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Reaching Out
A Neon Genesis Evangelion Fanfiction
Chapter 1 – Angel Attack/Sachiel; Angel of Water
The lights flashed; the only way her mind could interpret the startup signals sent to it through the A-10 nerve clips - rainbows, then sparkles, then the colour of blood, then blackness, and then finally spots of white that joined to form the view of outside. Not that there was one, instead there was…
Nothing.
Solid, blank whiteness as far as she could see. She pinged the radar. Nothing. She tried sonar. Nothing. She flexed her hand, and the Eva did the same. She brought up the hand to where she should have been able to see it. Nothing. The light was as darkness.
Rei Ikari sighed and turned the externals off, switching to the most basic life support mode. Next to her head, a window was up showing 15 hours and 40 minutes of time remaining at this operational level before the Evangelion could no longer support her and she would die.
Death. What would it be like? Would she drown in the LCL? Or would she merely cease conscious thought? Would it be like when she had been strangled, with her vision fading?
She wondered along these lines for a while, and then looked around with disgust.
"Dammit." And she hit one of the joysticks.
She leaned back, and looked down. Oh, this is going to be great. I wonder what they'll put on my gravestone. 'Rei Ikari - Great Pilot, Fucking Idiot.'
She closed her eyes. So here I am. Stuck in a skyscraper sized cyborg that's prone to violent rages, runs off the mains - whose fucking idea was that anyway - Trapped inside an angel in what may or may not be another universe. I'm fifteen, fairly angry and probably going to die. Dammit, I didn't even tell him-
Rei shook her head again. Goddammit."Why don't ya just shoot it?", eh Asuka? THIS is why. And why the hell did I even listen to her? She was the one being pissy about the synchronisation test. Dammitdammitdammit, I'm going to die and it's all that stupid German bitch's fault. So much for her friendship; the moment you put one foot out of line she breaks it. It wasn't my fault that…
She looked around suddenly at a feeling of something else in the Entry Plug, but there was nothing she could see. She could feel an insistent itch in the back of her head; like something was speaking and she couldn't quite pick up all of what it was saying.
~Who are you?~
~so many days ago it seems?~
~"Rei, Ikari Rei." She said, and looked over the class with her good eye - the other was too heavily bandaged. She noticed the odd blue haired girl from the Evangelion cage sat at the back, looking vaguely bored. Among the class was a boy who had a camera on his desk and a model of one of those JSSDF copters. Then there was the Class Rep, who seemed to rule the place with an iron fist…~
~Who are you?~It came more insistently this time.
Who the fuck areyou?
You…
~You…~
Rei opened her eyes and looked around at the walls of the entry plug. The silver walls were oddly comforting, and again, there was that smell of blood. The presence was gone, and she dismissed it as her own mind playing tricks on her. Thank god the plug was still vaguely lit.
"Well, this is boring." She considered starting up Unit 01 and dying a quick death, but dismissed it after a second.
"Goddamnit. How did it end up like this?" She muttered, and looked up through the liquid, remembering back to her first day in Tokyo-3.
What a disaster that was.
2015
Little Rei ran. Gasping as she did so, she pumped her small arms at her sides, and turned her head back to see the huge purple monstrosity bearing down on her with calm, mechanical strides. She squealed and carried on running, smacking into the legs of a blurry figure that picked her little body up and cradled Rei to its chest. Rei felt calm for a few seconds before there was a roar and she turned to see the huge purple thing running at them, growing in size until it was larger than the buildings around. It advanced on the two of them slowly, a low growling emanating from it, and Rei squealed again.
The figure put her down onto the floor and told her to run; and Rei did so, running and running until her legs gave out, and she sank to the floor, turning around to see the giant standing above the woman. It reached down, picked her up and then in one fell motion, bit the woman's head off.
"Mama!" Rei screamed, and struggled to her feet, tears in her eyes. She ran at the thing blindly, where it had dropped the corpse, and Rei ran over to the body, shaking it and pulling at it.
"Mama! Mama! Please wake up mama! Please!" She knew it was useless, instinctively. She heard the same low growling and looked up to see the huge thing reaching for her. It was about to grasp her in its hand when-
-Rei Ikari woke up with a start and stared at her ceiling, tears coming unbidden to her eyes. Every night for the past week, that same dream, the same purple giant that so resembled the plush toy made for her by her mother when she was young. It always chased her and bit the head off the woman she too late realised was her mother. Why she was always so young in the dreams was beyond her.
The sun was shining in through the blinds to her small but neat room, and she sat up, looking at a sheaf of papers on her desk. This was why her room was so tidy, even tidier than it usually was - most of her stuff was all packed up, ready to go to Tokyo-3. A summons, from her father, no less, may he rot in hell. She stood up and swung her feet off her bed - which would be delivered to Tokyo-3 later if she decided to stay (Which, in all honesty was about as likely as her uncle wearing a tutu), and walked over to her desk, where her computer sat, and a framed photograph that was one of her most precious possessions. It showed her mother, Kozo Fuyutsuki and even her father. All three were smiling.
Rei stroked the photo, looking sad. "I'm sorry I can't help you, even in my dreams, mama." She whispered. Shaking her head, Rei sighed again, and headed to the bathroom to grab a shower.
Once her shower was finished, and she had dressed herself, she regarded herself in the mirror for a few seconds. There was never any chance of denying it - she looked distinctly boyish, with her hair cropped fairly short, short-but-lanky frame and general lack of a bust. She was almost too thin, and her few friends all told her she was definitely going to be a 'late bloomer', though, frankly she couldn't care less about the development of her body. The clothes she wore were simple and utilitarian - a white blouse and smart black trousers. The only real concessions to her femininity were the shoes she wore - no heel, but distinctly female, and the watch she had on.
It wasn't that she was actively tomboyish; just that she didn't really bother much with feminine things; she had a somewhat 'meh' opinion of trying to be very girly, or attract a boyfriend. It just seemed like too much work. And Rei never id have much motivation.
Rei sighed, picked up her satchel, slung it over one shoulder and went downstairs for a quick breakfast before she headed to the station to get the train to Tokyo-3 and whatever awaited her there. She doubted this business would take long, and thought that she'd be back in Tokyo-2 by a few days, or even tomorrow.
As she was cooking the rice, her uncle walked into the kitchen and sat at the table.
"Good morning, Rei."
"Good morning, Uncle Daisuke. Auntie Naoko must be late getting up; I'll put her breakfast in the oven." Rei said dutifully, smiling as she placed a bowl of rice in front of him, followed by a small tray with some grilled fish and a bowl of miso soup, and placing a tray with her aunt's food on it into the oven, before placing her own breakfast at the table. She sat down and picked up her chopsticks.
"Itadakimasu!"* She said quietly, as her uncle did the same, and they proceeded to eat.
About halfway through their meal, her uncle spoke up.
"You're going to Tokyo-3 today, aren't you, Rei?"
Rei nodded, looking down. "Yes. I don't really know why I'm bothering, especially after the last time I saw… him." There was smouldering rage behind her words.
Daisuke Ikari sighed. Rei was still a troubled child, despite him trying to bring her up as normally as possible. He'd tried to be a father to the stubborn girl, but he could only do so much – his job kept him away more than he'd have liked to. It was the same with his wife. Still, she could have been left with that teacher. Daisuke shuddered. At least with him and Naoko, she had the chance to at least interact properly with people and have a loving home life, even if it wasn't as much as it should have been.
