Last Child of Krypton
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Misato ran from the upper tier down to the lower levels, looking at the screens in horror.
She took a deep breath. "Okay, this is it. I want everybody, and I mean everybody topside, now. Get the civilians out of the shelters and get them down here."
Ritsuko shook her head. "Are you insane? Everything down here is classified!"
"Does it matter?" she turned back to the upper tier. "Fuyutsuki, get… where did he go? Nevermind. Get Shinji and Toji on it. I want everyone down here as fast as possible."
"Then what?" said Hyuga, beginning to type as the other technicians passed on her orders.
"Once everyone is in the base, we're going to flood the upper layers with Bakelite and throw everything we've got into defense."
"Commander," Aoba said quietly. "You'd better look at this."
"What?" she said, as she rushed to his side.
On the local radar, nine wedge-shaped objects appeared, moving slowly out of the south. Misato leaned on his shoulder and stared at the screen, and then a wave of recognition and horror flowed through her.
"Oh God," she said.
"What?" Aoba said, startled. "What is it?"
"The Eva series," Misato swallowed, hard. "It's been completed."
She stood up sharply, the calm mask of control flowing over her features once more. "Doctor Akagi. Put the MAGI firewalls on full alert, and send out a distress signal on every frequency, ever transmission method we have available. We are under attack and require assistance."
As she began to frantically type at Maya's keyboard, static crackled over the communications system.
"-come in, I repeat, come in. This is Batman to all points. Hostiles inbound, I repeat, hostiles inbound."
"We know," Misato shouted back, "where are you, we-"
"Not the Eva series," he said frantically, practically shouting. "Everybody else."
SSSSS
Nine shadows passed over the countryside.
The flying wings, huge and vast and thrumming with a dozen jet engines each, slid through the air, impossible in their size as they approached the city. Beneath each a white shape hunched in the fetal position, hanging upside down like sleeping bats. From below, they were like the shadows of rays, skimming through the ocean. As the craft drew near the city the things hanging beneath them stirred, drawing themselves away from the underbellies of their carriers.
The planes swayed upwards gently as nine plugs marked "DUMMY 02- KAWORU NAGISA" slid home and armor plates locked into place over them. The things let out gurgling moans as they came alive, their S2 engines thrumming to life in their bellies. Their heads pulled away first, each grinning a mad, eyeless grin, their huge mouths full of needle teeth, like perverse mockeries of whales. They wore no armor, leaving their white, bloodless skin exposed. As they detached, they fell backwards, and from carriers on their backs feathery wings unfolded. With a liquid, inhuman grace, the Mass Production Series rolled over from their backs to their bellies in flight, wings extended, and arms out, massive gray swords in each of their left hands.
Their shadows passed over the city as the flying wings peeled away, one by one, stacking in the distance. As they neared the city the Mass Production Series swirled on a thermal forming a ring like vultures circling their carrion.
They were not alone. From a single point, like a great expanding flower, darkness flowed, rising at the edge of the city like a tide. It lifted and swirled on itself like a thunderhead and then drew inwards with a rippling boom. In its center, dark staff raised high, stood the Shade. Beside him, Ra's Al Ghul turned, arms upraised, and shouted dark benediction upon the world's assembled evil.
"In Darkseid's name! Kill them all!"
SSSSS
Every alarm went off at once.
"Going to the cages," Asuka shouted over the din, and darted off with one hand still clutching her hospital gown, tangled hair flying wildly behind her.
"Should we wake them?" Toji said, pointing at Rei and Kaworu.
"Let them be," Shinji said, "Come on. We've got work to do."
Static crackled in his ear. "Shinji, get Toji and get to the surface as fast as you can."
He was already there by the time she'd finished her sentence. They could fix the windows in the hospital later.
"What's going on?"
"Nine Evas, hostile. Kaji says they've got ground and air support incoming. Same people we fought before, plus more."
Shinji was about to reply as he came to a stop at the Geofront entrance not far from the old apartment. There was a harsh boom and the building nearest him came down in a heap, just fell down in a shower of debris and chalky dust that washed over him like a wave. A hugely muscled man with a skull wreathed in green fire bellowed in fury and charged at him, lashing out with fiery breath.
Shinji stepped through it, picked him up by his belt, and threw him through the nearest wall. He didn't have time for this. He looked up and saw them, saw the nine bestial things circling like vultures overhead, and then they began to descend. Toji appeared beside him, trailing energy behind him.
