Disclaimer: Hideaki Anno and Studio Gainax own NGE, so please don't sue me! I own only original plot elements and characters, so lay off the Lawyers! Here comes "Back Stories Better Left Alone". I hope you enjoy!
Dr. Emil Gannon was in a rage. He had been stunned by an electrical shock when he tried to strip wires with his teeth (He really needed a better shrink!) and was in the Med-Bay, snarling like a beast when he learned of Commander Ikari's ridiculous order in regards to Shinji. He had stormed down to the detention center and tried to find out for himself what the bletherin' Hell was going on, when he had been intercepted by Captain Katsuragi and several Section-2 agents. While the Captain had tried to reason and calm the enraged Scotsman, several Section-2 snickered quietly behind her, one of them actually poking fun at him for being so hot-headed because he was a foreigner, to which the good Captain told them where to shove it.
Gannon had snickered at that little barb, taken off his sun glasses, giving everyone a very good look at his frightening eyes. Everybody took two steps back save for Misato, but the same arrogant jerk who had made fun of Gannon now giggled openly.
"Stupid gai-jin! You think you can scare us with your fancy contacts?"
The man's entire body expanded like a balloon for a fraction of a second as Gannon's eyes flashed blue, before it popped with enough force to knock everybody off their feet, save Gannon, the flesh slightly burnt. The jerk had been reduced to a steaming pile of gore, painting the walls and everybody that had stood in the hallway, except for the AT-Field enveloped Nephilim on the warpath. Misato was scared to death, because she honestly believed that Gannon had finally been pushed way too far, and was showing what happened to people who angered him.
Misato really couldn't blame the guy; he and this Dr. Carmine had raised Shinji as their own when the Commander had abandoned him, and now the boy was locked in a cell because of a rash choice and some bizarre bio-sensor readings. While She had received her marching orders from the Commander, she hadn't liked them one little bit. She had not gotten a good look at Shinji after he was extracted from the entry plug, but what she did notice was a very noticeable increase in height, how much she couldn't tell because Shinji was being dragged along by a handful of Section-2 and regular security, hinting at quite the increase in mass as well.
Dr. Gannon was now actually levitating above the floor as he glared at the group, then swiftly floated past them, making a bee-line right for the detention block. Misato actually got up and jogged after him, glad he wasn't doing some kind of super-speed flight schtick like you'd see in a Saturday morning cartoon or martial arts anime. He had so many powers, Misato now realized, and if had wanted to use it to really destroy Nerv from within, it would be a cake walk for him. Yet he did not go on some kind of killing spree. She could even forgive him his use of deadly force due to the fact that the Section-2 agent he popped like a balloon (how had done that, anyway?) had in fact been a hired mercenary, and one with a weakness for very young children.
Misato had wanted to break the creeps neck herself; Gannon simply beat her to the punch. She wondered just how many more professional scumbags were on Nerv's payroll; after receiving that Intel from an anonymous source, she now knew that at least eight more Section-2 agents were career killers, monsters-for-hire that had committed such a range of crimes and offences that they'd never all be discovered. She also knew that if Gannon got to the detention center before she managed to waylay him, He really would go on a killing spree!
As the Captain yelled out to Dr. Gannon to stop and listen to her, another pair of those other-worldly eyes watched from the shadows, a gleaming smile full of sharp teeth spreading wide. The hidden watcher saw Gannon slow to a stop and actually turn to the lovely young woman who was trying to keep him from doing something rash...again. Gannon regarded her with a sceptical look, but lowered himself to the floor, and gestured with his hands for Misato to say what she had to say.
"Doctor, Shinji is not in the detention area, he's in the Medical Ward; They medically induced a coma to keep him under control and locked him in one of those damn coffin shaped stasis chambers! The commander thought that Shinji had been contaminated and posed a security risk, so he had him placed into isolation quarantine. The stasis chamber is still in the medical ward, but its going to be moved to a secure isolation lab. Shinji and Unit-01 both are going to be experimented on to see just what the hell happened to both, and if what happened is a good thing or bad thing. If its a good thing, no harm done, but if the commander sees it as a bad thing...," Misato let the comment hang unfinished, letting her meaning sink in.
The moment it did, Gannon eyes widened, his face twisting into a grotesque mask of rage. He held out his hands to the Captain and simply said, "Take My hands", which she did. The two of them disappeared in a flash of light. Their hidden watcher smirked at Gannon's display of power, glad the good Doctor was making use of his new abilities. These abilities would be part and parcel of the new humanity that would emerge after all of the undesirables were cleansed from the world. To think, the entire Seele Council was all for it; well, they should be, since each and everyone of the members had been enhanced in the same way that Gannon had been. The Red Earth Ceremony would reduce the unworthy into LCL, while everybody else who had received the necessary 'enhancements' would be completely unscathed by Third Impact itself, and even absorb what was left of those deemed unworthy of the coming new order.
Lorenz Keel chuckled to himself as he thought about how easy it was to give mankind their second chance at Eden now that they had the Transcendence Material. Soon, everyone deemed worthy would have the power of the Angels, but be so much superior to the ugly aliens that there would be no comparison at all. All of Seele's ruling council had now been transformed, and were practically chomping at the bit to get started, but as their minds grew, they realized that they now had centuries to get the plan right, centuries of new life and restored youth that would never waver for all that time. They decided that, for the immediate future, that they'd let things stay as is, with some minor changes, of course. They were going to live it up, so to speak.