When Gendo had just thrown away the last connection to his dead wife – Daisuke's little sister, he'd just sent her to a teacher friend of his. At four. Daisuke shook his head. She'd been so silent and obviously hurting when he and Naoko had rescued her from the man when she was six. Said teacher had not purposely neglected her; but he clearly had no clue as to raising a child.
At school, Daisuke and Naoko had watched with concern, and then happiness, as Rei, a taciturn and quietly angry little girl had finally made friends –fewer than they'd have liked to see, to be sure, but it was a start- and begun to take part in class again, and maintaining somewhat of a generally positive attitude. Unfortunately, she still never really let anyone in, never really reached out to anybody and so her friendships could never particularly be called 'close', but they were a start.
Though, they knew, her anger and hurt never really went away, she just seemed to channel it into whatever she wanted to – flitting between activities and quickly getting bored of them. Mostly martial arts. She'd train in one for a small amount of time; maybe gain a few belts, but then move onto something else.
Daisuke blamed Kozo Fuyutsuki, who had worked with his sister before her death, as well as his wife, for the martial arts. But he had always been very pleasant whenever he had visited, and Rei had a real shine for him, which almost made him jealous. He noticed Rei staring at him as he reminisced and gathered his thoughts.
"Well, you'll be fine." Daisuke said, smiling reassuringly at her, "you're a strong girl, Rei. Whatever he throws at you, you make sure to throw it right back in his face." He knew that she knew exactly what his opinion of the man Yui had married was. "What time are you leaving?"
"In a few hours… I'm going into the city first and sorting a few things out though, so I'll be setting off in a few minutes, Uncle." Rei said, finishing the last of her breakfast. She put her hands together. "Thank you for the food!" She exclaimed, and stood up, clearing her bowls away. Daisuke watched her as he ate his own breakfast at a more relaxed pace.
Rei finished the dishes and picked up her satchel and another carry bag containing a few more changes of clothes, and some other things, in case she had to stay for a day or so. She walked over to her uncle, who had just stood up, and gave him a rare hug.
"I'll see you soon, Uncle Daisuke." She said, leaning up and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Daisuke ruffled her hair and hugged her back.
"Goodbye, Rei. Good luck, and come back in one piece, okay? And don't forget to say goodbye to your Aunt."
"I will, Uncle." Rei smiled. She walked over to the stairs and walked up them, knocking gently on her uncle and aunt's room door, before sliding it open.
"Come in, Rei." Her aunt said, as she brushed her grey streaked brown hair. "So you're going to him now?"
"Yes, Aunt Naoko. I don't know what he wants, but I'll hopefully be back before the week is out."
"Good. You know both our opinions of that man." Rei nodded. Naoko gestured. "Come over and give your aunt a hug."
Rei did so, and Naoko stroked her hair gently, as if she'd not see Rei for a good long while. It was something she'd never done much with Ritsuko, and she regretted it now, especially since her daughter had stopped talking to her. She'd tried to atone for the poor way she'd raised Ritsuko by trying to make sure Rei had a loving home and family, and by and large, mostly succeeded.
"Listen, Rei. I wanted you to know… I'm very proud of you, okay? And I know your mother would be as well. Look after yourself out there. I'm not entirely sure what that man wants with you, but remember to make the right decisions."
"I will, Aunt Naoko." Rei looked a little uncomfortable at the mention of her mother, but nodded to herself.
"Good girl." Naoko kissed the top of her head and let go. "You'd better get going."
"Okay, Auntie. I'll ring you when I get there, okay?"
"Good. Goodbye, Rei."
"Bye." Rei said as she dashed down the stairs, and picked up her last few bags before opening the door.
"See you soon!" Daisuke shouted.
The door slamming was his only answer as Rei walked out onto the street.
Naoko came down the stairs dressed in her usual attire and sat at the table, after pulling out her breakfast from the oven.
"I hope she'll be alright." She said.
"She's a strong girl. He'll be surprised by her, I'm sure."
"I hope so." Naoko answered, quietly. "We did a good job, right?"
"I should think so. She's shy, she's… angry… but she's not an emotional wreck." Daisuke shrugged. "We did our best. That's all that counts."
"I hope so." Naoko said again.
* ((("Itadakimasu" is a bit hard to translate directly into English without sounding stupid, so I thought 'why not?' and gave you all some lovely Gratuitous Japanese. Also expect honourifics on the end of names, since they don't translate that well either.))) It basically amounts to "Thank you for the food!" but has a bit more stuff behind it.
The creature swam along the deserted, sunken city. Swam is perhaps not the right word; it held itself perfectly still as it floated along, the only movement the strange gill like appendages on its hips.
It didn't notice its surroundings; only the call it felt to the very fibre of its being. The call to Adam. To Home. To Completion.
Arranged along the waterfront was a mass of tanks, all cannons pointing to one specific area of the new bay, where gutted buildings stood; monuments to the millions of dead that lay beneath the waves.
A seagull fluttered down and landed on one of the barrels before flying away at the sound of an explosion from the water, drenching the shore with spray from a not inconsiderable distance away.
The tanks fired simultaneously, arcing their shells to the giant that was now striding along towards them. Several direct hits were scored, but the giant continued walking, still unaware of its surroundings, but now slightly annoyed at the shells that were buzzing about it like mosquitoes.
Misato drove along the deserted road.
"Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap!" She muttered. "Why today, of all days, does her train have to stop early? Dammit." She checked the beeping navigator on her dashboard, trying to figure out how to quickly get to the station that the girl's train had stopped at.
Rei was still stood at the train station, cursing her ill luck. Trust the damned thing to run late, AND stop several stops early. And what was with this place? It was quiet – no, silent. She sighed as she looked at the bundle of letters in her hand.
Rei looked down at one of them that had her father's cold handwriting on it, just one word – 'come'. The rest of the document was blacked out with large strokes of a black marker pen.
"Father, why did you call me here, I wonder? Maybe you found Mother alive, and we can have a happy family reunion." Rei snorted. "Yeah, right." She folded the letter back up, sticking it in her pocket. She looked up again. She hadn't been five seconds off the train when there were warning sirens blaring and nobody around. There were no people here; nothing. It was like the entire city had been-
"All residents please note; a special state of emergency has been announced. If you are not in a shelter, please head to the nearest designated shelter. Repeat; this is an automated message to all citizens of a special-"
Crap.
She looked down at the photograph that she was holding. A woman in her late twenties was grinning and doing the 'peace' sign, with all too much cleavage showing for Rei's liking. If that wasn't bad enough, there was an arrow pointing towards it with 'look here!' scribbled in untidy handwriting. She sighed again. Must have thought I was a boy. Great. 'Wait for me to pick you up at 3PM' the note said. She's not here and it's already half past... What to do…
She walked over to a payphone and struggled with some change before ringing the number she had been given. An automated message picked up and Rei cursed silently again. She looked around as she put the phone down, and then double-taked as she spotted a trio of figures on a nearby road. All three were dressed in odd skintight suits and were looking straight at her. One had deep auburn hair, and was dressed in red. One had short cropped black hair and was dressed in white and blue, and the other had powder blue hair and was dressed in white. How odd. One of them gave a shy seeming wave; the black haired one.
