Warframe You Can NOT Absolve

ESKK: Here is Chapter 10 people wow never thought I'd make it to the 10th Chapter and yet here we are. Now let's get started.

(Start SEELE Facility Location Unknown)

In a hidden SEELE facility work was being done on the creation of a new EVA. SEELE was pushing as much effort as possible to see this EVA made as they currently have the biological aspect of it cloned and were thus attaching the armor to it. On one of the hands a young man was seen sitting with a calm look as he smiled a bit. Normally this would not be the cause of concern save for a few things that defied logic. It was the fact that he was outside in only a pair of pants and had no protection from the harsh realities of space.

He sat there and looked upon his right hand and from his own palms Void Power came forth. He smiled sadly to it knowing what it cost to acquire this power. "I thank you Rell." He said with a sad smile on his face. "I promise with this power I will create a world where he may finally be happy." He said while changing his direction to the endless sea of stars. "What a strange world I find myself in, what would you think of it... Shinji-kun." He said with his crimson eyes looking to the stars as his pale white skin reflected the light off of him.

Near the EVA on a platform was a Warframe a red and black one with gold outlines, the Warframe known as Harrow Prime. It like several other bits of equipment were a gift from Rell. "Rest easy Rell your job is done forever more." The Young man said and in turn he jumped down and with Transference entered Harrow Prime.

He took his leave but then stopped for a moment. "I know why your here phantom of the Void and I don't intend to interfere with your... amusement." He said to no one in particular. "All I ask is that you leave Shinji Ikari be." He said before leaving and in doing so passed by the Man in the Wall taking his form.

"Sorry Angel... but Shura still owes me." He said before making a big grin. "And the Devil always comes to collect." He said and in turn vanished to see if Shura was up for being messed with.

(Meanwhile with the Girl)

The mysterious young woman was standing in a room admiring a picture that was stored with several other treasures of the Orokin Empire. This one seemed different as she admired it almost reverently. "Don't worry mother I'll keep my promise... I'll bring you to a world where you can truly be happy." She said as her goal was to make her mother happy whoever said mother was. She in turn began to walk off leaving the room. "Just wait a little longer." She added and thus she was gone.

(Scene Break Geofront Earth)

In the chamber for performing Synchronization tests Shura, Asuna, Reiko, Asuka, and Rei were gathered as Shura gave Ritsuko a confused looked. "You want me to Synch with the EVA?" Shura asked showing that he had several concerns about this.

"Yes, Shura as you constantly reminded us, the EVA seems to be fighting you during Transference its massive size may be the only reason it hasn't pulled an Umbra on you." Ritsuko said being told how hard Shura had to fight to get Umbra to cooperate with him. Umbra would have glared at Ritsuko but even he knew that he put Shura through the ringer to get him to cooperate. "I want to see if Synchronization provides the same problems for you as before." Ritsuko said and thus Shura had a few objections.

"This seems risky, one wrong move and we got a berserk EVA on our hands." Shura said making his concerns known which Ritsuko fully understood.

"Just sit in there and think." Ritsuko said and thus Shura figured they had no choice. Thus, Shura proceeded to perform the task the good doctor gave him for the EVA.

Meanwhile Misato simply shuddered as those words rung a chord in her. "You know, Ritsuko… we said the same thing to Shinji in his first battle." Misato said as Ritsuko looked to the Major. "Maybe we should be more concerned about tempting fate here." Misato added not wanting Shura to go through the same Hell as Shinji had gone through.

"Misato… your growing attached to the boy." Ritsuko said as she got worried for her friend. "You're starting to project Shinji onto him." Ritsuko said which she knew for a fact was not a healthy thing for her to do.

"I'm not… it just feels like this whole damn Universe puts so much of our troubles on the kids." Misato said knowing full well of the Zariman, the Old War, and the New War as well as everything that had happened in-between all of it.

"The Tenno are soldiers at the end of the day, Misato." Ritsuko said before going on. "We need all the resources we can get to beat the Angels and SEELE in the scavenger hunt for both Adam and Lilith." Ritsuko said making it clear that these kids need to keep being soldiers for them.

