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The gates were broken, metal twisted and severed by alien hands. Blood stained the ground where four cooling corpses rested. Only one looked upwards, a youthful face frozen in fear of the alien onslaught, but he saw nothing. The face, the body, was nothing; it was another body, one of the faceless dead he had seen a thousand. Death had taken another and the body had been left by the Rider in Black, trampled by his steed, the bullets of man.

Shinji quickly ran for the main entrance, a large squat building that would descend into the earth. Two of the soldiers kept watch just outside the door, holding their only line of retreat from the main part of the base. At the far end of the complex he saw floodlights flicker momentary as the Foundation men in the towers tried to save their electronics and heard bursts of gunfire as Ashford men resisted the NERV soldiers.

One of the soldiers guarding the door raised an arm to stop him for a moment. "Agent, the Disciplinary Squad rushed ahead. They're already in the base! They'll ruin the data-"

"There is no problem," Shinji assured the man. "You're new to this aren't you?" he asked rhetorically. The man nodded, but Shinji didn't care. "Our two organizations may be allied, but that doesn't mean we share everything." He pushed the man's arm away and stepped through the severed door. Karasuba was reckless, but powerful. The foolish alien didn't know what she was toying with, the secrets of the Foundation were as dangerous as the secrets of NERV and both sides knew that, but MBI was the newcomer to their game. They understood les s and claimed to more than NERV or the Foundation. Losing the Disciplinary Squad now had its appeal, but it was what lay inside this base that he didn't want to feed and that might just be enough to sever the MBI-NERV ties, something that would result in MBI doing something very, very stupid.

The room he stepped into gave all appearances of being a reception area. A large oval desk dominated the center, though it was riddled with bullet holes and splintered. Papers lay scattered across the marble floor, stained by pools of blood or cooling bodies. The overstuffed chairs were overturned, bleached in red and gore by the Foundation members laying on them. The rear wall was dedicated to elevators and a staircase behind some light colored wood doors. The members of the assault team kept watch over the elevators as they affixed their rifles with shorter stocks and checked their ammo.

"Agent," the commander of the assault team addressed him, extending his hand to offer Shinji an earpiece. "We've secured elevators and await your order."

Shinji couldn't see the face of the commander behind the matte black helmet. He imagined that behind the faintly glowing red eyes where the eyes of a man who had seen too much of the evil human inflicted on each other, but had resigned himself to fight even so. Perhaps he had scars from past battles with the enemies of man, or peppered hair that caused by some otherworldly cause.

Shinji took the earpiece ad slipped the small band into his ear. Clicking his teeth three times he heard the earpiece hiss slightly. "Testing alpha, gamma, sigma," he whispered.

"Charlie, tango, bravo. Clear," the communications officer responded confirming the earpiece was calibrated correctly. The man gave him the thumbs up from the furthest elevator as he slid a small backpack carrying the squad relay beacon on his back.

"Our allies have already entered the main base." Shinji motioned the commander to accompany him. He started for the door to the stairs. "Our mission is simple; recover the target and leave nothing intact, expect the target and the secondary targets. Sigma Team will take the secondary target. Bravo and Tango Teams will secure the main objective. Keep your eyes open for anything out of the ordinary, switch to psi roads if you feel even the slightest sign of an XDM. Take no T-class alive unless they are on the List. Rendezvous at the pre-arranged time with the targets and god speed to you all."

Alpha team gathered around him, the commander plus the rest made eight in total. Elevator doors screeched open and he heard the sound of bolts being inserted into the steel frames. The other teams would repel down to their targets and his would have to walk. The commander offered him a pistol, but he refused with a shake of his hand. "You have more need of the bullets than I commander," he answered evenly. "Leave the XDM's to me. Let the monster kill the monsters, you must terminate the man as only men can."

He entered the halfway state, his body blazing in pain, but he stood though he was vaguely aware of trembling. Somewhere between human and Angel, he commanded his own body as if it were a puppet. Let's move," he commanded. He spoke and the words lived before his eyes, colors and shapes that existed only in this halfway state. "

The team moved with efficiency and precision born out of long years of training, not a step wasn't timed to the men around them. He was the odd one; every stepped echoed in halfway world, the soldiers echoed in steady, unified rhythm, his echoed in disruption of their perfect sound. He didn't need to look at his body to see the glazed over look he would be wearing or the faint orange tint that came using the Angel State within days of each other. In theory he could become like the Angels if he used the Angel State enough, but no one had ever fallen that far. The pools of pilot candidates had only decreased and the number of XDM incidents had only increased. Perhaps a full Angel-human was what they needed to turn the tide…she had been powerful until the end

