Timeline

2015

Fall of NERV and Tokyo-3's destruction. The political fallout caused by the revelation of SEELE's existence and control over the UN prompts the restructuring of the Security Council. At the same time, the paramilitary Global Enforcement Organization is formed as the UN's counterpart. GEO acts as a secondary UN body capable of resisting manipulation and maintains the balance of global power.

The majority of SEELE members and their pawns are hunted down to be trailed for crimes against humanity, a few remain at large, amongst the most wanted are Keel Lorenz and Gendo Ikari.

Kohzoh Fuyutsuki, former second in command is sentenced for five years in a minimal security prison. This was because of his co-operation in divulging critical information and the circumstances, which prevented him from revealing the conspiracy.

Major Misato Katsuragi retires. Her personal vendetta against the Angel having come to nothing, she however remains the pilot's official guardian until such time as they reach legal age.

2016

GEO effectively assimilated the remnants of NERV. GEO recovers the primary Magi super-computers and subsequently incorporate them as their organization mainframe. Numerous NERV employees are transferred into GEO's ranks. Despite protests, all surviving Evangelion units are also obtained and instated into GEO. The GEN3 base is constructed on the Tokyo-3 Lake, becoming the largest man-made floating structure ever built.

GEN3 remains the base of operation of the Evangelion Battle Group.

2017

First stable Bioware cores become available. Based on the same technology of the Magi systems, Bioware units considerably increase processing capacities of computers everywhere. Bioware cores allow advancements in AI technology and quickly become commonplace in both commercial and military applications.

Bioware neural nodes enable real-time human/ware interface on an unprecedented level.

After almost two years of hard work, Dr Ritsuko Akagi successfully surpasses her mother's achievements, upgrading the primary Magi system with the latest Bio-organic components and integrates herself physically with the Magi, continuing her existence as an independent subsidiary core. Unlike the primary Magi, who possess facets of her mother, Ritsuko Akagi remains aware.

This is considered a release of a sort for her, as she was partially paralyzed due to injures sustained during the fall of NERV. In a way, she has in fact achieved immortality.

2018

Political instability within the area causes central Asia begins to fragment, minor skirmishes develop into full-scale insurrections. GEO successfully contains the situation, intercepting any armed forces proven to violate the rules of engagement. All potential dictatorships are promptly crushed before they were able to establish themselves.

Numerous countries protest GEO's interference in their internal affairs. GEO however severs nearly all its political affiliations and becomes a fully independent organization, unhindered by the same flaws and weakness of UN.

2019

Violence erupts in middle east, however before it could escalate, two Evangelion units are deployed at the border, GEO officially states that it would crush the first army that crosses. Wisely, both armies back down, although animosity between the two groups continues.

GEO's lead scientist, Dr Maya Ibuki receive worldwide recognition in spearheading further advancements in the areas of nanotech, biotech and cybertech.

Major Katsuragi is convinced to come out of retirement and is assigned as the Eva Battle group's tactical advisor, but possess no real command within the organization itself. Her authority is limited to those related with the security of the pilots.

2021

Conflict raises due to scarcer resources. Evas are again deployed across the globe, limiting fighting to minor skirmishes between those fighting for remaining oil and other mineral deposits.

Rumors persist of the existence of SEELE spawned organizations but are largely unfounded. The UN continues to claim that all have already been exposed and disbanded.

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FIRST PROPHECY: FULL CIRCLE

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2021
Designation: GEO Special Peacekeeping Unit.
Conflict Classification: Resource Dispute.
Mission Destination: Alaska.

A young woman sat hunched forwards silently. She was bathe under the faint hue of the lamp which illuminated the small compartment. Her reddish bangs fell upon her visage, concealing her eyes from sight, whilst the rest of her hair flowed smoothly into a long ponytail reaching drown to her waist. She wore a heavy winter coat, in part a uniform and but also necessary for her to keep herself warm as the large aircraft she was in flew in the freezing arctic conditions. Upon closer inspection of her collar, revealed her ranking badge, identifying her as a Captain of GEO's special assignments unit.

Opposite her sat another yet another young woman, though in contrast, this other woman was seated straight and officious, yet seemingly relaxed in her own way. Her pale blue hair trimmed short and braided for practicality rather than aesthetic purposes. Her cold crimson eyes watching intently. Staring out at the world with unmatched clarity. She was similarly dress as, but for her ranking badge, which marked her out as a Lieutenant-Corporal.

Next to these two women, sat various other grim-looking characters. Highly trained soldiers assigned to escort them. They were all dress in arctic war gear, each of them packing heavily in firepower.

All of the above were currently passengers of a massive carrier aircraft, which transported the Evangelion Unit-02 Prime. Although, by all accounts it should no longer have been called Unit-02 at all. Sure, the majority of the components were salvaged or replacement parts from Unit-02, but the most important component; the Core was provided from elsewhere.

"Captain? We might have a problem…" called the pilot from the cockpit.

The red haired woman looked up, her dark blue eyes finally revealed.

She noted that the man was wearing a mono-sight on his right eye. A pretty regular piece of equipment used by pilots to feed data directly into the brain via the optic pathways. Quite usefully for night flights such as in their case. Yet it was enough to remind her of things she would rather forget. Her right eye immediately began to itch like crazy, though she ignored it.

"What is it Ishioka?" she asked, slightly irritated.

"We're getting some strange readings ahead just recently… an energy spike of some sort…"

The Captain turned to look at the blue-haired woman. Who raised an eyebrow, suggesting that she was equally as perplexed.

"Shit!!" the pilot skillfully pitched the large craft to a side as a sudden flash of blinding light grazed the wing and screamed past them from out of nowhere. Anyone not strapped down at that moment was flung around.

"They overshot us!" shouted one of the co-pilots, exhaling in a temporary moment of relief.

