Part 12
"You are worthless."
"You are just a pathetic coward."
"You are not even fit to lick the shit off the underside of my feet."
"You are nothing but a bug that needs to be squashed."
"You are an embarrassment to your gender."
"You are the one people laugh at when you see friends gathered up on a corner."
"I am your only friend."
The fourteen year old boy heard these voices echoing through his head as he let his head hang over, his dark hair tumbling over his face. The ear buds in his ear blocked out the sound of the world around him, true, but these voices weren't coming from without, but rather from within. He could not extinguish the sounds of berating shouts and jeers if they were coming from the depths of his very memories. The only way to escape the pain of the voices was to ignore them completely, think of something else entirely.
Shinji's eyes landed on the shapeless shadows drifting outside his door as he pushed himself into a seated position, staring blankly up at the ceiling above him. The sound of shuffling bodies, of wooden legs dragged across the floorboards, of sighs of muted frustration. In a heartbeat, he knew the scarlet haired girl was standing outside his door, doing whatever it was girls did when they were trying to let out steam. Had Shinji's own body not been wracked with personal anxiety, memories resurfacing for some odd reason, he'd not-
No, this wasn't random.
This all made sense in its own, twisted sort of way, did it not? He went to a trip to the psychologist's, and this happened. Of course this was how it was. Memories were no doubt dragged out he didn't want to deal with, but why? How? Perhaps it was the comments about standing up for himself, to not simply bow to whatever his authorities told him. To not bend to his father's will. To not resign himself to the words of other people.
Hastily, he pushed himself to his feet, glancing at the door ahead of him. The music wasn't distracting enough. He needed a bigger deviation, something more interesting. Perhaps he'd just cook some food, or something like that. Maybe he'd choose to talk to Asuka. After all, she wasn't the source of his pain at the present time. No, she was just another pilot, another person he lived with. Upon opening the door, he saw the redhead, sipping on what appeared to be either coffee or tea, with heavy steam wafting out from its dark surface.
"Oh, you're here too, huh?" the redhead mumbled, frowning slightly.
"Yeah. Where's Bianca?"
"She's at headquarters with Ritsuko. They wanted to speak to her about something. I dunno what," Asuka mumbled, pressing the mug to her lips. Slowly, the fluid flowed in between her lips, the hot liquid tumbling into her throat. Shinji could see it transferred down her slender neck, her beautiful throat such a tempting structure to kiss. Upon thinking this, he shook the thought out of his head. Kissing Asuka? That was just her begging for an ass kicking.
"Weren't you supposed to do something today?" Shinji asked, curiously removing his ear buds.
"Oh, that? Yeah, like hell I'm gonna go to some violin lesson. I don't even friggen like playing the violin. It was so boring," the redhead mumbled, shaking her head in repulsion.
"Oh, so you don't like the violin?" Shinji asked, smiling softly.
"Well, I don't like playing it. I think it sounds nice, though. Cello's also pretty nice, too."
Shinji smiled at this. "Ya know, Asuka, I play the cello."
She regarded the boy with an amused expression. Her lips curled into a slight smile as she asked, her voice perhaps even sweet, "Are you any good at it?"
"Well, I dunno, I guess I might be alright."
"Well, I'll have to be the judge of that. Get out your cello and play something," Asuka said, smirking. Shinji obeyed the order without delay. He withdrew his massive instrument, and began to play it in the middle of the room, leaning its large body against his lithe form. He ran the bow across the strings, notes drifting through the air, transparent, audible notes that filled the air and room. He played the only song he could think of playing at that moment: Bach's Prelude to Cello Suite 1. At once, Asuka's eyes widened. He stared at Shinji as he drew his bow across the instrument, his fingers pressed against the shafts and strings with a look of concentration on his face. Indeed, this facial expression fully betrayed the emotions inside of his heart. All he felt was the music. He didn't notice nor care about his issues that lurked in the back of his head, nor did he care about his father, or Angels, or whatever. If anything, he could feel those concerns slink down his arms, into his fingers, and out through the notes filling the chamber, out from his system and gone forever, like heat transferring from a furnace.
