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Title: Upon Bladed Wings
Author: Jonathan "Katarn" Gaters
E-mail: KatarnX2B@NetZero.net
HP: http://members.nbci.com/katarnx2b/
Genre: Action, Drama
Part: Chapter 1
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*****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING*****
Contains spoilers for much of the series, as well as graphic, violent,
and adult content. Rated PG-13. You may now finish skipping this.
*****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING****WARNING*****

All thoughts are in script format. A name with a " or ' after it
is another aspect of that person's personality they're conversing with.
Just trying new styles out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------


Shinji looked down at the photograph in his hands. Though the
woman was obviously attractive, she didn't seem anything like his type.

Even if she wasn't his type, she was still supposed to pick him
up. She probably didn't know where he was though. Unfortunately, the
rails had all stopped because of a State of Emergency that had been
declared. Shinji took a wild guess that being outside right now wasn't a
good thing.

Shinji: It figures that the one time father calls for me,
something dangerous and possibly fatal happens.

Shinji placed the photograph back in his pocket. There was
nothing to do but wait and hope that this 'Misato' person showed up.

A flock of birds suddenly took flight, and caught Shinji's
attention. When he looked up, he saw a girl, about his age, with blue
hair. Shinji stared for a moment then gasped when she suddenly
disappeared. There was no puff of smoke, no object blurring by; he
hadn't blinked, hadn't looked away either. She was there one moment and
simply gone the next.

Shinji didn't have any time to ponder this interesting and
confusing event, because a split second later a thirty story monster
came romping around the hill to his right with a swarm of VTOL fighters
buzzing around it, laying down heavy fire. They didn't seem to be making
much progress towards destroying it, though the monster easily destroyed
one of the fighters right before Shinji's eyes.

Unfortunately for Shinji, the fuel used by the fighter was
highly combustive and caused a large, twisted piece of the fighter to be
hurled at his current position. The shrapnel collided with the roofing
overhead, and spilled large amounts of debris around Shinji. Luckily,
none of the large pieces hit him, nor did any of the fast moving small
ones.

The loud purr of an engine and screech of tires against pavement
and inertia later, a sweet blue sports car skidded to a halt in front of
Shinji. The door opened and he saw the woman from the picture.

"Hurry up and get in!" she yelled.

Not wanting to argue with someone willing to, hopefully, take
him far away from the Godzilla wannabe, Shinji promptly complied by
hurtling himself into the vehicle as fast as his young legs could.

"Misato, I presume?" asked Shinji, still breathing heavily from
his little foray with death.

"Correct as usual, King Friday."

"What?"

"Before your time."

"Okay." Shinji was smart and considerate enough not to make some
quip about age. After all, she was hot and getting him away from danger.

"Misato-san... can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, go right ahead!" she was eerily cheerful to Shinji.

"Do you know what that thing back there was?"

"An Angel."

"Oh, that's nice. So, basically... it's the end of the world?"

"Not if we can help it!"

"I don't think you can. Those fighters seemed to be wasting
their time."

"Those were JSSDF fighters. I'm not talking about them. I
already know they won't do anything but slow it down some."

"Um... okay. Here's another question, why did my father send his
secretary to pick me up?"

Misato growled and sent the car swerving from one side of the
road to the next. "I'M NOT A SECRETARY!! I'M A CAPTAIN IN THE UN FORCES
AND HEAD OF THE TACTICAL OPERATION AND PLANNING DEPARTMENT OF THE
SPECIAL ORGINIZATION NERV!!!"

"SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! Please stop before you hit something!"
Shinji pleaded for his life.

"Fine. Just don't -ever- call me a secretary!"

"I promise I won't Misato-Ichi-i! Just don't kill both of us!"

"Okay," said Misato, once again back to her old self, "now that
you know better!"

Shinji: I wonder if I got in a car with a schitzo?

Shinji": Of course you did!

Shinji: I meant another one.

Shinji": I don't know... You're on your own for this one.

Shinji: A lot of help you are!

Shinji": Hey, if you need to do something insane or violent, I'll be
right there!

Shinji: Where else would you be?

Shinji': Good point.

Shinji came out of his introspection in time to notice the car
had parked in a reinforced tunnel.

"Why are we parked in here?" he asked.

Misato held out a pair of binoculars. "Look and see for
yourself. You wouldn't believe me otherwise."

Shinji peered through the refractive lenses, his gaze sweeping
the horizon. All Shinji could see was mountains, the trail of
destruction left by the "Angel", the afore mentioned Angel, and nothing
else. Of course, there was that immense, orange and white robot that
just emerged from the ground; can't forget that!

"What is that?" Shinji queried.

"That's Unit-Zero."

