It had come to rest on the seabed fifteen years before, hidden under hundreds of meters of silt and debris, away from prying eyes. The shockwave from when the First Angel had "splashed" the Earth – shattering Antarctica, vaporizing its ice sheet, and knocking the planet off its axis – had carried the bus-sized burgundy stone from the South Pole over the equator. Eventually it had come to rest approximately four hundred kilometers east-southeast of Old Tokyo.

Over the years it slowly, imperceptibly grew. The rich red light within the round stone shined a little brighter with each centimeter the stone expanded. On the day Gendo Ikari awoke to his second life the stone was huge, dwarfing most of the skyscrapers that still graced the Earth’s broken face. The greatest change, however, was within the stone. Against the red light, protected within the rock, was visible the hazy form of a hominid embryo.

For fifteen years it had grown and now – today – was its birth day.

It began with a tremor, the rock quaking from within. The dark giant within the rock flexed its body, uncurling from a fetal position. Energies unknown to man flowed through the embryo, causing it to tear and morph into something… otherworldly. It was born with a scream.

Around the newborn, the red rock dissolved away into its component elements, and the silt covering the rock rushed down to fill the new, irregular space. The creature would have none of that. Flexing its mind, the creature pulled itself up through the muddy cloud and into the water-scattered light of the sun.

The creature knew at the moment of its birth what it had to do. Turning about, the creature headed for the origin of the light it saw shine through all things transitory. Only there could it achieve Completion.

Only there would it, the Angel Sachiel, no longer be alone.

-*-

 

TAKING SIGHTS

Chapter 03 – I Came, I Saw, I...

Written by: Lavanya Six

(Please don’t sue)

 

-*-

 

Kozo Fuyutsuki was troubled.

He had gone to bed troubled. His sleep had been troubled. He had woken this morning troubled. Fuyutsuki knew why, yet he couldn’t bring himself to talk about it. Really, who could he talk about Gendo Ikari with?

"No one," he said to himself, alone in his private office. Which is great for me because ‘Gendo Ikari’ and ‘trouble’ go together about as well as ‘thermonuclear’ and ‘war’.

Kozo set down his pen, ignoring the ever-urgent, never-ending steam of paperwork that flowed across his desk. He took a breath, exhaled, and turned over the same problem in his mind once again.

Gendo Ikari. When Kozo got down to it, Gendo Ikari was starting to act out of character. It had started with the Incident with Unit-00 and his outburst with Rei. At first, Kozo allowed himself to dismiss the event as a random humane act, probably rooted more in Gendo’s feelings for the woman Rei resembled than in the girl herself.

But that had only been the start of it! In the thirteen days since then Gendo had spent more time at Rei’s side than he had… well, ever. And they were talking. Rei wouldn’t reveal to Fuyutsuki what the two discussed. He doubted Dr. Akagi, the only other living person ‘in’ on Rei’s secret, had any better idea. Not that Akagi would tell him even if she knew. Now more than ever, Ritsuko Akagi stunk of pettiness when the subject of Rei Ayanami was brought up.

Ikari had also started keeping long hours. Kozo knew he was working onsomething in his personal laboratory, which in itself was unusual. Gendo had left the work of science behind after the two men had finished their collaboration on the design and production of Rei. Gendo wouldn’t tell him what his new project was; only promising Fuyutsuki that he would be told everything in time. This on top of his supposed revised Angel scenario!

But Gendo’s action with Shinji made the least sense.

Captain Katsuragi had relayed to him the events of yesterday’s meeting in a private, late-night phone call. Afterwards Kozo was left with two conclusions: either Ikari had decided to take a more hands-on approach in manipulating Shinji in his grand plan… or he was finally genuinely trying to do right by the boy in an impossible situation.

Then again, with Gendo Ikari, why not both?

Still, it all amounted to a troubling set of circumstances. Kozo suspected he wasn’t the only one to notice. Dr. Akagi had been incensed after Ikari’s performance with the Captain yesterday, especially after watching him spending more time with Rei since the Unit-00 incident. Worse, SEELE’s moles in NERV were undoubtedly monitoring Ikari’s unorthodox actions. And if they were t-

Kozo’s eyes caught on the clock. He cursed at the time. His introspection had distracted him and now he was going to be late for his meeting with the UN.