As the last note echoed across the kitchen, the German girl did not applaud or respond. She was still for a moment, staring at the instrument as though expecting more, but, after realizing that the song had reached its conclusion, she pushed herself up, darting toward her room, and rummaged around for a moment or two. She came back, however, with a violin in her palms. She placed the butt against the inside of her neck as Shinji said, smirking slightly, "I thought you didn't like playing it."
"I don't, but I never have anyone else to play with. This might be a little fun," the German said, "Do you know how to play Canon?"
#
"So it looks like the redhead's a no-show, huh, Michiru?" Haruka asked, a chuckle on her lips as she glanced over at her aqua haired lover.
Michiru smiled slightly, folding her arms over her chest. What did her lover expect to gain by making all these orders? Well, Haruka knew full well what she was hoping for, and naturally she was very desperate for that outcome, but, to be fair, even a tomboy like Haruka knew how to be subtle about these sorts of things. The psychologist was one thing. Bianca needed that. But violin lessons? That was a little much. A little rash.
Still, some lessons needed to be taught the hard way, and Haruka would rather not risk irritating her lover.
She wasn't very nice when pissed off.
"I don't know what I was expecting. I was just hoping to get some time alone with that poor, broken girl," Michiru replied, "I guess I didn't go about it the right way, huh?"
"Oh, is that an understatement," Haruka chuckled, "I seriously think that you need to rethink your strategies here. We both know what you want, what we know."
Michiru smirked, "Yes, I-"
There was a knock on the door.
Haruka glanced up. That redhead couldn't have been submissive enough to actually come to the practice. Surely not. After all, from what Haruka read, she was something of a stubborn child. It would be awfully out of character for her to actually go to a lesson she clearly did not want to go to. No, but clearly someone might expect it. The short haired girl glanced at Michiru, who nodded softly in response as she withdrew a pistol.
Haruka held her own firearm in her hands as she darted toward the door, pistol aimed at the crack as she opened it, hastily, ready to fire on command. The dull voice that responded send a cold chill through Haruka's heart at first, but upon seeing Gendo Ikari, Kozou Fuyutsuki, and Ryouji Kaji's faces, she felt that chill melt ever so slightly.
"Were you expecting something else?"
"No, Commander Ikari," Haruka said, lowering her pistol, "That's why we were threatened."
"Ah, sounds like a reasonable response," Kaji said, smirking as the trio walked into the living room. Haruka noticed Kaji glance at the numerous portraits of the sky and ocean that lined the walls. "How much did these cost?"
"Nothing. I painted them myself," Michiru replied.
"Quite a talent you have for the arts," Fuyutsuki said, "I haven't seen such beautiful sights since before the Second Impact. But enough of that. You know why we're here, surely."
"Honestly, no. A car race across town?" Haruka asked, grinning sarcastically, pistol still in hand.
"No, we're here regarding the organization Seele, and what you know that we don't," Gendo said, stoic as always.
"What we know?" Haruka chuckled to herself, lowering her pistol as she plopped herself down on a seat, "Man, we could write novels about what we know. But I can guess you know the majority of all that."
"I'd advice against beating around the bush," Gendo said, impassively, "The only reason I told Ritsuko to grant your request to send the children to a psychologist was because I knew you could supply us with information on Seele. To my knowledge, Seele is planning to divide us, to make us weaker, make us vulnerable. I need to know everything if we even have a prayer of surviving, and you will tell me what I want to know."
"Alright, like what?" Haruka asked after a moment of hesitation.
"Well, for starters, you could tell us what you know about this Ondorf person," Fuyutsuki suggested.
"We don't know anything about him, other than that he's a Seele slime ball," Michiru replied, a chuckle on her kissable lips, "He's a pretty high ranking member to my knowledge, though, seeing as how he can hold secret conferences in your communication rooms with Keel Lorenz himself."
"What?" Gendo scoffed, a hint of shock in his eyes that even his mask of vacancy could not hide, "That's impossible. I'd know if anyone-unless he-he probably knows some sort of trick with the security, or perhaps with his clearance."
