The concept of Purgatorio is full of holes, actually. Acording to Antonio's files, material objects can be affected due to being present both in and out of it, but living beings can't interact if outside it. Yet right at the prologue of Bayonetta we see Enzo in the Human Realm being carried by something that is there, and despite at first Bayonetta2 showing the opposite is not valid later it does happen.
But of course, I have an in-story explanation that works out why interaction does happen in this instance, that will be presented later. Shinji understandably is in no shape to notice the inconsistency yet though.
IIIII
Jumping to the side to avoid a charged shot from a demon that holy crap that ripped the ground apart he was forced to take a better look at his situation.
Six demons, six angels. It didn't seem like they expected much opposition, judging by the numbers.
Of the demons, five were Hideous, a mix of a malnourished human and a bat with red scythe-like protrusions along the limbs and as horns in the head, and of those two were armed with scythes, two were with a pair of swords and one was with that overpowered shotgun, while a Hatred, a big and meaner version of a hideous, stood in the back as leader. On the angel side, five were Affinities, white and gold mix of humans and birds, with three-toed arms and legs and a third set of limbs for the wings, wearing tunics and a red mask, with two carrying staffs, two carrying flails and one with a trumpet, which was their equivalent of a rifle even if the bullet was slow, and in the back an Applaud, basically a tall affinity.
IIIII
"Twelve unknown patterns identified! I repeat, twelve unknown patterns identified!" Aida announced.
"What are their colors?" asked Maya, a bit worried.
"Yellow and purple!"
Maya visibly let out a breath of relief.
"Don't worry, it is just a quirk of the hardware from time to time. Every time we send the Security and Intelligence guys to check no one finds out anything."
"Security and Intelligence?"
"It is jokingly known as Section Two."
"Ah. The Men in Black."
Aoba snorted from his station.
"Don't know how you can praise this tech no much when it got glitches like these all the time, Maya."
Unseen by either of them, Unit 01 stirred despite being supposedly deactivated.
IIIII
Shinji quickly jumped to the side to avoid another attack by a hideous with a scythe.
The good thing about fighting a bunch of hideous is that they have absolutely no teamwork, frequently getting on each other's way. The bad thing about fighting a bunch of hideous is that they are a bunch of hideous: fast, strong, durable and umpredictable.
Normally Shinji would be dead already. The only reason he wasn't were two reasons:
First reason, the affinities were also fighting the hideous. No, they weren't protecting him, that was made clear because he also had to avoid attacks from them. But they were organized and more resistant, if weaker and slower, and were giving just as much as hey got. On the side the Applaud fought the Hatred, it wasn't as fast, but its weapon, a bow of arrows of light that could also be used as a pair of whips, made up for the difference.
The second, he had been trained in as much of the arts of the Umbra Witches as was possible, being a male and not having a contract with a demon. Thus, as much as he had barely any time to think, he had enough instincts to avoid being hit, even if he had to use Hikari and Yami to shield himself from time to time. 'Thank you, Rodin.'
Yet that was all he was doing, defending himself. It was frustrating, and Shinji was sure it wouldn't last. Even if he let them duke it out until the last one, there was still the last one.
He had only two real options if he wanted to survive. He could run away and hope he escaped, or he could fight back.
Except that running away wasn't likely. The Lemegeton's Guidebook made it clear that the only way to escape a hideous was by overpowering it. Even if it also said that few could fight them well enough, he had to take the chance.
Seeing a red path appear on the ground, he jumped to the side, letting the hideous in front of him be hit with the other's shotgun. Not giving himself time to see how much damage that did, Shinji charged at the shotgun-wielder, whipping it in the face with his left hand gun, Yami. This did no real damage, but stunned the hideous enough for Shinji to shoot it in the eye with Hikari. This stunned the demon, making it stagger back. And drew the attention of everyone else around.
Taking advantage of it, he did a jab on the demon's neck, shooting it right after and jumping to the side to let a scythe aimed at him take off the demon's arm instead of a piece of his back.
