The Third Child Arrives, Part Two

Meanwhile, the Angel Sachiel walked unhurried towards Tokyo-3, and the army shot at it with more eagerness than effects.

Captain Katsuragi had picked up Shinji, and both were on their way to the Geo-Front. They would take a while to arrive, so Sam had some time to prepare. Letting Fujutsuki walk in front, they arrived to Central Dogma, and he took the only seat left. He felt the strange impulse to steeple his fingers in front of his face, hiding his mouth. Muscle memory, no doubt; he followed the impulse.

He took time to watch the useless salvoes of all kinds of missiles, as Fujutsuki added some comments. He kept silence, answering with a few grunts of agreement. It was hard to reign in his surprise, the power of a N2 Mine was almost inimaginable. And also useless, as Sachiel started to regenerate the damage even before the smoke cleared.

Finally, the generals conceded defeat, yielding to NERV. They didn´t waste time to leave Central Dogma. They had nothing else to do there, and, if Sachiel kept to his current course, NERV would be an incredibly dangerous place to be at.

"The UN forces are spent. What will you do, Sir?" It was weird, Professor Fujutsuki´s voice was almost like Al Calavicci´s, his friend and partner in scores of adventures through time. He put the thought away, this time he had to act without his guidance.

"We´ll activate Unit-01."

"Activate it? But we don´t have a pilot, Sir!"

"One is on his way. Send somebody to escort Captain Katsuragi an her companion to Unit-01´s cage. We will wait for them there. And I want a CCTV monitor, connected to the feed from Rei´s hospital room."

"Yes, Sir." Fujutsuki had no idea of what his former pupil was planning, but he was sure it wouldn´t be nice.

The lights went on, and a scared Shinji looked at the metallic face of a purple giant, submerged in a strange liquid. He, Misato Katsuragi and Doctor Ritsuko Akagi stood on a metalic catwalk.

From a raised platform, Sam watched them argue. He didn´t like to spy, but he needed to know more about the people around him. Ziggy´s info-dump was barely enough to know names, faces, and posts. Eventually, he decided to answer one of Shinji´s questions, while the platform decended. This was something he had to do face to face, judging from Shinji´s agitated state, there was no love lost between father and son.

"My father made this?"

"Indeed. It´s been a long time, Shinji." The boy seemed to close himself in a shell. Sam turned to Captain Katsuragi. "We have to attack."

The answer came immediately. "Attack? But Unit-00 is frozen! ...Wait a minute! Are you thinking on using Unit-01!"

Doctor Akagi intervened. "We have no other choice."

"We have no pilot, Doctor!"

"One has just arrived." Ritsuko Akagi looked at Shinji.

xxxx

They argued while the platform descended, Akagi for and Katsuragi against Shinji piloting the purple giant. There were mentions of Rei Ayanami, the time it had taken for her to synchronize with Unit-00, and her current condition.

Finally, the platform arrived to the lower level; Sam walked slowly towards Shinji, who seemed to be about to cry; screaming to his father about the years of abandonement, and the sudden call to pilot a monstruous robot. Sam felt a bump at his throat. He took off the shades. Nobody, except for one, had ever seen the boss directly to his eyes. There was a complete silence. When Sam was next to Shinji, he dropped to a knee, looked him to the eyes, and put his hands on the boy´s shoulders. A gesture Shinji had longed for for almost a decade.

"I sent you away to protect you. It was a mistake." Shinji stared at Sam´s eyes. He had no words. "I cannot blame you for hating me, and if you chose to go, I´ll understand. But there are some things you have to know before."

Shinji didn´t know what to do. His father always had treated him coldly; but this time, there was something in his eyes... a sincerity and warmth he had never seen.

At a signal from Sam, a couple of techs wheeled a monitor, and connected it to the CCTV. An image appeared, it was a young girl, extremely pale, wrapped in bandages, lying on a hospital bed. "She is Rei Ayanami, the pilot of Unit-00. She was gravely injured a little while ago." Shinji stared at the screen, moved, it was clear the girl was in pain. "If I could take her place, I would. But I can´t, only a few persons can synchronize, control an Evangelion Unit. Right now, you are the onle one who has any chance to do it. I wish I had brought you here months ago, to give you time to learn if you decided to take the risk. Rei would not last five seconds out there."

Shinji was a whirwind of emotions, anger, doubt, compassion, fear, hope, all spinning in his mind. He had never seen his father like this. He looked at Misato, who nodded softly.

The moment was interrupted by a tremendous shock. Instinctively, everybody looked up.

