woman. It was the reality of the world around them.
He piloted Unit 03 to kneel on the surface of the cleared Geofront. Then he exited the Eva as the distant figures observed carefully.
…
Mari Illustrious Makinami stood back with the adults as Eva Unit 03 received its upgrade. She looked and felt like half a corpse. Running on strange alien forces and a mixture of drugs and steroids. The prosthetic leg was still foreign to her, metallic but functional, it allowed her to walk again. Running would be difficult but not impossible, there hadn't been time to get the practice the doctors had recommended.
Finally, a replacement leg. It was surprising the amount of red tape that could be cut when the fate of the world was at stake.
Her body still wasn't perfect. Angel sorcery or not, the human body had limits. Ritsuko had warned that piloting in this state would be the most dangerous it had ever been for her. The strain on her body could prove lethal. Mari found that she didn't care very much.
She was dressed in the faded colors of her old plugsuit. It was baggy on her now, she had lost weight after being hospitalized for so long. Yet in spite of it all, in spite of the looks everyone rightfully gave, she felt alive once again. Not happy, or joyful, or even excited, no… but driven. She knew that she couldn't make up for what she had done, but she could help him. And that was all that mattered.
Ritsuko was speaking to the Other Shinji on the comm, warning him about his vitals, and Mari only faintly heard. She stood staring at her old Eva. She'd never imagined piloting again, let alone like this.
Kaji stood to her other side, cool in the face of all this insanity, but regarding her warily all the same. The spy turned to her and spoke calmly.
"We put a bomb in the Entry Plug. Try anything, and I will kill you," Kaji said. No malice or scorn, simply the facts. This man would kill her without a second thought and without hesitation. She could tell that Mr. Kaji carried blood on his hands and would carry more still.
She met his gaze evenly, one spy to another. I'm not doing this for you. Any of you. I owe him… I owe him so much more than I could ever give.
"Do what you gotta do," Mari said calmly.
She turned away not bothering to see his reaction. The Other Shinji was stepping out of her Entry Plug, and she strode forward. Her new leg whirled quietly as the interlinked mechanics and electronics worked together underneath her plugsuit.
"It's done. Our remaining Evas have been upgraded," the Other Shinji said as she approached.
The withered old man handed her a comm unit and she took it. He wore the same Agency clothes as before, there hadn't been plugsuits designed for adults.
"With me on your side, they're gonna know we're coming. The tracker," Mari said, running her fingers along the familiar features of the comm unit.
"No way around it. These Evas weren't built for stealth."
They stood together for a moment. Eva Unit 03 ahead of them, and Unit 00 waiting in the distance. A new Eva Team born of desperation. An old man and a former cripple. An Abomination and a traitor.
Mari noted that the Other Shinji looked at her strangely at times. Like he saw right through her and witnessed something or someone else. When they parted ways, she didn't think he saw her at all.
Once inside, she ran her hands along the controls of the Entry Plug. Memories of her training played back in her mind's eye, memories of both Nerv and SEELE, of her fellow pilots. Asuka, and even Rei. And finally, the boy she had betrayed the most.
Her crimes were like a weight upon her body and soul, worse than any of the physical injuries that she sustained. It threatened to overwhelm her, but she didn't let it. She breathed it in and shouldered it.
Hold on, Shinji. I'm coming.
She didn't expect to be forgiven and she carried forward anyway.
Mari activated the console and the Entry Plug was reinserted. She piloted Eva Unit 03 for the first time in months and found the movements familiar even now. She had always enjoyed the thrill and excitement of piloting, what a fool she had been before.
"Get ready for transport. Hashi and his men are already at the staging site," Ritsuko's voice called into the comm.
Mari nodded and brought her Eva forward. Nearby, Eva Unit 00 rose from the ground as the Other Shinji piloted too.
Together, Eva Units 00 and 03 walked onward to the JSSDF transport craft stationed in the outskirts of the Geofront. There was a plan in place. A joint venture with the Japanese military and the re-organized Nerv.
