Unstoppable, Part 5
Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I am doing wrong (to correct it).
Note, the parenthesis indicates languages other than Japanese, in this case, English.
Tokyo-3
Japan
GeoFront
Unit-02 lay on the ground, looking almost like a discarded puppet, its pilot unconscious. Several hundreds of feet away, its companion, Unit-01, swayed on its knees, just about to fall. One arm missing completely and the other partially missing. Its pilot struggling to stay conscious, making feeble efforts to go back to a hatch, to return to HQ.
From behind his laced fingers, Commander Gendo Ikari watched the events unfold, his face as unmoved as a statue's. Both pilots out of combat. Soryu unconscious, Rei almost in shock.
There was only one way. Time to proceed with the project.
It was barely a moment of deliberation before his cold voice ordered, "Activate Unit-02's Dummy plug. While EVA-02 still has energy, it can fight, even without a functional pilot."
Dr. Akagi objected. "It's not ready yet, Commander! It has never been tested in field! There was no time after the incident with the Thirteenth Angel!"
"There is no other option, Dr. Akagi. Lt. Ibuki, activatethe Dummy Plug. Now."
"Yes, Sir." Efficiently, Lt. Maya Ibuki called up the Dummy Plug menu, and selected the "Status" option. "Dummy plug activated, establishing neural connection." She also locked Asuka's "backpack" to the Entry Plug seat. 'At least she won't bounce around inside the plug.' Maya thought. Commander Ikari hadn't ordered that, but the young Lieutenant wouldn't let the pilots get hurt if she could do something, and she had the idea Commander Ikari would put the pilots' safety very low in the list of considerations.
Meanwhile, Zeruel floated immobile in the dark confines of the GeoFront. Its pale body and head seemed to glow in the darkness, like a spectre come to judge the sins of the unworthy.
Satisfied, the Angel turned around, and floated serenely towards the enormous pyramid of steel and reinforced lexglass. That was the shortest route to reach its creator. Zeruel's senses detected a shaft under the pyramid, a route wide enough to accommodate its massive volume. Barely. But the important thing about this shaft was that it led almost directly to its creator, Zeruel could use its power to increase the size of the shaft and the tunnel it connected to.
Behind Zeruel, the inert body of Unit-01 finally fell down, like a building deprived of its foundations. In the plug, Wonder Girl finall succumbed to shock, and lost her last vestige of awareness.
Beyond the mutilated giant, four green eyes lit up, and a wet growl emerged from Unit-02's throat as the red Evangelion sat up like a clockwork puppet, crouching low like a panther.
Inside the core, two half-souls twitched in eerie synch.
Feeling their instinctive connection to their host organism cut, and worse, their connection to their daughter, the one wearing the plug-suit and the one in the hospital gown looked at each other, and hissed the emotion both felt.
Anger. Anger. ANGER.
A Possible XXVIst Century
Japan
Near the Ruins of the original Tokyo
"(Sacker?) Captain Atom asked, rubbing his chin in thought. "(Exactly what do you expect me to do?)"
The old snake raised his head, shook his shaggy white mane for a moment, and answered. "(I have not the slightest idea, to be brutally honest.)" He sipped his tea, "(I know you are to help some travelers enter the ruins of Tokyo-3, so they can put right what once went wrong. Tokyo-3 is a cursed place, where death and worse await for the unwary.)"
"(Great.)" Captain Atom shook his head. "(Just great. Just like the Justice League Europe. No such thing as an easy mission. Wait, Tokyo-3? Back then it was only one. Tokyo. Just Tokyo. What happened?)"
"(Unfortunately, I am not privy of that knowledge, but, it is not the only place numbered. I've heard of Berlin-2 and 3, and Sidney-3; I suspect there were, or are, more. However, that is not really pertinent to the rumors, I think.)"
Captain Atom nodded wearily, "(Okay, got it. Back to Amitezazu, what kind of curse? The more intelligence I can work with, the better.)"
"(Amaterasu. The Goddess of the Sun, who brought light and warmth to the caves under the Earth with her holy bronze mirror (1). I'll tell you what I know, it's not much, and it's mostly rumors and hints, the few who have returned from that cursed place were not in full possession of their faculties.)"
The metal encased man shrugged fatalistically, "(Eh, par for the course. Lay it on.)"
