So I totally meant to have this chapter up like Monday but I lost a bunch of it to a loss of power then reworked it a few times. I'm sorry. Except I'm not.

I am also sorry (except I'm not) that while this chapter has been flavored with pure epic extract, the genuine article (harvested from the epic bean, a fruit from the epic orchid which grows only on trees that grow on active volcanoes which Manowar plays in front of) got pushed back to next chapter.

Chapter 25

Ken remembered where he was when the fighting started. He supposed anybody who survived this Golf Charlie Foxtrot would remember it for the rest of his or her life.

Friday afternoon, minding his own business, relaxing in his room, drawing up drafts for cultist propaganda, not bothering anyone. He had heard a gunshot. This was weird, 'cause despite everything going on, this city was fairly peaceful. So he figured, hey it was a nine, the police must have gotten serious with some punk with a knife, maybe a rapid dog or something. No biggie. The fusillade of automatic fire that followed however made him curious. Ken had grabbed his newest toy, a junk shop find, and headed out to take a look.

The American M1917 bayonet can be accurately described as a long knife or a short sword. It is an eighteen-inch blade with a stout guard designed to facilitate mounting to a variety of weapons, notably several kinds of shotgun. It is fully sharp on the front edge, and has a false edge down a quarter of the back to facilitate good entry when stabbing. Ken liked how it felt in his hand.

In retrospect, curiosity had overridden good sense. Ken had stepped out into the street with blade tucked hidden between his arm and body, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. He hadn't even put his eye patch on. He had been lucky the guy who pointed the rifle at him was stupid enough to do it close and gloat.

The long blade had given him enough leverage to wrench the stupid guy's body around as a shield when his friends noticed he wasn't talking so much smack anymore. Ken had pulled the corpse's sidearm from its thigh holster and finished off its nearby buddies.

It had only taken a few minutes to drag the four dead men out of sight. He took his time stripping them of gear. The armor carriers they were wearing were even adjustable enough to fit Ken's young frame. Score.

As much as he had liked the AK he had picked up during the school fight, clearing operations on the fleet had taught him appreciation for the AR-15 based weapons like the M-4 he had carried clearing bulkheads and its German cousin that Ken took from the bodies. The HK 416 was essentially a heavier M-4 carbine with the different gas system. It was slightly more reliable, but picky about magazines. It would take the metal ones fine, but got all bitchy about the heavy-duty polymer ones that were becoming popular.

Ken took his pick of gear, setting another set aside for Toji. With the sounds of gunfire coming from all around and all ranges, Ken figured this was going to last a while. He ended up with the rifle with sling, hard and soft armor in a plate carrier, all sorts of ammo and storage strapped to the armor carrier, full radio set including earbud and throat mic, and a handgun in a thigh holster. The pistol was nothing special, just another 1911 clone in good old .45ACP. The big find had been each man carrying two fragmentation grenades and two flashbangs.

He had thrown the extra set of gear and all the ammo he could find in a backpack and headed off to find Toji after he got dressed. He wore his olive drabs with a dark blue bandana tied to hold back his shaggy hair, and his yellow scarf around his neck. He had stuffed his pockets with a bunch more he had made over the last few days.

Had to start somewhere.

When he had found Toji, he was in cover behind a stone wall, unarmed and still wearing scivvies. Ken had popped the three men who had him pinned down's heads like melons with three calm, precise, shots.

"Heya!" He had called as he walked over. Toji had stood up from cover when he heard his friends voice.

"So I am thinking of starting a PMC, heard a rumor the market is picking up around these parts. Need a VP, you looking for a job?" He had joked as they embraced. Toji got dressed, geared up and laughed at his father and brothers cowering in house. They had decided to head towards the hospital first, to make sure Sakura was okay. It was what Shinji would have wanted.

It had taken them two hours to make the three-mile journey to the hospital, one long running gun battle. Along the way, they offered anybody who could fight and wasn't slaughtering civilians a yellow scarf and a job. Their numbers had spiked when they found several groups of crew from Over The Rainbow. They hadn't been armed, but guns were not in short supply on the streets of Tokyo-3 that.

They had left most of them at the hospital. Nobody had attacked yet, but NERV had troubles elsewhere and it was only a matter of time.

That was twelve hours ago by Ken's count. He hadn't slept. He and Toji had gotten separated at some point in the chaos of the night. The city had been burnin, then the rain started. Ken had never seen a spinning cloud over the city before, and the rain and lightening it brought down were intense. The fires were out, but the city was a burnt out shell.

