Previously on

The Crisis of Infinite Shinjis

Shinji Ikari, pilot of Mobile Suit Evangelion Unit 1 awoke to a living nightmare. His world was invaded, its people put to the sword, and the skies set aflame by an army of darkness led by... himself.

Outgunned, outnumber, and trapped aboard the hellish Astartes Battle Barge Shikinami, the flagship of the Crimson Vengeance, the Legiones Astartes Second Legion led by the Primarch Iquarius and his sinister allies, Shinji was forced to flee when his suit's onboard computer triggered an experimental hyperspace jump drive that carried him out of his native universe...

...and into a hostile realm dominated by monstrous aliens that overran the world and destroyed Nerv. Again forced to flee, he jumped without first supplying a destination and found himself in the strange, otherworldly realm of the Yellow Aliens and their Great Atrium that houses Yggdrasil, the World Tree. The Aliens charged Shinji with a vital mission: Gather an army of heroes and defeat The Adversary, the alternate version of himself who started the war and now threatens to unravel all of space and time in his mad quest to achieve his sinister ends, whatever they may be.

Meanwhile, Emmett Brown and Marty McFly found their universe thrown into chaos as a terrifying event in their future began cascading backwards through time, threatening to consume them as the entire multiverse begins to skew towards a single disaster- Third Impact.

Asuka, a native of Iron Shinji's universe, was unable to escape and fell into the sinister clutches of the Primarch, whose mad goal requires him to collect Asukas from across the multiverse... and he has a particular interest in her.

To have any chance in defeating his foes, Shinji gathered the Autobots, Maximals, and a team of professional paranormal eliminators, who were strange, otherworldly variants of the people he knew from his own life. In addition he gathered an alternate universe version of himself known as the Hunter, from a strange and disturbing world overrun by the living dead.

The assembled heroes quickly found themselves charged with the task of leaping headlong into an invasion of the universe known as Neon Genesis Evangelion: Valkyrie, a world in turmoil fused with the Marvel Universe. As the Adversary and his forces invaded the found themselves confronted by a gathering of heroes, all variants of the Evangelion cast we know and love. Among them are, of course, Shinji and Asuka, powerful mutants, and Hikari Horaki, formerly Spider-Girl, now chosen to wield the legendary Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor.

Although the forces of evil were forced to retreat, they did not leave the champions of the multiverse unscathed. The world of Valkyrie has neither pilots nor functioning Evangelions, Shinji and Asuka having been kidnapped by the enemy, while Unit One has been consumed by the Adversary himself and Unit Zero was destroyed previously.

Now, the Adversary sets his sights on his most dangerous opponent, the living embodiment of his world's hopes and dreams for a better future... Shinji Ikari, the son of Kal-El, the Last Child of Krypton...

SUPERMAN.


No matter how many times he took to the air, the first thought in Shinji's mind was I can fly.

Now, more than ever, he would fly for the sheer joy of it, throw his arms out and sail through the morning sky, skimming over the rooftops or rolling through the clouds. Today, though, his mind was clouded by dark thoughts. Someone claiming to be his dead father had appeared, proclaiming an incoherent prophecy of doom. The only thing he could do in this situation was take to the air. There were other issues he had on his mind.

Asuka was pregnant.

The thought exhilarated and terrified him at once. He was going to be a father. He, Shinji Ikari, would have a son or daughter. At the same time, Ritsuko was worried. She put it bluntly- Asuka did not have child bearing hips, and even for the only doctor in the world qualified to deal in Kryptonian anatomy, exactly how the process would go was a mystery to them all. Ritsuko even had Kaji help her forge a Kryptonite scalpel, just in case. Standing there in its eerie glow in a lead lined suit, staring at a tiny chip of the only thing that could kill his wife that might also be the only thing that could save her, he could only feel his heart thunder in his chest.

So he flew.

He flew until the air grew thin, but it didn't matter. He no longer needed to breathe. He could fly so far and so fast that the stars turned red and the world slowed to a standstill. He flew to the Moon to drop off rovers. He and Asuka had celebrated their honeymoon with a trip to Olympus Mons.

Resting on the roof of the world, staring down at it through the clouds, it all seemed so small and fragile.

He heard Asuka's voice as clear as a bell. He learned the unique rhythm of her heartbeat, so no matter where in the world she was; he always knew her precise location.

"Get down here, idiot."

He dove. He let the air force his hands to his sides, felt the pressure on his eyeballs as the sound barrier built up in front of him until all he could hear was the rush of his own vestigial breathing and the beating of his heart. He slowed only when he passed thirty thousand feet, just to be sure not to disrupt any passing air traffic. Tokyo-3 was a bustling world city now, the capital of Japan and a hub of science, technology, and commerce. He was so used to it that when he heard a load of passengers in a jetliner scream his name at his passing, he barely registered it.

Built in the excavated valley that was once the floor of the Geofront, the rebuilt city was a jewel of modern design. Everything was covered with greenery, and Ritsuko's automatons were everywhere. Ever since Third Impact was averted it was like her mind was exploded. She drove poor Maya crazy with her twenty hour days, flitting from robotics to medicine to physics with the aid of the Kryptonian archive stowed aboard the rocket that carried Shinji's Kryptonian heritage to Earth.

Birds were chirping when he landed on the balcony of their apartment.

Asuka was sitting on the bed in a diaphanous maternity gown, clutching her rounded stomach.

He sat down next to her, and rested his hand on her belly. He didn't need to touch her to hear the baby's heartbeat. They hadn't talked about a name yet.

"I can't fit into my stupid uniform anymore," she snapped, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"That's probably for the best," said Shinji. "I mean, if you were flying around pregnant it would be pretty obvious who we were."

"Says mister land on the balcony."

He sighed. "I don't think the neighbors are going to spill our secret. What's wrong?"

"I just feel so… moody. It's like I go from rage to crying every five minutes."

"So what's wrong?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "That's not funny."

He kissed her cheek. "Yes it is."

She giggled. "Ritsuko called. She says she needs your help with some kind of a project."

Shinji sighed. "My help, or…" he tapped the stylized S on his chest.

"His help," Asuka corrected.

Shinji stood up.

"What are we going to name her?"

He sighed. He knew this was coming. "How do we know it's a girl?"

"It's a girl. I'm sure."

"Did you ask Ritsuko? I thought we agreed on a surprise."

"I just know," she snapped. "I'm the one carrying her around all the time."

"If I could, I would"

"You'd look ridiculous. So what do you want to name her?"

He sighed, and scrubbed his hands through his hair. "Kyoko?"

Asuka looked at the floor. "I don't think so. I don't think she'd want that… to make me remind myself of what happened to her every time I look at my child. What about Yui?"

Shinji sighed. "I was… no. I said goodbye to my mother."

Asuka shrugged. "Just think about it."

She put her arm across her chest. "I don't think I'm going to fit into my old suit, anyway. I need something that's unique, you know? Not just yours with a skirt."

Shinji sighed. "Don't you have homework, or something?"

"My dissertation is done. The whole speeding bullet thing and not needing to sleep and all that. You'd better get down to the lab before Ritsuko starts pestering me again."

"Fine," he said, wearily, and stepped out through the bedroom window.

The lab was hard to miss. Ritsuko's Institute was built in the ruins of the old headquarters, the entrance guarded by the hollowed out head armor of Unit One. Shinji shuddered a little every time he passed it. Seeing it pulled up too many memories, but the monument it was part of was for everyone, not just him. When he landed at the front gate, Toji walked out to meet him.

"Hey there, Supes."

Shinji sighed. "We're alone, Toji."

"I know, but it's still cool. How's the wife?"

"Pregnant," said Shinji. "How's yours?"

"A cyborg," said Toji. "If I wasn't secure in my masculinity, I'd be resentful."

Toji was the head of security. Hikari Horaki, his wife, was the Institute's head of security. After she was injured test piloting Evangelion Unit Three, Ritsuko rebuilt her arm, leg, and eye using cybernetic parts of her own design, based on the biological-machine interface the Evas themselves used. She was his superior officer, essentially filling Misato's old job, and moonlighting as Shinji's colleague. They weren't alone. Ever since the war ended, people with… abilities had been popping up all around the world. Some, he'd met, others remained quiet. A few paid a visit to the Institute and introduced themselves.

Ritsuko had a notion to start putting together a team, some sort of league.

The woman herself was waiting for him in the lobby. The years had been kind to her. She'd quit smoking and drinking and coffee, and somehow lost weight while looking fuller and healthier at the same time. She no longer bleached her hair and wore it in a long ponytail that she kept bunched up behind her head while she was at work.

"What is it?" said Shinji.

"Let's go to my office."

Her office was underground. Subterranean construction was part of her plan to revitalize the world- the Earth had been badly damaged by Second Impact and the angel conflict, and even with the population nearly cut in half, the future demanded careful use of resources. Ritsuko's vision was of a green, airy world, full of electric cars and advanced fusion powered technology, a new Eden. Despite its subterranean nature it wasn't Gendo's old grim haunt. If anything, it was surprisingly cheerful. A cat hopped up on Shinji's shoulder and nuzzled into his cheek when he stepped inside. He scooped it off his shoulder and held it out in front of him.

"We haven't met," he said drolly. "Who's this?"

"Her name is Streaky," said Misato. "She's a little experiment of mine."

"Should I be worried?"

"Probably. This isn't a social call, Shinji."

"Is it about our guest?"

"No," said Ritsuko. She pulled a file from her desk and handed it to him. "It's about this."

He flipped the folder open. It looked like a radar image. "What is it?"

"This thing just… appeared in orbit a few hours ago. We've been picking up a signal. It's definitely artificial."

"Alien?" said Shinji. "That's incredible. We've never seen any evidence of alien life. Besides me, I mean."

Ritsuko looked gravely at him. "That's the thing. Rei and I have been going over the signal. We think it's Kryptonian."

Shinji dropped the folder. "What did you say?"

She took a breath. "The signal may be Kryptonian. We think it's a distress call. I-"

"I'm going to check it out."

"Wait!" she shouted, grabbing his arm.

By instinct alone, she slowed. "Take a communicator bead with you. I want to be in constant contact."

He nodded. "Of course. I should be careful. Are you going to tell Asuka?"

Ritsuko sighed. "I'll leave that up to you. I figured you could get there faster than we could send a probe."

He nodded. "I'm going."

He was in hurry. He jammed the comm bead in his ear, half-ran outside, forcing himself to slow. A sonic boom in the lobby wouldn't be very kind to the cleaning staff, or the glass facade of the pyramid. As soon he was outside, he took off. The sound barrier came and went, and he hit escaped velocity almost instantly. Ritsuko warned him not to push too fast, she was still afraid if he hit the speed of light, he'd be frozen in a paradox for all eternity, at least from his perspective.

The air thinned. The sky grew dark as the atmosphere could no longer diffuse the sun's light. He sucked in a breath, never really sure if he actually needed to, as he rocketed out of the upper layers of the troposphere and into low orbit. The Sun was there to greet him, his greatest ally and friend, the source of all his gifts that he was born to share with the world. Its rays on his skin made him feel new again.

By the time he crossed the gulf of space and landed on the moon, the object had already crashed. It was a fair distance from Tranquility base, where he'd proposed to Asuka as they watched the Earthrise. He landed on the surface, kicking up a cloud of dust that hovered in its peculiar, airless way as it worked itself back down. He was careful to step lightly, not kicking up too much dust. When Ritsuko's moon base project got underway, she'd want to study the Moon as it was, not as he left it for her. He tapped his ear.

"Ritsuko?"

"I hear you, Shinji. You're approaching the dark side. We're going to lose comms. Do you see anything yet?"

"No, not yet. Can you still…"

Earth passed out of view, and he heard only static. He tapped the bead to turn it off. He could see the bloom from the radio transmission now, rising over the distant rocks like an alien sunrise. He ascended the nearest boulders and looked out. The vessel that had crash landed on the surface was a much larger version of the same rocket that carried his genetic material and the archive to Earth. Could someone have defied the science council's ban and left Krypton?

He edged nearer, looking for a door. The side of the ship, where it wasn't damaged from the impact, was perfectly smooth. Remembering the rocket, he touched the side. An airlock door appeared and smoothly slid inwards, towards the nose. The ship was easily large enough to hold a crew, perhaps a whole family in some kind of stasis. He stepped inside.

The door hissed shut behind him. The inner door opened. He stepped inside. The ship had a name. Argo.

In Kryptonian.

Cautiously, he moved onto the main deck. Behind him were a number of pods, big enough to hold people. They were all cracked and broken. He rested his hand on the glass, wiping away the grime. Inside was nothing but a withered, mummified form. He didn't look any closer.

He sighed. There were no more survivors.

He needed to find some kind of ship's log. He turned around, opened the door, and stepped into what was most likely the cockpit. There was a pilot's seat, turned towards the control panel and main display. There was someone sitting in it.

Shinji's breath caught. He stepped forward, pausing when the door slammed shut behind him. The captain's seat slowly turned around.

The figure seated in it looked like Shinji. They could have been twins, except that his skin was as white as chalk and his pupils were red, like Rei's once were, his hair a brushed metallic silver, like stainless steel. He was dressed in a simple white garment, draped over his shoulder. He stood up.

"Who are you?" said Shinji.

"Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm a man of wealth and taste."


Kaji stepped into his office, and the bookcase slid closed behind him. He'd been interviewing their guest for hours, with no luck. He was a puzzle, like the intricately linked bands of steel parents give their children to test their problem solving ability, with no clear solution. One moment he was raving, the next he seemed lucid, but nothing he said made any sense. He babbled about the death of universes and the Absolute Enemy and Yellow Aliens. Kaji knew only one thing about him- either he was a clone of Gendo Ikari, or he came from somewhere else, as he claimed.

When he stepped into Ritsuko's office, she didn't notice him. He cleared his throat.

She yelped and jumped out of her seat, almost falling. "Stop. Doing. That."

"Force of habit," said Kaji. "What's so important I had to leave our guest?"

"Six hours ago, I asked Shinji to investigate an anomaly in orbit. I haven't heard from him since he passed around the dark side of the moon."

Kaji felt a cold ball forming in his stomach. "What kind of anomaly?"

"It appeared to be a spacecraft of some kind, signaling for help in Krypton Ian."

Kaji touched his chin. "Have you told Asuka about this?"

"No, not yet. I'm afraid if I do, she'll-"

The door banged open. Asuka stormed inside, in pink pajamas and bare feet.

"Afraid I'll what?"

"Super hearing," said Kaji.

"Afraid you'll go looking for him."

"You're damn right I am," said Asuka. "Get me some clothes that fit."

"You can't do that," said Kaji, seizing her arm.

Her muscles were like coiled steel under his grasp. She could have knocked him through the wall, but she relaxed. "I have to, if-"

"If something happened to him, it can happen to you."

"You can't go into space without some kind of shielding," said Ritsuko. "This is important, Asuka. The baby has never been exposed to yellow sunlight. It may be able to absorb it through you, it may not. We don't want your child being bombarded by cosmic rays."

"I can't just sit here and do nothing. He wouldn't just disappear like this."

"You're right," said Kaji, "but if someone set a trap up there for him, we have to approach it cautiously. I think something is going on."

"What?" said Ritsuko.

"I just got reports from my field agents, McGinnis and Drake. The trail has gone cold on this 'Demon's Head' group. It's like they've vanished from the face of the Earth."

"You think they're connected?"

"I don't know."

"I don't care about that," Asuka snapped. "My husband is missing."

Ritsuko sighed. "We'll take the shuttle. I have a space suit for you, Asuka. Give me a minute to make some calls. I want Hikari with us."

"I'll see you at the launch pad. There's something I need to check on first."

Kaji turned without waiting for an answer. When he was out of sight he jogged down the hall to his office and ducked inside. One wall was lined with bookshelves, books like Strategy and Tactics in the Crimean War, Forensic Analysis: A Scientific Method and Improvised Explosive Devices: A Primer. On one row of books was a rather innocuous looking desk calendar. He flipped the pages over until it read September 13, and the next shelf over hissed backwards, opening onto a narrow staircase that led down into a dark void. He jogged down the steps to a narrow elevator and rode it down.

He and Shinji had been working on this space, that Ritsuko had dubbed the Batcave, for almost a year. He had most of his gear down here, and handcuffed to a simple chair, a man who was all but indistinguishable from the late Gendo Ikari. Gendo, or whoever he was, looked up as Kaji approached. He wore no glasses, and his eyes were wild beneath unkempt hair. It was odd seeing him with a moustache along with his scraggly, untrimmed beard.

Kaji stopped in front of him. "Something happened."

"Of course it did," said Gendo, staring through him the way only a madman can.

"Shinji is missing. Do you know what might have happened to him?"

"My son got him," said Gendo. "Forget him and hope he doesn't come here. He brings only death with him. He is the death that is life. Do you know what it is?"

"What?" said Kaji.

"The riddle," said Gendo, giggling. "What is the Riddle of Steel?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Neither do I. I've seen things you wouldn't believe. He lets me see. I always see."

"Why? Why would someone do that to you?"

"For my sin," said Gendo, his voice becoming more even, until he burst out in a mad cackle. "The sin of having him. It's my fault. I loved a woman who was too good for me and I made a monster in her belly and then I put her in a monster's belly and now they're monsters together."

Kaji sighed. This was going nowhere. "Shinji is missing. You said someone was coming here. Who?"

"Shinji is coming," said Gendo.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Of course it doesn't. Do you see it? He sees it."

"Sees what?"

"He can see the prose," said Gendo. "My sin will undo creation. I am cursed before all men."

Kaji sighed, and turned around.

"Wait," said Gendo.

He froze. "What is it?"

