Review responses:
Sun S. Li: Asuka is tough. She can handle it. I'll also keep the interaction with Kaworu to a minimum.
A/N: Sorry about the wait. Hope you like this chapter, I don't think it's as long as others but this story is nearly coming to the end.
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Superman closed his eyes, floating in the cold and blackness of space.
His super-hearing was listening in, waiting for any sign that anyone in the world needed help.
As he listened, his thoughts came back to what he had been thinking about the other day.
I believe that I'm doing the right thing. I was given these powers for a reason, and I will not misuse them.
But…what happens if I do? I don't want to become a murderer. I don't want to be a tyrant.
I don't want to be like my father…
His eyes suddenly snapped open as he heard someone scream for help.
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As he zipped through the skies, Superman's eyes quickly found the source of the problem.
There was a lady in a dark cloak lying on the ground, screaming for help as a man raised a gun to her head.
Immediately Superman used his heat vision, burning the gun to a crisp as he dropped down, sending the man flying backwards with a powerful blow.
The Man of Steel turned to the lady. "Are you alright?"
She smiled underneath the cloak, and then said in a strangely deep voice, "I am now!"
Then flinging the cloak aside, she stood up!
Superman stepped back in surprise. "KAJI?!"
The unshaven man grinned. "You recognised me."
"What do you want?" Superman asked.
"It's not what I want – but what NERV wants. And they want you to stop meddling in their affairs!"
"Stop with the act, Kaji – I know you're working for SEELE," Superman said flatly. His super-hearing had realised that truth when he overheard a conversation between Kaji and someone else whom he could not identify even with his vision.
The double agent raised his hand, revealing a smooth remote. He pressed the button on it.
Suddenly everything went black. Although it was merely the afternoon when the sun was still and orange, a dark mist began to swirl around them both.
Superman frowned. "What are you playing at?"
Kaji's grin grew wider as he went forward and smashed his heel into Superman's body.
Superman went flying backwards, feeling all-too-well the full pain of such an attack. "How in the world did you get so strong?!" He croaked, struggling to get up. "But no matter. One good heat blast and then…"
"You don't get it, do you?" Kaji slammed his foot into Superman again, pressing him into the ground. "You don't have heat vision anymore."
Superman growled, trying to push up but the man's now superior strength prevented him from doing so.
"In fact, you have nothing anymore," Kaji mocked. "All we had to do was create the right conditions!" He pressed his foot down, pushing the Man of Steel harder into the dirt.
"What do you mean?" Superman turned his face, barely able to enunciate the words clearly.
"SEELE, using research obtained from NERV laboratories was able to figure out that the creation of a Sea of Dirac would vastly diminish and defeat your powers. The Sea's quantum physics properties would allow us to accomplish this easily."
No way…I gained these powers by entering the Sea of Dirac, and by entering it again I lose them?!
"Of course it's a little more complicated than that – any wrong miscalculation could vastly increase your powers, create you into a human supernova or destroy you completely."
"So what do you want?" Superman snapped. "Obviously you wouldn't want me dead otherwise as you said, I would have been completely destroyed by now!"
"You're smarter than you look, Superman." Kaji said as he removed his foot. "SEELE wants you dead – but I…recalibrated the machine with a little help and convincing that you wouldn't inhibit our agenda."
As Superman got onto his feet, ANOTHER person emerged from the shadows.
"Ritsuko?" Superman gasped. "Don't tell me…"
"I told him," Ritsuko said flatly. "After all – we're gonna need all the help we can get…"
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"…So basically my father and SEELE are planning a mass-genocide of the human race?" Shinji, no longer in his Superman suit, asked.
"I'm sorry I kept it from you before, Shinji," Ritsuko apologized. "But I would never have told you – until I found out that Kaji was a double agent."
"I still don't know how you found me snooping around!" Kaji complained. "I mean I was perfectly blended into…"
Ritsuko grinned. "Scientist's eye…"
But Shinji was still caught up in his own thoughts. "Mass-genocide…gosh, and I thought my father couldn't get any lower!"
"I had an affair with him," Ritsuko suggested.
Before Shinji could respond, Kaji jumped in. "That was all in the past. Shinji, never ever underestimate your father's ability to go lower and Ritsuko you don't anymore. This meeting was possible simply through one person."
Shinji's eyes widened. "Superman?"
Kaji smiled. "Superman has given the hope we needed. Wherever he came from, why he came to you doesn't matter, only that he's here. His powers and strength have given all of us hope for a better world."
