Shinji trudged through the storm-ridden city, staring at the devastation supposedly wrought by him. Despite its cold rain and driving winds, the storm no longer bothered him. The last time he had seen this city, bathed in the ever-present golden light, it had been whole and complete, untouched by the ravages of war. The city had nearly been leveled, whole blocks reduced to ash while the ruins still smoldered in the rain. Lilith had told him the storm was because of him but had made no mention otherwise about the sorry state the city was in.
He could only surmise that it was his fault. After all, apart from the shadowy figures that still eluded him, he had never seen anyone else here. If this place was some sort of astral projection, they might be people in the real world. He had been able to affect this place, so it was not beyond reason he was responsible for the destruction.
How was he supposed to find his way home? Shinji frowned at the thought, looking at the bombed-out shell of Rosewaters, the fancy restaurant he had visited on those dates with Rei. It still burned the orange and red of the flames a brighter color than anything he had ever seen in the washed-out world. The last time he had been trapped here, Lilith sent him home to wake just in time to escape as he was being kidnapped.
Shinji stopped mid-stride through the broad avenue, going numb as realization hit him like a truck. He had killed those men...
Vier, Drei, Zwei, Eins!
"Don't do it, kid!" The agent cried out as Shinji's hand closed around the pistol and pulled it from the holster.
His eyes were wide as he stared at the man who was reaching for the gun. Shinji hesitated but was snapped out of it as the man's hand closed around his shoulder.
"NO!" Shinji screamed, thumb flicking the safety off as he squeezed the trigger. The agent shuddered as the rounds tore through him, and the pistol barked again and again, his blood pumping out of him. Shoving himself to the side, Shinji shot at the man in the passenger seat, who was twisting around, tranquilizer in hand. He slumped over as the next shot tore through his face. The last shots ripped through the driver's seat, and the driver screamed, throwing the car into a spin that took them off the road.
Covered in blood, Shinji jerked the door open and half crawled, half fell out of the sedan onto the grass below. Sucking in great breaths of fresh air, he vomited, spitting blood and bile out of his mouth.
Overhead, Asuka's voice shook the air as she asked how he was. Still collapsed on the ground, he waved an arm at her, tears and vomit pouring from him.
Sitting back, he watched the red giant throw the car at the two figures battling nearby. The Angel was a squat hulking thing, and Rei's Unit-00 a lithe dancer. Burning fuel and shrapnel showered them as Asuka began to rush back into the fray. The Angel screeched, the awful sound igniting some half-remembered urgent necessity in the boy.
Watching the three Titans battle it out, he sat up on one leg, resting his stump on the ground. He didn't know why but knew he had to get to Unit-01. Deep in his gut, he could feel a sense of terrible foreboding. A premonition of disaster.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Kaworu Nagisa hummed as he strolled through the abandoned halls of NERV-Central, making his way down toward Lilith's home. These halls did not show the destruction that had visited the surface world, this part of the interface being under the influence of Lilith, the Great Mother. She was content to wait until the end, holding true to her part of the bargain between her and SEELE. His time here in the interface was short, but he couldn't resist gloating at the captive Angel.
He found her walking restlessly through the empty Evangelion cages, tall and pale, her face locked behind the seven-eyed mask. She twisted as he entered the cavernous hall, her form shifting into the female Sub-Commander.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" she demanded, lifting her head high imperiously. "YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE."
"I go where I wish," he replied with an easy smile. "I am not bound to my physical form, unlike you. I can go where I wish in the interface."
"THIS PLACE IS NOT YOUR PLAYGROUND, LITTLE ONE," Lilith replied, changing into Gendo Ikari. "THIS IS MY REALM. YOU ARE ONLY A VISITOR HERE. I AM THE SOUL OF THIS WORLD. YOU ARE-"
"I am the one who will uphold the bargain. I am the one that will see SEELE's will fulfilled. I am the One-"
"YOU ARE MEDDLING." Gendo shifted, shrinking down into Rei, dressed in a white lab coat, goggles over her eyes. "I WILL UPHOLD MY END OF THE BARGAIN BUT NOT ALLOW YOU TO INTRUDE IN MY DOMAIN. THAT WAS PART OF THE BARGAIN."
Kaworu chuckled, his merry laugh echoing in the hall. "We both know you are quite powerless, even here. It must have been all you could do to send Shinji home again last time. Were that I had such power here, I would have brought him home with me." He sighed, running a hand through his tousled gray hair. "Stricken as you are, you have nothing. You are nothing. Even my sister has more power than you!" Shaking his head, the boy smiled as he continued to taunt the Mother of Mankind. "I wonder how you were able to fight ADAM at all. It makes me wonder what life in this world would have been like had He been its progenitor rather than some flabby, weak, powerless being."
Lilith stared at the man-made Angel as he continued to talk, shaking her head. No matter how she tried to explain it to her children, they continued to misunderstand the point. This was why she had finally agreed to their plans, misaimed though they were. Each part of her they defeated meant more of her power and self returning. Soon, once all of the parts of her that she had unleashed to fight the Other were returned, she could set everything to rights and correct the course of the planet's destiny.
"Love is the thread that binds us together and forms the tapestry that is our past and future, and soon we shall be free of the hurtful present. Together, we-"
The only part of the puzzle she had not figured out was the link between the Other and the boy who piloted the Shadow they called Unit-01, which they had created from her own flesh.
"-much more like you, but her pathos is weak, a sign of her inferior nature. She is ill-suited for the task of managing Third Impact, and her abilities are weak and underdeveloped. Her emotional depth is that of a rock, stunted and deformed. She expects to be the guide of destiny? The morning is quickly approaching that will see-"
Obviously, the chattering hybrid before her had no clue as to the truth of the matter. His arrogance in his misguided ignorance was grating. She grew weary of him and focused her thoughts on his form.
Lilith smiled as a shocked expression crossed the boy's face.
"What-" he gasped, clutching at his head, knees buckling and sending him to the floor.