Shinji heard new sounds, new echoes, as he moved his body down the steps. He sought out new echoes origins and had his answer in a moment. Two levels below where his body was where the Foundation gathered to plan their counter attack. The fourth level. The target of his team, the auxiliary command station, was vital to the mission. The thought that his EMP attack might have released the containments fields of XDMs sent shivers down his spine. Bits of black appeared on the edges of his sight and he tried to put the thought of having released XDMs away. The slightest emotion would manifest in this world and fear, shame and other similar emotions were the worst, expect for pain. He knew that all too well. All of those who made it as far as he did knew it.

"Enemy contacts in primary target," he whispered as the first team member reached the landing doorway where the Foundation waited.

"Go in or not?" the commander radioed back.

Shinji focused, trying to separate himself from the area immediately around his body. Careful not to let his body touch the walls he moved as close to the door as he dared. "Hold my shoulders," he commanded on the soldiers. When the woman had a grip on his shoulders he untethered himself from his body. He saw his body sway, but the woman's grip held him, it he correct himself, upright. He wanted to scream in pain as he felt the natural process of life scream out for him give in and die. Such was the rule of the world; any being who untethered itself from the physical body was hated by the world and sent beyond. Where those who died went was still a mystery even to NERV, but it might be anywhere.

The wall was a mere shadow of itself. The physical world was slowly becoming shadows as the earth rejected his presence, but he pushed back. He fought onwards, even as flares of pain flashed through his body. He felt some of the pain from the body he had left and knew that was the source of his discomfort. His own body, a creation of the physical world demanded he leave, though his current situation only happened the second third time he entered the Angel State.

The shadowy hallway lay stretched out before him, rooms and doors flickered behind them as they faded. He saw through the physical world and it was enough. He moved onwards. Shadowy images of the physical world danced like black wisps of flames in the wind and behind the ethereal flames he saw many shapes gathered. The shapes of men rose up in one room and something else, something bright.

"No…" he gasped as the bright shape emerged from the black flames. He knew what he saw. No ordinary human or physical beast would give off such a light. He knew that he did, but he knew where the other two were and it wasn't in this base. "A hybrid…shit!" He fled. He fled back to his body, casting a short glance over his shoulder to see the bright shape watching him though coal black eyes.

Unceremoniously he forced himself back into his body, even though his felt his muscles burn and body scream in agony from such a sudden descent. Asuka had once theorized, half joking, that was why infants cry as they leave the mother's womb, they were suddenly forced from a powerful, expansive existence into a limited, weak existence. When Asuka had prospered that theory to Dr. Akagi she had cackled madly and promptly left, no doubt headed for the laboratories below NERV to create something like Rei. Sometimes he was left wondering about NERV employee practices and the lack of psychological evaluation

"Eighteen men…" he gasped out as tried to steady himself. The world swam before him as he swayed for a moment, barely maintaining his balance. "Bad…they have…an XDM-H!"

"Fuck! Switch to psi rounds," the commander snapped with a ting of worry in his voice, though it might have Shinji's imagination.

"No!" he quickly countermanded. "Leave the hybrid to me. It knows I'm here, but not what I am." He stood on his own, thanking the woman who had held the body upright with a gracious nod. "My guess is it's a newborn since doesn't have a mature form yet."

"And it doesn't know your face," one of the men said humorously. "I bet heaven has posted your ugly mug all over that wonky world of theirs."

Shinji heard the slight chuckles at the bad joke, but it did help lighten the mood. Few men would willing go into a fight against a hybrid and even fewer would do so without fear. With no Angel assaults to fight anymore those who had experienced the passive effects of the AT field and struggled through it, fell by the day. The mind warping, nightmarish AT field of the Angels had broken many and reinforced NERV. Now those men guarded humanity and hunted the XDMs, but they died and the new men, like this team, were raw when it came to the mind warping nature of the XDMs. This one was powerful, but young. It would fall quickly. "The enemy is though the sixth door on the left. You have command, Zulu one," he informed the commander.

"Load psi rounds anyway. No grenades," the commander barked as he took up position to be the first into the hallway. "Zulu five, open the path on my mark. One, two, three, mark!"