Keel decided it was time to play good cop and made a bee-line straight for the bridge to confront Ikari and give him the thorough and humiliating dressing-down he so richly deserved. The bullet through the eye would sadly have to come much later, at least until certain things had been dealt with. For right now, he'd get Ikari off Gannon's back and make sure Shinji was okay; the boy may be a long-term experiment, but Keel really liked the young man. If Shinji ever found out that Keel himself had allowed a wanted Dr. Amanda Krane to steal a sample of Transcendence Material and use it to augment hard narcotics, Keel felt absolutely certain that his plans for Shinji would unravel. Oh, he planned to fess up eventually, but for the moment, discretion was the better part of success, valor could kiss his German backside.
Speaking of Shinji, Keel began to wonder how that temperamental Scotsman was doing in trying to release him.
Dr. Gannon was particularly miffed, that's how he was doing. When he and Captain Katsuragi had appeared in the Med-bay, preceded by a flash of light, startling half the staff into hysterics, Misato had shown Gannon where Shinji was being held, after taking several minutes to shake off the after-affects of teleporting with Gannon. 'How had he done that?', she had asked herself, but had refrained from getting an answer as she was quite certain it would make her head spin right off her shoulders. Shinji had been put into stasis in a larger than normal stasis pod, which looked like a glossy metallic coffin with a computer terminal on one side. Misato just about panicked when she looked inside; something inside – vaguely like Shinji – had a mask strapped to its face, with LCL being pumped into it. Misato couldn't make out any distinct characteristics because Shinji, or whatever he had changed into, was encased in semi-transparent Bakelite, pulse monitors and other monitoring devices attached to his body.
When Misato told Dr. Gannon, the expression on his face prompted Misato to run out of the room, grab as many worried staff and security personnel, usher them away from the quarantine room, and jog down the hall. She was glad for her foresight, because – following a beastly roar and a fiery blast of white-hot energy that made the Captain think of ionized plasma- the walls were blown out, the shock-wave throwing everybody to the floor. Dr. Gannon strolled out of the destruction like he was taking a leisurely walk in the park. He was carrying a limp form in his arms, a frightfully savage expression on his yet-again inhuman features.
Shinji had grown to at least adult size, his height indiscernible from the fact that Gannon was carrying him in his arms, and had packed on at least a hundred pounds of toned muscle, his formerly black hair now ghostly white, as was his skin, but as he tried to stir, Misato noticed that while his eyes were still an electric blue, the black was gone from his eyes, making them look far more normal.
Unfortunately, while Shinji still looked human, though remarkably beautiful in her opinion, Gannon went from handsome to nightmarish; his limbs and torso were longer and he had even sprouted two pairs of extra arms which had torn through his expensive-looking coat which was now ruined and hanging off in tatters. He had an extra pair of eyes which had emerged from his temples and long boney spikes sticking out of his back in a rather symmetrical pattern. His entire head was now shaped very much like an Evangelion's head, but he still had his hair which emerged from the back of his skull, the rest of his head encased in a helmet-like shell rather reminiscent of the Third Angel.
Misato felt like weeping, because if Gannon had changed that much, she honestly thought that he'd never go back to normal. She had no idea how right she was. Gannon knew that he'd never go back to being human, even if it was just in appearances. He was going to confront the Commander and all his staff, and explain in complete detail how all of this came to be.
Shinji was going to kill him.
Maya was, at the moment, accompanying a Section-2 detachment who had reported that they had found Dr. Akagi. The other two senior Lieutenants thought they had been seeing things when Maya dashed out of the room so fast after hearing the news. Her heart leapt when she heard the news, and could barely contain herself as they headed toward an abandoned warehouse where Section-2 had learned that Dr. Akagi's mysterious kidnappers had stashed her away. Surveillance showed that there was only one heat-source in the building that was identifiable as a person. What was really wrong with that picture was that she was lying on what they guessed was an operating table with a lotof equipment placed around her.
Maya didn't even want to think about what that meant, but still, the thought chilled her. What had Dr. Akagi's kidnapper's done to her? Was this some kind of trap, or was it something more? Maya didn't know, but at this particular moment, she didn't really give a damn. All she needed to know was that her mentor was still alive.
'Sempai...we'll get you back, I promise!' the young lieutenant vowed to herself, and waited as the insertion team readied to breach the building through the back door. A shape-charge had been placed on the door; it would blow in the door with a directional blast which would disorientate any potential perpetrators laying in wait.
"Okay, folks", the Team leader called over his radio, "prepare to breach, I repeat, prepare to breach!" He and another agent in full tactical gear were on either side of the door, the second agent priming the detonator. He hit the switch, blowing the door inward. The agents came around and rushed through, barking "Everybody down, now!" or "Drop your weapons!"
All completely unnecessary, as the place was deserted. As the team began calling out all clears, Maya rushed from around that parked SUV she and several other agents had arrived in. The agent that had been acting as her bodyguard called after her to stop, but she rushed past his grasping hands and the other agents before they realized what was going on. The Section-2 agent called out, "Goddammit! Somebody grab her!" Maya had already approached the table where her mentor lay, but when she got a good look, she gasped in horror. She quickly fell into quiet weeping which quickly became a horrified and heart-broken screaming fit as she dropped to her knees.
One of the team rushed up to her, and knelt beside her and began to ask what was wrong, but silenced immediately when he got a look for himself at what had made Maya break down. He removed his heavily tinted goggles revealing the same kind of bizarre eyes that Shinji and Dr. Gannon had, so he could be absolutely sure of what he was seeing: There were dozens of bags of donor blood on large racks arranged around the operating table. They were all connected to life-support equipment that pumped it into the prone Dr. Akagi. The same equipment provided breathing assistance, extracted toxins from her body, and generally kept her alive. Her face was a hideous wreck to start, her lips seemingly burned off as though by a blow-torch, her eye-lids cut off with a grisly precision, the rest of her face a collection of horrible bruises, cuts, and a variety of burns.