She was about to wave back when some birds startled her by flying away, and when she directed her gaze to the road the three had been standing in, it was empty. Rei shrugged. Okay, probably just me going crazy.
Walking down the street further, trying to find somewhere else to she looked around. This place is creepy. She decided. And it was; the streets silent and empty; traffic lights changing randomly, and the overall feeling of desolation, even though everything was practically pristine. The cicadas were buzzing again; as they had been doing for years.
There was a rumble. Rei looked around. The power lines were swaying as if there was a heavy wind, and the birds had fled instantly. Even the cicadas had shut up.
"Another war, perhaps?" She mused. "Great, now I'm stuck in a warzone."
Not too far away, Misato Katsuragi's mind was filled with two words: Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. She gunned the engine of her car and swept down another side street, pulling up at the station, but seeing no sign of the child she had come to pick up.
"Dammitdammitdammit, the Commander's going to have my head because I lost his daughter in the middle of an emergency." She muttered. She restarted the engine and went down another street.
Rei watched the mountains nearby with a vague interest as several VTOL aircraft flew out, all facing something. They were firing weapons, and there was another rumble. Something pink lanced out from behind the hill and one of the craft went down, exploding on the ground.
Something stomped out from behind the hill, and Rei gaped at the bipedal giant walking along. The birdlike mask on its face tilted to one side at the barrage of missiles aimed towards it, and it blinked in what could have been confusion. A roar made Rei jump out of her skin as three cruise missiles blasted down the street past her and towards the monster, smashing right into it with a huge explosion that made the fourteen year old clap her hands to her ears.
When it had died down, she stared again and saw that nothing had happened to the giant. It didn't even seem fazed as another missile bore down it, merely grabbing the missile and letting it detonate in its tridactyl hands. Again, it seemed unharmed by the attacks.
"The unidentified object is still approaching." The voice rang over the command centre calmly. The map on the screen showed its trajectory. "We have a visual image of the target, transferring to the main screen."
On the screen, the image of the beak masked giant flickered on, and everyone in the centre stared at the otherworldliness of it.
Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki and Commander Gendo Ikari were sat at the back of the room, watching impassively as the giant continued to be attacked.
"It's been fifteen years." Fuyutsuki spoke quietly.
Gendo, sat in his usual pose, stared at the screen calmly. "Yes, it has." He watches as the giant stared straight at the screen. "The Angels…"
Rei watched, rooted to the spot with a mixture of terror and curiosity as the thing held up its hand and the spike on its elbow glowed before retracing into the arm and exploding out of the palm of the hand in a long pink lance of energy, slicing clean through another VTOL before swinging round and tearing the tail off another.
She watched in horror as the now tailless aircraft careened towards her location, and wisely took a step back as it crunched into a building about twelve feet in front of her. She put her hands to her mouth as the crew desperately tried to get out before a gigantic black foot smashed down on the aircraft.
The craft detonated, and Rei threw her arms up in front of herself in a futile attempt to protect herself from the blast. She heard a screech and simply thought I'm going to die now over and over until she realised that she hadn't. She looked up and there was a blue car pulled up right in front of her with the same woman from her photo motioning quickly at her.
"Get in!"
Rei didn't need to be told twice. She grabbed her bags, jumped in the passenger seat and strapped herself in.
"Hold on!" Misato barked as she reversed the car and drove forwards at a speed that Rei was sure was going to kill them at the next corner they drove around. Another VTOL landed nearby, and Misato swerved out of the way, and onto some kind of main road around a hill. Rei leaned out of the window and watched as the more missiles sped their way to the monster, still doing nothing to it.
"Missile attack ineffective. Target is still intact and heading towards Tokyo-3." The voice in the command centre was calm and detached to the events unfolding.
The men sat around the table watching the battle on the holoscreen were less detached from the situation. One slammed his hand on the table, making the ashtray bounce and scatter ash and detritus all over the surface.
"Dammit! Mobilise for complete war – send everything we have against it! Just… kill the damned thing!" He growled.
"Our airforce cannot stop it."
"Mobilise all divisions at the Atsugi and Iruma bases! Call down artillery!"
"Artillery strike confirmed."
On the screen, massed tank battalions and rocket artillery continued to pound the monster.
"Don't hold back! Destroy the target at all costs!"
As they watched, the monster systematically waded through the armies ranged against it, destroying all of them in its path as if they were mere annoyances. Which, to something with an AT Field, they were.
"The tank battalion was totally destroyed, guided missiles… artillery, they have no effect…" One general said, his voice quivering.
At the back of the room, sat down at a desk, hands clasped in the usual position they were in, Gendo Ikari watched the proceedings with an almost smug satisfaction. The JSSDF were trying their hardest, he knew, but they were stubborn old men, refusing to acknowledge that without an AT Field to neutralise the Angel's own AT Field, any weapons were useless.
"It's protected by an Absolute Terror Field, as we expected." Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki spoke quietly.
"Yes. Normal weapons have no effect on Angels."
The red phone blared after a few minutes, and the main general slid his ID card through it and picked up.
"Yes?" He gaped in shock, but composed himself. "Y-yes. We'll use that. As previously arranged." He put the phone down and sighed. "Commence N2 strike!"
Misato had parked the car behind a hill. When Rei had asked about why, Misato shrugged. "Don't want to be in that thing's line of sight, even if it is walking away from us."
It made sense to keep out of the way, even if the monster had seemed to not even notice the car that was tiny to it.
She had then dragged Rei to the top of the hill to watch the battle. Misato's eyes widened as all of the aircraft moved away very quickly from the angel. "Oh shi- Get down!" and she forced Rei to the ground, hiding behind the hill.
There was a flash of blinding white light that seared over the hilltop.
"What was-" Rei started but was drowned out by the biggest explosion yet, and Rei clapped her hands to her ears as the shockwave reached them. Debris flew over the hill, and the heat was oppressive, though Rei was thankful that they weren't close enough to be caught in the explosion. The howling of the pressure-caused wind was ferocious, and the debris didn't seem to be stopping, some of it raining down onto Misato's car, though nothing huge.
When the blast and heat had died down, Misato let Rei stand up, muttering darkly to herself. Rei's ears were ringing, and she winced at every sound.
"We did it!" The general stood up and grinned, turning to the two commanders. "Sorry, but there's nothing left for you to do."
Gendo and Fuyutsuki merely stared impassively.
"Incoming shockwave." Rang out and the display turned to static.
"Should have figured they'd use an N2 mine. Are you okay?" Misato asked as she dusted down her black dress. Rei was doing much the same to her now slightly tattered and dirty blouse and nodded.
"Yes, although I ate a bit of dirt when you shoved me down." She sighed.
"That's fine as long as you're okay. Let's get going, now that thing's not so near we can breathe a little easier."
"Yes, Captain Katsuragi-San."
Misato took off her sunglasses and smiled. "Ahh, Misato will do fine. Nice to meet you, Ikari Rei-san."
Rei nodded with a small smile. "You too, Misato-san."
"Well, let's go. Don't want to be later than we already are."
"Target status?"
"We can't tell due to EMP effects scrambling the sensors."
One of the generals folded his arms and smiled smugly. "It was such a massive explosion. It must have been destroyed."
The screen flickered back on, showing the impact crater.
"Sensors recalibrated."
There was a spike in the middle of the crater on the wireframe screen of the sensors.
"Energy reaction in the centre of the explosion!"