The door swung open silently. Shinji watched the team rush in and prepared to enter the Angel State. As his team reached the sixth door, he felt the hybrid move. He activated the still cooling coils and implants. A scream wrenched its way from his mouth, as his body fell to the floor. His men had the door open and exchanged gunfire, but he knew his target. He entered the control room though the black wisps and saw the hybrid.

There was no time for banter. This beast wasn't interested in words. It attacked. Talons of white flames slashed and whipped towards him, borne by unseen hands. The hybrid hadn't moved; it glowed with a fierce yellow light, tinted by green around the edges as the shadowy shapes around it spread out. He didn't need to extend his hands to block the sloppy onslaught. From the floor and in the walls he drew the metal from them, small bits from every source, and shielded himself. He felt the atoms burn as the hybrid's flames ate way at them.

It was clear to him what this hybrid was. The flames and corrosive effect was a new combination of old tricks. Like many of those who dealt with the Angel State, hybrids chose to focus a few areas of control. This one focused on heat and some type of acidic gas or something along those lines. He had never been able to master any specific aspect, expect one; the most dangerous of all that ran the risk of losing oneself into nothing, the absolute mastery of wherever he expanded his soul, the Artificial Territory.

The hybrid jumped towards him, no doubt intending to get up close and consume him. It was almost a shame this one was young; the flames and acid might have made for an interesting fight if had been mature. He bent his AT field, shaping it around him as a donut. The hybrid snarled as it raised a hand coated in flames over its head. Shinji dropped his metal shield and activated the Denial Field the hybrid movement. Within his AT Field all movement was forbidden by his wish. The hybrid was frozen in the air, still snarling yet unable to act. Even its flames were denied.

"Weak," Shinji told the hybrid as he concentrated on shaping the Denial Field. He forced the Field to surround the hybrid. The hybrid moved ever so slightly as if fought against his power. The differences between them were readily apparent. This hybrid was part physical and part of a being that lived in the Angel State all its life. It knew this place and every trick. He was the stranger, the invader, a physical being who dared to fight it in its own home. He felt the Denial Field begin to weaken as he moved away from it. He changed the nature of the field within a moment, just as the creature moved more of its body.

He expanded the new field wide, encompassing the area around them. The hybrid lunged only to find its self-jumping backwards. Shinji narrowed his AT Field into spear type shape and leapt backwards. He flew towards the disorientated hybrid, aiming the tip of the spear between the coal black eyes. The light of his soul pierced the hybrid's body and it wailed in pain. "This is the end," he told it coldly as he stepped forwards to step back, leaving the spear in the hybrid. There was no gesture needed; only a mental command, a thought, but he voiced it anyway. "Explosion."

The explosion almost blinded him before the Reversal Field took command. The hybrid wailed and wailed in agony as its body was ripped to ribbons only to be inverted into an endless cycle of explosions and tearing. Even the non-physicals could feel pain from such a trap. For this hybrid the fight had been over the moment he created the Reversal Field.

Glancing around the room he saw his men finish off the last of the Foundation and saw the twitching physical form of the hybrid. "That's odd. Normal the physical body is destroyed," he mused as he returned to his body. Before he returned to his body he contacted the commander. " Zulu one, secure the hybrid with psi-locks."

"Are you sure?" the commander responded with a bit of hesitation.

"Do it Zulu one. I cannot contain and maintain it in its prison forever. Hen Mother will be interested in it no doubt." Shinji began to slowly return to his body. He felt his grip over the Reversal Field slacken as the commander responded.

"Done. You have to see this though."

"Good, I'll be along momentarily." He slipped fully into his body slowly and sagged to against the wall. After a minute of breathing hard and calming his heart rate, he stood slowly. With one hand on the wall to keep himself upright, he started down the hallway with slow steps. At length he reached the auxiliary command room and found the place as he expected. Blood and bodies, sparking wires and discarded weapons, spent ammo and a child greeted his eyes.

"A child?" he asked in surprise, "What is a child doing here?" He saw Zulu one and two other men guarding the girl, their assault rifles trained on the child's head. He was hardly stupid despite certain claims to the contrary. He could add up what was happening here with ease; this child was the hybrid. From his view he could determine the sex of the child, but he or she appeared no older than eight. The child's shoulder length black hair and gray hospital gown concealed any hints that might tell him something.

"Agent?"

