Chapter Ten
For all that Misato was frustrated by Nerv's bureaucratic nonsense most of the time, it shocked her how quickly the organization could move when it wanted to, and in almost complete secrecy. Standing on an overlook on the slopes of Asama, she watched a long line of tractor trailers snaking their way towards the temporary command post, a collection of trailers and portable buildings that sprung up like mushrooms around the science station that had first discovered the subterranean angel with ground penetrating radar. The work crews were already laying the temporary track that the Eva carriers would roll over to the staging area on the mountainside. The relatively peaceful countryside had been turned into a bustling industrial area almost overnight, and in a week it would be gone.
Or they would be dead.
She pulled the collar of her uniform jacket up –it had been so long since she'd felt a cold breeze she was no longer used to it- and headed to the trailer that housed the temporary command area with the Magi link and the recording equipment that would be used to monitor the Evangelions on the slopes of the volcano during the operation. A crawler, not unlike the one used to transport the American Space Shuttles, was piece-by-piecing bringing in the high pressure diving equipment that would be fitted to Unit Two when it eventually arrived, allowing Asuka to penetrate the volcano and, hopefully, capture the embryonic angel. That was the idea, at least.
Ritsuko and Maya were busily at work setting up whatever it was needing setting up with the computer systems. Misato sometimes regretted that she had absolutely no idea what some of her nominal subordinates did, but such was the way of command- if she was an expert she would be doing those jobs, not giving the orders.
"How are we doing?"
"We're making excellent time," said Ritsuko. "Once everything is set up here, we can start working on the forward control station at the edge of the crater."
"Good," Misato nodded. "You're awfully chipper today."
Ritsuko stood up and arched her back, giving Misato a sardonic glance, but said nothing. Beside her, Maya typed even more furiously, hunching down as if she were trying to hide.
"How are the pilots?"
"Asuka threw a fit when I told he she couldn't go on the class trip," Misato sighed. "This would be so much easier if the pilots were adults. It weirds me out sometimes, just thinking about it."
"What about the commander?"
"Remaining at the base. Some muckety muck from the United Nations is flying in this week for a meeting or something. I don't care, I'd rather work without Creepy McStare eyeballing my ass for once."
Maya burst out laughing, and Ritsuko shot her an annoyed glance. "What was that you were saying about working with adults?"
Misato shrugged. "They have school today, and then they'll be on their way out with some Section 2 agents. Happy?"
It wasn't long after the ending bell that Rei tapped Asuka on the shoulder and said, "Come with me."
Asuka stood up and pulled her knapsack onto her shoulder, and made sure to stand to her full height. "What for?"
"We are leaving soon. Shinji would like to speak with us first."
"Why can't he speak with us right here?"
Rei's blank stare unnerved her a little. "I can't say."
"Whatever," Asuka shrugged. "Where are we going?"
"Follow me."
Without further comment, Rei walked out of the classroom and through the halls, out into the back lawn behind the school, where there was a path curving up into the hills. She had to work her way over a fallen fence post as she followed Rei between the trees. In the distance, she smelled something burning, and sniffed the air, curious. It reminded her of a barbecue.
The path wound among the trees, to and fro, until the ruins of buildings began to appear on either side, consumed by the lush vegetation. They were either the remnants of a pre-Second Impact site, or abandoned after the construction of the city and left to be reclaimed by the forest. The air here was cool, and smelled of the earth.
"What is this place?"
"Shinji found it while he was hiking," said Rei. "We are almost there."
She stopped at a lintel arch that crossed the narrow path. The logs that made it up had been freshly and roughly cut, the ends looking like they'd been broken apart as much as chopped with an axe. The implement in question lay propped against a nearby tree, the blade worn dull by the work. Rei rested her hand on the arch.
"Before entering, you must swear never to speak of what transpires here."
"What exactly 'transpires here'?"
"I can't say," said Rei.
She crossed her arms. "This is ridiculous. Let's get this over with. I swear to whatever it is."
"That will do," Rei shrugged, and ducked under the arch. Asuka followed.