"What the hell was that?!" cried the Captain, struggling to get to the cockpit by holding on to the side rails.

"It's a god-damned Sunner! I try to get out of their range!" quickly replied the pilot.

The platform-mounted Positron Cannon, or 'Sunner' as it is more commonly called by most troops, was developed from the original Eva-size positron weapons. Although limited by its bulkiness and prohibitive cost, Sunners have proven to be an otherwise effective anti-aircraft weapon due to the supersonic speeds at which the positron blast traverses the distance between the barrel and it's target.

The craft was however not so lucky the second time round, as the next bolt of positively charged electrons impacted with the left wing. The massive surge of positron stripped away the robust but flexible Titanium alloy skin as easily as wax and proceeded to tear a hole the size of a small car through the honeycomb wing-frame of the large craft.

"Damn it! I can't keep her up! We've got to make an emergency landing! There's a tundra nearby level enough to attempt an emergency landing. I'll try there!" the pilot struggled with the controls as his co-pilot begun relaying a distress call to headquarters.

The Captain gritted her teeth as she felt the massive craft lose altitude, feeling helpless at the prospect of their imminent crash. She felt a steady hand hold her arm, causing her to look down. It was the Lieutenant-Corporal, who stared up at her with her ever-chilly eyes.

"Unit-02 Prime," pointed out the blue-haired woman. "You should secure it."

With a nod, the Captain acknowledge her friend's point and begun to quickly shuffle her way down the compartment.

"Captain…?" one of the recent recruits called. "What are you doing? You must strap yourself down before we land!"

The redhead however shook her head and replied, "I'll going dropping out with Unit-02 Prime, the craft will be more stable without the extra weight and besides… it'll be hell pulling it out from underneath this damn thing later."

Without another word, the Captain swiftly discarded her winter coat and dropped herself into the Entry Plug. The hatch swiftly sealed itself behind, promptly followed by a smooth hum as the Entry Plug slid itself effortlessly into position.

2016
Vietnam

The rain fell heavily, reducing visibility to no more than a few dozen feet. Hidden under this cascade, was a small ragtag town, bordered by jungle and the ruins of some old city. Brown sludge spluttered and splashed at the foot of a large crowd. A young girl was cast down cruelly. Her face was caked with mud and gashes from the crude manhandling she had been forced upon. Angry accusations were flung wildly by the dozen or so men around her, denouncing her as a witch, a demon, blaming her for their woes.

The girl was no stranger to being an outcast, for she had been treated as one since her birth. But this was different…

She possessed Asian features like those of her mother, natural long straight black hair that fell to her waist. Her green eyes though, marked her as likely having foreign blood in her veins. She never really got to know her father, whom stay long enough only to name her, nor much of her mother for that matter, since the poor woman died not long after her sixth birthday.

But those weren't the reason those around her treated her with such distrust or fear. Anyone who had ever came close to her, had at minimum admitted to a feeling of uneasiness or in the worst of cases they were completely repelled by her mere presence. Whispers of witnesses who report seeing her eyes turning completely black circulated around behind her back.

Sure, it disturbed her that she was treated as such, after all, she was only a fourteen years old girl, but she could cope with them. She had learned since long ago to live a life of a hermit. Distancing herself away from people as much as possible.

But that was until today. Now.

The town had had more than their share of bad luck recently. First the nonstop rain then the sickness. All that frustration, all that anger... It was easy for one man to channel it, especially after last night.

He came into the store whilst she was picking up supplies and begun attacking her verbally. Only a local thug looking to let off some steam. But then he begun to get more physical, pushing and shoving her around. She'd only intended to get him off her back and teach him a lesson, making him awfully nauseous for a day or two. But it didn't go as she planned, she lost control… everyone within a block's range fell down suddenly overwhelmed by sickness. Worse of all, they all saw that her eyes had turned black and that she was the only one still standing…

She already knew it was him to blame. That scum-sucking bastard had used the townsfolk's fear of her to his advantage. Inciting them into a raging mob. All to get back at her.

It was too late though, he was leading them now, and he would make sure that she would not survive.

A man stepped forth, grabbing her by the hair, dragging her through the mud and shoving her down again. How would they finish it she wondered, even as she winced in pain? Would it be a nice clean hanging? Would they simply drown her in the mud? Or would they just leave her out in the jungle to die?

She suddenly heard the thug's voice calling out to the crowd, encouraging them on, and reassuring them that they were getting rid of evil. He asked if someone had some rope and was promptly provided with one.

So, it would be a hanging then…

There was nothing she could do, she was too weak to even attempt to influence their minds, let alone fight her way out of this mess.

The men fashioned the rope into a small noose and swung it over the branch of a large tree. Screaming in rage and despair, the girl struggled vainly against her captors. She was vaguely aware of the eyes, which watched and stared from windows. Yet unwilling to come to her aid, allowing her to be hung right before them. Even in this day and age, indifference is all too common.

Yet even as they pulled the noose over her head, a small opening in a crowd begun to appear. It seemed that even the men themselves didn't even realize that they were moving aside. A dark figure suddenly appeared where the crowd parted, approaching her.

The young girl gawked at the mysterious newcomer, her eyes pleading. It was then that the girl noticed that the person before was actually also a girl. One only a few years older than her. It was hard to tell due to the hooded poncho the newcomer was wearing, but she was sure of it.

"Stop."

A simple statement, almost a whisper… yet with more authority than any command the young girl had ever heard. Despite the sound of rain and their own shouts she could tell all the men heard it.

They all turned to the newcomer in shock, seemingly noticing her presence for the first time.

"Who the hell…?!" grunted the thug in surprise.

The thug quickly recovered, glancing up and down, trying to size the stranger up. Finally, with a big grin he challenges her.

"Or what?"

"Or you won't like it" she responded swiftly.