At least it hadn’t happened while he was driving. Oncoming traffic didn’t accept apologies. "Ikari, you’re going to be the death of me."

 

-*-

 

 

"We have crossed the Absolute Borderline. The Third Child’s synchronization rate is… 43.5!"

Dr. Akagi hovered over Lt. Ibuki’s shoulder. "Harmonics are normal. No abnormalities," she said, reading off the screen. "It’s working!"

A cheer rippled through Experiment Station-3. Misato clapped her blonde friend on the back. "Good work, Ritsu." She looked over to Lt. Hyuga. "How do Shinji’s vitals look?"

"Elevated heart rate and blood pressure, but well within the green zone."

Misato picked up a mike from the console. "Shinji, are you okay?"

The intercom buzzed. "I feel like I’m breathing loogies."

Several of the technicians chuckled. Misato added wryly, "Be a man and tough it out."

Doctor Akagi got on the line. "You’re doing fine, Shinji. You’ll adjust to the LCL. We’re going to run a few tests on our end, when we’re done we’ll have you try some basic movements. In the meanwhile why don’t you explore the control interface? We’ve disabled it on our end so don’t worry about accidentally causing your Eva to do jumping jacks."

"Yes, Dr. Akagi." Then the line closed.

"Maya, bring up the K7 tutorial on Shinji’s HUD."

"Yes, Sempai."

Through the safety glass, Misato studied the inert form of Evangelion Unit-01. It really was a hell of a thing to look at. No wonder everyone called it the Oni System. "We’ve got a weapon."

"That we do," agreed Ritsuko, not looking up from over Maya’s shoulder. "The only question remaining is if Shinji can use it."

"He’ll have to." Captain Katsuragi sipped from the coffee cup in her hands. She had barely gotten any sleep after yesterday’s recruitment blitz. "Even if the First was healthy I don’t think we could risk passing Shinji up. He synched on his first try! It took Rei Ayanami seven months to do that and he’s already outstripped her synch ratio by fifteen points."

"It’s really quite amazing. The Second didn’t even get this high a score until last November."

Misato smiled. "Well, I’ll just have to throw him a little party tonight to celebrate."

"You aren’t going to cook, are you? And by cook, I mean poison. And by poison, I mean kill."

A vein throbbed on Misato’s forehead. "Watch it, Ritsuko! I know where your cats sleep."

The doctor paged Shinji. "We’re finished with the initial tests. You should have control again. We’ll start with moving the right arm."

"Yes, ma’am."

 

-*-

 

 

Rei finished her recitation.

"That was excellent," said Gendo. "I think you’re ready."

"Yes, sir."

"With any luck, I won’t have to worry about Shinji killing me and then having him tear out his own eyes."

"That was a little joke."

"..."

"Oh."

"I have to go now. Unit-01 is undergoing its first synchronization test and I need to put in a good word." He stood up from his seat next to the girl’s bed. "Barring any unforeseen delay I’ll visit again tomorrow morning at the usual time."

"Commander?"

"Yes?"

"What would she think of me?"

Gendo lied without hesitation. "She would have loved you."

 

-*-

 

 

Shinji couldn’t scrub deep enough. That foul yellow liquid had seeped into each and every pore. He could swear he even felt a thin film of it coating the back of his eyeballs. And I thought vomiting it out would be the worst part.

After a long, satisfying hot shower, Shinji dressed. He wore the old school uniform he had come to Tokyo-3 in, though sometime during the synch test someone had gone to the trouble of cleaning it. Misato was waiting for him outside the locker room.

"You were in there for quite a while. You weren’t doing anything naughty in the shower, were you?" teased the Captain.

"W-w-w-w-what! No! Why would you think that?"

"A likely story." The woman offered forward two beverages. "I thought you could use something to calm your nerves but I wasn’t sure what you drank, so I got you a Coke and a coffee."

"Uh, thank you very much, Captain Katsuragi, but I’m not very thirsty right now."