"And I guess that's what you plan on attacking that 'Angel'
with, right?"

"You catch on quick!" that annoyingly sweet voice again.

"Tell me, did you purposely paint it to look like a giant,
walking, dream-sickle?"

Misato growled and snatched the binoculars away from Shinji,
placing them against her eyes. It didn't really matter to Shinji; the
robot was big enough to be seen from that distance with the naked eye.

The robot began its attack, barreling at the Angel at top speed.
The Angel didn't seem too worried by this, though. Apparently, it had
good reason not to worry. As soon as Unit-00 closed within hand-to-hand
combat range, it collided with an iridescent, orange, hexangular, energy
field. The field only served to slow the walking dream-sickle down, it
soon began to weaken and tear through the energy field.

Unfortunately, all it took was a momentary pause in Unit-00's
attack for the Angel to strike. The beast lashed out with its long,
skinny, right arm, clasping the Unit's neck between its atrophied
fingers. The monstrosity's arm seemed to bulge suddenly, sprouting
rippling muscles. Lifting its fellow monstrosity off the ground like a
toy, the Angel began to throttle it's captive's throat.

Reaching out with its other hand, the Angel grabbed and began to
crush Unit-00's right forearm. The Unit let out a cry that sounded like
a cross between a moan and a howl, though it was strangled from the
Angel's throttling. Unit-00's arm reached the breaking point... then
exceeded it. There was a horrible, sickening, snap, followed closely by
a howl of pain from the "defender" as red blood spurted from the break.

"So much for saving us all." Shinji helpfully intoned.

Misato simply growled as her eyes stayed glued on the battle,
never wavering.

Though Shinji expected the Angel to finish off the robot, it
seemed the leviathan had other plans. Reaching out with it's remaining
arm, the beast was only too happy to return the favor to the goliath
holding it. The armored hand of Unit-00 clasped the wrist of the Angel,
applying unthinkable amount of torque to the joint, snapping it into
dozens of pieces.

Unlike the Eva, the Angel bled blue. The oozing, azure liquid
seeped onto the Eva's hand as the mecha dropped to the ground, the
Angel's wrist no longer able to support its immense weight.

Though Unit-00 had managed to momentarily gain the upper hand,
the Angel did not give it a chance to continue its attack. Striking like
the Eva had never hurt it, the Angel grabbed the Unit by the neck with
its good, left arm. Lifting it once more, the Angel held the man-made
monstrosity over its head.

Shinji watched as the ivory spike that protruded from the
Angel's elbow began to glow neon pink. The glowing protrusion
disappeared into the creature's arm. Unit-00 shuddered as the energy
spike tried to bury itself into the neck of the Evangelion.

Red blood from the fresh wound contrasted sharply with the dark
grey of the Angel's hand. The energy spike pulled back once more,
pausing a moment, before slamming once more into the neck of the
Evangelion. Another expulsion of blood quickly followed.

Unit-00 grabbed for the Angel's remaining good arm, in an
attempt to free itself. The Angel did not fall for the same trick twice.
In one fluid motion, the Angel wheeled about, swinging the Evangelion
wide, before releasing the beast, and propelling it away with a cross-
shaped blast from its "eyes".

The giant robot crashed to the ground seven and a half
kilometers away in a crumpled heap, blood flowing freely from its neck
and abdomen.

Shinji caught sight of Misato raising a radio to her ear.

"Go to plan 'Backlash' now!" A pause. "I know, for now this is
our only choice." Another pause. "Yes, he's here. We'll be there
shortly."

Shinji decided to simply file the half of the conversation he
had heard for later and instead focus on the eminent demise of the beast
that was supposed to have guarded them.

The Angel stalked ever closer to the fallen titan, readying for
the final strike. The ivory spike in its right arm glowed neon pink once
more.

The orange Unit-Zero struggled like a wounded animal, trying to
escape the jaws of the wolf. It managed to raise its immense weight onto
its left arm as the Angel of Darkness stalked ever closer to its
cornered prey.

It came as a surprise to Shinji when the hill behind Unit-00
split open, and a giant harness rolled out on two tracks. The Evangelion
rolled into the harness, which quickly retreated into the hill that soon
closed with the Leviathan's retreat.

Looking up, Shinji noticed a lone plane flying above the
battlefield. As Shinji was deciding whether it was a lone plane because
it was performing aerial reconnaissance or because it was the only plane
left flying after the failed assault on the "Angel", he didn't hear
Misato's warning the first time. Or the second time. Or the fifth time.
It was then that Misato grabbed Shinji by the collar and hauled him back
from the tunnel entrance, all but throwing him behind the car.