"Huh!" he strode forwards, promptly pulling down the stranger's hood as he came to stop next to her. They quickly noted that newcomer was wearing a pair of tinted sunglasses, even though it was raining. Her short black hair plastered against her face by the rain.

"Ha! You can't trick me! You're just like her! Another dirty witch!" The thug's eyes narrowed.

The thug motioned one of the men next to longhaired girl. Who immediately begun tugging the rope, therefore choking the girl and holding her up so that she was barely able to stand on the tip of her toes.

Calmly, the stranger totally ignored the thug standing next to her and stepped towards the man holding the rope. Initially a little intimated by the stranger, the man back down slightly, but soon convinced himself that he had nothing to fear from a girl who was probably only half his own body weight.

The stranger quickly moved instead to where longhaired girl was dangling from, she reached up with one arm to the rope above girl's head and pulled. To the surprise of all, the stranger was able to easily break the man's grip on the rope and a managed to lower the longhaired girl down on to her knees.

"Hey!" the thug came up behind the stranger, ready to strike her on the back of her head.

He never made it. The stranger whirled around and gripped the man's throat with a firm hand. The men around them were about to intervene, when suddenly an icy chill stabbed at their very soul, freezing them before they could take another step. A wave of pure nausea flooded the area, the crowd dropping to their hands and knees, unable to even think. Followed by some sort of discharge, powerful enough to charge the even the humid air. A mental blow, which knocked them all out simultaneously.

"What…? What the…?" stammered girl, now all too weary of the stranger.

The stranger promptly flung the unconscious thug into the mud at her feet. In the same way as if she were discarding a ragged doll.

The stranger then turned back around and crouched down before the girl. She calmly lowered her sunglasses, which caused the girl to tense up when she realized that stranger's eyes were blood crimson. Then all of a sudden, she was even more stunned as the stranger's eye shifted into a pitch back and then back again to crimson red.

The stranger helped the longhaired girl pull the noose off, staring down at her as with intimidating yet, strangely kind eyes. The girl glared back at the stranger, not willing to trust her just yet, at the same time, she massaged her throat tending the bruises caused by the rope.

"What's your name?" asked the stranger.

The girl hesitated, perhaps more due to the pain though, but eventually she managed to croak it out with a small voice. The name became drowned by the sound of the cascading water, preventing anyone but the pair to hear it.

A small smile appeared on the stranger's face.

2021

Asuka Langley Sohryu was glad to be back in the familiar confines of her Eva's Entry Plug. This was where she long to be. Where she felt completed. And such occasions in which she actually piloted an Eva in a combat situation were rare enough nowadays.

It was not like the old days though. Many things have changed, the Eva, the Entry Plug, even the feeling of piloting itself… But it was better than nothing she imagined.

She was however all too aware that her fellow pilots thought quite differently. They disliked it back then and they still disliked it now. For them, it had been a matter of duty or a way to acknowledge their existence. Especially in Rei's case. It was probably was like that for her too in a way, but that wasn't the only reason…

A lot of it was largely because of the power trip…

The shear power at her disposal…

The might and power of a God as she was sometimes tempted to think of it.

But… it was also because she had nothing else. Without Eva, she was… no one. Well, at lest that was what it was like back then. Things have change in five years. Though some have remained the same. She longed for her mother. Her current Eva; Unit-02 Prime, was rebuilt with a new core. The original was considered too damaged to be stable any longer. Asuka found her mother all those years ago only to loose her not long after.

[Rei, you hear me?]

Asuka maneuvered her Eva over to the downed aircraft. She was relieved to find that Rei was already out of the craft looking up towards her.

[I hear you Asuka]

[Good, make sure you find a defendable area. I've got several contacts approaching northwest of here. Be back in a blink]

[Are you sure they are hostile?]

[We just got shot down Rei… I don't think they're coming over to say hi]

Asuka turned the Eva around and brought up the satellite display of the area. The image appeared immediately in the vision of her mind's eye.

She immediately identified the silhouettes of the conventional Assault VTOL chassis employed nowadays by all too many governments or corporations. The latest models sported major improvements from those in service with the JSSDF and the UN five years ago, regardless they were still no match for her.

Since the use of S2 engines was banned due to their instability and risks, they still had to rely on internal batteries, but at least active time had been extended to half and hour. Which was more than enough for reinforcements to arrive.

There had been significant modifications made to the layout of the Entry Plug since the development of Bioware neural nodes. Visuals, communications, neural headsets and other such information relaying equipment had been almost completely invalidated. All the necessary data were fed directly to the brain through a node implanted directly beneath the pilot's cerebellum. As such, the Entry Plug was little more than a sealed coffin for its occupant, as ominous as it may sound.

The result was unparalleled interaction and battle awareness, which could also be additionally boosted with the aid of AI data processors. The rest of course, was still all up to the synchrony between pilot and Eva.

Another added advantage of this new system was the capacity to communicate real-time with others through the Bioware's network. Such as the way Asuka was speaking with Rei at present.

[Shit!] Asuka exclaimed through the neural link.

[What happened?] asked Rei in her usual calmness.

[Yeah they're hostile all right! They just tried to shove a missile in my eye!]

[Can you handle them?]

[Oh please! I easily handled half a dozen Evas and you're asking me if I can handle a few flies?]

Rei was about to point out that that was not the most correct of statements, but wisely decided to shut up.

[Go for it then]

"Lieutenant?" came a voice behind Rei.

"Yes Lodi?" Rei asked without turning around.

"A whole bunch of the men are feeling a bit ill at the moment Ma'am. The crash landing might have unsettled their stomachs. They're fine at the moment. But it won't be a good thing if some ground troops managed to bypass 02 Prime" Lodi replied.

[You heard that Asuka?]

[Yeah… yeah… they won't get past me]

"Wrong…" whispered an unfamiliar feminine voice as a slender arm shot out of the shadows and grabbed Rei's neck. At the same time, a bolt of pure black energy silently leaped out and struck Lodi on the side of his head, dropping him with little less than a surprised grunt.