"Oh. I suppose that makes sense." She tossed the cup of coffee into a nearby trash can and cracked open the soda to drink herself. "And, please, call me Misato. We’re going to be living together, right? Besides, ‘Captain Katsuragi’ makes me feel old."

"I don’t think you’re old, Miss Misato."

"Thanks, Shinji!"

"You must be pretty good to be in charge of the fight against the Angels. I mean, they wouldn’t trust just any thirtysomething to run a war!"

"Twenty-nine," snarled the raven-haired woman.

"Oh! I’m s-s-sorry. You just look so mature."

"Shinji?"

"Yes, Miss Misato?"

"Stop digging."

"Yes, Miss Misato."

The Captain downed the last of her soda in one long chug, then crunched the can and tossed it nonchalantly over her shoulder. She smiled at Shinji. It was oddly reassuring to him, almost motherly. "You haven’t seen too much of the Geo-Front yet. Let’s take a walk and I’ll show you a few nice spots. We can hit the Skytop Café for a late lunch; it’s a heck of a view."

The pair started walking to the elevator at the corridor’s end.

"I’m not really that hungry."

"You’re a growing boy! You should eat something before we start your combat training. What if you get hungry during the test? You’d only have the MREs in the Entry Plug’s emergency kit."

"MREs?"

Misato called the elevator. "Trust me, you don’t want to know."

The car arrived. The doors opened.

Gendo Ikari stared out.

"F-Father."

"Shinji," he grunted. "Captain, I need to speak with my son." Misato was presented with a sealed envelope. "Take this letter to the Vice-Commander. It concerns your orientation to NERV. You will find him in the G-77 teleconference room."

"Yes, sir."

With that the two Ikaris were left alone with one another.

"So," his Father said.

Shinji gulped.

"Let’s eat."

 

-*-

 

 

Despite a lack of hunger and a growing queasiness at his Father’s company, Shinji tore into his sandwich. He didn’t know what was slapped between the two slices of bread – his father had simply ordered two of the Skytop Café’s daily special – but he wasn’t mindful of the taste. Shinji just wanted not to have to look his Father in the eye.

Why does he stare straight ahead when he chews? Who does that!

Not Shinji. He knew meals were meant to be eaten with averted eyes and minimal conversation. His father wasn’t so mindful. Gendo Ikari lectured him on the operations of NERV and the history of Tokyo-3 without saying anything meaningful. The man who had visited him the previous night was gone, replaced by someone who wouldn’t talk about them.

He sighed.

Maybe, Shinji thought to himself, there isn’t anything left to talk about.

"I apologize."

Shinji blinked.

When he looked up from his sandwich, his father’s attention was off towards a window that looked down onto the floor of the Geo-Front. "I know this must be difficult for you; leaving your old life to come here."

"N-no, not really."

His father still wasn’t looking at him. "You must have questions about NERV, the Evangelion."

Shinji was still coming to terms with the idea of eating lunch with his father, let alone doing so in an upside-down skyscraper suspended over a real Geo-Front. Life, he realized in a moment of insight, was strange.

Before he could stop himself, Shinji asked, "I want to know more about my mother."

Gendo Ikari frowned, sending a bolt of fear through Shinji. But when the old man spoke it was in a neutral tone. "And what do you wish to know?"

"I, uh, want to know more about her… work," he lied.

His father rewarded him with a curt nod. "Your mother was a brilliant geneticist. The finer detail of her work is beyond my own understanding of the subject. Fuyutsuki could tell you more." He paused. "Have you met the Vice-Commander yet?"

"No, Father."

"I’ll arrange time for you two to talk after things settle down here. Fuyutsuki knew Yui longer than I."

Shinji was amazed. "He knew my mother?"

"He was her doctorate advisor at Kyoto University. They were friends."

Had he been older or more experienced in the ways of people, Shinji might have caught onto the slight tone of annoyance in his father’s voice in that last word.

"All the fundamental work and engineering done on the Evangelions was by your mother and her team. Unit-01 was her final project. It was her hope for Unit-01 to usher in a new age for mankind." His father finally turned to look at him. Shinji tried not to flinch. "I think she would have approved of you piloting it."