"I… I'm not making any sense. Listen to me, it's important. Your… your Shinji is the only one he's afraid of. He hates good things, he hates love and hope. He'll take what you have and twist it against you because he wants all of you to be monsters along with him. He's done it before. He'll do it again."

Gendo's brows furrowed. "There was something. Something important. A story. A pirate queen. I don't remember. The last world, there was so much screaming. He made me watch. There is something I'm supposed to say. It was important. It was very important."

Kaji left him in the dark, weeping gibberish into his knees. He'd solve that problem later. Now, he had work to do. He headed across the cave, which was really the floor of the cavern once called Terminal Dogma, where LCL bled out of Lilith, the giant on the cross that birthed mankind. He put a special code into a heavy vault door and peeled it back and stared into the face of the monster he became to terrify the guilty.

Whatever was on the Moon, he had to be ready for it.


"You know, when I was a kid," said Hikari, "I never thought anyone would fly me to the moon."

Ritsuko smirked at her. "I don't think any of us could have predicted how our lives would turn out."

She admired the kid. Hikari wasn't just dedicated, she wasn't just mentally strong enough to have half her body crushed and bounce back, she was intelligent and thoughtful. Sometimes, she wondered what she saw in the Suzahara boy, who couldn't decide if he wanted to imitate Shinji or Kaji. She corrected herself. Suzahara wasn't a boy anymore, and technically Hikari was a Suzahara, too. She'd taken his name when they married, only a month and a half before. Once Shinji and Asuka tied the knot, it seemed everyone was doing it. She was tempted to start nagging Rei about Kensuke. She felt like a mother hen.

She looked over her shoulder at Asuka, brooding at the back of the shuttle, her hands held over her belly. She had a habit of that when she was upset, holding her hands over the baby, trying to protect it. Ritsuko was more than a little worried what Asuka might do if they discovered the worst. For whatever reason, whether it was because she wasn't born with her abilities or because she hadn't had as much time to absorb sunlight or exert herself the way Shinji had, she was weaker than he was, but clumsier and more prone to break things and do damage. He had to teach her how to open doors without crushing the doorknobs and ripping them off their hinges.

Ritsuko turned to Maya. "Status?"

"We're coming into his last point of transmission now."

Maya grew up. She filled out. She wore her hair long now, and she'd gained a little weight, but that made her more comfortable than anything. Ritsuko was in love with her, and she was happy to let anyone know it. She was tempted to hold hands during the descent, but they had to be all business. Misato would want to hear from them as soon as they found something, and Asuka wouldn't take kindly to a makeout session while Shinji was missing. Ritsuko really just needed someone to comfort her. Shinji was important to her too, more important than anyone knew. He saved her life, and not with the strength of his arm or his superhuman powers. He told her that she was more than she believed herself to be, and she set herself to the task of using the rest of her life to prove him right.

Kaji looked away from the window. He was wearing the mask, and his suit was black. Ritsuko had designed all of his gear, but seeing him actually wear it unnerved her. He silently put on his helmet and strapped into his seat. Asuka put hers on but didn't bother with the seat belt. Maya strapped in, and Ritsuko put on her helmet.

She nosed the shuttle closer to the lunar surface, giving the Sea of Tranquility a wide berth. She didn't want to knock down the flag with the engines. Hikari was looking around with her enhanced senses, scanning for clues.

"He proposed to me over there," Asuka said, absently. This far away, none of them could actually see tranquility base but her.

The shuttle slid over the mountains, and Ritsuko gasped.

"That crater isn't on the map," said Hikari.

There was a great gouge in the surface of the moon. Half of a mountainside had been blown away, and there was no sign of any wreckage. The surface had been flash melted and refrozen smooth. Ritsuko brought the shuttle in for a landing. Kaji grabbed Asuka's arm to stop her from tearing through the damned wall. He got up and started opening the hatch even as the shuttle settled on its landing gear, and lead the way outside, bounding across the lunar landscape. Hikari followed him.

"Doctor Akagi," said Hikari, "I'm picking up some very odd radiation."

Ritsuko shouldered her sensor package and strapped it to her space suit, and followed Maya and Hikari down the ramp. She made some internal note of the banality of flying to the moon and walked across the surface. It crunched under her feet, a thin layer of smooth, rapidly melted and cooled stone over the dust. The shape of the crater was irregular, ovoid, implying a directed blast.

"This isn't an impact crater," said Kaji, pointing. "Something pumped out a hell of a lot of heat, aimed in this direction."

"Heat vision?" said Asuka.

"No," said Hikari. "There's secondary trails all along the surface."

She bounded forward and pointed, turning around to face them. "Something was over there, and it must have hit Shinji. It hit him and melted everything else. He shot back with his heat vision, sweeping it around, trying to hit something." She traced her arm in a spiral. "It was getting closer and closer."

"That doesn't make any sense," said Asuka. "If he was in a fight up here, there'd be more damage."

"No," said Kaji, "she's right. Something got closer and closer to him and they must have taken off into space. Impressive, Miss Suzahara."

Hikari blushed a little. "If they took off, where did they go?"

"They didn't take off," said Ritsuko.

Everyone turned around to face her. She was watching the panel on her instrument package. There was a frog in her throat, and it was hard to speak. The energy signature she was reading was impossible. She adjusted the equipment, but the signature refused to go away.

"There was a multiversal incursion event here," said Ritsuko.

"What the hell is that?" said Asuka.

"It's a theory Rei has been working on. She's been developing a set of equations related to the infinite worlds hypothesis."

"What about it?"

"Her work suggests that with a sufficient amount of energy, it may be possible to create an inverted AT-Field that would allow an object to bounce through the multiversal brane and emerge in another universe."

"How much energy?" said Kaji.

"More than humanity could ever generate. More than the largest stars can generate. Rei's equations suggest a black hole, or…" she trailed off.

"Or what?" Asuka snapped, tears edging into her voice.

"An S2 engine," said Ritsuko.

"We need to go," said Kaji. "Now."

Hikari whirled. "Wait," she said. "Something's coming."

Asuka peered in the same direction. "It's a ship."

"Everybody back to the shuttle," Kaji barked, "Now! Asuka, go! Get out of here! Fly!"

She blinked, then turned and took off, bounding up into the airless, black sky.


Shinji opened his eyes. It had been a long time since he'd felt anything like that. It actually hurt. He stood up, saw bars, and did the natural thing, and grabbed them. He tugged, and his jaw dropped. They didn't budge. He pulled harder, and the bars squealed, but held fast. He looked up, and saw that he was bathed in red light from harsh lamps over his head. He looked across the floor in front of him. In another cell was Asuka.

He shook his head. It wasn't Asuka. The girl in the cell looked like Asuka's younger sister, in a bad cosplay outfit that looked like some kind of fascist military uniform. She had a heavy collar around her neck, that looked loose enough to just pick up and slide over her head. He leaned on the bars.

"Hey?"

The girl looked up. She blinked. "What are you doing here?"

"Who are you?"

"Asuka von Doom. You, I presume, are Shinji." She had a thicker accent than Asuka had, and it didn't sound German.

He blinked. Von Doom?

"I don't understand."

"I don't either. Why are you wearing a halloween costume?"

He was beginning to get annoyed. He leaned on the bars and turned. He recoiled. The girl wasn't alone. There was a throng of girls here, some as young as thirteen or fourteen, some as old as his wife, some older. They had one thing in common. Every one of them was Asuka. Some were shorter or taller or thinner or heavier or more muscled, their hair was slightly different or their eyes not quite the right shade of blue, but they were all the same person.

"What the hell?"

"Something like that."

He whirled. Somehow, the creature from the Kryptonian ship had appeared behind him. He rubbed his temples. He remembered something. There was a fight. The silver-haired being attacked him, hurled an energy blast at him and then… and then he was here. He rushed into the cell and grabbed the creature by the neck.

"Who are you? Why did you-"

It backhanded him into the bars. Pain lanced up his back from the impact, and he slid down onto the floor, wide-eyed.

"You have no idea how I've been looking forward to this."

The creature seized the collar of his uniform and dragged him, pinning him against the bars. "I'll be blunt. Normally, I'd allow you the chance to join me."

"Why don't we step outside?" said Shinji.

"I had a feeling you'd say that. Your bravado aside, it would take hours for your powers to return to peak strength, even in direct yellow sunlight. It will take far longer in the artificial light of this craft. No, there will be no fighting, Shinji. It would be pointless. You see, I've already won."

"I don't know who you are-"

"Oh please. I'm you. I am what you refuse to be because you indulge your childish fantasies. You think you can be happy. You think that bitch can actually love anyone but herself. You think that drunken slag actually cares about anything but getting Kaji in her-"

Shinji punched him. Hard. It hurt, and he grabbed his hand, afraid he'd broken his knuckles, but it was worth it. The silver-haired creature stumbled backwards, and rubbed at his jaw.

"Impressive. I'm surprised you didn't blather about cardboard first. Maybe the other one will do that."

His eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

"I am the devil, and I come to do the devil's work. I am you, you dolt. I am what Shinji Ikari could be, born in a world where I was free to complete myself. To find an answer to the Riddle of Steel."

"This must be what he was warning me about," Shinji breathed.

The godling spun him around and threw him into the wall. The impact pushed the air out of his lungs, but he didn't fall this time. He wouldn't give his captor the satisfaction. He seized Shinji by the throat, pinned him to the wall, and grabbed a fistful of his cape. He tore yanked it free, tearing it away from the back of Shinji's costume, and threw it behind him. It skimmed through the bars and slid across the floor.

"I can't stand that symbol," it snapped, "I'd take the one on your chest as well, but I want them to understand when you come back."

Still holding Shinji by the neck, it dragged him towards the door. With a wave of his hand, the creature opened the bars and pulled him out. As soon as the red light faded from his skin, he felt a tiny prickle of strength. Anticipating it, his captor pulled him around and shoved him face first into the wall. His foot slipped on his cape and it went out from under him. He fell down onto the floor, and the other Shinji kicked him in the ribs, hard enough to make his bones creak, then grabbed him by the ankle and dragged him away. As he slid along the floor, he watched the Asuka in the iron collar seize his cape and gather it up, pulling it to her chest.

He met the eyes of the other Asukas as he was dragged past.

"I'll come back for you," he shouted. "I'll figure something out."

"You're amusing," said the other Shinji. "Do you have some sort of disorder, or do you really believe your nonsense?"

"It doesn't matter what you do to me," said Shinji. "Someone will stop you."

"Your faith in your friends is endearing, but misplaced. I'm smarter than that."

Outside the door were two giants in heavy armor. Shinji tried to peer through it, but only managed to strain his eyes. Pain lanced in his temples. They grabbed him under the arms and dragged him to his feet, carrying him behind the pale copy of himself. His feet barely touched the ground. They carried him through a long series of corridors that grew darker the further they took him from the prison. The shadows caught his eye, as if something lurked in them, waiting to spring out at him. The doppleganger didn't seem to notice or care.

He was carried into a large space, which looked like a hangar re-purposed into some sort of temple. It was full of monsters. There was another one who bore his face, a wheezing giant with a gaunt, pale face and long, stringy hair that hung down over his cracked armor. He flexed and unflexed his right hand as Shinji was drawn closer. Inscribed on the floor in a circle of rust was a symbol of some kind, occult-looking and strange. The angles didn't seem to match, and his head hurt when he looked at it. He was carried into the middle of it, where an iron cross was embedded in the floor.

The held him over it. The strange imitations of him stared at him. Another joined him, wearing a white suit. Asuka -an Asuka- was clinging to him. Her shoulder was bandaged and there was a light scar over her chin, as if a sliver of her skin had been peeled away and then grew back, smooth and clean. The Shinji in the white suit picked his teeth with a long knife and grinned at him.

"I'll figure out some way to stop you," said Shinji.

"That's the spirit," said the silver-haired Shinji, resting his hand on Shinji's chest, spreading his fingers over the S-emblem. "Feel the hate. Feel the desire in your heart. I gave you this. Crucify him."

He stepped out of the circle. The giants dragged Shinji around and forced him to the floor. One of them rested his boot on Shinji's chest, pinning him to the iron cross. Hunched men in purple robes surrounded him, held out his arms, and lashed him to the iron cross beam with coiled barbed wire that split tiny holes in his costume and dug into his flesh. One of them leaned very close to him, and whispered in his ear.

"There is a weakness in this working. Do not lose hope."

"Who are you," Shinji whispered.

"I am Alpharius."

When his legs were bound to the beam of the cross, the giant lifted up his foot and stepped out of the circle. A pair of the hunched men in the purple robes turned a crank, and chains dragged the cross from the floor. It spun, shifting Shinji's weight onto the barbed wire, and he bit back a grunt of pain as the cross lifted from the floor and hung over the circle.

The giant that bore his face, tallest of them all, bellowed. "Begin."

Kensuke, or a monster who looked like Kensuke with his glasses sutured directly to his face, stepped up. The purple-hooded thralls surrounded him, nine in all. Nine more stood behind them. Kensuke raised his arms and chanted.

"Oh Changer of Ways, oh Master of Fortune, oh Great Conspirator, heed our prayers. We bring you this icon of hope that you may be the architect of his fate."

His voice rose higher, turning into a sibilant, wordless chant. The nine that surrounded him lit candles in their palms and held them up, joining in the chanting. A wind rose from nowhere and swept across the hangar, flickering the flames. An unnatural dark drew in, until the lights on the thrall's hands were the only points in the darkness. Kensuke's chanting twisted, faded, grew again, and then was no more.

"A ninefold betrayal, for the Great Conspirator."

The thralls standing behind the thralls raised daggers. Shinji closed his eyes and turned away.

His eyes became lidded, and he relaxed, leaning into the barbed wire.

"Cut him down," said the silver-haired Shinji.

The thralls cut the wire away, and he fell onto the floor. He tried to jump to his feet, but he didn't move. He felt something slithering over his skin, like a snake made out of needles, crawling up his spine and tightening around his throat. The silver-haired Shinji walked up to him.

"Stand up."

Shinji rose to his feet. Or rather, his body rose to his feet. He stared out through his eyes, but he controlled nothing, not even his breathing. He stared straight ahead, willing his head to turn, but nothing happened. When he tried to speak, he screamed in his head but no words escaped his lips.

"Kneel."

His body knelt.

The silver-haired Shinji knelt before him, and rested his hands on Shinji's cheeks.

"I have a task for you, brother. There is another one like you. You're going to kill him for me."


Rei looked up from her work. She was going over the equations for the partially organic quantum computer she was going to build with Ritsuko, their first fumbling attempt to replicate the astonishing computer in the rocket that carried Shinji's genetic material to Earth. Kensuke, Toji, and Misato were crowding the door of her office, and they all spoke at once. She raised her hand to cut through the silence.

"We're in trouble," said Misato.

"What is it?"

"Shinji's disappeared. He was investigating some kind of signal on the Moon. Ritsuko's blathering something about multiversal yadda yadda and there's an alien spacecraft going to hit the upper atmosphere in about ten minutes. They're on their way back in the shuttle now and Asuka is flying in on her own-"

"I must speak with her," said Rei, standing. She rushed them out of her office and rushed ahead of the others.

Kensuke fell in behind her. "What's happening?"

"If Ritsuko suspects a multiversal incursion event, I believe her."

"What is that?" said Misato.

"Something came here from another universe. It opened a door. We had been going over some equations for some time, but the energy requirements for such a device would be beyond anything we could produce without a super solenoid."

"You mean an angel could do it," Misato said, stumbling.

"Possibly," said Rei. "If an AT-Field were inverted, it would create a theoretical space, as we saw when Kaworu abducted Shinji and Asuka, but more power would be needed to connect to another universe."

"So they could be back," said Misato. "The angels could be back."

"No. They are all dead."

Misato stopped. "What if they came from another planet? Another one of those seed things, and now they're going to invade us."

"It is possible," said Rei. "We do not have enough data to draw a conclusion. Quickly, we must get to the command center."

Rei lead the way. The rebuilt command center hadn't actually been used since the war. Everything was covered in tarps or clear plastic, except the MAGI nodes, where she did most of her work. She peeled the plastic back from the old comms panel, where Hyuga used to sit, and put on a headset. Static crackled in her ear.

"Rei?" said Ritsuko.

"I am here," said Rei.

"Tell Misato to start pulling everything out of mothballs. Get ready to sound the evacuation alarm, and bring the defense systems online. We have an inbound alien spacecraft, possibly hostile. My radar is showing it heading into the Sea of Japan right now. Can you track Asuka on her grid? Kaji told her to run and we haven't seen her since."

Rei began typing. "I have her. She is not far from your position."

"The radio in her suit isn't powerful enough to call back to base, but she might pick you up. Tell her to get her scrawny ass back there now. Use those exact words."

"Affirmative," said Rei.

She turned and relayed the orders to Misato. Suddenly given a purpose, she turned and pulled out her phone. Toji and Kensuke began peeling back the plastic, rolling it up, and started firing up the computers. Rei got up and took Maya's old seat, while Kensuke filled hers. Toji ran around the room, lifting up the plastic and closing the circuits to power up the mainframes.

"Asuka," said Rei, "If you are reading me, bring your 'scrawny ass' back to base at once. That is an order."

"I have the shuttle," said Kensuke. "It's coming in to the launch pad now."

Misato turned around. "I have the old crew coming in. We should be up and running within an hour."

Her phone beeped. She looked at it, and Kaji's voice burst out of it.

"I'm calling in the Batmen."

"Damn it," said Misato, "I told you to stop hacking my phone. You could just call me once in a while."

"Don't worry, nothing I haven't seen before. Kaji out."

Rei pulled up the MAGI command line and began typing. Misato stood behind her, peering at the screen.

"I have no idea what you're doing."