"Ritsuko… you haven't really learned your lesson… have you." Misato said with a sad tone as the tone Ritsuko used and what she said was a reminder that Ritsuko still saw the Tenno and Pilots as tools and spare parts.

(Later)

Everyone was viewing from the viewing box as Ritsuko oversaw the test. A few Tenno Operatives were also there to help build up the lack of an actual operation crew but Ritsuko being the expert had to monitor and aid all of them. "So, you think we might have a Unit-00 incident again?" Misato asked as Ritsuko monitored the test.

"It's a high probability." Ritsuko confirmed much to Misato's shock.

"Wait your sending him into a death trap?!" Misato asked shocked to hear this.

"He's a Tenno and more so I installed safety measures into the Plug if the EVA goes berserk or acts out the plug will immediately eject with Shura inside." Ritsuko said but Misato had one other concern about this.

"But what happens when that fails?" Misato asked and thus Ritsuko opted for silence in response to this question.

"Beginning the test." Ritsuko said and thus the test for the EVA began. Thus, the Entry Plug was inserted into the socket on the EVA neck and with it the Synch Test began.

Shura began his part with trying to synch with the EVA and while Magi handled most of it, they needed to be sure. It started off well enough all was good and calm for a time, but as the saying goes the calm always comes before the storm. In response Unit-01's eyes flashed to life and then came the chaos of it all.

Alarms blared as everyone was wide eyed to this. "What's going on?!" Asuna asked as Rei knew this well enough having had a firsthand experience with it.

"No not again." Ritsuko said as she saw it the Synchro graphs were inverting on themselves psychological contamination was all but imminent. The EVA in response roared out with its jaw snapping open before it tore its way out of the restraints on its arms. Once it was free the EVA roared and grabbed its head seemingly in pain.

"Ritsuko the eject?!" Misato cried out looking to Ritsuko.

"Shit not now its jammed!" Ritsuko cursed as she saw the EVA was rejecting Shura heavily.

"SHURA!" Misato cried out as for a moment she saw Shinji in this position instead.

In the chamber Unit-01 began reaching towards its back where the entry plug was located as it tried to get the Plug out. It tore off the cover and in turn they saw where it was jammed because Unit-01 removed it. The Plug launched outward and from there it crashed against the wall thankfully it avoided being shattered on the spot.

The EVA slammed its head against the wall as it tried to get through. But the roar while furious and bestial sounded sadder it sounded like it was crying. The window shattered and from there Umbra came down and went for the Plug. With a fully active S2 Organ Unit-01 was not going to run out of power anytime soon. Once Umbra made it to the plug he got to the manual lever and twisted it enduring the heat from it.

Once it was open Umbra got inside and yanked Shura out if it before the EVA crushed the plug underfoot. Once Umbra got Shura out it glared at the EVA trying to plan out his escape with Shura. "Umbra wait!" Shura called out and knew how to calm down the EVA. Despite the pain Shura was in he had to use Transference to calm the Beast down. Thus, reaching out with his hand Shura focused and in mere moments Transference was performed causing the EVA's eyes to widen from the sudden invasion of the Tenno.

(Inside Unit-01's mindscape)

Shura found himself in that place again inside Unit-01's subconscious. But now it was different at first it appeared to be an empty voice but not long after it took form around him. Soon enough he found himself in some sort of padded cell and in the corner, he could hear weeping. Shura looked to it and saw the woman from his last vision here.

"Yui Ikari?" Shura whispered to himself seeing the woman curled up in a fetal position grabbing her head while crying. She looked so vulnerable as she tried to make herself seem smaller and insignificant. Her guilt and isolation had done a horrible thing upon her, and Shura was not sure she would ever recover fully from it. While her guilt was also deserved at least she was human enough to feel regret of this level.

Shura entered the room and walked over to Yui hoping to do as he did for Umbra to take away her pain. But it seemed Yui had other ideas as she then reached out with her arm and swung. "Leave me ALONE!" She yelled and thus Shura cried out as he was launched out of the EVA curtesy of Yui.

(Waking World)

Shura's eyes snapped open and from there he found himself in a hospital bed. Shooting up Shura found himself alone for a moment and wearing a gown to cover himself with. Taking a moment Shura leaned back onto the bed and looked up at the ceiling. Shura then felt a presence before sighing to it and looked to see his own face staring back at him.

