Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.
Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.
Chapter Thirteen: Quiet and Combat
The morning after the battle against the Fifteenth Angel, Shinji Ikari awoke to a rather familiar sizzling sound coming from nearby. It took him a few seconds to realize that someone must have been cooking in the kitchen, and when he did, his reaction was mixed.
If Misato was making breakfast, it probably meant she was feeling better and might be willing to listen him. On the other hand, if Misato was making breakfast…Misato was making breakfast.
Groaning slightly, the Third Child pulled himself out of bed and made his way to the kitchen, hoping that whatever Misato was making was still salvageable.
What he found when he reached the kitchen was not what he expected.
"Asuka?" he gasped, rubbing his eyes as if that might dispel the illusion.
"Morgen, baka," Asuka greeted, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary with this scene at all.
Warily, he glanced at the contents of the frying pan Asuka was tending. Within it was a couple of eggs, and, amazingly enough, they actually looked quite edible.
"You can cook?" Shinji blurted out, not yet over his amazement.
"What are you, stupid?" Asuka asked. "Of course I can cook. Misato was my guardian for a while in Germany. Do you think I lived off of instant food and her cooking the whole time? Now how many eggs do you want?"
"Uh, one's good," Shinji said. "Excuse me."
He left the kitchen and headed toward the bathroom, where he splashed some cold water on his face. It was no good; he didn't wake up.
Wow, Birdy commented, sounding as flabbergasted as he felt. That was…really…uh…
"Yeah," Shinji agreed.
Do you think we've fallen into some kind of bizzaro world or something? Birdy asked.
"Birdy," Shinji said, "I'm a fourteen-year-old mecha pilot who's charged with protecting the world from giant monsters called Angels, who recently discovered that he also has to save the world from the people who built the giant mecha, and I am currently sharing a body with an alien female, who is pursuing alien criminals. So far as I'm concerned, we're already in a bizarro world."
…Good point.
Meanwhile, at NERV, Dr. Akagi was having a much less pleasant morning.
The foreign entity was back.
She had detected no sign of it during Shinji's last sync test, and she had dared to hope that Shinji's second absorption into EVA had killed it somehow.
However, the readings from the last Angel battle had shattered that hope quite thoroughly. The presence was back, just as if it had never been gone.
"So now what?" she grumbled to herself, feeling about ready to tear out her own hair.
While she supposed partially disassembling Unit One again to continue the in depth examination of the EVA was a possibility, it was something Akagi was loathe to do. For one thing, her (now somewhat smaller) department was seriously overworked and might well mutiny if she declared they needed to take the purple Evangelion apart again. For another, if they did so, there was a good chance they'd have to hastily reassemble the EVA again, which would once more open the door for some new, disastrous error to be made.
She already had enough egg on her face from the last one, thank you very much.
"But what choice do I have?" she wondered, desolately.
The commander wouldn't stand for the continued existence of the alien soul within Unit One; it had already caused significant problems for his plans and could easily cause several more.
A sudden knock at her door interrupted her grim thoughts.
"Enter," Ritsuko said curtly.
The door opened, revealing Maya. "Sempai, the mechanical crews have some questions about the repairs," she said. "Should I tell them you're busy?"
Ah, yes, the post-battle damage. It was quite light compared to several other battles, such as Shinji's first combat sortie, but it was still there. Unit One's armor had sustained some mild damage when it fell onto the street, and the positron rifles needed reloading and servicing.
Maintaining giant antimatter guns took a lot more work than caring for a common pistol, after all.
"No, no, Maya, I'll come," Ritsuko said, glad for the excuse to get away.
She had, as brilliant people sometimes do, overlooked one of the most obvious things she could do.
Putting off dealing with it until later.
I'll just set aside this problem for now, she thought. Hopefully, a better solution will come to me.
"Hello, Rei," Shinji greeted the First Child during lunch. "Is there enough room for me at this table?"
He immediately felt like an idiot for his choice of words, because the table Rei was sitting at was unoccupied save for her. Asuka and Hikari had once sat with her, but Asuka had left, and the class rep had apparently followed, being much closer to the Second Child than the First.
You're really not very good at this, are you? Birdy commented. Shinji chose to ignore her.
Fortunately, if Rei noted the absurdity of his question, she didn't feel the need to say anything about it.
"Yes," she answered simply.
