Got in the Robot, now what?! 9 - Or 'Where is the fucking instructions for this big ass robot?!' (NGE, Shinji!SI)

It was a normal day at NERV. Or, as normal as it could be when it comes to actually keeping attention high for a potential Angel's attack.

The tension was commonplace, the paranoia justified and widespread, but there was always that false sense of security lulled by the prolonged victories against known threats that rendered optimal preparation impossible to achieve. That being said, despite all sorts of steps taken to brace for the usual Angel were not geared to handle the one issue no one would expect unfolding out of nowhere: a 'big' revolt. And by big, the rebellious side was led by one of the Evangelions.

As the alarms nagged at Ikari Gendo's ears and he rushed to his command post from his office, expecting to be given a full report on which Angel had decided to strike and ways to repeal the newest issue, his face tightened when Fuyutsuki's unusually grim look showed him screens that left him aghast deep within.

Eva-01 was currently tearing through NERV, aiming down underground and away from any of the company's secretive areas... minus one. His mind digested the staff's reports as they all started to pile up, mixing awe, shock, and dread as the situation swiftly turned weirder and weirder.

"The unit has not been hijacked-"

"Not only that, look at that synch rate- It's perfect!"

"We are unable to force its shutdown."

"Where is it even going?!"

Gendo knew the answer to that last question, but he wasn't too keen to tell. After all, the target of this attack seemed to be the same as the common angel's strike. But why? What was his traitorous child's plan in this sudden bout of madness? Had he truly lost it?

Calls were made to get the other pilots at work, but he had to bit down a groan as he was told that Rei was still at school, while Asuka was doing her monthly medical testing. It was done on purpose, he knew his fellow pilots' schedules and found the right time to strike. The only thing they had on the Eva-01 was footage of what was happening through its eyes. The digging, the shredding, the ground shook all around as the humanoid entity was tearing through with careless abandon.

Then... it fell down to where its pilot intended it to go. The pool of LCL created by Lilith. And the entire room gasped, Fuyutsuki's effort to see the footage cut off made void as that was no longer within their means. In fact, the footage was part of this spectacle his son was giving them.

"My God, what- what is that?"

"Is that an Angel? Why is it under NERV?!"

"Wait, does this mean that is... is why we are attacked by the Angels?"

Fuyutsuki, the old fool, had a begging look aimed at Gendo, for the supreme leader was silent as he failed to conjure a viable solution to what felt pure madness unfolding before his own good eyes.

Why... WHY!?

Gendo was losing his mind the more he tried to make sense of what insanity Shinji was trying to accomplish by confronting Lilith, but then... something else came up.

"S-Sirs, the Synch Rate- It's going off-chart."

"Everything is abnormal! All readings- what is Shinji doing?!"

The Eva-01 was going berserk without reason, its body burning red as heat enveloped the mecha and, mimicking the same posture Shinji had to use his 'Spin' attack, the heat trickled down to its extended arm and finger to form an orange and red ball of AT Field energy. It started to spin furiously, barely stable as it was aimed at Lilith. Almost perceiving the upcoming threat, the restrained behemoth shook, eyes twitching as its body shivered in an effort to move away.

And then... the ball 'popped'.

No, it wasn't the spinning sphere. It was the footage. It suddenly went bright white as static replaced the sight of the Unit, and, with it, the little stability NERV had for the equivalent of an earthquake struck the HQ. The ground shook for about ten minutes, alarms echoing all over the city for a presumed attack from an Angel but...

Gendo slowly realized this was the furthest thing from the truth. Looking at some monitors in his ruined office, he could tell that Lilith was gone for good. And their sonars aimed at where all Angels came from came back yielding no sign of life.

All Angels had died with Lilith. Shinji had... saved humanity.

But this was not his plan.

As Gendo felt utterly betrayed by his spoiled brat of a son, he was given bigger troubles to face when the Military struck at NERV without any warning, soldiers rushing through the facility and rapidly subduing the location, looking for him and other higher-ups in the building for 'High Treason against Humanity'.

To make matter worse, the Army was now releasing something that truly shattered the status quo, for Shinji had actually left behind a recording that not only called out NERV, but also highlighted the truth about why the 'ones in charge' had allowed NERV to take over.

And it was indeed a sight to behold.

"Is the camera... set right? What if it is curved a little-"

"It's fine, stop being a perfectionist-"

"It may be our last recording, Nako-chan."