The path wound towards, and came to an end at, a squat round building without windows. Rough beams criss-crossed the open roof, laid on top of one another, and she saw a ladder and toolboxes piled up under a tarp not far from the door. A series of camouflage tarps had been swen together and were lashed to the timbers, forming a gently sloping cloth roof with a hole in the center from which a thin column of dark smoke issued. Rei went to the rough opening at the front and pulled back a thick canvas cloth.
The inside of the structure was dark, lit only by the low, fickering fire, barely more than coals, set up in a ring of stones at the center of the tile floor, which had been carefully swept clean. She wasn't sure what the building used to be, an office or something, maybe. Shinji sat poking at the dying fire with a long stick, staring into it as if it would grant some kind of an answer to a difficult question. He hardly seemed to notice her until Rei approached and sat down to his left.
"What is this place?" Asuka demanded.
He looked up at her without moving his head much, mostly moving his eyes. "This is our warrior lodge."
"Where did you come up with this?"
"It was my idea," said Rei.
"We three are the first of many," said Shinji. "We have tasted battle. We will be the first. Others will come."
"What others?"
"Toji and Kensuke, the other boys. You and Rei will bring the girls into the Lodge. They won't trust me yet."
"What is the point of this, again?"
"We are the future," said Shinji. "Remember what I told you, about the students mothers?"
She tensed up. "Yes," she said guardedly, looking at Rei.
"Be calm," said Rei. "There are no secrets between members of the Lodge."
"You should talk," said Asuka. "You've got lots of secrets, I'll bet. It's not every day you meet an albino with blue hair. Natural blue hair. Who is a freaking nudist."
"I am not a nudist," Rei corrected her sharply. "I simply do not see the point of-"
Shinj raised a hand, and they both fell silent. "I have learned why we are all orphans, why we are gathered here."
"Well?" said Asuka, "Why?"
"It's not time for you to learn, yet. You have to find out on your own."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"The point is that the entire class is potential pilots," Shinji added.
"So?"
"So," said Rei, "we will build bonds of fraternity between them and us, and win over their loyalty."
"Why? There's only three Evas, anyway." Asuka said as she sat down. "What's the point?"
"The Americans are building two more, and work has begun on mass production models."
"Okay," said Asuka, "so what? It's not like you can go get them."
"No," Shinji smiled, the edges of his lips barely turning up, "when they're ready, I won't have to."
"I don't see how you learned all of this stuff."
He fixed his gaze on her. "Have I been wrong so far?"
"No," she said softly, turning away.
"I have my ways. They will become your ways when you learn."
"Learn what?"
"You must open your heart to Eva." Said Rei.
"What does that mean? Open my heart? It's a machine. Wonderboy the barbarian here can do some weird shit with the test type, but it's still a machine, built by scientists. It's a big doll I can push around, and that's it."
"That is why you fail," said Rei.
Asuka threw her arms up in frustration. "Oh, great, thanks Yoda. That's very helpful."
"You've felt it before," said Shinji. "You know what I mean."
She found herself blushing, without quite knowing why. "We need to go," she said quickly, "the'll come looking for us."
"Just remember what to say if someone asks you about the lodge," said Shinji.
"What?" said Asuka.
"I can't say."
Misato met the car herself. The armored limousine rolled up to the perimeter and squealed to a stop, rocking on its strained suspension. Shinji emerged first, and helped Rei step out. He offered a hand to Asuka and she dismissed him with an imperious wave, which seemed to amuse him greatly. She stalked over to them and crossed her arms.
"You're late. What took you so long?"
"I can't say," Asuka snickered.
Misato scowled at them. "Rei, Section 2 will escort you down to the lower staging area. You're on the positron gun if there's an emergency."
"It has never been tested," said Rei.
"Let's hope we don't have to use it. Just go. You two are coming with me to the briefing."
She turned and started marching up the slope to the trailer set up as the briefing room for the pilots, huffing as she did. The air was a bit thinner up here, and the cold didn't agree with her either.
"Quit looking at her butt," Asuka snapped.
She looked over her shoulder in time to catch Shinji snapping his eyes up to meet hers, a wry grin on his face. She stuck her tongue out at him and went on up the path and finally opened the trailer for them with her keycard.