Shinji digested that idea.

"What do you remember about your mother?"

"N-not much," he admitted. "I don’t even remember her face."

His father grunted. "I’m afraid I can’t help you. No photos of Yui remain. I had them all burned after her death." He shifted in his seat. "It was a decision made in haste."

"Oh."

"I prefer to remember your mother in this place." He gestured to the vista spread out below them. "In her work."

Shinji didn’t say anything.

"To be honest, it is… hard for me to look at you sometimes, Shinji. There’s too much of your mother in you. Especially in your eyes."

"Fa-"

But before Shinji could say more the cell phone Misato had given him began to ring. His father said, "That will be Doctor Akagi. They’ll be waiting for you in the battle simulator." He stood up. "We should do this again. Once things of have settled down."

"Y-yes."

 

-*-

 

 

Nearly two kilometers below the Ikaris another conversation was taking place.

"An Eva? Wait… no… it’s – oh my sweet God." Misato took a half-step back. "It’s the First Angel. Adam." She snapped towards the Vice-Commander. "What the HELL is the First Angel doing here? Or doing alive for that matter?"

"This isn’t the First Angel, Captain. This is the Second Angel, codenameLilith. And don’t worry, it’s quite inactive. All it’s ever done is bleed. We found it here fifteen years ago, right before the Second Impact, when we first identified the sphere that we eventually retrofitted into the Geo-Front."

"Retrofitted?"

Fuyutsuki gestured to everything around them. "This chamber, the whole thing? It wasn’t carved out of rock. It was already here. The Geo-Front sphere is of artificial origin and defies meaningful analysis. The layers of debris that filled the Geo-Front, on the other hand, allowed us to estimate the sphere’s minimum age. The topmost layers were relatively modern by geological standards. As the excavation continued the rocky debris grew older. We only excavated three kilometers of the total sphere for NERV’s facilities, not even a fourth of the total, but the deepest core samples we retrieved from eight kilometers down were radiocarbon dated to be on the order of four-point-five billion years old."

"That’s impossible."

"Yet here we are." Fuyutsuki directed Misato’s gaze to the crucified giant. "And so is she."

Misato eyed the pale creature with contempt. "Why not destroy it?"

"The MAGI don’t think we can," he emphasized. "Besides, why would we? Lilith continues to give us more information on Angel physiology than all our other sources put together. Besides, you should appreciate her. She’s our flypaper."

Misato caught on. "Draw the Angels to one location so you don’t have to fight them elsewhere. I figured NERV had something to attract them to Tokyo-3, otherwise why build the Evas for such limited range?" She glared at the giant. "I just didn’t figure it was something like that."

"We’re working on the power issue, but, yes, your analysis is correct."

"I understand the need to use the Second Angel as bait, but what happens when we’ve defeated all the other Angels? You’re not seriously suggesting we let that… thing… stay here forever?"

"I have no idea what we’ll do with it once the Angels are dead," the Vice-Commander said. "Hopefully we’ll be able to get rid of it some day, but for now I’ll settle for averting Third Impact." Fuyutsuki gave another glance at the white giant. The sight of it never failed to move him. "If we can’t kill it and NERV has to guard the Second Angel until the end of history… then that’s what we’ll do."

"The end of history, huh?"

Fuyutsuki decided not to elaborate.

 

-*-

 

 

Gendo Ikari was nursing a much-needed drink when the Vice-Commander strode into his office. Putting his glasses back on, Gendo prepared for the lecture he felt sure his old friend was about to unleash.

"Kozo, did the meeting with the Captain go well?"

"Oh," hissed the Vice-Commander. "It went very well. The Captain took the Second Angel rather well, all things considered. She was, however, thoroughly appalled when I showed her the dumping ground for the Evangelion prototypes!" Fuyutsuki found himself starting to shake with rage. "While I was at it, I might have just as well shown her the Dummy Plug Production Plant, if only to make it three for three on NERV’s vital secrets!"

"Actually, I want to hold off on that one for just a little while."

"Oh? Just for a little while, huh?"