The rest of her was no better, as both her arms and her legs had been removed, but with no precision or skill whatsoever; bloody knives and what appeared to be bloody gardening tools scattered around haphazardly, including hedge trimmers, shears, shovels, etcetera. Tubes leading from pouches labelled as nutrient supplements, a large variety of stimulants, anti-biotics and anti-virals, and even LCL were lead into what was left of her limbs.
Dialysis machines, heart-rate monitors, respirators, and whatever other medical machines Dr. Akagi's kidnappers thought to utilize to keep their prisoner alive as they butchered her. She had been reduced to a Frankenstein experiment gone beyond any moral conception of the concept of wrong. The worst thing was, she was still alive. Ritsuko Akagi turned her head to look at the Section-2 agent and actually had enough frame of mind left to her to gesture him over. The agent looked like he was going to vomit, but he savagely stomped down on the gag reflex, and knelt to look the mutilated doctor in her lidless eyes. She turned her head slightly to look at a point the Agent thought was past him, but in fact she was looking at his holstered side-arm.
The Agents look of horror was met with Akagi nodding her head, as though to say, "You know what you have to do".
The Agent stood up, a snarl on his face, concealed by his face mask. He tilted his head back as he composed himself, taking off his helmet and tossing it aside. Lt. Ibuki had finally calmed down enough to dare to walk closer. As she did, the agent undid the clip on his holster and pulled out his .50 caliber Desert Eagle. He clicked off the safety, cursing and damning himself for what he was about to do. Maya saw him pull out his side-arm as she walked up beside him, trying to hold back tears as she hoarsely whispered, "W-what are y-you doing?"
She didn't have to ask a second time as he pulled back on the slide, chambering a heavy hollow-point round. Maya looked from the gun to the Agent, aghast. She made a lunge for the gun, but another agent had come up from behind, and wrapped his arms around Maya, pinning her arms to her sides. She kicked and wailed, screaming and begging for the agent not to do what he was about to, that they could still save Dr. Akagi. The Agent said, "Get her out of here", biting off each word as though under great effort. He leveled his gun at the mutilated Dr. Akagi, who pulled what was left of her lips into a horrible mockery of a grateful smile. The Agent simply cocked the hammer back, making sure that Maya and his colleague were out of eye-sight, so Maya wouldn't have to see this, and so his colleague would be able to call 'plausible deniability' and blame it on him.
He turned to the ruined woman and all but whispered, "I'm sorry, Doc".
He shot her twice in the heart and twice in the head, destroyed the equipment and when he ran out of bullets, he smashed it to pieces with his empty hands, concluding with a white-hot thunderous blast of energy generated from his eyes. After twenty minutes, he screamed his rage to the heavens, shattering every window around for five square blocks. When he trusted himself to speak, he radioed Deputy Commander Fuyutsuki with what had happened.
"Yes, sir. She's dead. It was awful, just...I have no words for it, really, Sir".
"That's alright, Agent Forbes. Just get back here and give the Commander your report, so we can all just move on. Oh, and for God's sake, go home and get some rest after! Take a week off, and see what you can do to try to help Lt. Ibuki through this".
"Sir, with all due respect, I think the Lieutenant would rather blow my head off rather than sit down and talk to me".
"I know. Just...be there for her. Don't let her suffer through this alone".
"Sir, yes sir", was Agent Forbes reply. Things were easier back in America, Forbes thought to himself as he ended the transmission. He had tried to end his own life once before after 'The Incident', but had somehow completely regenerated from it. He had blown his own head off with the very gun in his shaking hand- all because his wife had come to see him as something other than human and ran off with the kids- but his head had completely grown back. It seemed Death wasn't letting him take the easy way out, it seemed.
Not that he deserved it, anyway.
Nerv's senior staff had been assembled in the large main briefing room. Lt. Ibuki's absence had been excused due to Dr. Akagi's recent discovery and subsequent death. Capt. Katsuragi wept quietly at the loss of her oldest friend, the two present senior Bridge technicians softly talked about all the goings-on, Dr. Carmine was present to represent his absent friend who had spirited Shinji aware to who-knows-where, the Deputy Commander standing just to the Commander's left, looking worried that he was going to be one of Carmine's targets.
A surprise arrival to the meeting was Chairman Lorenz Keel himself. The Commander, while visibly as cool as a cucumber, he was scared to death. Keel was here in person, and his remarkable transformation made gendo realize that if Keel had been renewed by this power the foreigners had dubbed 'Transcendence Energy', then who else had undergone the process? How old were Dr. Gannon and Dr. Carmine? Gendo knew only their names, and knew of only two or three research projects they had been involved in. For all he knew, they were as old as Keel Himself! He had seen what abilities this power had granted to his son and the two foreigners, but if Keel had these powers too, he could simply kill Gendo Ikari where he sat, call it a day, and simply select someone else to take full authoritative control of Nerv. With Shinji and Gannon now transformed into something 'other', he dared not go against Keel, not even to put forward his own opinions.
The Nephilim form Keel had been granted was six feet, nine inches tall. He was leanly muscled beneath that voluminous, heavy leather Armani coat he wore. He had showed off during a televised interview on CNN several months ago. Chiseled as though from cream-colored marble, he had every young lady in the audience either whistling appreciatively, squealing like adolescents, and in one case, throwing her panties at him. His terrible eyes were not even a slight deterrent, but seemed to be as inviting to the female gender as the rest of him. His vampire smile was probably useful when approaching little goth girls. A voluminous mane of silky platinum blonde hair completed the flawless picture.
Ikari wanted to blow it open with a sawed-off shotgun!