"Hey Kiddo." The Man in the Wall spoke as Shura glared at the Eldritch entity. Shura was not in the mood for the beings' antics and thus had opted to simply ignore him until he goes away.

Just then the door opened, and Rei walked in giving Shura a odd look. "Hello Rei." Shura said to which Rei nodded to Shura.

"Operator Shura." Rei greeted and thus she stood there for a moment. "I am… glad to see you are well." Rei said remembering her words before the battle with Ramiel. "I… never got to apologize for the words I had used before." Rei said which Shura looked over to the Albino girl. "I was not aware of how offensive they were." Rei said and in turn Shura just sighed knowing exactly what Rei was talking about.

"It's fine." Shura said assuring Rei she was ok. "Just… be careful what you say, a lot of us have some… baggage with some of those words." Shura said referring to what Rei had called him and Reiko previously.

"I will make certain to observe what I say next time less I offend you again." Rei said and in turn Shura chuckled to this.

"Jeez you and Reiko are alike in some ways but talking like this, I'm reminded that you two are still different." Shura said with a small smile on his face.

"I will inform Coordinator Lotus, Major Katsuragi, and Dr. Akagi that you have awoken." Rei said and in turn she proceeded to take her leave of the area to let Shura rest a bit more. Once Shura was left alone, he directed his attention back up to the ceiling.

"Really hope this will be my last visit here." Shura said as he'd rather not make it a habit to be sent to the doctor's office.

(Scene Break Meeting Room)

Misato, Ritsuko, and Lotus were in a meeting discussing what had just happened. "So, the attempt to Synch Shura up with Unit-01 was a failure?" Lotus said not happy that one of her Tenno was put in danger to test Ritsuko's theories.

"The event was unanticipated but not unlikely." Ritsuko said keeping a neutral tone in all of this. "The EVA might still be linked up to Shinji Ikari and won't accept anyone else but him." Ritsuko theorized as she knew how temperamental Unit-01 could be.

"So, Ms. Ikari want's her child." Lotus said as she thought it over for a moment.

"It would explain why Shura always felt like the EVA was fighting him during Transference." Ritsuko said and thus Lotus considered what she had learned from this incident.

"So, Shura is going to have to rely on Transference for the foreseeable future." Misato said seeing where this topic was going.

"It would appear to be the case, so we just need to be careful with how we approach Unit-01 for the time being." Ritsuko said and thus they agreed on this approach. "But it still leaves us with one other problem, the Angels." Ritsuko said and in turn pulled up the data of the Angels that attacked thus far and the ones who attacked in the first Angel War. "Sachiel, Shamshel, and Ramiel these three attacked as expected." Ritsuko began before moving on to the next Angel. "Gaghiel should have attacked next, but it didn't." Ritsuko said showing the Angel that should have showed up. "Instead, we got this thing designating it as Clockiel." Ritsuko said showing the Angel that Asuka and Asuna both took down.

"So, either something is very wrong, or the Angels are getting smarter." Misato said as the Lotus looked it over.

"Or a third factor the X variable." Lotus spoke up observing the Angel noting how it reminded her of the Sentient. "Adam location is still a mystery as is that of Lilith and if the Angels are attacking different planets... maybe they too were scattered." Lotus said and thus brought up where the X Variable was. "So, the Angels were forced to adapt or perish and by the looks of it Gaghiel didn't make the cut." Lotus said and in turn it made sense.

"Mars is a fricking oven, Venus is a freezer, and don't even get me started on Ceres." Misato said listing off the planets and seeing where the Lotus was going with this. "Charles Darwin Law of Evolution if I've ever seen it." Misato said scratching her head a bit on this seeing the pattern here.

"We even seen it in use at Mt. Asama." Ritsuko added remembering that Angel that managed to survive molten magma during its embryotic stage of development before it eventually emerged.

"If they're adapting, we need to tread carefully, we can't rely on the preliminary data so rigorously." Lotus said making it clear that they needed to tread carefully from now on.