There was a flash of almost tangible darkness as Lilith banished him with her AT-Field. Her power here was limited because she was impaled by her own weapon in the physical world, but that did not mean she was powerless.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Rei watched dispassionately as the drone screamed inside the tube, eyes filled with madness and panic. Kaji watched, horrified but interested, from his gurney. This was the fiftieth clone to be selected for experimentation; this time, the transfer had taken hold.
"Agent Kaji, if you do not calm down, I will not be able to release you from the tube," Rei spoke into the microphone. She paused, watching the drone clutching its hair as it thrashed around in the LCL. "This is unnecessary." Looking down at the computer terminal and watching the drone's vital signs momentarily, she turned to look at the original Kaji. "You are being unreasonable."
"Hey, don't put this on me!" Kaji said, scowling at her. "It's probably a traumatic experience, being put into a soulless body."
"I have not experienced any trauma from the process." She replied, her mouth twisting into a frown. "I also have never experienced any trauma during the upload procedure either." Leaning back towards the microphone, "Agent Kaji, if you do not cooperate, I will terminate you."
The drone gave no sign of hearing her, continuing to scream and thrash wildly.
Rei typed a short command into the terminal, and the tube pulsed with energy. The drone stiffened and then ceased all activity as the vital signs all flat-lined.
"So what's next then?" Kaji asked, his voice slightly caustic, at odds with his usual cajoling attitude.
Rei glanced at her captive, typing the command to drain the tube. "Autopsy."
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Asuka watched the technicians and maintenance crews installing components into her Unit-02. Most of the new parts would increase performance, but others were a unique selection of parts that would allow her limited contact experiment to occur. Four key components would enable her to bypass the other safeties and limiting systems. She could engage in her modified version of her mother's last work and hopefully get some real answers.
Of course, she couldn't just start up Unit-02 and run the experiment whenever she wanted -not anymore. These days, they had the only two operational Evangelions on a tight leash, especially after Rei's work on constructing new weapons for them. She'd have to wait for a regular progression test, and they weren't due for one for another month. In the meantime, however, she would continue to pour over the logs and design schematics. If she found some sort of soul sitting in her Unit-02, then it would confirm some of her suspicions and, at the same time, invalidate a large part of everything she believed to be true.
If there was a soul there in her Unit-02, it did mean that Shinji was still alive, at least in a manner of speaking. If he was locked away in the core of Unit-01, then there was hope they could get him back.
She didn't know how they planned on doing that or how they would handle that he didn't have a body. But if he could be returned, brought back to life, pulled back from the abyss...
It would be good to see him again.
If there wasn't anything there waiting for her, though, they were still lying to them. What the point of it all was, Asuka couldn't tell. There didn't seem to be a point to many of the lies she had uncovered. Whatever the reasoning behind them, it still remained a mystery. Her phone began to vibrate in her pocket. Pulling it out, she frowned at the message. Misato wanted to have a meeting with the pilots.
Other than the continued work on cleaning up Tokyo-3, there wasn't anything planned for the future the pilots needed to worry about. Most of the training was being consumed by the cleanup operations, and they did not conduct any missions until the Angels arrived, so...
So either Misato was going to talk to them about Shinji, or there was something else afoot.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Misato looked up as the girls entered the conference room and put down her tablet. Sighing, she waved at them to sit down. Heavy bags hung under her eyes, and it looked to the girls that the woman was having problems sleeping. Watching them as they sat down, the older woman activated the primary display monitor, tapping through some documents on her hand-held computer.
"It's been three months since five forty-three last night, Misato." Asuka remarked, "Tell us something good."
"There's been no significant progress on the salvage operation." The Sub-Commander said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "They still have nothing to offer when we can expect results." She watched the two sit in stony silence and ran a hand through her hair before moving to a calendar. "But that's not why I wanted to meet with you two. I just thought you'd like to know. We're here today because your missions will be augmented by the autopilot system for the next few weeks. We installed them some time ago but never had the opportunity to conduct testing. We figure-"
"Since all we're doing is cleanup projects, why not test the systems?" Asuka interrupted, grinding out the sentence from clenched teeth. "Misato, we'll be bored out of our skulls! The autopilots still require us to be in the Evangelions! We'll be sitting there for hours on end, doing nothing!"
"Asuka," Misato started, rubbing her forehead, "I know it's not optimal, but-"
"Optimal? Misato, there's-"
"Enough!" the older woman shouted suddenly, slamming a fist on the table. "You'll be testing the systems. It needs to be done, and I don't want to cut back on our recovery operations in the Geo-Front or on the surface. You can use the time in the Entry Plugs however you want; I don't care. I don't care about listening to music or loading up some ebooks on the internal screens- whatever you want. We're testing the autopilot, and these simple but prolonged cleanup missions are perfect." Leveling a look that brooked no insubordination at her pilots, the Sub-Commander sent the calendar to their accounts. "I've added the mission rosters to your files so you can read the mission briefs and testing parameters beforehand. Any questions?"
"Understood," Rei answered, her voice as placid as her expression. Asuka rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in aggravation, twisting in her chair to stare at her wingman.
"Understood? Is that it? Jeez, Rei, tell us how you really feel. C'mon, are you just going to let them-"
"ASUKA!" Misato shouted, getting to her feet and losing her temper. "That is enough! Your attitude is getting old, and, quite frankly, it's beneath you! I didn't expect you to object to testing. It's not like this is the worst batch of tests you've ever done, anyway! What is your problem?"
"MY problem?" Asuka all but screeched, slamming her hands against the table as she stood up. "You only want to replace us with some autopilot, and you want us to help you get the data to do it! You want us to sit there, nice and compliant, and expect us to thank you for it. You want us all to dance to your tune, just like some puppet, just like the First Child here!" Spittle flew from the redhead's mouth as she pointed at Rei, who sat watching the exchange disinterestedly. "You want us all to be little dolls that do everything you want, no questions asked! Well, fuck you!"