The smirking general stood up in shock, his smug tone gone in an instant. "WHAT!"
"Visual image restored." The screen flickered to an image of the angel standing there, the strange gills on its legs flicking up and down. Damage was already beginning to regenerate as they watched; and from where its beak like head had been, now protruded another mask, seeming to stare right through the camera to the generals. Flesh pulsed in different area; bubbling and looking like it was melting. Blue coloured meat showed up where its skin had been burned off, but which was quickly covered with dark green flesh.
"That was our trump card. Unbelievable!"
"What a demon…"
Several minutes later, a UN Chopper was circling out of range of the energy lances as the crew watched the Angel standing there.
"It's regenerating quickly." Fuyutsuki murmured.
Gendo nodded. "Otherwise it would be useless as an independent weapon."
The eyes on the new mask flashed, causing the screen to black out as the chopper exploded, and the generals to let out more horrified gasps. Fuyutsuki gave a low whistle. "Impressive. It can also enhance its own functions."
"In addition to what seems to be acquired intelligence." Gendo replied.
"It's only a matter of time until the next attack."
Gendo smirked again.
"The gate is closing. Attention, please. The train is about to depart."
Rei watched interestedly as the door closed behind them to reveal a strange insignia of a fig leaf, behind which were the letters NERV, and the inscription underneath of 'God's in his heaven; All's right with the world.'
The ride here had been relatively straightforward – if you could call Misato's driving straightforward in any way. The only problems had been Misato moaning about her poor partly smashed car, and her nice black dress being damaged. Rei could deal with the clothes; this was one of her favourite blouses, but the car she had less inclination to feel sorry for considering Misato's physics defying driving.
The older woman had had a conversation where it sounded like picking Rei up had been a chore for someone else that Misato appeared to have jumped at.
Pulling herself back to now, she looked at the insignia again. "The special Agency NERV?" she wondered aloud.
"Yep. A special organisation directly attached to the United Nations."
"This is where my father works, isn't it?" Rei muttered. Misato caught the lingering tension in the teenager's voice.
"Yes… do you know what he does?" She asked.
Rei looked down for a moment. "My uncle, my aunt and my other uncle both told me it's an important job to protect the human race." She clenched her hands into a fist. "But he couldn't even protect my mother, so what chance does he have here?"
The general put the phone down and regarded Gendo Ikari with the sneer he reserved for most of the staff of NERV.
"You're now the commander of this operation. Let's see how you deal with it." He said, clearly still sore from the embarrassment the JSSDF had just suffered.
"Yes, sir."
"Ikari-kun, considering our available weapons… I have to admit that we have no effective way to deal with the target." The calmer general spoke up this time. "Are you absolutely confident you can defeat it? Even an N2 strike only damaged it."
Gendo adjusted his glasses. "Of course. This is why NERV exists."
"Then we expect much of you." The general replied. He pressed a button and their command station moved down to where they could exit the room.
"Target remains unchanged and unmoving."
"Present effective rate of interception is 7.5 percent."
Fuyutsuki turned to Gendo. "The UN troops can't help. Nor can the JSSDF. What are you going to do?"
"I'll activate Unit 01."
Fuyutsuki blinked. "Unit 01? But we don't have a pilot."
Gendo turned around, an echo of the JSSDF General's smug grin on his face. "That… is not a problem. A backup pilot will arrive shortly."
So that's why he brought her here. Fuyutsuki thought to himself. I didn't think it was for some tearful reunion. But seriously, Ikari, why didn't you bring her here beforehand s we could train her?
Fuyutsuki sighed.
"Are we going to where my father is?" Rei asked after a few minutes of awkward silence. Misato nodded and clapped shut a small mirror after checking her hair.
"Well… yeah. Yeah we are."
Rei thought back to herself, and fuzzily remembered herself, six years old and crying desperately as her father left her on the entranceway to the Teacher's house, and turned away without a word. Not even a hug, or a farewell kiss. She clenched her fists. Coward.
At Rei's downward look and now shaking fists, Misato sighed. Then in true Misato style, she perked up. "Oh, that's right. Did you receive an ID from your father?"
Rei nodded and fumbled around in her satchel, before bringing out a large piece of paper signed by herself, Gendo Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki. "Here." She also brought out the black plastic card with 'TEMPORARY ID' scrawled across it.
Misato scanned the document quickly, nodded to herself and handed Rei a booklet stamped with 'FOR YOUR EYES ONLY' and the NERV insignia. 'Welcome to NERV' was written across the top in bold kanji.
"NERV… This is about my father's work." Rei looked at Misato. "So, what, there's something for me to do?"
Misato said nothing, and Rei found herself getting annoyed.
"Figures. He never writes to me unless he wants something. I'm just an object to him, a thing to be used." The pain in her voice reminded Misato of her own feelings regarding her own father – the confusion of love and hate, twisting around your heart and getting so mixed up you couldn't really process it.
"I see. You consider him a tough customer, right?" She winked. "Me too. I've only met him once, and he's like ice. The Vice-Commander's an agreeable enough type though."
"Kozo Fuyutsuki, right?" Rei asked. Misato blinked, looking confused, before Rei answered the unspoken question. "Uncle Kozo used to work with… my mother. I always knew he was my father's stooge, but he was always so nice when he visited..." She didn't say anymore, although Misato looked distinctly intrigued.
Well, this is… interesting. Misato thought. Any further thoughts along those lines were dispelled from her mind as the train emerged from the tunnel and Rei gasped in wonder at the scene before her; a beautiful 'valley', underground, with trees, and grass, and a lake, and a huge pyramid in the centre. Bathed in a golden, amber light form the sunset, emanating, somehow, from the ceiling of the cavern, it was a wondrous sight to behold, and dispelled any lingering anger.
"Wow!" She exclaimed, her anger forgotten as she stared down. "A real live GeoFront! I thought they'd only planned these!"
"Yup. This is NERV's secret headquarters. It's also the foundation for rebuilding the world for the human race."
Rei could only stare in wonder as the car-train carried on winding down the edge of the huge cavern.
A few hours later found Rei slowly losing her sense of wonder, and becoming slightly annoyed at Misato's getting them lost. "We've passed this place six times already." She muttered whilst reading through the NERV manual. Misato went red, but grinned.
"Ah, it's alright! Systems exist to be used after all!" She looked down. "Ah, hmm, I'm sorry; I'm not really used to this place." She as cut off as they went along a travelator and through a door into a huge shaft. A wind whipped up, making Misato's dress flutter. "Maan, I really don't like wearing skirts in here! Anyway, where's Ritsuko got to? I paged her ages ago."
The question was answered as they got into an elevator, only for it to stop at the next stop and a blonde woman to walk in wearing nothing but a labcoat over a one piece swimsuit. Misato blinked and stepped back as the blonde woman walked into the small room.
"Ahh… Hey Ritsuko."
Ritsuko? Wasn't that Auntie Naoko's…?
"Captain Katsuragi, what are you doing? You know we're short of hands and time!"
Misato grinned and made a gesture. "Eheh… Sorry!"
Dr. Ritsuko Akagi turned her attention to the fourteen year old girl who was eyeing her calmly when she wasn't leafing through the manual.
"So is this the girl?" She asked Misato. Rei felt a distinct wave of displeasure on being dismissed as just 'the girl', and voiced it with a 'humph' before returning to her booklet and shutting out the discussion.