Instead of taking advantage of it though, he was forced to roll further to avoid a flail to the back from an affinity. As the angel tried raising the flail for a second attack Shinji kicked it in the knee, making it stumble and allowing a sword-wielding hideous to hit it in the back, breaking the white armor it wore and letting its gruesome red and purple muscles visible..
No time to check others! He kept rolling, avoiding an attack from the now one-armed demon that had used the shotgun like a club. Instinctively, he shot the demon in the wrist, making it let go of the weapon and back off a bit. Shinji wasted no time on jumping on top of it and trying to shot the demon with it.
The weapon was slow to charge. The demon jumped on top of him, trying to strangle him with its remaining hand, but he resisted the natural urge to let go of the weapon and used its tip to try to push it away, hoping to buy enough time until…
The gun fired, hitting the demon on the side of its chest. It exploded, covering the field with red ichor, and the demon collapsed, soon dissolving in red mist and disappearing, leaving its gun and some crystalized energy behind. Shinji felt the scratches in his throat of where its claws held him, and briefly wondered how powerful a gun that used spiritual energy had to be to have the recoil of a physical gun like this one did.
No time! He rolled to avoid a stomp and a dual stab by a sword-wielding demon that was promptly hit in the head and killed by an angelic flail. The angel's reward for the save was a scythe-wielder jumping on its back and biting its throat out. Shinji replied with a shot to the head that killed it instantly, but the shotgun had only one shot remaining of demonic energy if Shinji was right.
The demons were wary now that they were in the inferior numbers, and the angels were focused on them, so Shinji decided to leave the shotgun for a better opportunity and let it drop to the ground, collecting Yami and Hikari back from the ground. Just in time, for the last scythe-wielding demon decided he was the weakest opponent. He quickly shot it, once in the face to stagger it and once in the knee to knock it down. Not expecting human guns to pack that much of a punch, it was enough to push the demon back. Shinji wasted no time and kept firing, not allowing the demon to advance and distracting it enough for the staff-wielding angel to break its neck.
That left only one more sword-wielding hideous and the hatred, which seemed to be losing to the applaud now that only one of them had long-range support.
Surrounded and alone, the hideous went berserk, attacking everyone in sight indiscriminately. The two staff-wielding angels tried blocking it and distracting it enough for the remaining flail-wielder to finish it, but the demon was faster, grabbing the angel before it could attack and sending it flying over it together with its weapon.
Said weapon flew right beside Shinji's head, leaving a big crater on the ground. Sweating, Shinji looked back to the demon just in time to see it impale an angel on the head while the circle on top of the staff of the other started spinning like a buzzsaw, bisecting the demon when it was swung.
Looking behind him, he saw the hatred being hit with a trumpet shot, leaving it open to the whips of the applaud being used in their bow form and shooting it through the head.
IIIII
"Purple signatures are gone!" announced Aida.
"Told you," replied Maya, happily.
"But the yellow ones are still there… well, most of them."
"They will go away too after a bit. Don't worry about it."
IIIII
And with that, the last of the demons was gone. Shinji let go a sigh of relief. He may have had a lot of energy, physical and spiritual, thanks to his training, but that many opponents aiming to kill him, while using weapons that use up his spiritual energy…
However, Shinji still was not safe, apparently, for now he was surrounded by the remaining angels, who while beat up, most of them with their armor almost completely broken becoming a gruesome red mass (with some green and purple) of exposed muscles and pus, still seemed spry enough to beat him up if he tried to escape.
The applaud, seemingly worse for wear among them but holding its whips as tightly as the others held their own weapons, stood in front of him.
"Unlike the demons, it is our preference if you came with us alive," the angel spoke in Enochian.
"Not enough to ask for me to go willingly?" Shinji countered, angry.
"With your association with the once wielder of the Left Eye, we imagined you would be… undisposed to hear our words. Besides…"
Shinji could feel a staff digging on his back.
"Your will was never in our mind on this matter."
"Tsk. As arrogant as she said."
"You do not seem to be much better."
"Well, you just said you wanted me alive."
"No, we said it was our preference," replied the affinity behind him.
"Besides…" continued the Applaud ominously, "you'd be surprised what you can live through…"
Shinji heard a trumpet sound, and quickly threw himself down, letting the ball of energy fly over him.
