Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Mark of The Beast ❯ Chapter 2

"Misato, the pilots are performing up to standards. It seems Shinji's ratio is rising though." Ritsuko noted as she continued to watch their progress. "Shall input program three?" An engineer asked as he worked away on his terminal "yes, the pilots lack training in long range combat based on possible angel attacks." Misato said as the engineer entered the program simulating a long-range attack from an Angel using high altitude air strikes. "Asuka is suffering the most damage, while Rei and Shinji seem to be lost in combat." Misato thought as she watched their synch ratios lower. During the simulation, the pilot's heart rates simultaneously rise from 140 to 170. "This doesn't look good Ritsuko, just what exactly is this program you're using?" Misato asked trying to comprehend the situation the pilots were in. "Battle data from previous angel encounters along with theoretical data." Misato folded her arms as the name of lingered in her mind.

Inside the labs where the tablets were, being studied Gendo walked amongst the workers intrigued that his findings would give him a trump card against Seele's plans. "By the time they find out about this I'll be the man with the cards in hand." As he walked to Ryo and Kenji's station, the two saluted him despite their personal grudges towards him. "What brings you down here Gendo?" Kenji asked, as he looked the director in his beady brown eyes. "I've personal come down here to examine the findings." He coldly answered showing little to concern to the two heads of the expedition." Ryo kept his rising anger in check as he presented him with a folder containing recent translated findings. Kenji went back to his terminal pulling up various folders, which contained the logs of the findings. A moment later, he printed them out, "currently everything we know about the angels may just be the tip of the iceberg."

Gendo paid little attention to Ryo, with no parting word he walked off "that asshole is going to get his when he least expects it." Kenji shook his head at his comrade's comments, lighting the tone he asked him "have you met his son Ryo?" Ryo paused thinking back to the Youngman he had met a few days ago when he transferred here from Okinawa. "Was he the quite boy that was seen walking with a redhead?" Kenji shook his head "although I briefly spoke with him, he seemed to be very shy and didn't have much to say other than the usual small talk amongst strangers." Kenji knew there was something to Shinji, something beneath the quite demeanor "Gendo is his father; the two rarely speak to each other let alone act like a father and son." Ryo couldn't believe it "you mean to tell me that bastard uses his own son to fight the Angels!" Kenji nodded his head "he's not even old enough to shave and he's fighting the wrath of god. Why do they pick their pilots to be so young?" Ryo sat down looking at his terminal screen "he sacrifices his son on the alter there won't be an angel saving Shinji before the knife is drawn."

As the translation started to pick up the alert sounded "all personal to their stations! An angel has been sighted two miles outside Tokyo3!" Ryo and Kenji stayed they weren't combat personal nor did they have the skills to be medics. "Looks like the angels have been given the sign." Kenji thought as he and Ryo worked away.

***

"Stop the test, all Eva's are to engage the enemy!" Misato ordered as the test stopped the three teenage pilots were immediately notified. "Shinji, Asuka, and Rei your orders are to engage the enemy!" Their screens shoot off and the Eva's were deployed at full power. "Alright we finally get some action!" Asuka confidently proclaimed while Shinji stayed silent obeying Misato's orders. With the Eva's deployed they followed, the GPS's the location of the enemy. The Eva's radars instantly picked up the AT field the Angel emitted. "What the Hell is that!" Asuka yelled as she stood in sight of the slender being holding a crimson blade its emerald shell and flesh colored skin under the plates of armor. "Asuka get to cover!" Misato's voice reverberated over the communicator. Immediately after a blast from its eyes leveled an entire city block.

"Just what the hell are dealing with it doesn't fit the match for any of the angels we've fought before!" Asuka chimed in reading the stats of the being as it read of the charts. Inside Nerv's command center Misato and her crew watched the camera's footage of the "angel" Misato kept her calm in this tense situation "Makoto this is an angel right?" She asked hoping to hear a response she desired the most he paused as he read his findings from the monitor. "It has the properties of an Angel….but the Magi only classifies it as an unknown.…" Misato looked at him "we have to take it down." Misato immediately took charge of the situation and sent the order to the Eva pilots. "Rei, Asuka provide Shinji with Cover as he goes in and takes this Angel down."

"I have to cover that weakling! Can't send in a real fighter Misato!" Asuka angrily protested as she unloaded several high caliber rounds at the AT field. "Pride the first of the seven deadly sins" Misato thought as she watched the AT field scarcely vary. "Just what the hell are we dealing with, it's like a Demon but the magi is identifying it as an Angel." The Nerv crew was absorbed in the battle hardly noticing Kouzou entering "Demons are fallen Angels cast out of heaven Makoto, this isn't going to be easy as fallen angels harbor the worst of the seven deadly sins within their very existence." Misato looked at her commanding officer intrigued by the statement "sir, permission to speak." He nodded his head "by all accounts you know this is a direct contradiction from the information we know about the Angels." Kouzou took a deep breath "Major, our recent translations from the dead sea scrolls, and the current findings from the expedition from Ararat have shown us how ignorant we were towards the very nature of the Angels." Misato kept her calm "I don't have time to stand here all day and talk theology our pilots are facing extreme odds and I won't have them die on my watch."

