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).


You're Late to the Party, boss.

Once free of his cell, Shinji walked slowly to the GeoFront exit, deliberately slowing his pace. It would do him no good to show he wasn't as pained as he wanted to show. Five years ago, he might have been woefully prepared for the Justicar's training; in the physical aspect, he was relatively weak and clumsy, but his pain threshold was very high, thanks to the Evangelion sensorial interface. He would pretend to be hurting for the rest of the day, and the next day too, just in case he was observed outside Misato's apartment.

He boarded a bus, and sat carefully in one of the back seats, he didn't like to have anybody behind him. The Justicar's sense of self-preservation, also known as paranoia, had saved their lives more than once. Discreetly, Shinji looked around, disguising his movements as discomfort and residual pain. None of the other passengers gave him the vibe of being Section 2 agents. They had a very particular body language, that had revealed their presence before. Once he saw the bus was free of agents, he relaxed a bit.

Taking out his cell phone, Shinji speed-dialed the number to Misato's apartment. No one answered, the call went directly to the voicemail. He called Asuka, but was sent to voicemail too. Furrowing his brow, he dialed Rei, with similar results. 'What in the name of Cinders' tail is going on?' he thought.

He arrived to an empty apartment, with only the sound of the TV to show there was somebody at home. To his surprise, Tom was placidly sprawled over the couch, his emerald eyes watching an anime show on the TV. "Hey, kid. I think I have to get you up to date while your friends come back. I am officially out of the bag, you know."

Shinji facepalmed. "Of course you are. It's official, the gods do hate me." He sighed, "Very well, Tom, what's going on?"


The group returned home some time later, to find Shinji sitting on the couch, his left ankle resting over his right knee, his right hand loosely griping the armrest, and his left idly caressing Tom's head as if he was some kind of Bond villain, though his wrinkled school uniform spoiled the effect. Still, his features held a seriousness completely out of place in such a young face.

"Glad to see you are all alright. Now, we have a lot to talk about. First, I want to know exactly what happened while you were out. Every. Single. Detail. Where did you go, what did you find. Any wounds you suffered. Everything."

Misato would have laughed at his attitude, had she not seen personally the kind of things that now existed on the world.


Much later

Shinji stood straight in the center of the room, his head held high, his hands at his back, the left loosely clasped in the right. The skin of his arms showing a map of scars.

The image he cut contrasted sharply with how he was before the Twelfth Angel had arrived. The hesitation, the meekness, the shyness that overwhelmed him except in the heat of a desperate battle, all were gone. Replaced with a mind as fast and merciless as a bear trap, and determination enough to assault Hell's Doors.

And win.

He inhaled a controlled breath, and exhaled, looking at everybody present in turn. Misato and Kaji were the most surprised by the change. Hikari had already seen a very small glimpse of his new demeanor. Rei, simply accepted him without any reserves. Rusilka and Limiry didn't knew him from before the Twelfth Angel, but both recognized a warrior forged in battle. Asuka smiled widely at seeing him standing with the bearing of a warlord, or even… a king.

"Let me tell you a story." He said, his voice even. "Once upon a time, there was a little world called Earth. It was a world like many others, full of good and bad people; but mostly, of people who only wanted to live their lives at peace."

He began to pace around the room, almost like a caged panther. But a panther well aware it can get away anytime.

"But there was a secret cabal of old men, who wanted to be gods. Oh, they say they want to cleanse Humanity's sins, but they are willing to commit any sin in pursuit of that goal. Starting with murder at such a scale no one could have even thought it possible. These old men were willing, are willing to kill the world to achieve that insane goal. And so far, they have succeeded. Second Impact was their first blow. The first big step in their plan. The point of no return." He paused, "That they have not gone into the apotheosis they desperately believe they deserve is due to the need to obtain the other half of the key to Instrumentality."

Both Misato and Kaji gasped.

"I see you've heard about it."

"Yeah, I've been investigating it for a long time. Still no closer to the answer." Kaji closed his fists. Even after all these years, it hurt.

Shinji turned around to face Kaji, his face was a mask of stress. "I need you to promise me you will stop. You are this close to being killed," he showed his right thumb and forefinger almost touching each other, "and achieving nothing before you're gone."

"But…" Kaji insisted.