"The sneaky bastard." Kaji shook his head as he approached the two women, his ponytail dancing behind him as he said, slowly, "I suppose you'd know where to find the other members of Seele, though."
"Why would we know? We're lowly soldiers here," Haruka said, a bitter laugh in her mouth, "Besides, there's one Seele thug in particular that I'd like to nail right through the balls."
"Haruka!"
"Well, you know you'd want to do it too!"
"No, I'd shoot his kneecaps and tell him to walk to an army base. In the middle of Vietnam."
"And here I thought I was brutal," Haruka chuckled.
"What if we could also help you find this member of Seele, and make your revenge possible?" Gendo asked, a slight grin on his lips. Haruka chuckled at this. This offer of help didn't surprise her. If anything, she had been waiting for it.
"You want Seele gone, don't you? Alright, we'll gladly contribute our aid to eliminate this particular member. I just need to know where he lives so I can drag him out back and stab him to death with a-"
A siren blared out over the buildings.
#
"Is that an Angel?" Bianca stammered, rising to her feet as she stared out at the monitors, her cherubic face filled with blush and awe. There, on the screen, was a great black ball. It had no features, other than the perplexing pattern of zebra stripes along the scale of its body. Was it some negative star, a diseased sun, that had fallen to Earth? Or perhaps it was simply the fingerprint of the devil itself. Whatever the hell that freaky shit was, it was sending chills up Bianca's spine just looking at it.
That wasn't the only part of her that was tense.
"That's right," Ritsuko said, frowning, "This new angel looks pretty bizarre compared to some of the previous ones we've had to deal with. We should wait until the others arrive-"
"I think I can save you the trouble," Bianca said, frowning.
"Why? What could you do?"
"I could kill it," Bianca replied with a shrug. She could feel her body clenching, her heart racing. She had to appear calm, had to look steady. The tension surging within her, this squiggly tickling from within deep inside her body, was putting her on edge. She had to kill it, had to see it bleed all over the floor, feel its flesh tear under her fingers as she ripped it to shreds, had to watch it convulse wildly and die.
What the fuck was wrong with her?
"Kill it on your own?" Ritsuko replied, weighing her options, "You do realize we don't have the proper data to even know what that Angel is like? We're not even sure it is an angel yet. That's how little we know about-but you look determined." Ritsuko's face squirmed a little as she finally said, slowly, "Fine, go ahead and do it."
Bianca ran off to the changing room, stripping naked. She avoided looking at any reflective surface, lest she see her thick arms tremble as she tugged her plug suit over her plump form. She cringed as she felt her stomach ripple as the suit suddenly compressed against her skin, like the gentle caress of a boa constrictor around its bosom buddy the mongoose.
No, wait, mongoose attacked cobras.
Silly her.
As she abandoned the locker room and her loose clothing, walking down the dimly lit path toward the Eva, she felt her mind wandering to moments before. She had sat in that room with Ritsuko, her cheeks filled with blush, as she heard the voice of her superior officer echo through her ears. "You're a sadist, is that correct?"
With a voice barely louder than a whisper, she mumbled, "Yes, yes I am."
"I didn't want to bring this up, but all these tests, your guardians coming, the whole psychology affair-I'm sure you realized they were all because of you."
"I figured that, ma'am."
"I've been told you aren't a threat to any of us, so I'm not too worried. However, I just want to understand this from a scientifically perspective is all."
Bianca was silent for a moment, pushing her glasses up her nose before saying, softly, "Are you afraid of me?"
"What was that?"
"Afraid of me? Because I get off on seeing people bleed and suffer. Does that bother you?" Bianca asked, her voice a whisper far too timid for any normal person to assume it came from the cherubic pilot.