Rei's fingers flew over the keys. "I'm inputting the multiversal translation equations we devised. I will not be able to build the device without the MAGI's help."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Misato. "What device? You said the power-"

"To travel, yes. We may be able to communicate, however, by sending an electromagnetic signal that has no mass."

"Uh, okay," said Misato.

Kensuke sat up. "The bogey will hit the ocean in less than a minute."

"Bogey?" said Toji.

"What?" said Kensuke. "Whatever. It'll hit in thirty seconds, now. I'm picking up some really weird energy readings here. MAGI don't have an identifier for me."

"Let me see it," Rei said absently, pulling up another command line on her screen. "Fascinating. The pattern is green."

"What's that mean?" said Misato.

"Unknown," said Rei.

"It's going in now," said Kensuke. "The shuttle will make reentry in less than a minute."

"Hold on to your butts," said Toji.

Rei looked at Kensuke. "Do not touch my butt in public."

"It was a figure of speech," said Toji. "Wait, you-"

"Enough," said Misato. "God, it's like you're all still sixteen."

Toji walked up to her. "He's coming back. He'll be okay."

She nodded, biting her lip.

"Of course he will," said Rei. "He's Superman. He can do anything."


There was a time in Hikari's life when reentering the Earth's atmosphere in a shuttle built with alien technology would have been the most interesting part of her day. As it was, there was little for her to actually do. The ship's computers did virtually all the work, adjusting the ship's attitude as it hit the atmosphere. The plasma welling up around the windows from the heat of reentry wasn't even that frightening. She closed her organic eye and watched the show through her cybernetic one, watching the light in a broad spectrum. She flexed her mechanical fingers and waited.

"Attitude is good," said Ritsuko. "We're coming out of radio blackout now. Rei," she said into the mike, "Do you have Asuka?"

Rei's quiet voice filled the cabin. "She is on her way here. The object has crashed into the ocean."

"I want her back, then get every satellite and resource you can looking into that thing. I want to know what it is and where it came from as soon as possible. Assume it's hostile."

"Affirmative," said Rei.

Once the ship slowed enough, Ritsuko took the controls, although the auto pilot was doing most of the work. The shuttle rolled and Hikari looked down over the stubby wing to see the Japanese countryside rolling under them. It corrected again and the floor pitched back as they leveled out, the nose rising for the landing. Ritsuko threw a switch and the VTOL engines kicked in, blasting hot jets from the underbelly of the ship to slow her descent and bring her around to the pad. The yawning mouth of the Geofront rose up around them, and the shuttle came to a gentle halt about a kilometer away from the main complex.

Hikari was already on her feet as the ramp lowered. Misato was rolling up in an electric tram. When Kaji lifted his helmet and she saw his mask, she tensed visibly.

"You said you'd never wear that thing around me."

"Extreme circumstances," said Kaji, hopping into the tram. The others followed him.

Asuka lighted on the pad, tore off her helmet -literally- and ran over to them. As Misato turned and hit the accelerator, Asuka lifted off her feet, rolled over on her back, and kept pace with them, sliding through the air.

"What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know," said Ritsuko. "We need to figure out what the thing that crashed in the ocean is."

"We need to find Shinji."

"We're going to. As soon as I talk to Rei, we're going to start working on getting her equations to work with some kind of machine. We may not be able to bring him back with it, but I'll find out where he went."

Asuka ground her teeth.

Ritsuko looked at her. "He means a lot to me, too."

Asuka softened. She sat down on the fender of the tram. Hikari met her gaze and smiled weakly. Asuka sat up and her neck snapped around. She traced something with her eyes. It took Hikari a second to pick it up, closing her good eye and zooming in with her artificial one. Something small was heading through the open roof of the Geofront at incredible speed. It was glowing, and it was green.

"Asuka," said Hikari, "Get out of here. Now."

Asuka swallowed. "I can't just-"

"What?" said Ritsuko. "What is it-"

"It might be Kryptonite," said Hikari. "The baby. Go."

Asuka nodded and took off, heading in the opposite direction. She moved so fast she was just a blur and wash of warm summer air over Hikari's face. The object continued on its course, ignoring her. It headed straight for the pyramid

"Misato, punch it," said Hikari.

Misato floored it, and the tram picked up speed. The object was within visual range now- she didn't need to cheat to see it. It hit the glass wall of the pyramid, and Hikari expected it to shatter, but it just passed through, instead. Hikari sat up, spun her mechanical arm around her back, bending the joints at odd angles, and pulled her space suit open. She shrugged out of it, revealing the black undersuit she wore over her cybernetic arm and leg. She didn't have her full combat suit on, so she'd have to be careful.

"What are you-" Misato started.

Hikari got up on the back of the tram, shifted her weight onto her false leg, and sprang. She had to nail the landing just right, or she'd break her real one when she came down. She landed on her false leg, turned, put her weight on her cyber-arm, pivoted on the joint, and jumped again. She came down on her false leg, rolled into a crouch, and charged into the pyramid, opening the doors with her onboard computer. The others ran after her, but skipping on her cybernetic leg, she outpaced them easily.

The elevator opened, and Rei came out, followed by the boys. The green object raced down through the pyramid, passing through glass and silvery metal beams, all without harming them. Hikari brought her arm around and unfolded it into combat mode, her hand retracting into a laser cannon. She aimed at the object, but it was already too close.

It came at her first, and she swiped at it with her arm, but missed. It lit the entire lobby up green, leaving an emerald trail behind it as it spun around her. It blasted her with some kind of a beam and she shielded her face, but all she felt was a faint warmth on her skin. Kaji held Maya, Ritsuko and Misato back with his outstretched arms. The beam passed over them as the object circled around them. It crossed back in front of Hikari and she shot her hand out at it, but it passed through her palm.

It scanned Toji with its beam, blinked, and then scanned Kensuke. They froze. Rei took a step towards it, cocking her head. It hovered in front of her, slowly tracing her with its beam from head to toe. It raced down to her hand and she yelped, grabbing at it as it slid down her middle finger on her right hand and refused to budge.

She stumbled, and then stopped. Her eyes unfocused, and her green irises took on a soft glow. She held up the ring and looked at it, and a tiny voice spoke from everywhere at once.

Rei Ayanami of Earth. You have the ability to overcome great fear.

Rei turned her hand, staring at the ring.

Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps.


The only way Mari could keep her head was to focus. She could let Jarvis do this, but she preferred to solder these connections herself, even if the computer would end up going over them anyway. She had the Mark X helmet on a work bench in front of her. The outer layer of armor was removed and she was working on the optics, trying to restore her HUD. She was just about to make a delicate connection when she froze. Something enormous was stomping up behind her. She sighed. Sharing the hangar space she'd been granted with giant robots could be a pain sometimes.

Rhinox was weird. He looked scarier than he was. Ten feet tall, his chest was the bottom jaw of a rhinocerous, complete with sharp jutting teeth like some kind of tribal idol. It creeped her out a little, to be honest, how these Maximals were machines with animal bits glued onto them. It was even weirder when they did their thing and just turned into a gorilla or a rhino or a rat. Or a velociraptor. The aptly named Dinobot kept to his "Beast Mode" most of the time and was wandering around the ship scaring the hell out of people.

"Mind if I take a look?"

Mari shrugged. Rhinox's hands were huge but his touch was delicate. He turned the helmet in his hands.

"Very fine work. I was hoping… I could see it. The arc reactor."

Mari opened the padded box where she kept the power supply for her suit and handed it to him. He turned it in his fingers, staring at it reverently, like a mix of the holy grail and the ark of the covenant. She supposed it was. Imagine swallowing a pill that would render you free from hunger forever. To these sentient machines, that's what her tech was.

"Amazing," he said, and handed it back.

"You want to take a closer look?"

He shook his head. "My people couldn't be trusted with this. All we'd do is use it to fight our wars longer, and drag everyone else into them."

Mari looked over his shoulder. The other Maximals were mingled with the Autobots. She thought they were going to bow down and start worshiping Optimus Prime any minute. Mari watched them for a moment.

"He's the greatest hero of our society," said Rhinox. "Imagine all your great historical figures rolled up into one, and a few spiritual ones, too. That is Optimus Prime."

"Sometimes I wonder," said Mari, "why we're here. I mean why these aliens chose us for this fight."

"I'm sure we all have a purpose. We just have to find out what it is."

"Would you excuse us, Rhinox?"

Mari turned around. It was Shinji, but not her Shinji. It was the one that wore a weird Eva-Iron Man hybrid. He scratched the back of his head. With a little bit of stubble, he looked a little like a more cleaned up Kaji. Mari felt a pang of regret. Kaji had survived, but stayed behind on their world, nursing a broken leg. There were a lot of injuries, a lot of losses. The world was in shambles, and the Avengers couldn't just charge off and leave it to the wolves. There were even rumors that the Red Skull had made it out, somehow, and Doctor Doom had a habit of showing up again, especially with no body. In the end, only she and some of the kids had ended up leaving.

The kids and Katsuragi. She watched Shinji from a distance, crouched on top of a crate. That weird suit of hers was flexing and flowing. Shinji stared at her, shaking his head to focus on Mari instead.

"What is it?" said Mari.

"I wanted to see if I could help with your gear. I didn't really design my own suit and all, but maybe I could help."

"Ah," said Mari. "Look, it's all pretty complicated. A test pilot doesn't help repair his jet, now does he?"

He sighed. "I guess. I just need to get away from all the arguing for a while."

"Arguing?"

He shrugged. "Hikari, I mean your Hikari, wants to go charging in right now and take the fight to the enemy. I've got a whole crew of scientists working on some kind of a theory that I don't even understand, trying to figure out some kind of weapon we can use against… well against me. Against that monster that leads them."

"The hammer worked well enough."

"He stopped it," said Shinji. "I think he has those others with him only because he can't take all of us on at once."

"I could use another pair of hands here," said Mari, returning to the bench. "Maybe you can help me after all."

He stood beside her.

"Hand me that soldering iron, there."

He handed it to her. His hand brushed hers as she took it. "So, you have a thing for our Misato, huh?"

"What? No, I- It's complicated. I just…"

"Go ahead," said Mari. "I can tell you're dying to tell someone."

He shrugged, turning part of her shoulder armor in his hands. "It's weird seeing her, that's all. I know she's not the woman I knew, but Misato was important to me."

"Important, huh," said Mari. "What do you mean was?"

He sighed. "She died."

"You mean, when your world-"

"No, it was a long time ago. She took a bullet for me. I guess I'm lucky. I was with her when she passed. That meant a lot to her, I could tell."

"She meant a lot to you. Were you…?"

He blushed furiously. "Yeah. I mean, I was sixteen when I met her and I guess time works differently. In my world, she was only twenty-four then. It wasn't that big of a difference. I ended up living with her for a while and it was a little apartment and there was a lot of stress. I was, well, I mean I got a crush on her pretty quick, and… and it was when Hikari, my Hikari, got hurt. Badly hurt. Her armor was taken over by this thing, an angel, and we had to… I had to hurt her. It was the only way to stop it."

"So what happened?"

"Luck, I guess. I walked in on her in the bathroom. It was an accident, really. She was just getting out of the shower. I was in a really bad place then, and so was she. She was really close to all of us."

"I bet that made for an awkward few days. So did she start putting the moves on you after that, or what?"

"We did it on the bathroom floor," said Shinji.

Mari burst out laughing and nearly dropped the helmet. "Oh my God. I am so sorry."

"No, it's okay. Toji about shit himself when I told him. Our relationship, if you can call it that, lasted about a month and a half. We packed a lifetime's worth of… you know, anyway we spent a lot of time together, got really close… and she died to protect me. The one time I really wanted my armor it wasn't there."

He brushed at his eyes. "It's funny. She said something to me at the end. She said 'they're waiting for me'. I never knew what that meant."

"Waiting for her? Who, her family? Maybe we go somewhere when we check out after all."

"I don't know," said Shinji. "After that, it all went to hell. We won the war but I lost my life. Asuka had a thing for me. We tried it, but it didn't work. You can't imagine waking up to Asuka clawing at your face because you said another woman's name in your sleep."

"My Asuka can set things on fire with her mind," said Mari.

"Oh," said Shinji. "I got a glimpse of her and your Shinji. Were they…?"

"I don't know," Mari shrugged. "We weren't really that close. I only knew the kids by reputation. I guess I should join the Misato club. I'm nineteen, and my first thought when I saw his picture… I guess your picture was 'wow, he's kind of cute'."

Mari realized what she said and she blushed furiously. Shinji blinked.

"Oh," he said, "uh, thanks, I guess. You're not too bad yourself. I-"

"Mon Capitan!"

Mari looked over her shoulder. Then she looked down a bit.

Rattrap.

"Oh Captain my Captain," said Rattrap. "A Doc Brown and Creepy Albino Girl want a word about some flux doodad."

Shinji sighed. "Right. I'm on my way."

He turned to Mari. "Why don't you come along?"

"I could," said Mari. "I can let Jarvis handle the repairs. I moved everything I needed onto the ship already."

She put the helmet down and waved one of Jarvis' pods over. It hovered up to her and waited for her direction.

"You can take over now."

"Oh joy," said Jarvis, the pods clustering around her work bench.

She followed Shinji through the hangar, stopping to let passing Autobots stomp past them. The hangar and some of the cargo bays were the only places they could actually fit. An impromptu lab had been set up down in one of the medical bays, where Doc Brown and Rei, the one who was apparently some kind of professional ghost catcher, were working on something, conferring with Rhinox and the Autobot named Perceptor. Who could fit in their lab if he transformed into a microscope. A twenty foot tall robot who turned into a microscope.

Mari's head hurt.

In the lab, they had spread out their theories on a chalk board. Mari tilted her head. She was more for engineering than the high concept stuff. There was a lot of math, a lot of equations, and very little English. Toji -a Toji, the one who was a package deal with Rei the Ghostbuster- was there, as well as the McFly kid. Mari felt weird thinking of him as a kid. She was only a year older. She felt like retiring already.

"What is it?" said Shinji.

"It's preposterous, is what it is," said Perceptor.

Mari jumped. The microscope was talking again. She sometimes had to pinch herself to make sure this wasn't all a bad trip.

"Hear me out," said Brown. He flipped the chalkboard around to a clear side. Mostly clear. It needed a wash. He drew some lines across it.

"These are timelines. They represent our universes."

"Go on," said Shinji.

"When you use your jump drive, it takes you from one universe," he poked a dot onto one of the lines, "to another, here. If we jump from universe to universe, we come out at specific points, no earlier and no later."

He drew a perpendicular line connecting all the points. "There's something to this."

"We believe there is an additional type of time," said Rei, "a meta-time that runs perpendicular, rather than parallel, to all universes, connecting a specific point on one timeline to a specific point on another."

"Okay," said Shinji.

"I believe I can modify the DeLoreans flux capacitor," said Brown, "into a type of metaflux capacitor."

"What would that do?" said Mari.

"We don't know," said Rei.

Shinji palmed his face. "Okay, good. Keep working on it."

Mari turned. "Come on," she said, "Let's get some air."

Getting some air amounted to walking through the corridors of the ship. Eventually, the came to one hallway in particular. One wall was lined with old, burned out candles, and thousands of photographs of all sizes, full of people. There was an old man standing in front of them, watching over them.

"Who are you?" said Mari.

"Doesn't matter," said the old man.

"He came with the ship," said Shinji. "That jump into the atmosphere thing was his idea."

"It worked before," said the old man. "Those yellow bastards said they needed to borrow me for a while. Said my timeline was complete or something. I only agreed to tag along because they were stealing my ship."

Mari blinked. "Okay."

"You need her more than I do, anyway."

Shinji looked at the pictures. "Did you know these people?"

"Some," said the old man. "Not most."

"We have to figure out a way to stop this," said Shinji. "There's a lot more people that could go up on this wall, and more of them every time those things destroy another planet. You have any ideas?"

The old man shrugged. "There's five nukes on this ship. I'd use 'em."

He turned, and walked off.

Shinji sighed, and looked at Mari. "You saw those things. I'm not sure a nuclear bomb would stop them."

He sagged against the wall. "I don't know what to do. Everyone keeps looking at me for answers, but I don't know more than anybody else. I woke up one night to everyone I care about being murdered and weird yellow aliens that speak in riddles told me I'm going to save the universe. I wish I'd gone to work instead."

Mary snorted.

Shinji's voice became very soft. "I left her."

"Who?"

"Asuka. They took me on their ship. They got her, too. The armor… my damned armor jumped me out without asking. I left her behind."

"You were on their ship?" said Mari. "What was on it?"

"Hell," said Shinji.

Mari jumped. The phone behind them was ringing.

Shinji picked it up. It had a cord. That was weird.

"Yeah, it's me. I- what?"

"What?" said Mari. "What is it?"

"We have a phone call."


The only space large enough to accommodate everyone, particularly because several of the gathered were twenty foot tall robots from another planet, was the repair bay and hangar. Shinji felt a lump in his throat as he walked out into the open space, the largest on the ship, with Mari in tow. He tried not to glance over his shoulder at her, but it was like someone twisted his head around, forcing him to look. Every time his eyes fell on her, she looked away, but with a curious, almost involuntary smile. He was beginning to feel angry that there was no Mari on his native world.

He remembered Asuka slumping in her broken armor, and felt a terrible pang of regret. He left her behind.

"You okay?" said Mari.

He nodded. He had to be strong. The yellow aliens were there, waiting for him. So was everyone else. It was difficult not to be overawed. The entire crew was gathered in a circle around the aliens. The Hunter gave Shinji a curt nod as he passed. Hikari was standing apart from the others. The light from the fluorescents overhead didn't touch her, like she wasn't real; she had a light of her own, the hammer hanging from her hip seeming to draw everything in around it, like it was pulling the world into its own orbit. The Toji from her world stood with their Rei. They were holding hands. Shinji blinked at that, but it made him feel oddly warm inside.

