Tokyo-3 Arcana


Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).
The Author Notes are numbered in the text, if you are fluent in D&D/Pathfinder Lore, you probably won't need most of the notes.


The Course is Set. No Deviations.


Tokyo-3
GeoFront, Evangelion Cages
28 minutes after Unit-01's Spontaneous Activation

"Maya, prepare a brief for the Commander. I need to supervise the removal of EVA-01." Dr. Akagi sighed, leaning back in her chair. "I don't know how the damned thing could have activated by itself, but unless we can control it, we will have to either reactivate Unit-03 or reconfigure Unit-00 for Shinji or Asuka, whomever has the highest synch rate when the check is done."

"At once, Dr. Akagi." Maya's fingers danced on her keyboard, registering orders and shuffling the scheduled work.

"And get me a couple of aspirins, will you?" Akagi shook her head, slowly, to keep her growing headache under control, "I would prefer to get something stronger, but I need to stay sharp." She should be resting at home, she had received a couple of bumps on her head when the 13th Angel escaped from Matsushiro. But when Commander Ikari got an idea in his head, there was no human power that could dissuade him from his course.

Dr. Akagi sighed. She wasn't looking forward to checking Unit-03 to determine if it was still a viable Evangelion or not. The preliminary reports from the recovery crew were encouraging, the damages were relatively minor, but she wouldn't trust the damned thing until she was completely satisfied that monster was really purged from its system.

She shuddered, remembering that awful roar that haunted her nightmares followed by an actinic light that hurt the eyes and the brain at the same time. More than once she had woken from a fitful sleep, soaked in cold sweat and with a lump in her throat that cut short any attempt to scream.

Maya looked at her for a moment. Anything capable of scaring her mentor was scary enough. She also shuddered. But the source of her discomfort was very different. An image flashed before her mind's eye. Unit-01 ripping the contaminated core from Unit… no, not Unit-03, from the 13th Angel's body. Shinji had never been comfortable with violence of any kind, yet now he had casually fought with a level of… not glee… no, viciousness? No. Efficiency. That was it. Efficiency. Shinji had fought with such a focus it scared her to think the mild-mannered boy who wouldn't hurt a fly could be capable of such pragmatism.

On his console, Lt. Makoto Hyuga also remembered that battle, but unlike Maya, he was actually envious of the combat prowess Shinji had shown. He touched the small adhesive band under his eye. That big guy had blindsided him with such speed and force he had actually feared for his life. Maybe he should ask Shinji to teach him?


Tokyo-3
Abandoned Building, Across the Street from Rei Ayanami's Former Apartment
Third Floor
Same Time

"Well… We have combed every room in this heap of garbage. No more spiders nor cocoons. I need a shower…" Asuka wiped her forehead with a handkerchief. "Right now."

Misato looked at Rusilka. "What do you say? Are we done here?" Her eyes kept probing the room, wary of any spider that could have escaped their hunt.

The dwarven female rubbed her chin with her left hand. "I think so. It seems we got here in time. Except for that poor devil in the ground floor. We should bury him, he deserves at least a modicum of respect."

Misato nodded. "He does, however, there are some very strict laws about the way any corpse is to be treated around here, it would be better if there's an anonymous tip to the authorities; they will take care of the body, and maybe notify his family." A sudden thought assaulted her. "Hey, I have an idea." Everybody looked at her, though Rusilka listened to her with only one ear. The other was alert for any skittering sounds.

The Major swept the room with a gesture of her hand. "The dead spiders disappeared as soon as they were dead, right? And later, their webs did the same. Let's check on our dead friend. If the corpse is free of webs, I think it would be a safe bet that we have cleared the nest, and there won't be any weird matter for the authorities to puzzle over. We left no fingerprints anywhere. Right?" She raised her gloved hands, everybody nodded, though both Rusilka and Limiry had needed a short explanation about fingerprints. "Kaji, your gun is registered? The casings could be a problem."

"No, I got this one through black channels; I'll get rid of it in a discreet place. No one will ever find it. Still, let's collect the casings, just in case; and I think your gun is registered." Misato nodded, "Rei, can you recover your arrows?"