"Get the shelters," Shinji shouted, "I'll do what I can to keep them off of you."
SSSSS
Mari slipped into her plugsuit and pushed the button, sealing it to herself. She forwent her customary bounce as she made her way into the cages, technicians brushing past her here and there as she headed for Unit-02. The Eva grinned down at her behind its metal mask, and with a sigh she mounted the ladder, working her way up to the plug. She saw Asuka running towards Unit-01 as she did.
The plug carried her as it slid home, and she rocked with the jolt as it came to rest. The LCL flooded in around her, stinking of coppery blood, and she stifled a sob as it made its way up around her head. She felt the sudden tingle as it electrolyzed and sucked in a thick breath of it, then sobbed again, clutching herself.
"Mari!" Misato's voice chimed in her ear, "What's happening? You're below the absolute barrier. "
"I can't," she sniffed, pulling herself up into the fetal position. "I can't. I'm scared. I can't. I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want any more monsters. I wanna go home. I want my mommy."
"Mari," Misato said, "I'm sorry. We need you. Please."
"I can't!" she almost screeched, shaking in her seat. "I can't," she said more quietly, rolling to one side.
She heard a sound, like distant thunder rumbling over a mountaintop.
No, not thunder, a heartbeat.
Little one.
"W-what?"
"Mari? Who are you talking to?"
We are here, little one. Do not be afraid.
"W-w-who is that? Who's there?"
You are not alone, little one. I will protect you. Hush now.
"Mari? I don't know what you did, but you're synched. One hundred percent. How the hell did you do that?"
She didn't answer.
"Hold on. We're launching you."
SSSSS
Shinji felt his heart surge as Unit-01 and Unit-02 burst up to the surface, rocking on the launch pads. He felt a sudden pang of terror as the Nine fell on them at once, before Asuka had time to even reach for a weapon. He let out a yelp and flew for them, but before he reached the Evas the three white monsters assaulting Unit-02 flew backwards.
Asuka was brilliant. She was a warrior born, a slayer of giants, but at that moment Mari was making her look like an amateur. Unit-02 moved like a force of nature, twisting and turning at dizzying speed, ducking one sword swing while deftly turning another with the palms of her hands. Unit-01 came up behind her, Asuka's roar of battle fury thundering from the external speakers, and laid into Mass Production 04 with both fists, pounding its elongated, hideous skull to mush in a single titanic blow. As it fell, she wrenched the long sword from its hands and took it up double handed, her grip spread wide, moving to cover Mari's back.
Beneath him, something exploded.
SSSSS
Rei woke up groggily, to the sound of alarms, and sat up. In a panic, she undid Kaworu's restraints and he embraced her, crushing her to his body as if he was afraid she would disappear. The room smelled of pollen and flowers, and she could do nothing for a moment but run her hands through the foliage in amazement. Her crimson eyes met his.
"What do we do?" he said quietly.
"This is my world," she said as she touched her forhead to his, "these are my children. He cannot have them. You know what I have to do. My essence can remain caged no longer. I must reclaim it, and you yours."
"Then you must go," he said. "Why could we not have more time?"
She kissed him and said, "all is not yet lost. While my brother still lives, there is hope."
"If you believe, then I believe," he whispered.
He slipped his hands around her slender waist and helped her to the floor in her bare feet. Disdaining her school uniform, she simply walked out, and he did the same. The pair earned a few stares as they walked out of the infirmary section and down to the elevators, where they parted ways with passionate embrace. She stepped into the elevator and he watched the doors slide closed, parting them. He felt it, now, felt the draw as the force lying in wait within Terminal Dogma called her once more. It was time for the bringers of life to be whole again.
He turned and headed up towards the cages. He needed a clear view of the sky, and he had a stop to make first. The technicians stared at him as he walked into the cage and stopped where Unit-00 once stood. He gave the space a polite nod and went on his way, until he'd ascended to the floor of the Geofront itself, where he scanned the roof of the cavern. There was an opening. It was all he needed.
"Shazam!"
/\../\
Misato looked around. "Ritsuko! Any reply?"
The scientist only shook her head gravely.
"Okay," she said, "this is it. Everybody grab a sidearm and head for the elevators. We're going deeper into the base."
"Misato," Hyuga said quietly, forgetting rank. "We've been sabotaged. The doors are all stuck open, Bakelite injection is down, I'm locked out. The MAGI… the MAGI are being corrupted."