(Meanwhile with Shura)

After escaping the Hospital Room Shura was back in his regular attire as he looked to his hand. The Bleeding Effect from the EVA wasn't posing a problem to him at the moment, but the danger still lurked. Clearly the EVA was more like Umbra then he thought, and Shura knew it. Umbra for his part had a sort of empathy for Yui he understood her pain on a personal level. It was why he worked with Shura in taming it if only to take the pain away. Unit-01 had to go back for repairs and which were pretty light in comparison to normal.

From what Shura understood after he used Transference and blacked out the EVA calmed down before it fell over and left a dent against the test chamber walls. Not one of his proudest moments but it got the job done in the end, so he won't complain about it. Still with all of these new variables Shura knew that something would have to give at some point, but he was not entirely sure as to how.

"Tenno." Lotus was heard via the communication links.

"Shura here, what's up Lotus?" Shura asked wondering what Lotus needed from him.

"We've managed to track down Varzia's location I've already sent another Tenno there to meet with you, but you must hurry." Lotus said and in turn Shura nodded.

"Understood." Shura said and in turn got ready to take his leave. "Let's go, Umbra." Shura said and with a nod the pair got moving to a spot for Ordis to pick them up with the Landing Craft.

(Meanwhile over with Asuka)

With Asuka sitting in her own room as she sat in a chair while having a music note screen that was blank that she gotten from Cephalon Suda, and a violin in her hand as she started to play a song from it, slow at first before it started to pick up a bit.

-insert: Pachelbel Canon In D Violin-

The music was slow and smooth, showing she has been practicing for a while now by some of the hair strings on her bow were broken and messy like knotted hair, but she keep playing.

She was putting feeling into her playing, no doubt with how she is feeling, as she didn't know how to express them out to others but playing the violin. But she kept herself away from other people tuck in her room as she seem to playing her heart out the sadness and loneliness she was feeling. The frustration, and anger all came out from her violin, strum and then flicker at the strings of it before playing it on her bow.

Soon she came to an end of playing as she finish the music note as it seem to be writing down the music notes she was playing as Suda voice came forth and said, "Thank you Asuka, with this I can add it to my ever-growing archives of music of the 21st century."

"Not a problem, enjoy," Asuka said as she close down the hologram. Just then a clap of hands could be heard as ASuka turn to see Asuna standing at her door in her casual gear, as it seem she was listening on her playing as Asuna said, "Not bad princess, not bad at all."

"What are you doing here?" Asuka said in her normal tone of voice she uses when she was angry or upset at something or someone before Asuna said, "Don't worry, I'm not here to make fun of you, I just heard the music playing and came to see who it was, and it just led me to you."

Asuna entered the room proper as she took a seat at the table while noting the glare Asuka was giving her. Remembering her promise to try and lighten up on Asuka Asuna proceeded to do just that. "Your pretty good with… whatever that is." Asuna said as she had never seen an instrument like that before. It reminded her of a Shawzin which she was familiar with through Shura when he played.

"It's a violin, I had Ordis construct it for me, and try to learn how to play myself." Asuka said before pausing for a second. "I guess it's more like I'm relearning seeing as I took Violin lesson before when I was small before I stopped," Asuka said as Asuna soon asked, "What made you stop in the first place?"

"The angel wars of course, I had to focus on my skills as an EVA pilot... kind of funny on how much I miss playing it," Asuka said with Asuna took a seat near Asuka and said, "Sound like it was more than that, and helping out Suda as well is interesting to see."

"Well, she wanted to know what music is like from where I'm from so I helped give her a taste of it." Asuka said as she began to explain her reasonings. "I figured it was the best way for me to express myself too," Asuka said but she had said that last part mostly to herself with Asuna still picked up on it as she just nodded and said, "You know something, you help reminded me of Shura back when he started to learn to play the Shawzin when we were on the Zariman Ten-Zero."

Asuna then smiled at the memories of that time as it soon turned into a sad smile. "Honestly, he was crap at first but got really into it and got better... before the whole thing went to hell on that ship."

"The Void Jump, right? The one that turn every adult on board into crazy insane animals." Asuka said as Asuna nodded as she said, "That's the one… it was also where Shura helped saved everyone, gathering the adults and kill them before they could kill us, my mother being among them…" Asuna trailed off as Asuka figured that was the case.