The Assault on SEELE was underway.
Elsewhere.
He awoke slowly. His mind seeming to piece itself back together reluctantly and restoring his senses to him. The world was a blur as his vision returned and he opened his eyes.
His throat was sore, his muscles ached, and his chest felt heavy and weak. He raised his head and found himself sitting in the center of the only light in the room. Lights hanged overhead bathing him in a pale glare, a circle of visibility amid a sea of black. A warehouse? A hangar?
The world came into focus and a figure emerged. An elderly man with a visor over his eyes and a walking cane. SEELE's leader stood at the edge of the visible light.
"Awake, are you? Shinji, my boy, it is good to see you again," Keel said. The man was smiling coldly, the hard wrinkles in his face taking on a detached menacing demeanor.
Young Shinji exhaled harshly and glared silently at the old man. The puppet master behind the scenes, the man who had been controlling his life since he was a child. Perhaps more of a monster than even Gendo.
He tried to stand, to get up but found himself stopped before he even reached halfway.
What?
He glanced down and realized that he was strapped into his chair. His hands were encased in thick leather restraints that kept him from stretching his palms out, a method to stop him using an AT Field. And something was around his neck.
"Your abilities are impressive. Surviving a bullet to the chest. AT Fields. Suspected premonitions. And who knows what else. I took measures to ensure your cooperation. The device around your neck is an explosive. It can be triggered at any time, and if tampered with, it will detonate," Keel explained.
The elderly man spoke calmly as ever. As if the two of them were sharing another private lunch out in the courtyard of the ward.
"… why am I still alive?" Young Shinji panted.
What's wrong with my throat? It hurts… and my breathing… my lungs? What did they do to me? The teenager thought. Even his thoughts were different, slowed, and sluggish.
He looked around the room carefully. Taking in his surroundings properly. It was an enormous space, carefully lit, and now that he could see clearly, he realized that Keel wasn't alone. Soldiers without insignia were stationed all around in the dark with guns at the ready.
Hovering just above all of them were holographic images of multiple stone monoliths, projected from an unseen source. A gathered SEELE was watching him. He felt a chill run down his spine.
Dr. Page was to the side of Keel, half-hidden in the dark, and she was staring him down, running those analytical piercing eyes over him. She was reading him, even now.
There was something else. A… a massive machine behind Keel and the others. A series of computers and displays that encircled a glass box with integrated metals adorned with symbols… familiar symbols.
Spear fragments… fragments of their copies. The Replica Spears of Longinus… he thought.
"Because we haven't spoken in so long now. I do hope for the Second Child's sake, that you are cooperative," Keel said.
"Asuka? You… what have you done with her?" Young Shinji asked, panting harshly.
"Nothing yet. Rest assured my boy, she has her role to play," Keel replied calmly.
Asuka. Where is she? I need to… What's wrong with me… I feel… weak… distant.
The boy gritted his teeth and tried to hide what he was doing from Page. He could feel his old 'doctor' and her gaze on him.
Old Man… old man… hey! Hear me! I'm awake! Where are you?! What happened?!
He was met with silence.
What's going on?!
He closed his eyes briefly, trying to concentrate.
"Shinji, I hope you are not trying to communicate with the voice again. We did work so very hard to help you," Dr. Page said suddenly. Her falsely sweet tone sounding scarier than ever.
They knew what he was trying to do. Shinji glared up at her and then he pieced it together.
"You made me take them. The pills. The poison."
Dr. Page nodded.
It had been so long since he'd taken his 'medication'. Even before he knew the truth, the Broken Man had been taking control and vomiting them up for some time. Now he was being hit with heavy doses. He could feel it. His connection to his Other was temporarily severed, and his access to the Angel Abilities would be denied to him.
"The boy with an Angel in his head. Foreign DNA running alongside his own. An infection of an unnatural design. A child who drew the Angels and the Spear of Longinus. Adam's vessel? A replacement for what we tried to create ourselves?" Keel mused aloud.