"It doesn't matter, we have to let the civilians in anyway. Everybody go. Now, God damn it!"
She stood her ground as Aoba jumped up with Hyuga and got under Ritsuko's shoulders, half carrying her towards the elevator at the rear of the platform. The remaining technicians began abandoning the room, heading deeper into the complex. She headed for the rear doors of the upper level with her gun drawn, picking up another from the desk as she went.
Then, the door opened and razor sharp playing card sunk into her belly, as if it had sprouted there. She got off a wild shot as she went down, sliding across the floor, her guts burning with pain, and let out a strangled cry. A penny loafer pressed on her shoulder and rolled her onto her back.
A nightmare stared down at her with a maniac grin. He crouched beside her, took off his wide brimmed gambler's hat, and palmed her cheeks with a gloved hand. "Oh, so pretty. Let's put a smile on that face."
He let out a barking sound that was half laugh and half cry of pain as a bat shaped shuriken slapped into his own cheek, burying itself there in a fine spray of blood. He rolled with and came back up a crouch, pulled it out with a meaty sound, and said thickly, "You're a little late, aren't you?"
Kaji charged him. The chalk-skinned fiend dodged his every blow, laughing thickly, blood streaming down his face to stain his overcoat. He gave Kaji a light slap on the back of his head, the blow of his gloved hand like a clap against the cowl.
"You're not Batman," he taunted, "Batman would have made it. Batman always saved the girl. Except for… what was her name? Bar-something," he choked back a laugh, "I forget."
Kaji said nothing. He kept swinging, and his foe kept dodging, ducking under or sidestepping each hit. Until he backed up against the railing that separated the upper tier from the lower and the great void that housed the MAGI. With lighting speed, Kaji produced something heavy and square and shoved it into the lapel of the bloody overcoat.
"You're right. I'm not Batman."
Kaji pushed a button and there was a meaty thump as something fired from the box, trailing a line behind it. It went white through the Joker's skinny chest and kept on going, trailing a line of thin black wire behind it. An instant later it hit, striking somewhere in the ceiling, and the line went taut.
"That's not funny…"
Kaji pushed another button and with a whir, the line-thrower drew his limp form up the ceiling. He ran back to Misato, sliding to her side on his knees. She looked at him dull shock for a moment, and in a fury he tore the mask of his head, tossing it away. He propped her up and looked at the wound. Thick black blood had stained the whole front of her uniform. Pullling the card out might kill her.
He held her as gingerly as he could, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Misato," he whispered.
"It's cold in here," she wheezed. "You need to turn down the air conditioning."
"We're not in my apartment, honey. Come on, stay with me."
"Sure we are. We spent the whole week in bed. Don't you remember?"
"I remember. Misato?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
"I know."
She slumped a little. He bit one finger of his gauntlet and pulled it off, and put his bare hand against her forhead. She was getting cold. He held her closer as her lifeblood spilled out over him, and she let out a cough. Blood dribbled from her lips.
"Hi Rei," she said softly, eyes unfocused, "How did you get here?"
Be not afraid, a voice whispered.
SSSSS
There were too many places to go, too many places to be, he didn't know what to do. Shinji let out a cry of frustration and seized the jaws of MP-08, tearing them open with his bare hands. He stared down between the needle teeth and unleashed the burning fury, lighting up the interior of the thing's meaty throat with the fury of a red sun. Fire erupted out and washed over him and the monstrous beast toppled backwards, flapping its wings, flame and smoke pouring from its mouth like a hellish dragon. It slammed into one of the armored skyscrapers and went down with it.
"Shinji!" Asuka boomed through Unit-01's speakers, "Get to the shelters! Get the people out! We can handle this!"
He held, uncertain for a moment, and then went for it. Something caught his attention. He saw a frail looking man with heavily braced legs walking on a pair of crutches, slowly making his way towards a Geofront entrance. Shinji went down and came to rest beside him, and then froze.
The man, if it was a man, regarded him with red, red eyes, like every blood vessel in them had opened at once, staining the sclera with gore. His skin was ashen, like a dead man carved from stone. He wore no shirt, and instead was bandaged heavily about his midsection. He wore a heavy back brace and some sort of protective helmet made of smooth, cold blue metal. He looked familiar.