"You know I didn't want to do it at first, but it was either them or us, so I picked us…" Asuna confessed which shocked Asuka when Asuna said those words. "Problem is I just didn't realize how bad it would have gotten from then on…" Asuna said as she was being honest with herself here. "I don't know what scared me the most the fact my mother went crazy to try and kill me or being taken by the Orokin and tortured."

"Funny… after my mother did a sync test for the Unit-02, my life turned into a living hell, and I didn't even realize it at the time." Asuka said as she might as well get it off her chest. "See unlike Shinji's mom, my mother didn't get absorb into the EVA unit… well not all of her." Asuka began her own story on the day her mother died. "After the failed test it seemed she lost her mind, it was like something in her head got rewired wrong." Asuka said as she considered that day well enough where she was made an EVA pilot.

"It got worse as time went on she even took a doll I loved and call it by my name… she believe that doll was me," Asuka said as she started to tell about her past to her double as she went on saying, "then a week or so later I saw her again in her room at a Psychiatric hospital… standing on a stool with a noose around her neck that was hung up from the ceiling with my doll in hand saying that they are going to die together… then step off and killed herself right there and then... I didn't know what was happening or what to do… I was frozen in fear."

Asuka pause in what she was saying as she rub her head and said, "I had that memory bury away deep in my head I thought I forgotten it… until a damn angel made me remember, fucked with my mind it mind raped me…"

Asuka took a moment to regain herself t didn't touch me to cause me pain… it just shined a light on me and made me remember all of my past I just wanted to forget, but it keep playing it over and over again until lost it… I became broken, and wanted to die, but couldn't bring myself to do it… next thing I knew they put me into a damn coma, I couldn't move, I couldn't speak… I didn't know how long I laid there, but I could still hear things, feel things, a lot of things I didn't like."

She can remember hearing Shinji voice speaking out other, but she couldn't respond to the poor boys' pleas. Asuka had even felt him touch her for a moment trying to wake her up, saying he need her while trying to make her call him a stupid moron, an idiot, something. Looking back at it she had truly wish she could but couldn't, she couldn't do anything and that got him got upset. He had then pulled her towards him causing her hospital gown to come undone which Shinji went silent. But his silence had not for long before she heard him moaning a bit before she heard him say, "I'm fucked."

That what stuck in her mind the most… she could figure out what he did even with Instrumentality, and he was ashamed of it, the girl he loved just lay there helpless and he jerk off to her, and regret it... yeah he was an idiot, but for some reason she didn't mind it, She may have responded or something if she was awake but in her coma was something else for her that might have made her feel the desire attention she always wanted from Shinji. Or maybe she just really missed Shinji and she didn't care what he did to her… or the angel just made her go crazy with the drugs on top of that she wasn't thinking straight at all.

Asuka was bothered by this, not because of what Shinji did, or anything else, what bothered her was why didn't that moment bother her at all? She soon shook those thoughts out of her head, trying to find something that would change the subject, or something that could help her settle the thoughts in her head as she turn to Asuna and said, "Hey, Asuna."

"What's up?" Asuna said as she was a bit surprise that Asuka didn't call her an insult or anything like that with Asuka soon ask her, "With Shura… is he really everything to you, or what you want in a guy?"

"Where did this come from?" Asuna ask as she was Curious of where this was coming from as Asuka soon said to her, "Just answer the question damn it!"

"Okay-okay, no need to pop a blood vessel princess," Asuna said as she saw Asuka was acting as her normal self again as she soon said to her, "Is Shura everything to me…? I guess he is but is he what thought I want in a guy, hell no!"

That shocked Asuka to hear that as Asuna looked Asuka in the eye with her good one as she said, "At least not at first, as what I wanted in a guy at first was being mature, handsome and smart, so I tried to date this one guy who was like a little over twice my age, make him notice me, as I try smooth talking, dress up in what guy may like, even try to show how mature I was… until he just sat me down and told me that I wasn't his type and never sees me in that way, and it turns out the guy already had a partner… and I felt like an idiot after that."

Asuka felt like she was looking at herself when Asuna told her this, as Asuka soon said to her, "Funny… I felt the same way towards a guy I meet, named Kaji, he was a strong handsome man… but he never looked at me like that."