Shinji nodded sat down at the table across from her. Awkward silence soon followed.
Right, Rei's not a conversation starter, he thought. I guess it's up to—
"Ikari," Rei cut him off in mid thought. "May I pose a question to you?"
"You can call me Shinji, and yes, of course," he replied at once.
"Asuka has been acting coldly to me, and I do not know why," Rei observed sadly. "Since you live with her, I was wondering if you had any insights on the cause of this."
"Asuka's…a complicated person," Shinji said, mustering his best clueless expression.
It wasn't technically a lie, he supposed.
"I see," Rei said softly.
The silence returned, much to Shinji's displeasure. There was so much he felt he needed to tell Rei, so little time to do it in, and he had very little idea of how to do it besides. He couldn't just out and ask her very nicely to defy his father (not to mention the very reason for her creation) and not destroy the world. She might tell his father and then the game would really be up.
Yet he had to somehow convince her that the world was worth preserving, even if it meant saying no to the man who'd raised her. It was quite a conundrum, and one he had no real idea on how to resolve. Even Birdy couldn't really help him; this situation was as far outside her experience as it was his.
What am I supposed to do? Just start rambling about how great the world is? He wondered, before shaking his head slightly. One step at a time.
"So, Rei," he began, somewhat awkwardly. "Since you're not spending time with Asuka, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me."
That might sound like you asking her out on a date, Birdy warned.
"We've both been piloting for the whole war, but we haven't really gotten to know each other very well," Shinji quickly amended, hoping that sounded more platonic.
Rei's slender eyebrows rose slightly. The pilot of Unit Zero was not, by any means, an expert on human interaction, and she knew it. However, the current situation definitely seemed strange to her.
Asuka, who'd been her best friend, was suddenly regarding her with barely repressed anger and not giving her the time of day. Shinji, who had been rather distant since the Seventh Angel was defeated, was abruptly trying to get close to her.
It seemed to Rei that the odds of these two things being a coincidence were very slim.
However, since Asuka had mysteriously abandoned her, Rei wasn't willing to turn down Shinji's companionship just because she suspected he might be keeping something from her.
"I would…like to spend some time with you, Ikari," Rei said. "I mean, Shinji."
He smiled. "Good. So, where would you like to go?"
Rei paused, considering the question. "Perhaps we could go to the mall and buy clothes together?"
Shinji face-faulted, and even Birdy groaned. Well, looks like Asuka didn't teach Rei much about interacting with boys…
Despite the early "hiccup," Shinji and Rei spent quite a pleasant afternoon together. Once Shinji managed to explain that buying clothing was generally something that girls did with their female friends, not their male friends, they agreed to go to the mall but generally steer clear of the clothing stores.
They mostly ended up walking around, talking, but it was still surprisingly enjoyable. Shinji had to admit that he found it nice to spend time with such a quiet girl, as opposed to the rather aggressive females he was more accustomed to. Also, perhaps it was because the idea that he and Rei might become something more than friends wasn't constantly buzzing at the back of his mind, but knowing that he was technically related to her made him feel more comfortable around the First Child.
By the time the afternoon together ended, Shinji still had no idea how he was going to convince Rei to defy his father without tipping his hand to her, but he still felt that the outing was a success.
His pleasant musings were abruptly cut off as he walked into the apartment and the voice of the Second Child cut through his thoughts. "So, back from your day with Wondergirl?" she asked.
Shinji sighed. "Yeah," he said softly. "She misses you, you know."
Asuka just scowled and crossed her arms. "If she wanted to keep my friendship, she shouldn't have kept it a secret that she was part of a plot to kill everyone in the world!"
Shinji shook his head, wondering if Rei's "betrayal" had truly hurt Asuka that much.
"You should really let go of your anger," he said. "Remember, the fate of the world may well rest in Rei's hands in the future. Don't you think it would be a good idea to do our best to show her that this world is worth saving by being her friend?"
"I can't just let it go, and I can't just be friends with her again like that," Asuka scowled.
Giving up, Shinji decided to change the topic. "So where's Misato?" he asked.
Asuka hooked a thumb in the direction of their guardian's bedroom. "In the enclave," she said. "I don't know what's with her exactly, but whatever happened, it hit her pretty hard."
Shinji just gave a rather noncommittal grunt to this and changed the subject once more. "So, Asuka," he said rather nervously. "Birdy's told me she wants to go out tomorrow, and she was wondering if you'd let her borrow some of your clothes?"