"(Rumors are that, Amaterasu dwells deep in the ruins of Tokyo-3 (2).)" Sacker intoned, his voice solemn. "(With three minds she thinks, and with one will she acts. She yearns for the Old World, as it was before the Great Disaster struck the World and turned it into what it is now. She works incessantly to rebuild what once was. With thoughts made of metal and sun and lightning, and a thousand hands that look like nothing any Enhanced has ever seen, except in old machines. She watches with a million eyes of glass and metal, and anyone who wanders into her home is fair prey. Yet she never kills the intruders, no, she does so much worse than just delivering death. In her yearning, she cuts, she sews, and she remakes those she catches in her many hands. Trying to remake the old humans, but her efforts are always in vain. All she manages to do is to mutilate and destroy. Very few of her victims manage to escape, and as they die in horrible pain, they babble about their imprisonment, their mutilation, and their suffering. Amaterasu always speaks. Of the old times. Her words carry the stench of madness, my friend, of despair. Yet she never gives up. Some say she plays with gigantic mechanic men, so thin they look like they have starved for centuries, armored like samurai of legends. And they reach for the full moon with bone thin fingers, trying to scream. Amaterasu speaks of his lover's daughter, who dared to steal the souls of the humans of old, and was punished for her sin. As her pride grew, so she did, until her body broke, and she fell into pieces to the sea. Half of her head still rots in the Bay, barely bones now. Her nine half sisters, who helped her to steal the souls, fared no better, and were turned to stone in the bay, where the wind, the fog and the sea would eat them slowly, until nothing remained.)"
Sacker paused to sip more tea. Then he continued. "(Some say the ghost of her once lover wanders the Earth, either fleeing from her wrath, or looking for a way to restore her sanity. I do not know how true or false anything of what I've told you is, I just know that the travelers and you must enter Tokyo-3 to find your way, so this wretched, wrong, and doomed world can be no more.)"
Captain Atom sat immobile for a few heartbeats, his face contorted into a mask of dread. "(Oh, I can already see where this is going…)" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "(It's the damned Wackyland crap again!)" He stood up and began to pace nervously, mumbling to himself. Sacker couldn't understand over half of what he said.
"(Calm down!)" The old snake hissed, stamping the tip if his tail on the wooden floor. "(Step back and think!)"
With visible effort, Captain Atom stopped, exhaled noisily through the nose, but didn't sat down. "(Sorry, bad experience.)" Shaking his head, he began to pace again, though not so agitated. "(You know, I did and saw many things as a career soldier, saw combate several times. Kill or be killed, prey and hunter, that kind of thing. After I became…)" he gestured to his metal covered body, "(…this! I got involved in more dangerous things. The kind of things you have the world in your hands! Worlds even!)"
Sacker kept silent, letting the human rant.
"(But I think the worst thing I ever saw… was a dead world. )" He put a hand on a bamboo column, as if drawing strength from it. "(I still have nightmares about it.)"
Sacker pushed a half-empty cup of tea towards the human. "(If you want to talk about it, I'll gladly listen, if you don't, I'll respect your silence.)"
He sipped his own tea, letting the human think.
"(Why not? Maybe it will do some good.)" He sat down again. "(Ever heard of the Justice League?)"
"(I have a hinged metal box with those words, traded it for a ring with a lightning bolt, it had a little compartment under the lightning. One of the figures in the box had that same glyph.)"
"(You traded a Flash ring for a lunchbox?)" He answered incredulously.
"(So it seems. It was a good trade, I think.)"
"(Well, back before that Great Disaster of yours, there were heroes like no others, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and others. They formed a group to fight enemies too big for them to face alone.)"
"(I've heard those names, yes. Go on, please.)"
"(They traveled all over the world sometimes. And some times, enemies from beyond showed up here on Earth.)" He looked up at the mountains. "(There are many worlds in the cosmos, Sacker. Some are like ours, some are very different. In one of them, the villains killed the world with atomic bombs. A few heroes survived and came to Earth to try to destroy our own bombs. Didn't go well (3). Anyway, turns out the villains, the Extremists, were gunning for Earth (4), and for a little while, they ruled, threatening to drop the bombs on us.)"