"I feel sorry for you then, and the guy," Asuna said in a teasing manner as that guy Asuka upset to hear, but before she could say anything, Asuna went on with her story as she said, "So anyways when I first saw shura, I thought he was a weak little man who didn't have the gut to talk to me… until he came up to me and ask to have lunch with him and his friends, and there wasn't even a hint of hesitation in his voice and somehow I said yes… and next thing I knew we were eating together with Reiko, Touza, Kaz, Houki, and this one other boy named Rell, he was an odd guy but somehow I got along with him, and after that I started to see Shura in a different way I never thought possible and next thing we both knew we…." She trail off after that leaving Asuka in suspense.

"What… what happen next?" Asuka asked with Asuna smile as she was about to answer until Rei comes in without knocking as she said, "Operator Asuna, Asuka."

"Hey, wonder girl, what do you need?" Asuna said as Rei held up a bag of what could be trash and ask them, "I was task of going room to room to collect any garbage and came here next."

"Get out of here first child! We're busy here!" Asuka said as Asuna soon said to her, "Actually Princess I need to get going, I was on my way to someplace else, nice talking with you though."

Asuka was in turn left in the room alone as the entire place began to feel larger and emptier than it was before. She looked to her hand for a moment before clenching it, but no fury could come forth. "Shinji..." She said in a quiet tone wondering where he was exactly.

(Scene Break Shura)

Shura was sitting in his Landing Craft utilizing Excalibur Umbra once more awaiting the arrival at his destination. "Tenno I've narrowed down the most likely location that Varzia is at, her signal is strongest there, but I suspect that you will be met with heavy opposition from her." Lotus said as she knew how difficult it was to face a Dax in battle. But the Lotus had more to say but she was not sure if Shura wanted to hear this. "My data suggests that Varzia's current location is the Evangelion crash site move in and intercept her." Lotus said finishing the parameters of Shura's mission. But then her tone began to change as she knew Shura was worried for Varzia. "Shura... Versia while has proven herself a loyal ally to the Tenno cause... she's still a Dax." Lotus began but Shure caught on to what she was saying.

"I know the Orokin biologically engineered them to be loyal to them." Shura began but Lotus cut him off.

"The Orokin and the Kuva." Lotus said making it clear that Shura needed to be careful going forward. "Shura it may be an Orokin survivor controlling her but on the off chance that it's not... just do what you must." The Lotus said her tone was one of sternness with a mix of understanding for the Tenno.

"I know." Shura said and thus he opened his eyes to look to see they had already reentered the atmosphere. "Beginning the mission." Shura announced and thus he was ready to go.

(Landing Sight)

Shura departed from the Landing Craft as the vessel dropped him off before taking off. Once Shura was in, he made sure the area was clear for a moment when he noticed something. Looking nearby he saw another Warframe was heard, a Saryn Prime with a Nikana Prime equipped and a Spira Prime on her hips. Shura noted that the Tenno had a Braton Prime equipped as she clearly came here for the mission.

"About time you got here, Cub." The Tenno Operating the Warframe greeted causing Shura to give her a glare for that.

"Mari... why am I not surprised." Shura said as he remembered Mari and how unpredictable she can be both before and after the Zariman incident that gave them their powers as Tenno.

"Well, the Lotus sent me to keep an eye on you and to help bring Varzia in." Mari said as she walked past Shura who then stepped back and glared at her. Shura was friendly enough with Mari, but her personality did not mesh well with Shura's all that much. "Besides considering what this place is there might be something from the EVA that was left behind as well." Mari added pointing a finger directly at Shura's head only for him to slap the hand away.

"Let's just go already." Shura said only to hear a familiar roar from their mission objecting. This caused him to sigh as he knew what was coming their way.

"Infested?" Mari asked with a knowing smile. She clearly knew what was waiting for them up ahead.

"Infested." Shura responded and thus this meant they had to fight their way through the Infested to get to their desired prize. "Come on let's go the sooner we find Varzia the better." Shura said as he hated dealing with the Infested. "Infested why did it have to be Infested?" He moaned a complaint seeing as the Infested were a major problem for him.