He missed Rei, too.

The Ghostbusters were talking quietly amongst themselves. They had their gear ready. Shinji still didn't know why they had been chosen by the aliens, although their Rei seemed to have some insight in the strange problem Doc Brown was going over. Hikari overhead something they said and perked up, edging towards them, but stopped when the Yellow Aliens fixed their gaze on Shinji.

"The hour grows dire," said the first alien.

"The Adversary moves once more. We have delivered the coordinates you will need for the next jump."

"The enemy grows bolder, yet more cautious," said the third alien. "He must not be allowed to triumph on these worlds. They grant him a path to power beyond your imagining."

The Hunter stepped forward. "Is this all we're going to do? Play defense?"

The aliens turned to him, but ignored him, turning back to Shinji.

"Steel yourselves," said the first alien.

"The Adversary has seized a weapon of unimaginable power," said the third alien.

"Hope itself will fall," said the third alien.

"I don't understand," said Shinji. "You're talking in riddles, what-"

All three of their heads whipped around at once. Their postures changed, almost like echoes of one another, and they stepped backwards.

"No!" the cried in unison, "he is here! We must flee!"

"Wait!" Shinji cried.

The aliens vanished. There was no flash, no crack of thunder, they simply ceased, falling out of the universe between ticks of the clock. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck lift up. The Ghostbusters shouldered into their proton packs, and Mari ran to her setup and stepped into the armor gantry. He ran over to his own suit, his stomach tightening into a cold ball. The aliens were beyond his comprehension. If they were afraid…

He shoved his arms into the suit and yanked them forward, closing it around him. The helmet slammed down just in time for his HUD to bombard him with warnings. There was a radiation spike, and a sphere of white light formed in the very spot where the aliens had stood. He closed his eyes until his eyepiece filters adjusted, darkening like the faceplate of a welder's mask. He saw his mirror image wreathed in light, his head thrown back in an ecstatic laugh, the red sphere of the core like a burning coal in his chest, lighting up his bones under his milk-pale skin. He wasn't alone.

He clamped his hands to the side of his head, his gauntlets scraping on his helmet. He heard a name being repeated over and over, a blasphemous, rolling fugue of syllables, harsh and alien, stumbling over each other. The Adversary's gate widened, and the whispers grew louder, ringing in his ears. He saw everyone else stumble away, covering their eyes or their ears. Something erupted from the opening gate, a livid streak of flame that circled around it, trailing harsh black smoke, and hit the deck, scorching it.

The flame stood up, shifted and took on a human shape, drawing out long limbs corded with muscle, a hollow chest and narrow body, eerily graceful. It looked around with a monstrous ape's face, wide jaws full of slavering teeth and a long, lolling tongue. In one hand, it hefted a sword of beaten iron, still hot from the forge, and from the sides of its head, brazen brass horns rose up on either side of its skull elongated in mockery of an ancient warrior's helmet. It skin was aglow with flaming runes, smoldering with sulfurous smoke. It surged forward, screeching, and more followed it, burning into being.

The flames spread, swirling into a greater shape, drawing air into themselves. The chanting in his ears grew louder, the ancient syllables rolling and mingling with one another, and only as it grew to an ear splitting roar did he hear the simple, repeating chant under it.

Blood for the blood god blood for the blood god bloodforthebloodgodbloodfort he…

A column of flames rose up in the center of the hangar, and from it emerged a pair of leathery wings, wreathed in flame. An immense bulk burst forth, hefting an axe of molten brass, its flowing, ever-changing blade covered in blasphemous runes and snarling, agonized face. It spun a whip of pure fire around its body and cracked it over its head, snarling through its ragged needle teeth in an ancient litany of raw hate.

The Adversary focused on Shinji, and a slow grin spread across his face as more of the beasts tumbled out of his portal, followed by raging Astartes.

The unholy chant ended in a thunderclap as Hikari raised Mjolnir over her head. Wreathed in light, she rose over the beasts, an angel over devils, and in her high sweet voice sang an ancient song of battle. Shinji felt it in his bones. He didn't realize he was charging into battle until he already felt the first monster's face connecting to his fist.


The recovered wreckage of the alien craft was spread out in Rei's lab, taking up most of the hastily cleared table. She and Asuka had recovered the most important part- the power battery that stood before them, resembling nothing so much as an old train lantern, complete with handle. The lens flickered with power. Rei moved towards it, until Ritsuko caught her hand.

"We don't know what this thing does," she said.

Rei held up the ring. "Explain the function of the power battery."

"The battery provides a connection to the central battery on Oa," said the ring, "it must be used to recharge your ring every twenty four hours. Current charge remaining: Sixty-two point eight percent."

Rei shrugged. "It would seem it charges the ring."

"It seems like a weird coincidence that this thing should show up now," said Hikari.

Rei glanced at her. She was nervous. She abandoned all pretense of being a normal human, exchanging her skintone cybernetics for the heavier combat versions, including the large protective lens over her eye, along with the armored suit she wore to protect the rest of her body. Ritsuko brought Streaky. The car curled up in her crooked arm, nuzzling her head into Ritsuko's chest.

"How do I charge the ring?" said Rei.

"Touch the ring to the main lens and recite the oath."

"Oath?" said Rei.

She blinked. Images flashed in her mind. She stepped forward, balled her hand into a fist, and touched the ring to the battery.

"In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight."

"Rei…" said Hikari.

She could feel it, creeping up her arm. The batter glowed, even the dull metal of the body, bathing the room in green light. Asuka edged away, shielding her stomach, but Rei raised her hand dismissively. It did not have the calming effect she intended.

"Let all who worship evil's might, beware my power: Green Lantern's Light."

She snapped her eyes closed as the battery became too bright to look at. When she opened them again, she wore a white glove, and the sleeve of her labcoat was gone. She looked down. Her labcoat and coveralls had been replaced with a white and black body glove. On her chest was an emblem like the one on the ring itself, a circle with two bars in green on a circular white field.

"Sweet," said Kensuke.

She shot him a sharp look.

"Now what?"

Rei held up the ring. "Describe your capabilities."

"The Green Lantern Ring is a thought-based device capable of translating the user's mental input into physical constructs. Its efficacy depends on the individual user's willpower."

Everyone in the room looked at her nervously.

"I see," said Rei. "Whatever I imagine. I need more space."

"Rei, wait," Ritsuko shouted.

Rei ignored her, brushing out of the lab into the atrium. With the security lockdown, the great glass pyramid was empty. Ritsuko, Hikari, and Asuka rushed to follow her. Toji moved closer, until Hikari held up her hand.

"Sit this one out."

Toji looked at her darkly, but backed away. He grabbed Kensuke's arm as he tried to follow. Rei walked until she had adequate space, and then closed her eyes.

Then, she imagined.

Light snaked out from the ring and wreathed her and the expanded outwards. It formed a rounded metal floor of diamond plate in translucent green that slowly lifted her and the others a few inches from the floor. She opened her eyes and the energy fiend began to grow, mechanical parts snapping up and interlocking with each other as they expanded around her. A chair formed and she sat down in it. A series of interlocking arms lifted up behind her and touched soft pads to her head, where she once wore her nerve clips. A translucent dome formed around the space, sealing them off from the outside.

"Rei…" Ritsuko said nervously.

"Please wait. I must balance the equations."

Streaky woke up, yowling, and clung to Ritsuko's neck. Asuka edged closer to her, balling her hands into fists, and Hikari unfolded her arm into her laser cannon, bracing it with her off hand. Layers of green armor plating folded up over the canopy of the machine, blocking their view from the outside.

"Warning," the ring said in a soft monotone, "the current action will expend ten percent of the current charge."

"Override," said Rei.

The floor rumbled, rolling under her feet. Ritsuko stumbled until Asuka grabbed her. Rei took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and the machine vanished, the light sliding back into the ring.

There was a tree. It rose up into a vast blankness, neither darkness nor light but the utter absence of both. Her eyes became lost in its branches, trying to count the leaves. No matter how quickly she assessed their number, there were always more, gold veined with silver. The others were staring up at it. Except Asuka, whose gazed fixed on the three yellow aliens standing before it, ringing a miniature copy of the tree in a glass dome, which somehow was the tree. She crossed the space between them in an instant, seized the middle alien by the throat, and hauled it up into the air.

"Who the hell are you and what did you do with my husband?"

The tree shook, and the other two aliens flickered, somehow changing places with their trapped counterpart, blinking from place to place, all of them clutching at their throats.

"Asuka," Rei said. "Let him go."

She looked over her shoulder, then reluctantly lowered the being to the ground. The three of them seemed none the worse for wear.

"That is why we do not usually deal directly with you," said the first alien.

Ritsuko stepped forward, gaping. "What is this place?"

"Everywhere," said the second alien.

"…and nowhere," said the third.

"I… I…" Ritsuko gasped, her voice thickening, "I need data on this, I have to-"

"No." The aliens sad in unison.

Ritsuko froze. "Nevermind."

"You are the ones who contacted me before," said Rei.

The aliens nodded.

"I am here. Where is Shinji?"

"Taken," said the first alien.

"Taken by the Adversary," said the second alien.

"Taken back to hell," said the third alien.

Asuka stormed forward, pushing her finger into the middle alien's face.

"Tell me where."

"Asuka," Ritsuko said, "Did you catch the hell part?"

She spun on her heels. "Hell?" she clenched her hand into a fist. "I'll show them hell."


Always did the sun shine on Themyscira, where it fell across a gleaming city that blended ancient ways and distant futures in equal measure as it blended gleaming marble and brilliant foliage. Birds flitted in the trees, and fawns stalked through meadows without fear. One such fawn, still bearing her yearling spots, approached the three strangers that appeared on Themyiscira's shores.

Iqarius touched the fawn's throat with his ashen hand, and it coughed. She stumbled, nearly falling, and snorted. A thick stream of mucous bubbled out of its throat, and mange crawled through her fur, which fell away in tufts. A livid sore opened on her flank that ran with yellow puss, and she fell on her side, gasping for ragged, phlegmatic breaths. She sighed her last and her body exploded in a profusion of worms and grubs, slithering out across the white sand.

Iquarius looked on the carcass of the dear in grim mirth, his pale lips tightened into a mockery of a smile. Shambling across the sand, he was a mass of twisted limbs trapped within shattered armor, his pallid skin white as clay but for the dark circles around his eyes, swollen like bruises. He rumbled deep in his throat and spat a thick bulb of mucous on the sand.

"So beautiful," he rasped.

"For now," said the Adversary.

Shinji screamed inside his own mind. The thing wore him like a costume. Its needly skin burned inside his own, and when he tried to fight it, the barbed wire around his arms and neck tightened, digging into his skin, sending white hot lances of pain through his flesh that made him shudder. The Adversary spied his struggles and snickered.

"Why are we here?" said Iquarius.

"You wanted the Amazon," said the Adversary, "we're going to take her."

"What of the others?"

The Adversary turned his face to the midday sun and smiled. "Immortal, inviolate, each of them is the soul of a woman slain by men in ancient times, given this paradise by the old gods. Their bodies are eternal, without disease or age."

Iquarius shook and a death rattle emerged from his throat. "Nothing is free of disease, nothing is eternal. It is the way of all flesh."

"If you say so," said the Adversary.

"Why have we come alone? My Legion-"

"Oh," the Adversary cut him off, "Where's the fun in that?"

He stood before Shinji, sizing him up.

"Up there are the Amazons," he said, pointing at the apex of the island. "Asuka is to be spared. We will have her alive, but the rest must die. Kill them all."

Shinji's foot moved of its own accord, earthshaking pain lancing through his body when he tried to stop it. He shambled past the Adversary, who folded his hands behind his back and watched. The daemon dragged his body forward across the strange sands. He had to be in another world- he'd never seen any island like this before, and he'd been everywhere. The Adversary walked beside him.

"I know you want to hurt me," he mused. "Focus on it. The desire, the anger. I gave it to you. I am the truth that you cower from, that you hide with your heroism and your silly little costume. This day was inevitable, from the moment you were born. All your dreams, all your hopes die today with innocent blood on your hands."

Iquarius clapped, snickering to himself. It sounded like the cough of a wounded man.

Shinji's teeth clenched, and he froze.

"I-I'll s-s-stop y-you…"

The Adversary burst out laughing. "Daemon, do your job. We must see to the invasion."

His legs dragged him forward, shambling across the sand. There was a flash, and he knew they were gone, leaving him to stumble forward alone. He heard hooves crunching on sand. The creature left him his senses, so when it allowed him to look, he saw her approaching with ease. A woman on horseback in Greek armor and a high helm, bearing a long spear that wasn't a spear. There was technology inside it, more advanced than any he'd ever seen.

The Amazon drew up on her horse at the foot of the path leading through the trees and leveled her weapon.

"Halt! No man sets foot on this island!"

It took every ounce of effort to work his jaws. "R-run," he croaked.

"Never!" the Amazon cried, and heeled her mount into a charge.

The tip of her spear took on a bright glow, and when it hit him, it was like a crack of thunder. For her. The haft folded from the impact and shattered, the explosive concussion throwing her off her mount. The horse went down screaming, and the daemon used his arm to seize it and end its live with a simple twist of his wrist. Horrified, the Amazon clambered back, dragging a sword out of a scabbard at her hip. The daemon caught her swing, crumpled her it Shinji's hand, and swung his other around in a clumsy blow. It sent the Amazon tumbling head over heels across the sand. She landed in a limp mass.

Shinji barked out a sob.

"What are you doing?"

The daemon snapped his head around.

For a moment, he thought it was Asuka, but it couldn't be. Asuka was physically fit but this woman was well muscled, built like an athlete with a swimmer's shoulders and lithe legs. She wore a kind of stylized armor- not much for protection, as it left her shoulders and most of her legs bare. Her fiery hair was bound back with a silver tiara and there were heavy bracers around her wrists. She held out her hands.

"Shinji? Shinji, what happened?"

The daemon lurched around towards her and started shambling forward.

"Shinji, it's me. It's Asuka."

Oh.

"I don't know what's wrong with you, but we can fix it."

Oh God.

"R-run," he croaked. "F-f-for G-God's s-sake r-ru… ruh…"

She froze, and took a step back.

She chewed her lip, watched him for a second, and bolted for the injured Amazon. Shinji felt the daemon drag him forward, lifting him through the air, his feet dangling beneath him. His arm shot out and seized her long crimson braid and yanked her back, and his other fist met her face. She spun around and rolled across the sand, landing face down. Blinking, she lifted up her head and touched her split lip, drawing away a tiny spot of blood.

The little god said alive, the daemon rasped, its voice like a thousand fiery needles in his brain. It didn't say unhurt.


His attitude control was going wild and the world was spinning to match it. He was turning both end over and yawning hard when he hit the wall of the Galactica's hangar, and he didn't have time to slow down. He crashed into a pile of crates, rolled over, and used his hand emitter to boost back up onto his feet. Mari landed beside him, the face plate of her helmet flipping open.

"Are you alright?" she shouted.

"Fine!" he barked. "Watch out!"

One of the red-skinned devil things reared up behind her. She spun around, ducked its molten metal sword, and blasted it in the face with her repulsors. She went high and he went low, pummeling it with bursts until it came apart in steaming, multi-colored ichor. It hit the wall in a steaming, smoking mass that burst into multi-colored flame and flashed, prompting him to raise his gauntlet and shield his eyes.

"Match your frequency to mine!" Mari shouted, diving into the fray.

Shinji stared at his radio icon and blinked. A SOUND ONLY bar appeared in his HUD, and her helmet clamped shut.

"Stay on my six!"

She took off, leaping up, and dove into a pack of the creatures. Shinji stomped after her, his boot jets too powerful to use in the confined space of the hangar. His HUD flickered as the thing's blades scraped across his AT-Field as he shouldered past them.

The big one reared up, swinging its sword. Hikari whirled the hammer over her head and leapt over the swinging, his armor gleaming like a miniature son. With a mighty war cry she ran right up the thing's arm and swung the hammer around, burying it between its eyes. With a snarl like an earthquake, it grabbed her in its enormous hand, hurled her to the deck, and raised its sword high.

Optimus Prime roared across the hangar, scattering the little monsters in either direction as he plowed through them, fired jets on his undercarriage, and transformed. He tackled the creature away from Hikari and spun it around, crashing it into the wall, his servos and joints grinding as he grappled with it. Hikari rose up, spinning the hammer by its lanyard, and hurled it into the creature's face. There was a crash of thunder and the wall buckled.

Shinji turned around just in time to see one of the daemons raise its sword overhead. There was a rippling double boom, and the thing's head burst apart like a ripe melon, spraying him with steaming ichor. It shrieked, the sound gurgling through the ruins of its throat, and ran around in a circle, crashed into Ironhide's leg, and exploded.

The Hunter grabbed Shinji's face plate with his hand while he flipped open his shotgun, ejecting a pair of shells. Shinji pushed his chin down into the release and opened his helmet.

"They're getting out of the hangar!"

Shinji nodded and closed his helmet.

"Mari!"

"Where are you?! I told you to watch my tail!"

"Listen up," Shinji barked, "They're getting out of the hangar. We have to-"

A raging Astartes with a chainaxe in either hand roared towards him, raising his weapons overhead. Shinji ducked one swing, turned the other with his AT-Field, and fired his repulsor's in the monster's armored gut. Vampire Rei leapt onto his back, yanked the power cables from his power plant, and with a grunting twist of her entire body, twisted the snarling helm around in a three-quarter circle.

Shinji bolted for the door, shouldering aside monsters and ducking bolter fire. He saw Toji with the other Vampire Rei standing behind his back, wrestling with one of the daemons. He flipped his helmet open again.