Shinji mentally cursed the Foundation once more as he approached the hybrid. "Zulu one, is this child the Foundation hybrid?" he asked tensely. Creation of a hybrid was no easy feat. The resources needed to even start such a project were vast and rarely had such beings even made it out of the artificial wombs, let alone the hybridization process. Rei was one of the best examples of a successful and, more importantly, stable hybrid, though he had heard reports for NERV agents in Europe that suggested such hybrid were becoming more and more common. Where they were coming from was yet another unknown, though they knew the key material was in excess; young children worked best to create hybrids and the endless cycle of war and death had created a host of orphans.

"Correct, we've secured the command console as well. I'm pleased to report that XDM containment shielding in the base did not fail during the initial assault. We've also recovered the secondary target," the commander pointed to two of his soldiers prying a medium length, gray colored cylinder from a console set against the wall.

"And the DRUID?" Shinji asked as he tore his gaze away from the creation of hate the Foundation had made from a child. On the far side of the room, beyond the console were the soldiers pulled the Foundation databanks cylinder, behind a plastic pane riddled with impact marks from bullets, lay the Foundation DRUID. It was at least one of them, though a second have been hidden behind the first. The DRUID supercomputer were merely knockoffs of the MAGI, created from stolen documents in the chaotic aftermath of the Second Impact. After some time the MAGI had been perfected; as a result NERV and the Foundation had taken vastly differ approaches to the biological supercomputers.

"We can rig an S2 singularity bomb, attach it to a C4 timer and blow this place to hell when were clear," the commander answered coldly, glancing noticeably towards the prone child as if disgusted by the abuse of such a child.

"Very well, do so." Shinji turned away as the commander began to motion his team into action. With his tongue Shinji shifted the frequency to the other teams to gain a status update. "Bravo, Tango status updates." He found an area near the wall and mostly clear of blood or body parts to lean against it in relief.

"This is Tango we've secured the primary target. On our way to see the sun."

There was only static from Bravo team. While he was glad Tango had recovered Kazehana, the silence from Bravo team left him nervous. "Understood Tango. Time to see the gates of the night." Silently, he wondered what may have befallen his lost team. "Bravo team respond!" He repeated his command with growing urgency. Something had gone wrong on that team. "Tango, where is Bravo?"

After a moment that seemed like ages Tango responded. "We were separated in the elevator shaft by a Foundation trap, some kind of explosive."

Shinji frowned at that. While it wasn't unreasonable to think an explosion could have passed unnoticed in this underground base he doubted he wouldn't have at least felt a tremor. It was possible he had missed it while he was entering or leaving the Angel State. "Repeat Tango, an explosive trap?"

"Copy that Agent. Bravo radioed in afterwards, said they'd been cut off from the primary target and had spotted Listed T-class; a Lister known as Doctor Rachel Pierson."

"Don't tell…" Shinji started in a horrified whisper. "They went after…this is bad…very bad!" He switched over to Bravo's channel hoping to hear something. "Bravo team, do you copy? Do not engage the Lister! I repeat do not engage the Lister! Disengage and fall back the gates of the night now!" He repeated his orders over and over in growing desperation, hoping they would hear them before she turned on them. Rachel Pierson was a monster created by NERV. A former student of Dr. Akagi, the two had gone their separate ways about two years before in a very public spat he had seen in person. Pierson ended up leaving NERV and took some of NERV's secrets with her as she jumped between mercenary science academies and various groups like the Foundation. The woman had a kill order on her head, but she was too dangerous for normal human to take on. She had a nasty habit of taking her own drugs, blurring the line between man and monster.

"….no can do…"

The brief message filled Shinji with dread and hope in equal measure before it fizzled away into static. He listened hard as the static rose and fell as if somewhere speaking, but their transmitter was breaking down.

"…two down… …. can't… … … … God!... …. …. ….DXM…. …. …NO!..."

The sound of gunfire reached him over the static and Shinji feared for the worst. Moment later his fears were confirmed.

"…dead…no… … …wounded… a monster! …. No help… … … Go without… … … sorry… … … we … …go … without…us!"

The radio went dead. Static filled the channel.

Shinji would have offered a prayer for those men if it would have done them any good. The DXM would devour their souls if it hadn't already. For the men of Bravo team there was no rest in death. They would become fuel for monsters to kill humans. They had known the risks when joining NERV and in honor of that he refused to shed a tear for them. They had done their duty, though it hurt him to think that he had gotten men killed again. The fact that nothing had changed hurt more than anything else. Everywhere he went it was always the same; other people got hurt and when he tried to do something about it even more were hurt. Repeatedly he told himself to give up caring and just live but it was always with him, lurking in the background for a moment of weakness.