Shinji was planning on "discussing" that little action with
Misato (now that they were out of the car) but since all the air had
been squeezed out of his lungs by the shockwave from a large explosion
in close proximity to his current location, it was a moot point. A
moment later Shinji collapsed under the crushing pressure. His eyes
clamped shut not to keep out to searing light, but in an attempt to keep
them in their sockets.

A few seconds later the brunt of the blast had past them. Shinji
staggered to his feet hacking and coughing. The scalding wind buffeted
him as he rose above the windbreak of the car. In his stunned state,
Shinji was easily unbalanced by the onslaught of the gale.

Standing once more, though significantly more stable this time,
Shinji turned to look at the area where the "Angel" was last time he
looked. He had to shield his eyes from the piercing residual light of
the blast.

Looking up, Shinji saw the tail end of the explosion. A great
pillar of fire was boiling up around where the "Angel" used to be. All
Shinji could manage to express his awe at the destruction was a guttural
moan.

Misato, too, stared at the searing cloud as it boiled into the
air, though she was thinking totally different thoughts from Shinji. She
was more concerned on how much time they had just bought themselves.

Grabbing Shinji by the arm, Misato threw him back into the
passenger seat of the car. Shinji barely had time to claw for his
seatbelt as the car lurched forward.

"FUCK!" screamed Shinji with what little breath remained in his
lungs. "That was an en-two mine!"
"We had no other option."

Shinji risked a glance out the window of the car. There was
still a lot of risidual light from the molten rock, the very air around
the blast was giving off light. Through the just below blinding glare,
Shinji could bearly make out a figure. "It's still there."
"Of course. That was just to buy us some time."

Silence pervaded the rest of the trip.

--

Misato was almost constantly on her cell phone for the next ten
minutes. Shinji didn't mind, he had learned to appretiate silence with
patience, calm, and joy. He had a lot to think about.

Obviously his father wanted him for something very important, or
else he wouldn't have called him. Fuck that sentimental shit about
having loved ones near you at the end. They'd tried that whole "family"
trip before. Misato had mentioned repeatidly that she was buying time.
Shinji surmised that she was buying time to get him into "Evangelion
Unit-Zero" or another like it.

Shinji": Boy, won't she be in for a rude awakening.

Shinji: You just love poping people's bubbles, don't you?

Shinji": I just love that look on their face when their whole world
comes to a screaming, shattering stop.

Shinji stopped thinking, and started waiting. It was a nice
view. The Geofront was quite beautiful.

--

The trip down from the surface took 15 minutes, including
parking -- which Misato could apparently do at 110kph. It took another
ten minutes of wandering before Misato started to look like she knew
where she was going (the cell phone hadn't helped).

They eventually met up with another atractive woman, this time a
blonde, wearing a wet suit and a lab coat (that was a wet dream waiting
to happen). She seemed to know where she was going better than Misato.
Ritsuko, as the woman turned out to be named, and Misato converced back
and forth. Shinji couldn't understand most of what they were talking
about so he just filled it away while he continued to read the
orientation manual he had been given. He did, however, find out that he
was going to pilot "Unit-One", or so they thought.

Much to Shinji's annoyance, that lights suddenly went out. He
looked around for the cause but his eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark
yet. It didn't really matter as the lights came back with a vengance.
Unfortunately, his eyes had dialated just enough for the light to be
painful.

Squinting through the light he saw a hideaous visage in front of
him. It didn't disturb him though. After seeing Unit-00, he was prepared
for it.

"Shinji, this is Unit-One. You'll be piloting this," said
Ritsuko.

"So you say."

"Shinji, the entire human race is depending on you. You have to
pilot!" Misato seemd to be very adament about him piloting Unit-01.

"You're mistaken. I don't *have* to do anything, you just *want*
me too."

"If you don't pilot then you'll die too! Do you want to die?!"

"You catch on quick!" Aparently, Misato didn't like Shinji's
imatation of her, though he noticed Ritsuko holding back a snicker.

"Listen, you can't just roll over and die! It's not that
simple!"

"Yes it is."

Shinji": Oh! OH! Three more seconds and her ideals come crashing down
around her!!

"It doesn't matter. We'll simply use Rei." Both Misato and
Shinji froze at the Commanders voice. Shinji found it disconcerting how
little his father's voice had changed in six years.

"But she can't pilot! She can barely breathe on her own!
Besides, Unit-Zero is no longer fit for combat."

"It doesn't matter. She'll pilot Unit-One."

The whole building shook suddenly. The Beast was on the move.
Shinji stared the other beast in it's cold dead eyes. Covered up to the
chin in a pink fluid.


A swarm of medics came through the doors to Shinji's right.
Between them there was a gurney. The perosn on it was probably "Rei",
the unfortunate pilot of Unit-00.

