Interludes After the Tenth Angel, Part 3

Note, the parenthesis indicate languages other than Japanese, in this case, English.
Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).

A Possible XXVIth Century
NERV-2 (Nevada)
Recreation Room 3 (Projection Room)
4 Days After Unit-04 Reactivation

"(Doc? Doc?)" A very worried Mari Makinami snapped her fingers in front of Dr. Canus' face. "(Hey, Doc. Don't do this to me, please! Doc! Earth to Doctor Canus!)"

Finally, Dr. Canus'eyes focused back on his time-displaced friend. "(Hmm? Wha..?)"

Relieved of her worry, Mari blew out the breath she had been containing. "(Doc, glad to have you back! You spaced out for almost five minutes! Blondie went to get some water." She leaned back and sat heavily on the floor in front of Doctor Canus. "We thought you had punched out the big ticket to the other side.)" Mari sat back on the chair, and wiped her forehead with her wrist.

"(I… I… Um.. I don't know what happened…)"

"(What's the last you remember?)" Mari's voice was full of worry.

"(Well… I was thinking about the implications of what the people in the movie said… About the nature of reality and how they couldn't tell if they were living in the real world or in a computer simulation.)"

"(Oh, damn!)" Mari paled considerably, biting her lip. "(It's my fault…)" She lowered her eyes in shame. "(I underestimated the movie…)"

"(It was quite the experience, Mari.)" Canus was back to his normal, affable state of being. He smiled at her. "(Though I think it would be wiser to not delve too much in that.)"

"(You tell me, Doc.)" She thought for a few moments. "(That's it, no more movies like The Matrix for you, Doc. Not without serious training with easier stuff.)"

"(Maybe some other time. I really enjoyed the way they were jumping all around.)"

"(Yeah, they did a great job with the fight scenes, didn't they?)" Her face started to recover its natural color.

"(Indeed! Say, do you have any movies with that kind of fights?)"

"(Sure! I must have a couple with Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. Really light fare, nothing heavy to think of. Just simple comedies, and the fights are hilarious! Let's give it a couple of days before trying that, okay? I don't want Blondie to get ideas. He is very worried about you.)" She patted Canus' knee before standing up, and held her hand to help Canus to get up. "(Well, just let me tell Blondie you're okay, and then we can call it a day.)"

Mari pressed a button in the comm unit in the wall. "(Hey, Blondie! The Doc is back and it seems he's okay. Nothing really serious, he just spaced out thinking.)"

Kamandi answered after a minute. "(I'm on my way, I'm almost there.)"

Gotham City, Wayne Manor,
September the 26th, 2002; 3:42 P.M.

"(Man, Bruce really did travel around that year!)" Ralph Dibny observed, shuffling the papers back into the file.

"(We all did, Ralph. Ra's al Ghul had all of us chasing shadows. The year 2000 was a long series of attacks by the Assassin's League.)" Dick Grayson sat back in his chair, and rubbed his eyes with his left hand.

Barbara Grayson added, "(Even my team and myself were at our wits end. We shut down several plots of the League of Assassins in America, while Bruce and his team traveled around the world doing the same. I lost several good friends to the League.)" Her eyes misted for a moment, until a determined frown chased the shadow away. "(I will miss them all to the end of my days.)"

Ralph kept silent for a moment. "(I share the sentiment, Barbara. We are the last of our respective teams. After so many fights and danger, we were closer than most families. You two are the last of the Bat-Family; Barbara is also the last Bird of Prey, and Dick is the last Titan. I am the last Leaguer alive. And I am completely depowered now. So, I keep playing at being a detective. Some days solving a mystery is the only thing that keeps me sane. Well, I could cope with having no mysteries as long as I had Sue. Without her, I would have crumbled a long time ago.)"

Dick sipped at his coffee, respecting their mutual losses. A long moment later, he spoke. "(You lost your power?)" and a second later, he slapped his forehead, while Barbara smiled patiently. "(Of course, Second Impact destroyed the gingo plantation in Yucatan… No more Gingold.)"

"(Right in one, Dick. I really miss them, especially my nose twitching.)"