"We're leaving," he told the commander. "Grab the child." He turned towards the door and walked towards it, limping slightly as he struggled with the side effects of the early fight. One of the soldiers offered him a shoulder, but he waved the man away. He had entered this base on his own two feet; he would exit this place on in his own two feet.

The smell of blood and feces was strong even as he left the room. Like he had seen across every battlefield, it never changed. The populace loved to think that time changes everything, but he knew otherwise. Nothing changed. War, death, life, love, sex, death, maiming it was all the same and had been the same since man first thought. Blood and war were all too familiar to him; the only thing that changed was the method. These Foundation men had been killed by men, he had killed men, women and children from Unit 01 and DXMs swatted humans into past with an errant thought.

The climb back up to the main lobby was slow and arduous. The soldiers were burdened by the hybrid they had recovered and two heavy databanks. It took two men to carry the databanks leaving them seriously undermanned should they be attacked, but there was nothing to be done about it. No one could have predicted the Foundation would be using some of the cutting edge databanks designed for the Federal Union military.

When he reached the top of the steps he almost smiled when he saw flat ground. He stepped past the open door, drawing the attention of every free gun. He didn't move for a moment until the other soldiers lowered their weapons, their visual on him being run though a portable NERV database currently flying at fifty thousand feet. "We've planted a bomb. I'd assume the rest of you have done the same," he asked the commander of Tango.

The man nodded. "Correct. S2 bombs set at strategic intervals, plus whatever Bravo… managed to set…" the commander finished slowly, not bothering to hide the remorse in his voice.

"Whatever killed them will die soon," he told the man, stepping past the man. Any response from the man was cut off by his Sekirei joyous shrieks from where they stood talking with the one he assumed as Kazahana. Saki rushed him, still dressed as Foundation woman from earlier though her guise was gone, and threw herself into his arms. Blood stained her clothes in several places. Her nihontou, a nodachi slung over her back and a tachi hanging off her belt, had been returned to her and he saw blood on their hilts.

"You're alright!" she exclaimed happily over and over as he barely caught his footing. She hugged him tight, as if reassuring herself he was still there. "I felt it…" she murmured in his shoulder. "I felt it…"

"Of course I am," he assured her. What had she felt? Then it hit him. An old theory Dr. Akagi had proposed about certain alien encounters of the nonviolent sort. "Though…how?" he asked her hesitantly. The answer might change everything or it could change nothing.

It was Taki who answered, having walked up and stood close to him. "All of our kind has a mild telepathic empathy trait. We bond with our mates for more than just DNA or out of instinctive drive. A bond allows us to focus our empathic traits with our mates and limit the number of outside influences that we could otherwise pick up on."

Shinji cursed his luck, though Taki's revelation explained several things. "Mild telepathic empathy, that's how you find your Ashikabi!" That would explain why Minaka had no problem releasing the Sekirei into Shin Tokyo. The man had been betting on their traits to drive his game forward and drag in ordinary people into a world they weren't ready for. Aliens were only the start and this trait almost ended any hope he had of one day giving up his life. Though telepathy could be blocked… No! I won't go down that route. Not yet at least. There was unavoidable suffering and intentional suffering, one acceptable and the other unacceptable.

"Yep! That's how I found you," Saki cooed, letting go him slowly. "We should finish this job up first though, then we can talk more."

"Agreed," Shinji said as he turned to the surviving soldiers. "We're leaving." All he needed was the nods of the two commanders and the general exodus began. He began to move, Taki and Saki flanking him, and didn't plan to stop moving until he reached the crest of the hill. The Sekirei, Kazehana, was supported by two of the soldiers. Her tight purple dress was ripped and torn. Dried blood and bruises decorated her flesh, purple and yellow mixed with the blood that appeared black in the night.

The Disciplinary Squad strolled a few feet behind Kazehana. He didn't miss the fact that the youngest member of the Squad, Benitsubasa , was staring after her voluptuous kin with anger and every step she took radiated anger. Kazehana for her part ignored the angry glares and kept on walking as best she could. The wounds on her body left Shinji wondering just what the Foundation had put her though.

He sped up his pace to reach Karasuba. In some strange manner he felt that his chances of living were better with the unpredictable Black Sekirei rather than the clawed one or Benitsubasa 's short temper. "What happened to the primary target?"