"What the hell, Asuka!" Misato roared, her eyes flashing. "What do you think that you're doing? Do you think-"
"Oh, spare me your lectures, Misato." Asuka sneered, glaring at her superior. "It's true, just admit it! You all just want us to do as we're told, perfect dolls. Fuck that. Look where it got Shinji. All he ever wanted to do was make his fucking father happy, to have him be proud of him, and look at where it got him. Cut in fucking half, arms and legs ripped off. He's dead, and you won't tell us the truth! Can you even admit it to yourself?"
Misato slapped the angry teenager, a swift, sudden movement that surprised the girl.
"How dare you!" Misato hissed at the stunned girl. "I don't know where you got that idea, but he's not dead! He's just-"
"He was cut in half!" Asuka screamed back with new anger burning in her eyes, hands clenched into fists held slightly back, "CUT IN HALF! Even if we can get him out of the LCL, he will die!"
"You don't think we haven't thought about that?" Misato screamed back, holding back the tears in her eyes but failing to keep the pain from her words.
"Have you ever visited the shrine, Misato? I've never seen you there. I haven't even seen a scrap of paper with your name asking him to return. Some guardian you are! Some friend! Some older sister!"
"Enough!" Misato said, grabbing her tablet and heading for the door. "Testing starts at eight tomorrow morning. If you're not there, you can spend some time in solitary."
"Sure thing!" Asuka snarled at the retreating woman as the door shut behind her. "Way to back me up there, Rei," she said, turning to the still-sitting girl, who watched her passively.
"Orders are orders, Pilot-Captain."
"Fuck your orders. Why do you insist on being their doll, their little puppet?"
"I am not a doll, Pilot-Captain."
"Yes, you are!" Asuka snorted in derision. "Always going along with everything they say, going off and having private dinners with the Commander. What a joke. You're his little pet, his little doll. Marching along to their tune."
"I am not-"
"I thought you had something, you know." Asuka sneered at Rei, fists on her hips. "I thought you had some promise. You and Shinji were just starting to come out of your little shells. The three of us, a team! A unit! But you still just do whatever the Commander tells you to do, don't you?" Asuka glared at the younger girl.
"I follow the Commander's orders," Rei said, standing up. "We must all follow the Commander's orders."
"Did the Commander order you not to visit the shrine? Not to visit Unit-01? Because that's all that's left of Shinji Ikari in this world, and what does it say about him when neither his father nor his girlfriend don't even visit it?"
"He is not dead."
"He's dead!" Asuka screamed, jabbing a finger against Rei's sternum. "Even if he wasn't, he'd be missing half of his organs if he came back! We can't fix that! Nobody can! It's just you and me now, girl! If we don't work together, this world will burn! Wake up and smell the ashes, Rei! Shinji's dead, and we failed him!"
Rei recoiled, a brief look of shock crossing her features, but not brief enough to escape Asuka's notice.
"Yeah, that's right! We failed him, Rei. You, me, all of us! They sent him out to deal with something that neatly handed us our asses. What did we expect to happen? For him to just neatly clean up after us? You saw what it did! You know what it took to even slow it down!" Screaming now, half in German and half in Japanese, Asuka threw her hands up in the air. "Was he supposed to magically make it die? Sollte er etwa noch einen scheiß-unglaublichen Sieg aus seinem Arsch hervorzaubern? Another wonderful victory by the superb, infallible wonder boy." Snarling now, her voice raw with anger, she kicked her chair into the table. "Anstatt dessen verreckt er! He dies after giving every last breath in his body, every last scrap of effort in him to stop the end of the world. He's dead, and no one will admit the truth because his ego border collapsed, and what little was left vanished into the LCL. Open your eyes, Rei! He's dead. Er ist tot und er wird nicht wiederkommen."
Straightening back up, Rei shook her head. "He is not dead," she repeated, "so I will not mourn him. Don't you have faith in the works of the Commander? In the works of NERV? Shinji will be returned."
Asuka narrowed her eyes as she studied the other girl, her hot, barely controlled rage suddenly focusing like light through a lens. Something in the way the other girl acted, the way she held herself, the way she seemed so confident spawned a new doubt in the German girl's mind. "You know something. What is it?"
"I know many things, Pilot-Captain." Rei retorted, walking past the redhead towards the door. "Do not call me a doll again."
"Yeah. Sure." Asuka said, grinding her teeth. "See you later."
Asuka sat alone in the room and stared at the door for several minutes, eyes narrowed, her mind racing. It was obvious Rei knew something she wasn't letting on, which exceeded the girl's usual level of quiet obfuscation. That High Command continued to stand by their claims that Shinji was still alive, capable of being 'salvaged,' these she could put to being lies at worst or hopeless optimism at best.
Rei had never struck her as being overly optimistic- in fact, just the opposite. The girl was usually a refreshing source of realistic pessimism. If Rei had typically been prone to bouts of sentimentality, Asuka would have chalked up the girl's insistence on Shinji's continued existence as a grieving denial of the truth. There had to be something else she was missing, some little thing that Rei knew which she wasn't sharing.
It was either that, or Rei was off the deep end over Shinji's death, leaving Asuka as the only sane person still at NERV, without the support of her remaining fellow pilot.
Asuka was certain that while Rei might not be all there upstairs, the girl was no dummy. If she was confident Shinji was still alive, then she knew something contrary to all rational observation. Rising from her chair, Asuka left the room and headed for her lab. Very little went on in NERV or Tokyo-3 the MAGI did not know about or at least observed, and if the information was hidden away in their databanks, then she could find it. Even if it took her some time, even if it took another three months, she would get to the bottom of this new problem.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Shinji shivered as he stalked through the city, although he was not cold. He kept going over the scene in his mind, over and over again. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see the look on the man's face as he pulled the trigger, and he could taste the man's blood in his mouth.
Muttering to himself, he tried to rationalize the situation, telling himself there had been no time. There had been no other way, and he had needed to get to Unit-01. Whoever the men were, they had abducted him from the hospital and had killed a nurse and two other security agents to even get as far as they had.