"Very well major, I leave you to your work there will be a mandatory debriefing." Kouzou walked out of the bridge "straight from the gates of hell these fallen angels will battle for the very fate of mankind." Inside the bridge Maya cringed as she watched Rei take a direct hit from the Fallen Angels crimson blade "Its cutting through! Shinji! Asuka get to Rei now!" Misato ordered. They pushed their Eva's to their top speed as they fired several automatic bursts of heavy machine gun fire. As the fire pulled the Angel off Rei it went straight for the 01.

"From the data the given in battle the Magi has designated this Fallen Angel Talmud. Its main weapon is a sword forged by the very souls of vengeful sinners." Maya reported as her eyes lit up to the in coming data. "Unbelievable, we have a new class of Angels." Misato top concern were the pilots as their Eva's took heavy beatings. Asuka maneuvered her Eva to avoid the deadly blade, the blade ripped through the ground causing substantial damage. The abandon city was ablaze as its smoke filled the sky darkening mid day to the midnight.

"What the hell why won't this Angel die!" Asuka yelled as she tried to slice at the Angel with her Eva's blade. Inside 01 Shinji continually kept his Eva firing the remaining rounds "I mustn't run away…" was all he could think as he watched the ammo counter dwindle to 000. "Shinji make it to the next Ammo crate!" Misato's voice broke through to him as he controlled his craft to run to the designated point." Rei ignored the warning lights and ran towards Talmud taking a blade from the nearest arming crate her Eva jumped high into the air as it descended from the heavens she vehemently dug the blade into its strong AT field! Following suit, 02 stabbed its blade in trying to break the field. "Shinji Take the shot!" Asuka shouted from 02. Eva-01 picked up the high caliber rifle and took aim at the extremely diminutive opening "target acquired, success rate .08" His targeting scanner read his body instinctively pulled the trigger, time itself slowed down inside the EVA. The shot broke through striking Talmud in the head as the fallen angel fell, his shell exploded showing a red upside down cross.

Shinji's heart slowed its rate down as his body shook all the screens turned black, his body frozen Shinji frantically looked around his cockpit. He pushed emergency override trying to manually restart 01, his emotions took over as he started to panic losing all sense of reason. With his heart slowly rising and his body tensing up Shinji tried to take his mind off the encroaching madness. "What the hell is going on! Misato! Asuka! Rei!" He relentless yelled out trying to hear a voice a woman's voice a voice he so desperately desired to hear. "Shinji! Shinji! You are a failure and not worthy of my admiration or love your nothing more than a bastard who betrayed me once you ran away!" Gendo's voice deeply rang in his head he placed his hands over his ears the statement rang once again with a sadistic tone of anger. "When you die I'll watch your soul suffer, your punishment will be in the lowest level of hell where your body will be frozen and your tears will be dried I will look down at your frozen face and express no sorrow. Your soul will be one of many as they betrayed their families." His voice caused Shinji's heart rate to rise at an alarming rate "you Shinji have a place in hell…Right next to me!"
Maya and Makoto worked frantically to access Eva unit 01, "nothing is working, the Eva is rejecting all commands its ." Maya reported as Ritsuko worked along her assistant "How the hell can his be we destroyed the Angel." Misato said as she continued to keep the situation under control, Gendo along with Ryo and Kenji walked in "Talmud has taken control of 01 its breaching its systems at this rate Shinji will go into cardiac arrest!" Maya said as Ryo handed several files to Misato "These files contain my personal findings do not under any circumstances show them to the pilots Major." Ryo said as he watched the vital signs on Shinji radically skyrocket "Talmud is one of the demonic begins that preys on the weakness of humanity he was the very snake in paradise that tempted Eve casting mankind out of the garden." Misato kept hope in for Shinji as the situation worsened she knew his willpower was strong even when he presented himself to be shy and alone .

"I am not a weakling, I love my father…" Shinji uttered the words he'd never spoken aloud. Yet the madness inflicted by Talmud lingered in his mind, he seen his own fate in the lowest circle of hell. Shinji couldn't understand why Talmud was able to overtake 01 and him. Slowly but surely his Eva returned to normal, soon after Nerv recovery teams made their way to clean up the damage and bring back the pilots. As they extracted the cockpit from the Eva's Shinji looked at the recovery teams reassuring himself he was still alive. "You know how close you cam to death." One of them said as he made his way out of the cockpit and into a recovery transport. Inside he found Asuka and Rei sitting quietly, as he sat across from Asuka he closed his eyes trying to escape the sight of his father. Asuka normally would have began her teasing of Shinji yet the battle with Talmud struck her deeply. "Just what the hell happened Shinji?" Yet the teenager couldn't find himself to answer the fiery redhead "…we've seen the very essence of death." Rei quietly said as the two looked at her amazed she even said anything. Fro the rest of the ride back to Nerv they stayed silent