Chairman Keel cleared his throat, calling for attention. All conversation stopped and everyone focused on the stunning German sitting at the other end of the conference table, who apparently was bored because he was checking under his nails for dirt. He looked up and seemed to notice everyone staring at him as though for the first time.
"Sorry, had a bit of a tickle in my throat", he joked, but from the looks on everyone's faces, they were in no mood for jokes. Keel's Sheepish look actually made Ikari feel a bit better, though he knew that wasn't likely to continue. Chairman Keel straightened in his chair, cleared his throat a second time, and properly addressed the gathered staff, his tone somber but firm.
"Well, after that false-start, lets get down to the real business at hand. Firstly, we must address some tragic news so to put it to rest and so to let people mourn on their own: Dr. Ritsuko Agaki was recently located by Section-2, but she had been extensively and brutally tortured. She died soon after her retrieval, her injuries had been so extensive. The poor woman was missing body parts, for Christ sakes! When those responsible are caught, Nerv has my full authority to return the favor".
Keel paused for a moment, to let his words sink in for a moment, then continued on, his tone not quite so somber, but more heated. He continued on.
"Let me make Myself very clear. Section-2 was doing their jobs, and so I do not ever want to hear some lame-jerk comment about them dragging their heels or some such. Its not their fault that somebody", He levelled a glare at the Commander, "treats them like his own personal Gestapo. The duties that the Commander assigned them were given precedence over searching for Dr. Akagi. Not to mention that half of the agents that constitute the security division are, in fact, contract killers!"
Keel knew that such strong language during what was supposed toa simple general meeting was a bit heavy-handed, but the time for kid gloves was off, and now the time had come for Keel to manage Nerv his way. Considering Keel himself had been a member of Hitler's Gestapo, comparing Section-2 to that hated group was a particularly aggressive move. He had a bomb-shell to drop, and Ikari was going to have it land right on his empty head.
"I understand that everyone here at Nerv thought very highly of Dr. Akagi", He began again, making sure that all eyes were glued to him thanks to that comment about Akagi, "Sadly, the truth is ever more painful due to the fact of her treason against this very organization".
"WHAT?!"
The indignant screech came from the lovely Captain Katsuragi. She had shot to her feet so suddenly, Dr. Carmine had fallen out of his chair and rolled on the floor, massaging his head, and was now pulling himself, glaring at Keel for dropping his bomb like he did. Keel snickered at Misato, and smirked as he finished what he was going to say.
"Dr. Akagi, did in fact, attempt to sabotage Dr. Gannon and Dr. Carmine's exo-shell project", he smiled his shark-smiled right at the Commander, who now realized that all he had ever done to be restored to his beloved wife was going to go up in flames when Keel finished with, "under direct orders from parties unknown".
Nerv Supreme Commander Gendo Ikari almost fell out of his chair himself, but managed to hold his place, as well as expression. He couldn't believe it! Keel had not disclosed his involvement. With his constant quarrelling with Doctors Gannon and Carmine about Unit-01's upgrades and system overhauls, he would have been a shoe-in for a suspect and Akagi's benefactor in the exo-shell sabotage plot. Why had Keel done that? He would have been rid of Gendo for sure if he had exposed him. What was he up to? Gendo Ikari started to think about the whys and came to an abrupt conclusion: He was still useful to Keel in some form or fashion.
As the Commander gazed down the table at the Instrumentality Chairman, he realized that Keel had changed in ways beyond the physical, and now he was going to have to play a deeper game if he was going to accomplish his goals, but another question quickly popped into Gendo's mind. He wondered to himself if Keel didn't already know about his plans for Instrumentality, and was planning a counter-move or two to deal with that eventuality. He knew that to rush things would be disastrous, now that he was a scientist down, so he needed to get into the heads of Keel's new associates and see what made them tick, and if they could be manipulated.
Gendo decided for the immediate future to focus on the rest of Keel's briefing.
"Dr. Akagi had no choice in the matter. Poor woman, she had been threatened by an unknown group wanting the exo-shell project shutdown permanently, saying that it was the will of God, or some other such nonsense. Section-2 found threatening letters in her apartment mailbox, as well as likewise e-mails on her computer at home, and even at work. This heinous breach of security will be isolated, plugged, and the perpetrators punished most severely. Now moving on", Keel continued, "the second exo-shell has been located...at the bottom of the lake. Not to worry, the storage module is water-tight, and is being salvaged right now. Speaking of the exo-shells, firstly, the exo-shell equipped to Unit-01 has now become an integrated component of the Evangelion; there's no removing it without seriously damaging the Eva it's equipped to as well".
"I'm going kill those bastards, just you wait!" Ikari angrily thought to himself as He was yet again faced with a problem beyond his control. What did Keel mean the shell was now an 'integrated component'? What the Hell did that mean?!
Keel pulled a remote control of of an inside pocket and clicked a control bringing down the lights, and another to begin a digital presentation that Keel had prepared in advance. When the lights came down completely, the presentation began by showing Unit-01 as it first appeared, still quite menacing with its skeletal physique and demonic visage, followed by several stills and side-by-side video clips of its incredible transformation and the fight with the Third Angel, the equipping of the exo-shell and its subsequent victory using those bizarre missiles it fired from one of its massive gauntlets. The final images were what appeared as computer-enhanced x-rays of what the Eva looked like now beneath its armor; everyone was stunned when they saw that the Eva had even more extensive cybernetic implants and robotic enhancements.