A soft knock on the door was followed by Alfred's voice, and the opening of the door; as it was his custom, the old butler announced a visitor. "(Master Richard? Mrs Dibny is here.)" From the angle of Alfred´s right eyebrow, Dick and Barbara knew something was a bit off, but unless Alfred thought it was grave enough, he would be discreete and not call attention to whatever the matter was. At least, not in front of guests.

"(Come in!)" The group settled their mugs of coffee while Sue entered the room. Alfred took the coffee jar, and went to refill it.

Ralph stood immediately to hug his wife. "(Hi, honey!)" Then he noticed the strange expression on her face, she held two folders in her limp fingers. She walked as if hypnotized. "(Wha… What happened?)"

"(I… Oh, Ralph!)" And she hugged him back as if her life depended on it. The folders fell to the floor. "(The doctor gave me the results of my medical exams!)" Her voice seemed about to crack.

"(Oh, god. Are you okay? What did the doctor said? Do you need treatment? Do we need to get blood or something?)" Ralph got more alarmed with each word.

"(No, Ralph! Everything is fine! Real fine! We are okay!)"

"(But then… why the strange face?)" Ralph grabbed her by the shoulders and looked at her eyes. She seemed to be about to cry, but she was smiling.

Dick and Barbara exchanged a look, both having deducted the reason for Sue´s behoavior. "(Ralph,)" Dick said, "(Shut up and let her give you the good news!)"

"(What good news?)"

"(We are okay, Ralph. We are all okay. Happy birthday, honey.)" She smiled softly, and kissed him tenderly.

Finally, a light appeared in Ralph Dibny's eyes, and a goofy smile spread all over his face. "(We? We how many?)"

"(Triplets.)" Sue smiled coyly at her hosts. "(I'm in my first trimester.)"

"(Congratulations, Sue!)" Barbara held Sue's hand, While Dick slapped Ralph's back.

The ex-Elongated Man sat heavily on a cushioned chair, pulling Sue to sit on his lap. "(Triplets! Sue, how? why?)"

"(Well… I hope I don't have to draw you a diagram, honey. But I think it was a combo of my latest fertility treatment, and that you finally flushed all that male contraceptive from your system!)"

"(What contraceptive? I haven't taken anything!)"

Richard laughed. "(Man, for a detective you sure are thick sometimes, Ralph!)" He shook his head in commiseration.

Barbara continued. "(No more Gingold!)"

Ralph's eyebrows shot up so far into his hairline they seemed to dissappear. "(Wait, it was the Gingold all this time?)"

"(Can you explain how come your count jumped up so far?)" Sue opened the folder with his medical exam's results, and pointed at a page at the back. "(You were practically sterile back in 1999. And now, your boys are swimming like champions!)"

"(Ralph, I think this merits a celebration.)" Dick pushed a button in the intercom, "(Alfred? Could you go into the wine cellar, and bring the bottle labeled 'Ralph and Sue Dibny'?)".

A few minutes later.

Alfred came into the room holding a wooden box. A card hung from it. He put the box on the table, and opened it carefully. Inside, there was a very expensive looking bottle.

"(Wait, wait, wait a minute! I know this bottle!)" His eyes almost popped out from his face.

"(The very same, Ralph. Bruce gave you two one like this one for your wedding. He left some very precise instructions in his will. This, is his gift for you, whenever you could finally begin your own family.)" He untied the envelope from the box, and gave it to Sue. "(Go on, open it.)"

"(But…)" Her hands shook a bit. Ralph put a hand on her shoulder, and smiled at her.

"(Barbara and I have some things to do in the.. in the library. Call when you are ready.)"

Ralph and Sue looked at them, and nodded solemnly. Dick was the last to exit, and closed the door with a soft pull.

Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
Ward 8, Buena Vista residential Neighbour
Dawn Granger's (vacant) House; Basement.
November the 3rd, 2002, 2:12 A.M

"(I don't like this. I really don't.)"

"(It's part of the job. I always found this to be an excellent way to gather information.)"

"(Yeah, sure, but I have to remind you I am not an alley cat!)"

"(Please, I'm sure you have been in worse places. Plus, I have done most of the job already.)"

"(Yes, but…)"

"(Do you want to know or not? I asked you because the Bat vouched for your skills.)"