"I'm not afraid since I know you're not a threat to me, but-"
What followed next was a torrent of words that started as a gentle murmur, but soon grew into a chaotic cry. "No, but don't you hate people who are like me? I'm evil. You know that, right? Pure unadulterated cruelty. I enjoy watching pain and agony. People bleeding, that's like looking at porn or something. I'm one of the foulest creatures on this Godforsaken planet, so if you know all this about me than clearly you must be terrified of me. You probably even hate me, and I wouldn't be blame you! In fact, if I were you, I'd shoot me now, just blow my brains out of my skull and let me just die already!" As though to brace herself from the coming bullet, Bianca clasped her hands on the back of her skull, tucking her face down, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Ritsuko, however, merely sighed. "If I planned on killing you, you'd be dead by now."
"But you wouldn't save me if I was in trouble, would you?"
Before Ritsuko could answer, the alarm had rung.
#
"You're letting her go out and fight that thing on her own?" Misato stammered, staring into Ritsuko's unblinking eyes.
"Affirmative," Ritsuko said, ignoring her friend's mortified eyes. What was wrong with this course of action? On one hand, the angel could potentially be eliminated within minutes, saving Tokyo 3 from the threat of another attack. Lives would be saved. Likely case scenario, Bianca would fend off the attacker until Shinji and the others arrived, and then they'd destroy the angel together. Worst case scenario, Bianca died, but bought enough time for the others to arrive. In any scenario, Ritsuko would still come out receiving a positive result.
She liked positive results.
Maya turned to face her superior, a quizzical expression on her face. "But ma'am, we don't have any data on this angel at all. How're we-?" Her voice was quelled by Ritsuko's fingers against her shoulder, pressing softly into her flesh.
"Just trust me on this one."
"O-okay. Unit-04, in launch zone."
"I still don't feel good about this," Misato said, "I give the orders around here. What if I don't feel like saying this mission is acceptable or not?"
"Well, then I'll just have everyone veto your declaration and do it anyway," Ritsuko replied, mildly.
"What?" Misato shouted, her eyes wide with frustration, "You don't have the authority to do that."
"Yes. Yes I do. Eva Unit-04, launch."
#
The impact of each foot against the pavement sent a slight shock through Asuka's thigh as she hurdled over an overturned garbage pail. She was far too lazy to walk around it like an ordinary person, and hurdling over something just looked so bad-ass when pulled off right. The dork had to do it the easy way, but the redhead really didn't care about that once the ground began to shake beneath her toes. She stumbled over, landing face-first on the ground. Shinji too stumbled, but he didn't fall. If anything, he stood long enough to give Asuka a hand up from her position.
"What just happened? Was that the angel?" Asuka stammered, glancing up at the black moon in the distance, her heart racing. They weren't protected. They weren't in their Evas. They were freaking running on foot down the streets of Tokyo with an Angel above their heads, and they were completely vulnerable. The ground was shaking. Did it just attack? How? Could they be inches away from death and not even know how the hell they were going to go out? Her skin was cold and clammy, even after the source of the shuddering showed itself.
Unit-04.
"They're launching without us?" Asuka stammered, eyes wide, "What the hell?"
"Maybe they're desperate?" Shinji asked.
"Shut up! There's no way in hell they'd launch without their best pilot!" What was wrong with Misato? Was she insane? First of all, why did they have to send Bianca alone? Sure, she was a good pilot and all, but Asuka was the best one they had. Why wouldn't they at least wait for their elite soldier first before attacking? Was she nuts? Second off, why didn't they wait for everyone like they always did? And third off, why Bianca?
Was she supposed to be a decoy?
"C'mon, hurry up!"
#
Bianca sighed, slowly, as she stared out at the great sphere in the sky only a few thousand yards away. She felt each finger clench and unclench itself, her lungs inflating and deflating, her lower regions filled with tension, tension that waited for a climax, a beautiful, lovely, orgasmic climax of carnal pleasure, of carnal violence, of sinful lust that only a true fucked up lunatic could dream up, and Bianca, with a note of guilt in her mind's voice conceded, was one such monster.
She hid behind a building, a machine gun in her one hand and a great longsword in the other. The best attack wouldn't be a frontal assault, or close ranged combat. No, no. She didn't know what sort of AT Field that thing had. The best attack would probably be to just shoot the damn thing. Still, perhaps she should make a distraction, then shoot and slice it to ribbons. But what sort of distraction?