"Hmmm…oh! It's you," she said with a strange smile. "Looks like you made it out in one piece." Karasuba bounced her naked blade slightly on her shoulder as she spoke. "These pathetic humans had her chained to this pillar type thing and this massive steel gate thing with all these strange markings. Not to mention a few…what did you call those things you guys hunt again?"

"XDMs," Shinji supplied. "You fought XDMs? What kinds? How did they fight I mean?"

"No, no, no," she responded teasingly waggling a finger, "not so fast. You'll ruin the story. Anyway, I kill a few humans in some kind of control room overlooking this pit room with a pillar in the center and this metal gate thing against the far wall. Suddenly these muscular human looking creatures appear on the bottom of the pit. Naturally, I drop in and slice 'em up. The other two," she gestured towards the other two Squad members, "work on cutting our wounded bird free. She was bound these thick steel cables and covered in those wound. I'm on the bottom you see, cutting up the last of those muscular idiots, when all of the sudden the gate starts to glow this strange blue color, I mean the who thing, even the metal, starts to glow. The markings all starting glowing and vibrate."

Shinji didn't need to be on hand to see what Karasuba was describing. It had to be a summoning gate; a semi-permanent rift between the world of man and the Angel world. While weaker beings could slip into the human reality by their own power, the more powerful ones such as the Seraphim, Kings and Pariahs were needed far more power from both sides though nothing was more important the rites to be performed by man to open the door. "Was it a Seraphim, Pariah or King?" he asked with baited breath. To think that such a gate might have been sitting right underneath his feet and at any moment could have allowed a world destroying monster out was chilling.

"I have no idea," she responded with an insolent grin. "So the gate starts to buckle, the metal stats to bend and something comes through. It looked like a gray cone, but then it broke into a bunch of long tentacles. These tentacles start lashing around, but they were slow. About this time your boys show up and they open fire. Kazahana has been freed and I saw no reason to stay, since lopping off tentacles was getting boring after the first few. The tentacles start to grab metal gate and twist and pull it apart. By now every few seconds more tentacles are starting to appear from the other side, the room is trashed and I'm bored. We leave and your boys start placing all these bombs as we retreat, the whole time I can hear the metal gate groaning and the walls of that room breaking. We reached the lobby and waited for you, and here we are, those of us who matter at least," she said her disdain for humans apparent.

"A Pariah…a Pariah…they had a damned Pariah Gate… They're insane…" Not only did her story reveal more about the Foundation's capabilities, but it made him fear for NERV. In theory NERV could open Terminal Dogma and use the Angel Gate to bring a Seraphim to fight a Pariah, but such a conflict would leave the world in shambles. "We have to go…now! Run!" They had to clear the area if the Pariah came through all the way.

The urgency in his voice must have encouraged the soldiers, though perhaps it was the naked fear he held of a Pariah coming into the world that gave his command power. It didn't matter either way. When they reached the hilltop overlooking the base he saw the Foundation men start to exit the base. "Taki!"

"Yes?" she answered stepping near him. "Is it time?"

"It is. Do as we planned and you'll be fine." Wasting no time he closer the short distance between them and kissed her swiftly. He tried to keep his eyes open for the telltale wings to appear as she moaned into the kiss. Wings of mist formed, glittering like little ethereal crystals in the icy light discharged from her Sekirei Crest. He broke the kiss after a few moments, causing Taki to pout slightly, a faint blush on her face.

"Ah! I want more…" Taki whined in a moment of rapture. "Business comes first though, I suppose," she said with a tinge of regret. She raised her right hand to the sky and chanted. "Horn of the night, summon the moonlight veil that rest in the valley; Blind those who oppose my Ashikabi! Eternal Misty Moon!"

The effect was instantaneous. The stars vanished overhead as a thick mist seemingly descended from nowhere. Within the moments the Foundation base vanished behind a thick mist. Shinji saw Taki concentrate, eyes furrowed and tight lipped, controlling the mist descending from the sky and forcing it the water molecules to gather. In essence the plan was simple; Taki would drown the Foundation base. Every room, every crack, every bit of space within the base would be filled with mists that would become fog and all life within the base would die.

"Detonate the charges on my mark," Shinji radioed. He saw a Foundation man escape the fog, running only to fall to the ground the moment he set foot outside the wall of fog, water pouring from his mouth. He prepared himself to give the order to kill countless men and women in the name of protecting humanity. Even the fact that they had built a Pariah Gate that was active left him with regret for the tears he didn't have to shed. This is the price of my humanity. "Three, two, one…mark!"

There was no hope for the Foundation base or the men inside.