"Yes." Gendo sipped his drink. "Considering her hatred of the Angels, the Captain needs to start thinking of the First Child as a human being before we tell her about Rei’s parentage. It’s just common sense."

Fuyutsuki reached across the Commander’s desk and slapped the drink out of his hands. The glass flew in a long arc and shattered several feet away on the floor. The Vice-Commander got into Gendo’s face and screamed, "THIS! ISN’T! FUNNY!"

Ikari sighed and adjusted his glasses. "If you have a problem with my command decisions, Professor, I suggest you share them with me like a civilized person. Didn’t you use to tell me that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent?"

"Don’t make me laugh," snorted Fuyutsuki.

"If you have something to say, say it."

"FINE!" shouted the Vice-Commander. "God, where do I even START? You spend all your free time either with Rei or cooped up alone in that lab of yours. You’re throwing away YEARS of conditioning Rei to be unemotional and antisocial by having her play house with Shinji. You spill vital secrets to a woman who has yet to prove herself as a competent war strategist, let alone as someone worthwhile of little things like loyalty and trust. And, somehow, you know exactly when the Angels will return." Kozo leaned in close, putting his nose an inch away from his superior’s. "Ikari, I want an explanation for your actions, and don’t screw around with me!"

Gendo Ikari, expression neutral, stared into his friend’s eyes for a moment before beginning with a question. "Fuyutsuki, what do you think Yui would have wanted?"

The former professor was taken aback. "…what?"

Gendo Ikari stood up. Kozo let him go. NERV’s Commander walked over to the window-wall that gave a stunning view of the Geo-Front’s garden surface. His gaze, however, was not fixed on this world. "Everything we’ve... I’ve... done, do you think Yui would have approved?"

"Mostly? Yes." He explained, "It helps me to remember that even Yui’s hands weren’t exactly clean of this business. She knew sacrifices needed to be made for the good of mankind."

Gendo just stared out the window.

"What is this all about? And don’t dodge my original question."

"Yui’s accident," he said. "It wasn’t an accident."

He figured it out. He knows. He knows I knew. Oh God. Fuyutsuki clamped down on his face, letting only a hint of surprise and worry slip past his mask. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

When the Commander stayed silent for a long while, Fuyutsuki just waited. The old man could feel the hairs on his arms prickle. Something was about to happen, something important. But when he finally did speak, Gendo Ikari didn’t make a smug proclamation or a vague quip. Instead he slumped forward, deflated, and placed one gloved hand against the glass wall for support.

What the hell?

Ikari’s voice was wet with bitterness. "It’s all for nothing, Professor."

"Gendo," Fuyutsuki said, slowly, "please talk to me."

So he did.

 

-*-

 

 

The JSSDF cruiser Kaga picked up the first signal at a quarter past six. SONAR registered a large unidentified anomaly moving west towards the Japanese mainland. This puzzled the crew. After some time checking and rechecking the ship’s electronics, they decided that the anomaly was no error. The ship forwarded their preliminary findings to the JSSDF Naval Command in Matsushiro. In the meanwhile, Kaga dispatched two helicopters for reconnaissance.

 

-*-

 

 

Gendo pushed the bourbon over to Kozo. "You think I’m insane."

"Admittedly, it’s a hard story to believe." The old man poured himself another glass, filling up well above the point he customarily cut it off. Gendo hadn’t seen him indulge like that since Yui’s wake. "But I don’t think you’re lying and I don’t think you’re crazy." Kozo shot him a glare. "And no, before you make some quip, I’m not just saying that so I can get you away from the gun you keep in your desk."

Gendo sniggered. He was a little drunk. "I’ve thought about that a lot lately."

"That you’re crazy? Or about using the gun?"

"Both." He tilted his glass, enjoying the soothing clink of the half-melted ice within. "Fuyutsuki, it’s a hell of thing to die."

Stop it! Don't think about that!

He rubbed his brow. "There’s part of me that can’t… won’t… accept what happened; maybe because it’s too awful to contemplate. I can only really deal with it in a circular fashion. I think about Yui. I think about Shinji. I think about Rei. I don’t think about everything, how they all fit together. That’s too much."