Ken was sheltering with a squad of his new "employees" in a mostly intact house. Each had a yellow band either around his neck or tied around his arm. Ammunition and materiel were in good supply with all the dead. God it was like someone had said one day: "What if we threw a war, and everybody came?" Men and women of all colors, in every kind of uniform and kit imaginable, a rainbow of flags and banners. Killing and being killed by the dozen.

He had used what loose command and control they had to direct his people to civilian shelters and places people could not leave, like hospitals. They had orders to protect people as best they could by getting the fighting away from them and to only engage when absolutely necessary. Ken thought it is what Rei and Shinji would have wanted.

He hadn't seen either of them since it all began, but he knew where they were. He knew by the terrified faces of those he saw running.

In the little moments between terrible chaos, he told anyone who would listen about Lord Shiva and Lady Kali. He told them that they were what sent these hardened mercenaries running like children. That they were the reason that nobody was going towards downtown, even as JSSDF and UN forces moved in.

The swirling storm overhead was centered above the city center. Miracles are a funny thing, terrific really. It was easy to assign the name to a fortunate occurrence and be happy. Up close though, terrific as a way to say induces terror was more accurate.

Toji had left Kensuke's company in the darkness. He was his best friend in this world, but he needed to go see what was going on, and Ken needed to keep coordinating their new allies to protect the weak. It was easier to move and avoid battle alone.

He could feel their presence, how they bent the world around them. Normally it was just around them and what they touched. Now it enveloped downtown and he could feel it in the falling rain.

He had climbed one of the smaller offices buildings on the edge of the central district. It was stupid, he didn't know why he did it. He felt like there was something he needed to see. He set his rifle aside and slipped off his armor. He took off his blouse and laid it out on the rooftop as a mat and kneeled down.

This was not his battle to fight. It was his destiny to watch, and tell of it later.

They had fought together through soldiers, gangsters, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, mercenaries, thugs… no wait, that meant something else…, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, bandits, muggers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers… and fucking ninjas.

Actually that was the point at which they had separated. Fucking ninjas.

The black robed bastards weren't landing any hits, but neither were Shinji and Rei. Shinji had been calming Rei down as they went, she had been letting bloodlust get the better of her and getting stupid. But it was getting the better of him now too. They had lured her off. Shinji could feel her somewhere to the East.

Shinji was pushing back the red mist as he weaved between his assailants. It was like there was no limit to them. They must keep dropping those damn smoke bombs, because even using his AT field he could not keep track of them in the wall of white smoke.

Wait… Shinji stopped, just stopped where he was. The sword stroke of the one in front of him should have cleaved through his shoulder, but there was nothing. Shinji stood up straight, shook his head and laughed. It was an illusion. He couldn't feel them with his AT field because they weren't there.

If he had been any further gone he might never have noticed nobody was actually there… well not nobody. There was someone here, just not close. Shinji stepped out of the smoke towards the closest presence he could feel. It felt familiar, but at the same time totally unknown. He looked up and saw a figure standing on a rooftop then turn away.

Ah, so this was the illusionist. He looked old, probably couldn't fight for himself.

My lord, that assumption is dangerously incorrect.

Vasuki my friend, we have not spoken so often anymore.

Shinji began to jog, then run as he felt the man's presence start to move away, towards the high towers of downtown. It was moving faster now.

Your thoughts at night have been preoccupied. Be wary of this threat my lord, he is not as they seem. He is an old enemy of Remo Williams and his master before him. He knows Sinanju.

Oh really?

He is also responsible for the invaders in this city.

Then he is my target.

My lord, I would advise against that. Remo should handle this, he knows this opponent.

Remo is guarding the geofront. I am more than capable of handling this.

Lord Shiva, I am not sure you are. You are not in your chariot. While you have gained access to more of your power, this man is amongst the most deadly alive, and he is not alone.

Shinji was running harder now. Vasuki was just worrying too much. What were men to the god of destruction?

"I am created…" Shinji said through a grin that crossed ear to ear. This man…. No he sensed three ahead of him. They had stopped. These men, they would be good sport.

"Shiva, the destroyer!"

He was already in his enhanced state, he had been for nearly twelve hours. Now he was pushing it further. Being stuck in it for days had acclimated his body he reasoned.

"The giant rider! The storm tiger!"

The tarmac of the road was splitting under his feet now. Above, the sky was darkening and the winds began to howl through the city.

"The king come down to fix the wound in the universe!"

Shinji skidded to a halt in the center of the biggest intersection in town, his bare feet digging into the black road. Their presence was all around him now. He could feel them each, the lights of their souls like beacons in his mind's eye.