The Eva was now- inside and out - by all appearances equal parts machine and living organism. Much of the surface gear connected directly to the exo-shells inner mechanisms. From the looks on the senior staffs faces, no one expected that particular outcome to the metamorphic event Unit-01 experienced; Commander Ikari looked fit to kill at this development, Keel smiled like a shark at his victory, and Dr. Carmine wondered just when somebody had made the alterations to the exo-shell to produce that kind of up-grade. It was like the Eva itself had begun to absorb and assimilate the exo-shell, while the shell itself had replaced its missing gear as fast as it was absorbed. Even without the exo-shell, Eva Unit-01 could still be described as a cybernetic herculean
The Commander was, without a doubt, the first to ask questions. While he kept his tone as neutral as possible, the look on his face spoke volumes of what he was really feeling toward this latest development.
"Chairman Keel", Ikari ground out, "Was this particular upgrade an intentional experiment or a fortunate fluke? I can't imagine such a transformation would be some kind of freak accident, no matter how adaptable the technology".
"Of course, it was intentional, Commander!"
Keel had a smile that a demon would be envious of.
"What a silly question to ask considering how adamant I've been toward the deployment of this technology. Since Unit-00 will also be receiving this level of enhancement through the second exo-shell being equipped to it, Nerv will soon have two such magnificent constructs to deploy. Besides, this meeting has far more important matters to deal with. While Dr. Akagi's betrayal, whether intentional or not, has great implications for future operations, we must now deal with the recent events tied to Unit-01's tremendous evolution. We must now discuss the transformations of one Shinji Ikari, Pilot of the aforementioned Evangelion and one Dr. Emil Robert Gannon, Scottish genius behind the creation of the extraordinary 'Transcendence Material'. They have left Nerv headquarters due to the startling nature of their individual metamorphosis. As the Captain can attest, it was quite dramatic, was it not, My dear?"
"Yes, Mr. Chairman. While Shinji, I mean Pilot Ikari grew in size to easily Adult size, not to mention losing any trace of pigmentation, his physical transformation was remarkably normal. Dr. Gannon's, on the other hand, was decidedly anything but normal. He actually grew several extra arms, generated what appears to be a complete exo-skeleton but he still has his hair, which is now much longer. He even has extra eyes, he's much taller, a lot of spikes sticking out of him, and looks so much like what the Third Angel turned into, you'd think it had somehow come back from the grave, though what soft tissue I could see was a decidedly dark magenta color. The snarl on his face when he carried Pilot Ikari out was perfectly chilling; if he ever decided to come back here, he'd make a bee-line straight for the Commander with murder on his mind, considering the Commander ordered Pilot Ikari put into a coma and locked down in stasis".
Chairman Keel raised an elegant eye-brow at the Captain's concluding remarks and gave Ikari such a potently dirty look, the Commander actually let his mask slip and cleared his throat. While Keel appeared angry, inside he was jumping for joy; when he had covertly administered samples of active Transcendence material into Shinji and Emil's blood streams, he had had no idea how the potent super-biological material would react when introduced into Nephilim physiology. The combat enhancer nanotechnology which was apart of the other-worldly bio-matter would allow for controlled, designer mutations and physiological alterations.
The more the two test subjects transformed, the easier it would become to program the bio-technology into producing desired transformations.
Keel felt himself salivating at the prospect of analyzing the data from the two wayward Nephilim, but for right now, he needed to put the house of Nerv in order. He had to get things here settled and working like clock-work; especially the particular upgrades He had designed for Unit-00. For the immediate future though, he needed to get Shinji and Emil back. The only way that they'd ever come back is if they no longer had to worry about violent confrontations and imprisonment.
"Well, back to the present. Pilot Ikari and Dr. Gannon are not the enemy here. They have never had any control over their transformations, which were initially brought about by being clandestinely injected with Transcendence Material".
Keel's statement made everyone in the room whip their eyes to him. He ruefully smiled as he continued with his latest bombshell.
"Yes, they were injected with the remarkable substance against their wills, and without their knowledge. This did not happen recently, as some would believe. It happened to them both when Shinji was only eight years old. A week after Myself and Dr. Gannon met Shinji for the first time, guardianship of the boy was transferred to us; he was an emotional and psychological wreck, thank you very much, Commander Ikari", Keel glared daggers at a visibly uncomfortable Ikari who adjusted his collar as though he was overly warm or had trouble breathing.
"It took a while for the boy to warm up to us, but Dr. Gannon was a very open and inviting soul. He was patient with the boy, always ready to engage him with something fun to do; he simply never let the boy have a moment to feel depressed or melancholy. Soon, the boy was laughing and carrying on like a child his age should; when Dr. Carmine arrived", Keel gestured to the ruby-haired American, "I thought that the boy would die laughing, to be quite honest. His relatives were naturally concerned about him but they relented soon enough".
Keel smirked at that as he had Shinji's uncle suffer a horrible 'accident' coming home from work that very evening; rush hour traffic during the evening could be so treacherous, after all. His aunt was a lovely bit of fun after she had mourned for her husband and Keel had acted like a sympathetic charmer. He remembered the noises she made quite vividly, and enjoyed her heart-broken weeping even more; he just couldn't decide if her weeping at losing her husband or from Keel breaking her heart a second time was the sweeter music.
She would have proven troublesome-sleeping pills were so easy to overdose on, Keel reflected-if he hadn't planned ahead. Her 'apparent suicide' looked genuine enough. While Shinji was saddened at the untimely passing of his aunt and uncle, he had three new playmates to cheer him up. Everything from baseball games to The Met were used to enrich the child's lonely life. As he gave his explanations for what happened next, Keel made sure to guage everyone's reactions, making sure they accepted his version of the truth, and if they didn't, well, some 'convincing' might be in order.
"While things were good for a time, two years following being introduced to Shinji for the first time, we all travelled to Las Vegas, Nevada to take part in an international science symposium, things went from fun to FUBAR in ten seconds flat. A researcher at the American branch of Gherin - which became Nerv's second branch - stole a large canister of Transcendence Material and brought it to Las Vegas where the fool mixed it into hard narcotics like cocaine, methamphetamine's, and likewise. The drugs not only became more potent by leaps and bounds, but they had also become powerfully mutagenic.