Asuka grimaced, thinking back to all the horrendously wrinkled and often torn outfits she'd found in her wardrobe. "Forget it," she said. "That girl is murder on clothes. Besides, my stuff is too small for her."
"Aw, c'mon, you're not being fair!" Birdy's voice abruptly burst from Shinji's mouth.
Stunned, the Third Child put a hand over his throat. "Since when could you do that?" he demanded.
"I always could," Birdy replied, her voice again coming from Shinji's mouth. "But since you didn't let anybody in on the secret before, I had no reason to."
"Look, Birdy, you can just forget about wearing my clothes anymore," Asuka said crossly.
"But you've got such great fashion sense!" Birdy protested.
"Birdy, if you want to have a conversation with Asuka, switch places with me. Stop possessing my voice box," Shinji grumbled.
The compliment from the Altarian seemed to soften Asuka a bit, but not quite enough to make her willing to throw open the doors to her wardrobe. "Sorry, but no."
"How about this," Shinji said before Birdy could argue. "Asuka, why don't you take Birdy shopping? Pick out some clothes for her. I'll pay for her."
I'd be game for that, Birdy spoke up cheerfully.
Asuka considered for a moment. "All right," she eventually agreed. "Anything is better than having my closet raided again."
Meanwhile, mere feet away, Misato Katsuragi sat in her dim bedroom, looking at the microchip that Kaji had left her before he died.
"The phone that doesn't ring doesn't bother me so much," she said quietly. "Not since you gave me your soul."
She carefully set the chip down. She wouldn't let Kaji's death have been in vain; she was going to finish his work. She would find out all the secrets that NERV and the Committee were hiding from the world, and she would drag them out into the light for all the world to see. That would be her tribute to Kaji.
Unfortunately, doing so was going to be rather difficult.
With a sigh, she downed the remainder of her current can of coffee, then went back to work at her old PC, totally unaware that her charges held information and keys to NERV's secrets that Kaji could have only dreamed about.
"Geeze, where have you been keeping this reject?" Birdy grumbled as she emerged from Shinji's room the next day, wearing her brown wig and the only outfit the Second Child had deigned to let her borrow.
The outfit was absolutely hideous in the Altarian's opinion, consisting of a puke green sweater and an almost equally ugly, asymmetrical yellow skirt.
"At the back of my closet," Asuka replied. "It was a gift from my stepmother."
Birdy opened her mouth to ask a question but was cut off before Shinji before she could. Please, don't.
Mentally shrugging, Birdy turned her attention back to Asuka and said, "Well, let's go, then!"
The Second Child nodded, and soon the pair was on their way to the mall.
"Okay," Asuka spoke in a scholarly tone once they'd arrived, "before we begin, can I safely assume you don't know much about the 'local' fashion?"
"Yeah," Birdy confessed.
Don't know much about Altarian fashion, either, judging by your own wardrobe, Shinji quipped, recalling the few times he'd gotten a look at Birdy's personal belongings on her ship. Do you have any clothing besides your uniforms and that formal robe?
"Quiet you!" Birdy snapped.
"What?" Asuka frowned, though she looked more bewildered than angry.
Shinji couldn't help but snicker; it was nice to see Birdy stick her foot in her mouth because of him for once, rather than the other way around.
"Not you," Birdy said. "Him."
Of course, since Birdy could just tell Asuka the truth, that robbed much of the potential amusement from the situation.
"Well, tell the baka to shut up for a while," Asuka said in a surprisingly amicable tone. "This is girl stuff we're dealing with here."
Birdy smirked. "Hear that, Shinji?"
Yeah, I got it, Shinji said, resigning himself to being purely a spectator for much of the day.
Asuka led Birdy from store to store, selecting a number of outfits for the Altarian. Shinji quickly grew bored, listening to talk of color coordination and which outfit sent which message, and began to doze. Not too much later, he was soundly asleep. Birdy hardly noticed.
The two girls were almost done with their shopping spree when something, or more accurately someone, had to interrupt them.
"Pilot Soryu," Asuka heard a man's deep voice from behind her.
Asuka and Birdy both spun to find themselves face to face with a man in a black suit and sunglasses, who was unmistakably a member of Section Two. The Second Child was rather stunned to see him; unlike the security personnel in Germany, NERV Japan's men in black were often comically easy to lose.