"That is unfortunate. That was supposed to knock you out painlessly. Seems like we will have to… rough you up if you are still unwilling."
"You guys are not very angelic."
"It is but a matter of perception."
Shinji looked around. Three affinities remaining, one for each weapon, plus the applaud. In the ground, the demonic shotgun, almost out of energy, one shot tops, a pair of demonic swords and an angelic flail.
"Guess I have no choice."
That comment made the angels relax… big mistake. Shinji took advantage of it to jump to the side, right where the shotgun was. As soon as he caught it he rolled to the side, finger in the trigger, avoiding a staff attack and hitting the biggest target: the applaud.
Normally that would not be enough and just make it angry, but after the fight with the hatred it became weak enough, the shotgun strike exploding it in golden energy that solidified in halos. The shotgun itself disappeared in purple energy, but that didn't form anything, most of it already spent with the shots.
Of course, losing their leader made the other angels angry instead.
They screamed, their throat bulging like a croaking frog, and Shinji could see them covered in red energy.
Not wasting time, Shinji stood up and grabbed the demonic swords. Just in time for the enraged angels became faster and stronger, as the staff strike he blocked could attest.
Evading a flail strike, he ran as fast as he could in the direction of the trumpet angel, evading a shot. Luckily for him, as much as it was faster to fire it was a slower shot than the demonic shotgun. One sword strike threw out the angel's aim, letting him free to cut the angel in half with the sword…
That was weird, too easy. But he had no time to think about it, probably a mix of the angel's previous wounds and the demonic sword's supernatural sharpness.
He turned around, swords flying instinctively to block the staff aimed for his back. He was now on a safer territory. Just two opponents, still plenty unfair but he was used to it being trained by misses Cereza and Jeanne. Of course, he always lost to them easily, but at least he had some experience with these numbers.
Jumping to the side to avoid the swinging flail, he kept attacking the angel with the staff.
Uselessly. All his attacks were blocked.
The angel, non-entertained, swung its staff, hitting Shinji in the face and knocking him to the ground, his glasses flying away.
And thus Shinji found out that he could see them now without them.
The other angel approached the fallen boy, flail spinning over its head, and sent it down. Shinji waved his arm uselessly, instinctivelly trying to knock the flail out of the way to his chest.
IIIII
"Another pattern!" said Aida, this time once more excited. "And you won't believe it!"
Maya quickly went to check what it was.
"It can't be!" she exclaimed, and looked at the Eva cages to make sure its occupant was still there.
For that was the signature of Eva-01.
IIIII
Keyword, instinctively.
Shinji felt a strong pressure in his arm, but much less than he expected. Then a couple of orange hexagons coming from the impact point at an angle.
The angle was enough to throw the attack to the side, hitting the ground beside his head but leaving him alive.
No time to think it through, Shinji grabbed the chain of the flail and pulled, bringing the surprised angel close enough to hit it with a punch, his hand covered in a weird orange energy.
Its head caved, and it exploded in energy. And halos.
Shinji quickly created another energy shield just in time to block a staff attack from the last angel.
And another.
His third one was created before the strike was made, which taught him an important lesson: do not create these weird shields before the strike is made. They only lasted for a second, as his arm learned as the strike passed the already dissipated shield and gave it what Shinji was sure was at least a hairline fracture.
The angel then made its staff start spinning as a buzzsaw once more, clearly thinking it was not worthy to capture him alive anymore…
And dropped the staff in surprise as a fist passed through its head.
IIIII
Gendo Ikari was not an emotive man. In fact, many would call him emotionless.
The fact is, after his wife's death he cast away most of his emotions. Became extremely objective-driven to be able to focus himself in something other than the loss and guilt.
The Third Child, the person he once called son, had asked for a private conversation. So he came to have such a conversation, knowing Captain Katsugari would be out. He did not have any emotional investment, not anymore, but he knew avoiding such a conversation would have detrimental results on the Third Child's professionalism.
He saw the Third going to a nearby park, and followed from a distance, making sure they were alone. It wasn't so hard, Tokyo-3 was getting less and less populated after the Angel attack.
Then the Third Child started jumping around, and… things started breaking for no visible reason?