She opened fire on the empty street.
Misato's voice blared throughout the entry plug. "Bianca! Are you out of your mind? That costs money!"
The distraction probably worked, because the enemy sphere suddenly and unexplainably disappeared. On the ground below, a great circle of darkness, a shadow as deep as a black hole in the vacuum of space, opened up. The buildings and objects within its restraints began to tumble within its grasps, as though the ground had turned to tar.
Bianca was beyond its threshold, thankfully.
"So that's its trick, huh?" Bianca chuckled, "A black shadow. What if we just try to cancel it out?" Unit-04's AT Field expanded out from the mere willpower of its pilot. She concentrated on her aura, swirling it around the black pit. At once, however, she felt her field collapse upon itself, her eyes widening in horror as all around her turned black.
#
Misato watched the screen before her as the black vortex twisted outward. The apparently flat shadow had changed shape, or at least a tendril extending from its depths had. Sprouting arms, breasts bursting from an area poorly defined as a chest, a head spurting out from its tip, it stretched for Unit-04, caressing its face. Soon, however, its entire body had turned into something poorly resembling sludge, an insult to the fact it had once barely resembled a human being. It gurgled sickeningly as it wrapped itself around Unit-04's skull, pulling it slowly toward the black pit.
"What's the status of the Eva?"
"The Angel's AT Field and Unit-04's are merging!" Aoba stammered.
"No, that's not it," Hyuuga stammered, "The Angel's breaking through the field into Bianca's mind!"
Misato stared in horror. The angel was intruding on the thoughts of one of the pilots. It was attacking her mind directly. Had she gone out with reinforcements, perhaps this would never have come about. She'd be safe, be defended, but now she was left to be the victim of a godlike opponent. Her fingers trembled as she turned on the blonde haired scientist. "This is all your fault!"
"Me? No, we had no way of determining the angel would behave like this," Ritsuko said, frowning, her skin pale and clammy, "None whatsoever. At least now we have the data to-"
"Ritsuko! Because of your stupid order, someone could be dead, and all you have to say is "well at least we have some shitty data'! Bullshit. Don't we have any other pilots here to-"
"Yes, major."
#
"Is there anybody out there?"
Bianca's eyes opened in the depths of infinite darkness, staring at the other end of a train. The windows let in the amber light from behind, intense. There was no sun creating this light, nor could she see any source of light. She felt her heart race as she came to realize she was alone on this little vehicle, binding down as the signal of the oncoming train echoed throughout the chamber only to dissolve into the background, an eerie ghost of a howl dying away.
There was one person seated in front of her.
She was a small girl, but her shape and face were blocked out by shadows. The orange light shone behind her head, a halo obstructing his body completely, extending like the wings of an angel. Still, the sense of anxiety consuming her every fiber left her feeling less like she was the witness of an angel's beauty, and more like a demon. Unless, possibly, the girl seated before her was the Angel. By this point, that wouldn't surprise her. She pushed her glasses up her nose as she said, slowly, "Just who are you?"
"Me? I am you. I am the you that exists in your mind."
"My mind?"
"Yes. After all, there are two selves: the self that others observe and the self that observes itself."
"So you're an existentialist, huh? I can catch on from here. Just what do you want, angel?"
"I'm not sure you understand. I am not an angel-"
"I'm not falling for this. I know what you are. I'm still in the Eva right now. This is all just an attack on my mind, so I just need to snap out of this and repel this on you. That's all I need to do." But how to do it? Bianca figured, if she was still in her Eva, an attack with her AT Field should do the trick. She concentrated as though she were in the Eva on hr AT Field. She clenched her fists in tension, but, as the empty seconds passed, fear began to grip her.
Why wasn't anything happening?
"Relax, I have no intention of hurting you."
"Then what do you want?" Bianca snapped back, eyes livid.
"Do you enjoy hurting other people?" the stranger before her asked.
"What? No, not at all! I hate it, just like everyone else."
"Do you enjoy hurting other people?
"No, I'm not a sicko. Do I look like one?"
"Do you enjoy hurting other people?"