Shinji raised his fists to the sky and roared as the dark clouds blocked out the dawning sun above the city.

"WHO IS THIS DOGMEAT WHO COMES TO MY CITY AND CHALLENGES ME?"

Above, the clouds began to spin and a great eye opened up above Shinji, bathing this one intersection, nearly an acre of asphalt, alone in light.

Lone, slow clapping caught Shinji's attention from his own gloating.

"Ah yes, arrogance from the pig's ear's apprentice."

The source of the voice stepped out from… what appeared to be nowhere. He was no taller than Shinji, a bit shorter actually, and of solid build. He had short dark hair, and in his enhanced state, even at a distance he could see the man had hazel eyes. He wore a long robe of blue brocade.

"To answer your question, you impudent child, my name is Niuhc."

Shinji felt another of the presences approach to his left, and turned to face it.

"Allow me to introduce my own apprentices. This is Jeremiah Purcell."

The man who stepped into the circle of light was once a tall blond man of noble European features and muscular build. Now he was old, with a hunch in his shoulders and the barest wisps of white hair hanging from his skull. He wore an old brown double-breasted suit with a white shirt and a green tie.

"You may have heard of me." The old man said and held up one hand. He snapped his fingers and ring of fire appeared in the air behind him. "I am the world famous assassin known as the Dutchman. I am the man who brings fear even into your master's heart. Surely he has told you of me."

"Uuuuuuuh… no, can't say he has." Shinji replied

Shinji couldn't help but snicker when the old man clinched and the veins on his mostly bald head bulged. Joy left his heart as he felt another presence, or rather the shadow of a thing, behind him. It pressed down on him like a load of stone. He turned to face it.

What stepped into the light, Shinji could not tell if it was man or machine. The figure reminded him of the ninja illusions from earlier. Grey wires and cables coiled like muscles covered his body. Matte grey armor segments covered his body but left enough room around the joints that Shinji had no illusions that it might slow him down. Crossed behind his hips were two straight short swords.

The mask that covered his head, or perhaps it was his head, was featureless but for two round eyes lit by blue lights. From the back of the skull fell a long ponytail that looked like it was made of wire and swept halfway down his back.

"And this is Seeker. You will pardon him for not speaking. We are of course already aware of whom you are. Each of us is a master of Sinanju."

Shinji looked around at the three men. They sought to trap him. To separate him from Rei, and get him here where it was three against one.

"You, who have studied at the feet of a fraud for less than a year, have no chance. You are so far outclassed it would be a joke to fight. That pain in the back of your mind is despair. Give in to it. Simply surrender yourself, and you may leave. Return to whatever life you had before you were caught up in this pointless conflict."

Laughter was not the reaction Niuhc had anticipated. It was of course possible that the boy had simply lost his mind.

"I have no chance? Is that the best you have? If I am so insignificant before your prowess, then why are you so afraid you brought three grown man to ask a fifteen year old's surrender?" Shinji said, rage rising in his voice. Levity and joy were gone. This man, this Niuhc, had attacked the city, put nearly a million people in danger, and the whole world if an angel attacked, to ask for his surrender by insulting Remo-sensei? And the best he could offer was going back to being Shinji Ikari the eternal loser?

As his anger built and grew to join the core of anger that had carried him through years of abuse and trauma, Shinji felt something within himself. He was butting up against a wall, a level of power he had never passed before.

My lord, they have left you an opening. You cannot win this fight right now, you must run.

I have the power Vasuki, I can defeat them.

Shiva, your anger is not true power, it only fills you with false strength. If you try and take more of your power now, it can only destroy you.

My oldest friend, if you will not stand with me, then I release you from all of your ties of fealty to me. Feel no shame, for you have stood by me as a friend since the very beginning of immortal time.

You shame me my lord.

Stand with me my friend, in this battle as you have in every other.

I will always be at your side my lord. Until the stars go out and Brahman closes his eyes for the final time, I will be with you.

Thank you my friend.

Shinji felt the naga's presence enter his soul and he reached through the wall. He felt the power come into him. It was hot, scaldingly, searingly hot. His blood was boiling and the pain was across his skin was like Shamsel all over again. His entire body felt like it was going to explode and he could actually smell the burning as he looked down at his arms and found his skin turned wine red, with sweat turning to steam rising from his hands.

His shirt turned to char and burned away as his muscles bulged. They were like bridge cables strung taught across his thin frame. It was a new and fascinating pain as his serpent scar came to life and began to move. With the pain came relief as the king of the Naga lord shouldered at least a fraction of the burden.