"(I am a cat burglar! Not a garbage man!)" Selina shot her companion a scathing look. If it had any effect on him, his featureless face didn't show it. He merely continued arranging strips of paper.

"(Well, well, well… What have we here?)" The Question had already assembled a few strips, guiding himself with a logo at the top of the shredded sheet of paper.

"(Gehirn. Hmm… German for 'Brain.')" He brought out a small recorder from a pocket in his trenchcoat. He pushed a button, and began to speak into the microphone. "Located internal memorandum, first examination hints at possible involvement of the Brotherhood of Evil's leader. Note: Confirm current status of the Brain and his known accomplices. Especially Monsieur Mallah."

"(The god-damned Brotherhood of Evil? The guys who killed the original Doom Patrol?)"

For a moment, the Question turned his head towards her, and nodded gravely. "(I have not located any reference to the Brain and his gang since two years before Second Impact. This is exactly the kind of thing they would take advantage of. If not directly engineer. However… There is something missing. There were no demands.)"

Catwoman adjusted the mask over her nose and mouth. The stench was nauseating. "(Just how often do you dump dive in the name of justice?)"

The Question's inexpressive face turned to her again. "(As often as necessary.)" he answered gruffly, and turned back to keep assembling strips of paper. He put the still faintly moist paper under a cloth screen, taking care not to touch it more than necessary. "(Now, just a bit of moisture absorber here, and let it rest overnight. Tomorrow, I will begin to assemble the rest. But, in the meanwhile, I'd like for you to start checking a money trail. Are you up to it?)"

"(Yes, I can do that, but I'd like to shower first! I smell like a garbage dump!)"

"(Indeed. Very well, You go first, I will prepare another bunch in the meanwhile.)" Catwoman discarded the plastic suit in her way to the bathroom.

The Question examined another set of shredded documents, and kept speaking into the recorder. "(The Brain is an opportunist as well as a planner. If there is a chance he could gain something from investigating the Antarctic, he would have taken it. Possible attempt of recovery of fragments of the Second Impact meteorite?)" Question turned to the big whiteboard on the wall, full of post-its, photographs, photocopies, cards, and other stationery, connected with colored string. "(The numbers don't match. A meteorite of the calculated size wouldn't have impacted Earth with the trajectory, mass, and speed needed for Second Impact; no image available of the moment of impact. Possible extraterrestrial attack? Accident?)"

He tapped on a photography, a heavy set man, with a pencil moustache, protuberant eyes and lips, receding hairline, and dark skin. "(Ceimoa Nan. Strange name for a mexican astronomer. Alias? Pseudonym? Nickname? Ethnic name? Note, run name through acronym generator.)"

Extradimensional space,
Oblivion Bar, London, Great Britain (temporally connected until the door closes)
Discreete booth at the back, near the jukebox.
February the 23rd, 2003, 12:17 A.M.

A blond man wearing a grimy maroon trenchcoat that once had been tan, sat heavily on a cushioned, red leather seat. "(Hey, Eddie.)" He greeted the barkeep, a young man with flippers instead of arms and legs, and signalled for two beers. As soon as Eddie nodded back, the man in the booth leaned back, and fished a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from the right pocket of his wet trenchcoat. "(Bloody hell...)" He grumbled. "(Soaking wet...)" He threw the soggy pack into the table, where a small pool of browish water appeared inder it.

"(Here, buddy. I have no Silk Cuts, but I guess you won't really care about the brand, will you?)" A hairy, long fingered hand extended an opened pack of Fleur de Lys cigarettes towards him, a cigarette peeked out from it. "(Right... I don't care. Thanks, Bobo.)"

"(Don't you ever call me that, Johnny-boy.)" the chimp sat across the table. "(That is just how I was called back in the day when I was just a dumb pet. It doesn't mean anything in my language nor yours. )" he scratched his chin pensatively, and continued. "(Though a guy from Colombia I met said it was some kind of insult in Spanish. He thought it was very funny until I dangled him out the window with one hand.)" The chimpanzee dressed with stereotypical Sherlock Holmes attire, including the deerstalk cap and curved smoking pipe. He poked a long finger against Constantine's chest, stressing his point. "(My actual name? You couldn't even start to pronounce it, and translating it to your language is a mouthful... 'Magnificent Finder of Tasty Grubs'.)" he shrugged. "(So, call me Detective Chimp. Or just Chimp if you have to.)"