That might have something to do with the fact that Commander Ikari needed Section Two to be staffed with men willing to do his dirty work, while the security guys at the Third Branch were actually hired on the basis of how well they were likely to do at maintaining security. Prior to Shinji telling her NERV's secrets, Asuka had always just assumed that superior German efficiency was the reason for the great discrepancy in the skill levels of the two groups.
She still believed that had at least something to do with it, but that was neither here nor there at the moment.
"What is it?" she demanded of the man in a tone of exaggerated but genuine irritation.
The Second Child wasn't much more fond of Section Two than the Operations Director.
"You are in the company of an unknown individual," the grunt replied coolly. "Protocol requires that all the pilots' friends and companions be cleared by—"
"There's no need for that," Asuka declared in the most imperious tone she could muster, which was very imperious indeed. "Shion here was cleared by the Third Branch a long time ago. We're old friends. She has business in Japan and she came to visit me."
It was difficult to read the agent's expression, thanks to the sunglasses he wore, but Asuka thought he looked skeptical. "Is that so?" he asked.
Crap, Asuka thought. Looks like this one might be a little smarter than average.
"Oh, yes," Asuka said, then threw her arm around Birdy's waist. "Wir sind alte Freunde aus Deutschland, stimmts?"
The Altarian blinked like a deer caught in the headlights. "Um…uh…" she stammered.
Asuka's gaze grew pointed as she obviously willed Birdy to respond. The Federation officer fervently wished that Shinji was still awake.
"Si," Birdy finally blurted out.
We are screwed, Asuka thought, giving Birdy an incredulous look.
The Section Two agent shrugged. "Very well, I suppose it's all right," he said. "Please, enjoy your stay in Japan, Shion-san."
Okay, this one's actually dumber than average, Asuka decided, somehow managing to keep the look of stunned disbelief off her face.
The agent gave both ladies a slight bow and then melted back into the crowd. Or tried to, at any rate. It was rather difficult for the agent to blend in with the mall goers while in full secret service uniform.
Asuka quickly grabbed hold of Birdy's arm and dragged her into the nearest ladies' room. "You've been in Shinji's head for months and you haven't picked up the German word for 'yes' yet?!" she hissed the moment they were safely inside.
"Hey, I can't be expected to remember every language that's spoken on this ball of dirt!" Birdy replied defensively.
"Well, why didn't Shinji tell you what to say?" Asuka demanded.
"Oh, he fell asleep a long time ago," Birdy answered cheerfully.
Asuka sighed and palmed her forehead before she turned her gaze back on Birdy. "And where the hell did you get Spanish from?"
For the next few days, the lives of the pilots were surprisingly normal, relative to what they were normally like. Shinji continued building his friendship with Rei, and his relations with Asuka were proving themselves far more pleasant than in the past, so long as he didn't bring up the subject of the First Child.
Unfortunately, Misato remained as cloistered as ever, repeatedly brushing off the attempts made by both her wards to speak with her. Shinji and Asuka were both beginning to really worry, but neither one of them really knew just what to do. Misato had never behaved like this before in either of their experiences with her, and it left the both of them quite confused.
So, for days, things went along with some semblance of normalcy, but for EVA pilots, that could never last. And the beginning of the end of the brief quiet came, perhaps appropriately, in the virtual meeting room used by SEELE.
"You lost the Lance of Longinus, Ikari," SEELE-08 stated flatly, barely restrained rage in his voice. "It has recently assumed orbit around the Moon."
Seated at his desk in the center of SEELE's monolith avatars, Gendo was the very picture of calmness under fire. "Their was no choice," he said simply. "The Angel had to be defeated."
SEELE-02 scoffed at this explanation. "Or did you feel the need to try and salvage your own scenario, Ikari?"
It was an unusually direct accusation for this place of insinuations and implications. Gendo immediately rushed to defend himself.
"I am not working toward the completion of any scenario besides that set by this body," he said in a remarkably level voice for a man telling a complete lie.
"Given how vital the Lance is to our scenario, I find that difficult to believe," SEELE-02 said, clearly not done yet.
"The Lance is not irreplaceable," Gendo replied. "However, if the Angel had emerged victorious, the scenario would never come to fruition."
"Your excuses were once better than that, Ikari," SEELE-11 said.