"Everyday people began changing into creatures right out of science fiction and horror movies; twisted beasts in constant agony, monstrous abominations without wit or sense that lashed out at anything that caught their eyes, and many eyes many of these things had. Some people who overdosed died swift and horridly painful deaths, but frighteningly, did not stay dead. It was a nightmare come to life. If it had happened all at once, the four of us would have died where we stood, but it happened over the course of several months. There were rumours of things and wild stories at first, but it soon grew into something very substantial and all too real".
Keel let that sink in before he continued. He observed the reactions of everyone present, shock and dismay, disbelief on every face, save the Commander had recovered surprisingly well, Keel thought, and decided that the story could benefit from being told from another perspective. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number on his speed-dial and when it connected, he asked the person on the other end of the line if he was okay to talk. Keel's satisfied smile said as much and Keel put the person on the line on speaker and placed the phone on the conference table. Though his voice had changed dramatically, his thick Scottish brogue was still evident.
"Hello, all! I'm so sorry to hear about Doctor Akagi! As mad as I was at her, I never wanted something so fell to befall the lass. Aye, we may have had our differences, but e'en so, I respected her a lot".
"Oh, is that so?!"
Every person in the room turned to the door to see an angry Maya Ibuki storm into the room. She plunked herself down in the empty seat next to Dr. Carmine, making sure to give him a focused and heated glare. The American was going to introduce himself, but the look on Maya's face dissuaded him. Chairman Keel started to open his mouth, but Maya snapped at him.
"Shut your goddamn mouth, you super science ghoul! I know you were behind what happened to Sempai! You fabricated the whole cult abduction! You didn't like the fact that she was interfering in one of your personal projects! I don't know if your two pet goons were in on it or not", that comment caused Carmine to make an incredulous face and Gannon to bark indignation over the line,"but believe me you freak that if I find out your two goons or your pet brat had anything, and I mean ANYTHING to do with Sempai's death, I am coming after all of you! I hope you heard me, Gannon, because I know how much that boy means to you and your American buddy. If you guys in fact had nothing to do with Dr. Akagi's death, then by God I'll apologize to each and everyone of you individually and resign my commission with Nerv; If you did, however, have something to do with Sempai's death..."
Maya slid her thumb across her throat like she was dragging a knife, making the appropriate noises. She shot from her chair, stomped past Keel, who she sucker punched in the stomach knocking the wind out him, and stormed past the two surprised Section-2 agents. Keel snarled after Maya, mentally swearing a slow and painful death for the young lieutenant as soon as he was finished here at Nerv.
Not one single person in the room wasn't shocked at the usually demure lieutenant's behavior. The only person who had actually enjoyed that little outburst was the Commander who reveled at seeing some of the wind knocked out of Keel's sails, either literally or figuratively. A clearing of the throat caught everyone's attention, directing their attention to Keel's cell phone.
"That could'a gone a wee bit more on the good side'o things, I guess, but there's no fixin' it now, though. Ya know, Keel, while I think young Maya got a tad bit hot under the collar, I also think she was right on the money about her accusations, don't ya think?" Gannon over the phone. Keel was stunned, and not only because of Maya's cheap-shot. Had Gannon really found out? And if so, why had he waited, and why right now? Keel thought about it for a moment and smiled to himself as he realized that perhaps the good Doctor always knew, but simply never acted on the information he had.
"Oh, Emil. What can I say but YES. I did, in fact, have Dr. Akagi 'disciplined' for her recent 'indiscretions'. She interfered in affairs not her concern and was duly punished. Her punishment was so severe as to instruct those who would misbehave that such behaviour will not, under any circumstances, be tolerated. I want the Angels dead, every sane person in this room, in this city, in this courty, on God's green earth want these abominations dead, so why are people trying to stick up for them, or interfere with efforts to get rid of them? Because they are ignorant, self-serving, self-righteous little pricks who deserve only the most gruesome deaths that the darkest parts of one's imagination can conjure."
Every single person in the room glared daggers at Keel, who actually seemed amused. Captain Katsuragi looked like she was going for her side-arm. He snickered loudly enough for everybody to hear him. He concluded his little speech by saying, "Doctors Gannon and Carmine have never been a part of my 'dirty dealings', if you want to call them that. I have strove to make sure they never found out about them. They would never have even considered working for me for one second if they had found out. For all I know, though, they've been gathering evidence against me. I hold them in no ill regard, but we have work to do. How about we deal with the killer aliens trying to wipe our species off the cosmic map and we can have it out afterward? Everybody good with that? Good. Now get Pilot Ikari and Dr. Gannon back here and back to work."
Keel's tone dared anyone to speak out. When no one did, Keel smiled like he just won the lottery, turned on his heal, and strode out the door. The Deputy-Commander piped up and said, "Well, that was one of the more exciting staff meetings I've ever been through". Everyone gathered whipped their heads around and stared at the Deputy-Commander like he had grown about a dozen extra heads. He felt not the slightest bit awkward at the many eyes staring at him.
"Criminal or not, Chairman Keel has made several valid points. Firstly, We have to put all of this in-fighting aside and focus on getting the job done. Secondly, just because we have dealt with one Angel, doesn't mean that our job is anywhere close to done. Let's deal with the monsters against us without before we deal with the ones from within".
As the Deputy-Commander took a breath, Dr. Gannon's voice rose from Keel's cell phone again.
