Ptolomea
Shinji walked out of the ruins, at last, and stopped dead in his tracks.
Red. The red of Unit-02, trapped by the roots, held high in front of Iscariote's main body, in a crucified position. A new umbilical cable had been connected, but the Eva could not move. Like the coils of an anaconda, the roots squeezed its arms and legs, cracking the armor. He heard Asuka's furious screaming.
Unit-00 was motionless, far away, with a hole in its left side. No cable, but also no damage to the head or other vital areas, it seemed.
But 02…
"What a terrible performance!" Iscariote laughed. "What, you didn't have military training? At least you have her spirit. Wait, spirit? I meant stubbornness."
"Let her go!" Shinji roared, taking off. "Fight me!"
"Aw, how cute. Puppy to the rescue."
She raised her branches, and the spikes were shot at high speed, piercing Shinji's arm-wings and tearing through the membrane. He found himself back in the ground, and the roots held him down.
"And what about you?" Iscariote whipped Unit-02 with the long fingers of her lower arms. "You don't have any funny quips for me? What was it that you called me before? Let me hear it again…" and she leaned forward.
Inside the entry plug, Asuka smirked.
Unit-02's shoulder pylons opened and fired a barrage of black spikes, each as big as a car. Most of them hit Iscariote right in the face.
"Ha!" Asuka laughed. "Not so funny when it happens to you, eh?"
But no yelp of pain came from the demoness. She just pulled out the two spikes in her eyes, and giggled as she waited for them to heal. She didn't bother to remove the one in her cheek, or the ones in her neck. She wasn't even bleeding.
"That's more like it!" Iscariote licked her lips. "You know, if that other you had been half as lively, my plans could've been jeopardized. Now, let me hear you scream!"
Shinji tried to get up, but the roots kept pressing him down. He grabbed one and snapped it, he turned his head and used his eye beams to burn them; but it wasn't enough. Not fast enough.
The roots tightened their grip on Unit-02's arms, and pulled. The noise of muscle tissue snapping and bone cracking sent shivers down Shinji's spine; but it was nothing compared to the blood-chilling scream that followed.
"Cut all nerve connections!" Misato demanded.
The scream ceased, and Unit-02 became limp in the demon's grasp.
"Think of a way to retrieve both Units!" she continued. "Get my girls out of there!"
"My, my," Iscariote waved the red giant around, like a child would a broken toy. She sniffed it. "Turned off? I guess Colonel Katsuragi is protecting you. Is she even a colonel in this world? Ah, no matter." Her long lower arms raised towards the Eva's head. "I better start recovering all the energy I spent getting here, and you're looking delicious…"
But, before she could grab Unit-02, a blast of yellow light severed the roots holding it, and the Evangelion fell. Iscariote looked, with a raised eyebrow, and saw Shinji back on his talons. His demonic eyes shone like furious stars, smoke coming out of them. Most of the roots holding him had been burnt or simply torn to pieces.
Above their heads, the sky was filling with dark clouds.
"There you are," the tree-demon smirked. "I can see the Dante that I remember. And also the valiant, determined stupid puppy who almost caused the end of the world."
Shinji shot the eye beams again, this time aiming at the main body. Iscariote called her branches, and these formed a protective shield. At first, it seemed to block the attack; but after a few seconds, the streams of light opened a hole in the defense and hit Iscariote's shoulder.
She didn't laugh at that.
Shinji jumped high in the air. His wings still had some holes, but they had healed enough that he could glide, at least. Iscariote's branches sharpened their ends and coiled themselves like springs, ready to jolt upwards and impale. They even reoriented all their spikes in that direction.
But the attack never came, for something distracted the demoness.
Teeth. She was feeling teeth on her flesh, but Shinji hadn't landed yet. Iscariote looked down, and saw that Unit-02 was biting her lower trunk.
The screen zoomed in the Eva's head. The helmet had shattered around the mouth, revealing giant, human-like teeth, which now sank in the demon's flesh.
"What's going on?" Misato asked. "I told you to sever the nerve connections!"
"We did!" Makoto replied. "Someone has reactivated them!"
"Who?"
Ritsuko said nothing. She just looked at the scene, in a mixture of surprise, scientific curiosity, and a bit of worry.
Had Asuka found a way to reach out to her mother?
She didn't know very well what was happening. The pain had ended all of the sudden, and she had been left in the darkness and silence, to stew in her anger; but she didn't want to give up. She couldn't give up!
"Not like that," she had mumbled, remembering the events in the recent battle against Gabuthelon. "I can't let it happen again."