He gulped the rest of his tea. "(To not drag the tale too much, turns out my team and I spent a few hours in a creepy amusement park managed by human-like robots, and found out the Extremists were robots too. With the help of their creator, we deactivated them and returned the bombs to their places. I never could go to an amusement park after that.)"
"(And now… I have to.)" he sat back down. "(Managed by a computer even crazier than the ones in Wackyworld. Those were just… like people too eager to please. This Amaterasu sounds like the Joker programmed it!)"
Sacker tilted his head, Captain Atom explained, "(Murderous clown with a sick sense of humor. Killed hundreds of people before the Great Disaster.)"
"(I… see…)"
Tokyo-3
Japan
GeoFront
Unit-02 moved like a monster from a movie, somehow managing to stalk its prey in uncanny silence. It crept closer and closer to the Fourteenth Angel's back.
Commander Ikari watched with uncaring eyes. "Lt. Ibuki, prepare to activate Unit-01's Dummy Plug. Turn control of Unit-01 to Lt. Hyuga before it engages. Lt. Hyuga, once you have control, guide Unit-01 to the closest hatch. I want it back into its cage as soon as possible. Further damage will be unacceptable."
"Yes, Sir." Both Bridge Bunnies echoed, neither really happy about it.
Behind Lt. Ibuki, Dr Ritsuko Akagi watched the readings of both Dummy Plugs, alert for any deviations from their programmed actions and responses. Major Katsuragi did the same, watching 's screen.
"Plug 02 in stalk/attack mode." Lt. Ibuki reported. "Plug 01 in retreat mode, activation in 6 seconds. Hyuga, be ready to take control in 3, 2, 1, mark."
"Received. Taking control now. Activation mark, 4, 3, 2, 1. Dummy Plug 01 activated. Retreat mode active. Establishing course to hatch 4. Unit-01 in retreat." Lt. Hyuga reported with calm voice.
Lt. Ibuki reported next, "Plug 02 at CCQ range to the Angel. Ready to engage the enemy."
Zeruel hovered in front of NERV HQ. The skull mask it had for a face tilted down, examining the pyramid. Its eyes lit up with eldritch white light.
At Central Dogma, NERV staff recoiled in fear, as the face of the enemy filled the holo-screen. As if fearing the giant would hear her voice, Lt. Ibuki whispered, "Unit-02 attacking the enemy."
United States of America
Metropolis
Bakerline Burough
Planet Krypton
"(Here you go, fellas.)" A middle aged woman, dressed as Wonder Woman (5) put the plates on the table. She did her best to present a good face, but it was clear her heart was not in it. Her costume didn't fit her as well as it did twenty years before, but it had been lovingly cared for. In any other restaurant, the sight of customer servers would be Stranger but Planet Krypton was a superhero themed place. Once it had been an international chain, but not even the legendary business savvy of his co-founder, Maxwell Lord (6), managed to keep it going after Second Impact, and the disappearance of the other founder, Booster Gold.
"(Thank you, Margo.)" Jimmy Olsen said with a quick smile. He had been patronizing this particular Planet Krypton since its grand opening. Margo had been there at the beginning. She left when she married, and returned when her children left the house. She smiled back at him and to his companion, Perry White. And returned to her place behind the bar, to wait for somebody else to arrive.
"(Not rush hour, I see.)" Perry said, grabbing his American Way sandwich. (7)
"(It's never rush hour here, Perry. But strange as it is, this is the last place in Metropolis I can see Superman's shield. Apart of, well, you know… the Memorial Park (8).)" He opened his Dial H for Hoagie, and added some ketchup. "Heck, this is the last place that remembers them in all Metropolis."
"(And… it's dying too…)" Perry said, never one to mince words.
"(Struggling. In part, that's why I get my lunch here every day. I try to help keep it above the water.)"
"(Don't you think it's tacky?)"
Olsen laughed. "(Oh, yes. But it's part of its charm, at least for me.)" He sighed, took a bite of his hoagie, and thought while he chewed. "(Big Blue told me he found it funny. If he wasn't offended, why should I? Remember Guy Gardner (9)?)"
"(Wish I didn't… What a disgrace to Green Lantern.)" Perry sneered, "(Don't mention that Rambo-wannabe while Im eating, will ya?)"
"(Okay, I just wanted to say he had his own business for a while, he copied the Planet Krypton idea, but more like a sports bar instead of a family restaurant. I'll shut up now.)"