"Good friends, whatever Keel is up to, at least for the moment, it does not seem to be in conflict with Nerv's standing orders of destroying ET's nasty kin. Let's make good on the wiggle room and let's go a-huntin'!"
Nerv's Supreme Commander stood to his feet and address the assembled staff.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have lost a valuled member of our staff, an integral member of this team. We have lost two more because of rash decisions and a lack of information. I, Myself, have made snap judgments due to a personal rivalry with Chairman Lorenz Keel. I won't bother you with details, but this conflict began years ago, before Second Impact. We need every single resource we can get our hands on to combat this threat. Dr. Gannon? Can you here me?"
"Aye, Commander Ikari, I can".
"As of this moment, every charge against you and Pilot Ikari has been dropped. Your recent conduct will not be held against you in the immediate future or further down the road. Pilot Ikari did his job and we rewarded that hard work with mistrust and outright betrayal. Please forgive us. Come back to headquarters and lets get back to work".
There was quiet for a moment before a new voice came over the line. It sounded like that of a deep-voice young man, but even with the deepening of the timbre of his voice, everyone recognized Shinji Ikari soft-spoken words.
"Hi everybody. I'm sorry for making you worry, but you won't believe the changes the Dr. Gannon and I have been through. I had no idea Chairman Keel had done anything remotely like what he did to Dr. Akagi, but I always had this creepy feeling in my stomach whenever he was upset with someone. I got super-smarts just like Dr. Gannon but I couldn't see what Chairman Keel was doing. Some smart guy I turned out to be".
The Commander address Shinji directly. "Pilot Ikari? You have nothing to apologize for. Keel has done these terrible things, but like he himself said, we need to focus on defeating our great enemy and rebuilding our world. We can deal with him later. Please, return to base so that we can finish this whole tragic mess and be done with it as soon as possible. We", the Commander paused at this, "will work this out later. Come on home...Son", trying an unusually personal tact.
Shinji could be heard humming in thought, but he soon responded to the Commander's appeal, "Yes, sir...Father". The Commander actually smiled softly at that, and he then addressed his gathered staff, "Well, its about time we all get back to work. Before we do, though, Lt. Aoba?" Commander Ikari now addressed the long haired lieutenant, "Could you please make sure Lt. Ibuki doesn't do something she's going to regret...or provoke Chairman Keel into bothering her?"
"Yes, Sir, I am on it!" Lt. Aoba quickly left his chair and the briefing room, trying to pick up the angry Lt. Ibuki's trail. Lt. Hyuga was asked to try to handle things on the bridge until his comrade returned. While he seemed apprehensive, he still agreed quickly. The Commander dismissed everybody else, but not before asking Captain Kasturagi to personally oversee Pilot Ikari and Dr. Gannon's pick-up. She enthusiastically agreed and raced out the door. Dr. Carmine stayed behind and decided to talk with The Commander a moment.
"Hey, Commander Ikari?"
"Yes, Dr. Carmine? Is there something I can help you with? Something you wish to add? From what I've heard about you, you seemed far too quiet during the meeting".
"Well, Sir, there was something that both Keel and Emil, I mean Dr. Gannon, left out in regards to what happened in Las Vegas".
"Dr. Carmine, I appreciate your desire to be provide complete information, but it can wait until Pilot Ikari and your colleague return to base", the Commander replied honestly.
"That's very kind of you, Sir, but trust me, I'm not sayin' this to be snarky, but when you hear what Shinji has to say, your gonna wish I had just gotten it out of tha' way".
The Commander made an 'okay, just get on with it' face and gestured with his hands to indicate that Dr. Carmine could go ahead. The tall American scientist tilted his head back and took a deep breath before he began his story.
"Before I get into details about what happened in 'Vegas, I'd like to explain how we made you-know-what. Its actually a big part of what happened in 'Vegas, and everything afterward". Carmine looked from the Commander to the Deputy Commander. Both men nodded in agreement, and Carmine continued on in an almost reverential whisper.
"The stuff we made a zillion-to-one cosmic fluke, is what it was". Carmine walked over to the conference table and grabbed a large duffel bag by his chair and sat down on the table, gesturing over his small audience. He pulled out several large vials of varying-colored liquid, a laptop, and what looked like a rather thick notebook. He opened the laptop and booted it up, and while that was going on, he gestured to each of the transparent vials. He gestured to the one filled with a bright violet liquid first.
"You see, I used to be in the army, a former US Army Ranger to be precise, and saw so many good fellas die because we got over-run and out-gunned, I put my brains toward making not better weapons but better soldiers" Carmine began, picking up the first vial so the other two men could see it. Dr. Carmine began again.
"I did alot of awful stuff as a Ranger, some of it would'a got me shot on the spot if people found out, but that's neither here nor there. Because of the awful stuff, I left combat service and got into applied sciences and, after much hard work, created a nano-machine based combat enhancer. Basically, swarms of little robots swim through your blood stream, mass-producing themselves and when they reach critical mass, they begin entering living cells, altering DNA. In particular, they enter the part of the brain that governs the body's ability to repair itself and hack the shit out of it. Organ structure, DNA coding, your entire physiology is completely redesigned from the ground up, granting the person borderline super-biological abilities. This", He gestured to the vial, "is ingredient number three".
Gendo Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki stared bug-eyed at the American scientist when they realized what a bombshell of a clue he just dropped. DNA from the First and Second Angel had accidentally been combined in the same test chamber which was being used to test Dr. Gannon's experiemntal but very promising energy dampening technology, as they had been briefed by Chairman Keel. The two Nerv commanders now realized there was much more to Transcendence Material that Keel had ever meant to let on.