Ritsuko grinned as well. "Gendo was a lousy lover anyway. And we'll all see that bastard pay when he gets what he deserves."
"So how are we meant to stop Third Impact?" Shinji asked. "Superman will never murder, even if it is in the cause of justice."
Kaji nodded. "I expected such a predicament. But first thing's first, the Angels need to be defeated first. Once that's done SEELE will make its move."
"And Shinji…" Ritsuko turned towards him. "Even Superman cannot accomplish such a task alone. I have brought some…help for you."
When Shinji raised an eyebrow, Ritsuko raised her hand.
And again, another person came out of the shadows. Only this time…
"Rei?" Shinji was completely taken unawares. Only recently he had found out about her being an Angel-hybrid, and although this news was hard to digest he now saw her in a completely different light. "How is this meant to help me?"
"I would deactivate the machine to show you," Kaji said, "But SEELE would see. They're monitoring it now, and they didn't agree already for me to 'personally finish you off'."
"That means that Rei would get her power from the same source…" Something in Shinji's mind clicked. "Wait! Ritsuko, the machine you were building…"
"You've got a smart mind, Shinji," Ritsuko smiled. "You're right. Since she was already part Angel I had no trouble completely modifying her S2 organ. Unlike you she doesn't get her powers from the sun, getting them from a much more powerful S2 organ – although she won't match you in strength, she will certainly match you in…other fields. I'll let you find out for yourself."
Shinji nodded. "Right. So what do we do now?"
"Once the second-to-last Angel, the sixteenth is finished we'll meet again. Same place," Kaji said. "Until then this remains completely inside here. I will report back to SEELE and say the machine went on the fritz and you escaped."
"But how will you accomplish such a ploy?" Rei asked, speaking for the first time. "The machine is perfectly built. It appears to have no faults in its design or engineering."
Kaji grinned, lifting up a large rock. "You just leave that to me…"
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Later on that night, Superman and Rei were standing on the top of one of the larger buildings, looking down on Tokyo-3.
"I see that you have the ability of flight, Rei," Superman said, "And although you're not as strong as I am you're still strong and you can run as fast as I can. What else can you do?"
At this Rei smiled, pulling on her black faceless mask.
Her costume was simply a modified plugsuit. It was pure black, the mask built into it like a hood so it could slip on and off whenever she wanted.
Both of them looked down. Below, a large robbery was in progress.
Cat-like, almost like an Olympic diver she leapt from the building, dropping down at rapid speed before landing softly on the ground.
Superman decided not to help, letting Rei handle this by herself.
Rei quickly blasted forward at super-speed, taking down the first few robbers. She was only a blur as she took down all the robbers outside.
Inside the robbers shouted in surprise, firing their guns.
Rei raised a hand and an orange weapon of pure energy was created. She gripped it, slashing it through the air and destroying all the bullets quickly.
Superman smiled. So she can completely control her AT field. Now that's impressive.
The rest of the robbers tried to flee through use of a van, but Rei simply raised a hand and sent an orange energy blast, destroying the lower of the vehicle but leaving the passengers intact.
All this was completed in less than 30 seconds. Superman had no doubt she could complete it in less than 10, had she not been demonstrating her abilities.
As Rei returned, Superman was grinning. "That's pretty impressive, Rei. What do you wish to call your…second identity?"
There was no hesitation in Rei's voice as she answered, "Angel."
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Several days later
"Hello, Shinji." Kaworu smiled. "It's good to see you again."
"Uh, it's good to see you too Kaworu," Shinji smiled back.
"Hey Kaworu!" Kensuke burst into their small reunion. "Come join the Superman fan club! We got everything! Superman belts, t-shirts, screensavers and pin-ups for the girls!"
Kaworu frowned as he looked at Kensuke waving these items about, the silver Superman symbol splashed on each one of them. "I have heard of this 'Superman'." He turned to the former pilot. "Tell me Shinji, who is this Superman?"
"Uh well, Superman is like a superhero who has powers, and he uses them to help people in need…" Shinji appeared like he was thinking. "…That's all, I guess."
"You guess?" Kensuke exclaimed. "You GUESS?! What are you thinking? Superman is MORE than THAT! He is an icon to us all! A…"
But Kaworu had already slipped out, and Shinji quietly followed suit.
"Is something the matter, Kaworu?" Shinji asked in concern.
Kaworu frowned. "It's just that sign on all of the merchandise…what is it?"
"It's on his suit, I think. It's 'S'…for Superman!"
"That cannot just be that," Kaworu said with a smile. "Because, in the ancient language of my people and ancestors…that sign means 'hope'."