"With me!" he barked, "Hold the line! Don't let them get off the hangar!"

They lined up at the door. Toji rooted himself to the deck and put himself between the creatures and the corridor, their brazen sword and brass claws scraping over his impenetrable skin, while Rei tore out of their blades free and swung it around wildly, cleaving their alien, otherworldly flesh. Mari landed beside him in a crouch and together with Shinji laid down a crossfire.

Shinji blinked as a dozen alarms went off. Mari's voice crackled in his ear.

"Something's coming!"

There was a green flash in the middle of the hangar, and a great machine made of interlocking, folded planes of emerald light just appeared, unfolding itself out of the air, and began dismantling. In the center of it, Rei, Ritsuko, and Hikari appeared. Shinji blinked; he thought it was Ritsuko; she wore her hair long and it wasn't bleached blonde. Rei had brown hair, and Hikari… Hikari was half robot.

"Whatever," he groaned.

The three of them ran towards him as Optimus stumbled backwards, groaning. The enormous daemon took a bounding step forward, whirled its flame-whip, and looped it round and round the Autobot leader's legs, dragging him from his feet, and raised its flashing molten sword high. It brought it down in a wicked arc and Optimus rolled, the point digging through his side as Ironhide shoulder-checked the beast away. With a roar, it seized him and rolled, crashing through a docked Raptor, thankfully stripped of munitions.

Shinji blinked. The Ghostbusters ran up next to Toji and raised their weapons. Asuka winked at him.

"Light 'em up!" she screamed.

The proton streams lit the hangar like a second sun, screamed into the titanic beast, and wrapped around it like chains. All four of the Ghostbusters grunted, holding on for dear life as their proton wands dragged them across the floor, scraping their boots. Shinji and Mari turned their fire on the daemons racing towards them. Hikari -the new Hikari, not the one with the hammer- unfolded her arm and joined in, firing whining blasts of light from a cannon in her wrist. The new Rei dispassionately aimed her fist at the daemons and sliced them in half with thin beams of emerald light from the ring on her finger.

Ritsuko walked calmly forward, peeled the white cat off her shoulder, and held it up before a rushing Astartes, a crackling sword raised over his head to strike.

"Streaky!" she screamed, "Sick em!"

The cat leapt out of her hands like a bullet, crashed into the Astarte's helmet, and with a yowling feline shriek of rage tore it apart with its bare claws. One of the daemons took a swing at the cat, only to miss and cleave into the Astarte's head, its sword sticking there. The cat hissed and twin beams of heat lanced out of her eyes, slicing cleanly through the daemon's head. She leapt, bounced, and took off, racing through the air, her legs folded under her body.

"Uh," said Mari.

"Little help here!" Ghostbuster-Asuka shouted, dragging on her proton wand. Toji broke ranks to run to her side, grab it, and root her to the spot. Both vampire-Reis joined him, looping their arms around Ghostbusters Shinji and Toji.

"Rei!" Ghostbuster-Asuka screamed.

The vampires looked at her.

"Not you! The other one! Get the trap! Get the trap!"

Shinji's turned to Mari. "Hold the line here."

He activated his external speakers and faced the new Rei, glancing at her ring.

"Rei?"

"Perhaps it would be more efficient to refer to me as 'Green Lantern.'"

"Whatever! You're with me. Maximals! Hunter! Get over here. There's more of these things on the ship! They're not after us, they want to cripple the Galactica!"


The yellow alien reached out and touched her forehead. Asuka blinked at the rush of sea air in her face, snapping her head around in confusion. She stumbled, her feet slipping in the sand, and she heard an explosion. It took her a moment to orient herself. She was on an island. There were structures above her on a steep hill; Greek, by the architecture. One of them was very large, some kind of temple, and it was a flaming ruin. She ran three steps down the sand, threw her arms to her side, and took off, the world tilting lazily beneath her, and bathed the island in her x-ray vision.

She picked him out immediately, and she flew, the air rushing in her ears.

Shinji lurched forward, his arms hanging at his side. His cape was gone and he was covered in scratches from barbed wire looped around his throat and his arms. The wire moved like a living thing, shining and oily, and with her superhuman sight she could see something else slithering over his skin, moving him like a marionette.

She gasped as she saw his mirror image rocket towards her, skidding to a stop in the air, gaping.

Not exactly his mirror image. A little younger, less heavily built, his costume looking more like the one Shinji'd made himself rather than the modified plugsuits Ritsuko had designed for him. He hung in the air, his cape billowing out behind him.

"Who are you?"

"Who are you?" she snapped.

"I'm Superman. What's going on here? I-"

Both their heads turned as Asuka saw herself, dressed in some kind of weird armor, running at Shinji -her Shinji- carrying probably a half a ton of marble over her head. She took a running leap and brought it down on his shoulders, splintering it into half a dozen pieces and so much dust. He turned around in a slow lurch, brought up his fist, and rammed it into her face. Her head snapped back, and she hit the marble stairs of the temple and slid through them, buckling the stone in half.

The other Shinji roared in fury and dove towards her. Asuka had to struggle to keep up, shielding her belly from the air pressure with her arms. The other Shinji landed at the other Asuka's side, lifting her head from the ground. Asuka felt a strange pang at their tenderness, the way he touched her cheek.

"The baby," she moaned.

"What baby?" Asuka demanded, landing beside them.

The other Shinji shot her a brief, calculating look.

"I'm sorry," he said, and took off.

"Wait!" Asuka shouted.

He took off, heading for her Shinji. The barbed wire dragged him around and they met in midair. There was a brief moment, like the tensing in the air before a clap of thunder, and the shockwave rolled over her, nearly bowling her off her feet. Asuka threw herself over her counterpart, turning her back to shield them both. They took off into the air together, wrestling, bobbing and weaving through the sky. Asuka looked down.

"What baby?"

"My baby," the other Asuka shouted, pushing to her feet.

Her legs were shaking and she clutched the side of her head.

"Gott, I can't even slow him down."

Asuka took a deep breath. "Where's the baby?"

"Mama has her," the other Asuka panted.

Asuka froze. "What did you say?"

"This way."

Asuka spun on her heels, feeling the impact before she even heard it. The two Shinjis were wrestling in the air. They came down in a streak and hit the ocean, just out of sight, but she could see the plume of water rising. The other Asuka grabbed her arm and tugged her.

"You're pregnant," she said, breathless. "Are you an Amazon?"

"A what? No, I'm a Kryptonian hybrid, I-"

"A what?" said the other Asuka. "Nevermind. This way."

They ran together, Asuka's feet not really touching the ground, as they headed down the stairs. Asuka felt tear sting her eyes. This place had obviously been beautiful once, but it was wrecked now. There were uprooted trees everywhere, drag marks and craters in the soft earth of the paths between cracked buildings. Flames licked the sky, sending up plumes of dark smoke.

"He did all this?" Asuka breathed.

"Yes," said the other Asuka. "He appeared out of nowhere and started tearing up the island. Who the hell are you people?"

"We're from another universe. I think," she said, slowing. "I'm not really… I'm having a bad day."

The other Asuka gave her a sharp look. Her black eye made it ominous. "Join the club."

"I'm sorry, I- he's my husband. Something must be controlling him. He wouldn't do this."

"I believe you," said the other Asuka. "I can feel the evil on him, it's in that wire. We have to get it off of him somehow."

"Where are we going?"

"The palace, it's the only place he hasn't wrecked yet. Hurry."

Asuka followed her up stone steps set in the earth to the highest part of the mountain. The palace was smaller than the temple, built in the same style. To Asuka, it looked like pictures out of a history book. She stumbled when she saw the figure standing between the columns at the front gate, a dark-haired baby in her arms. Taller than Asuka, she was paler and her hair was a few shades lighter.

"Mama," Asuka whispered.

Kyoko moved down the stairs lightly on her feet, holding the baby close to her chest.

"What happened?"

"Shinji's here," the other Asuka said.

Kyoko touched her split lip. She pulled away.

"It's nothing, Mother. Please."

Asuka couldn't stop herself. She moved forward in a trance, holding her hands out until her fingers touched Kyoko's cheeks. She wasn't a ghost, or an illusion, or a robot, she was real.

"Mama," Asuka sobbed.

Kyoko gave her the strangest look, and then broke out into a gentle smile.

Asuka sucked in a sharp breath and looked at the baby.

She had Shinji's eyes.

"C-Can I hold her?"

"Of course," said Kyoko.

Asuka took the infant carefully in her arms. She grabbed a lock of her hair and tugged. She was incredibly strong. Asuka barked out a half-sob, half-laugh, and tears stung her cheeks.

"You're pregnant with his child, aren't you?" said the other Asuka.

"Yes."

"How did you get here?" said Kyoko.

"There were these things, these… yellow aliens," said Asuka.

The other Asuka paled.

"What did you say?"

"It doesn't matter," Asuka said, passing the baby back to Kyoko. "We have to save him. We have to…"

A green light fell over her and she felt a sudden, instinctive panic. She stumbled backwards, clutching her belly, until the light on her skin proved no threat and she relaxed. A ball of green light zoomed towards them, turned in a lazy circle.

It was Toji. Riding a flying motorcycle made out of green light. He didn't so much dismount as the bike folded up into his leg, which was made of out the same green energy field as his arm. He dashed up to Asuka and looked from her to the other Asuka in confusion.

"Okay," he said, "Can somebody tell me what the hell is going on?"

"There's a Shinji from a parallel universe," said the other Asuka, "and he's being mind controlled. Our Shinji is fighting him now."

Toji nodded. "Hold on a second."

He turned, aimed his Green Lantern ring at the sky, and fired off a tiny shard of light that rocketed into the sky, twinkling.

"What was that?" said Asuka.

"A distress call," said Toji. "Let's go."


Mari ducked a sword swing, blasted a daemon in the face with her hand repulsor, and turned just in time to see Toji Suzahara body-check another one as it brought its sword down on her. There were so many Ayanamis in the room, she was starting to lose track of which one was which. The suit's sensor suite struggled to clean up her view, projecting infrared images of figures running through the smoke. Between the gigantic, bat-winged monster and Hikari wailing on it, the hangar was being torn apart. The creatures kept rushing at her, trying to get out of the hangar and onto the ship. Within Shinji running off to chase them down, that left her.

The daemon reared up, brushing Hikari away with a swing of its huge arm. The other Hikari, the newcomer, was standing next to Mari, pouring fire from some kind of arm cannon into the monsters. A hissing cat flew over Mari's head and latched into one of the creature's face, bowling it over before it could take a swing at the Ghostbusters.

"This is either a nightmare," she said to no one in particular, "Or I am incredibly high right now."

The lurching, monstrous daemon snarled, swept a toothy, open-mouthed grin around the room, and rammed the blade of its sword into the roof of the hangar. Mari staggered, shoving one of the lesser creatures away from her. Red and blue flashing lights dipped from the ceiling, and a piercing alarm rang in her ears. She threw her faceplate up and looked around.

"If you can't breathe vacuum, get the hell out of here! Fall back!"

The visor dropped back down over her face- the Mark X was hardened for the vacuum. She moved to cover the retreat, opening up on the throng of monsters with her gauntlets and the pintle-mounted support repulsors on her shoulders. She turned to one of the giant robots. It was the one that turned into an ambulance. She thought.

"Hey!" she shouted, "Get ready to blow the landing doors!"

The giant robot nodded and turned back to the fray. The big red one they called Optimus was on his feet and rallying the others, and they were forming a line to cover the retreat from the hangar. Robot Hikari fell back, laying down fire to cover their flank as the Ghostbusters and the vampires and that weird Shinji with the chainsaw ran back through the hangar.

The daemon took another crack at the ceiling, driving its red-hot blade through the hull. The warnings grew louder and she heard the rush of air towards the opening. If they didn't vent the hangar, it would. Thor-Hikari ended up next to her, bashing the daemons backwards with the head of her hammer. It was down to her, Mari, and the robots. The doors were swinging closed behind her.

"Hey!" she shouted at Thor-Hikari. "How the hell are you going to breathe?"

"I am Thor Odinson," Hikari roared, smashing the hammer into the face of a daemon, shattering its skull, "and I can breathe in space!"

There were so many things about that sentence, Mari didn't even try.

"Blow it!" she shouted, her voice amplified by the speakers. "Blow the damn doors!"

She turned everything she had on the gigantic daemon, firing her shoulder and hip mounted micromunitions and her chest beam as Hikari hurled the hammer. They managed to stagger it as Prime aimed his enormous cannon at the far end of the hangar and fired, kerr-whump, and the others joined in, peppering the doors with fire from their energy weapons. There was a single moment of almost eerie calm, and then the doors folded out into the vacuum, followed by the onrush of air. Mari had to fire her repulsors to stabilize herself.

The daemon stumbled, flailed, and dragged its claws across the deck as its sword tumbled out into space and exploded in a flash of non-colors that the armor filtered out, leaving Mari with a momentary blank spot in her vision. Hikari screamed, her voice stolen by the rushing air, and threw the hammer again. It cracked the beast in the nose and bounced back into her hand, and its grip loosed, deck plating coming up under it as it tumbled end over end into the blackness. Mari leaned into the wind and kicked down to fire her boot jets and took off after it, surrounded by swirling air and flailing daemonic bodies.

The daemon rolled over the edge of the hangar pod, its wings tangling under it, and then managed to plant its cloven feet on the outer hull of the ship. It roared soundlessly and charged across the hull, a new sword warping into being in its fist, and turned towards the engines. Mari fought to stabilize herself, the ship and the distant Earth pitching around her, as Hikari sailed calmly through the void, her body surrounded by a nimbus of pale light. She spun the hammer around her head and threw it, but didn't let go, the heavy strap dragging her by the wrist. Mari had to push hard on the throttle to keep up.

She cruised by the creature, strafing its back as Hikari turned the hammer on it. Mari couldn't hear the clash of hammer against blackened brass, but she could feel the impacts in her chest, somehow. The daemon pushed her back with a wild swing and scoured the hull with its flaming whip. Multicolored ichor dripped from its wounds, and where it struck the hull, new daemons rose up, hissing into life, and rushed past Hikari, headed for the ship's engines.

Mari landed, clamped herself to the hull with magnets in her boots, and opened fire on them, but they were coming too fast. They swarmed her, their swords clanging against her armor until Hikari turned to sweep them away with a crashing blow of her hammer. As they did, the greater daemon lashed out with its whip, looping it around Hikari's leg, and tugged. She sailed up and over the daemon's head and slammed into the deck. The ship rolled under Mari's feet, and she had no choice but to disengage, or be swarmed by the creatures. The daemon thundered forward, cracking its whip at its smaller brothers and lashing the hull with its sword.

Hikari got up, lifted the hammer over her head, and brought it down on the beast's back. Mari winced, seeing the beast buckle as the head of Mjolnir crashed through its spine. It grappled with Mari, turning at an impossible angle, its slavering jaws falling open too wide, and they rolled over the hull. Hikari pounded it again and again with punishing blows from the hammer, and then raised it high, her grip choked up just under the head. She planted the haft in the daemon's chest and lightning lanced from nowhere, slamming down through the hammer into the daemon. The blast arced over its body, charring its flesh, but still it resisted, snapping at Hikari. It began to lose its shape, its wings folding at impossible angles, its arms splitting and breaking and reforming. As it reached its feet, Hikari took a two-handed swing and crushed its head like a melon, and it flailed back, rolling.

It went over the edge, right into the Galactica's thruster, and rolled inside. Hikari turned with a look of horror on her face, swung the hammer around, and grabbed Mari by the waist, dragging her away through space. Multicolored flame burst out of the engine cone, warping and wrapping around it like tentacles, flowing through the airless void like liquid. A silent explosion followed, a series of blasts in a thousand impossible hues roaring through the engines. The ship lurched, and Mari turned, hitting her boot jets as the battered hangar door pitched away from them.


Kaji stood over Gendo. He'd dispensed with the costume, finding the strange man more tractable if he wore his civilian clothes. A turn with a razor, some shears, and a shower had done wonders for him, though he'd insisted on shaving his entire beard- he could have passed for someone else. He brightened a little when he saw his reflection, and then ended up sinking back into his chair and sulking. Kaji pulled up a chair and sat in front of him.

"I need your help," Kaji said calmly, keeping his voice bright and clear. "Gendo, I need your help. Our Shinji is missing. He went to the Moon to investigate an alien signal, and he disappeared. Do you know what happened to him?"

The man trembled, his eyes wide. "It's him."

"Who?"

"My son," said Gendo.

"Shinji," said Kaji.

"Yes, yes, that's him. You don't know what he is," he muttered, clutching the sides of his head. "You don't understand."

"Understand what?"

"What it is," his eyes snapped up. "Do you know what it is? What is the Riddle of Steel?"

"I don't know what that is," Kaji said, calmly. "That phrase doesn't appear anywhere. Where did you hear it?"

"He said it to me," said Gendo, "he asked me that before he cut my fingers off."

Kaji blinked.

"He fixed me later," said Gendo, waving his hand in front of his eyes. "Perfect, free from disease or injury, immortal, that's what he said. He opened a door. I saw it. I can see forever and it hates us."

Kaji palmed his face and sighed. "Did he say anything else?"

"He said… he said there is a man with a typewriter," said Gendo. "Yes, he said that."

Kaji tapped his chin. "You said something before. You said 'he can see the prose'."

"Yes, yes he sees it, he made me watch and he told me about the prose when he killed the children. A whole world where we were all children, you and me and your woman and we were the pilots. Do you know what he did? You watched her die. You were screaming."

Kaji swallowed. His hands clenched into fists.

"How could he take our Shinji? He's very powerful, Gendo."