"Promise. And I'll tell you what I do know. The truth behind Second Impact, the how and the why. Even the who. If what I will tell you fits with what you have found out… well… you won't need to keep digging, will you?"

Kaji looked into Shinji's eyes. After a few seconds of thinking harder than ever before, Kaji relented. "I promise. But I'll have to cut ties with… my bosses."

Shinji nodded gravely, "Maybe you shouldn't. Tell me who do you work for. Maybe we can incorporate them in our plans. Enemy of my enemy and all that. Keep in mind that I won't be trusting them blindly. First, we must get to the really important thing. Stop Third Impact from ever happening." His right fist slammed against his left palm.

Misato's brow furrowed, "Isn't that NERV's purpose? The EVA Project?"

"Not really, not in the end. The Angels could detonate Third Impact, that's true; but the old men who make the UN dance to their tune actually want Third Impact to happen, in their terms, and only in their terms. To that end, they founded first GEHIRN and then NERV. To develop the technology necessary to create the EVAs; to make sure their plans proceed as they want. By the Abyss, they even have a way to attract the Angels. Why do you think they come here, to Tokyo-3? And only after the city was built and functional? The other NERV sites are not so heavily defended. It's not by mere chance the Angels attack us here and now." He looked at Misato, knowing her strategic mind was running escenarios, trying to find a flaw in his reasoning. She exhaled a little growl of frustration. And Shinji continued.

"And to top it off, we pilots are the key to their plans. One of us must break down in the right moment," he looked at Asuka's eyes, "in the right way, for Instrumentality to happen. Everything NERV has done is geared towards that goal. We have been manipulated for years. Some of us, before even being born. By the Abyss, one of us was born precisely for this." He looked at Rei for a moment, before she nodded minutely; he nodded back at her. "I'll come back to that later. That's a whole another conversation, Rei. And I can assure you all, what I will reveal to all of you, and to each one of you, will hurt. I've had months to come to terms with my own part in this demented play, and it still frelling hurts." He tapped his chest with the fingers of his right hand.

"Months?" Misato asked. "When? How?"

Shinji waved a hand. "Later. I'll tell you everything; but for now, let's focus on the background info, okay?"

Misato nodded; her brow furrowed.

The male pilot turned to Rei. "I will need your promise too, Rei. And remember this. You are not a tool. You are so much more than a tool. You are NOT replaceable. Never were and never will. You are so much more than what Commander Ikari had molded you into. You are Rei Ayanami. You are. You are unique in this universe and any others. You are you. You are not alone. Never will you be alone again. I won't allow that fate to befell you."

Rei's scarlet eyes misted for a moment. Slowly, she stood up, and her hand touched Shinji's cheek. The same cheek she had slapped months before in a misguided show of loyalty to the only parental figure she had. "I am myself. I am free to choose. I realize that now. I choose. I promise."

Shinji took her hand in his, looking deeply into her crimson eyes, and nodded with a small smile on his lips. "We have to talk, just us, later. There are things that have to be said."

It was Rei's turn to nod. She turned her eyes to look at Asuka, fearing the redhead would be angry at her. She had seen the closeness between Ikari and Soryu. Inexplicably, the German-raised pilot smiled sweetly at her, and saluted her loosely, two fingers to the temple, a flick and a wink.

"Very well. Back to Instrumentality." Shinji continued, while Rei took her seat again, a strange expression on her face. Asuka patted Rei's shoulder, to steady her. Shinji shook his head, "I hate that very word. It is nothing but a melding of souls into a hive mind. And the old men want to be the awareness of that gestalt. Powerful. Eternal. Unopposed."

"And who are they, Shinji?" Misato asked.

"They call themselves SEELE. Our bosses, hiding behind a façade of altruism. The men who have betrayed us all, and who plan to betray us to the 999 Layers of Hell and beyond."

Limiry raised a hand. "Uh, Need some background here, boss."

Shinji nodded. "I'll get to that, Limiry." He squared his shoulders, "Commander Ikari is in league with them, up to a certain point, as he plans on betraying them in turn, but for his own, selfish reasons."

He looked at Rei, the bluenette nodded again. "True. Commander Ikari has his own plans, I am the key to them."