"Don't…" warned the dark figure.

Struggling in the stranger's unbreakable hold, Rei glanced down at the prone body of the sergeant. There was nothing that could be done for him. The bolt itself had passed so close to her own head that it had singed the ends of her hair. She was surprise by this turn of events to say the least. But there was something about both her captor and the especially energy bolt, which she found disturbingly familiar. She'd see this kind of energy before… but this was more… focused. She doubted that she could stop one of those bolts with her AT-field.

[Rei! What is it? What happened?]

[I… I have been captured]

[What?! How?!]

[I do not know]

"Who… are you?!" Rei managed to ask through the grip.

The stranger ignored her, never once moving from the shadows therefore denying Rei any means to identify her captor.

"Tell Sohryu to return" again the voice spoke.

"H..how..? You… have to let go… I can't talk… like this…"

"No. Through the neural link" the stranger pointed out plainly.

A pair of VTOLs used the moment of distraction to launch a spray of munitions, which impacted with the rear flank of the red Eva.

Totally ignoring the hits, Unit-02 Prime brought its fist down on the nearest VTOL, brushing aside the twisted jumble of metal as it burst into flames. Immediately followed by a wide swipe, ripping off the tail of the other.

[Rei! I'm on my way back now…]

[No! Asuka, they know about the Bioware nodes. They 'want' you to come back!]

[Dammit! I'm not going leave without you. What the hell am I suppose to tell Shinji?! And where the hell are Ishioka and his people!?]

[I… I don't know…]

[Shit! They're blocking conventional transmissions, I can't reach them!]

Almost as if the stranger could hear what was being said, the grip around Rei's neck became tighter. Asuka could almost feel Rei's agony through the link. Leaving behind her the smoldering remains of the VTOLs, Asuka quickly brought her Eva around and made haste back to the landing site.

Upon sensing the heavy footfalls of the giant combat unit, the stranger gave her next order, "Tell her to get out."

"W…what?! N…no!" protested Rei.

Tired of Rei's uncooperative behavior, the stranger fired another energy bolt at point-blank range. Rei gave a little cry, stunned by shock and pain, both due to the bolt searing across her left arm and having caught a glimpse of the source of the shot.

"Tell her or die…" the stranger hissed.

Having no reason to believe in her captor's benevolence, Rei simply stared back at the dark figure.

Seeing no reaction, the stranger reached behind Rei's neck and suddenly Rei felt a sharp stabbing pain. In her mind the Bioware was screaming warning after warning. Her foe was burning through the neural link's security barriers with inhuman speed, the same barriers written by Dr. Akagi herself. Rei kept on telling herself that this was impossible.

[GET OUT OR SHE DIES] boomed an alien voice through the link.

[Who the hell are you!?] sneered Asuka.

[GET…. OUT….] were the stranger's only words as she begun to crush Rei's throat.

Asuka's hands trembled as she restrained herself from lashing out in frustration.

[No! Wait dammit! I'm… I'm ejecting the plug now…]

[GOOD]

Shinji groan as he brushed off him chunks of plaster. He coughed heavily, shaking his head clear of the fine dust and attempted to regain his orientation. He suddenly remembered something about heavily armed men, gunshots and then an explosion, which was what probably knocked him off his feet.

Then of course, there was the puzzling fact that all this apparently occurred in a rather crowed shopping mall. Making it all the more unusual. If he were to try to explain to someone what had just happened, he'd have to say that someone had just tried to kill him.

His bones were aching and he knew he'd have to spend the next few days limping around, but it was good to know that he was still at lest in one piece.

"Wha… what the hell just happened?" Shinji asked himself.

"Isn't it obvious?" said someone.

"Huh?" Shinji turned around to be met by an all too familiar grin. One he often found from experience, to attract trouble like a magnet.

"Mr. Kaji?!"

The older man was crouched on a bench next to him, the shopping mall seemed devoid of life other than the two of them.

"You know… that makes me sound really… old…" protested Kaji.

"Errr… right…"

Kaji sighed and crossed his arms, "Well, you look rather calm."

Shinji smiled sheepishly as he picked himself up from the cold hard floor. "Of course, I might be more willing to panic if I knew what the heck happened in the first place…"

"You my friend, just survived an attempted assassination" Kaji said, flicking around a few bits of broken masonry.

Shinji frowned at the thought, "Oh…. Another one? I take it you're not here just by chance now is it?" He glanced down at a small plush cat, resting idly on the ground amongst broken glass. It was a present he'd just bought for Asuka. The only item of his shopping that survived probably unscathed.

"No…" Kaji's expression darkened.

Shinji slowly bent over and picked up the fluffy black and white doll, dusting off the poor thing. His eyes were unfocused, suggesting that he diddled deep within thought.

"I came immediately after we heard they intercepted Unit-02 Prime."

The words instantly knocked the 3rd Eva pilot out of his daydream.

"What?! Why didn't you tell me that before!" exclaimed Shinji.

"We're not sure what happened yet… backup teams were already on their way to the site when I was sent to get you."

"Asuka and Rei?!"

"Like I said… As of yet, no word…"

"Yes… yes… I… I understand…" whisper Misato into her head Comm.

The woman sat in her office. Veteran of the war against the Angels, Major Misato Katsuragi immediately retired from her duties at the end of the war. Her personal vendetta against the Angels faded into nothingness, leaving her with no true perception of who was the enemy. Despite her unwillingness to accept actual command, she was convinced to accept a duty as a tactical advisor for the Eva pilots.

Before her desk stood Shinji and Kaji, eagerly waiting for any news. From Misato's expression they could already tell that it was not good. "Four survivors…" she told them.