"Yes, according to the Marduk Institute's report, she's the Third Child." Misato replied. Ritsuko gave Rei a look that spelt out more that she was here for a reason, and now she was starting to get the feeling that this reason was something unpleasant.
"Well then, it's nice to finally meet you, Rei Ikari."
Rei raised an eyebrow, but stayed polite, if cold. "Yes, you too."
"Rei-Chan's a bit like a snarky version of her father. Neither one seems really that lovable."
"Stop." Rei growled. Misato blinked at the venom in the girl's voice. "I am nothing like that man. Don't EVER say that about me."
Misato stared at Rei, looking a little hurt, and Ritsuko laughed at the expression on both their faces. Rei decided then and there that she really didn't like something about the blonde woman, this 'Ritsuko'. Where Misato seemed to be an overly cheerful, big sister, bumblingly affectionate type, Ritsuko was definitely a scientist, albeit without the warm heart that her aunt and uncle had. When Ritsuko's gaze passed over her, she got the distinct feeling that it wasn't regarding her as a person at all, but as some kind of tool. A thing to be used and thrown away when it was no longer useful. She hated that feeling.
It felt like the way her father saw her.
Kozo Fuyutsuki watched as Gendo stood on his personal lift from the command centre.
"Well, I'll leave the rest to you, Vice-Commander."
"Yes." Fuyutsuki said as the lift descended. He looked thoughtful for a second. "Their first meeting in three years." He remembered the aftermath of the last meeting well; it had transferred the tiny amount of affection Gendo had left for his daughter over to the First, or as the man himself had put it 'the First is less likely to savagely punch me in the groin'.
Granted, what both of them had said at that meeting was unpleasant, and they were both as much to blame as each other.
"Vice-Commander, the target has begun to move again." Makoto Hyuga spoke up, pulling Fuyutsuki out of his reverie.
"Roger! All hands to battle stations."
Rei was looking at the huge purple tank behind her, or what looked like a tank, anyway. She'd gotten bored of the manual, and was looking around with interest as the lift they were on ascended.
"Repeat; all hands to battle stations. Prepare to intercept the enemy on the ground." She heard an announcement stating.
"Hear that?" Misato asked. Ristuko nodded. Somehow along the way they'd found time for her to change into her proper clothes, even though Ritsuko had been complaining the whole time. Misato had pulled her jacket out of somewhere, as well.
"It's getting serious."
"By the way…" Misato began. Rei turned again to look at the purple walls and spotted some kind of formless shadow that she couldn't quite make out. "How is Unit One?"
Rei was still trying to figure out what was behind the semi-translucent 'glass' as the two older women spoke.
"It's configured with Type-B equipment. It's being cooled right now." Ritsuko replied.
"Do you think it'll activate? I heard that it hasn't worked yet. Not even once."
"Well…" Ritsuko began. "The possibility of it activating is 0.0000000001 percent. Oni system seems like a good name for it." The doctor smiled as if at some personal joke.
"You mean it won't wor-"
"Holy shit, it's a hand." Rei muttered to herself, catching the attention of the two women. "It's a huge hand…"
"Language, Rei-chan." Misato warned. Ritsuko just looked mysterious. Rei shrugged.
She'd seen one giant monster already, what was to say there weren't more, although this one looked like it wasn't moving. Maybe it was dead? Or maybe it was some kind of freaky statue?
Misato returned to her own conversation. "So, you mean it won't work, don't you?"
"That's rude!" Ritsuko huffed. "It's not zero!"
"It's only a number. Anyway, to say 'it doesn't work at all' will be no excuse when the Commander wants it ready." Misato retorted.
The lift reached where they were going, and Rei found herself being bundled into a small motorboat. "Who the hell puts a lake in the middle of a fortress?" Rei yelled over the noise. Misato didn't have an answer; mostly she looked like she was enjoying the speed of the boat. Maybe a bit too much.
Rei again could make out some blurry shapes in the 'water' they were on, but they were moving too fast for her to make anything proper out. Once they'd got to the opposite 'shore', she was bundled through a door and into a dark room, where she was propelled along until the door slammed shut and they were shunted into blackness.
"What's going on? It's far too dark in he-" Ritsuko grinned pressed a button on something inside her labcoat. Instantly the lights flickered on, and Rei shielded herself from the light until she's gotten used to it. Then she stared in amazement and dawning horror at what was in front of her. "Holy shi-"
"Rei…" Misato began. Rei ignored her and began thumbing through the manual trying to find something about the thing in front of her. A huge purple face, bestial and radiating a sense of something barely under control. Something about it seemed horrifyingly familiar, but she couldn't place it.
"A… A robot?" Rei exclaimed, and Ritsuko smirked again.
"You won't find this in the manual." She began. "This is humanity's Multi-Purpose Humanoid Fighting Machine; The Artificial Human, Evangelion." She waved at the monstrosity. "This is Unit 01. Built in secrecy, it is mankind's last hope."
"So this is what you were working on, Father." Rei muttered.
"That's right!" Rei looked up at a window above, and sure enough, there was her father, Gendo Ikari. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
Rei looked up with a glare that rivalled Sachiel's eye beam. "Hello father. How's the groin?"
Gendo regarded back with an icy cold stare. He grinned at her rage-filled look.
"Prepare to move out."
"What?" Misato exclaimed. "But Sir! Unit 00 is still dam-" She turned to the purple monster next to her. "Unless… You don't mean to activate Unit 01?"
"We don't have a choice, Misato." Ritsuko began, annoyed, but was cut off.
"We can't have Rei pilot it!" Rei started in shock at her own name. "We have no pilots!"
"I knew it." Rei muttered.
"One just arrived." Ritsuko frowned. Rei narrowed her eyes. Strangely enough, so did Misato.
"You can't be serious."
Ritsuko turned to Rei. "Ikari Rei-"
"I'm not piloting that thing! No way! God, I thought this sort of stuff happens only in television shows!"
"It took Ayanami Rei seven months to synchronise with Eva. It's impossible! She only just arrived!" Misato exclaimed.
Rei blinked. Her name again. "Who…"
"All we're asking is for you to sit in it. We don't expect anything more than that." Ritsuko said, a little gentler than before.
"But..." Misato started.
"At present, intercepting the Angel's attack is our top priority. Even is there is little potential of synchronising with Eva. We have no choice. Do you understand, Captain Katsuragi?"
Misato looked down at Rei. "You may be right…"
Rei just stared back up at her father, hating that self-satisfied smirk of his. "So you called me here to pilot a giant robot. Wow, you really just didn't want me to come say 'hello', did you?"
"Exactly as you think."
"Oh, so sending your fourteen year old daughter out in a machine she's never seen before, and fight a giant monster, oh, that's absolutely fine, but being a real father isn't?"
"Rei…" Misato put a hand on her shoulder. She shook it off, glaring at the older woman before turning her attention back to her father.
"I came here for one reason, and one reason only, and that was to tell you to your face what a cruel, jaded and downright horrible man you are. You're a dick, father. I'm going to carve my own life out here, and I won't rely on you to help me with it." She took a deep breath and screamed. "I HATE YOU!"
"I only called you because I need you now." Gendo began. Misato looked down at the girl next to her who looked like she was ready to jump up to where he was and punch him.
"Why me, then? Why not any one of your staff here?"
"Because others can't."