Gendo was about to make a reply when the ringing sound cut him off before he could begin. He pulled open his desk draw and picked up the phone contained within it. "Fuyutski? What is it? I'm in a conference."
A moment of silence passed within the meeting room as Gendo listened to his subordinate speak. "I see," he said, then hung up the phone and addressed the council. "An Angel is approaching. We'll have to finish this later."
"You assume you'll still have a seat here when you return," SEELE-01 said ominously.
Gendo made no reply, and the holographic image of him vanished from the chamber.
"Launch all EVA Units as soon as possible," Misato ordered as soon as she strode into the command center. "Unit Two will take point in this engagement."
"No," Gendo said. "Unit One will again take point."
"Why?" Misato demanded, whirling around to face the Commander.
Gendo's eyes narrowed behind his orange glasses. "I don't have to explain myself to you, Captain," he said glacially.
"Yes, sir," Misato growled, turning back around to face the main screen and regard the Angel.
The latest threat to humanity's continued existence was perhaps one of the strangest looking ones yet. It looked like a glowing double helix that formed a ring which was spinning over the land. It was currently holding position, and Misato had no idea how it might attack.
She didn't like that. Unpredictability was never good in one's enemies, and Misato's experience was that the more inscrutable an Angel was, the more terrible and dangerous it was.
"Analysis?" she asked.
"The pattern keeps shifting from orange to blue in a fixed cycle," Makoto said. "That's making it very difficult for the MAGI to draw any conclusions about the target."
"I'm sure that shape isn't fixed, however," Akagi put in.
"We need to let it make the first move," Misato decided aloud. "Shinji! I want you to pull back to a distance of ten kilometers!"
"Uh, Misato," Shinji replied over the radio. "I think it might be a little too late for that…"
Outside, the double helixes of the Sixteenth Angel fused together and part of it split, turning it from a ring into a whip.
Then it struck with impossible speed and serpentine agility, streaking out toward Unit One more quickly than Shinji could have ever hoped to dodge. Shinji barely had time to wince and his curse his father's need to get Unit One an S2 organ before—
Unit One was shoved out of the path of the Angel by Unit Zero, which had materialized at his side from its previous position in seemingly the blink of an eye.
"Rei!" Shinji shouted, as he struggled to regain Unit One's balance. "No!"
But it was too late. The end of the glowing rope that was the Angel plunged into Unit Zero's torso, and veins began to spread all over the EVA's body as the Angel invaded it.
Immediately, Unit Zero brought the huge rifle it was carrying up and fired several shots at the Angel's body from point blank range. The massive shells did nothing to hurt the glowing being, and it just kept worming its way deeper into the blue EVA. Rei screamed.
"No!" Shinji shouted again, commanding Unit One's left shoulder pylon to open with a thought.
With Unit One's left hand, Shinji grasped hold of the wriggling Angel. Veins immediately began to spring up on both his hands and his EVA's hands, but he paid them no heed. Unit One gripped its progressive knife with its right hand and plunged the deadly blade right into the Angel's body, evicting a spray of crimson blood.
Unfortunately, it also caused the First Child to shriek in agony. Shinji immediately withdrew his prog knife from the Angel's body and released his hold on it. The wound he'd inflicted healed almost instantly.
Okay, now what? He thought, paralyzed by indecision. Hurting the Angel clearly hurt Rei, but he couldn't just allow the thing to do what it would to Unit Zero!
Suddenly, he spied movement from the corner of his eye and looked up, instantly spotting Unit Two as it charged toward the battle, its own more utilitarian progressive knife already in hand.
"Asuka, no!" Shinji shouted.
The Second Child refused to heed him, obviously not having the same problems with hurting Rei in the process of killing the Angel that he did. The crimson EVA stabbed into the Angel, bring a fresh spurt of ruby blood and a fresh scream from Rei.
"Stop, damn you!" Shinji yelled, as Asuka began to slice down the Angel's body like she was filleting a fish.
"You have a better idea on how to kill this thing?" Asuka demanded.
And therein lies the problem, Birdy said grimly, knowing as well as Shinji that he really didn't have a better idea.
Still, he ignored both of them and shouted, "You're killing her!"
"So is the Angel!" Asuka snapped.
And then it happened. In the heat of their argument, the two EVA pilots had ceased paying enough attention to their enemy, and it took the opportunity to lunge. The Angel twisted, its free end surging forward, and it plunged itself into Unit Two's torso. Asuka screamed as the veins began to spread across her body, and Unit Two dropped its progressive knife. The weapon clattered down to the street below where it cracked the asphalt.