Perry glared at his employee. "(Well, back to better matters, what did you get?)"
"(Nothing. Luthor is clean. I haven't found even a whiff of his old tricks. No disgruntled employees, no angry former lovers, no OSHA infractions. Heck, he has been funding charities, scholarships and urban renovations all over the country. And the most interesting part is that his two terms as President are, in balance, the best terms we've had in decades. His policies managed to weather the worst economic damage from Second Impact. He really did turn his way. I don't know what happened after he was shot, but whatever it was, it scared him straight.)"
"Hrumph." Perry snorted. "(Must have seen a Devil he couldn't buy.)" He shook his head. "(Mercy's (10) death, perhaps? She was his right hand woman, after all.)"
"( I don't think they were really close. Not like normal people.)" Olsen drank a couple of sips of his Green Lantern Lemonade. "(My theory is that he got some brain damage. That bullet might have missed his brain by a hair, but it must have shaken something loose.)"
Perry shrugged, "(A couple of months in the hospital must have been really well spent.)"
"(At least Pete Ross (11) kept his head cold as acting President.)" Olsen kept working on his lunch.
"(He had good advisors.)" Perry noted. "(And was willing to listen to good advice. Even Luthor's before he was released to the White House.)"
"(What happened to the shooter? He was sent to Stryker's (12), wasn't he?)"
Perry thought for a moment. "(Yeah. Was in solitary for a couple of years. The other prisoners had some grudge with him.)"
"(Think I should try to get an interview?)"
"(You'd need a good medium. He was killed in a riot. Somebody managed to get to his cell, and shot him through the feeding slot.)"
"(Damn!)"
"(It was kept secret for years. I got word from one of the guards.)"
"(Another dead end, then.)"
Both finished their lunches in silence. Olsen signaled for the check. He left a generous tip for Margo, and paid at the register.
Tokyo-3
Japan
GeoFront
In a berserker rage, EVA-02 pounced at the giant. The Angel, trusting its thoughness, had deactivated its AT Field. The red Evangelion grabbed the shoulders, howling in fury.
In Unit-02's core, both halves of Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu raged impotently. Had they been able to express their shared rage, the Angel would have recoiled in actual fear.
"What the Hell?" Dr. Akagi exclaimed, as Unit-02 seemed to violently kiss the barely there neck of the Angel.
"Lt. Ibuki, release the jaw restraints." Commander Ikari almost smiled behind his laced fingers.
Maya obeyed, and EVA-02 repeated the movement, this time, it bit the Angel's flesh. The berserker pulled its head, ripping a chunk of the Angel. Zeruel howled in pain, surprise, and outrage. Unit-02 was banished by a growing series of glowing octagons. As it fell to the ground, it rolled over itself, and finally, it managed to straighten up itself, crouching low like a hunting panther. Inside, the energy reserve counter ran towards zero, without no one to see it. It's pilot, still unconscious, was being shaken with each movement. Maya's foresight had saved Huntress from terrible injuries. Still, even with the cushioning effect of ionized LCL, her arms' movement would be translated into pain later on.
Some distance away, Unit-01 had managed to stand up. Wobbling on its feet, it walked unsteadily towards the closest hatch. Lt. Hyuga opened it remotely, making sure there was a platform for Unit-01 to stand on. The Dummy Plug program, though incomplete, was smart enough to lean its back against the platform cradle. Remembering the emergency measures during the Fifth Angel's attack, Lt. Hyuga fixed the restraints on the battered giant, and dropped the platform down the pit, turning the magnetic brakes to stop the whole thing from crashing at the bottom.
"Unit-01 back in the cages, Commander Ikari." He reported.
"Damage report, Lt. Hyuga. Dr. Akagi, repairs estimate. Time, cost and parts availability." Gendo Ikari kept his eyes fixed on the gigantic screen. If Unit-02, controlled by the Dummy Plug, managed to destroy the Angel, the pilots would be completely superfluous.
Tokyo-3
Japan
GeoFront
Unit-00´s Plug
In the Entry Plug of Unit-00, Shinji Ikari, AKA Robin, fiddled with the controls. Finally, he managed to convince the Entry Plug that it was outside an EVA Unit, and activated the emergency comm unit.