Shinji could already tell by then that Asuka and Rei were not included in that count. He'd learned to read Misato's body language by now, knowing that if they were fine, she wouldn't have been so hesitant.

"Asuka is missing… Rei… is…"

"I know…" Shinji interrupted her.

"Huh?" Misato's head shot up.

Shinji's whole body was quavering, he seem like he was about to fall apart, desperate to reject the reality of what I knew must had occurred. But strangely, he seemed to have dampened the brunt of the blow somehow. Misato was relieved in a way, she knew that although Shinji survived the war against the Angels, he did not do so unscarred. His heart and mind had been so fragile since she first met him. Not a day went by that she was not thankful that he did not break all those years ago.

"She… she wouldn't have allowed them to take Asuka… so she must be…"

"I… I don't know what to say… Shinji… I'm sorry…"

"You… recovered… the body…?"

"Yes… we have the body…"

"I see… then it's still possible…"

Misato raised an eyebrow and look at Shinji questioningly, "What's still possible?"

The rhythmic clang of steps on metal floors echoed throughout the depths of the underground installation. Three figures phased in and out of sight, passing hastily underneath the badly illuminated passages.

"Shinji? What are you up to…? I know you are distressed about this but running away doesn't help…" said Misato as she chased him down the base corridors.

"Leave him be Misato…" suggested Kaji who was also following them.

"I can't just leave him!"

Shinji ignored the pair, continuing in long strides towards his destination. These areas of the base always brought up memories of the Geofront as it was several years ago. It's strange how back then everything seemed clearer, cleaner and more… sterile.

Whilst now, the place looked messy, almost unclean… not to the point that it was dirty, but the place did suggested a more worn up look. Strange how surface impressions were so wrong.

"Misato… if he's this determined then it means he knows something we don't" pointed out Kaji.

Misato came to realize all a sudden that they were heading towards the Nova labs. This was where Maya dwelled most of the time… he couldn't be thinking of that could he?

The automated doors hissed open as Shinji strode in without even a pause. Maya was seated in front of her usual holo-screens. None the less, it still looked as though she was expecting them.

"Dr. Ibuki…" began Shinji.

The woman swung herself around interrupting him, "Already ahead of you Shinji, and please I told you years ago that you can all me Maya."

"So we can do it?"

"I believe so yes… Sempai agrees with me…"

"Sempai? Who are you… Oh… you mean Ritsuko…" Misato thought aloud.

"Oh… Colonel Katsuragi, Mr. Kaji… I didn't see you…"

Kaji simply smiled, and waved at her whilst Misato tried to make sense of the situation.

"Maya, what are you planning? You're not… you're not going to clone another Rei… again…are you?"

"Oh! No… no… we're not going to ever do anything like that any more…"

"So what it is?"

There was a sudden flickering on one of the holo-projectors, followed by the appearance of an image of an old friend. Misato leaped at the sight of the ghostly vision.

"Hello Misato, Kaji… nice of you to come and visit" said the image of Ritsuko.

"Ah… hello Ritsuko… sorry about that, but ever since you… integrated yourself with the Magi… things haven't been quite the same…"

"What? You liked me only as a drinking partner?" Ritsuko asked with a fake frown.

"What! No! How can you say that?!" she denied.

"It's alright Misato… I'm only kidding… anyway… that's all beside the point. What Maya and Shinji are planning to do is to resurrect Rei."

"But I thought she said they aren't going to clone her anymore!"

"That is true, but totally irrelevant. As you know, all Dummy Plug components were terminated several years ago. I should know, because I destroyed a good portion of them myself. However, there was one notable exception."

"Father had a backup" Shinji thoughtfully added.

"Correct, the man always made sure he had a backup. After all, Rei was crucial element to his plans. Even I didn't know about it until much later…"

"Another… spare body?" Misato pondered on the idea.

"Not just any… Ikari created it after… Inanis…"

"I… I see… and why wasn't I told about this…"

"And what then…? You would have been obliged to inform your superiors about it and eventually it would have been destroyed like the others. I considered doing that myself… but… I didn't… I don't know why… I told Shinji about it because it became impossible to hide it from him when he started coming to see me to find out everything he could about his father. Obviously I told Maya because if it was ever needed, then I certainly couldn't repeat the process on my own."

"How long will it take?" asked Shinji.

"A near complete transfer would require days… even then it won't be perfect. There will be gaps, but we can definitely do a better job than back then."

Shinji exhaled softly, realizing he'd been holding his breath.

"One question, will it be our Rei or another personality with her memories?" asked Kaji.

"This particular body was specifically designed by Ikari like when he created Inanis, however he made sure something like that would not happen again. Besides, from what I found out about the so-called 'Pariahs' is that the chance of one being born is one in several million. With our recent advancements and refinements of the process, I'm pretty sure that it will be Rei as we know her…"

"Good…" was all Shinji said as he turned around and silently walked out of the door.

Misato gazed across the landscape as the sun begun to set, her vision swiftly enveloped in a red hue. The woman stood on top of a hill overlooking the lake valley. Light reflected off the massive complex floating on the surface of the lake. The whole structure was awesome to behold by itself, but in the end it still was still nothing compared to the natural beauty of the area.

Once the site of mankind's last stronghold, the city of Toyko-3 was destroyed at the end of the war against the Angels. The Geofront, which had been breached by an N2 bomb, had eventually become flooded. It was not drained however. Instead, a floating platform was built directly at the center of the lake, connecting the surface to the now underwater pyramid structure that was Central Dogma.

A few steps in front of Misato, Shinji sat hugging his legs, as he usually did. She expected to find him there, knowing that this was where he always goes to think. His eyes lay on the rippling redness of the sun reflecting on the water. It was hard to believe that several years ago this was a thriving metropolis.

"So… what now?" asked Misato.

"Any word on Asuka's whereabouts?" said Shinji.