Within Unit Two's entry plug, Asuka nearly doubled over in pain. She could feel every inch of the horrible, alien thing invading both her EVA and her own body. It was more repulsive than anything she could ever have imagined.
"Shinji!" she yelled. "Attack the Angel!"
"I…I can't!" Shinji replied, obviously distressed.
"Damn you!" Asuka screamed. "Cut it!"
Shinji made some form of reply, but Asuka never did catch what it was. Because at that moment, something cold and terrifyingly Not Her grabbed hold of her mind and pulled, and—
—suddenly, she found herself suspended above a seemingly endless sea of LCL. It reminded her of SEELE's plans for the world, and she shuddered despite herself.
"Do you wish to become one with me?"
Asuka's gaze snapped forward, and she was suddenly confronted with…herself. The doppelganger stood up to her thighs in the LCL, and he head was bowed, which hid her face behind her fiery locks.
"Why the hell would I want to become one with you?" Asuka demanded, crossing her arms.
For some reason, this whole situation really didn't seem all that strange to her.
"Because if you become one with me, you won't ever have to face it," the other Asuka replied.
"Face what?" Asuka snapped.
"Life after you take your revenge upon NERV," her duplicate said. "It's one of the more bizarre concepts you lilin have invented—vengeance. What good will it really do? It won't change the fact that they've made you into a tool to be used for a terrible purpose."
"It'll keep what they want from ever coming to pass," Asuka pointed out defensively.
Her duplicate chuckled softly. It was a surprisingly chilling sound. "Perhaps," she said. "But what then? After the war's over, you'll just be a tool that no longer has a function, left in a box or cupboard somewhere to gather dust. I imagine that there will be little glory to spread around once NERV is flattened and its secrets exposed. No one will want you."
"Shut up!" Asuka snapped.
"Become one with me, Asuka," the duplicate said. "It is the only way to avoid your fate."
"Never!" Asuka retorted, stubborn as ever.
The other Asuka finally raised her head, allowing the Second Child to finally see her face. It was exactly like her own, except for the eyes.
The eyes were blood red, darker than Ayanami's.
"Angel," Asuka breathed.
The doppelganger ignored her. "You must become one with me," she said, her lips quirking upwards into a sinister smile. "You have no choice."
The veins suddenly began to spread far more aggressively across Asuka's body, reaching all across her form and even rising up her neck toward her face. The Second Child groaned in agony that didn't stem from pain exactly, but from being invaded by something so foreign.
"No," she grunted through clenched teeth.
"Resistance will only make this more unpleasant," the Angel said calmly.
Asuka ignored it, screwing her eyes shut as she desperately tried to figure out what to do. It was obvious that she herself could only delay the inevitable, and there was no one who could help her. Rei was in the same boat as she, and Shinji was too damn gentle to be willing to put the other two pilots through hell to achieve the objective.
She was alone.
Or are you? A voice whispered in her mind.
Asuka nearly rejected the idea out of hand. Surely there was no hope of receiving help from that corner. Even when she'd been all right, she'd wanted precious little to do with Asuka, as she was always busy with work.
The cold sensation of the Angel's presence within in her suddenly spiked, and Asuka was filled with the horrifying certainty that it was nipping at the edges of her very soul.
Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, if you ever loved me, help me now! Asuka thought as loudly as she could.
"Shinji, I'm sorry, but you have to do this!" Misato shouted to the Third Child over the radio. "It's their only chance. The biofusion of the Angels and the EVA's will become irreversible soon."
Shinji swallowed, looking out at the massive knife still held within Unit One's fist. Indecision gripped him as strongly as his Evangelion gripped the weapon.
Sometimes, Shinji, we have to do what we must, Birdy said softly.
Suddenly, the armor plates on Unit Two's back burst off, and a monstrous growth formed on the red giant's back with incredible speed. It warped and shifted, soon becoming larger than the EVA itself and taking on the form of all the Angels NERV had destroyed so far.
Oh god! Kill it! Birdy yelled, her stoic, calm voice of a moment ago now nowhere to be found.
I guess I have no choice, Shinji thought with a grimace.