"Fuyutsuki?" Shinji breathed. "Is that you? How did-"
In answer, twin beams of red-orange light lanced out of his eyes, bending and twisting through the air. When they touched Shinji he flinched and then screamed as fiery pain slammed in waves through every part of his body, driving him to his knees. He strangled his cry and then began to rise again, only for the being to narrow his eyes, intensifying the beam. He sank to his knees again, and then flopped to his belly. Wisps of smoke curled around his fingers, and he could barely move.
"That is who I am."
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Curled in the seat, Mari felt a surge of joy, a sudden relief of the tension in her belly as Unit-02, moving on its own, tore apart the next… thing, splitting it from groin to gullet with a mighty stroke of her sword. She felt something flow from the Eva into her, a savage joy, and, somehow, pride.
Until it happened, and one of the MP Evas took Asuka. It was over so fast it might as well not have happened at all. One of the MP's took Unit-01 in the back of her left knee, raking it with the sword. Asuka screamed and the Eva dropped to one knee. The bizarre, alien Eva let out a cry of joy and as it recovered the same stroke swept away Unit-01's umbilical. Asuka forced herself back up, turned, and tore her attacker in half, Unit-01 tearing into it with her bare hands. She should have kept her anger in check. She could have kept her head. One of the other MP Evas came up behind her and impaled Unit-01 and the other Eva both, hit them so hard it lifted the other white monstrosity off the ground. Asuka's gurgling scream shook Mari in her seat.
So did Unit-02's roar. Pain, sorrow, raw hate surged through her, and she felt her hands on the controls, tugging them this way and that. Words, not her own, found her lips, and Unit-02 shared them, blasting out through speakers.
"Die!" she screamed, "I hate you! All of you die!"
She heard another voice, then. A softer, kinder voice.
Be not afraid.
|O|
Toji was at the shelter when Asuka fell. He'd used the Ring to pry the door off, made a giant crowbar. He was almost too late. Some nut dressed up as a scarecrow was running around, spraying gas everywhere. Toji knocked him out and threw him into an old dumpster, then set to work on the shelter. The door fell away easily, and he took to the air over the heads of the assembled civilians.
"Everybody!" he cried, "Listen up! It's not safe here! We have to get you into the Geofront!"
Beneath him, the crowd mulled for a moment, then began to scream. He turned until his line of sight matched theirs and he saw Unit-01 go down in a show of gore, a death rattle washing over the city as it toppled to one side. Unit-02 came bounding after it and tore Asuka's attacker apart, but it was too late. Mari's scream of fury assaulted his ears.
Then they fell on her.
There was no artistry to it. They wasted no time. Three blades, hurled by their wielders slide through her Eva as neatly as the knives in a magician's trick box. There wasn't even a sound. The Eva lolled to one side for a moment, and then before she fell, they were on her.
"Toji?" a tiny voice called.
Hikari. She had his sister and her own, little Nozomi, clinging to her dress. Her older sister Kodama hugged them all, while their father sat there, stunned. Toji landed beside them in a hurry.
"Come on," he said, "we've got to go, we-"
Lantern, the ring whispered, I am detecting a massive unknown energy buildup directly below.
"Toji?" Hikari said again.
"Come here," he said. "It'll be okay. Come here."
"I hear something," she said as she pressed into his embrace, "do you hear it?"
Be not afraid.
SSSSS
Kaworu stood his ground as the ancient enemy strode forward, each step painful on ruined legs. They faced each other, and he felt the heavy press of his enemy's will upon him, even with the Wisdom of Solomon to give him guidance. He crossed his arms over his chest.
"You will not enter here."
It smirked, ever so slightly, dead red eyes without mirth or mercy. "Even at my weakest, you are no threat to me, boy. Here, where my enemies cannot see me, I gather strength. Soon this pathetic planet will perish and you with it. Stand aside."
Kaworu said simply, "No."
"Surrender, or defeat. There is no victory. There is no mercy. There is only Darkseid."
Kaworu leapt forward, and barely made it a pace before the raw power of hate reached out in twin streamers of scarlet and took him. It hurtled him back until he was able to dig his heels into the Earth, only for the intensity of the attack to increase. Like a leaf before the wind he rolled backwards, and in striking the earth of the Geofront floor carved out a long trench of fresh clay. He rose, shakily, to his feet.
"You persist," the beast said in a droll voice, "but I tire of you, and I have a universe to destroy."
The second blast took him, and Kaworu lay, still and silent, as the shadow of death passed him by.