"Goddamn you Ikari! You and your goddamned luck!"

Wisely, Shinji pulled the cellphone away from his ear when he answered the phone. The caller ID was enough to tell him the following conversation would devolve into claims of the rape of physics, destruction of venerated scientific ideas, and a several other grand claims about the death of science. Ritsuko Akagi had targeted him once more to be on the receiving end of another tirade.

"It's nice to hear from you to Dr. Akagi," he stated, trying to disarm the scientist's ire.

"You have the best damned luck in out of the every field agent we have! And I hate it!"

She sounded sleep deprived, if her crankiness was anything to go by. He had only left the hybrid in Tokyo-3 four days earlier and by the sound of the doctor's voice she hadn't slept since then. "Have you learned anything or is this a social call to verbally assault me?" He had more a few years of experience handling verbal abuse. Asuka had seen to that until she mellowed out a bit. Nowadays they could actually have a conversation that didn't devolve into screaming and cowering or running.

"A bit of both," she admitted, and then paused for a moment. She sighed in contentment, smacking her lips once. "Ah, coffee! Anyway, that thing you brought..."

"It's not a thing," Shinji protested. He wouldn't let the doctor make the girl who had been forced against her will to become a hybrid into a tool, a thing. It was the only thing he could do for the poor girl he honestly pitied. "It is a girl forced into a horrible fate. She's not one of your tools," he told her as evenly as he could.

"Oh? And since when did you care?" Dr. Akagi replied nastily. "You didn't care about those twins from China last year. Have you had a change of heart? Do you want to save them now too?"

"I don't need you to play psychologist on me!" he said stiffly. All he felt was pity for the girl; it was pity for another soul forced into a life it didn't want.

"Too bad I'm the best NERV has, so deal with it. I'll schedule a psych evaluation for you, now then let me see which days are open…" she trialed off to the sound of shuffling papers.

Shinji instantly regretted back talking to the woman who was the third in command of NERV. She had the power to recall him for an evaluation and even remove him if it appeared he might go rouge. After the incident with Tabris and the schism that followed Ritsuko Akagi had been granted far greater leeway and an expanded jurisdiction. He held his tongue; denial would bring more needless and groundless suspicion on him. The hybrid wasn't worth it, he reminded himself. She's…no, it's a monster. An unholy creation of man that we have to end or more will come.

Dr. Akagi let out an exasperated sigh. "It's seems I've left my schedule elsewhere. Lucky you," she drawled.

"Oh yes, lucky me," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "What is the status of the…hybrid?"

"It's fine, raging and screaming all day and night. It tried to claw its host's eyes out the other day so it's restrained. I've almost lost two nurses to its acid thing, but those two will live with a few disfiguring scars across the face and upper body, but no real problem. Oh yes, it knows your name and it wants you."

"What?"

"According to the transcript," she coughed once to clear her throat, "it wants to rip off your arms and shove them up your asshole until you squeal like a pig. At which point it wants to skin you, still alive, rip your dick off and club you to death with it, and then wear your shattered skull as a hat, your eyes as a necklace and your toes as earrings, Very methodical, I must say," she darkly commented with an amused sound.

"She…It must be young. Instant death is better," he muttered darkly. "Anyway, was there anything else or was that message it?" He rose from the cushy armchair and stretched his legs, walking form one end of the conference room to the other.

"Other than the fact every action you take rapes everything I once thought was a paradigm in some new way, not much else." She paused for a moment to sip what could only be her coffee. "The Guardian Project, is it ready?"

"I have no idea, though I believe it may be near completion," Shinji lied. Takami had come to him a day after the raid on the Foundation. The Guardian was ready. The control factor, their only real piece in the coming game, needed one last thing before it would be dance to the tune they gave it. The sound of the conference room door speaking open caused him to whirl about abruptly. Takami stood in the doorway, hands on hips and an impatient look on her face. He mouthed the words 'call me' and the woman thankfully listened, flipping out her cell phone.

His phone beeped, indicating he had another call. "Sorry, I have another call. Was that all?" he asked in a false hurry.

"The Commander wants you to look into some files on some cult of something or other. The files should be in your hands by Thursday. Normal procedure and all that, and don't you dare bring another physics rapists in for the next four days!"

He welcomed the click after Dr. Akagi finished speaking. "Thank you, you saved me a great deal of trouble," he told Takami, walking towards her.

"Joy," she replied dryly. "You're going to get yourself killed. Or are you just trying to get everyone pissed off?"