He saw the Third Child put on his glasses and start acting like in a brawl. He had to admit, he was well-trained. But that was all, trained. It was clear that whatever he was fighting had the experience he lacked. The small patches of damage here and there made clear that whatever he was fighting was also fighting something else though, so the training and survival instincts were being enough for now.
He briefly wondered if he should interfere. Losing the Third Child would be a huge blow to the Scenario, but the opponents being invisible meant that his interference could become a liability instead.
Soon though, it seemed his help would have been unneeded. Whatever invisible force the Third Child had been fighting against had been defeated, and he was communicating with his allies…
Or so it seemed. He was only hearing one side of the conversation, but what he was hearing was worrying. He really needed to have an amicable or at least neutral rapport with the Third.
The struggle restarted, and it seemed that these opponents were more experienced, or maybe it was just that they now had only one opponent instead of whatever else they were fighting before. Soon the Third was on the ground, his glasses at Gendo's feet, and the commander of Nerv had no choice but to try to interfere—
Did Shinji create an AT Field by himself just now?
Stunned, Gendo grabbed Shinji's glasses and took a look through the lenses… and was finally able to see what the Third was fighting.
No more a liability, he approached slowly, for the Third seemed to not be on mortal danger anymore but still at risk of being damaged.
As seen as the opponent was distracted doing something with its weapon, Gendo used the military training he had to toss a punch. A textbook perfect one, would probably knock any person down. Not fighting a person, he prepared to avoid a retaliatory attack, but nothing could have prepared him for his punch going through the being as if it was just a fog.
Third was smart and got out of the way, but Gendo was in a conundrum. How to fight against something that he could not touch but that probably could touch him, judging by the way it was waving its weapon?
His question was answered by the Third, who shot the being in the leg with one of those toy guns he carried that according to Security and Intelligence held no bullets. Apparently he had to fire someone.
Then the Third wielded a black and golden flail like the one one of the beings had used before and smashed the side of his opponent, knocking it uncounscious.
Wasting no time, the Third pointed his gun to the creature's head.
"Stop Third," he said in an authoritarian tone, "I wish this creature to be analyzed."
"No offense intended father, but this creature is stronger than a human, and as you noticed it can't be touched by normal beings but can touch them. My weapons were specially created to fight against them but I have no idea how I was able to hit them myself."
"My car is reinforced, and you can move it enough to lock it there even if you don't know why. Come, and bring it. Alive." And thus Gendo left for his car.
Shinji was annoyed, but obeyed. But not before collecting the orbs and halos.
IIIII
On the way to the Geofront, Gendo decided it was his chance to get some answers.
"I believe this is isolated enough for us to have our conversation. Now, what is that? I do not recall Ferino ever mentioned those creatures."
"You know Enzo?" Shinji looked at his father, surprised.
"Of course, I had him keep an eye on you after your sensei died. You are important to me Third."
"Yes, because I can pilot the Eva," Shinji grumbled.
"No, not only because of that," Gendo disagreed, but refused to say any more.
"If that is true, why did you only call for me now? Why did you abandon me?"
"I believe I made it clear that I called you because I had a need of you," Gendo answered. "And I do not consider ridding someone who hates me of my presence abandoning them."
"I did not hate you then," Shinji argued.
"I distinctly recall you saying that you hated me because I killed your mother. Which I'd like to reiterate that I did not."
Shinji gaped.
"Are you telling me that the reason you sent me away was because I blamed you for mom's death when I was a confused four years old that just lost her?"
"You did not sound confused."
"Four. Years. Old. That just lost his mom."
"I never said I was good at child psychology. Or at parenting."
Shinji sighed, frustrated.
"Can we at least try to get along now, then?"
Gendo frowned.
"I do not believe so. As I said, I am not good at parenting like Ferino. We could try at least to be professional to each other. In fact, the only person I socialize with outside professionally nowadays is doctor Akagi, and only for sexual relationships without any actual romance on my part."
"There is something called "too much information", father. But I understand."
Silence filled the car once more.
"Is that all you wanted to talk about? Then, tell me about this creature and how you were able to create AT Fields on your own."