"Maybe I do a little."
"Do you enjoy hurting other people?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"What the hell do you want from me, damn it!" snapped Bianca, her eyes filled with anger as she approached the girl, her fingers flexing as she snarled, ready to wrap her hands around the girl's throat.
"Hurting me will not distract you from the pain."
"What pain? I don't feel any pain!" Bianca grabbed the girl by the throat, ready to squeeze her windpipe and veins until she turned blue. Still, despite the tingle of pleasure coursing throughout her, causing her thigh muscles to twitch, she held back, curious as to what she had to say before she cut off his air supply.
"The pain of the memories. You've been running away from your problems through personal pleasure."
"What's wrong with using pleasure as an escape?"
"You've enjoyed killing those angels, haven't you?"
"Shut up!"
"You've enjoyed fattening yourself up like a pig, didn't you?"
"Shut the fuck up!"
"You enjoyed it when you were raped over by that Seele member just to become an Eva pilot, didn't-!"
Her words were reduced to a pathetic squeak as Bianca's hands squeezed tighter against her throat, the butt-ends of her palms pressing against her windpipe until all that emerged from her mouth was a high, weak, frail, muted cry for help. Bianca felt every muscle in her arms tense up as she cried out, "Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up 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shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up SHUT UP!"
As though a hand had wrapped around her waist, Bianca felt herself being pulled backward, out from the depths of the amber sky around her, and into the cockpit of her Eva. She stared up as the darkness dissolved away, the formless mass pinned to the street under the mighty harpoon of Unit-00! There it stood, a blade plunged into its chest, the tendril crying out as though it were a mother learning they were to be forced to eat each her twelve children alive. "Take shelter," Rei said, her voice echoing through her entry plug.
The tendril twisted upward, smaller vines of darkness ascending the stalk of the harpoon toward her hands. She stumbled backward, but the dark vines kept her from falling against the street. She struggled to stand up straight, the Angel tugging her closer to the vortex before her. The Eva leapt forward, wrapping her arms around the Unit-00's chest. The two struggled against the grasp of the angel, staring in horror of the Angel's dark pit.
"Damn it!" Bianca grunted against the force pulling her deeper into the black hole. Unit-00's joints were groaning loudly as the darkness began to tear her apart. With a sudden lurch, Bianca watched Unit-00's arm ripped from its socket, pulled into the depths of the Angel's vortex. The two units tumbled against the ground, the very Earth shuddering under the force of impact. The black hole receded into herself, and, for a brief instant, Bianca considered that maybe she had been salvaged.
And then the ground dissolved from beneath her.
The Hole was being formed right from beneath her body. She rested her feet against Unit-00's back, and, with a sharp kick, forced Rei into the air, against the ledge of a building, where it remained imbedded. Hastily, it struggled to free itself, but at least it was out of immediate harm, despite the building beginning to tumble into the depth. But Bianca, on the other hand, had begun to sink into eternal darkness. She was to tumble into the infinite darkness. If a mere caress of the angel was enough to give her madness, imagine was diving into its whole would do to her mind?
And then she was thrown into the air, as were the buildings that were partially submerged into the dark pit. Bianca was head over heals in the sky, above even the sphere of darkness that was the Angel. It had begun to lurch, bulges springing out from beneath its monstrous skin, as, ever slowly, blood began to trickle down out of the volcano-like tumors. Soon, more blood splurted out, like massive boils being popped within the jaws of a rat. Slime and carnage rocketed out of the open sores, until the entire Angel was nothing less than a mass of bloodied, grotesque shambles. The dark pit on the ground cracked open, soon a great geyser of blood spewing plasma into the air, splattering against every surrounding building.
And there, standing a few football fields away, was Unit-03, it's hand outstretched casually, its cockpit opening to reveal a fully recovered Star Aran grinning within its dark depths, a confident grin on his lips.
#
The door hummed as the two remaining pilots darted into the lobby. "C'mon, if we hurry up, maybe we'll make it in time to help out," Asuka stammered, darting alongside the black haired pilot to fight a battle they had already missed.