She huffed and rolled her eyes as she turned to me with a scowl. "And here I thought I was the pessimist."

"Never say never, hun... and it's rolling."

"Great..." Runako grumbled. "Well, start talking."

"Fine... Now, back to you people that may or may not known me. I am Ikari Shinji, I am the son of Ikari Gendo and Yui, I am the Third Child or the Pilot of Evangelion Unit-01," I started to introduce myself. "This here is my beloved girlfriend, Runako and she is a special girl, I tell you-"

"In more ways than any of you may guess," She smugly interjected, causing me to roll my eyes at her.

"Now, I bet you are all wondering why this crazy-looking boy and this lovely girl here are in front of your screens. And the truth is a bit of a long story so I will do my best to deliver it in a way that even those with ADHD can understand it. Good? Good."

I cleared my throat, readying myself for the lengthy exposition.

"So, let's start by addressing the first of many crimes my parents are responsible for: the Second Impact. You know, that big event that pretty much brought the planet to its knees for a while. It wasn't exactly a natural event- it was artificial. It came to be because my parents, specifically my mother, genius Yui, decided it was quite fine to dig into some eldritch spot in the coldest side of the planet and tinker with it. Turns out that some dormant creatures can get very feisty in their slumber-"

"And it caused the death of multiple people because of those idiots."

"Right, right," I nodded at Runako's quip. "So, my mom messed up and she got punished by actually dying or mixing up with the Evangelion Unit I am driving- yes, spoiler alert, the reason we can use our Evangelion, in most part, is because the pilots' moms are dead and somewhat possessing the mechas. Don't tell the cops-"

"We are giving this to the military," Runako argued and I shrugged.

"Oh well! I guess that I can go all out then. Now, I already spoiled a fair bit, so I will drive back to the juiciest issues on why Angels keep on crushing the capital of Japan, burning it, bombing it, drowning it, and other horrible things that sound so inevitable but..."

"They are not."

I put an arm around Runako as she added that up. "Yep, the reason why Humanity is at stakes doesn't have much to do with some random monsters deciding to give us grief. So, the eldritch thing that they woke up? It had been moved right under the NERV HQ where my dad works at. Convenience's sake or... you know, creating a convenient situation that played right in Gendo's game field. Of course, by the time this footage comes out, Lilith will be very dead. You may start by praising my name as the biggest man alive-"

"Jerk, I will be the one pressing the trigger," Runako pushed me off and I offered an appeasing look. "And no, we are not sharing the glory."

"Aww... that's a healthy relationship for you. Back to the story, so you all now know why the Angels attacked us so frequently, but... why? Why would Ikari Gendo do this and why would so many big names that will be listed at the end of this video be so invested to let the naughty man get away with this? Well, the one thing that rich bastards all over the world would do something that kills so many of us poor guys: immortality."

"A Third Impact, one where they can be given true immortality and become 'greater' than the common sidewalk-enjoyer," The girl huffed, hands reaching to pull me back onto a hug. "Sadly for them, this was all a lie."

"Yeah, the Third Impact would not give privileges to you extremely privileged people. It would actually mix you with the rabble. After all, the end result of a successful Impact is collective consciousness," I explained seriously, snuggling with my GF like a pro-chad. "We all die, we all become orange goo, and we all become one and the same. So yes, no immortality just a chance to 'bring back the lost loved ones' through faux-reincarnation. It's all fake, the game was rigged from the start and, I will be serious to you all: this is the main reason we have set ourselves to end this bullshit."

"Despite what jokes we said, we don't care about glory, we just want to give back to those monsters what pain they have given us," Runako stepped in, her tone as sharp as it could get. "So, this is my personal confession: I am not going to play pretend that this is all fine, I am not going to play the role of puppet, I will not let humanity die because of the greed of a few. This is my determination."

"And mine. Which is why, when this comes out, we will not be around. There are three possible outcomes on how this attempt will go: we both die and nothing changes and, if so, good luck."

"Second option, it all works as intended and yet we still died. Regardless, we will be happy for making the difference."

I nodded at my girl's words, and then I delivered the third potential outcome.

"Or we succeed and, through some miraculous scientific jargon over paradoxical energy, we somehow create a temporary wormhole and get hurled somewhere else. If that's the case, let us hope we ended up in a SFW version of this world."

"Or somewhere else altogether."

"That being said, I will finish this little PSA announcement with one last 'goodbye'. Starting with two individuals I am very sorry to say goodbye to: Misato and Maya, I hope you two will find a way to get a fulfilling life, that you both achieve your own goals and be happy."