"Well, I contacted someone to come visit me here earlier that could probably explain it better than me."
"I will ask these questions for them later then. For now I want your report."
Shinji took a deep breath.
"A long time ago, there was a big struggle. I mean, really big. So big it split the universe in three… frequencies, I guess we could call them. They are known as Paradiso, or heaven, the world of Light, Inferno or hell, the world of Darkness, and our realm, the world of Chaos.
That thing in the trunk is an angel. An actual angel, not like the giant ones we fight. Actual angels are from Paradiso, those are actually a race that once competed with us for which would evolve and control the planet. I have no idea how we took over though, or why they are back besides them causing Second Impact somehow."
"I have. It is confidential. Continue your report."
"Oh, ok. Well, angels are from Paradiso and demons, you probably missed them since you couldn't see them, are from Inferno. And between the worlds there is Purgatorio. It is like a bridge between the worlds, living beings from this side can see beings in it with special equipment like my glasses or by using mirrors but can't interact, but unfortunately the other two aren't limited like that. But physical objects can interact both ways, which is why a gun or sword works. Mine are special in that they are fed with my spiritual energy instead of actual bullets, me working as the power source."
He then looked at his hand. "Or so it is told. But… I hit them while there, somehow. I didn't even notice at the time, but…"
"I see. Do you think your… contact will know more?"
"Yes, I'm sure of it. Either she knows something, or she has someone to ask. I do not know how much about her I can tell you though."
Gendo nodded.
"You said objects are able to interact with them? Would that apply to diagnostic tools?"
"Clothes aren't, so I'm not sure about objects held. But computer-controlled ones should have no problems…"
"That should be enough," Gendo finished the conversation, drawing his own cellphone, not noticing Shinji's eyes closing.
IIIII
"Remarkable," said Ritsuko.
"So, this is the source of the yellow patterns?" asked Maya, as they analyzed some results of the scans made.
"Yes, it is only visible when using a special filter. My belief is that the same applies to the purple patterns."
"Speaking of 'belief'… do you… believe Shinji's story?"
"Don't you?" Ritsuko asked back, raising an eyebrow.
"W-well, it does sound a little… unscientific… to me."
"I've seen many things current science cannot explain while working on Project Evangelion, Ibuki. This is just one.
I'd like to remind you that most scientific laws are actually classified as theory. It does not mean they are invalid, but it does mean they are unproven, incomplete. Mostly because it is impossible to prove, just to prove otherwise, in which case the theory should be revised.
This is just proof otherwise of a few theories. It does not mean that we should throw away what we know, but that we have to adapt to the new."
"I see. So it is not that it is unscientific, but that science still had no way to check it."
"Exactly," said a voice behind them, making Maya spin scared to face Commander Gendo.
"Report on your analysis of the glasses."
"The glasses, sir?" Maya asked, still nervous.
"The Third Child was attacked by beings only visible with the glasses. His and the First's protection takes priority."
Ritsuko nodded, and gave him the glasses in question.
"They are apparently normal glasses, but possess an energy field that serves as a filter, allowing us to see the beings in… 'Purgatorio'." Despite her previous words, you could feel her contempt about using such a religious term.
"An energy field?"
"It is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike an AT Field."
Gendo just raised an eyebrow.
"An AT Field has a biological signature. Most living beings have an AT Field actually, when we detect a pattern, we are basically detecting the stronger ones. This has a signature similar to an AT Field, but it has no biological component, in fact no known source for the energy.
I was able to replicate it using technology, but our version does need energy to work," she said, giving him special spectacles that covered the ears. "Since I'd need to add a battery anyway, I added a small radio."
"Acceptable," Gendo said. Coming from him, it was a compliment. "Also take a look at these, Third acquired them from the enemies he defeated during this one's capture," he finished, holding out a halo and a demon orb.
Ritsuko promptly put them in a beaker each and used something not unlike a Geiger counter on them.
"I already expected something like this… These appear to be… solidified AT Fields."
"Patterns?"
"Yellow for the golden halo, purple for the crystal."