"We have little time, son. The monster is coming here; if it´s not stopped, we´re going to die." Shinji swallowed, still undecided. "You won´t be alone, we will guide you. Doctor Akagi can show you what to do to pilot the Evangelion, and Captain Katsuragi can guide you in combat.

Shinji still doubted, looking deep into his father´s eyes, looking for something to help him chose. A second hit, stronger than the previous one, almost made them fall. Under the helpless eyes of the witnesses, several lamps fell from the ceiling, falling over Sam and Shinji.

Sam reacted instantly, pushing Shinji out of the way. A huge hand emerged from the artificial lake, protecting Shinji. Sam wasn´t so lucky, a lamp hit him on the legs. Misato, Ritsuko and several techs ran to help their boss. Sam was almost unconscious from the pain, maybe he had a broken bone.

Shinji decided.

Shinji ground his teeth for a moment, and exclaimed impulsively, "I´ll do it! I´ll pilot that thing!"

Finally, the techs had freed Sam from the heavy lamp. The movement made him feel another wave of pain; for a moment, black dots danced in front of his eyes, while Dr. Akagi checked him quickly. "Definitively it´s a fracture, help me to put a splint on him."

Sam grabbed Ritsuko´s arm, looking at Shinji. "W-wait a moment, Captain Katsuragi, how long will it take for the Angel to enter?"

Misato raised a hand, calling Central Dogma. She repeated the question to Maya. A few seconds later, she answered, "It will take it several hours to break through the armor. It got lucky and hit a weak point, but it won´t fit through it. Maya calculates between one and two hours if it tries to break through one of the launch tubes. Makoto is using everything he can to block the crack on the Geo-Front´s ceiling. "

"Good, let´s put that time to good use. Doctor Akagi, show Shinji the procedure. Captain, do we have anything to distract the Angel?"

"We could launch several empty platforms, it may think they are potential threats."

"Do it, let´s see what it does. It doesn´t seem to have long range attacks, that can be an advantage for us. Shinji!"

"F-father?"

"You have to be brave, but I don´t want you to take any innecessary risks. Try to get that thing out of the city if you can."

"Yes, I understand."

The techs returned, with a stretcher and a first-aid kit. Ritsuko got what she needed out, and looked into Sam´s eyes. "Commander Ikari, I´m goint to put the splint on now. I don´t have enough pain-killers, so it will hurt." She put a piece of leather between Sam´s teeth.

Sam nodded, his forehead was covered with sweat. He tried to stay conscious, but darkness swallowed him.

Sam opened his eyes, "Another unfamiliar ceiling," he thought, "I have lost count of how many I have seen." He was dizzy, and his mouth felt like cotton. He was lying on a hospital bed, with a leg on a pillow; his ankle and part of his left foot were set in plaster.

"Great, I can´t walk; and I still have to cancel the Apocalypse."

He looked around. On the little table along the bed were a laptop, slimmer than the models he remembered, and a set of earbuds. He pulled at the table, and got as confortable as possible. He opened the laptop, wondering what could be the password. The screen lighted on immediately, with an image of the NERV logo, but insted of the motto "God´s in His Heaven. All is Right with the World." It read "Please, Dr. Becket, put the earbuds on."

Sam obeyed, the screen started to show scenes from the battle, while a beautiful female voice greeted him. "Good night, Doctor Beckett." It was the unmistakable voice of Ziggy! He wasn´t sure who had programmed it, but it was the kind of voice he would like to hear every morning. "As you can see, Shinji succeded. Sachiel was destroyed with minimal colateral damage to the city, the Suzuhara siblings had time to reach a safe place, and Shinji himself only suffered very minor injuries, he will recover completely in a couple of days. His emotional state is much better. He is currently in observation in another room, and he has expressed desire to see his father as son as possible."

Sam sighed with relief. For a moment, he allowed himself the luxury of being glad. But a black cloud showed up in his thoughts. Quickly, he wrote, "What about SEELE?"

The voice answered, "Professor Fujutsuki informed the Comitee. The report was considered satisfactory, with some reserves. SEELE doesn´t aprove your aparent emotional weakness about Shinji. I suggest you establish a little distance, for the sake of appearances."

Before continuing, the door opened. Sam closed the laptop, taking the earbuds off. It was Dr. Akagi, checking the tablet on her hands. She closed the door, checked the blinds, and sat on the bed with a seductive look on her face. "Well, you can´t stop working for a minute, do you?" She pushed the table away, and kissed Sam with passion. "I have good news for you, your fracture is not grave, and you will be on your feet very soon. I will release you tomorrow noon. Take a couple of days at least."

She took her tablet back, and before opening the door, she blew him a kiss, winking.

When the door closed, Sam whispered, incredulous, "...Oooh, boy..."