John Constantine lit the cigarette, and blew a cloud of smoke at the ceiling. "(...Yeah... My apologies then, Chimp. )"

A tall, long legged woman with long, black hair brought the beers to the table; her elegant black dress almost looked painted on her body, and complex silver earrings dangled from her ears. "(Here you go. Will you pay this time or should I put them into your ever-growing tab, Constantine?)" It was clear she had absolutely no faith in Constantine ever paying what he owed.

"(Meh)", interrupted the chimp, with a mighty shrug. "(Put them in my tab; Tala, honey. I'll pay before leaving.)"

The woman turned to Eddie, resting the platter against her right hip. "(Chimp will pay for those, Eddie. No need to throw out the bum.)" Her shiny black shoes clattered as she returned to the bar, to wait for the next customer.

Chimp drank a long sip of his beer, and smacked his lips noisily. "(So, what news?)"

Constantine eyed his furry companion, and drank too. "(Felix Faust is out. The idiot tried to spell me dead.)" He snorted dismissively. "(I swear that wanker is a bigger danger to himself than to any half-decent magician. And I mean a parlor trick user could beat him with a pack of cards and two foam balls. How he ranked as a thorn for those yanks in the Justice League I won't ever know.)" He fished into his trenchcoat, pulling a small cube. He put it on the table. "(Here he is.)" A small figure slammed his fists against the crystalline prison. "(Keep him.)" He pushed the cube across the table, knocking down the figure inside. "(By the way, time is slowing inside that cube, in a week, it will stop completely.)"

Chimp took the cube and examined the little figure inside. He smiled widely, showing an impressive collection of teeth. "(He will look fine over my chimney's mantle, you know.)"

Constantine grumbled, scratching his chin, the three day beard he sported made s scratching noise, clearly heard in the silent room. They were the only customers around. "(Yeah. Now, unless you have another thing for me to fall asleep in the middle of, I'm going home. I'm dead on my feet.)" He drained the rest of the beer, and wiped his mouth with index and thumb, deliberately ignoring the napkins on the table.

"(Sure. Go ahead. I'll stay here for a little while. You wouldn't happen to hace a coin? I'd like to put a song before leaving.)"

Constantine searched his pockets, and put a few coins on Chimp's extended hand. "(Here. For the beer.)" And he stopped at the door. "Chisswick." He said. And when he opened the door, he stepped out to a different place from where he had entered the bar.

Behind him, an old song began to play, Frank Sinatra's voice caressed the cold night air.

"Fly me to the moon.
Let me play among the stars..."

Tokyo-3, GeoFront
NERV HQ, Central Dogma
4 hours, 26 minutes after Sahaquiel Impact

The three pilots stood in front of a very relieved Captain Katsuragi. They had already changed back into their school uniforms, and had been welcomed by the staff, with heartfelt cheers, patting in their backs, and a long round of applause.

Misato smiled at them. Glad to have them all back safe and sound. No one spoke, glad to simply being together in victory.

Lt. Hyuga's voice interrupted the silence. "Our wireless communications have been restored. We're receiving a message from Commander Ikari in Antarctica."

Misato acknowledged the message. "Connect him here."

Shinji looked at his fellow pilots while the comm crackled with a residual static. Both looked at him. Asuka with a smug smile that said 'We won. Against impossible odds, we won.' While Rei's eyes simply showed her satisfaction at being alive and well. They nodded, and the three pilots looked ahead, at the comms window displaying a simple text, 'Sound Only.'

Misto apologized and assumed full responsibility for the collateral damage caused to Tokyo-3, and the heavy damages the three Evangelion Units had received in the process of catching and killing the Tenth Angel. Shinji listened with half an ear, thinking of what exactly would Commander Ikari say to Misato. Was she about to be fired?

Vice-Commander Fujutsuki waved those concerns away, simply reminding them that the purpose of the EVAs was to fight Angels, and damage was an unescapable fact of life.