"Apparently it is called an 'orb'. This is all for now, I'll add to your budged so Security and Intelligence can get some of the equipment. Send one to Captain Katsugari, if she is to take care of the Third then she better be briefed." Gendo then left the room, thoughtful.
The information he got was very clear on the Angels to be thought. Yet here were not only extra angels, but an army of them, aimed at his—the Third Child.
He would have to make changes at the last minute to the Scenario if he expected it to work, for he was currently working with extremely limited information. But one thing he knew: those two other races would be a problem.
IIIII
Shinji slowly opened his eyes…
"Oh, not this ceiling again…"
With a sigh, Shinji stood up from the infirmary's bed… just to fall back right away due to the pain in his back.
"Oh right… I got a flail to the back… kinda surprised I lasted long enough to talk with my father."
Absentmindedly he noticed his arm was just tied with bandages, good. That meant that it had been just dislocated, not broken. He got one of the big lollipops on the bedside tables, a mega green herb one. He slowly began to feel better as the effects began.
"Come on, wail it on me. How bad was I?"
"You did pretty well, considering how new you are at this," came the answer. "That was your first battle outside training, you know."
Miss Cereza still wore the same clothes from the last time they met. A skintight black suit with diamond openings in the back of the legs, a big one on her back, and long-sleeved white gloves. It also had some silver details in the front.
It seemed to be mostly leather, but Shinji knew it was made from her hair, that despite looking short was actually kept like that by magic.
"I mean, counting from the halos and orbs you fought seven angels and demons each?"
"Six actually. One was an applaud and other a hatred. And they mostly fought each other."
"Still, you survived being surrounded by twelve enemies mostly by yourself. Good job for a first battle."
"Second, actually. First I fought an Angel on the being I contracted with."
"Oh right, I heard about it. Well, you were still at a disadvantage both times, and one previous battle where it is the giant robot that moves does not count that much. It was still a good fight."
"Thank you, miss Cereza. Coming from you, it means a lot. How long have you been there?"
"Just arrived. Jeanne brought me on her motorcycle," she answered, resting herself against the wall.
"I told my father you were coming, he used my glasses during the fight and saw an angel and wanted answers, hope you don't mind."
"Not really, I need answers myself," replied Bayonetta. "Although I already got an idea of some of those. What about you? Any idea what you got from your contract yet and what you have to pay back?"
"Some," Shinji replied frowning. "I seem to be stronger and more resistant, and seems like I can use a shield of something called AT Field for half a second a time." He punctuated by creating one and hitting it on the side of the bed, creating the hexagons he associated with AT Fields. "Oh, and I can see and touch them without the glasses or being in Purgatorio.
No payment asked for yet though."
"I see…" Bayonetta said, and started walking a bit around the room. "I'll have to talk with Rodin, but I have an idea of what is going on… and what your price is."
"You do?" Shinji repeated, sitting up.
"There are some people able to see them without special glasses or a contract; I used to be one as a kid. But to touch them outside Purgatorio would require an out of body experience… which is basically leaving your body behing and your soul travelling through Purgatorio by itself."
"But… I had my body with me."
"Yes, you did. But you were not in Purgatorio. Which means one of two things: either your body or your soul is halfway in there from now on. Either way…"
"Chances are that, if I die here, I stay there. Forever."
IIIII
Ritsuko Akagi looked distrustfully at the lollipop in her hand. Yes, she just told First Lieutenant Ibuki about science adapting to new discoveries, but nothing in all her experiences could explain how a lollipop could have helped the Third Child heal so quickly from his injuries like they claimed.
Of course, the woman claimed to be a witch. Able to walk on walls under the moonlight, slow down time for herself, make clothing out of her hair, and summon beings with said hair, or even just part of them as she showed when just a pair of wings that did allow her to fly. Oh, and was apparently over five hundreds years old.
And of course, according to her most of those things came from a contract with a demon, so normal science would be unable to explain them.
But she worked in Project Evangelion. Really, normal science? Pah! Normal science can't explain the AT Fields, and normal probability would have them dead a hundred times over already.
But she was still a scientist, and thus she wanted, needed to know how such things worked.
"It is an alchemic compound made from herbs from Purgatorio," Cereza said. "It stimulates the vital energy, accelerating the body's natural healing."