"Yes," said Gendo, "I see that, now. So much more powerful than I ever imagined. He has a core now, like one of them. Something happened, he did something to the Eva, made it himself, and he ate the others, consumed them. He made himself more than he was."

Kaji stood up. "What is he doing? What does he want with us?"

"Not you," Gendo said hastily, "Not you at all. Cores, it's cores he wants, cores and seeds."

Kaji walked in a slow circle. "Cores… angel cores. S2 engines?"

Gendo looked at him blankly. "Right, those."

"Infinite energy," said Kaji, "infinity times infinity… on and on, every time he eats another one. Why? What would he be doing with it?"

He remembered what Ritsuko said about Rei's equations, and the amount of energy needed to punch between universes, but this other Shinji could already do that, and under his own power, even. Why would he need more? What would take more power than that? He scrubbed his hands through his hair and paced back and forth. Gendo watched him like a puppy, his head swiveling to and fro to track his motion. Kaji gave him an exasperated sigh and sat down.

"Is there anything else you can tell me about him?"

"Evil," said Gendo, "Evil beyond imagining. It's my fault."

"Yes, yes, I know. You've told me that. What does he want?"

"He said he had them," said Gendo. "Everyone but me, but Keel and the others. He killed them. He killed them all."

"Had them? What do you mean, had them?"

"Their souls," said Gendo, "Their immortal souls are part of his being."

Kaji watched him in silence. Gendo surged to his feet, taking Kaji by the collar, but his grip was feeble, shaking. He sank to his knees.

"All I wanted was for my wife to come home. Is that so wrong? All I ever wanted was her."

Kaji shoved him away. "What about your son?"

"I would only hurt him," said Gendo. "I would only-"

Kaji slapped him, clenching his teeth. "Shut up."

Gendo recoiled, shielding his face with his hands. The bruise on his jaw faded as soon as it had appeared.

"If what you say is true, this mess is your fault," said Kaji, "and you're going to help me put a stop to it."

The elevator was coming down. Kaji spun on his heels, watching it move through the open shaft to the black stone of cavern floor. The door slid open, and Misato stepped out. Kaji's heart quickened for a moment. She stared at the floor as she stepped out. She wasn't alone.

There were two men behind her. One of them was huge, his head shaved, with rippling muscles under a small, painted leather vest. The other fixed his eyes on Kaji immediately, regarding him with a soft smirk. Smartly dressed, he had an air of age and worldly wisdom, his dark eyes rich with experience that more than matched the faint streaks of white in his dark hair.

Kaji motioned for Gendo to remain still.

"We meet at last," said the older man, "I've been watching you for some time, Detective."

"I expected you might have a hand in this. I know who you are."

"Do you?"

"The Demon's Head. Ra's Al Ghul."

"Indeed. You are more capable than I once believed, though not the timeless adversary I had been hoping for."

"You and your organization were behind Seele. You set Kiel up with the secret scrolls, and put him in place to take the fall for you if the plan failed, to allow yourself to regroup without detection."

"And you have been dogging my every step since then. Very good, Detective."

"You're involved in this. You disappeared a few weeks ago. Where have you been?"

"Securing my supremacy over this world. Where Kiel and Seele failed me, my new ally will succeed. I will finish what Second Impact began. Earth will be cleansed, renewed, restored to its proper balance."

"You must have missed the Institute. We're already doing that."

He smirked. "You think you are, but you place your faith in these aliens without thought. What will happen when their children, and their children's children have dominion over the Earth, when the world is divided between Kryptonian overlords and mere mortals? That is, I am afraid, why I am here. I require your Kryptonite."


Toji was getting worried. The weight of his sidearm under his jacket the only real consolation he had. Hikari, Akagi, and Asuka were gone, and he was alone in his office. He heard a knock at the door, got up to rush over to it, and was brushed aside by Maya Ibuki, who closed it behind her and twisted the lock.

"Toji," she said sharply, "We have a problem."

"What problem?"

"Somebody kidnapped Misato! I saw them take her into Kaji's office, I-"

"Why didn't the alarm go off," said Toji, rushing to the door. "How did they get in?"

"I don't know," said Maya. "I was going to get a cup of coffee and monitor the MAGI when I saw them. I don't think they noticed me."

Toji scratched his chin. "What did they look like?"

"There was a big guy dressed up like a genie, and an old man in a cape. The big guy had a gun."

"I should sound the alarm," said Toji, turning to his desk.

He hesitated, his hand hovering under the silent alarm switch.

"What?" said Maya.

"If I trip the alarm, it'll sound in the Batcave. It might be best if they don't know we know they're here."

His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and checked the ID. He was hoping it was Hikari, but it came up 'Unknown'. It kept buzzing, so he flipped it open and touched it to his ear.

"Suzahara. Open your door."

Toji blinked. "Who is this?"

"We didn't want to freak you out. Open the door."

Toji moved to the door, reaching under his jacket to rest his palm on the grip of his gun. He turned the knob slowly, and nodded at Maya. She edged away, towards the corner, hiding behind a filing cabinet. Toji pulled the door open, and jumped backwards, fumbling for his gun. Maya screamed, pressing herself into the wall.

"Relax," said Batman.

He walked into the room. A second Batman followed, carrying a metal briefcase. He pulled the door shut, and they undid their cowls, pushing them back over their heads.

"Kaji didn't answer his phone. We figured we should come dressed for a party."

Toji blinked. "Uh, I haven't had the pleasure."

The first of the Batmen was slightly taller and leaner, with a more angular face and jet black hair. "Terry McGinnis."

"Tim Drake."

"Right," said Toji, "He said he was working with you guys. Wow, you're fast."

Drake shrugged. "We were on our way in anyway. We've been gathering intelligence about the Demon's Head."

"That doesn't matter right now," said Toji, "Misato Katsuragi has been abducted. I think they took her down to the cave."

McGinnis handed him a briefcase. "We've been talking this over for a while, but we don't have a choice now. Consider this a field promotion."

Toji rested the case on his desk and flipped up the locks. Inside, neatly folded, was a Bat-cowl, the open lower half like a screaming mouth. It was dark as night and slithery under is hands, unnerving to touch. Under it was a full suit and utility belt.

"Maya," said Toji, "Go to your office and lock the door. Don't open it for anybody, you understand?"

"Yes," she said trembling.

"I'll go with you," said Drake, and followed her out.

McGinnis nodded at Toji. "We could always use another hand."

"I don't know if I'm up to this."

"Put it on. You'll know."

He stepped outside. Toji swallowed. He needed to get down into that cave and find out what the hell was going on. He glanced around nervously, nestled the cape in the case, and took off his jacket and rested his gun in his drawer, then shrugged out of the holster. In a moment he was down to his skivvies and pulling on the suit, stepping into the hard boots. It felt strange; the suit itself was made out of some kind of weird polymer, and the boots and knees were reinforced, the knees especially. The shirt was the same way, with padding around his chest that made him look a lot bigger. The gloves had some kind of exoskeleton built into them, and when he draped the cape around his shoulders, the tips tugged towards the floor until he secured it and pulled on the cowl. Pads on the inside fit over his ears, and somehow, he could actually hear better with it surrounding his head. He glanced at the picture of Hikari on his desk and blinked. He didn't even look like himself.

He was putting the belt on as McGinnis stepped back into the office, his cowl up.

"Pay attention," he said, sharply. "There's a small radio in the cowl. Activate it by tapping the left side of your head, twice, like this," he demonstrated, and his voice doubled in Toji's ear. "There's reinforcement in the suit and gloves, and there are packs of lead shot in the tips of the cape that you can use as a weapon. I don't have time to run you down on all the gear in the utility belt, so don't touch it. Seriously, don't touch it."

Toji nodded, and Drake returned, also masked.

"How do we get down there?" said Toji. "They'll see us coming."

"You really think that he only has one way in and out?" said Drake. "There's about a dozen entrances. Follow us."

Kaji fell in behind them. As he moved, he felt the suit settle on him. He really did feel different, changed somehow. He saw his reflection in the polished floor and blinked. He was something of the night, strange and ethereal.

"There's an access tunnel under the memorial," said McGinnis. "It'll take us a while to get down there, but it's better than sitting up here on our heels."

"I hope he has a plan for this," said Toji.

McGinnis and Drake looked at each other and smirked at some secret joke.


Asuka rushed forward, until her counterpart seized her arm and pulled her backwards.

"Let me go!" she shouted, shaking loose. The Amazon was strong, but she was Asuka's equal, despite being, well, her.

"Asuka," Kyoko said calmly, "Think. You can't stop him without risking your child."

Asuka turned on her, ready to snap at her, but she just couldn't. She withered, sinking to her knees, folding her arms over her stomach. She was so useless. Kyoko moved beside her, cradling the baby against her shoulder with one arm, and pulled Asuka up with the other.

"Come inside. The others will handle this."

"But-"

"Asuka, please. Your child-"

Her head snapped around as a plume of water shot up into the sky. She saw a red and blue blur rocket skyward, disappearing into the crystal blue sky. She turned to follow, only to falter. The other Asuka took a bounding leap and took off, followed by Toji and his strange green ring.

"Don't hurt him!" Asuka shouted.

"Tell him that!" Toji shot back.

Standing there on the steps of the temple made her remember what it was like to be normal, to be so small beside Shinji. She could see it all in perfect clarity, her damned Kryptonian sight allowing her to follow the battle perfectly. Their Shinji moved with a strange grace, twisting and flitting in the air. Her Shinji moved like someone was dragging him. He flew upright with his legs dangling beneath him, without grace, without the joy he shared with her when they flew. He crashed into the other Shinji like a bludgeon, and she could feel the impact in her chest.

Toji raced up on a column of light, extending his ring. Green light raced towards Shinji and wreathed around him. Shackles formed on his arms and legs, and luminous green chains wrapped around him, around and around, binding him a bundle of light. There was a pause.

"I have him!" Toji cried. "We have to-"

Shinji flexed, his arms dragged out by the barbed wire digging into his skin, and the chains shattered. Toji screamed and tumbled through the air, his light winking out. Amazon-Asuka dove to catch him, supporting him under the shoulder as the green light ignited again. The other Shinji seized Shinji from behind, squeezing his chest. Shinji spun around, writhed free, and drove his elbow into his counterpart's face. He seized him, clamping down on his head with both hands, spun around at a neck-breaking speed, and hurled him into the ground.

Asuka raced forward as the other Shinji came down, throwing up a plume of sand and debris. He stood up, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, and held his hand out in warning.

"Stop," he gasped.

"It's not working," she shouted, "Please, let me-"

Shinji came down foot-first and buried his counterpart in the ground, stomping him down. Amazon-Asuka jumped him, ringing her arms around his neck, but he peeled her off easily, dragged her through the air by the shoulder, and crashed her into the ground head first. The Other Shinji roared in fury and delivered a savage uppercut and a right cross that devolved into a fury of haphazard blows. Her Shinji didn't even seem to notice. He backhanded the other Shinji away, then grimly started walking towards the temple.

Toji landed beside her, holding his ring out. "Shinji! Grab her-" he pointed at Asuka, "and get her out of here!"

"Why?" the Other Shinji shouted back, wiping his chin. He was dragging his Asuka from the sand, where she lay, dazed, her face a mask of blood from the nose down.

"I can use my ring to replicate k-rads," Toji shouted, "Get her out of here!"

The other Shinji seized her, moving so fast she barely saw him. It took her a moment to process it. K-Rads. K.

Kryptonite.

"No!" she screamed, shoving him the Other Shinji away. She elbowed out of his grasp and grabbed Toji, seizing him by the wrist.

"I'll rip your arm off!"

"I have to!" Toji shouted, "he'll kill us all!"

"No he won't!" Asuka shrieked, her voice cracking from the strain.

She shoved Toji back and turned around. Shinji was grimly striding forward. She could see it. She could see the struggle as he fought the thing that was making him do this. She pushed Toji back. The other Shinji seized her by the wrist, pulling her away. She turned and backhanded him, her arm whistling through the air so fast it was followed a split second later by the crack of the sound barrier shattering. He stumbled backwards, landing on his backside.

"I'm sorry," she said, her eyes stinging with tears. "I won't let you hurt him."

She turned towards Shinji. He lurched forward, every step trembling. The barbed wire looped around his throat, the points digging tiny furrows into his flesh that wept blood. She steeled herself and stalked forward, her hands balled into fists at her side. Toji slowly stood, tears wet on his cheeks, and aimed his ring at her.

Amazon-Asuka grabbed his wrist. "No," she croaked.

Asuka stood in front of him. She met his eyes, his beautiful blue eyes like the sky he loved so much. Just like the day she first saw him, forever ago on a wrecked airplane that he caught out of the sky, when he fell so in love with her at first sight he couldn't remember his own name.

"I know you're in there."

He trembled, his fingers shaking.

She moved closer to him. "Do you remember what you said to me in the apartment, the night I ran away?"

Shinji slowed. Her eyes flitted to his hands. His right hand was opening and closing, opening and closing. The barbed wire grew, sliding over his fingers, but the opened and closed anyway, and she saw the muscles of his arm straining, pulling against one another. She could hear his bones creaking.

"I asked you if you'd stay with me forever," she said, her voice cracking. "You said you would and I asked you how you knew."

Slowly, his hand raised, as if to choke her. She moved forward, brushing between them, watching him strain. The barbed wire on his arms scratched her shoulders. She reached up and put her arms around his neck and pulled his head to her, touching her cheek to his.

"You said 'I'm Superman. I can do anything.'"

His whole body shook. He took a half step and his foot froze, hovering over the ground. His jaw clenched.

She held him as tight as she could, until her muscles screamed, ignoring the barbs digging into her arms. She touched her lips to his ear and whispered in a small, secret voice that only he would be able to hear.

"I believed you."

Shinji reared up, pushing her back, his head lolling from side to side. She stumbled, but she didn't fall. He scrambled backwards, His hands moving slowly towards his throat. His eyes locked on hers.

"Get back."

She turned and she ran. She grabbed Toji by the collar and dragged him along, and the other Asuka took the hint, hobbling back, leaning on her Shinji's shoulder. Shinji reared back, opened his mouth, and screamed. The sheer force of him emptying his lungs cracked the air like thunder and a shockwave rolled out from him, blasting the leaves off the trees, kicking up a ring of dust. His fingers slid under the barbed wire around his throat and he pulled, he leaned forward and leaned into it and pulled, and something alien, something ancient and beyond the ken of men shrieked in pain.

The wire drew out of his throat, curling around his hands. Multi-colored flame flickered around it, and the shrieking grew louder, more discordant. The wires were leaking, the strange energy that fueled them bubbling out into the air, like a rip in the world itself. Shinji took in a deep, free breath, and expanded his chest, thrusting out his arms. The wire peeled away from him and curled around his hands in a slithering mass, tendrils of it reaching out for his throat. He turned and with a savage cry threw it into the mud. It rolled over like a tumbleweed and crashed into a tree, still writhing.

Asuka raced to his side and he collapsed in her arms, sobbing. She drew him to her, cradling his head in her hands.

Asuka's jaw tightened with rage.

"Look out!" Toji shouted.

The barbed wire mass grew larger and larger, twisting in on itself, and changed. It went red hot in an instant, sizzling, and melted. A pair of wings bedecked in jeweled feathers of a million shifting, changing hues rose out of the mass, followed by a monstrous hawk's head, its long mockery of a beak filled with needle teeth, all spiraling off in different directions. As it blinked its eyes were one moment like an insect, another like a man's, another like a cat. It stood up, its vast wings shadowing the island, and bellowed.


The deck rolled under his feet. He hit the wall, winced at the dent his armor put in it, and charged forward. The daemons and a squad of three Astartes were racing towards the main engines, and more importantly, the jump drive. If they reached it, the ship would be crippled and they would only have the compact drive in Shinji's suit to leap between universe. Shinji fired his boot jets and raced down the hall, tackled one of the daemons, and pinned it to the wall. It snarled and battered him with its elbow. He pushed his gauntlet emitter up under its chin and fired, painting the wall with multicolored blood.

An Astartes raised a power sword behind him, it sweep followed by crackling scarlet hues. Rhinox thundered down the hallway and opened up with his chainguns, sending the monstrous armored titan stumbling backwards, his limbs dancing as he was pummeled by gunfire. The sword fell out of his hand and Shinji ducked to grab it. It was too long for him, taking a two handed grip, but the servos in his armor helped him swing it. He found the activation stud and pushed his thumb against it, and the blade crackled to life. He turned his whole body in the swing and the blade bit through the Astarte's waist cables and into his flesh.

Snarling through the scowling visage of his helm, the Marine grabbed Shinji by the shoulder plates of his armor and hauled him up, spinning him around, and slammed him into the wall, all the while ignoring the crackling sword in his belly, cauterizing the wound. Shinji yanked the blade out, took it one handed and brought it around, but it glanced off the Marine's massive pauldron, leaving a scraping scorch mark across the armor. The Maximals opened up on the Astartes, but the frothing lunatic ignored their fire, even as one of the blasts caved in the left side of his helmet. He fixed his enormous armored fingers under Shinji's helmet and pushed up. The internals in his neck plating squeezed around his throat, and he dropped the sword.

There was a sharp, loud bang, and a fist-sized chunk of the Astarte's helmet and what lay underneath it blew out, painting the wall. For a moment his body was no worse the wear for the loss of his head, until his grip slackened and he fell to one side. Shinji grabbed the sword. A pack of hissing daemons was bearing down on him, and behind them, the other two Marines.