"No need for it, Inspector Kaji. They vanish after impact." The bluenette seemed a bit miffed at that. "I have the suspicion they will be reappearing in the quiver later on."

Rusilka slapped Rei's shoulder, "Magic arrows, girl! Young Ikari must have spent a lot of time and effort gathering these weapons."

Vester piped in, his arrogant voice full of pride, "Ha! He also found some of the best loot on Oerth, I am the talking proof of that, as you obviously know!"

Asuka facepalmed, "Shut up, you idiot; you're embarrassing me!"

Misato, Kaji, and Rei exchanged a very telling look. Their eyes all said the same thing, 'Birds of a feather…'


Tokyo-3
GeoFront, Commander Ikari's Office
Same Time

The jailer pushed Shinji into Commander Ikari's office, the young pilot stumbled and fell to the floor. Having three sets of handcuffs on his wrists didn't help him to maintain his balance.

At least that was what the jailer, Commander Ikari and Vice-Commander Fujutsuki saw.

Shinji could have stopped his fall in several ways, (and been in position to counterattack with varying degrees of lethality) but focused instead on stumbling and falling in a convincing way, and avoiding any injury beyond a bit of scrapped skin, but the polished floor of the lair wouldn't cause even that.

Silently, he thanked Escalla once again. The faerie princess was a very accomplished actress, able to convince practically anybody she was clumsy, hurt, maimed, blind, drunk, unable to fly, unconscious, dead, or dumb. The only person in the whole of Oerth Escalla was utterly unable to deceive was the Justicar. Everybody else fell into her tricks.

And she had taught him the same tricks.

Well... except for shape-shifting. Shinji was singularly bad at changing shape (1).

"Third Child. What do you have to say in your favor?" The Commander's voice echoed in the cavernous space he called his office.

Shinji was a bit distracted to answer immediately, he was busy appreciating the décor. 'Oh, of course. This room looks just like the lair of a pretentious lich (2). Granted, it's missing the skeleton guards and the smell of decay of the zombie slaves, but the rest is spot on. Including the pseudomystic runic engraving. And the red light makes it so cosy. Jus would love to wreck it. Polk would have a field day copying the engravings, and adding some badgers gnawing the roots. Hmm… I bet Enid could extend her wings fully in here, supposing she could even enter through that door.'

Shinji licked his lips, while he managed to stand back up. Not very dignified, the handcuffs were intended to restrict his movements, after all. And they did. But to a much lesser grade than Gendo supposed. Nine Hells! If needed, he could use the handcuffs as improvised weapons to deadly effect.

"Answer, Third Child." The Commander's voice brought the pilot back from his thoughts.

"Wha..?" Shini looked around, carefully avoiding the Commander's face. "Oh, that? What did you want? For us to be beaten one by one? If you don't want your orders disobeyed, don't give stupid orders. Leave the combat strategy to Misato, thank you very much; she actually knows what to do."

At a minute nod from the Commander, the jailer punched Shinji close to his left kidney. The kid swallowed a scream. He only gritted his teeth and glared at Commander Ikari.

From behind laced fingers, Gendo drawled, "Do not disobey my orders again, Third. A longer stint in the brig would be the lesser of your problems, is that understood?"

Through clenched teeth, Shinji answered, "…Yes…" he knew what Gendo would say next. It was perfectly obvious.

Just as expected, Commander Ikari leaned forward a couple of inches, still keeping his hands laced in front of his face, hiding his eyes behind his orange tinted shades. "Yes, what?"

"Yes… …sir." Shinji gasped through clenched teeth, his head held low.

Satisfied, Gendo smiled behind his hands. "Take him back to his cell."

The jailer saluted, "Yes, sir." Roughly, he picked up Shinji by the arm and pulled him out of the office, almost making him fall down again.

Once away from the lair, Shinji allowed himself a very small, controlled smirk. 'Everything goes according to plan.' He thought, wincing a bit, that damned punch had hurt! 'And you, my dear jailer friend, are in for a bit of justice later. Once it can't interfere with my other plans.'