Shinji threw his head back and roared to the sky, and a shockwave like a thunderstrike lifted debris from the road and pushed the apprentices to either side of him back a step. Niuhc remained unmoved. The wind screamed through the towers of the city, and the sound was like a thousand voices singing.

I reject your offer.

Niuhc could not see the boy's lips move. The light that shone from his eyes washed out his entire face. The hurricane winds lifted the boy's short hair and the steam that rose from his skin gave color to the gusts that whipped at the three men within the circle of light. A thin band of glowing light wound its way over his burning body like a snake.

"Then here you die." Snapped the little man. "Jeremiah, burn him to cinders."

The old man in the suit raised his hands and Shinji felt the movement in the air, the probe at his mind. He had fallen for the trick once now, he knew what it felt like to have someone put falsehoods into his brain. It was like being poked by a child's finger compared to what he was now.

Shinji was not much for science in school, but he remembered some things when they had to do with the kitchen. Fire needs three things to burn: An ignition, presumably what this man could do with his mind, fuel to burn, and oxygen. What he felt in the air around him, it was like… oh yes, that is exactly what it felt like. It was like motes of dust were trying to strike against each other hard enough to make a spark. It was a triviality to speed up the storm until this man's mind could no longer pull them together.

You know Dutchman, you may have the spark to turn my body to not but fuel, but you need one more thing….

Shinji raised his left hand, palm open to the sky, to the old man in the suit.

Oxygen. Now where might you find that?

Shinji closed his hand into a fist and immediately the old man began to choke. Control of the air around himself was something Shinji had done on instinct before, in little spikes of power. When he wanted to move faster, he pushed the air out of the way so it would stop holding him back. Now it was with ease that he simply pushed it away from the one who called himself the Dutchman.

Shinji felt the shadow of a thing move behind him and threw up his right hand just in the nick of time as an infinitely thin barrier of orange light stopped fast the metal ninja's blade that had been going straight for his head.

Shinji had to let the old man go as the other sword came around, then a kick, then a sword again. The ninja was, perhaps unsurprisingly given that he was a fucking ninja, lightening fast. Shinji was faster though, at least at first. The ninja didn't slow down, didn't wait to catch his breath, or ready his body to come at Shinji again, he just kept coming. Within seconds he was reduced to meeting each attack with his body to stop it.

In that moment, Shinji thought of Asuka.

Welcome to my absolute territory.

Shinji pushed out his AT field, throwing the ninja back. The machine man tumbled in the air and landed on his feet. The circle of light that came down from the center of the storm was filled with orange light and the terrible storm began to descend in a jet-black column.

He would take these insulting insects into the sky and let them all choke. Or fry them like the bugs they were with lightening from the storm. It would not be so hard to figure out how to make it work, they would be fun practice. Maybe he could even do that trick with the fire that the old man tried.

The wind lifted all four of them from the ground. Shinji had all three helpless, tumbling in mid-air. So helpless they were even drifting towards him, when the only thing their mortal minds could be wanting was to get away. The little man was closest, the one who had insulted Remo-sensei. He would die first, but slow. First Shinji would rip out his impudent tongue and…

He realized rather too late, even with superhuman senses, that the little man was not drifting at all and that his own master would have praised him for three days solid if he ever did a knife hand strike so perfect as the one coming at his own chest.

The knife hand took the air from his lungs by way of a new hole through his rib cage. Shinji barely felt the vicious metal clad kick to his back as his back as his body began to shut down, exhausted from running like a top fuel race car and burning at both ends. As the storm broke and he fell to the ground, he could only laugh as the burning sensation touched his hands. Jokes on you, you Dutch fucker, can't feel anything down there anyway.

He saw all three of them standing over him, but it was the ninja who was going to be the one to end it. He already had one of those swords out and was lowering it to Shinji's neck.

Well fuck.

Vasuki, any ideas?

There was no answer.

High above, Toji Suzuhara's battle had begun.

He had his belly against the rooftop and the rifle's barrel proper up on the concrete lip that encircled the roof.

Damn, Shinji had looked so good too. Then he got cocky it looked like. Or maybe these fuckers were just toying with him the whole time. Didn't matter.

Toji was trying to steady his aim. The rifle had only iron sights and he was well over three hundred meters out. Ken could make this shot easy, but he had the knack for it.

Fuck, the ninja had a sword out. Okay, breathe in, breath out, breathe in, breathe out, don't breathe back in. Let the tension leave the body. Finger on the trigger, and squeeeeeeeeeeeze for the surprise break.

BANGBANGBANG

Oh shit, left it on burst.