At least, for a moment. One of the Astartes calmly turned his heavy pistol on his comrade and ended him before the other even noticed, his armored form slumping against the wall, holstered his pistol, and drew a chainsword from his back. He waded into the daemons as the Hunter bellowed and fired up his saw in an exaggerated motion, and the two Reis came bounding into the fray, leaping over the Maximals, while Green Lantern Rei neatly started slicing the daemons in half, one by one, with a cutting beam from her ring.

The hallway became a slaughterhouse, multicolored ichor flying everywhere, the daemons screaming and shrieking as they were shot and pummeled and cut to pieces. It lasted no more than a few heartbeats, and when it was over, the lone Astartes faced them down, a dozen weapons aimed at his head. He thumbed off his chainsword and slowly lowered it to the deck, and raised his hands.

The Hunter leveled his shotgun, for all that would do. "Lose the helmet."

The Astartes slowly removed his helmet, and let his hands fall to his sides. Shinji aimed his emitters at his face. Unlike the others, he was unscarred, and relatively… sane looking. His features had the same distorted, inhuman cast, but other than that, he looked no less human than anyone else.

"Why did you help us?"

"I didn't. Their mission was to destroy your ship. That would conflict with my mission."

"Which is?" said Shinji.

"To ensure the Second Legion does not return whence they came."

"Who the hell are you?" said the Hunter.

The Marine smiled thinly. "I am Alpharius."

"Great," Shinji muttered.

The lights dimmed, and the deck rolled. Shinji found himself tumbling towards the walls with everyone else, and even the Astartes had to lean and put his hands out to brace himself from falling, his head boots sliding in the multihued ichor that coated the deck plating. The lights dimmed again and there was a titanic groan.

"Mari!" Shinji shouted, "Mari, come in!"

"I'm here," Mari said back, but her voice was distorted by static.

"What the hell happened?"

"We blew the big one out of the hangar, but it went into the engine cones! One of the engines just blew!"

Shinji wheeled. "Everybody up to the bridge, now! Green Lantern Rei, if Alpharius tries anything, vaporize him."

Rei nodded, aiming her ring. "Move," she said.

Ritsuko's cat jumped from her shoulder onto the Marine's shoulder pad and batted at him with her paw. The Astartes gave it a sharp look, but said nothing.

"Hurt my cat and you're a dead man," said Ritsuko.

Shinji led the way. He popped his helmet open when he stepped out into the CIC. The old man was standing behind one of the control panels, his expression a flat mask of annoyance.

"What the hell did you do to my ship?"

"It's a long story. Can she jump?"

"She'll jump."

"Jump where?" said the Hunter.

"They wanted to keep us from going to the next universe they're invading." Shinji turned his head slightly. "Mari, is everybody inside?"

"Yeah, hangar's locked down."

"Start the jump clock," said Shinji.


Shinji's feet slipped the grasp of earth and he surged at the thin bird-neck of the thing that moments ago had been a pool of molten barbed wire, roaring in fury, before the others could even react. He looped his arms around its throat and dragged it off its feet, slamming it into the ground.

"Do you know what you made me do?"

Eerie, gasping trills escaped its beak, and he realized it was laughing at him. He seized the beak in his hands, feeling its strange matter creak under his grasp, raised it over head, twisting the foul thing's neck, and pummeled it into the ground, over and over, throwing up plumes of mud. It belched iridescent, shifting flames at him that licked over his skin, blackening his suit, and in reply he turned the heat of his vision on it, charring the back of its throat. It coughed for air until its neck bulged and a hundred mouths full of needle teeth opened up on its neck and began breathing, sighing, and trilling.

He put his foot on the creature's neck, ignoring its teeth scraping over his boot, and took hold of it by its feathered head, and pulled. Its flesh stretched like taffy and its bones cracked, and it screamed a hollow, gurgling shriek that turned into a frothing cough as its head came away from its body in a stream of luminous, ever-shifting gore. He lifted it overhead and rammed the pointed end of the beak deep into its body, and pounded on the stump with his fist to bury it in the ground. He kept pounding until his fists were covered in stinking slime.

"Shinji!" Asuka cried, rushing towards him.

He stumbled away from the thing, and fell down, until he was seated. Asuka sank down next to him, pulling his head to her chest. He sobbed into her shoulder.

Toji walked over to the creature and passed it over with his ring.

"It's dying," he said, "I think. It's not really alive. It's some kind of energy. I've never seen anything like this. Whatever it is, it's cut off from the source and running out of juice."

He watched the creature oozing into its crater.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, "about the radiation thing. I…"

Shinji shook his head as he stood up, leaning on Asuka.

"No," Shinji sighed, wiping the mud from his face with the back of his hand. "I'm sorry."

"Where did you come from?" his counterpart said, walking up behind Toji with his Asuka leaning on his side. She'd brushed the blood away from her face.

Shinji felt sick.

"Another world, like this one. I was… I went to investigate a Kryptonian signal, and I was ambushed. I woke up in a terrible place, and they put that thing on me. There was another… there were other Shinjis there and…"

"What?"

"Other Asukas. Hundreds of them. They were experimenting on them or something."

Asuka's grip on his hand tightened.

Shinji rubbed at his temple. "The leader said something about an invasion, but-"

Toji's ring flashed. "Hold on," he said.

He turned around, lifted his ring, and a thin streamer of light emerged from it, twisting itself into a conical shape that become a telescope. He held it in front of his eye and it moved back and forth, scanning the sky.

"Something just appeared in orbit."

"Let's go," said Shinji. He turned to Asuka. "Stay here."

"Oh, hell no."

Shinji sighed. Toji lifted his ring and a green aura appeared around the Amazon. Shinji lifted off, followed by his counterpart and the others. Asuka flew beside him. He could hear her teeth grinding. When he knew where to look, he could see the object. It was trailing debris and the engine cones looked heavily damaged.

"That's not the ship that I saw," said Shinji. "It's too small."

He gave it a quick scan, looking through the walls. There was an… odd assortment of people and machines inside. There was a large pod on either side of the ship. He landed at the aft end, nearer the engine pods. Toji expanded his envelope of green energy to envelope them all, and Shinji felt air rush over his skin.

"What do we do?" said Toji. "Knock?"

The door started to slide silently open, pitching forward like a ramp. Shinji led the way, flanked by Asuka and the other Shinji. When they were inside, the door lifted up behind them. Toji looked around nervously. When the inner door opened, air rushed in, and Toji released his bubble. There was a bizarre assortment of figures waiting inside. Several of them had Shinji's face.

Asuka hissed between her clenched teeth and stomped forward, until he caught her arm.

"Wait."

The leader, dressed in what looked like a battered, battle scarred miniature version of Unit One, lifted up his helmet.

"Has it started?" he demanded.

"Has what started?" the other Shinji said.

"The invasion!"

"What invasion?"

Shinji spotted Rei, Ritsuko and Hikari in the crowd. They pushed forward. Ritsuko ran over to him and threw her arms around him, while Rei gave him a quiet, enigmatic smile. He blinked when she saw her strange clothes, and the ring on her finger. It caught Toji's attention, too.

"You are a Green Lantern," Rei noted.

"Hold on," said the Shinji in the armor. "Can we do the reunion thing later? There should be a fleet of ships full of a horde of monsters here devastating your planet."

"My ring isn't picking anything up," said Toji.

"Damn it!" the armored Shinji shouted, "Where the hell are they?"

"Wait," another Shinji said, stepping forward. Older and grizzled, he had a gun slung over his shoulder. "What if this was a diversion? They wanted us to come here instead of-"

"They who?" Asuka snapped.

"No time to explain," the armored Shinji shouted, turning to run. "Everybody! Brace for emergency jump!"


Kaji held his hands where Al Ghul and his companion could see them. Misato took a few experimental steps forward, until the thug grabbed her shoulder. She looked at Kaji darkly, her eyes flicking to her captor. Kaji edged forward, until he saw the big man jab Misato in the back with the barrel of his submachine gun.

"So this is the great Ra's Al Ghul, the legendary immortal," said Kaji. "Very chivalrous of you."

Al Ghul smirked. "Chilvalry is dead, Kaji. I would know."

"I suppose you would. But I know something you don't know."

"What is that?"

"Batman can be in many places at once."

There was a heavy thump a circuit opening and the lights went out. There was a scream, a thump, and in the muzzle flash Kaji saw Misato duck, ram her heel into the thug's knee, and duck under his gun, pushing it away by shouldering into his arms. She twisted and delivered a sharp kick into his side, swung her head under an awkward swing, and brushed the gun out of his hands, finishing with a solid uppercut to his chin with the heel of her hand.

Kaji darted to the chair where he'd hung his utility belt. He'd trained for this, going over the belt in total darkness, so that he could easily find the pouch he wanted. He tossed the smoke spheres out in a fan where Al Ghul had stood before the lights went out, and by the flashes as they sparked and started spewing thick smoke, he saw Misato and ran for her. She tensed when his hand touched her arm, and then pressed herself against him, moving silently into the dark. He guided her towards the armory- they'd practiced this together, as much as she hated the cave, moving quickly and in silence, working by pure memory.

He ducked inside, pulled her in behind him, and pulled the door shut. He flicked the light on, confident that it would be invisible from the outside. Misato slapped him.

"You have Kryptonite?"

"Yes, but not here," he said, rubbing the bruise on his cheek.

He immediately began stripping out of his civvies. Misato shot him a look.

"Nothing you haven't seen before."

"What about Gendo?"

"He'll be fine," Kaji said absently, tugging on his leggings.

"Who cut the power?"

"McGinnis and Drake, if they have any brains," said Kaji, "otherwise, it was something else and we have to find out what."

Misato shuddered as he buckled the cape around his neck. "Do you really have to wear that?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact, turn around."

She looked over her shoulder, went pale, and ground her teeth. "I am not wearing that."

"It's an emergency."

She shied and shrugged out of her jacket. He left his cowl hanging behind his head as she unbuttoned her shirt.

"You really shouldn't be enjoying this."

"Nothing I haven't seen before," he shrugged.

He had to help her into her suit. It was a lighter color than his, and sized for her, with reinforcement around the chest and hips, more of a survival suit than something for combat. He pulled the cowl over her head, letting her hair drape through the opening in the back.

"I like you ridiculous."

"One thing you will never look in a skintight suit is ridiculous, my dear."

"Oh shut up," she snapped.

He flicked the light off.

"Hey!"

"Let your eyes adjust."

He tapped the side of her cowl, and repeated the gesture on his own, dropping the night vision optics over his eyes. She winced when she looked at him. The lenses covering his eyes made it seem that he had no pupils, which unnerved her further.

"Come on," he said.

He swung the door open and moved out, quietly. Misato, unfortunately, was damned noisy. He would hear her breathing a mile away. As the lenses adjusted, he saw Gendo standing in the dark, staring off into space, while McGinnis and Drake moved up on him, and a third. He blinked when he realized it was Toji. They'd talked about that. He supposed it was as good a time as any.

Only Gendo was truly left in the dark. Kaji stopped, motioning for Misato to haul up behind him.

"Okay," Toji said sharply, "Somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on?"

Kaji moved to the computer, opened the panel under the main keyboard, and hit the switches for the emergency lights. The halogens came up slowly, and he had to show Misato how to dismiss the lenses before they blinded her. The other three gathered around him. He could see her getting nervous, even if she was dressed the same. Until she noticed Toji, that is.

"Toji, quit staring at my chest. You're a married man."

"I'm not dead," Toji retorted.

"Focus," said Kaji.

"I hear him," Gendo hissed, clutching the sides of his head.

"We need to get to the surface," said Kaji. "Right away."

"What about Al Ghul?"

Kaji shook his head. "He's not going to risk himself by confronting all of us at once. He's too smart for that. If I were him, I'd retreat into the complex somewhere. McGinnis, Drake, you're on it. Head for the Magi nodes, any place sensitive that might be worth his while to access while here. Toji, you're with me."

"Right, boss," said Drake, and they melted into the shadows.

Kaji grabbed Gendo by the collar. "You're coming with us."

"No," Gendo pleaded, "Please, not again, not again!"

"Where are we going?" said Toji.

"To the surface," said Kaji, "To coordinate the evacuation. We need to get a warning out to anyone who will listen."

"How fitting that it should be here."

"No!" Gendo screamed, throwing himself past Kaji.

A ghostly vision folded himself out of space, stepping out of a rent in the universe. He had Shinji's face but his eyes were cruel, his skin like alabaster and his hair polished steel. He smiled to himself at some secret joke and pushed Gendo to his knees.

"There, where you belong. Are you ready to watch again?"

Kaji stepped in front of the others. "Who are you?"

"I have so many names these days. I suppose The Adversary will do. I've a taste for that one."

"Run!" Gendo pleaded, "Run! Run away!"

"Oh, shut up," the Adversary snapped, and backhanded him.

Gendo's head spun around and he sailed through the air, landing hard against the computer bank. He rolled to the ground, his neck popping, and lay there gurgling, laughing and sobbing by turns.

"I need something to draw her out," said the Adversary. "I think this will do."

He raised his arm. His pale flesh warped, changed, turned to a translucent crystal and emitted a painful shrieking sound that drowned out everything else, so that Kaji couldn't even hear himself breathe. A pale glow formed at the end of the crystal and lanced out at Misato. Kaji lunged, but the Adversary ignored him.

The beam hit a rippling curtain of pale orange light. Misato stumbled backwards, stunned.

Kaji blinked. It was Rei.

No. Not Rei.

She stood on the floor of Terminal Dogma in her bare feet, surrounded by pale light. Her crimson eyes narrowed, and her soft mouth twisted into a sneer. She regarded the Adversary as she would a particularly revolting stain or offensive insect.

"These are my children. This is my world. You are not welcome here."

"Lilith," Kaji shouted, "Lilith, get away from him!"

She ignored him.

"Shut up," said the Adversary, walking past him.

Kaji leapt at him, threw his arms around his neck, and squeezed with all his might. The Adversary casually peeled his arm back, twisting it until pain lanced up his arm from the joint, and spun him around roughly to the floor. Kaji got up again, holding his wounded arm to his side, and drew out his most powerful weapon, a bat-shaped throwing blade that would fry anything it hit with a burst of high voltage current. When he threw it at the Adversary, he glanced at it, and it crumpled in mid air, folding up into a steaming mass.

"Misato! Toji! Run!"

Lilith raised her arm over her head, and a pale ring of light formed, like a halo. It swirled and swirled, twisting itself into a helix.

"You don't know how much I anticipated this," said the Adversary, "how much I hate you for mocking her face and voice, you vile thing."

"You play with our power," said Lilith, "but you do not understand it. It is beyond you."

"I understand power very well. Show me what you can do."

The light coalesced into her hand, twisting and twisting on itself into a fork. The glow faded, leaving a steaming spear of red chitin in her hand, its bifurcated fork lined around the inside with what looked like fine hairs. She turned it in her hand, raised it overhead, and plunged it at the Adversary, aiming for his gut.

The core inside him flared, glowing red hot, and an AT-Field warped into being in front of him, arresting the movement of the spear. The twin points shifted, vanes of luminous, translucent flesh fanning out from the spear's sides, like wings, as Lilith leaned into it, pushing. The points twisted together into a single, thick spearhead, and she pushed with all her might, squeezing the long haft with both hands.

Misato crouched by Kaji's side. She pulled her cowl off. Kaji did the same.

"I love you," she said.

"I know."

Lilith was struggling, more hanging off the spear than pushing it now. The Adversary was aflame, light warping from within his body, his core beaming like a star. It lit up his bones from the inside, making him into some macabre mockery of himself, his burning bones charring his flesh from the inside.

He stepped forward.

He grasped the spear.

He snapped it neatly in half.

"It took me so many worlds, so many cores to have the strength," he roared, grabbing Lilith by the throat.

He yanked her close to him, throwing his arm around her waist. She pummeled his chest with her fists, but he ignored her. He squared up his grip on the back of her neck and slowly forced her head close to his, until their lips met, and thrust his hand into her chest. It sank into her luminous flesh, becoming one with it. The air swirled around them. Wide-eyed, Lilith screamed a silent scream, her voice muffled as her face melded into the Adversary's. The swirling current of air over their heads became a halo, and Lilith flailed as her body was drawn into his. The Adversary became a bubbling mass of flesh, inhuman faces rising and falling within it. A pair of wings opened out of his back, followed by another and another, six of them in all, unfolding in all different directions. The bulk of his face and chest warped, opening up like a fanged maw, and clamped down on Lilith's legs. The warped mass swallowed theatrically, and what was left of her disappeared down its throat.

It flexed, it moved, and the Adversary's hands reappeared out of it. He struggled, blinking, to force himself back into shape, finally standing up, wreathed in light. Kaji looped his arm around Misato and drew her back, pushing against the floor with his legs. She stared at the Adversary, her jaw hanging open, mouthing Kaji's name.

He cupped her cheek and turned her face to his. "Misato. It's me. Look at me."

She looked through him. "Ryoji," she cooed.

She exploded. Hot LCL gushed over him and her now empty suit crumpled against him, and he screamed.

The Adversary walked inexorably towards him. Every time he blinked, he was gone and Misato beckoned him with open arms, inviting him to join her in their bed and never leave. He blinked the image away.

"No, you're not her," he snarled, rising to his feet, "You're not her, you're not her, you're not her you're not her you're not her-"

"Give in," the Adversary's voice said, and Misato's voice rang in Kaji's ears. "Come to bed, baby."

"You're not real," Kaji shouted, clutching the sides of his head. "I can fight this. I'm Batman! I'm Bat-"

Her hands touched his cheeks.

"Please, baby, I need you," Misato whispered. Her arms draped around his neck.

All else was forgotten, and there was only a moment of bliss, and thereafter, darkness.


He opened his helmet and looked around.