Kozo didn’t say anything. He just sipped his drink.

Gendo blabbered on. "Third Impact was a colossal failure. I was there, Fuyutsuki. I died but I still saw it – Instrumentality. Completion. Everything we ever wanted, just with my son in charge. Too bad he was insane."

He jostled the ice a bit more. It was such a nice sound.

Kozo asked, "What exactly do you mean by… insane?"

"Exactly that. He lost it. Snapped. You should have heard his scream. I always knew he had a set of lungs on him. Yui said so when he took his first breath. Bet she didn’t think he’d go out the same way." He took a long drink. "Mmm. Anyway, after that the AT-Fields went down and the whole world joined him. Screaming, that is. It’s a hell of a thing to listen to a whole world to die, to be a part of the choir."

When his friend didn’t comment, Gendo glanced over. The look on Kozo’s face sobered him a bit. "I’m not crazy."

"Like I said, I don’t think you are. You’re the sanest person I’ve ever known, bar Yui. You’ve just… been through a traumatic experience."

"Yes."

"I just wish we knew why you’re here."

"I’ve thought about that myself. A lot. I can’t figure it out. Maybe something happened during the final stage of Instrumentality. If it did, I don’t remember. After my… death… I was a little confused. Having my soul reaped along with three billion other people didn’t help matters.

"I remember a few fragments. Shinji screaming. The Giant of Light. Unit-02’s carcass. Flying over the Earth surrounded by millions of tiny red lights – souls, I think they were. Unit-01 consumed by Lilith. Then… nothing. Nothing at all. The next thing I know I’m waking up in Experiment Station #2 and Unit-00’s going berserk."

Kozo took away Gendo’s drink and its clinking ice. The two men locked eyes. "What are you planning?"

"What makes you think I’m planning anything?"

"Aside from the fact you’re you? How about everything odd you’ve done since you started… started over? Let’s call it that."

Gendo sighed. "Sorry to disappoint you, old man, but my plan’s shit."

"I doubt that very much."

"You don’t know enough to doubt anything. I’ve spent every waking moment since Yui’s… disappearance… working towards being reunited with her. I built contingencies into contingencies. You can’t do what I do and not worry about bumps in the road. You prepare for anything. Just look at the Children. Or Doctor Akagi. You think people end up like that – fitting perfectly into the scenario – without conditioning?"

"I’m well aware of what we did to the Soryu girl… and of your affairs with the Doctors Akagi."

Gendo missed his ice. "Well, after a certain point you can’t change people. I’m not even sure I can change myself. And even if I can, what can I do? Really? It’s just all so… inevitable. I’ve made a perfect, inescapable trap for myself with my damn plan. There’s no rational way out, Kozo, except maybe sweet death."

"I never thought I’d see the day – Gendo Ikari wallowing in self-pity."

"What? No."

"Yes you are." Kozo leaned towards him. "You can’t face it, can you?"

"And what would that be, old man?"

"That you were wrong."

He snorted. "Fine. I was wrong. See? I just disproved your hypothesis."

"No. You’re just running away from the issue. Why are you laughing?"

"It’s nothing. Go on."

"Gendo, I’m about as close to a friend as you have in this world. I’ve known you for the better part of a decade and a half now. I think I know a little something about your character." Kozo pointed one of those bony old man fingers at his face. "See, you can only do one thing at a time, and you need that one thing as a focus to obsess on. When I first met you, it was all about getting ahead. You were just some street thug going all out for a university degree. Then when it got that you couldn’t find a job with your precious prize you fell back to being the best street thug with a doctorate there could be. And then you met Yui."

"Shut up, Fuyutsuki."

"Yui never said a bad word about you, Gendo. She trusted you in a way she never did with me. And when I started working here I saw why. You lived for Yui. GEHIRN came second. Hell, sometimes I wondered if the only reason you got into bed with SEELE was because Yui was so deep in that muck already."

"I’m serious, Fuyutsuki."

"You were also a good father, as hard as that is to remember."

Except for that time I was watching Shinji and he almost drowned in the bathtub. Or when I found him playing with that can of bug spray. God, Yui never would have forgiven me if she knew how terrible I was at being a father. "I will hit you and break your brittle old man face."