SSSSS
Shinji opened his eyes. He felt a great weight on his shoulders, and some part of him longed for sleep. He blinked away the harsh red light and found himself on a train. He shot to his feet, almost hit the ceiling, and whirled.
"No!" he cired, "Not now!"
The three yellow aliens sat patiently at the end of the car. They did not look at him.
"Be still,"
"Be calm,"
"Fear not."
"What?" he demanded, "What the hell do you want from me? Let me go! Let me go!"
He ran past them and pounded on the door of the train car. It hummed beneath his blows, but did not budge, and he rounded on them. He reached for their heads with his hands and they passed through them, as if he'd reached for the air. He sobbed, and sank to his knees.
"I can't do it. It's too much. I can't be everywhere at once!"
"There is one who can,"
"But that does not matter now,"
"No time passes while you are with us, Shinji Ikari. We are not given license to help you. That does not mean we cannot aid you."
"I don't understand!" he sobbed, "What do you want from me?"
"There is one you must see,"
"There is one you must hear,"
"There is one you must meet."
The door behind him slid open. Shinji turned in a flurry, and came face to face with the symbol emblazoned on his chest. His eyes slid upwards across a broadly muscled body , strong, hard jaw, and compassionate, sparkling blue eyes that mirrored his own.
"What's your name, son?" he said, softly.
"S-Shinji," he stammered, tears sliding down his face.
"Hello, Shinji. I'm Clark."
SSSSS
Gendo always knew it would end here.
He stood on the shore of the last sea, Naoko Akagi's maddened mind in an abomination standing beside him. The ground beneath his feet was curiously polished stone, against which the blood of the mother of all mankind lapped placidly. He avoided turning, avoided settling his gaze on the white giant in the seven-eyed mask. His mind had been damaged by mad gods enough already.
Rei emerged, naked as the day she was born, from the elevator, far distant, and walked towards them. The elevator drew back upwards immediately, and Rei padded towards them.
"Get out of my way," she said simply as she approached.
"Rei," Gendo said. "Stop. You must not do this."
"I will. It is the only way."
Gendo sighed. "Naoko. Stop her."
The two, eerily similar despite Naoko's body appearing perhaps two or three years older, faced each other. He'd expected a contest. Naoko simply shuddered and collapsed to the floor in a puddle of orange liquid, and her gaze settled back on him, heavily.
"Move."
He slid to one side, and found the courage to watch. She lifted gently from the floor, her arms out, and crossed the sea of blood. There, it waited for her, the piece of her that was her true self, from which Rei was made. It hung on a cross of iron, red and rusted, cut in half at the waist where its doughy flesh undulated with thousands of individual human legs, all eerily shapely and feminine. When Rei drew near, its pudgy body reached out and seized her, and she passed into it.
The elevator doors opened again, and red light spilled over him. He sank to his knees and turned, and watched it coming. The full weight of it pressed on him, the fullness of his knowledge, and when he gazed into those eyes the truth of the equation was plain to him. There was only Darkseid.
When he reached the edge of the great sea, he raised his hand and rose, dropping the crutches with which he had supported himself, injured legs creaking as his weight lifted from them. As he drew near the undulating mass of the great white giant, he tore from his right hand the glove he wore, and beneath it lay the embryonic body of Adam, red and raw, tiny eye blinking. He reached out for her.
Gendo heard the words again.
Give in.
And it all came tumbling down, tumbling down,
Tumbling down.
SSSSS
Shinji opened his eyes and found himself in hell.
The city was a ruin. The streets were cracked, the air stank of coppery death and every building was broken off, skeletal, lit only here and there by tiny fires. There was no sound, no movement, only the stiflingly hot air from distant furnaces. There was nothing.
Except Rei.
Her skin was alight, glowing with its own inner luminescence. She put a warning finger to her lips and leaned to him, pulling him into her embrace. He sat there for a time, his tears cutting a path through the grime on his face. Finally he sniffed, and the last tears flowed.
"He means to steal them from me," she whispered in his ear. "but they are not lost. I have hidden them from him, and they wait. They may still escape before he consumes them, but even now his influence darkens their souls. They need a light to show the way home."
"Can we do it? Can we bring them back?"
"Of course you can," she whispered in his ear. "You're Superman. You can do anything."
"I'm ready."
He left the suit behind in a wash of the stuff of life itself, and his mingled with the others.
This is not the end.
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Last Child of Krypton
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