"Excellent work, Captain Katsuragi." It was strange to hear Commander Ikari's cold voice congratulating her.

"Thank you, Sir." Her answer was completely professional, so formal it was hard to reconcile with the woman's behavior when she wasn't acting as a NERV official.

"And on that subject, " Commander Ikari continued, "is the pilot of Unit-01 there?"

Shinji tensed, but before he could say anything, Misato answered, "Yes, sir, he is here, along with the other pilots."

"I have received the report. Good work, Shinji."

In other circumstances, those words would have been the very highlight of the year for him. Not anymore. He fumbled for a moment, looking for a way to answer that wouldn't put in evidence his true opinion about Commander Ikari. Thankfully, he then noticed Misato's shadow on the far wall.

It wasn't her shadow anymore, but the shadow of a man with a high collared cloak and a fedora. The white eyes looked at him, and the soft voice of the Phantom Stranger rang in his ears. "You did very well, Shinji. You and your fellow pilots have surpassed my best expectatives. Congratulations."

Shinji's smile ocuppied over half of his face. "T-thank you, Sir." He looked at his colleagues, and stood tall and proud. "We did our best. The three of us." He took their hands in his, and lifted them in victory. Asuka blushed a bit, but nodded at him and stood even straighter. Rei wasn't familiar with the gesture, but followed Asuka's lead.

Misato's shadow nodded, and returned to normal.

"Now, Captain Katsuragi, I'll leave the rest of this in your hands."

"Yes, Sir."

Somewhere in the Antarctic Ocean
Dead Water Zone
Over the Rainbow, Commander Ikari's Cabin.
Spiritual Plane, Same Time

Commander Ikari cut the comms, and leaned back on his seat, satisfied. "Now, the Third Child has gotten a taste of approval. He will do anything to get even a crumb more. He is so fearful of losing that approval, he included the other pilots in his answer." Fujutsuki simply looked at him, keeping his disapproval to himself.

Deadman chuckled. "You didn't hear what I did, you rube. It was the Phantom Stranger's praise what Shinji responded to! Your approval means two rotten beans to him now!" The dead acrobat stretched over the bed, "Well, now I hope you two maladroits won't start one of your shogi games..."

To Deadman's chagrin, that was exactly what they did. "Me and my big, fat mouth..."

Author Notes

I am a big fan of the first The Matrix movie, and also of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer's movies. The Matrix blew my mind the first time I saw it, although my reaction wasn't as extreme as Dr. Canus'; still, I was somewhat disoriented for a couple of minutes after the movie ended.

While The Matrix made me think hard about the nature of reality, Hill and Spencer's movies are simply fun to watch, with their simple plots and exagerated fights, they are very good for a couple of hours of mind rest. I am especially fond of Double Trouble (Non cé due senza quattro, 1984) and Who Finds a Friend Finds a Treasure (Chi trova un amico trova un tesoro, 1981).

I was really disgusted with Sue Dibny's fate in the Identity Crisis miniseries, and having her supposed pregnancy subplot in I Can't Believe it's Not the Justice League at the very same time only made things worse. So, I decided to do things very differently here. I had the idea of giving them a happy family almost since they were first mentioned, and they won't stop at three! Bartholomew, Harold, and Oliver will have a few siblings more!

The Elongated Man needed a rare drink to keep his power, an imported soft drink by the name of Gingold, made from a rare tropical fruit, gingo, which only grew in Yucatán, Mexico.

Ralph had been obsessed with that particular goal since he was a child. He spoke to many rubber men, and eventually noticed that all of them drank Gingold.

He tracked the drink, eventually managed to get some gingo fruit, and distilled the juice in an attempt to turn himself into a rubber man, a contortionist.

Instead of achieving that admittedly modest goal, the gingo elixir unlocked his stretching power. (This was later retconned into him having and active metagen, which was activated by the gingo extract). Sure, not the most glamourous origin, but Ralph has always been more than a bit eccentric.

Most people had a severe allergic reaction to concentrated gingo... including Sue herself. (No idea of how the Gingold factory managed to stay in business...)

I just added the bit about it being a very potent male contraceptive.