Shinji watched the elderly man began to pace around the room. Keel seemed to enjoy this, reveling in these little games of his, savoring his power over another, and taking his time as he pleased.
"I watched as Tabris was stolen from me. I was there when Kaworu Nagisa died. He went painfully, screaming in agony as he burned and withered into nothing," Keel said, his voice turned hard as he spoke.
SEELE's leader stopped his pacing and loomed over the captive teenager. Shinji did his best not to show fear, he panted weakly, trying to fight the drugs flowing through his veins. His chest… his chest was still bothering him.
He hung his head, eyes glued to his shoes. He remembered sitting in Page's office as a child, averting his gaze even then. He was in their hands once more. Alone.
"Half a billion dollars gone in an instant. But before he died, Kaworu explained to me that there was a bond between all the Angels. A connection. A network that was without boundaries. He told me that he could 'feel' Adam's Children even from a distance. You can imagine my surprise upon discovering his death coincided with your incident," Keel continued.
The elderly man began to pace the room again, circling the imprisoned teenager, walking cane rapping against the floor as he walked.
"All three events executed within the same minute. Yui Ikari's disappearance, Kaworu's death, and your very first seizure," Keel mused aloud.
Shinji winced as Keel suddenly grabbed his face, and he was forced to meet his captor's gaze.
"And you are not surprised to learn any of this," Keel said, his voice low and stern, the threat of violence at every word.
Shinji only stared into the visor, the artificial eyes of the old man, and refused to speak.
Keel tsked in disapproval. He turned Shinji's head with a rough gesture and forced him to face the great machine towering over all of them. The computers encircling a series of Replica Spear fragments.
"Because of you, SEELE has had to invest in alternatives. A machine that can detect and measure the activity hidden from us. A way to observe the Angel network," Keel said, allowing a sense of awe to seep into his voice.
Shinji grunted, Keel's grip on his face was like iron, the old man strength digging wrinkled fingers into soft boyish skin.
The machine whirred, the spear fragments within the glass seemed to hum with movement, pulled along by unseen threads, and the computers flickered with output. Numbers and readouts that he didn't understand.
"And what fascinating readings our machine has given as of late. Ever since your arrival in Tokyo-03. As to be expected from Adam's vessel, an asset that I had turned against the Angels. A tool that was supposed to live and die on my orders. I must say, your traitorous father couldn't even do that right," Keel said. The man's tone slowly shifted from awe to blatant displeasure and scorn.
Shinji winced as Keel released him, his face stinging from where he had been grabbed. He struggled uselessly against the restraints. He had no Eva here, no help from his Other, and he was without his abilities. He was but a child caught up in the schemes of soulless men.
"But after Gendo's failure… I have my doubts. You were not piloting Unit 01, someone else was. Adam has risen along with his sister… and yet here you are. Perhaps, you are not Adam's vessel after all."
Shinji sat silently in his restraints. He refused to answer.
"I do hope for Ms. Sohryu's sake that you find your voice soon, my boy."
Shinji gasped, a quite exhale of breath, and his head shot up involuntarily to glare at the man before him. You leave her alone!
Keel took a seat across from him, coolly and falsely pleasant as he always had been during his visits to the ward. They sat together, SEELE's leader and the prisoner. A harsh reflection of their first meeting so many years ago.
"Whilst we wait for the main event, I believe it's time we finally unravel the mystery of Shinji Ikari..."
A mix of plot and character this time. Sorry, no action.
What did you think of Asuka meeting Keel?
Did you expect Mari to return? She's a controversial character, and I've had an interesting time doing my own thing with her. In both timelines. What do you think of her now?
Poor Shinji can't catch a break. And this time there's no playing nice or being subtle, everything is out in the open. But at least the Assault on SEELE is coming. A new Eva Team coming to rescue Shinji and Asuka!
Thanks for Reading, and please Review!