"No… nothing… we don't even know who is responsible. I mean, even the way our people were killed…"

Misato closed her eyes, trying to banish the horrid memories of the photos she'd seen taken from the scene or the description of what occurred by the survivors. Half-melted metal and flesh, scorch marks, all the signs of contact with incredible heat yet too confined to be from any weapon she knew of.

"I… I've never seen anyone killed like that before."

There was a slight pause.

Then Shinji whispered "No. But I have."

One knock. Two knocks.

"Come in" said Misato.

A moderately tall man stepped into Misato's office.

"You wanted to see me Ma'am?"

"Ah, yes, Corporal. How's your back."

"It still aches a bit Ma'am, but the painkillers are doing fine."

Misato nodded, "Corporal, I know that you've already been interviewed on what occurred, but I have a request to make."

The man kept staring at her, looking like he had something on his mind, but said nothing.

"I would like for you to accompany Pilot Ikari to an important meeting."

"Is… is this official Ma'am?" he asked.

"No… not as such. The whole of reason I'm asking you this is because you'll have plenty of free time now that you are getting suspended."

The man blinked at her words.

"Suspended?"

Misato cracked a smile, "Yep… Suspended."

Location: Unknown.

Asuka woke with a start, feeling cold sweat trickle down her back. She found herself in a large, ill-lit room, complete with a sizable bed but with little else in terms of furnishings. She also noticed she was not wearing her Plug suit anymore and that someone had changed her into a long pale red dress. Something which did looked pretty good on her yet wasn't exactly of her taste.

Suddenly, she lurched forth, for a moment feeling as if she was going to throw up. She could feel the rhythmic thumping of her blood veins as they mashed themselves against her skull.

At first she thought that she was still recovering from whatever knocked her out in the first place, but soon she noticed a presence in the room with her.

"W…who's there! Show yourself!" the redhead called out.

But there was no answer, but for the sound of her own voice, echoing around the room repetitively until it faded back into silence.

"Bitch! I know it's you!" Asuka finally realized.

"Why?! Why did you have to kill her?!" Asuka screamed in rage as the memory slammed itself into her mind. "I… I did what you told me to! I ejected to plug… why did you still have to kill her…?!"

"Because…" finally came a reply in a completely serious tone, "She could 'see' me."

The mysterious woman left Asuka in silence as the poor girl screamed out in rage. Who in her anger, failed to notice that she was again alone in her dark room. Now that the shadowy stranger was revealed in better light, we can she that she is young, younger than Asuka and that she is obviously Asian, despite her green eyes. She had long black hair braided into one long plat. In contrast, her bangs stood out, having been bleached white.

As the woman was on her way out however, another older woman was already there waiting for her. This time it was a dark brunette, who possessed the brightest violet eyes you would ever see. She was leaning on the wall with her arms crossed.

"Why are you doing this?" the brunette asked.

The young woman stopped in her tracks, regarding the older woman with what might have seemed a mixture of spite and pity.

"You should know better than anyone" she replied, "Why? You have a problem with it?"

"So what if I have? Are you going to kill me too?" there wasn't any trance of fear in her voice.

The young woman stared at her for a second… with a lightning fast movement she had already gripped the brunette by her throat, and started to squeeze. The older woman struggled in vain to free herself despite the fact that she was over a head taller.

"I know what you're thinking…" the younger one calmly said, "Well, you're wrong. I don't need my abilities to tell that you're going to take a different path from us. You helped make me what I am now and now you want to destroy me. Even 'He' knows. I should kill you here and now."

But she stopped and released her grip.

The brunette dropped to her knees grasping for air, whilst rubbing her bruised throat which was on fire from the pain. Slowly, she managed to look up again and choke out a few words, "Why… spare… me?"

"Because… I owe you. Now I've replayed the favor."

"You… you have perverted our order…"

"No, your order was based nothing but lies to begin with. Besides why should I put up with an organization who are determined to kill me."

"I… didn't what to kill you."

"No, you wanted to study me. So you would know more on how to kill others like me."

The brunette glared at her.

"You have much faith Marina, pity it's blind. Now go… get out of my sight… the next time we meet I will not hesitate" with those words the young woman walked away. Leaving the Marina to nurse her injuries before she was able to get up and leave.

Tunisia
Est. 100kms southwest of Remada.

I signed softly as I tried again to fix the generator. However the new parts failed miserably to fit together, plus there was a big metal rod didn't seem to go anywhere. I eventually came to the obvious conclusion that they had in fact, given me the wrong parts. This ultimately meant that I'd have to again drive five hours straight to get to the nearest hardware store.

I sat there, in my living room, clad in only a T-shirt and a part of shorts. Bits and pieces strewed all around me, a half-opened piece of junk of a power generator in front of me.

The generator was only the backup power, everything really ran off power cells regularly recharged by solar panels around the back. But still, you never knew when you needed the backup. That's why it was better that I fixed it now that I could rather than when I need it.

Wiping the sweat of my forehead with the back of my arm, I asked myself again why the hell, did I choose to settle down out here?

It was isolated.

It was quiet.

There would be no one to worry about discovering who I really am. What I am.

Well… that's all good.

But did I have to pick somewhere so bloody hot?

Well at least the air conditioner in study was still working. That had better not break down too, or else my computer would fry. And that was the only way I kept contact with the outside world. The system was hot wired straight into the global satellite network. In that way, I would make it very hard for someone to track me down even if they knew who I was online.

It was also through this way that I kept track of what was happening with Shinji or his father.

And from what I hear things were going fine for him. Though in more recent news, something awkward was going on. Words here and there.

A shootout in a busy mall.

Two of three pilots gone missing.

But most troubling of all, a plane carrying an Evangelion, failed to arrive at its destination

Suddenly I hear a noise. A click, then an explosion of metal and wood, indicating that my front door had in fact just been blown to bits.

This is really going to mess up the house.