One of my favorite scenes in JLU has Green Arrow saying that Supergirl's nightmares were probably caused by her dinner the previous night. Without skipping a beat, Questions says "Peanut butter sandwiches." Supergirl quickly arrives to the right conclusion, "Wait, are you going through my trash?" She asks, quite annoyed. And Question adds, "Puh-lease. I go through everyone's trash."

A really strange piece of info in Evangelion is the name of the guy who is a key part of the official version of Second Impact. A mexican astronomer with a really un-mexican name! Though he actually looks like an actor from the 1940's, whose name I don't recall at the moment…

It has been a good while since John Constantine was mentioned (Chapter 2, to be precise.) So, at Okami Princess suggestion, he will be around for a while.

He first appeared back in Swamp Thing, issue 25, (Jun 1984), though the official first appearance was in Swamp Thing 37. Constantine soon graduated to his own title in the Vertigo imprint, Hellblazer. His visual characterization was based on Sting, who, IIRC, was then the lead singer of The Police. Though I think David Tennant could do a great job with the character, so I'm based my characterization on Tennant.

Constantine is a very unusual character, a hard-boiled occult detective with a tendency to get anybody who gets close to him in terrible trouble, any friends or lovers get into mortal peril; not only they tend to die horrible, but their souls are in grave danger too.

Due to a weird sequence of events, he is the biological parent of Swamp Thing's daughter, Tefe. (who will eventually appear in this story, as a teenaged girl.)

I must admit I'm not really familiar with Constantine's character, so his personality might seem a bit off. About the most I have seen of him was his appearance in the Justice League Dark animated movie, and his guest shots in the Justice League Action cartoon, so I'm basing his characterization on those versions (haven't seen his series yet), plus David Tennant's acting in Doctor Who and in the trailer for Good Omens (I'm really looking forward to watching that miniseries, based on the book by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prattchett.)

Constantine usually smokes a particular brand of cigarettes, Silk Cut; the Fleur de Lys brand doesn't belong to the DCU, but to the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, especifically, to Dark Adventure Radio Theatre, their line of audio-dramas based on Lovecraft's stories. (BTW, these are very good, the CD version even includes some documents based on the stories!)

The Oblivion Bar is neutral ground for the magical comunity in the DCU, it featured heavily as the base of operations of the Shadowpact, a loose group of magical heroes. It first appeared in Day of Vengeance 1 (Jun 2005). In a way, the date breaks my rule of not using DC stuff dated after September the 13th, 2000 (the date of Second Impact), but it is implied in DoV that the bar has been around for a very long time, so I made an exception.

Detective Chimp is a character from the Silver Age of Comics, who first appeared in Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog 4 (Aug, 1952). He was originally a trained animal, and responded to signals of his trainer to make it appear as if he was actually deducting stuff about the public of their circus act. However, he eventually began to act as a real detective, first solving the murder of his trainer, and then acting as mascot of a sheriff, solving several cases along with him.

In Secret Origins 40 (May 1989), he was retconned as having his intelligence augmented by a couple of explorers from a race of microscopic alien chimps (really!) and later (can´t remember the exact issue this was mentioned, I think it was during Wally West run as Flash...) having been further augmented by a trip with Rex the Wonder Dog to the Fountain of Youth in Florida, which also granted him human-level intelligence and the ability to speak any animal or human language.

And last, but not least, Fly Me to the Moon.

Aside from A Cruel Angel Thesis (Zankoku na tenshi no tēze), Fly Me to the Moon is the song most closely associated with Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was written back in 1954 by Bart Howard, and sung by Felicia Sanders in cabarets, though she didn't record it until a few years later, in 1959. The first recording was by Kaye Ballard, in the tv show The Mothers-in-Law.

The version in the Oblivion Bar's jukebox was recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1964, and was closely associated with the Apollo missions to the Moon. It was the first song transmitted from space, when Buzz Aldrin played it in a portable cassette player after stepping on the Moon.

The lyrics in the Sinatra version differ a little bit from the original in a couple of lines.

Fly me to the Moon, let me play among the stars.
Vs
Fly me to the Moon, and let me play among the stars.

And

In other words, Baby; kiss me.
Vs
In other words, Darling, kiss me.

In NGE, the original lyrics were used.