"I've never seen this thing in my life, so how the hell do you expect me to be able to pilot it?"
"Listen to her explanation." Gendo was still impassive.
"I can't! It's impossible, and dammit, I wouldn't do it for YOU anyway! You'd be sending me to my death! Or is that what you want?"
It was now that Gendo started to get annoyed. "If you're going to get in the damn thing, get in. Stop wasting time! Otherwise just go home, run away like a coward!"
Rei blinked. "How dare YOU call me a coward?" She shouted. "After all YOU have done!"
Gendo paused for a moment, and then turned to one of the screens next to him. "Fuyutsuki, send Rei up here. The Spare is useless."
"Is she usable?"
"She's not dead."
The lift nearby opened, and several doctors walked out of it, trundling along a gurney that held a pale girl swathed in bandages and bleeding. She had blue hair and Rei's only thought as she approached was 'she looks like me'.
"Rei." Gendo's tone seemed gentler somehow. Rei Ikari started.
"What?" She asked, but was cut off by a voice from the gurney.
"Yes, Sir?" The girl's breathing was laboured and she struggled to sit up, gasping for air.
"Our spare pilot is useless. You will pilot Unit 01."
"Yes Sir."
There was a blast as the monster above directed energy down through a building, that expanded into an upside-down cross.
"It's getting closer!" Ritsuko exclaimed, and was cut off by a rumble as a building fell onto the NERV from the top of the Geofront. Several lights dangled precariously, and the gurney fell over, the girl landing heavily on the metal floor. Rei had run to reach her, but found her clothes being covered with blood as the girl gasped with pain.
The one of the large halogen lights snapped and fell, right on top of both girls, and Misato screamed as everything went into slow motion.
SMASH.
The light bounced off a giant purple hand and smacked into the window in front of Gendo, who was smiling triumphantly. Ritsuko Akagi had landed on her ass as the rumbling had started and was staring in shock at the hand, which trailed wires and pieces of metal.
"It moved… There's no power source, or anything! That's not possible… It's not…" She looked to where Rei Ikari was holding the bleeding girl, gently, almost like a mother. "Was she protecting her?"
Misato stared at the scene, Rei Ikari helping Rei Ayanami up onto the gurney as she righted it, and holding the girl's hand, stroking it softly. Then, she turned to Gendo, and her every word afterwards was dripping with sheer, unadulterated hatred.
"You bastard." She clenched her fist and then pointed at the Evangelion which still seemed to be regarding her with what felt like either hostility or warmth. Possibly both. "Fine. I'll pilot it, this once. But not for you. Never for you. For this girl here, who you would have die for you and throw away like an old toy." She faced her father who merely looked bored at her statements, as if he'd been expecting them. "Like you did to me. That's why I'll pilot it."
"I care little for your reasoning; only that you pilot." Gendo intoned. He turned to Misato."Prepare the Evangelion for launch!"
What am I doing? Flickered through Rei Ikari's mind for what felt like the millionth time that day. After facing off with her father, Ritsuko and Misato had bundled her into a side room where she'd left her bags and been told to remove her shoes and socks, and then dragged to another room where they had given her a weird headset to wear. Then they'd shuffled her into a room that led onto a walkway that led to the… thing's… cockpit. If you could call it that.
It wasn't very comforting. Sure, the 'throne' as they had called it supported her back in the right places, and wasn't too hard, on the contrary the seat was just soft enough for her to sit quite comfortably, but there was something disconcerting about sitting in it, even if it had some cushioning. At her left and right were joysticks that she couldn't fathom a use for, considering that there were precious few other active controls. Rei had caught enough Gundam Wing (not the whole series, and not just because there was something incredibly sweet about Quatre, honestly) and some other robot shows to realise that it took more than two handles to drive a robot. Sure, there were a few other switches on the controls, and maybe a few buttons that weren't even labelled, but still.
The bare walls of the cockpit were also problematic. How was she supposed to see anything from inside a giant metal tube? Also, that. It felt like she was poised on some kind of log flume ride. It didn't help that the whole thing felt like a gigantic metal coffin.
In the control room, Ritsuko and Maya Ibuki were poring over the data as the ground teams worked on starting the Evangelion up.
"Cooling completed, setting for transfer to dock with cages."
"Roger." Maya stared with trepidation at the screen. "The stop signal plug has been discharged."
"Roger that. Inserting Entry Plug."
There was a sudden click, and a feeling of motion as the Plug was lowered and then swivelled into place, and finally, a muffled clank as the armour plates locked themselves into place, sealing Rei inside.
"Plug locked into place."
"Begin first connection." Maya ordered.
"Roger."
Rei watched with a detached interest as the cockpit around her began to flash in various colours, even as she felt something inside her mind expanding. The walls flickered in strange colours, and she got a rush of vertigo as she looked 'down' at the far wall of the plug.
"Inject LCL into entry plug."
Rei watched with a similar mild interest that turned to horror as a strange orange liquid began filling the coffin-like cockpit.
"What the-" She was cut off as it passed her head and she had to hold her breath.
Misato frowned, but Ritsuko spoke up. "Don't worry; after your lungs fill up with LCL it will directly supply you with oxygen."She paused. "You'll get used to it soon!"
Rei didn't believe her and held her breath until she could no more, it exploded out of her and she found herself breathing in mouthfuls of the… stuff. LCL, was it that that Doctor woman had called it? It felt like breathing in vomit, and tasted like coughed up blood. It disgusted Rei to her core.
"Charge LCL." Ritsuko ordered, and being electrically charged seemed to clear the stuff up, for the most part. It didn't completely feel like breathing vomit anymore, but the gag reflex was still there in the back of her throat. Fortunately, it seemed to have the added effect of making the stuff almost as light as air. Almost.
"I feel like I'm gonna hurl." She muttered, and Misato took over the comms.
"You're all right, aren't you? Grow up!"
I'm not even fifteen yet, god. Rei thought, but knew better than to voice that opinion.
"Umbilical cable connected. Transmitting power to all circuits."
"Second contact starting. The connection of the A-10 nerve is operational."
Rei watched as the entry plug began to flash colours again, then a pulse ran up, converting the strobing colours to a long rainbow, and then to white, and then blackness, which became spider webbed with white, and then the webs joined a view of the outside, broken up into large segments.
"Setting Japanese as command interface."
That was pretty cool. Rei thought to herself. She felt the back of her neck itching faintly, and tried to ignore it. Then something seemed to worm its way into the back of her head; a feeling, an idea, whatever you'd call it.
A familiar stranger/Person/Object/Unfamiliar Thing
Rei looked around, wondering what was going on. The thought came again, and then whatever it was faded mostly out and sat in the back of her head, like a pulsing headache that wasn't so much painful, as slightly distracting.
Watch/learn/integrate
"All contacts are good." Ritsuko noted, not seeing Rei's movements and bewilderment.
"Connect the mutual lines." Maya watched as a 3D graph spiralled round and licked into place. Her eyes widened. "Synchronisation Rate is holding at a steady 41.3%."
Ritsuko whistled and smiled. "Without a Plugsuit, too! We can do this!" She turned to Misato. The Captain nodded and turned to the rest of the Bridge Crew.
"Ready Unit One for launch!" She ordered, and the ground crew began their work; first separating the head armour from its restraints. Large cylindrical bolts emerged from the sides of the section the arms were locked into, and the entire umbilical bridge that Rei had been stood on not ten minutes before began to move away from the monster she sat in.