Space, High Orbit
Over Madagascar.
Same Time

A mass of dark dots coalesced in high orbit. Inside it, the 14th Angel appeared. Zeruel studied the planet below, looking for the origin of the signal calling it to its creator. Once it was located, it would teleport to a close location, and proceed to its destination. Porting too close to the origin of the signal would scramble it for too long a time.

Unlike his predecessor, Sahaquiel, Zeruel wasn't a kinetic bomb. It was equivalent to a combination of tank and a tool of destruction Mankind didn't have a name for.

It was the 14th Angel; Zeruel, the Angel of Might.

Able to resist and deliver incredible amounts of damage. Even for Angelic standards, Zeruel was ridiculously resistant to damage. Its AT Field was practically impervious to any damage. And even if an enemy managed the improbable feat of getting through the ATF, Zeruel's body was practically indestructible. A double shield could provide extra protection for its core.

Its ranged attacks were also ludicrously powerful. The monomolecular folding weapons at its sides had a very long range, and were able to cut through anything humans had ever created, they were able to cut a mountain into thin slices. The only thing that could conceivably stop them, was Zeruel's own AT Field, or one of similar power. Zeruel's energy blasts were almost as powerful as Ramiel's, though much less versatile, and the energy dissipated over a much shorter distance.


Matsuhiro Secondary NERV Base Ruins.
Sublevel 26, 500 meters away from the 13th Angel Crater.

Laveth lay down on a hard mattress. Finally, her headache had begun to recede. She sat up with a single, graceful movement. Her small army of spiders awaited her orders with the patience of a hunter. Tentatively, Laveth stood up, ready to sit down in case her head decided to burst in pain again.

"You." She pointed at a grouping of small spiders, all completely black, except for two red marks over their abdominal sections. They were close to the size of Laveth's thumb. Obediently, the spiders skittered towards Laveth. They stopped next to the drow's left foot, and waited. Laveth orders would be obeyed without doubt nor hesitation. "You will explore behind that door. Find what's on the other way. See if it is safe for me to go through. If it isn't, come back and inform me."

Immediately, the spiders departed to follow her orders. One by one, they wriggled their small bodies into the door, moving through the minute cracks. And disappearing behind the steel.

Laveth glared at the big sigil painted over the door. "Soon, NERV, soon all your power will be mine. I'll rip your secrets from your mind and eat your flesh. I'll drape your skin over my throne, and your skull will top my scepter. So swears Laveth!"

She sat on the strange rolling chair she had claimed, and put her feet over a rolled up mattress.

While she waited for the return of her scouting spiders, Laveth opened a ration package and began to eat.


Tokyo-3
Alley Behind New Star Mall
Same Time

Grurruk grunted. He had robbed several humies in the last few days, and the earning were indeed slim. He had no idea how come these weakling humies could wear such fine and delicate clothes and hardly carry any coins on them!

It was as if they were poor or something. Not a single gold piece, hell and damnation! Not even silver coins! There were a few copper pieces, minted with strange designs Grurruk had never seen before. But most of their coins were made of a strange metal.

It had taken a few attempts, but finally Grurruk thought he had enough to pay for a meal and a bed at some inn. He had been on the lookout for one at the docks, but the place was eerily clean, full of noisy machines with sizes that were unconceivable to the half-orc. And not a single grimy inn on sight.

He had stolen some food from street vendors carts, using his strength to avoid being captured, but he had learned to evade the brightly painted wagons roaming the streets. The lights hurt his eyes, and the constables inside tended to arrive in groups. He wasn't about to mess with them after they had called the lightning on him! (3)

He was looking around for a place to sleep, when he heard some high-pitched voices.

Goblins! He was in luck! If he could catch the leader of the gang, he would get his own little gang of minions. Gurruk hid behind a dumpster, and waited, listening carefully, waiting for the right moment to strike at the group.