Dr. Carmine lifted another vial to eyeline, which gave of a soft glow and began again. "This is one is Emil's energy stimulants. Version nine, to be precise, and the version that was snuck into the test chamber along with a sample of my combat enhancer. All this mixed together creating such a reaction that the lab would have been blown off the map if not for three things going so very right: first, Emil's gear worked like a dream, but even so it couldn't block all that power, but we found a way to channel that same power into special mega-capacity batteries, which was thing number two, but what really saved our bacon was the fact that both unique DNA samples had been altered by my combat enhancer. The enhancer became apart of both, and found a way to safely combine both by making slight but significant alterations which made the two separate DNA samples react like they were two halves to a single whole. What resulted, even after all that other stuff went right, was something so perfectly dangerous that the word 'dangerous' doesn't even begin to describe".
Gendo Ikari listened with rapt attention while Kozo Fuyutsuki looked like he was ready to bolt. The power of the First Angel combined with the power of the Second Angel, into a form that was not only stable, it was safe for people to be around made for such promise that Commader Ikari couldn't help but smile. Carmine caught the grin and continued, "We had no idea there was a Second Angel, but it makes alot of sense one way. If there's one a' somethin', there's gonna be more. But now the power of two of the biggest dogs in the cosmic yard got mixed up into a brew that generates a form of energy that actually throws aging in reverse, it transforms a person into something right out'a comic books and Saturday morning cartoons, and everybody it changes looks like a dream come true. There's something no one bothers to consider though; what would happen if you inject this stuff directly into a lvin' organism? The radiation it generates can do wonders, but introducing the stuff directly into a living thing is a string of horrors".
Gendo Ikari leaned back into his chair as he listened, well away that Carmine had caught his earlier grin, and was giving this thorough explanations as a means of hoping to scare some sense into him. While he still had some very unique ideas in mind for the so-called 'Transcendence Material', he decided to keep a somber face as to make the American believe he had gotten the message.
"Let me make myself very clear here, chief: This stuff turns people into literal monsters. They cease to be human. They change. Imagine a dear friend sprouting extra arms, horns, wings, deforming into some blob of mismashed body parts thats always in pain. The poor bastards loose any sense of self, go pure instinct. Just imagine the power of an Angel given to a mindless animal. Scary, yeah? Scary doeasn't even start to cover it! For whatever reason, Shinji and Emil never lost their sense of self, but if they lose their temper..."
"They change", Kozo Fuyutsuki whispered as it hit home what they were truly dealing with. He put his fist against his mouth, whether as a contemplative gesture of to stifle his gag reflex only he knew. He took up the conversation in a chilled whisper. The other two men had to struggle to hear.
"Christ Almighty, its not just two kinds of Angel DNA mixed into this devil brew that makes it so dangerous. The energy stimulant allows a person to operate far longer than any regular human, the Angel DNA gives the person extraordinary powers, and the combat enhancer takes all of that and elevates it to a whole other level! God Dammit! Why didn't you just destroy this stuff?! And how did Shinji and Dr. Gannon have it injected?! I blame Keel right off the bat!"
The normally sedate Deputy-Commander rounded on Dr. Carmine so fast, he and Commander Ikari jumped a bit, but Dr. Carmine recovered fast and answered in a straight forward way.
"We never destroyed it because Chairman Keel ordered it preserved"
"Oh, of course he did!", the deputy-commander snarled.
"That is enough, Fuyutsuki!" Commander Ikari admonished.
"To answer your second question, it was almost two whole years before we got out of Las Vegas. The armt had put the whole city under quarantine. We were stuck with mutant monsters breathin' down our neck for all that time. Shinji was scared to death, but he put on a brave face for all of us. Keel seemed to be enjoying himself immensely, and me and Emil were trying to figure out an escape plan. What happened was that the Army was plannin' on nukin' the place, but they put out an emergency evac order to anybody still human to get the Hell out. There would be several evac points, one of which was a children's hospital. Along the way, some sonovabitch with a dart gun got Shinji and Emil with you-know-what. We had just reached the hospital, when Shinji and Emil started to manifest abilites, but no transformations...yet. Well, Shinji had such an outburst of power, he leveled the enire building. All four of us were in the basement. We didn't have to dig ourselves out because there wasn't rubble through which to dig".
Both of Nerv's senior officers stared in shock at the American, never truly grasping how powerful, or dangerous, Transcendence Material really was.
"Shinji vaporized everything overhead. We still managed to get picked up, all of five minutes before the nuke did its business. The damn chopper almost crashed from the blast wave, but thankfully it had heavy EMP shielding and a damn good pilot. I have absolutely no doubt that Keel was somehow involved. I also have no doubt who else was involved; if I ever get My hands on Amanda Krane, she's gonna die slow!"
There was silence for a moment, before Commander Ikari spoke up.
"Just one more question for you Dr. Carmine, if I may, since your in such a forth-coming mood?"
"Shoot".
Gendo Ikari smirked at his choice of words, asking "Why is it then, that Pilot Ikari and Your colleague, Dr. Gannon have any measure of control at all?"
"Oh, that's an easy one to answer, Hoss. We all got exposed to Transcendence Material radiation; Keel, me, and Emil got zapped during the accident that led to its creation, which makes sense, but then of course your asking yourself how did Shinji get zapped. Even easier to answer, I'm sad to say".
Dr. Carmine stopped for a moment, as though to make sure he had hissmall audiences atention, or he was bracing himself as he was about to relay some very personal – and damning – information. It was both, in fact.
"I'm the guy who zapped him".
Author's Notes: Well folks, that was alot longer in coming than I had originally intended. Please forgive me! I have two jobs now, so I'm screwed both ways (Please no raunchy one-liners...its bad enough I use them!). Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed reading this chapter as I have writing it for you! See you next time in "Revelations, Revolutions, and Retards Galore!"