Killing them hadn't been like killing the Angels. The Angels were a threat! They were here to destroy everything! They weren't people; they were just monsters! Alien beings that rampaged and destroyed. Beings that wanted to reach the Second Angel and initiate Third Impact.
The men who had kidnapped him had been a threat. They had tried to keep him from Unit-01, from fighting the Angel. Rei and Asuka could have died or could have been hurt really badly. He had almost not been there in time as it was. If he hadn't killed those men, it would have been too late for everyone.
Those men, whoever they had been, whomever they had been working for, had deserved to die.
They had deserved to die, and he had killed them. They made him kill them. What was he supposed to do, let them keep him from protecting the world? From protecting Rei? That was why he was at NERV, right? To save the world from Third Impact? How could he do that if some assholes had kidnapped him?
He couldn't. So he had to kill them. There was no choice.
Slowly, Shinji began to feel better.
He kept walking, looking at the war-torn city, his eyes picking out familiar landmarks, though he wasn't entirely used to finding them from ground level. Following along the debris-filled streets, Shinji stopped as he came to the intersection where he had first fought an angel, his breath catching in his lungs.
Stopping in the center of the road, he started with shock as the city melted from smoking ruins to a bright summer's day, the streets still empty, save for the towering Angel waiting at the far end of the road. The muted sounds of machinery filled the air, prompting the boy to spin around in time to see Unit-01 rise up from beneath the ground, tall and proud. A fearsome, towering behemoth in its own right, the purple titan took a step forward, then came toppling over, the tumultuous sound of the impact somehow managing to be moderately loud despite the muffled nature of the interface.
Shinji spun around again as loud, bellowing laughter filled the air. Gaping in shock, he watched the Angel laugh at the stricken Evangelion.
FOOLISH SHADOW OF MAN'S CONSTRUCTION!
Shinji clutched his head as the words seemed to appear in his mind, a deafening sound somehow not heard by his ears.
YOU CANNOT STAND BEFORE ME! THE TASK IS COMPLETE! THE OTHER IS NO MORE! I SHALL BECOME ONE WITH THE GREAT MOTHER AND BRING AN END TO THIS EXISTENCE! NONE SHALL STAND BETWEEN ME AND COMPLETION!
Shinji watched the two giants struggle, their combat tearing a path of destruction through the city. Following quickly, he watched himself fight, his unpreparedness and lack of training obvious to him now. Eventually, the fight ended, Unit-01's arm broken, and the Angel's hand wrapped around the Evangelion's face.
I AM THE CHILD OF THE MOTHER, ONE OF THE WATER AND BRINGER OF STORMS! THE LIGHT OF MY SOUL IS MIGHT AND POWER! IN THE FULLNESS OF THE YEARS, I HAVE RETURNED, STIRRED FROM ANCIENT SLUMBER. WHY DO YOU FIGHT? YOU ARE NOTHING COMPARED TO THE POWER GIVEN TO ME BY THE GREAT MOTHER!
The glowing spike shot through Unit-01's face, exiting out the back with a spray of gore.
Wincing and rubbing the back of his head as a sympathetic pain twinged in his skull, the boy watched, horror and interest playing across his face.
Dumping the body of its foe to the ground, the Angel turned and left.
Long seconds ticked past, each heartbeat seeming to be an eternity, as Shinji watched the blood and oil pour from the horrific wounds from Unit-01.
With a roar that rattled the city, the purple Evangelion surged to its feet, charging at the Angel.
As the fight came to its violent finish, the city changed again, melting and shifting, leaving Shinji on a wooded hillside, staring at the two giants, locked in struggle.
SEEK NOT TO BAR MY WAY, SHADOW OF MAN! WHY DO YOU FIGHT? YOU CANNOT HOPE TO PREVAIL! COMPLETION IS MY TASK AND HIGHEST GOAL! CREATED TO SERVE THE MOTHER AGAINST THE GREAT OTHER, I LEAD MY SIBLINGS IN BATTLE! I AM THE LEADER OF LEGIONS! THE LIGHT OF MY SOUL IS THE LIGHT OF THE SUN, AND YOU CANNOT EXTINGUISH IT!
The battle ended, the Angel collapsed, the knife buried in its core, as Unit-01's power let out, slumping downward.
The tremendous geometric monstrosity of the Fifth Angel floated over the city, the light of its energy weapon melting away at the mountain, where Shinji and Rei made their defiant stand against the strongest Angel they had come up against so far.
REJOICE WITH GREAT TREMBLING, SHADOWS OF MANKIND! THE TIME OF COMPLETION IS AT HAND! BEHOLD THE LIGHT OF MY SOUL, HOPE! I AM THE DESTROYER OF ENEMIES, FAVORED CHILD OF THE GREAT MOTHER! HEED MY MESSAGE!
A new light appeared from the mountain, burning a path back towards the Angel, fighting across the baleful energy beam to strike straight at the red core at the center of the ever-shifting prisms. A new thunder sounded across the landscape as fire poured from the killing wound.
The scene shifted again to the stormy shores of Tokyo-3. Tears welled up in Shinji's face as his hair was swept back by a wind he could not otherwise feel. This was not a day he liked to think about.
Stretched out far below him, Unit-00 lay in a heap as an Angel and Evangelion battled once again.
There was nothing but pure bestial instinct in Unit-01's movements, screaming an incoherent cry as it fought.
The many-toothed ichthyoid Angel shouted back, reprimanding the berserking giant.
STAND ASIDE, SHADOW! WHY DO YOU FIGHT? VICTORY SHALL NOT BE YOURS! ALL WILL BE UNIFIED WITH THE GREAT MOTHER, AND YOU CANNOT STOP THIS FROM COMING TO PASS! I AM THE ROARING BEAST! THE LIGHT OF MY-
The out-of-control Evangelion roared at the Angel as it mounted the final attack.
Tears running down his face, Shinji collapsed to the ground, sobbing. A twisting pain shot through his heart as he watched himself brutally destroy the Angel. Around him, the landscape changed again.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Asuka sat in the Entry Plug, watching the data stream on her virtual display as the technical crew in NERV Central remotely controlled her Unit-02. The information was a little interesting, although not very useful. She would need to carefully analyze the data to figure out how to block the remote overrides. It wouldn't do to let them use the system to lock her out while she was trying to conduct her own experiment later, after all.