"I thought you were supposed to be the adult," Asuka said sullenly.
"Let us eat ,drink, and be merry," Misato shrugged, "for tomorrow, we die."
Shinji laughed heartily, and Asuka only began to sulk further, crossing her arms under her chest. She sat down in one of the folding chairs around the table and Shinji joined her, leaning it back on its legs at a disturbing angle. He immediately put his feet up on the table and Asuka rolled her eyes at him. Misato sat on the edge of the table and picked up the remote control for the projector.
"This is the angel," she said as the image of an embryonic creature appeared on the screen, outline in black against a white field. "Detected with ground penetrating sonar by a seismic survey team last week."
"It looks like a baby," said Asuka.
"It is a baby. We know almost nothing about their physiology or life cycle. This apparently where they come from. Our plan is to either capture it or destroy it before it can emerge and grow into its adult form."
"Do you have any idea what it will be?"
"Ritsuko thinks that its environment will shape it somehow, but that's just a guess, so no."
"So how are we going to capture it?"
"We're going to lower Unit Two into the volcano, and-"
"What?"
Shinji sat up, and the legs of his chair clacked on the floor. He leaned forward. "You want to lower her into the volcano?"
"It's our only option. The D-Type equipment will-"
"I'll go," Shinji cut her off. "Put it on Unit One."
"We can't," Misato crossed her arms. "It's not compatible."
"Then let me pilot it."
"No!" Asuka snapped.
"No, Shinji," Misato said firmly. "I don't want you going all frothing screaming berserk in the middle of a volcano. This requires precision and control."
He sat back.
"Why can't we wait for it to surface?"
"We've been ordered to retrieve it. That's it."
His eyes narrowed. "Ordered by who?"
"Who do you think? The Commander," she said, suppressing a pang of nervousness.
She saw his jaw clench. To her surprise, Asuka rested her hand on his shoulder, and to her even greater surprise, when she tugged on him a little he responded, falling back against the back of his chair.
"It's okay. I want to do this. I don't need you to defend me, anyway."
"But the l…" he trailed off.
Misato eyed him. "What?"
He met her gaze. "I can't say."
Asuka immediately hated the D-Type equipment.
When she saw Unit Two, her Unit Two, standing at the edge of the crater dressed up in some sort of ridiculous diving suit, its sleek lines hidden beneath formless gray matte steel, she involuntarily grit her teeth. Even worse was the ridiculous pressure suit she had to wear, which thankfully she only had to activate once she was actually in the plug.
She lowered herself into the chair, gave the signal to the technicians, and they slid the door of the plug closed. LCL began to filter into the chamber, cool and foul smelling, and she shivered until the small electrical current began to warm it. When it reached chin level she rocked her head back, blew out her breath, and took in a deep lungful of the stuff, almost retching at the shock. It felt colder than usual, and she could never quite shake the sensation of drowning despite all this time.
She felt it when the synch activated, felt the massive pressure suit closed around her, restraining her limbs, hampering her movement. She raised Unit Two from its crouch and stomped over to the loading apparatus, where the mechanical arms would connect the cooling cables and steel wires to her back, allowing them suspsend her into the volcano. She felt the grinding sensation as the connections were made and the huge clamp locked into place, securely rigging the armor and allowing the umbilical to connect. The battery indicator vanished, replaced by the standard green power brick.
She sat back and waited, feeling the sway as the crane pulled her up, relieving pressure on joints that weren't hers. She couldn't see very well through the helmet over Unit Two's head, but she could see Shinji crouched in Unit One at the edge of the crater, his Evangelion hunched like an animal, umbilical coiled behind it like a tail. It moved organically, as if it was breathing, and she could swear she could see the mouth moving beneath the armored plating of its face, straining at the steel. It assumed a warrior's crouch, arms resting on thighs, relaxed but ready to spring into motion.
She tried to open a comm link to him, but as usual, the interference forced it to be sound only.
"I'm going to be fine."
She could swear the static was growing worse. Was he talking to someone? She thought she heard a female voice. Misato?
Speak of the devil. "Are you ready, Asuka?"
"Yes," she said. "Let's do this."