Had a bomb fallen in the room, the effect wouldn't have been greater. Everybody, except for Shinji, turned to look at the First Child with bulging eyes.


"Second Impact was no accident. It was deliberate. The Katsuragi Expedition was the sacrifice SEELE needed to jump-start their apotheosis." Misato's hand almost crushed Kaji's. She was so angry she had no words to express it. Her eyes unfocused, lost in her worst memory. Shinji knelt before her, grabbing her shoulders with gentle firmness. "Control yourself, Misato. Focus on me. Look at me. Look at me!" The sudden change in Shinji's voice brought her back. She shook her head and gasped. Her lips trembled and her eyes misted. Shinji pulled her into an embrace "Shh… shh…" for a couple of minutes, he combed her hair with his fingers, before pushing her away to look at her eyes. "I am here, Misato. Control yourself, come back to us, please. In the name of your family, for justice. For revenge. Come back to us!"

"Shinji, what's happening?" Kaji asked, alarmed. With a shuddering gasp, Misato's eyes focused back into her ward. She nodded twice, a spark of anger smoldering in her eyes. A guttural growl emerged from her throat. She shook her head, exhaled a long breath.

The Third Child sighed in relief when Misato turned her head to look at Kaji. "She was close to regressing. She spent two years as a catatonic patient."

Kaji held her hand, unsure of what to do. "Will she…"

"I doubt it. She is so much stronger now. Aren't you, Misato?"

She turned to look at him again. Her hands opening and closing into fists. An eerie imitation of his own tic. She raised a hand to cover part of her face, as if it physically hurt. "I never thought I would feel this way… so much anger… I feel like I'm going to burn!"

Shinji took her trembling hands, speaking gently. "They will be the ones to burn, Misato. But I'm going to need that wonderfully twisted mind of yours to light the fire. You'll have justice. Asuka, Kaji, Rei, myself. Hikari, Toji and Kensuke too, although you do not know how they have been wronged. We have all been betrayed by SEELE, manipulated to do their bidding." He stood up to his full height, "Well… I say No More. They have a date with justice. They have been judged in absence." He didn't had to say that SEELE had been already sentenced.

He looked at Limiry and Rusilka. "This is not your fight. And yet it is. I don't know how or why you came to this world, along with the creatures you fought. I don't know if Third Impact would harm you or not. But even if it doesn't harm you, it would kill this world, and you after that."

Rusilka laughed bitterly, "I have no family anymore. I can barely remember them since I arrived at your city. Yet my honor is whole and untarnished. I would dishonor my clan if I left you to fight this alone. My arm rises along yours, and my axe shall strike for your family." She pulled her axe from its scabbard, and used the edge to cut one of her braids. She put it in Shinji's hands. "Burn it tonight, when the sun has set. Keep the ring, and use it in your own hair once it is long enough. You will be my battle leader."

Shinji opened and closed his mouth silently. He knelt before Rusilka, his head down. "You do me great honor."

"You have given me a good cause. Honorable. I will walk your path in honor." The dwarven warrior slid her axe back into its scabbard. "To the very end."

Limiry stood up. "My people need change and variety to live. I am the only traveler here. And by Desna's grace, I will walk your path to the end. She will guide us all. How could we do otherwise but triumph?" She smiled beatifically.

Hikari stood next to her tutor. "Desna chose me for a reason, Shinji, I will do what I can to help."

"Thank you. I cannot do this alone." He sat down on the floor. "You did well today, but clearing a nest of spiders is relatively easy. I doubt spiders will be the least of our troubles. I think we must learn to fight together."

He looked at Asuka, "You and I will step up your training as a Wizardress, combat spells could mean the difference between fighting another day or witnessing Third Impact. We must be ready. I need you to be able to cast in a fight. Time to take the gloves off."

An eager smile crossed Asuka's lips. "I was waiting for that, baka. I can't wait to learn how to blow stuff with magic!"

Shinji smiled back at her. "I have a few ideas about the spells we could use from an EVA, spells that could be hidden in our regular attacks."

Rei raised a hand. "Do I have that same capacity?"

Shinji sighed and shook his head. "I don't know, Rei. I need to cast a spell at you to know, but it only works when the subject is sleeping."

"Wait, you cast a spell on me when I was sleeping?" Asuka punched him on the arm. Hard.