They entered the main pathway that led to the crater that Unit-01 made when it crashed and not long after they were met with Infested enemies. Shura and Mari went into combat as Shura began to open fire with the Corronith Prime shotgun while Mari charged in with her Katana at the ready. Mari began to elegantly slash through her enemies making quick work of them with her Nikana Prime. She even managed to stab one that came behind her without even turning to face it. Then with her free hand she threw several Spira Primes at her enemies nailing each of them in the heads or whatever passed as such for the Infested. They were easy enough to deal with on her own, but Shura was whole other level.

Shura was a hero of two wars the Old War with Excalibur Prime and the New War with Excalibur Umbra. He had been the bane to the Sentient and on the Zariman the one who united the orphan survivors with the hopes and desire of rescue. The Infested were nothing more than Orokin bioweapons gone horribly wrong to him. So, slicing through his foes Shura was able to move like a shadow with the grace and elegance only seen on a rare few Dax Soldiers. Once he made his way through the Infested hordes, he slowly yet elegantly sheathed his own Nikana the Skiajiti into its sheath until the guard and sheath met with a soft tap. The Infested Shura had sliced through fell apart dead and this time would stay dead.

"Heh show off." Mari scoffed a bit only for Shura to pull out a Viper Wraith sidearm and opened fire on several Infested foes coming at them. Once that was done Shura holstered the weapon again and continued his attack against the Infested making his way towards where Varsia's signal was originating from.

"So, any idea what has Varzia in a mood?" Mari asked as the two Tenno worked together to take out the Infested that stood in their way.

"She's being controlled by someone with Kuva." Shura said as he sliced an Ancient in two before grabbing a charger by its head and blasted it with his Corronith Prime.

"Kuva? I thought the Grineer Queens had the stockpile of the stuff, and even then, we have the Scepter which you gave to Reiko." Mari said as she took out her Braton Vandal and fired a volley into another Infested charger.

"I know what I saw and Varzia is being controlled by someone." Shura said and thus he jumped over Mari and took out an Ancient by slicing its head off before using his shotgun to blast apart another Infested.

"If you say so!" Mari said before using Molt to escape another Ancient that tried to lasso her. She then took it out with an entire cartridge of bullets. Once she reloaded the Infested fell down dead and thus a path was open for them.

"Let's go the sooner we move the sooner we can catch up." Shura said hoping to save Varzia as he refused to even consider she had gone traitor on them. In turn they got moving once more through the crater to find the missing their missing Dax Prime Supplier.

"If you don't mind me asking..., why do you think she's being controlled?" Mari asked as she looked to Shura with a look of curiosity.

"She hasn't reached out to us and is actively trying to keep us out of it." Shura said and he knew it was the same with Teshi which meant Varzia needed their help.

"Always trying to see the best in people." Mari said with a humorous sigh in her, voice.

"Only those who earned my trust." Shura said and thus Mari chuckled a bit.

"Yeah well... hey look!" Mari called out as they stopped and saw the familiar form of Varzia Dax in the shadows.

But Shura knew better as he took a closer look at her. "No... that's not Varzia, it's just another one of her Spector's." Shura said as he looked to the Spector in question.

"Damn she's trying to throw us off her scent." Mari said and thus the Spector took off in a run.

"Stop it we can use it to track down the real Varzia's location." Shura said and proceeded to chase after the runaway Spector.

"Way ahead of you." Mari responded and thus she joined Shura in the chase for the runaway Spector.

For the duo of Tenno cornering off the Spector was simple enough. After all it simply followed basic orders and protocols even without the owner to direct it in battle. So, after they got the Spector cornered the duo proceeded to get to work while also dealing with a few, stray Infested that got in the way of their mission. With a Slash Dash from Shura and a Toxic Lash from Mari the pair were able to subdue the Spector forcing it to its knees.

Shura then approached it and with his Parazon he proceeded to capture the Spector and watched how it vanished to be sent to his ship. Once the Spector was captured Shura looked at his hand before clenching his fist and swiping it to the side.

"Well done return to your ship I will alert you when I've decrypted this Spector's Control Signature." Lotus said as she saw the mission was a success.

"Understood." Shura said and in turn the two Tenno proceeded to take their leave of the area.