***

Hours after the battle the entire Nerv base found themselves in the immense auditorium. Members from various branches of Nerv gathered according to their branches and I.D. Numbers It was a few moments later the chatter amongst the people died down as the entire auditorium went silent at the very sight of the two most powerful men on the base. Gendo and Kouzou, they took their places. Soon after Ryo and Kenji followed suit by Misato and Dr. Akagi. With the screen on the two large walls showed the images of Talmud and the Ark. Gendo took his place at the podium "Two days ago, I led the expedition to Turkey on our trek we've uncovered the Ark used by Noah in the story of the flood. As you can see from the results of our trip a new type of angel has shown up." Gendo coldly implicitly noted "Although Nerv's main goal is to stop the Angels we've been unable to comprehend their very nature. That is why Dr. Ryo Hazuki and his collogue Dr. Kenji Takeda have been brought in they are both essential to the translations of the findings in the ark and various text that Nerv has accumulated over the years." As Gendo ended his introduction he sat back down at his seat Neither men made eye contact with each other. Ryo took his stand at podium and switched the screen to display the various tablets and scrolls found in Ararat.

"As you all know I am Dr. Hazuki some of you may have already met me. My knowledge of Theology and archeology are some of the fields me and colleague Dr. Takeda excel in. As you know the Angel attack known as Second impact was only an attack that was apart of a larger scope. The Angels and their attacks towards man predate this incident, as seen here." The Left wall panel showed the tablets with subtitled translations.

"The holy father, has bestowed upon me the time of which my sons, sons will habit. In the lands to the far east fire will rain down from heaven." The translation read Ryo changed the image to a date many remembered in the auditorium 2004. "This of course was the direct prediction of the second impact, from the data we've also came up with composite renditions of the Angels these Tablets refer two. "Tall as a mountain, with a blade of blood a fallen Angel will thirst for blood, acting on the worst of the seven deadly sins Wraith." A moment later the image of Talmud showed up "as you know these angels are not the same as you've experienced in the second impact. These are the very angels that God cast out of heaven, they embody the worst of the seven deadly sins." Ryo further continued his speech once he finished they clapped and greeted Dr. Takeda "Thank you for your respect and time. If can bear with me for a bit longer you'll probably know more than the pope."

Takeda lightened the mood and started his speech "from an earlier text Nerv uncovered three years ago in the country once known as Egypt. I have uncovered a new side to the story of the Tower of Babel. As you know the story man built the tower to reach heaven only to have it destroyed." Ryo paused and looked through his notes before he resumed he switched the screens to renditions to the Tower. "As you can see from the text known as Mishnah's rebellion the tower was built with the idea that Man should inhabit heaven with god. Yet the text went on foretell that the tower was built as a means of open war with God." The comment drew some remarks from the crowd yet Kenji continued on with his findings. "As you can see here the idol is holding a sword showing it to be an act of war. In my research I assume this the very first attempt to combat the Angels. Although much of the text was destroyed the very line Arrows shot into the sky, blood rained down…" Ryo concluded his speech and gave the floor the head commander Kouzou "You will all be sent files regarding this dismissed!" He said as the auditorium concluded "Although I am fascinated by your findings gentlemen I firmly believe that your research has uncovered something man was never meant to find out." Kenji looked at him "yet your discovery of the Angels which caused the second impact is the direct result of mankind's very nature of original sin, Commander Kouzou you've opened Pandora's box and are trying to seal it." Kouzou fully agreed before he left them to speak with other Nerv specialist. "In any case I could for a coffee and some fresh air." Kenji said as he walked away to the nearest elevator.

As she walked to her car Misato seen a very familiar man doing very familiar things, she folded her arms as she watched Kaji hold a young computer tech in his arms "stay with me and I'll give you the world." Misato groaned as she caught his attention "Misato I'm surprised your still awake from all that religious babble." Kaji said as he let go of the young woman "don't worry I'll call you later." The young girl smiled as she walked away. "Cut the crap Kaji, you know your doing that just to get back at me. You have your chance just get over it." Misato said knowing she was jealous and still held on to her feelings for the man she once loved ten years ago. He looked in her eyes knowing that look the look of a woman still in love. "Just don't be bothering those young techs again, they don't know you're just looking for Mrs. Right now." Misato got into her car driving off back to her apartment. Kaji walked away still thinking about Misato "I'll never understand her heart she still holds on to those feelings we once shared so long ago."

Authors Notes

1. Talmud: One of many names for Satan.

2. Fallen Angels: Demons

3. Mishnah: Jewish text on the Tower of Babel, details the towers function was a to declare war on God.

4. Frozen Lake: 9th circle of Hell, second level where souls who betrayed their family/Kin and felt regret have their bodies frozen with their tears still intact.