"Screw off, Rokobungi," snapped Kozo. "Let me get to my point."

"Fine. But only because you’re holding the bourbon hostage."

"Yui died. Disappeared. Whatever. You didn’t know what to do. So you start working on a new plan to get back to what you did know – Yui."

"Ah, yes. I like this part of the story. It’s where you finally get your hands dirty committing crimes against nature."

"Using Yui as the donor for Rei was my idea, yes. You didn’t object."

"I should have. Sentimentality never pans out for me."

"But you did it – The Human Complement Program. The principles were sound. It worked. Everything went as planned, more or less."

"More less than more."

"Don’t interrupt! You got to see Yui again. It’s not my concern if she hated you." He paused. "I’m sorry."

"Don’t be. It wasn’t a surprise."

"Ikari... look, now – somehow – you’ve been give a second chance at life. Just because things didn’t turn out like you wanted doesn’t mean you can just give up. Throughout history, people have dreamed of what’s happened to you. What do you intend to do with the opportunity?"

Gendo belched.

"Don’t hide behind drink. I know you better than that."

"I honestly don’t know, Kozo. I’m making this new plan up as I go along." The Commander of NERV slumped over onto his own desk, enjoying the cool feeling of polished wood on his face. "The only two things that have mattered to me in the past two weeks have been Rei and Shinji."

"Let’s start there. Are you trying to be a real father to Shinji?"

The desk felt very nice.

"Answer the question."

"I don’t think I can be a father, but yes, I’m trying. If only so I don’t have to hear his scream anymore."

"And what about Rei?"

"Rei is… complicated."

"­You’ve been spending a lot of time with her. What have you been talking about?"

Gendo traced a doodle in the dust on his desk. "This and that. About her. About me. About Yui. About Doctor Akagi. About Ritsuko. About Shinji. About you, Fuyutsuki. I think she might have a little crush on you."

That caught him off-guard. "Wait. What?"

"I could be wrong. It’s hard to tell. Rei doesn’t express herself that well. It might be something more like a normal child would feel for an uncle. Or a father."

"Anyway, that’s pretty much all we talk about."

"And what about having her moving in with Captain Katsuragi and Shinji? From what you described, it doesn’t sound like that arrangement worked out too well for the Second and Third the last time around."

"A-ha." He held up a dusty gloved finger. "That’s all part of the plan."

Fuyutsuki frowned. "You said you didn’t have a plan."

"I said my plan was ‘shit’. I never said I didn’t have any plan."

"Does this plan involve stopping Third Impact? Stopping SEELE?"

"Yes. No. Maybe." Gendo groaned. "You don’t understand."

"You’re confused. Considering what you’ve been through, anyone would be confused, but you can’t afford to be."

"Now you’re confusing me, Professor Fuyutsuki." Gendo picked himself off the desk. "I’ve been thinking and planning ever since I… died." He shivered. "But there’s no good solution to my problems. I’m in a hell of fix, old man. Too much groundwork has been laid for the old plan, too many deeds done just to back off now. I was too brilliant. I didn’t leave myself any loopholes or outs. I didn’t think I’d need them. They were too risky."

"Well, what’s your endgame? When can work back from there."

He counted out slowly with gloved fingers. "Save Rei. Save Shinji. Stop Third Impact, now and forever. Expose SEELE for their crimes." Gendo stifled a yawn. "Oh, and I’ll probably need to kill Keel Lorenz while I’m at it. He’s too much of a bastard to risk leaving alive."

Kozo Fuyutsuki arched an eyebrow. "Okay. We can start there. How are you going to kill the most secretive, well-protected man on Earth?"

Gendo smiled. "Well, there I do have a plan."

"Wonderful! Let’s hear it."

He explained.

Fuyutsuki did not take it well. "Goddamn it, Ikari! What the hell kind of plan is THAT?"

"One that will work."

"One that will get us put on trial as war criminals!"

"Professor," Gendo drawled, "we ARE war criminals."