"So Kubrow Cub, what do you think Varzia was out here for anyway I doubt it was just to throw us off her scent." Mari said as they headed back to their Landing Crafts.

"I'm not sure… but we'll find out once we tracked her down." Shura said before looking to his hand for a moment. "But first we need to figure out what this Spector knows." Shura added and in turn Mari smiled to this.

"Of course." She said and thus they continued on their way to exit the area. All the while they took out any Infested that went against them. The Journy was not a long one as soon enough they arrived back to their Landing Crafts in one piece. Once they boarded the crafts, they took off so they can return to Lotus with their findings.

(Scene Break back with Asuka)

Asuka was currently in the bathroom preparing for a bath. As she stood there, she could not help but feel lost somehow. Staring at the tub Asuka could not help it as she felt something was missing. It was a feeling she could not explain even to herself for she did not know the full details of it. With these questions tossing and turning in her mind Asuka wanted to know what and how. She felt like she had done something somehow like a memory from a lucid dream. But no matter how hard she tried to recall it Asuka just could not remember the incident in question.

Why was her memories such a jumbled mess now why could she not recall the time after waking up on that beach? Asuka felt it there was this huge ass blank between the beach and waking up on Mars, but she couldn't remember. Why was it bothering her so much and why did it make her want to seek out Shinji so much more.

Ever since she had awoken her mind had been at odds with itself like something vital and important was missing from inside her. She didn't know how that was or what it was she just knew. Maybe it's the missing memories from after she woke up in the Post Third Impact World. Maybe it was something else but now that she had the time to talk to someone about her past… it opened up the door to the blanks.

Asuka remembered falling asleep next to Shinji at the end and then nothing. She wondered if she had died at that moment, her mind and body just couldn't handle it anymore and just completely shut down on her. Dying in her sleep seemed like a peaceful way to go. But that didn't seem right she knew she woke up but when and how did it send her forward in time or was it something else entirely. Asuka desperately wanted to know but at the same time a part of her was scared of what she might find out.

She then held her hand like she was holding a fruit and then bit down on it. This caused her to pause as she then stopped and looked at her hand. "W-what? Why did I do that?" Asuka asked as she thought it over… yes it was faint, but she did wake up and… ate a piece of fruit? What was so important about a piece of fruit that she acted like that. With a sigh Asuka decided it was best to leave it be and focus on the here and now. She stepped into the bath and with it allowed her body to relax so to recharge and rejuvenated her mind and body. Unaware to her others were starting to make their moves.

(Scene Break Unknown Location)

"So, the Tenno took the bait." The young girl said as she and the man from before stood before a portrait that only they were privy too.

"Indeed." The man said using a gruff tone. "It won't be long before the dreamers are upon us." He added as he looked to the painting.

"The Grineer Queens pulled a plan like this once I doubt the Tenno will fall for the same trick twice." She said not looking away from the image in the slightest.

"The Grineer Queens sought their bodies I seek their power." The man said plainly as their Void Power played a pivotal role in his Scenario.

"I see… don't you think your obsessing over your departed wife?" The girl asked taking a moment to look to the man in question. "She loved her son… I doubt she'll be welcoming to you after all that you've done." She added but the man then cut her off.

"She'll understand she'll see that I'm doing what's best for her." He said taking a brief moment of pause.

"And what if she doesn't?" She asked which caused the pause to shorten.

"If she doesn't will not be a problem, I'll make her understand she simply needs to listen." He said in a tone that sounded almost like that of Ballas and thus the girl smiled before chuckling.

"I'd avoid saying that in front of the Tenno it might cause them to lash out." She said before the man took his leave of the girl so she may admire the image on her own.

"I wonder mother… if you remember what you and Father did what you have both become in days of yore." She said moving her hand upon the portrait towards the image of a Horse with the armor of Evangelion Unit-01. The girl then stepped back and took her leave so she may prepare for the Tenno's arrival upon this base.

(TBC)

ESKK: Well, another Chapter is done. I had finished it earlier, but Fanfiction is down so sorry about that. But to those who follow me on Archive of Our Own hoped you enjoyed the illustrations. Now then be sure to leave a review and as I always say here, ja-ne.