Asuka had grabbed the controls, her hands still trembling at the memory of the sympathetic pain.
"One more time," she had begged, to the lifeless entry plug. "I don't need to be special. I don't need to save the day. I'm Asuka, and that's enough… but let me attack her, just one more time…"
And the light had returned. The sensation of being connected to something inside the giant robot flared again. Now, Asuka felt the taste of the demon's flesh in her teeth as Unit-02 tried to tear a piece.
Outside, the momentary distraction gave Shinji enough time to land on Iscariote's main body. One of his claws tore an opening into her neck, releasing a fountain of black blood. The other claw grabbed her left upper arm as he bit it, his fangs reaching the bone in an instant.
"You vermin!" Iscariote shrieked. Her branches whipped Shinji's back, cutting his skin with their spikes.
He didn't mind the pain. He was too angry for that. Tightening his grip on her arm, he bit harder until he heard the bone cracking. Then, in a single and violent head movement, he ripped the arm out of its socket.
"I see that some dog and a certain bitch need to be taught a lesson!"
The faces in Iscariote's breasts changed. Their eyes turned red, and their mouths opened wide as the maws of a shark, and they too had many rows of sharp teeth.
Each mouth shot a torrent of pink light, hitting Shinji in the chest and shoving him off the tree-like body, back into the streets of Tokyo-3. The surviving roots grabbed Unit-02 by its legs and dragged it away. The Eva still managed to tear a chunk of flesh off the trunk, and Asuka smiled, pleased, even as her Unit was tossed around like a ragdoll. Iscariote even severed her umbilical cord before throwing her away, and Unit-02 crashed into a building.
"Tch," the demoness covered the wound in her neck, focusing on healing that one first. She noticed, then, that something was missing.
Two things, to be precise.
"Well, well, well. Hitched a ride while they were biting me, didn't you?" her smirk returned. "Aw… but won't you feel lonely out there? Here, let me send some old friends your way…"
The fruits growing on her branches fell, cracking when they hit the ground. Clouds of orange gas emerged from inside, floating towards one another and coagulating into a strange mist.
And something else came out.
The whole Command Center fell into a dead silence, all eyes locked onto the screen. A hand appeared through the cracks of the gigantic fruit, and then another, and then a leg, and then…
"What is going on?" Misato asked, to nobody and everybody, as she saw humans coming out of the fruits, dozens from each. They too were orange, even down to the clothing, and had big funguses growing in some parts of their bodies. At first they shambled and waddled, but soon their movements grew more human-like, more focused and precise.
"Zoom on that one!" Ritsuko said, pointing at the screen.
The image was enlarged, and they could all see the apparition in question. Doctor Akagi covered her mouth to block a very unprofessional gasp. Misato grew pale, as did the technicians. Even Fuyutsuki and Gendo were given pause.
There, on the screen, was Misato Katsuragi.
Whatever those things were, one of them had the exact same face as their major. Or rather, the face she could perfectly have in a decade or so. She wasn't in her usual outfit either. Instead, she had long boots that almost reached the knees, pants, gloves, a jacket with a more military style, and a hat with an unknown insignia. It looked like the hat of a ship's captain.
"What is that?" their Misato asked, unable to keep her legs from trembling. "What am I doing out there?"
"It…" Ritsuko gulped. "It's not just you. Zoom that other one."
An older Shigeru Aoba, sporting a goatee and wearing a different suit.
A Ritsuko Akagi with much shorter hair, clad in a thick jacket.
An adult man whose face reminded everyone of Shinji's friend, the Suzuhara kid.
Even a version of Gendo was there, barely changed except for a little less hair, and a weird visor covering his eyes.
Iscariote snickered, pleased. The wound on her neck had healed, and a new arm would sprout from the stump soon. Below, the orange mist would soon expand to cover the whole city, and the country, and beyond. Her army of echoes from the other world, of which Nerv's doppelgangers were just a tiny fraction, would keep growing. More and more would come out of the fruits, billions of lives reforged in her belly to do her bidding.
But, for the moment, it was enough to start.
"Go forth!" she ordered. "It's time to cleanse the Black Invader filth from this planet!"
And the homunculi ran. In contrast with their slow and clumsy awakening, now they scuttled through the damaged city like cockroaches, surrounding the debris or jumping over them if they could. At no moment did their faces show any emotion, any acknowledgment of where they were or what they were doing.
Iscariote took a deep breath and then blew into the air, and the mist began to move.