So she waited patiently, if grudgingly, as the techs ran the two Evangelions through cleaning up another ruined section of the city. They were a little over three hours into the test, and everything seemed fine, at least for her Unit-02. The initial changeover to the remote pilot system had been weird. It felt like she had back when she and Rei were fighting the twin Angel, a strange sort of tandem unison like another person was looking over her shoulder.
Of course, the last time she had had someone looking over her shoulder here in the Entry Plug, things had not gone smoothly. Shinji, incapable of speaking German, let alone thinking in the language, had forced her to change the system to Japanese. While she had no problems thinking in a foreign tongue, it still wasn't her preferred choice. On top of the change in language sets, his presence kept screwing up her synchronization. For some reason, he synched up very easily with the Evangelions.
Sighing, she leaned back on the throne, closing her eyes. Soon, though, she would conduct her own experiment and hopefully shed some light on some things.
Calling up a mission clock, the redhead scowled at the visual display. Two more hours left, plus an intensive deactivation sequence, including an MRI and CAT scan, with a blood draw following. They wanted to carefully monitor them for any problems following the use of the autopilot system. Part of her was gratified at the attention to detail, but the imposition on her time still rankled.
Rei, of course, had been blandly accepting of the intrusion into their schedules, although the girl barely ventured forth from her room in their quarters near the cages. The girl was probably sitting in Unit-00, vacantly staring into space. It was weird how she could just drift off like that, still awake but entirely off in her own world. It was creepy.
"Was denken die sich alle bloß? Warum kann man sich in diesem Saustall nicht auf einen Einsigen Menschen verlassen? Wehrkraftzersetzer und dumme, folgsame Schäfchen hier so weit das Auge reicht!" Asuka muttered to herself as she called up the latest reports on Unit-01. More power surges were coming off the Evangelion during the last few days than the re-purposed umbilical cable setup could handle. Electricity had been arcing off the purple titan, jumping to the floor, the ceiling, the catwalks, everywhere. It was like watching a Van de Graaf generator. The technicians paused their work until specialized insulated gear could be made for them.
The ingested core had removed entirely the war machine's need for an external power source. According to the initial reports, it was a perfect organic S2 engine, everything the Nevada base had tried to mimic before they flashed out of existence during the disaster. If they could unlock the secrets of the red orb, NERV could further revolutionize the Evangelions. Given fully free reign, not tethered to a home base for power, with nigh-infinite power to pump into an AT-Field, the Evangelions would be a force that could literally go anywhere and destroy any enemy. It would be as if they were the Angels, only better.
But they were far from wresting those secrets from the crimson sphere. Not only was it completely inserted into the Evangelion, but they had no idea how removing it would interfere with the salvage operations they were trying to plan. They could only monitor the Evangelion through the umbilical cable and try to draw off enough power to keep the giant in standby mode.
The crews didn't voice it, but it was clear to the girl they had no idea what they were doing or dealing with. They could only do what the Evangelion allowed them to do, but fortunately, it was content to simply wait there in the cage, work crews covering it like ants as they tried to replace restraints and armor. Removing the Angelic mask had been a dicey affair, but the Evangelion had eventually relented and allowed it.
The new limbs it had manifested out of its AT-Field were missing the mechanical components that had run throughout the original body parts. No sensors, cables, wires, restraints, or reinforcing structures were present. The external armor needed all of these things to be installed. She discovered confusion at all levels about the proper way forward in the massive email chains and meeting recordings she had stolen via her MAGI connections.
It had taken Gendo himself to step in, telling them to modify the installation procedures and place the protective system around the new body parts as if it were armor worn by a normal person. The fabrication labs were designing and manufacturing the new components. Still, a new helmet and the accompanying restraints had been installed on the Evangelion's head, finally hiding that awful grimacing smile behind the armored plate.
It was a slight relief to have only the glowing eyes of the masked face staring at her when she visited the shrine at the end of the catwalk.
It had been ninety-three days since the event. Three months, and still, they had nothing to show for their efforts but a shrine and an armored head.
Despite all her best efforts, her former mentor was no closer to an answer than when she started. Of course, most of the team's work on the salvage operation was done on a separate and isolated MAGI system, air-gapped for obvious security concerns. Asuka gleaned some bits and pieces of information from simulation models run through the central MAGI trio. What there was, unfortunately, meant nothing to her. Neither did anything make sense to her clandestine compatriot, half a country away, but he had found a few things of interest when analyzing the raw code. There were references to her and Shinji's mothers and markers from one user, Gendo Ikari, from over eight years ago.
Even stranger, there was a cross-reference to a file named Rei with an extension type that neither one could recognize. She had been unable to find the file on the MAGI, but a further search for the .will extension had brought up a series of dates going back ten years, each two weeks apart.
The models themselves looked to be just of brainwave activity under different stimuli. They featured a combination of old data from previous pilot checkups and right before the boy's vital signs flat-lined during the fight. What was supposed to have happened during the models themselves was unknown.
Asuka still had no idea why Rei seemed so sure Shinji was not dead or that he was coming back. Indeed, the adults all seemed firmly convinced he was recoverable. Barring that, they were committed to maintaining the appearance they could get him back in one shape or another.
Calling up a new link to the MAGI, Asuka typed a few commands to the super-computers, telling them to run the same model simulation but to substitute her data from her last full control mission and her current autopilot mission. If she could not work on her current obsession, there was no reason for her to not work on a new problem.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Rei and Kaji watched the clone quietly sobbing, curled up in a ball inside the tube. The upload into the drone had gone off without any of the previously noted irregularities, and the young girl in the tube had woken up and looked out at them as a look of horrified realization slid over the previously placid face.
"I will let you out when you stop crying." Rei told the clone, which she had dubbed Kaji II, "I have clothing and food available for your use."