"In other words, it makes you heal faster, but doesn't heal by itself," explained Jeanne, a white-haired woman in a red bikers jumpsuit and another witch. "If you lose an arm or something else you can't heal, it won't help."
"Don't worry, she has no big damages on her body. We just wish her to be able to pilot as soon as possible."
Ayanami just closed her mouth, confused, after Ritsuko put the lollipop inside it.
"Yeah yeah, it'd take a load out of the child's back if someone else was fighting those big thugs too," Cereza waved her hand dismissively. "He'll need it now."
"Yes, we would appreciate an explanation of why the Third Child was attacked by these… angels from Paradiso," Gendo said emotionlessly, Misato putting a hand on Shinji's shoulder for emotional support. He smilled back at her in thanks, but truthfully he was feeling much better already with misses Cereza and Jeanne there.
"Well, what do you already know?" Jeanne asked. Gendo replied by repeating the information Shinji gave him.
"That's mostly it, really," said Cereza. "Besides that, Paradiso is full of entitled arses, Inferno has many powerhungry arses, and they couldn't be arsed to meddle into this war because they didn't care who won… until the child somehow made a contract with his giant cyborg artificial Angel… thing."
"Evangelion, miss Cereza."
"Yeah, that."
"Now they want the power of such a combination of the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life for themselves, the demons by eating his soul and the angels by converting him in one of them, by force if needed," finished Jeanne.
"And what does this contract gives either of them?" Gendo asked… apprehensive?
"Who knows?" replied Cereza. "It is the first contract of this kind. Usually the human gets powers from their sponsor in exchange of some payment, like me and Jeanne having to kill angels, and we are fated to the sponsor's realm after death."
"Inferno is not a happy place," interjected Jeanne.
"In exchange we get powers from them, and in the case of the Umbra Witches near unlimited lifespan if we keep doing our payments. Oh, and we can summon our sponsors. This benefits both, I believe,
But the child's isn't a conventional contract."
"Don't ask me, ask him. Child, are you sure there is nothing you have to do? Even if you don't know why?"
"I'm sure miss Cereza, all I have was what we talked about earlier."
"Weird… so you are stronger, harder, maybe faster, can interact with Purgatorio and can use that AT Field thing… and the only idea we have of what could be your side of the contract is—"
"Wait, did you just said he can use an AT Field?" Ritsuko interrupted, eyes wide.
"Well… sort of. I can make a shield for half a second that works just like the one of the Angel and once used that energy to power a punch… no idea how though."
Cereza turned to Jeanne.
"Do you think it was the same as a Wicked Weave or a Torture Attack?"
"A Wicked Weave," Jeanne answered. "For a Torture Attack he would feel like bursting with energy first, no?"
"Maybe, but he was in the middle of a serious fight and never knew how those powers felt."
"Excuse me," interrupted Ritsuko, "What are Wicked Weaves and Torture Attacks?"
Cereza sighed in annoyance. Ritsuko wasn't sure she liked her much.
"Wicked Weaves are attacks that use a bit of our sponsor's energy to either strengthen the power or speed of an attack or summon part of the sponsor to attack together with us. Torture Attacks use the energy the witch charges with adrenaline to make a super strong attack, normally by summoning an attacking device, but that drains that charged energy," Cereza explained.
"Think of it as, Wicked Weave a stronger attack powered by magic, Torture Attack a much stronger magic attack charged through the battles," Jeanne shortened.
"But that's not important right now!" interrupted Misato. "The Eva isn't a demon, or an angel. We had no idea this kind of angel even existed before! Why were they attacking Shinji?"
"Because the Eva is a cyborg artificial Angel," replied Jeanne.
"You said this before. How do you know that?" Ritsuko asked, surprising Misato that didn't know that much about the Evangelion.
"The child mentioned it when he called me," replied Cereza.
"And how did he know?" she asked, turning her eyes to the pilot.
"Oh, she told me. She can talk to me in my mind, but even she has no idea what the contract does. She refuses to tell me much though, not even her name…" he finished with a frown.