The sloping sides of the crater, carved out of soft Earth, must have been a mile in every direction. The water cascading down the sides was as red as blood, and smelled like it, tanging the air. He turned in a slow circle, taking it all in. Superman stumbled beside him in his tattered uniform and sank to his knees, leaning on his thighs, and screamed. His Asuka rushed to his side and slid in the mud next to him, hugging him and sobbing.

Shinji opened his mouth, but nothing came out. There were no words to say.

Green Lantern Rei looked at her ring.

"There are no life signs here."

"In the city?" Cyborg Hikari said thickly.

"On the entire planet. None, except for us, and… there is one. Over there."

Shinji made his way in the direction he pointed. He found his father lying curled up in the mud, sobbing and chuckling madly to himself.

"I tried to warn them," he sobbed, "I tried but they didn't listen to me."

Thor Hikari leaned down and scooped something out of the muck. It was the twisted remnants of something, some kind of weapon made out of a chitinous mass.

The second Superman stood next to him. "What do we do?"

Shinji looked up at the red sky and sucked in a breath, trying not to break down himself.

"He took them," Gendo shouted, grabbing at his armor. "He took them, he took them! Listen to me!"

Shinji grabbed him, squeezing his shoulders with his gauntlets. "What do you mean?"

"He took Instrumentality. It's what he does. It's all he does. He eats the heavens."

Super-Shinji grabbed him by the collar, breathing hard. "Is there a chance we can get them back?"

"I don't know," Gendo wailed.

"Maybe there is," said Shinji, "Maybe there isn't. We only have one choice. This is going to happen everywhere if we don't stop it."

The Hunter splashed through the mud and stood next to him. "Stop it how? Every move we make, they're already six moves ahead of us. We fell for their plan like idiots and this happened."

Shinji looked at him. "You're right. We need to to take the fight to the enemy. So that's what we're going to do. We're going to go back to the other worlds and we're going to gather up everybody that's willing to come with us, and we're going to launch an attack."

"You're crazy," said the Hunter. "I like it."

"We need to make what repairs to the ship we can, and I need to talk to Alpharius."


Asuka curled up in the corner in the Primarch's study or lair or whatever it was, trying to sleep with her head propped on an old book. When the door opened, she sat up, instinctively reaching for a blanket that wasn't there and for Toji, who she'd never see again. She brushed the tears out of her eyes and sat up. When she saw him, she shivered.

He looked dead. His skin was pale, not like the other but like a corpse, waxy and thin-looking over black veins and angry bruises. He had dark circles around either eye and his hear was a mop of sweat and oil, brushed back against his head. He walked over to the table, picked up a goblet full of foul tasting alcohol, and quaffed it all at once. He slammed it back down so hard the stem bent and stalked over to her.

He stank. He smelled like old roadkill covered in acidic, tangy sweat. She got on her feet as well as she could and backed away from him, ending up backed against the bookcases. His hand clawed up over her cheek as he pinned her head to the books. His skin was like ice.

"Come here," he rasped, and pulled her away from the books.

He held her head in one hand and her arm in the other, his clammy grip like a dead slug. He mashed his face into hers and she pinched her lips shut until he leaned over her and pushed his tongue in her mouth. She coughed and tried to pull away, but he was too strong. It was like someone ramming cold, rotted meat into her mouth. She hacked and gagged, and when he finally released her, she dragged herself away from him, stumbling, and dry-heaved into the carpet.

"Don't touch me," she hissed, crawling away on all fours. "Don't touch me."

He smirked at her, his pale lips tightening. He grabbed her arm and hauled her up.

"When did you do it?"

"Do what?" he rasped.

"Rape the other one."

"I never!" he roared, spinning her away.

She hit the bookcase and winced as the shelf rammed into her ribs. "Oh, I know you did it. You made her want it. When did you do it the first time? Did she reject you? Is that why you noodled around in her brain? Or did you just do it on general principles, so you wouldn't have to hear someone tell you no?"

"Shut up!" he screamed, seizing her by the arms.

She tugged at the collar around her neck. "You can't do that with me when I'm wearing this, you said it yourself, you bastard. If you're going to do it, you're going to do it the old fashioned way."

He ground his teeth. His breath smelled like hell, like rotten meat and decay.

"It doesn't matter. You're not even real."

A wave of horror rolled through her. She could see it in his hesitation.

"I've waited long enough."

He dragged her through the room to the doors.

"Wait!" she screamed, "What are you doing?"

"Taking you to the Good Doctor. You'll be gone, no more shrieking harridan, and my glorious beauty will be returned to me, now and forever."

"No!" she shrieked, flailing as he threw her over his shoulder. "Don't do this to me!"

He walked past the two Berserkers standing silent guard at the door.

"Help me! Don't let him do this to me!"

They stood like statues, immobile, unmoving, as the Primarch carried her off to die.


Hikari walked into the lab with Mjolnir in one hand and the twisted alien spear in the other. The place was trashed in the fighting, the lab tables strewn everywhere. Doc Brown stared at his chalkboard sullenly. Two Reis were gathered around it, the Ghostbuster and the Green Lantern. The latter's ring flashed and the board lifted up, supported by twin columns of light. She picked up a piece of chalk and began writing, erasing parts of the equations surrounding the triquerta diagram on the board with the heel of her hand, making changes.

"What are you doing?" brown asked.

"This is the key," Rei said, quietly.

"I don't even know why I'm here," said Brown.

"Well, Doc," McFly shrugged, "at least we get front row seats, huh?"

Hikari stepped up behind Rei as she made another adjustment to the numbers. She continued working, and then erased the diagram itself.

"This is too crude," she said, and held up her ring.

The board fell. A pale green light filled the room. Rei's eyes unfocused, and the equations sprang into being in the air all around her, a symphony of numbers and variables, spinning round and round, shifting, changing. Hikari saw the others try to keep up, and fail. The numbers flashed around Rei's head, gathering in front of her, becoming the planes, lines and sweeping curves they described. Brown stood up, gaping.

A triquerta of green light hovered over Rei's hand, surrounded by equations.

"It is beautiful," she murmured. "The Metaflux Capacitor."

"I could never have done this on my own," Brown whispered.

"I could not have done it without you."

Ghostbsuster Rei peered intently at it. "How can we build something like this?"

"I can," Hikari said softly.

They turned to look at her. She lifted the hammer.

"This hammer was forged in the heart of a dying star. It is a both a weapon to destroy, and a tool to build."

"Let us begin," said Rei.


Shinji's eyes opened. His sides hurt like hell, but it was easier to breathe. The iron collar around his neck was no lighter, though, and the painful dullness it carried with it fuzzed his mind. He stared up into the harsh lights of his small cell and struggled to draw breath. He sat up when the door opened, and a robed thrall came inside, carrying a pail of water and some foul looking rations. The robed figure lowered them at Shinjis' feet, and stood up. The figure studied him for a moment, then turned and left.

He picked up the bucket and drank from it. It tasted foul, but it was cold and wet. He left the ration alone, until he was more desperate from hunger. There was something in it and he didn't want to taste it. He let his head hit the cold metal wall of the cell and closed his eyes, reaching for sleep that wouldn't come. They drifted open again, and he saw he wasn't alone.

Asuka, not his Asuka but an Asuka, clutched the bars of his cell. She leaned into them, pressing her face between them.

"You said you could heal me."

He glanced at her shoulder. There was still a bandage on it.

He nodded.

"Not this," she said, glancing at her wrappings. "You could make me… not like this anymore. Make me human again."

"I can try," he croaked.

"Why would you do that?"

He smiled softly. "With great power comes great responsibility."

She blinked. "I… if I help you, will you help me?"

He nodded.

"I'll come back," she whispered, "I'll come back and I'll let you go and you'll fix me. Okay?"

He nodded, as vigorously as he could.

She looked at him desperately for a moment, and then vanished. He winced from the light and closed his eyes.


Shinji opened his helmet and looked around. He didn't know these people. They had no reason to trust him, to take an interest in what he said, be it needed doing. He swept them with his gaze. Hikari stood next to him in her gleaming armor and Mari in her Iron Man suit, lending weight to his words with their presence. The floor of the blown-open Geofront was cold and still muddy and still smelled like blood, and it was quite as a grave. There were seven people standing in front of him.

"I know this is a lot to ask," he said. "I know your world is still in danger, and that you've lost a lot of people. I know how it's going to sound, asking you leave, but I have to say it and pray that you decided to join us."

He sighed, and took his helmet off completely, holding it in his hands. "What happened here was just the start. This will happen to every world out there, countless infinite Earths just like yours and mine. Everyone on my homeworld is dead, and before this is over, there will be nothing left of this place but red oceans and ashes. I'm asking you to leave your vulnerable, hurting home behind and come with me on a suicide mission into Hell. No one will hold it against you if you say no."

Shinji tensed up as the Hulk, towering over the others, moved towards him. He loomed over Shinji, forcing him to crane his neck up.

"Hulk smash with you."

"They have our pilots," said Sue Storm. "They have my niece. Let's go."


He never imagined anything like this. He thought the world of the Yellow Aliens was strange, and their Great Atrium. It wasn't Shinji's turn to talk this time, it was Toji, standing before the rather unbelievably named Guardians of the Universe.

"Lantern Suzahara," the little bald man in the middle said, "You are requesting that we deploy the entire Green Lantern Corps to assist you."

"That's right, sir," Toji said clearly. He turned so he looked at each of them, one at a time. "This is beyond an omega level threat. This is an existential threat. If we fail, it means the end of the entire universe."

Another one of them spoke. "We have no knowledge of these yellow aliens, as you call them, or their motives."

"I'm not here to make a flowery argument," said Toji. "I've seen what these things can do, first hand. You can check my ring if you don't believe me. I'm here to let you know that I'm leaving, and you should be prepared for the ring for my sector go to another if I don't return. With what we're facing, I need all the help I can get, but I can't stand by and let this battle come to pass without fighting for justice and the survival of the universe."

The Guardians gazed at each other, nodded, and turned back to him.

"You made your case well, Lantern Suzahara. To you, and the rest of the corps, good luck."


Shinji leaned over the schematic.

"This is accurate?"

"Yes," said Alpharius. "Entirely."

He sighed. The Battle Barge, as Alpharius called it, was enormous, but with his intel they had a good idea of where everything was.

"How do we get aboard?"

"You don't," the Marine shrugged. "An Astartes Battle Barge is a fortress, as well as a warship. The void shields will prove impenetrable to anything you may muster against them."

"I can get through them," said Superman. They'd taken to calling his world, the world consumed by the Adversary, as Earth 2, since it was apparently newer, whatever that meant. They called the other world Earth 1. The Superman of Earth 1 nodded in agreement.

"Even if you can, by the time you lower the fields, this ship and your allies will be destroyed," said Alpharius.

"Very helpful," Shinji muttered, "Thank you."

"I am not here to reassure you," said Alpharius. "However, I can offer a word of tactical advice. If you cannot go through, go around."

Shinji tapped the schematic. The Hunter leaned over next to him.

"Can't this bucket jump from one point to another?"

Alpharius gave him a small, secret smile.

"Yes," Shinji said excitedly, and pointed to an open space on the map. "What's in here, Alpharius?"

"A hangar, one of several for staging ship to ship boarding actions."

"Is it as open as it looks on here?"

The Marine nodded. "There will be Thunderhawks, Stormbirds, and the support apparatus for them, but the space is open for the launching and landing of ships."

"Old man," said Shinji, glancing up at him. "What happens if we jump into a confined space like this?"

"There will be a shockwave. It'll be bad for us, worse for anyone outside."

Shinji nodded grimly. "What are our chances of successfully jumping into this space?"

"You'll probably cripple the ship. Worst case scenario, we can't jump out."

Shinji rested his fists on the schematics, and then stood up, scrubbing his fingers through his hair.

"We're not looking for a one way trip here," he sighed.

"We could use the ship as cover, even if it can't get us out," said the Hunter. "We can use your jump drive and the Green Lantern rings to get everybody out in waves."

"That's suicide."

"This whole thing is suicide," said the Hunter.

"What would we do when we land?" said the Superman of Earth 1.

"Break into teams," said Shinji. "Just like I did with Rei and Asuka, when we fought the Ninth Angel. Team one will be on defense, and will hold the landing area. Team two," he pointed at the map, "will head here, to the holding pens, and get our people out. Team three will head here," he pointed to the other end of the ship, "and cripple their warp drive. Then we all meet up back at the Galactica, get back in, and run like hell."

"I have an idea," said the Hunter. "Before we jump out, we set the nuclear warheads on a timer and roll them out of the flight pods. We need to do as much damage as we can."

"My people," said the Superman of Earth 2, softly.

"I don't know," said Shinji.

"I do," Rei said softly. Shinji turned around. It was the Green Lantern Rei.

"Follow me."

They turned and followed her from the CIC. Shinji heard something ringing in the distance, hammer blows ringing through the walls of the ship itself. Shinji rounded a corner and found himself standing before Thor Hikari. She was stripped to the waist except for a cloth tied around her chest, covered in sweat. Mjolnir rose and fell, rose and fell, Hikari's hair flailing around her head from the force of her blows. Something glowed on her anvil, taking shape under the blows of the hammer. She raised it one last time, faltered, and let it fall to her side, raising the glowing device with a pair of tongs.

It was a set of interlocking, pointed elipses that had no beginning, and no end. It filled the room with a light of its own, and hummed with some strange power.

"What is it?" Shinji said, softly.

"It is the Metaflux Capacitor," said Rei.

"What does it do?"

"It does what it does," Hikari panted. "It is the art of the Asgardians shaped by the peerless mind of a mad scientist, refined in the ordered brain of a woman with the mind of a Kryptonian computer. It only needs a source of power."

"What source?"

"Only one will do," said Hikari. "The very heart of the Adversary."

"I can get you that," Earth-2 Shinji said, his voice as chill as ice.

"Let's get to it," said Shinji. "We need to get the ship in the best shape we can."

"We'll see to that," said the Shinji of Earth-1. "We don't need to sleep. You do."

Shinji nodded. The Hunter gave him a look, then went off on his own, disappearing into the halls of the ship.

He wandered back to his quarters. They weren't really his, of course. Everyone just sort of crashed wherever the needed to when they needed sleep, since there was so much extra room, but he'd taken this one of a set of identical dorm rooms for himself. He didn't bother stripping out of his undersuit, and just fell on the bottom bunk and drifted off to sleep.

He tried to, anyway. It wouldn't come. He got up and wandered the halls.

Gendo was there. Dad.

Except it wasn't him. It was a weird, crazy copy, muttering to himself. He grabbed Shinji's shoulders.

"The story," he said, "Remember the story. Robert E. Howard. 1934. Queen of the Black Coast."

Shinji blinked, and shrugged out of his grasp.

He ended up standing in front of the memorial wall, staring at pictures of people he'd never meet. It made him wish he had a picture of Misato to hang up, and Asuka, and Toji, and he started to think very dark things and turned away from it.

Before he knew it, the time came. He did take off his suit to shower. He had no excuse to go to the apocalypse with body odor.

He stepped into the CIC. The old man stood behind the control panel.

"Standing by to execute the Ikari Maneuver."

Shinji nodded, and picked up the receiver. Another nod, and the old man patched him through to the rest of the ship. Thor Hikari stood by his side.

"I wish I had something inspiring to say," he sighed, hearing his own voice from the speakers over his head, "but I just don't have the words."

"Lo, there do I see my father," said Hikari.

She stared through him, as if someone else spoke through her, her voice high and clear.


Toji stood in the center of the hangar. He held out his hand, on which rested a ring without a master. It lifted up, wreathed in a nimbus of emerald light, and drifted away from him. It moved around the hangar before it chose.

"Optimus Prime of Cybertron. You have the ability to overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps."

Toji raised his ring over his head, and his voice boomed through the hanger. "In brightest day! In blackest night!"

The thunderous reply shook the rafters as the assembled Lanterns lit the space like a constellation of green suns. "NO EVIL SHALL ESCAPE MY SIGHT!"


"Lo, there do I see my mother," said Hikari.


Rei sat next to Toji, watching the Lanterns and the Autobots and their Maximal bretheren. Toji grabbed her hand in his own. He pulled her close and draped his arm around her shoulder.

"No matter what happens," he said, "I want you to live."

She blinked. "Yes. So do I."


"And my sisters, and my brothers," said Hikari.


Asuka pushed Shinji between the lockers and kissed him.

"We already made it through one apocalypse," she whispered, "we have a good track record. There can't be anything out there worse than a giant marshmallow penguin."

Rei and Toji peeked around the locker. "Get a room, you two."


"Lo," said Hikari, "there do I see the line of my people,"


Asuka threw her arms around Shinji's neck and crushed him an embrace that would grind marble to powder. She hated the dead look in his eyes.

"We'll get them back," she whispered fiercely, "we'll get them all back."


"Lo," said Hikari, "they do call to me."


Shinji sat alone, staring at the barrels of his shotgun. He'd made up his mind.

One way or the other, he'd never live without Asuka again.


"They bid me take their place among them," Hikari chanted, raising Mjolnir over her head.


Mari saw her heroes standing in a tight circle, talking quietly amongst themselves. It was Rogers who noticed her.

"It's not the Avengers without a Stark."


"In the halls of Valhalla," Hikari cried, "where the brave may live forever!"

Shinji sucked in a breath to compose himself, and lifted the receiver to his mouth, and turned to face the old man.

"This is it. There isn't much else to say. For our homes, for our families, for our friends, for everything that ever was, or ever will be. All hands, brace for impact."

He took a slow breath, and gripped the edge of the table hard as he put the receiver down.

"I lied, before" said the old man. "Worst case scenario isn't we can't jump. Worst case scenario is we explode."

He turned the key.

Jump.


You have been reading...

The Crisis of Infinite Shinjis

Chapter 4: Grand Theft Superman

Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?