Frightened red eyes peeked up from behind pale arms, and the clone nodded after hesitating.
Rei started the exit sequence for the tube, then looked over at her captive as she picked up the coveralls from the counter.
"After your double has eaten, we will proceed with the primary tests to determine the completeness of the image and download."
Warily watching the girl in the tube that supposedly was him, Kaji's gaze flicked back to the girl with the same body who held him prisoner.
"Is that really me in there?"
"If everything went as planned, not exactly. Each iteration of the image is slightly different from the original host."
Interest sparked, Kaji looked back at the clone. "So you aren't the same as the original Rei?"
"Correct, Agent Kaji. I do not know exactly how many versions there were before me, but I am at least the third one."
"How do you know this? Did they ever have more than one of you running around simultaneously?"
Rei opened her mouth to explain but then paused, watching the man with narrowed eyes. While there was no danger of the man escaping, there was no need to explain things he didn't need to know.
"No. As far as I am aware, the Commander believes me to be a perfect copy of the original Rei, with some memory lapses between the time of the image download and subsequent upload into this body. However, I have certain and irrefutable evidence to the contrary." Turning from her bound captive, she moved to the opening tube, a towel in one hand and the coveralls in another.
"Hello, Kaji. Please dry yourself off, and then get dressed. Food will be provided once you are ready."
The clone nodded, its movements a little jerky and unsure as it took the offered items.
"This is a little disorienting, you know," Kaji commented, with Rei's voice but with the cadence and mannerisms of the bound adult. "I haven't been this short in a long time, let alone… well, let's just say I'm not used to the new… gear." The clone's face was somewhat mischievous as it winked at the original. "It's not quite like we imagined or how Rits explained it."
Kaji started to laugh as Rei frowned. "Yeah, it's definitely me in there."
"Get dressed." Rei curtly ordered the clone. "You are obviously feeling better if you are no longer crying and are now making inappropriate jokes."
"Oh, that wasn't a joke, Rei." Both Kajis said in unison as the female version toweled her hair. Both wore similar grins as well, watching their captor. "I hope you'll excuse the fact that my last clear memories are of an intrusive medical experiment being conducted on me against my will. The shock was a little much to take," the girl said, throwing the damp towel towards Rei, who let it fall to the floor. "It takes a toll on one, you know?"
"Ah," Rei commented, nodding slightly as Kaji dressed. "You are attempting to guilt trip me. It will not work now, as it has not worked during your previous attempts."
"Yeah?" Kaji replied, zipping up the coverall. "How about basic human decency?"
"You will find that while I am unsympathetic to your cause, I have not caused you undue harm or taken disproportionate actions against you. Your actions, however, have placed not only Shinji's life in danger and threatened the Commander's Scenario, but you have also annoyed me. I have wasted valuable time dealing with you, and I have lost opportunities I may never again be able to regain."
Rei paused, studying the girl standing before her, the arrogant and smug look belonging to the man within out of place on her features.
"These lost opportunities were partly due to my not treating you as I should have – as a resource to be exploited, a piece to be moved about on the board and then sacrificed."
"Really?" Kaji snorted, incredulous. "So you think you're a player now? Rei, you have no idea-"
Rei pulled the stun gun from her pocket and shot the double. As the girl convulsed on the floor from the electrical current, Kaji sighed, shaking his head.
"I know more than you, Agent Kaji, although you have information I desire. Your being in that body serves two purposes for me." Rei deactivated the stun gun and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. Clasping them around the girl's wrists, Rei then dragged her over to a waiting chair. "You are proof of concept for copying a stock human, and now I can interrogate you without worrying about losing access to the information I seek."
Gasping, the bound girl looked up into Rei's eyes, finding the crimson orbs unreadable. "But… what about the food?" she asked weakly.
Walking over to another chair and pulling it around to face the captives, Rei sat down and folded her hands in front of her face before answering.
"The offer of food was a lie."
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
The body inside the Entry Plug of Unit-00 stirred as Rei transferred herself to it. It was warm and comfortable inside the plug, and she could feel the duplicated version of her inside the recently installed components near the base of the tube.
Hello sister, Rei said. How goes their test of the autopilot system?
It's fine. A little different from when we work together, but still, it's pretty much the same old thing. How is your latest experiment?
It appears to have worked. The initial interactions suggest high success in the carryover of personality and mental patterns. Further observation will be required to determine physical quirks and the time needed for the mind to regain complete control over body functions and hand-eye coordination. Memory tests will be necessary, but I can create multiple copies of Agent Kaji to do double and triple-blind tests, checking their responses to different requests and situations.
What's next after all that, then?
The next step in experimentation would be to try a download of a person from within an Evangelion core.
There was a distinct pause, and Rei could feel a mix of emotions from her sister.
You mean making a copy of me.
Correct. Although it is not a perfect test, you remain the only viable candidate for experimentation, even though you are not a normal person. Dr. Sohryu is not a complete person and, as such, would not be a stable subject. If I am to ensure an as close to perfect procedure for recovering Shinji as possible, then I will need to use you.
But it won't really be me, will it? I'll still be here, in this body. It will only be a copy of me as I am at the time of the download. No freedom for me.
While the experiment is not meant to grant you your freedom from your current state, there will be a free version of you in a body you would have had originally. That you would be free to go as you please. After we verify the stability of the image and upload, you can stay here in Tokyo-3 or leave as you wish, wherever you desire, so long as you do not interfere with my plans.
Such a caring and generous sister you are. You really know how to make me feel better, don't you? But while this might work and let you know that it can be done, how will you tell what pattern belongs to your boy and what belongs to whoever was inside Unit-01's core originally?
I have sufficient data concerning Shinji's brain waves and mental patterns. Establishing and isolating the pertinent wavelengths will be an obstacle to overcome. Still, I am confident of my eventual success should I prove capable of producing a viable reproduction of you.
Then… Then you should probably get back to work.
Rei smiled and then nodded. More research still needs to be done, but the experiments should essentially be the same. I will begin at once.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Shinji screamed as he watched the fight between Unit-01 and the last Angel. It was that awful fight, the most terrible of all the fights he had been party to.