"To Asuka and Rei, I won him and I got his dick first-"

"Babe, that's not what the script says," I pointed out, and she rolled her eyes as I took over from her. "Asuka and Rei, I don't have you, but I don't like you enough to care. I just hope you do things... I guess."

From cheesy, I soon moved back to a more somber tone.

"To those behind the pain and suffering around in this world, I have some parting words. Do not make the Devil wait, I am sure your old friend from hell will have a nice new cozy places for all of you, the lowest hole he could conjure for your crimes are without justification or retribution. You will not find peace, for you shall all suffer one way or another, you will either be found and killed, or you will be on the run for the rest of your lives without a chance to stop and hope this is all over. It will never be over to those that tried to kill off humanity out of greed. If there is a God, I hope he will strike you down wherever you are hiding."

I pulled back, smiling as Runako huffed and hugged me tighter. This was going to be the last time we were going to have a moment of peace before we really went out to do the dumbest suicidal mission yet.

"Without further ado, here is the list and... people of the world, I think this time personal justice is justified and seconded by all. Go nuts."

And then the footage of Shinji and Runako was over, with the faces, names, and crimes of each element behind NERV's mad crusade flashing over and highlighting their locations around the time of the recording.

Ikari Gendo was found dead in his office, a gun in his right hand, the picture of his late wife in his left one, and a hole under his chin and stabbing through his brian.

NERV was taken over by the military within a few days, and even more crimes were reported. Several members of SEELE, the reported 'World Order', soon found themselves arrested or killed off by mobs of angry people, effectively launching a revolution that tore apart a decades-long corrupt order upon the damned world.

Akagi Ritsuko would be the first to turn sides to the military once the full truth about her mother's death came to light. She faced years of depression, but was helped along the way by her assistant and future wife, Ibuki Maya. Her testimony proved to be essential in revealing the many experiments committed by NERV, but ultimately had some unintended issues for some of the 'victims' of this situation.

Ayanami Rei was detained and brought to a medical facility for further studies. It was noted, as reported by Dr. Akagi, that she had been taking medical drugs meant to dull some of her social abilities, making her easy to manipulate and infantile. After years of therapy, she was released under a new name. Some suggests she became an artist, for during her time at the facility she developed a mild obsession over Ikari Shinji from the multiple portraits she painted overtime, ultimately overcoming this and becoming a slightly-successful artist.

Asuka Langley-Sohryu would return to Germany to sue the NERV base there in an effort to retain full ownership of Eva Unit-02. While most thought this was due to her interest to keep a 'memory of the past around', her victory over the trial as NERV collapsed before it could muster a defense led to the full burial of the unit in a 'private cementary' owned by the German Army, a single tombstone written in memory to Ms. Langley-Sohryu's mother. After these events, Asuka would join the Army and become the youngest Field Marshal in the Bundesarmee before retiring a single woman.

Katsuragi Misato would go on to become an important representative to the United Nations. Her father's heroic death now remembered in full, with medals and celebrations held by the military in Tokyo. With support from the national government, Misato would spearhead the creation of a UN Commission aimed to fully dismantle both NERV and SEELE, which would manifest a few years after the BROKEN THIRD incident through the creation of WILLE. Exploiting the long momentum aimed at both dangerous organizations, WILLE managed to claim relevance and support in suppressing SEELE in its entirety upon NERV's nominal collapse.

With the end of the BROKEN THIRD incident, Japan slowly recovers from the constant Angels' attacks, proceeding to reclaim both Tokyo-2 and Old Tokyo, expanding the capital to handle the explosive baby boom ensuing the end of the crisis. In lieu to these events, the use of the names 'Shinji' and 'Runako' increase, where names such as 'Gendo', 'Yui', and 'Kozo' almost vanish from common use. A monument is erected for those that died during these events, with the statues of Ikari Shinji and Runako gaining popular donations for their constructions, lionizing them to the role of 'Heroes of the New Age'.

That being said, most scientists still wonder if the now-'dead' heroes have experienced either the second or the third outcome of their plan - but that's an answer no one but the two can give... and they are currently busy with their new lives in a different Tokyo.

AN

So, I want to be clear here by saying... it took a while. Also, I will apologize by saying that the Epilogue will soon come together with an 'IF' chapter on a possible Sequel. Nothing is confirmed, I will just say that I have plans to wrap this one up soon.