There was another, stronger blasting and the ground underfoot
shook like gelatin. Worse, the cieling overhead crumbled like stale
bread. Instictively, Shinji leaped for the girl falling off the
strecher. The liquid in front of Unit-01 exploded away violently. When
it was all over, Shinji was on his knees with the girl laying in his
arms, rubble piled on all sides of them. Not a single piece of debris
had fallen within two meters of him.

Misato looked at Shinji, clutching Rei, surrounded by boulders.
The coolant surrounding the Evangelion still churning. "Did what I think
happen just happen?"

"This might just work," said Ritsuko.

Gendo just smirked.


Shinji opened his eyes and took his first good look at Rei.
Really his second look at her. It was the same girl he had seen at the
train station. Misato hadn't been exaggerating when she said Rei could
barely breathe on her own. The girl lay in his arms, gasping for air.
She was covered in bandages, her left eye, her abdomen, her right ankle
were all covered in gauze, and her right arm was in a cast.

Shinji felt something warm and wet on his hand. Shinji didn't
need to see the startling red to know it was blood. Rei went through a
short spasm, twitching and coughing blood.

Shinji': Save Her.

Shinji: I can't.

Shinji": Fight.

Shinji: I won't.

Shinji': Help her. She needs you.

Shinji: But... my father...

Shinji': That doesn't matter. We have a fight we must fight now.

Shinji: I'll do it...

Once more, aloud: "I'll do it."

--

The Plugsuit clung uncomfortably to him. The Entry plug felt
claustrophic around him. He had the uneasy feeling he was sitting in a
coffin. Not just any coffin, his coffin.

"Okay, Shinji," Ritsuko's voice over the intercomm. "This might
hurt some."

Shinji knew that when someone said that something would hurt
"some" that it would hurt a lot. Even that couldn't have prepared him
for the pain he felt. Needles rammed themselves all along his spine, his
forhead, arms, chest, legs. They went through bones, through flesh,
seeking
out nerves and striking them full on. He tried to struggle but the seat
clamped down on him.


"Begin LCL injection," Commanded Ritsuko.

"Injecting LCL," replied a tech.


Shinji felt a sudden burning sensation come from the needles, it
felt like acid was being pored into his nerves, rasing Shinji to a level
of pain he had never know. The searing pain began to radiate out from
the needles.


"LCL saturation at sixty-five percent and rising."

"Copelhigger arc steady at point-two-oh-nine-six."

"LCL saturation at seventy-three percent."

"Begin electro-induction," Ritsuko ordered.


The electricity arced trough the needles into Shinji's body.
Shinji didn't even notice. He was already experience as much pain as he
could be. His nervous system simply couldn't express pain in any way
more
intense than it already was. The electricity was just a drop lost in an
ocean.

Suddenly Shinji felt something tickling at the back of his mind,
forcing it's way to the surface. For an instant, he saw Rei lying on a
bed before him. Before he could do or say anything, the feeling rushed
through him.


"Nerual connections established. Steady up to three-oh-seven."

"Begin meta-connections." Ritsuko stared intensly at the screen.


Shinji felt part of his mind being snatched away. He felt
*somthing* coalese around that piece of his mind. It was slightly
disconcerting, but so far it was his first experience inside the Eva
that didn't immediately result in intense pain.


"First connection holding."

"Proceed with connections as normal."


More and more pieces of Shinji's mind were being stripped away,
faster and faster. It was getting harder and harder to focus on any one
specific thing for any lenght of time. A pain not unlike someone driving
a hot poker into his forhead began.


"Ma'am! Pulse flow reversing! Psych waveform inverting!"

"Shit!" Ritsuko pushed the tech in front of her aside and
started typing furiously. "His phase alignment is shifting. Quantum
delta-line approaching!"

"Ready for launch!"

Ritsuko spared a look at Misato. "Are you serious?! There's an
Angel up there!"

"Let it deal with Shinji."

Ritsuko tried everything she knew in an attempt to keep Shinji
human. It didn't matter. The displays showed, he was nearing the point
of no return. Even as her hands flew across the keyboard, the Eva
was being manuvered towards the catapult.

"Point of no return reached!"

And that was that.


Shinji felt the last shred of his sanity leave him as the g-
forces
of the catapult. By time he reached the surface there was no sign of the

mind know as "Shinji" left.

As soon as the lift reached ground level, Unit-01 broke free of
the bindings. An energy flew off of Unit-01 reducing everthing within
three blocks of it to ruins.


The support staff watched the monitor in fear as Unit-01 let out
a beastial roar.

"Poor Shinji," said the tech beside Ritsuko.

"Don't say that." Ritsuko replied with a cold voice. "That's not
Shinji anymore. He's *fallen*..."


Abra Cadabra
[Let it be done] - Arabic