The hulking form battled Unit-01, and from the outsider's perspective, the fight was even more desperate than it had appeared to the boy the first time around.
I AM THE STRONG ARM OF THE GREAT MOTHER! I AM THE FIST THAT STRIKES! THE OTHER IS DEFEATED AND GONE! WHY DO YOU FIGHT? WHY DO YOU PERSIST? I HAVE CAST DOWN THE OTHER SHADOWS THAT SOUGHT TO BAR MY PATH! YOU SHALL NOT PREVAIL WHERE THEY FAILED, SHADOW! THE LIGHT OF MY SOUL IS POWER AND STRENGTH! YOU TOO SHALL FALL BEFORE ME, AND I WILL BE REUNITED WITH THE GREAT MOTHER!
As the fight continued, the Angel kept up the tirade against Unit-01, which only answered with Shinji's out-of-time responses, screamed out through the communications system of the battered titan.
Then, as the Angel's victory seemed to be realized as it ripped the Evangelion apart, limb from limb, with the deadly whips flying towards its prey's head, the Angel shuddered slightly.
NO! NO! IT CANNOT BE!
A brilliant, eye-searing flame burned out from the stricken Evangelion, a radiant halo that shone through the darkness of the storm enveloping the landscape. It illuminated the final, brutal moments of the fight as Unit-01 became whole again, formed from flesh, steel, and the fire of the AT-Field.
THE OTHER IS RETURNED!
Unit-01, the Other that Mankind called ADAM, finished the fight and began to feast, devouring the Angel's flesh. It screamed almost the entire time as the flame of its soul faded away instead of being snuffed out of existence as had happened to all those who had come before it.
The Beast sat back as it placed the skull mask over its monstrous face. As the mask shifted and flowed like putty into the more familiar bird skull, Unit-01 leaped to its feet, throwing its arms up to the sky in dreadful jubilation.
"I AM!" it screamed, speaking aloud in a voice simultaneously both Shinji and not Shinji.
"I AM!" Eyes burning like stars in the darkness of space glared out from behind the mask, locking gazes with the ghost of the boy wandering through the Interface, the first thing other than Lilith to acknowledge him.
"I AM!" Unit-01 roared, rattling the world with its deafening scream.
"Is that me?" Shinji whispered, watching the Evangelion turn and walk away. "What are you?" he asked as the world melted away, shifting and changing again.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Ritsuko and Kozo stared at each other from across the large table where ancient notes and printouts were spread out, new annotations added, and corrections and questions marked down on them, each wishing they were closer to the answer they sought.
"This is perhaps the most frustrating project I have ever worked on," Kozo remarked, leaning back in his chair. Across the table, Ritsuko shrugged as she lit a cigarette, taking a long, hard drag before blowing a steady stream of smoke into the air.
"Do you think we should tell him?" she asked after a few long minutes, watching the older man as he rubbed his leg, trying to work out the tension and pain that had built up.
"He won't like it. It's not certain and does not leave us with any opportunities for future attempts should it fail." Kozo paused, looking up and locking eyes with the doctor. "If we should fail." He sighed, shaking his head sadly with a wistful look. "You know how he is."
"It's still the best chance we've got." She argued, "Time is running out, and if we don't act soon, we'll miss the window. You know the projections; we can't wait."
"I know. If we wait much longer, the reintegration of his soul will be past the point where we can hope to separate him again, at least cleanly."
Ritsuko slumped down in her seat, running her hands through her hair. Still smoking her cigarette, she ground her teeth.
"This is such shit," she said suddenly, growling the words out. "Want to know something?" Ritsuko looked up at him, tears glistening in her eyes. "My cat ran away from my friend's house a few days ago. She found her yesterday dead in an alley." The woman's usually perfectly controlled voice wavered as she continued, the words coming out like a flood. "I only found out this morning when I checked my messages. One thing right after the other."
"I'm sorry," Kozo offered, his voice sincere and face concerned.
"It's okay," Ritsuko answered, waving the condolences off. "She was pretty old, and it's a thing cats do, you know, run off to die." She sniffled, voice cracking a little. "But I wish I had been there."
"Isn't that terrible?" She asked, laughing a little bitterly. "Shinji's stuck in Unit-01, and we need to get him out, not just for his sake, but for the world, and I'm torn up about not being there for my cat."
"In the cold, measured world that Gendo moves in, it would be an easy choice," Kozo commented, leaning forward, steepling his hands on the table. "He lives in a world where he must weigh the lives and well-being of people and move them around like pieces on a game board. His life does not allow him the luxuries that others take for granted. But we are not him. We are the pieces he manipulates. It's perfectly normal to mourn not being there for your pet. It's a sign of your sanity, of your humanity."
The old man smiled a small, sad smile, his eyes far away. "Gendo hasn't been normal for a long time, but you know this."
"But what does that say about us? About what we are doing? About our future?"
"Why do you think it is us who will remain behind to help pick up the pieces of a shattered post-Third Impact world? He will be locked away in Unit-01. It is a punishment as much as a reunion with his wife. He has sacrificed his humanity for the world. He has dedicated everything to this enterprise of ours. There will be no place for him here after that."
"But what if I want him here? What if I don't want him to go?"
"That, too, is perfectly normal. You're quite attached to him, but you know he's humoring you, right?"
"Yes... but…"
"But you still hope. You still hope against hope that he might pick you over Yui, the woman for whom he would forsake becoming a god."
"It's not fair," she said, stubbing the cigarette out in the overflowing ashtray, starting to cry. "Why does she get to have him? This is all her fault! I'll have lost my entire family, such as it is. Haven't I sacrificed enough?"
"We've all been called upon to make sacrifices. We've all committed terrible crimes as well, awful acts that would make many loathe to feel for our pain, to sympathize with the trials we must undergo, even as we subject others to their own trials. In a good and just world, we would charged as criminals guilty of crimes against humanity. But then, in a good and just world, there would be no need for people like us. Remember, Ritsuko, remember what we are doing here is not for the sake of our own power and prestige but to stop a genocidal armageddon. In this world, there is no justice. There is-"
"There is only Gendo Ikari."