Rei watched all of this with an almost calm detachment, all the while thinking that the security around the Evangelion was somewhat excessive. If she was the only person who could pilot the damned thing, then why on earth would it need so much protection? Not like anyone can steal something like this…
"Umbilical bridge cleared. Moving Launch Cradle to position seven!" One of the crew ordered, and the purple behemoth was loaded onto a platform and then locked into place above a magnetic catapult. A tunnel overhead began to open up as hatches separated and formed a passageway to the surface. Rei felt a tingle of fear down her spine. The… thing… was up there, and it probably knew she was coming.
On the bridge, Misato nodded appreciatively as the Evangelion was readied for launch, and as it finally latched into place, she turned to where Gendo Ikari sat, in his customary position; hands interlinked in front of his face, obscuring his mouth.
"Are you absolutely sure about this?" She asked. Gendo looked impassive as always, although she could see an oddly out of place look of concern on the Sub-Commander's face.
"Yes. If we don't defeat the Angels, humanity has no future." Gendo replied calmly. Fuyutsuki leaned in a little closer, and Gendo noted the obvious concern he had for the Third with slight disgust.
"Ikari, are you really sure?" He asked. Gendo just smirked underneath his hands.
Misato turned back to the crew. "Launch the Eva!"
Sachiel, Angel of Water
Inside the entry plug of Evangelion Unit One, Rei squirmed and tried to stop herself from feeling like she was being compressed into a fine paste as the Evangelion rushed upward at extremely high speeds. She looked up to see a hatch opening and several bolts sliding up before she hit the top, stopping with pressure equal to when the lift had fired. The Evangelion's head slammed up as well, giving her a view of what lay before her – the monster from earlier.
It was even uglier now – the mask with the long beak was slowly being subsumed by the flesh on its 'face', while the new mask with a shorter 'beak' stared at her with blank red and glowing eyes. Various parts of it bulged and pulsated as it continued to regenerate and adapt. The core on its chest glowed an angry red suddenly, and she knew it had seen her. She was hard to miss after all, what with being in a gigantic robot.
You can do it, Rei-chan. Misato thought to herself. Then she looked at Rei's image on the screen. The girl looked nervous, terrified even, but there was that same steel resolve she'd seen when she was shouting at her father – an odd focused look.
"Are you ready, Rei-chan?"
No. "Yes, Misato-san."
"Very well, Evangelion Unit One: Lift off!" Misato shouted, and the last of the restraints unlocked from the giant's arms. It settled into somewhat of a slouched position. Rei took the butterfly grips next to her and gripped them hard, feeling another odd sensation washing over her – a kind of 'melting' feeling, as if she were disappearing away and becoming part of something else… She shook her head, clearing it up, and the feeling went as the previous one had; an odd pulsing in the back of her head and on the top of it where that odd headset was.
Ritsuko was being a little more practical while Rei was trying to keep a hold on what was going on and began to give her own orders. "Okay, Rei, I want you to concentrate on the idea of walking."
"What do you mean?" Rei asked, bewildered.
"I mean think about walking, try to walk without actually walking." Ritsuko replied easily. Rei looked unconvinced, but nodded.
"Fine." She muttered, and thought about walking – like sending the signals down to her own legs to move, the idea of just walking along flashing through her mind.
Walk/Motivate/Ambulate? Forwards?
The behemoth moved, lifting one foot up, and dropping it in front of itself, flexing the foot armour and smashing a phone box that was in the way. Sachiel regarded the Evangelion from its position and cocked its mask to one side, trying to figure out the thing in front of it.
"It's walking!" Ritsuko exclaimed. "Take another step, Rei-chan!"
Rei concentrated again, and the behemoth lifted its foot, before losing its balance and falling to one knee, then straight onto its face. Rei held a hand to her now-bleeding nose and let out a yelp. Reaching up to it, she felt it, and another burst of pain went through her face. She looked up and saw the Angel standing over her, looking like it was about to pick her up. Rei reacted; rolling to the side so it missed.
Then she crashed face first into a building. Wincing, Rei looked around and saw the Angel approaching again, and scrambled out of the way in pure terror; her heart thumping. She backed up away from it, and cursed as she found herself cornered. She kicked out as it continued to approach her, and it reacted faster than she had ever thought was possible for something so large; stamping down with a suddenly enlarged leg onto the Eva's limb.
Rei felt an impact in her own leg, screaming out in pain and almost blacking out before shaking herself and feeling at her leg. It didn't feel broken, and she poked it with no effect.
"Rei! That wasn't your leg that was damaged! It was just feedback from the Eva! Get up!" Misato yelled. Rei looked up and her eyes widened when she saw the Angel bearing down on her and reaching out for her, gripping the head of the Eva.
Rei felt the Eva being lifted off its feet and into the air and gasped in terror, adrenaline coursing through her system.
"Rei!" Misato shouted as the Angel picked up the Evangelion's arm and proceeded to try to tear it out of the socket. There was the groan of straining metal and armour as the Angel's arms bulked up as they had when it caught the missile.
Rei was panicking, her arm having gone up into a very uncomfortable position as the Eva's own arm was pulled. Her breath came in gasps, and she closed her eyes in the pain, gritting her teeth.
"Rei, stop it! That's not your arm!" Misato shouted.
"Synchro rate spiking! Pilot Protection System not engaging, Eva rejecting!" Maya reported. Ritsuko leaned in close.
"What about the AT Field?"
"Detecting no field generation from Eva!"
"What?" Ritsuko stepped back, looking at the screen again. She ran a nervous hand through her bottle-blonde hair. "Automatic defence systems?"
"Not functioning!"
The arm finally couldn't take the immense strain imposed upon it, and a loud snap reverberated around the area and into the HQ.
Rei screamed and fell back in her seat, clutching at her arm, tears freely flowing down her face and floating into the LCL. She gritted her teeth, and then looked up to the screen just in time to see the odd gem in the centre of the Angel's hand light up.
"Rei, look out!"
The spike on the elbow began to glow a pink, and then slammed forwards, the spike meeting the mask of the Evangelion. With loud smashes it began slamming against it, and Rei clutched onto her own eye, scrabbling at the controls with one hand.
With a final smash and Rei's scream, the blade pierced the Evangelion's eye, smashed out through the back of its head and threw it against a building. The Eva's broken arm slammed down onto the building next to it, and the cyborg's head slumped before great jets of red fluid spurted out from either side of the wound. The remaining eye dimmed, as did the neon green strips along the armour.
"Head damaged!" Makoto reported.
Maya pressed a few buttons and then turned to Ritsuko. "Trouble maintaining activation!"
"Evangelion Unit 01 has gone completely silent!" Aoba shouted, somewhat unnecessarily. The screen merely showed the darkened Eva with its hand resting on a building, completely unmoving as the Angel advanced on it.
Time seemed to slow.
Rei watched the darkened entry plug with her remaining eye and shrieked in pure, unbridled terror and pain. The LCL next to her face was milky with the remnants of her right eye and the flesh around it, and it seemed to be some dark miracle that kept the girl alive and not allowing her to succumb to the shock. The eye socket dripped blood onto her blouse as she screamed, droplets floating around the liquid environment as the LCL randomly charged and discharged.
She took a deep breath and let out another scream, then lapsed into terrified mumbling.