"Ok… explain to me again why aren't you getting escorted by a full surveillance team like you're suppose to?" grumbled Corporal Suzuhara.

"Because… nobody's suppose to know where I'm going" responded Shinji, who had his head pressed against the car window.

"Alright… So why me?"

"Why not? Besides, Misato insisted."

"Oh."

Shinji watched the landscape as his old friend drove the car along the dirt road. The small rover kicking up a small cloud of red dust behind it. To someone who'd spent the last few years living in a base surrounded by water, the arid landscape was truly alien, not to mention depressing, suggesting to Shinji that it would be better to keep his mind on something else.

"Hey Touji?"

"Yah?"

"So what happen this time?"

"You mean the little argument I had?"

"Little argument? I heard it was more of a brawl… heard you got stabbed in the back…"

Touji smirked, "That was a totally cheap shot, just because I was pounding the crap out of that little shit," thumping his fist heavily on the wheel to emphasis his point.

Shinji allowed himself a small laugh. Touji always had a way of lightening up the conversation whenever he was depressed. Shinji conjured up an image in his head of someone unfortunate enough to get hit by Touji's punch, which happened to be considerably more painful due to fact that it involved a metal fist. After all, being around some of the most acclaimed scientist in the world did have its benefits. In Touji's case, they were able to replace his lost arm with a bionic version.

"Don't worry, it takes more than a little knife to take me out. You should take a look at the other guy, he'll be eating from a straw for while that's for sure." He grinned. "Man, it was so totally low of the boss lady to do this to me too! I mean, I don't mind escorting you and all but the suspension is gonna stay on ma records man!"

"I don't think one more is going to make much of a difference Touji."

"So… how'd you know how to find this Inanis chick anyhow? Hell of a place to play hide and seek…"

"I'm the only one she trusted… she told me in case I ever needed to find her."

"Ah whatever… hey man, I think we're here."

This one was the last one. He had managed to hide himself temporarily from me in my study. But it was harder to find him than I had originally thought. The… assassins, were somehow protected, or at least shielded by far more than the resistance caused by simple training experienced when fighting against the Templars.

I therefore stand to reason that this was achieved by some artificial means, all of which pointed to the headgear they all seemed to be wearing. And that these assassins were not Templars.

Despite their immunity to my abilities, I was still by far more than a match for them. But there was something peculiar about this last one though. It was just the way he moved, or rather how he didn't. He didn't panic like the others. He was waiting for me when I came looking, even now, with a rifle aimed at his head, he stared back at me with cold indifference.

It seemed like… he wanted me to kill him.

Then I noticed that the headgear he wore had been in fact been deactivated. I didn't have enough time to shift through his mind though, as he suddenly pulled out a pistol from behind him. Needless to say, he never made it, I shot him right in the face.

It did however, managed to perceive his soul departing. But again, there was something not quite right about it. I hoped that I would gain some insight of my enemies through his memories. But there was nothing. At lest, nothing that I was able to interpret.

It was strange.

It was as if…

His mind functioned on a different language all together.

Nothing like anything I have ever experienced before.

But before I could ponder any further on the subject, I became aware of two new presences.

Suzuhara?

And Shinji?!

"Looks like someone beat us…" Touji pointed at the door, which had been blown wide open.

Both immediately reached for their guns. The house, which they entered, was in fact once a gem mine in the middle of the desert. It was meant to be abandoned, but as it seems, someone had used parts of the old caverns to build themselves a rather well furnished home. It would have seemed like a nice place to live if it were not for the heat and its bullet-ridden state.

Touji crept in first, covered by Shinji. They hadn't gone further than a few steps when they found the first body. It was of a large man laying face down, wearing reddish brown military fatigues. Blood was seeping out from underneath him and was pooling heavily on the carpet. He was obvious well prepared for the intrusion, thought Shinji, noting that the dead man was wearing heavy armor and was strapped on with a full array of equipment, not to mention a strange looking headgear of some sort.

Nonetheless, it did little to save him from someone apparently shoving a metal rod 'through' the front of his armor. Obviously, this meant that the force behind the rod must have been tremendous to be able to penetrate the front of armor, which was designed to stop even heavy machinegun rounds.

"Holy s… what the hell did that!?" asked Touji to no one in particular.

Shinji knew, but didn't reply. Already he was scouring for more bodies he knew there were bound to be.

They found five more bodies in the tunnels, one had his neck broken, the others had been shot with their own weapons, but of whom they sought there was still no sign. At that point, Shinji found the door to what seemed to be the study. Nudging the door open a little, his eyes widened in surprise.

A woman, one whom he still recognized, despite knowing her only as a girl, was standing in the middle of the room with her back towards him. Her clothes were stained with blood and grime, whilst on the far end of the room, was one last body, lying on top of a heap of recently trashed computer equipment. The face was mangled beyond recognition, having been obviously hit by the Scattershot Rifle the woman currently held with her right hand.

Slowly, she turned around.

Their eyes met.

His, dark blue.

Hers, complete black.

She wore a somber expression on her face, suggesting that she was not comfortable with him seeing her like this.

She closed her eyes and tilted her head downwards. Moments later, she looked up again, and when her eyes opened they were crimson red, as they normally were.

"Oh ma… God…" exclaimed Touji, who's jaws dropped as he found his way in behind Shinji.

"Touji… this is Inanis…" calmly stated Shinji.

But before anything else could be said, something went wrong, Inanis' grip on the rifle loosened. The Scattershot fell from her hands, clattering loudly on the floor. Her eyes roll backwards all of a sudden and she fell. Shinji rushed forth and barely managed to catch her in time before she hit the ground.

Unbeknownst to Shinji and Touji, they were being watched. The body of the last assassin in fact concealed a remote camera, which was linked to an operations vehicle not too far away from the recent carnage.