"If we’re still alive at the end of this, and if we’re very lucky, they might just give us a show trial before they execute us. We’ve both done enough to have it happen that way. I’m an accessory to the Second Impact – regardless of the intentions of Yui or I at the time – and you’re at least complicit in, oh, seven or eight crimes against humanity by now. None of which counts what we’ll be forced to do in the course of defeating the Angels." He smirked. "Though I have to admit it’s very easy to read statistics about hundreds of thousands people starving to death for lack of aid funding when you get to sit in my comfy chair."

"God damn you, Ikari." With that, Fuyutsuki downed the rest of his drink.

"He just may have."

 

-*-

 

 

In a familiar apartment history was repeating itself.

"I... I’m home."

"Welcome home."

 

-*-

 

 

Gendo hadn’t even taken his dress coat off when someone knocked on the door. Only three people in the world had the privilege of dropping by his apartment unannounced and one of them was in the hospital. That left two people Gendo Ikari didn’t feel like dealing with tonight. Grimacing, he opened the door.

Doctor Ritsuko Akagi flashed one of her little sly smiles that Gendo supposed she felt so endeared him to her. "I’m here for thestrategy session."

Damn! He’d forgotten. Dealing with his son and Fuyutsuki had taken up all his mental space for the day. He really didn’t need to deal with this now. He just wanted to sleep.

"Commander? Is this a bad time? I… I can come back later."

Sorry, I have trouble getting it up with a woman I drove insane and murdered. Oh, you understand? How about some tea instead? It’s quite good. "I missed your company these past days." No use in antagonizing her. Not yet.

Ritsuko ate that up. "Really?"

Gendo flexed his burned hands. The scar tissue would never be that sensitive. No great loss. "Just so you know, this time around the gloves stay on."

She stepped inside. "Kinky."

He closed the door.

 

-*-

 

 

Sachiel become aware of Others.

With senses that defied human description, the Angel reached out with its mind to study the strange creatures that were approaching him in the sky above the endless ocean. It had no concept of ‘JSSDF’ or ‘helicopters’. It did recognize, however, the stink of Lilith’s brood.

Sachiel concentrated.

A cross-shaped blast bloomed out of the water, vaporizing the lead helicopter before the crew even had a chance to process the screaming sound that immediately preceded the attack. The shaft of heavenly pink light stood nearly half a kilometer tall at its full height, with the ‘crossbeam’ portion stretching a fifth of a kilometer horizontally. The Kaga’s mystified crew was just able to make out the event as a bizarre gloamin on the sky’s southern horizon.

The pilot of the trailing helicopter veered dangerously to starboard, almost throwing the craft into the water. While this maneuver was entirely unintentional, the result of shock at an impossibly otherworldly event, it did manage to save the helicopter from the second cross-shaped blast. Retreating, the crew of the second craft could only stare in horror at what they had just witnessed.

Now headed in opposite directions, Sachiel put the annoyances out of its vast mind. ADAM was close. ADAM was waiting….

 

-*-

 

 

Damn it.

Ritsuko was snoring lightly. Not unexpected. She always did that after exhausting herself.

Gendo extracted himself from the tangle of limbs and made his way to the bathroom. There he washed his face and tried to convince himself he wasn't going to do... that... again with her.

He would, though; probably twice tonight alone.

Gendo felt his body stir and cursed his own weakness.

Two delicate arms laced around his chest from the back. "Mmm-mm, is that for me?"

Put on a good show, Ikari. "If you can handle it, Doctor."

Aaaaand could she. Yikes. He’d forgotten about that move.

Afterwards their bodies cooled in the dark. Ritsuko was snoring again (just like her mother, he noted). Gendo was staring up at the ceiling, wondering what color Yui would have wanted it, when the phone on his nightstand rang.

"It’s me."

The voice on the other side jabbered on. At the end of it Gendo said, "Understood. I’ll be there in ten minutes." He set the phone back down and promptly turned to shake the blonde awake.

"Ugh, what is it?" Ritsuko asked, stirring.

"It’s time."

"Time for what?"

Gendo put on his glasses. "The Angels. They’re back."

 

 

 

-*-

end part 03

-*-