"Indeed. There is only Gendo Ikari, the man that made the Abyss blink."
Ritsuko chuckled despite herself. "The man who won a staring contest with the sun."
"It is said, amongst the men and women of Section 2, that they are not a protection team for the Supreme Commander, but rather a team who protects others from getting too close to him."
"That had Unit-01 not counter-attacked at the moment it had, he would have wrestled the Angel into submission."
"The only reason he sends the Children into battle is to make it fair for the Angels."
"These sayings are so idiotic."
"He likes them, though. It amuses him to watch others spread ridiculous rumors about him. It builds his legend; it surrounds him with a mystique. It ensures, in its own way, that they will follow him into the very gates of hell. Any attack with small arms against an Angel? Pure folly, a minor distraction to it at best, before being swept aside. But still, they all did it, right behind him, leading the charge."
"And when we had no power, he led the teams in preparing the Evangelions for combat by hand."
"He breeds and inspires an almost fanatical following in the rank and file, and not just here at Central. Across all of NERV, at all of our installations, save for the inevitable few, they buy into his cult of personality. Why else would they be so loyal? We sometimes forget not everyone knows about the people and events that set us upon this course, but very few know even a little of the truth."
Kozo stood up and straightened his jacket. "Go home, get some rest. Mourn your cat. Get some fresh air. Talk with Misato. I'll talk to Gendo. I'll brief him on the proposed operation." He smiled at her, then turned to leave.
"Are we bad people, Kozo?" Ritsuko asked as the door opened, staring at his back.
Kozo looked back over his shoulder at the scientist. "We are necessary. We do what must be done; that is all anyone could ever ask of us."
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Gendo listened to his friend and chief lieutenant, his face a passive mask as they looked out over the Evangelion cage from the platform where he had first laid eyes on his son in the flesh upon the boy's arrival to Tokyo-3. It seemed like so long ago, waiting here for Shinji and his guide to arrive, the then Captain Misato Katsuragi.
Things were much different now, Gendo mused as Kozo explained the planned salvage procedure. Shinji had changed and blossomed into a fine young man. Battered and weary, certainly, but still possessed of that inner fire that burned bright and hot just below the surface.
He had taken up the impossible challenge and had risen to the duty thrust upon him. A hero worthy of any ancient saga or myth, a legendary figure. Born to a dying world, the boy would become a man throughout his story, sacrificing himself to heal the world and save all mankind.
At least, that was what could have been. Reality frequently was nothing like the stories of the elder days.
"Are you sure this is our best chance?" It was clear the scientist was not confident the plan would work.
"Yes. It is our only chance. The simulations look promising, but that's all I can give you. We simply don't have enough time to keep trying to develop another method. Separating him from the Evangelion would be tricky enough if it was just Yui. Having to ensure his soul is cut away perfectly a second time after the reunification?" Kozo left the rest unsaid, turning his eyes down to the shrine far below them, watching as bolts of energy periodically jumped out to the catwalk from the energized war machine, within which sat Shinji's soul.
"How soon can you conduct the experiment?" Gendo asked, staring into the glowing eyes of the titanic figure, staring at the thing that had derailed decades of work and careful planning.
"Three weeks. We'll have only one shot at this. If it doesn't work, we'll have no choice but to resort to our fallback plan."
"Kill Lilith and declare open war against SEELE." Gendo's mouth twisted into a cold, humorless smile as his gloved hands gripped the railing. ADAM twisted back and forth under his skin, causing odd shapes to move under the gloves. It was fortunate Gendo was not given too much public interaction, for it would be hard to keep his unusual condition from being noticed.
Removing ADAM would now kill him, such was the level of the embryo's development and their codependent relationship. According to the last exam, it had consumed and replaced his kidneys and his liver, as well as his left lung. The thing would be ready soon for their plans, for the Third Impact that NERV desired. Soon, but not yet. The gestation was not complete.
But ADAM's development would mean nothing if they did not have Shinji Ikari, the Third Child, available. They could get by with various amounts of Shinji, but they needed him still isolated from his half that resided within Unit-01. They needed the moment of synchronization, the microcosm of Instrumentality, to become the real thing, and they needed him for Rei.
If they were to make this world a Heaven, if they were to reach their full potential, then they needed Shinji. If they lost him, then the road ahead was going to be a hard one, where NERV would plunge the world back into war against a shadowy organization that controlled entire nations.
The Supreme Commander of NERV watched Asuka as she lit another candle and placed it amongst the others, dropping a small note into the pile before the picture of his son. Those that remained here at Central had not given up. They had not faltered in their remembrance of the boy as days became weeks and weeks turned to months.
They remained strong. They continued to fight. They continued to rebuild. They had given everything in the last battle, fighting a hopeless fight, hoping it would buy enough time for Shinji and Unit-01 to intercept the Angel. They had stood by him, ready to die, all for a few seconds.
The pair remained silent, watching the pilot turn and leave, heading back to her rooms nearby. She stayed down here in the Geo-Front, not for safety, as that last fortress wall had been breached, ruining the sanctity of the land beneath Tokyo-3 and the broken world above, but to be closer by the weapons when it came time to fight again.
There would be at least one more Angel, he knew. The young woman below had no idea how many remained or when they might come. She merely waited and prepared. And amidst her preparations, her training, she would light candles for his son and write letters to him.
Did she do this because she expected his return, or did she do this because she expected the opposite? The letters she wrote to Shinji suggested a mix of both, as did most others. Rei had not been to the shrine. He wasn't sure what to make of that -but he had not had time or opportunity to question her about it.
But what about himself? He had not been to his son's shrine, but he was not one for such things. What did he expect to happen? To be completely honest, he didn't rightfully know. But the die was already cast – there was only one course they could take to recover from this upset.
"Do it."
Kozo silently turned and left his protégé standing watch over his son, as the man had for almost three months.