Beside here, there was a series of thundering thumps as the mining laser fired into the magma pool below, softening it enough that she could sink into it. As it lowered her down, she fought to control her breathing, to keep calm, but her heart raced anyway. As she felt the heat surging up through Unit Two's legs, she felt a strange sensation, only for a moment, as if someone was embracing her from behind, resting a warm cheek to hers. She did relax, then, and let herself go limp in the chair. It would be several minutes until she actually approached the creature.
She pulled Unit Two's arms up and readied the cage, the folding electrical wire contraption that would constrain the creature as she pulled it to the surface. She repositioned herself in the seat, hunched forward to see what she was doing, and raised the cage in front of her point of view. She could barely make it out- they'd fitted some kind of sonar thing to the Evangelion so she could actually see, otherwise there would be nothing but the red hot glow of the molten rock, and she'd essentially be flying blind.
"We're reaching the depth limit," Misato announced. The direct line through the umbilical let them see each other.
"Keep going. I think I see it."
"But-"
"I said, keep going. I'm completing this mission."
"Okay," said Misato.
She did see it, a shapeless blob in the distance. She engaged the thrust mechanism on the back of the armor suit and moved forward with agonizing slowness. It occurred to her that she could get out and run faster than this, and she giggled despite herself. She shook her head and tried to focus. It was probably the nerves. That funny feeling came back, the weird almost-sense of someone about to touch her, caressing her shoulders.
She reached out and pulled the cage around the embryo, then clicked the button on the control yoke to activate it. It buzzed to life around the angel.
"I have it. Bring me up."
She felt the cable system beginning to grind as it pulled her upward, dragging the angel with it, again with a grating slowness. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she was sweating. She bit her teeth together and felt her lungs starting to burn, and was afraid she was going to start hyperventilating in the LCL, which would knock her out from the fatigue in a few minutes. She forced herself to open her mouth and take long, slow, shaking breaths, trying to keep herself calm.
She felt a shudder in her hands.
"Oh, oh shit," she snapped, "It's moving!"
Misato appeared on the screen in front of her. "Drop it, Asuka! Get rid of it!"
Hastily, she released the cage, and Misato turned to her left. "Full speed on the crane, get her out!"
It came through the comm system, but she felt it anyway, rumbling through the earth itself, even this far down. Unit One was roaring. Misato's face became a mask of shock and she turned off screen.
"No! Don't! Stay calm, she'll be fine! Stay out of the volcano! Shinji!"
She was distracted. She didn't see it coming. It moved like a fish in the water, boring through the rock with astonishing speed. It was a shapeless mass at first, and then elongated, folding out long tentacles like the feelers on a moth's head, or the long central arms of a great squid. She felt the pressure around her body as it clamped onto Unit Two, crushing her arms to her side. The display in front of her went dark as it tore off the sonar. She wriggled, trying to force herself free, and heard the first crunch as it bit her, bit into the armor.
Fire lanced into her back, like it was burning into her own body, and she screamed. The angel reached up, wrapped itself around the cable assembly, and pulled once, twice, three times, and with sharp shudder the whole thing came loose and she felt herself sinking and she was screaming, screaming from the fire in her back and she almost didn't hear herself screaming "Mama! Mama!"
She heard something, somehow ,not over her own scream but under it, like it was in her own head.
Mama is here.
The temporary command center was in a frenzy. Misato fought to raise her voice enough to be heard over all the shouting. Shinji was screaming that he was going into get her out and Unit One's earth shaking cries made the glass in the windows vibrate every time it raised its head and bellowed in fury. Frantically, she'd given the order to retract the umbilical. Locked out from detaching it, Shinji could only pull against it, dig great furrows in the slope of the volcano with Unit One's feet as he tried to tear free and dive into the crater.
"Wait," Maya shrieked, "the third stage connections are reversing! It's going berserk!"
"Tell me something I don't know!" Misato snapped.
"Not Shinji!" Maya cried, "Unit Two!"