Toji couldn't tell if he hit anybody, but…. Okay they were definitely looking at him now. Pointing… Old man who summoned fire nodding, looks like he is saying he will handle it, turning back to face the direction to look in Toji's direction

And now he is flying… Really?! Just floating on over, really quite fast actually.

Toji got up and shouldered the rifle. Okay, now this was his battle to fight!

"Jeremiah, you take care of it."

"yes master." The old man said and rose into the air.

"Seeker, finish it. Leave no possibility of resurrection."

I would advise against that.

The booming voice came from behind Seeker. The ninja and the master turned to look and as real as a mountain she was there.

She was barefoot, and her legs uncovered but for the shreds of blue fabric tied into a skirt around her waist. Her belly was bare and her chest bound up by a knotted strip of green cloth, all which remained of her uniform. Her dark blue hair was loose over her back and shoulders, and her red eyes glowed with fury. Before their eyes, dark tendrils crossed her pale skin and within two slow, swinging steps, she was black as night.

I am created, Kali, immortal time, the end of all things, the dark mother of all creation. Who is this who threatens my children?

Niuhc, master of Sinanju snarled. Seeker looked to him for orders.

"Keep her busy and I will take care of the boy. Without him she will no longer be a threat."

Seeker turned to face Rei, drawing a second sword. Niuhc stepped forward and straightened his fingers into a blade.

"You're looking pretty good for a dead man Niuhc." Came the voice the little man hated more than anything in all creation, second only to its owner. He turned from the steaming body of the boy to face the vile cure. The thief, his uncle's idiot apprentice. The soft white man who had been given all the secrets of the most ancient and deadly art of Sinanju.

"I mean you have to tell me your secret. If we get that shit on the market we could be rich men before the end of the world." Said Remo Williams. The sneer on his face and his casual manner just infuriated Niuhc more. Even his manner of dress was an insult.

Remo wore a grey v-neck t-shirt and a pair of tan chinos. His master had always put on his best kimono for this sort of thing, but it had never been Remo's style. He walked with his hands in his pockets, his bare feet dancing lightly on the ground.

"Course by we, I mean me, cause you are like, what, thirty four years dead now? Sorry, but I would be dishonoring your uncle to let you keep walking around all dead and stuff. Insult for the family honor and all, shameful state of affairs. People might think Sinanju has gone soft."

"Will you shut up, your arrogant pig! You jest of dishonor, when you have broken every single law that has guided Sinanju for thousands of years! I will break you in two and bring honor back to the title of Master of Sinanju!"

"Missed you too cousin." Remo said then spit before taking a fighting stance, his hands raised in claws.

"Your apprentice left much to be desired, pig's ear. I suppose with an rise in quantity, there must be a drop in quality." Niuhc said before dropping into an identical stance.

"He ain't dead yet, with three men, each claiming to be a master of the deadliest of all arts, against him. Not bad for a kid off the street who hasn't been learning a whole year. I give him another six months before he could whup you like I did in New York."

"You will die here, pig's ear, then the world will know the true Master of Sinanju and tremble before him."

"Yeah, you just try it sweet heart. I never met anybody with better dirty talk then you Niuhc, even after all these years. You work the shaft so good you could sit in a window in Amsterdam."

End

So I didn't mean to push back the good fights another chapter, and in fact you will get them probably later today or tomorrow. It just felt much more natural to cut this chapter a little short here.

Some Destroyer background necessary to know who the fuck these people are:

Remo's master's was called Chuin. He was originally called Niuhc, but reversed his name after his treacherous nephew betrayed the village. That nephew is the Niuhc seen here. Remo and Chuin actually killed him around 1980, thus their conversation. Niuhc leaving the village to go out on his own was one of the reasons Chuin agreed to train Remo in the first place. He didn't actually finish his training though, so he is not the rightful master of Sinanju to anyone but himself.

Jeremiah Purcell was an apprentice of Niuhc that troubled Remo and Chuin for many years. He is younger than Remo, but has not aged well in our story. Evil will do that to you. Besides having been taught Sinanju by Niuhc, he is a powerful telepath and telekinetic. His telekinesis is the source of his most visible powers: Flying and pyrokinesis. Has a nasty berserker side and a tad bit of power incontinence. He is not in fact Dutch, but acquired the nickname early in his career against his will and it stuck.

Seeker is an original identity to this story. He is a cyborg ninja. That's all you get… Fuckin' ninjas.

Next time on Trishula:

Remo Vs. Niuhc

Kali Vs. The Fucking Ninja

Toji Vs. The Flying Dutchman