Tokyo-3
GeoFront, Evangelion Cage 3
Same Time

Unit-01 settled into the hardened bakelite.

Inside, Yui Ikari wiped metaphorical tears from her face. She had finally realized her tantrum had accomplished nothing at all, except endanger her mission.

Tentatively, she extended her mind to Cage 2, where Unit-02 stood, indifferent to the world. It had been moved to another cage, almost out of her communication range.

'Kyoko?' she asked, projecting her thoughts. 'Can you hear me?'

Nothing. Barely a distant curiosity, but only for a moment.

'She can't hear you.' A small voice answered instead. It was the voice of a small girl. 'I've tried to play some games with her, but she never listens.'

'Hello?' Yui greeted the voice. 'Is that you, Rei?'

'… Do you know me? Are you my mommy? (4)'

Yui kept silent for a long moment, she didn't know what to say.

'Are you my mommy?' the voice came back again. Full of loneliness and pain. The girl seemed to be about to cry.

Yui took a decision, 'Yes, Rei. I am… I am your mommy. I am sorry for not being here before.'

'Can we… can we play a game?' Rei asked, fearful and hopeful at the same time.

'Yes, we can play. Let me think, I want to choose a very good game for us to play.'

'Okay… I can wait.' The relief in her voice was heartbreaking, Yui swore to herself she would find a way to rescue Rei's soul from her biomechanic prison. A prison she herself had helped to create. Along with a similar prison for Kyoko.

The guilt and regret weighted heavily on her soul.


Tokyo-3
GeoFront, Commander Ikari's Office
Same Time

Commander Gendo Ikari brooded in silence, next to him, Vice-Commander Fujutsuki waited resignedly.

Finally, Ikari spoke, his face half hidden behind his hands. "It seems Yui's influence is limited to actual Evangelion fighting. The Third Child only carries some residual… arrogance outside the EVA. No actual combat abilities translate to the outside world."

"Hmm… I think you are underestimating him."

"I don't think so. He had every opportunity to fight back, back at the brig, or in the way here. He talks big, but doesn't dare to stand for himself when it counts. Let him stew in the brig for two hours more. Then release him. Let him return to Katsuragi's apartment on his own."

Fujutsuki sighed. Once again, Gendo Ikari demonstrated he was too stubborn for his own good. That very same attitude was what had set him in his current course. And with only four Angels to come, trying to make him change course was a fool's errand.


Author Notes:

Escalla, being a faerie, is a shapeshifter, she is also quite the little actress.

A Lich is an undead magic user, kind of an intelligent zombie. They tend to carry on with their particular obsessions once they use a ritual to become undead. And they also tend to be egotists.

Grurruk the orc has experienced the joys of a TASER. He got a nice Saving Throw and managed to flee before being arrested. The Tokyo-3 Police Department has a couple of orders for his arrest, though they only know there is a big guy mugging people. Even if they see him clearly, they would be unable to see his true nature, due to the veil the Shadow put over regular people.

Yup, this is Rei I. I couldn't resist referencing Doctor Who. If you have seen the new series, you have probably seen The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. The Empty Child is one of the creepiest creatures in the series, and "Are you my mummy?" is his recurrent question. It is at once creepy, pathetic, and heartbreaking.


To Shaymin (Guest):

Thanks! It was a very easy dungeon crawl; a bug hunt, if you want. And the party was overequipped.

As you can see, Laveth is not aware of what happened in Tokyo-3, she has been in a bunker in the Matsuhiro secondary base, very far from Rei's old apartment. As she only has her arachnemancer abilities, the exploits of our heroes happened outside her range. And the spiders the party met came from Golarion, not Oerth, so she is not 'tuned' to them. I have different plans for our favorite evil spoiled princess, and she still has a lot to do before meeting Shinji and his friends.

The Spider Princess has only begun her career in Tokyo-3!

Toji isn't actually in a coma, just sleeping due to the Sleep spell being overpowered. He already met a dream emissary, but being a bit slow on the uptake, they still have to talk things through.

Ah, and Laveth is wearing NERV clothes! So, not really valuable.