Unit One crouched and turned towards them, and Misato could feel the weight of its gaze, as if it was looking directly at her. Had he heard them somehow? It turned to peer over the crater, leaning on the edge like an animal taking a drink from a pool of water. It reeled backwards as a great flash of light and heat rolled up from the depths of the volcano, rocking it backwards. Unit One scrambled for purchase, almost sliding down the slope.
Covered in white-hot steel plates that dangled and fell from its body like cloth, a scorched and broken Unit Two crawled up and out of the crater, threw its head back, and roared, the armor over its face torn open to reveal great block teeth beneath. It stood up on the edge of the crater and took a few sliding steps down, and then began tearing the white hot remnants of the D-Type equipment away, snarling and tearing at them like an animal.
"It's too hot," Maya said, her voice cracking. "We have to get her out, it's too hot."
"How the hell are we going to-"
Unit One walked up slowly behind Unit Two, as if it were approaching a dangerous animal. Unit Two started to turn, but before it could, Shinji came up behind it, looped arms under its shoulders, and held the other Eva, pressing the white armor to himself. Over the comm system, he let out on a quiet grunt as he lifted her up, brought the Eva's feet up just enough that he could duck walk down the side of the mountain.
"Major," Aoba shouted, "We have a problem. The angel is still active, and it's tunneling towards the city. We just picked it up on the seismic monitors."
"Patch me through to Rei."
"Major?" said Rei.
"Rei, drop the rifle and run towards Tokyo-3. You have to get to the Geofront as fast as you can."
"My battery will not be sufficient for-"
"Stretch out the umbilical as far as you can, then drop it. There's another one within range. Run it like a relay race. I'll have the techs plot you a course and put it on your heads up display."
"Roger. I am on my way."
From the other side of the mountain, Unit Zero jumped up, dropped the massive rifle and broke into a sprint, each step sending jarring shocks up through Misato's feet. She turned back to her other problems.
"Status on Asuka and Shinji?"
"See for yourself," Maya pointed.
Unit One had torn off the backmost section of Unit Two's armor, slid the entry plug free, and put on the ground. There it remained crouched where Shinji had broken the synchronization and ejected himself. He walked towards the mountain on foot, towards an oncoming medical crew, Asuka cradled in his arms, a grim look on his face.
She ran out of the trailer.
She broke into a sprint, and then a jog, and then sort of a trot, almost out of breath as she reached them. They'd loaded Asuka onto a stretcher and had a neck brace on her, and were cutting off her plugsuit. Shinji stood beside her with a look of grim, fixed finality on his face, his eyes as hot as the smoldering metal piled on the mountain behind him. He clenched his fists and his lips peeled back.
He had fangs.
She took a step back in horror as he gaze settled on her. The irises of his eyes, like chips of blue ice, had settled in green, the whites of his eyes turned a pale green, and he was shaking. He took a step towards her, his lips sliding back over his teeth, and something came over him when he fixed his eyes on her face. He forced himself to stop, shakingly visibly. When he opened his eyes they were his own again, and he sank to his knees. He tore the nerv clips out of his hair, bringing a clump of it with them, and with a grunt threw them so far she didn't see where they came down, and clutched his head.
She sank down beside him. He was so hot to the touch he almost burned her but she hugged him anyway and he hugged back, crushing her to him so hard it nearly hurt.
"Oh God," she whispered, "I'm so sorry, I didn't-"
"It's not your fault," he whispered into her ear.
Without releasing her, he leaned back.
"Help her. Get in the ambulance. All of you. Now."
As if Commander Ikari himself had barked an order at them, the medical technicians filed into the ambulance after Asuka and closed the doors behind them.
"She will live," said Shinji. "The warrior spirit is in her now."
Misato sank against him, the tension going out of her muscles. "I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I lied to you. This wasn't your father's idea, it was mine. I'm so… so…"
"No," he whispered, "I need strength now. It's almost time. Almost. I didn't want to show my hand this early, but Rei can't do this alone. Go with Asuka and be strong for her. Please."
She was still trembling as he released her, and set her gently on the ground.
"B-but there's no support system, we need a crane t-"
He touched a finger to his lips for silence and grinned, grinned under his blood matted hair and turned up the slope to Unit One.
"Rise," he whispered.
With a roar, it answered him.