"I don't want to die, oh god it hurts, it hurts so much, but I don't want to die, oh god…" repeated itself from her mouth over and over.
And something, deep and dark within the beast she sat in heard.
RAGE! PAIN! HATERAGEPAINRAGEHATE! KILL! KILLKILLKILLKILLKILL!
There was the sound of a heartbeat, and a flicker of blue flared to life in front of her eyes. Rei stared with her good eye at it.
Then everything flashed a bright white to her.
"Synchrograph has reversed! The pulses are flowing backwards!" Maya said as she regarded the screen in front of her, pushing a few buttons. "Pilot monitoring is down! We don't know if she's alive or dead!"
"Rei-chan!" Misato whispered, clutching at the cross around her neck.
"Misato!" Ritsuko barked, turning around. The Captain nodded and turned to Aoba.
"So much for this time. Eject the entry plug! Pilot protection is our main priority!"
Behind her, Gendo Ikari seemed about to give an order, but was cut off by Maya Ibuki near shouting her reply.
"We can't! The Evangelion is completely unresponsive!"
"What?" Misato yelled.
There was a sudden grinding noise, and then an odd metallic shrieking swept across all of the comms channels.
And then the Evangelion lifted its head, one eye blazing to life with an unholy white light. The head strained, and the jaw part of the head popped open, revealing red, tombstone like teeth. A bolt on the end strained and then exploded, a hiss of steam escaping the cyborg's mouth as it raised its head to the heavens and roared defiance at them, blood still dripping from its destroyed eye.
"E-eva reactivated." Maya reported. Misato blinked and took a step back.
"Impossible…" Ritsuko said in shock.
"It can't be…"
"…Berserk?" Ritsuko finished for Misato. She turned to Maya. "Note down the synchro fluctuations, now!"
Unit 01 stood, then knelt and jumped at the Angel, landing on its face and driving it to the floor, grabbing at the new 'face' of the Angel with its good hand, pulling at it until the Angel threw it off and tried to stand.
The Eva flipped itself over as it flew through the air, landing on its feet with its back to the Angel. It turned around with a low growl and stared for a moment as the Angel tried to stand.
"We've won." Fuyutsuki commented as the Eva ran, roaring, at the Angel. Gendo merely continued to smirk as his plan for this operation came to fruition.
The Angel managed to lift itself upright, but only just in time to raise an orange, octagonal field that the rampaging cyborg smashed into with a surprised growl.
"An AT Field!" Ritsuko exclaimed. "Dammit, as long as the Angel's putting an At Field out, the Eva can't touch it!"
Unit 01 roared again, then stepped back and brought its left hand up. A strange light seemed to play over the wounded limb and then flesh bubbled out of the broken segment of armour, merging and melting around before twisting the arm back into a normal position, knitting together bone and flesh with alarming speed before knitting together the armour over it.
"Left arm restored!" Aoba reported.
"Incredible…" Misato whispered to herself.
The Eva then put two hands at the centre of the AT Field and began to pull, snarling.
"Unit 01 is manifesting an At Field of its own! It's neutralising the phase space!" Maya said.
"No, it's not neutralising it…" Ritsuko replied, leaning down over Maya and getting a closer look at the readout. "It's eroding it!"
The Eva tore through the Field and screamed its defiance at the Angel before a blast of light flew from the monster's eyes, catching Unit 01 off guard and knocking it down the street a few metres. The energy careened past the Eva and exploded into a cross shape.
The Evangelion rocked on its heels then stood upright and bellowed another challenge, running straight at the Angel and grabbing it in a tackle, smashing it through a building and using its momentum to slam into another building with a loud snapping noise. The Eva roared again and pulled at the Angel's exposed 'ribs', ripping one out and sending it spinning to the side, where it embedded in a building. It picked up the Angel in a bear hug, then raised it into its hands and brought the Angel's back down onto one knee, snapping whatever spine was inside the Angel.
There was an inhuman scream as the Angel's eyes flashed impotently; the energy of the beam flying out into the night sky. Evangelion Unit 01 screamed in answer and then threw the Angel against another building, then smashing it through.
Roaring again as the Angel fell limply to the ground behind the destroyed block, it leaned down, grabbed the flesh of the thing's chest and pulled, ripping huge chunks out, spraying bluish blood all over the surrounding areas.
"Holy shit." Was all Misato could dredge up.
Maya turned away from the screen, almost throwing up. The remainder of the Bridge Crew watched in sick fascination as the Eva proceeded to tear more bits off the Angel, pulling out organs and entrails, before pulling another of the exposed bones and then smashing it into the core, cracking the huge red gem in several places before another lucky hit landed where it was already cracked, widening the hole.
The Angel screamed again and suddenly its flesh was pliable. It dragged itself up around Unit 01, and began to glow. Then it dissolved into read liquid, which began to glow and then exploded into the shape of a cross; a rainbow arcing over the cross.
"The Eva… was it…?" Misato began, but was cut off by a loud booming sound through the pitter-patter of the red liquid raining upon the floor of the city and washing down the storm drains. Unit 01 was walking along slowly with a swinging, lumbering gait, before coming to a stop as the 'rain' ended, between two miraculously intact buildings.
The armour of the giant glowed a brilliant orange in the dawning light; the purple muted for now. Dented, scratched, buckled, it nonetheless had withstood the explosion. The Evangelion growled once more; a low, rumbling sound that spoke of death. Then its eyes dimmed.
"Is that the Eva's…"
"True potential?" Misato finished for Ritsuko, a thought drifting through her mind that scared her on a level she couldn't quite comprehend. And what happens when we don't need these things anymore? Will they go berserk like this?
"Communications restored. Pilot vital signs confirmed, but weakening. Graphs show severe injuries have been sustained." Aoba reported. "I've despatched medical teams and salvage teams to rescue the pilot and retrieve the Evangelion."
Rei stared out of her good eye as she came to, not remembering passing out, nor anything after her frantic, terrified shrieking. The light all around her, barring the right side of the cockpit which was greyed out or showing static, was orange with the newly dawning day. A shadow fell across the display before a loud crash sounded from the ground around the feet of the robot she was sat in.
She looked to the left where a brilliant green eye was watching her in the reflection, with three small pupils around a single large one. The front of the armour on the head had fallen off and she regarded not the insides of some robot, not a mechanical skull, but the undeniable flesh of a living being.
She felt a stab in the socket where her eye had been before looking through the one camera on that side that had survived into the reflection, just to catch the flesh around where the cyborg's right eye had been starting to ripple and shudder before an eye squelched into existence at roughly the same time as something squelched into her own eye socket, pulling together the material that had just been floating in front of her face. The flesh around her right eye buckled, swelled and rippled and finally healed itself, leaving only thin white scars to show the damage that had been done to her.
Rei roared in pain, ignoring the chatter of the bridge crew as they set about rescuing her, putting a hand to her newly grown eye as it adjusted to her and catching the also newly regrown eye of the Evangelion staring at her. Not at the wall, not at its own reflection, but at her. As if it could see into her very soul.
Rei shrieked again, began to hyperventilate, and then simply passed out from shock and pain.
A/N Well there's chapter 1. I hope you enjoyed it - I appreciate ConCrit very well, so please tell me if something is off! I am going somewhere with the Pilot Protection System thingy and the much nastier sympathetic injuries to the Eva.
Until next time!