"Back to your question," continued Jeanne, "The two sides are neutral on the war between the two races, but by making a contract with an Angel, even an artificial one, Shinji here got the mind of a human with the power of an Angel… when he figures out how to use it. So both sides want to… 'recruit' him now."
"Which we won't let," said Cereza with a seriousness that contrasted heavily with her carefree attitude until now.
"I see," said Gendo, pensative. "Captain Katsugari, take these two women and the Third Child to the cafeteria. It is around lunch time."
"Oh, do not worry yourself. We know the way, passed through it on the way here," Jeanne told them. Then the two entered Purgatorio and left the room.
"Well, I better take you then Shinji!" Misato said happily, dragging the boy by the arm.
"Third, I need you in my lab after your lunch to make some tests about your recovery," Ritsuko announced to the duo, getting a reply from Shinji just as the door closed.
"They are not aware that Eva-01 was made from Lilith and not Adam," Gendo announced as soon as they were alone.
Ritsuko nodded. "And with the way he was attacked, doubt the attackers know either. What will we do now?"
"Nothing. This changes nothing," Gendo said emotionlessly as he went on his way to the door.
"It doesn't?" she asked, stopping the man. "They are more connected than ever now. His synchronization when inside the Eva is of exactly a hundred percent. Who knows how this will affect your plans?"
Ritsuko smirked as Gendo resumed walking.
IIIII
Gendo was angry. Heaven and hell themselves were on his way now.
Not that that would stop him. But Eva-01 and the Third Child were irreplaceable for his plans… specially Eva-01, he had plans to turn Third obsolete soon.
Keyword, had.
Damn it all. This was all the Third's fault!
Yet, he could not alienate the Third, or even substitute him in his plans anymore. For if something happened to him, what would happen to Eva-01?
What would happen to his Yui?
IIIII
"We should train them," Jeanne said after they were finally got far enough of the Nerv employees. "Not just Shinji, that Rei girl too."
"Why? Why leave it at their hands at all? Why not take care of it ourselves?" Bayonetta asked with a pout.
"Because," Jeanne rolled her eyes, "it involves neither the Light or the Darkness. You told me yourself that the future in humanity's hands now, this is humanity's struggle. According to Rodin the two sides are at a stalemate, and there is no way to keep them in check anymore. If we act, Paradiso will react. If Paradiso reacts so does Inferno. We may end up with a second Armageddon."
"But they are already involved. The child—"
"Is the loophole for both realms. He has the powers of both sides in the war now, and thus is neither human or Angel for them anymore. They won't let the other affect anything else, but for them he is conveniently a gray area they can go for."
"And we can't keep an eye on him forever," Bayonetta agreed. "Fuck!" she said, punching her palm.
"Alright, we will train them. But I'll train the child, you train the girl."
"You know Cereza, I've been curious… Why is it that you call the kid 'child' while you called the others 'little one'? I never noticed before, but with the others always calling him Third Child, it just came to mind."
Bayonetta stopped on the spot, looking pensive.
"His eyes. When we met, even if he was a brat Loki held some innocence and life in it. Little me, I was pure it. But Shinji… he just felt…
Dead inside. Broken."
She stopped in the middle of the hallway, looking at where she was sure the Evangelion was being kept while deactivated.
"He stopped being a child. It had been snuffed by his circumstances. He had been forced to become a man, but became brittle by it.
So I decided to give him a childhood back."
She turned around, looking at Jeanne's eyes.
"I called them little ones because they weren't grown up yet. Shinji is grown wrong, so I want him to become a little one."
Jeanne nodded, and they continued walking.
"I think I'll try to apply to their school as history teacher," Jeanne announced suddenly.
"Nice going. Wish I could do something like that now…"
"You can, you know," Jeanne said with a smile, "with our training we are more than qualified for teaching physical education."
"But I don't have any official graduation."
"I'm sure we can get you them if we talk to the right people. And since we are now involved with this place, it would be—"
That had been enough for now. Unknown to them, a green eye closed under its helmet and its owner went back to sleep.
IIIII
Well, this is it for chapter 2.
As you probably noticed, I change the way to address Bayonetta depending on which character it is focused on. Hope it doesn't become annoying.