In the white void, Shinji saw a woman holding a baby. Brunette, long hair, and with red glasses. She smiled at the sleeping infant as she rocked him in her arms. Such a simple action, and yet it irradiated so much warmth, so much love.
That scene awoke melancholic feelings in Shinji. He had experienced the same as that baby, he was sure of it; but couldn't remember it. He couldn't remember his mother, no matter how hard he tried. His father hadn't been a great help in that issue, either.
He was jealous of that baby. Shinji knew it was a despicable thing to do, and he was upset at himself for that; but he couldn't help it. He wanted to remember her so badly. He wished he could feel that love, just one more time.
A second woman appeared, but Shinji couldn't see her properly. All he managed to distinguish was that she had shorter hair. The one with the glasses gave the baby to the newcomer, without doubt, and watched calmly as the two disappeared in the white emptiness. He wondered what kind of mother would give her son away like that.
"Not my son. My godchild."
The long-haired woman turned around, looking at him. In an instant, all the distance between them vanished, and she was right in front of Shinji.
Her eyes were turquoise, he noticed.
"But I failed him," she said, and her smile faded. "I feared I wouldn't be strong enough to protect him, so I accepted Iscariote's help. She took my appearance, my voice, my knowledge; and she used it to destroy my world." Tears began to escape. "She… She killed him. She killed him, and it was my fault."
The pieces began to fall into place in Shinji's head. The words of the tree-demon weren't as confusing anymore.
So if he was "the Puppy," then that meant…
The woman's hands cupped his cheeks. They were warm, tender; but also fearful of ruining everything again.
"I'm sorry," she cried. "I'm sorry for everything that's happening, for putting this weight on your shoulders; but you have to fight. You can fight her! Please, wake up! Wake up, Shinji!"
"Wake up, Shinji!"
He opened his eyes and saw grey feathers. A familiar bird-woman was leaning over his face.
"Miss Ura?" his chest ached with the feel of burning. "What are you doing here? Your daughters…"
"On their way to a shelter."
He rested his back on what remained of a building, while Ura perched on his shoulder. They could both see the orange mist surrounding Iscariote, slowly crawling onto the surrounding streets.
"What is she doing?" Ura asked.
Shinji remembered the woman of her vision, and her words echoed in her mind like a dire warning. A world destroyed. A Shinji, killed, along with many others. He wondered if there had been a Rei and an Asuka in that other world. A Misato. A Touji. A Kensuke, a Hikari, a Mr. Kaji, a Ritsuko… and how many more?
He stood up. How many times had he needed to do that during that battle? How many times had he been knocked down?
Too many. Not again.
Iscariote's orange puppets ran past him, circling his enormous talons, not even touching him. Their objective was somewhere far away, in the undamaged streets.
"Miss Ura! Do what you can to protect the citizens! At least, until Nerv can send soldiers or something!"
"I'll do my best!" And she flew away, following the horde.
Shinji looked at his arm-wings. The membrane was fully healed. Good. He too flew high, into the spiral of black clouds above Toyko-3. Electricity crackled all around him, answering to his call, to his anger.
Chains of lightning came forth and connected with the crimson horns in the back of Shinji's head. Each flap of his wings released a curtain of white sparks, and sounded like a thunder.
He wondered if the other Shinji had been similar to him, or different. Did he play the cello, too? Was he punched by Touji? Did he had friends before going to his Tokyo-3?
Did he remember his mother?
It didn't matter now. Everything that one Shinji had, everything that he could've been, was now inside in that abominable tree below. The good. The bad. All stolen by the demon Iscariote.
Shinji flew down, his body oozing electricity, and the black clouds parted. Lightning emerged from his claws, the tip of his wings, his tail and his eyes and it rained down on the battlefield; cutting more of the roots and vaporizing hundreds of orange puppets.
He roared, and a torrent of electricity came out of his maw, falling over the main body of the demoness. Once again, she formed a wall with her branches and blocked the attack.
"Wow!" Iscariote laughed. "Not bad! Ouch, it burns! I guess I'll need more power if I want to smack you properly! It's a good thing that I there is a nice source of power right under our feet!"
"The roots have broken the seventh protective layer!" Makoto said. "The eighth! The ninth! They're about to breach the tenth!"
"Isolate the roots' route!" Misato ordered. "Pump Bakelite into all air spaces between the fourteenth and twentieth layer! Ready the GeoFront inner defenses, I want them shooting at those things if they manage to break through!"
Her eyes went back to the screen, where the demonic clash continued, and her fingers searched for the cross of her necklace.