He didn't dare to transmit. A distraction in the middle of combat could prove fatal to his two fellow pilots. So, he listened.
"Unit-01 back in the cages, Commander Ikari." That was Lt. Hyuga! 'What happened? I Can still feel ground tremors from the combat! Was Unit-01 incapacitated?"
"Damage report, Lt. Hyuga. Dr. Akagi, repairs estimate. Time, cost and parts availability." Commander Ikari's cold voice. 'The damage must be grave if they ordered a withdrawal in combat. Asuka is fighting alone!'
'Rei can't fight anymore, and Asuka is alone!' He gasped, as his blood turned to ice in his veins. He couldn't imagine a worst situation.
But Wildcat had included Murphy's Law in his teachings. In the bottom of his stomach, Shinji knew that somehow, things would be even worse.
Author Notes
(1) Certainly not in line with Japanese mythology. The old stories got mixed with events and places in Tokyo-3.
(2) I am referencing QuantumBranching's map of Kamandi's World. The entry about Japan aligned eerily with my own ideas for what lurks under Tokyo-3 in the XXVIth Century.
(3) The Champions of Angor, the original version was featured in Justice League of America issue 87 (Feb, 1971). They were known then as the Assemblers, and the characters are clear expys of several Avengers, from Marvel Comics. However, the version I'm using for this story debuted in Justice League issue 2 (Jun, 1987)
(4) Captain Atom is referencing The Extremist Vector, a five-part story that ran in Justice League Europe, issues 15 to 19 (Jun to Oct 1990). It's one of my favorite stories, and I highly reccomend it. The Extremists themselves are expys of several Marvel villains, though those particular characters were not part of the same group.
(5) Not the same person from the Kingdom Come epilogue, just the same custome.
(6) Maxwell Lord IV was the man behind the version of the Justice League that was founded after Darkseid and his minions tried to set the population of the world against the heroes. Under the instruction of a New Genesis computer he found by accident, Lord became a billionaire, and manipulated events to reorganize the Justice League so the computer could use them to, somehow, conquer the world. A sudden attack of conscience on part of Lord thwarted those plans, but he was gravely wounded. His sacrifice convinced the Leaguers to keep Lord as a liaison, manager, organizer, and general man-behind-the-cortain. He had a minor super-power, basically, he was super-convincing, though using this form of low-level telepathy caused him immediate nose-bleeding. Maxwell Lord debuted in Justice League issue 1 (May, 1987). For this story, the events related to Infinity Crisis (and their direct background retconnings) never happened. Max took over Planet Krypton after Blue Beetle and Booster Gold disappeared, keeping the franchise alive. Though diminishing clientele and earnings have forced him to close or refranchise most places. Metropolis has one of the few still working. Most of the superhero parafernalia Planet Krypton had is now stored in secure warehouses.
(7) Planet Krypton's menu is full of references to superheroes. I took all the names from the Kingdom Come miniseries.
(8) Originally, Superman's Tomb.
(9) Guy Gardner was the first chosen replacement for Hal Jordan, in case he was incapacitated. He debuted in Green Lantern issue 59 (Mar, 1968). Back then, he was quite normal in character, but after spending several years in coma, his brain was damaged, and became an ultra-conservative caricature. Eventually, he developed shape-shifting powers, renamed himself as Warrior, and opened a bar very similar in theme to Planet Krypton, Warrior's, with first appeared in Guy Gardner: Warrior issue 25 (Nov, 1994).
(10)Mercy Graves, she was Luthor's choffeaur, general assistant, and undercover enforcer. She debuted in animated form in Superman, in the episode "A Little Piece of Home", in 1996. She debuted in the main DCU in Detective Comics issue 735 (Aug, 1999).
(11)Pete Ross is one of Clark Kent's friends from Smallville. The pre-Crisis version discovered Superboy's secret by accident, and used to cover for Clark's disappearances with plausible excuses. Superboy didn't know about this back then. The version relevant for this story didn't know about Clark being Superman. He debuted in Adventures of Superman issue 436 (Jan, 1988).
(12)Striker's Island Penitentiary, a maximum security prison. It's located in Metropolis' West River south of New Troy. It's mostly equipped for human criminals, though it can handle some superpowered individuals in special,cells. It debuted in Superman, issue 9 (Sept, 1987).