He could only shrug. His duty was to fulfill the oath to defend humanity from all the threats. The horrors of the Angel War, the chaos and death that followed during every assault could never be allowed to happen again. No child would have their head crushed by an Angel leaving a body for the horrified parents to find in the shelter were they should have been safe, no pregnant mother eviscerated by a Seraphim talon while screaming as she held her guts and unborn child from spilling out, no father would be ripped to shreds while firing his hunting rifle in desperation against a Pariah…none of that would ever be allowed while he lived. As long as he, Asuka and Rei lived they would defend humanity because there was no one else. No one else could fight the monsters of humanity on their own terms and win. So long as the world needed them, they would fight. Even when they wished for death they would fight onwards on way or another. If they fell, he had no doubt they would be recreated to fight again. There was no choice. Endless war was their only option, their only path that would never advance or fall back.

"It's doesn't matter either way," Takami said then fixed him with a pointed stare. "The Guardian is ready. I've located a place for him to stay, a place Minaka can't get to him. And you're going there ahead of him to settle his payment with your NERV card in five minutes," she informed him with a nasty smile.

"What?" he almost squawked before he coughed once and regained his dignity. There was no reason to fight her in this. He knew there were times to bend and times to stand firm. "I mean, does such a place even exist and won't Minaka notice if I go there? I'd have such a place under constant surveillance especially if it wasn't owned by me in a city I all, but own."

Takami waved a hand in dismissal. "Don't worry about that. I'll take care of Minaka and your cover will be fine. Just get in the damned car waiting for you at the entrance and go. Don't bother coming back until you've got the Guardian a room."

Suppressing the urge to sigh Shinji swiftly grabbed his jacket, but didn't put it on. "You're a very forceful woman; can you at least tell me where I'm going?"

"Izumo Inn," she stated flatly.

"Izumo…" his voice died. He knew that place, or rather he knew the woman who ran it. If Takami wanted to place the Guardian there, they he really would be beyond the reach of MBI. "You're a coward, sending me to deal with her" he hissed at her. "You can't face her after what happened to Takehito…" He purposely trialed off, there was no need to bring up more of the past.

Unsurprisingly, Takami bristled and glared at him. "What happen was an accident, none of us ever meant it to happen and if I'm not here that bastard will notice. Then he finds the Guardian and makes our tool into a tool of his own."

"Don't lie to me," he snapped. "He was a friend of mine too and you're sending me to his widow! Do you want me to die? She probably holds me accountable for his death!" The last he wanted to do was confront Takehito's widow. That woman was scary and, moreover, extremely powerful. She could easily kill him if she went all out from the start of their fight. "It's not me you need to worry about, but Saki and Taki. Those two will find out if anything happens to me," he warned her needlessly.

Takami folded her arms as their eyes met, stormy eyes clashed with eyes of granite. "The time isn't right. I can't confront her yet. There's too much between us that would make me dealing her with her impossible. You have a better chance than me and I'm your boss, so I say do it now!"

"Fine," Shinji accepted angrily. "On my epitaph I want you put 'killed following orders of woman who can't stand another woman because of a petty feud', just to immortalize your petty nature." The last comment was purposely barbed and he knew it would sting. Takehito and the circumstances around his death left many unhealed wounds and too many question marks. The killer was still unknown, though he had a sneaking suspicion that Minaka knew the killer or more about the killer than he said. He pushed past her and made for the elevator.

While he waited for the door to ding open, he threw on his jacket. At least when he went to his death he would have his jacket. Then his blood could join the blood of those he had killed. It would be oddly fitting for his crimes. "Miya… please don't let her hurt me too much," he prayed to any higher power that might be listening.

DING!

A/N: Explanation behind the swords: In the Sekirei wiki, Saki is said to use Japanese swords, nihontou, which is a catchall term for samurai swords. I decided to go with the larger members of the nihontou family since Saki is no human. Miya uses Totsuga No Tsurugi with a two handed style and we know Sekirei are stronger than humans so it's not too much of a stretch to think that other, younger Sekirei might try to dual wield weapons, that normal humans couldn't, to imitate or rival Miya/Karasuba.

In this universe, Angels are classified as xenos along with Sekirei and Pariahs. The hybrid is a demon/human and the monsters have yet to be introduced.

XDM-Xeno, demon, monster

Pariah/Seraphim-world destroying xenos (two different species)

King- world destroying demon

Devourer(not mentioned in universe yet)- most powerful and ancient of monsters