A shadowy figure grinned as he watched the events unfold themselves exactly as planned. Calmly, he pulled out a Sat Com and punched in the correct sequence of codes.

On the other end, somewhere across the world, someone responded. It was a woman's voice.

"So?"

"The package was delivered," said the man.

"Good."

"We may have a problem though. The 3rd just turned up."

If it were not for the fact that he had never heard his employer raise her voice, he could have sworn that he could actually feel the sudden tension. It was all to clear that interference of an outside party had not been counted upon.

"Get rid of them" the voice hissed.

Quickly examining her, Shinji failed to find any wounds or injuries of any kind. Which meant that there was nothing that he could do for her except getting her out of there.

"Touji! Let's go!" he shouted as he hefted the unconscious woman on his shoulder.

"Bloody hell! Are you going to explain what the heck's going on any time soon?"

"I will when we have the time. Now just go and get to the car."

"On to it" replied his old friend, who quickly rushed out ahead.

Contrary to what most people might have expect of a boy who saved humanity, Shinji did not in fact grow up to be a beefy hunk of a man. He was in fact rather thin, not to the point of shrimpy but he did inherit most of his mother's genes rather than his father's. Though he did at least get his height from his father, one of the only few things he did not regard as rather not inheriting from Gendo Ikari.

In other words, Shinji Ikari was not exactly known for his strength in carrying a full grown woman.

His decision to carry Inanis on his own however determined, was obviously therefore a regrettable mistake.

But it was one which saved his life.

No sooner than he managed to haul Inanis to the entrance, he tripped under her bodyweight. This caused to bullet, which was destined to bore through his skull, to miss entirely.

"Shit!" cursed Shinji as he shoved the woman around the corner and threw himself after her. Desperate to avoid the next couple of shots which passed through where he was only half a second ago.

Being an Eva pilot, alas even one not deployed as much as Asuka or Rei, Shinji was still implanted with the latest Bioware. Which luckily also gave him access to communications with anyone with a radio, or in this case, specifically the radio in the car.

[Touji! Touji! Are you there!?]

Shinji tried to glance outside, to see if he could spot his attacker, but another shot ricocheted a few inches next to his nose. Stopping him dead on the spot.

[Oh hell! Shinji! You alright man!? He must have been waiting for you to come out!]

[Yes! Yes! I'm fine! Just get that bastard!]

[… Shit! The SOB's a good shot… I'm pinned in the car! Fine! If he wants to play it that way! Just get ready to run when I tell you to!]

A second later, he heard the engines flaring. Without even being able to see what he was going, Touji drove the rover at full speed towards the entrance. For a moment Shinji was afraid that it was going to crash, but in a display of pure intentional recklessness (learned from watching Misato drive), Touji practically stood on the brakes and spun the vehicle around, throwing a massive screen of dirt high around the area. The resulting cloud of dust, was enough to temporarily block the sniper's line of sight.

Touji promptly kicked the passenger door open.

"In!" he shouted.

With no need for further encouragement, Shinji carried Inanis to the car and shoved her unceremoniously inside. He then leapt in, not even having time to slam the door close when Touji already jammed his foot on the accelerator, causing the car to lurch forth, bursting through the cloud before it could even settle.

Both were smart enough to keep their heads down, as the sniper managed to pepper the car with a couple of more shots before they were out of range.

On a massive yacht.

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

One man watched as a helicopter landed on the aft deck.

He was fairly tall for a Japanese man, and he was in good shape, especially considering he was in his late fifties. Years before, he kept a very rough-liking beard, but here in the tropical climate he found it more comfortable to shave it off. Besides, keeping the way you looked wasn't the best to thing to do when you were being hunted down with as much fanaticism last seen since the WW2 German war trials.

In fact, most of his former employees won't have recognized him in this state.

The sunlight shimmered off the mirror surface of his tinted glasses.

A woman, the brunette with violet eyes from before, stepped off together with her entourage of four other men and women.

She marched forth sternly as everyone else was forced to knee down slightly because of the downdraft caused by the helicopter as it left.

"Well, well, I never expected to see one of you people again" said the man.

"I never expected I'd stoop to dealing with you" replied Marina.

Using the latest technologies and finest engineers, the yacht was commissioned in secrecy using appropriated funds. The yacht was not only concealing weapons, which would make a modern battleship think twice before attacking, but it was also the fastest craft of its size on the sea. Equipped with the most advance cloaking system, it was hidden from radar, sonar and even spy satellites.

This meant that it was almost impossible to find this particular yacht, unless it wanted to be found that is…

All this was necessary for its owner to constantly evade his pursuers for the good part of 6 years now.

Unlike SEELE, he knew that there was always the possibility of the failure of instrumentality. And unlike them, he planned a way out. Indeed, he made sure that failure didn't mean he had to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

He had lost his wife. He knew that there was nothing he could do about it. Not anymore anyway.

Instrumentality was his last and only chance of getting her back. But he had failed.

That was reality of things.

Gendo Ikari does not look back on things he cannot change.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES

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Ah... okay... now let's see. First off, please on flame me for killing off Rei. She will be back in the next chapter! Remember the body Gendo was working on at the end of Pariah? Well this was what it was for @_@

There were meant to be one or two more pic for this chapter but I didn't have time to draw and colour them properly. Maybe in the future then.

About the gendo pic, I actually tried coloring on a beard on it and it really looks like him! Well, IMHO at least.

I do a lot of portrait-type pic as it is what I am best at, but hopefully by next chapter I can come up with pics for the actions scenes.

What else? Ah, more of what happened in the past will be made clear the further we get into the story, so if you're wondering about such things as how come Kaji's not dead or 3rd Impact was avoided, you'll have to wait ^_^

Uggg.... rest now...

Many thanks to my pre-readers

Zoe Symons
Juan Luis Carrasco
Orac Otaku
Sayuri
& last but not least, Seph Khan

Mekat @_^