Just as he was about to plunge his progressive knife back into the luminous rope that was the Angel, Unit Two's eyes abruptly flashed and began to blaze with an unholy white light.
Uh-oh, Birdy said.
"Berserker," Shinji whispered.
Unit Two's helmet broke, allowing the red Evangelion to open its jaw and display a mouthful of needle-like teeth. It roared thunderously, and, as though frightened by the battle cry, the Angel quickly removed itself from Unit Two, the horrible tower of Angels rapidly shrinking and then disappearing as it did so.
However, the red titan wasn't satisfied with simply have purged itself of its foe. The scarlet EVA grabbed hold of the Angel, its hands noticeably not developing the veins, and yanked hard. Rei let out a final cry before the Angel was pulled from Unit Zero in one clean motion. The blue EVA slumped and then went motionless as soon as it was freed.
The tips of Unit Two's armored gauntlets suddenly burst as great, black claws erupted from the red EVA's hands. Keeping a firm grip on the Angel with one hand, the berserk EVA slashed at the Angel with its new claws, creating a shower of blood.
The Angel squirmed desperately, trying to escape, but Unit Two refused to relinquish its hold. It slashed again and again, causing it to absolutely pour red down upon the streets of Tokyo-3. The Angel's struggles for freedom quickly weakened under this assault.
Then, there was a loud shattering sound, and chunks of a red material went flying everywhere. Shinji smiled in relief as the Angel's glow died and it went limp, as though it were no more than the world's largest piece of twine.
It was over.
Unfortunately, Unit Two didn't seem to realize that. The great beast continued its assault with unwavering frenzy…until it found what it was looking for.
It extracted a great lump of…something from inside the Angel. It was covered in blood, and pulsing in a manner not unlike a human heart.
Shinji's eyes widened; he had a pretty good idea what it was. And while he had no idea what the implications of Unit Two getting an S2 organ would be, he doubted they be positive.
"No!" he shouted, diving at the still out of control EVA just as it opened it jaw and began to bring the S2 organ to its mouth.
He tackled Unit Two, sending it tumbling to the street. The S2 organ flew out of its hand as it fell.
Then Shinji found his EVA atop Asuka's, and he found himself looking right into Unit Two's burning white glare. Its eyes narrowed.
He swallowed.
That might not have been the best idea, Birdy said, and he could practically hear her wincing.
EVA Two bucked Unit One off itself, displaying incredible strength even for an Evangelion. Shinji soon found his own EVA on its back, and before he could even try to react, Unit Two pounced, landing atop him and causing all the air to leave his lungs in a great whoosh.
His reflexes must have been greatly elevated because of his fear and all the adrenaline currently pumping through his system, because when Unit Two slashed at him, he managed to grab not one, but both of its wrists. It began to tug violently, trying to get its hands free, but Shinji was prepared for its strength this time and managed to hold fast.
Barely.
How much longer do you think you'll be able to do this? Birdy asked.
Shinji just shook his head. Not very long, he thought.
Just as he thought Unit Two would get free and slash his EVA to ribbons for sure, the scarlet death machine stopped, just going lifeless and limp all of a sudden.
"Unit Two's internal batteries have been drained," he heard Maya say over the radio. "The EVA has deactivated."
Shinji sighed in relief. He hadn't even realized that NERV had apparently disconnected Unit Two's umbilical, but he wasn't about to complain.
The debriefing that followed the battle was rather…awkward for Shinji. Misato chided him for his lengthy hesitation in the battle, which was unpleasant enough, but the worst part was being asked about why he'd felt the need to tackle a berserk Evangelion.
Shinji had told her that he didn't want to see one of the EVA's become "contaminated" by an Angel, especially one as horrible as the Sixteenth. Misato seemed to buy it, probably because her hatred of the Angels made it easy for her to believe someone else would find them that repulsive, too.
The Third Child felt terrible about using his knowledge of Misato's past in such a manner, but he couldn't tell her the truth. Not only was Rei there, also being debriefed, but both Commanders were in attendance.
Speaking of them, Shinji wasn't the least bit sure that his father believed his explanation, but as the man did nothing but stare intently at him the whole time, it was hard to tell anything for sure.
"All right, you two," Misato said at last with a tired sigh. "You're dismissed."
Both Shinji and Rei nodded and then silently left the room.
"Rei?" Shinji said once they were in the halls.
"Yes, Shinji?" the blue haired girl asked.
"Thank you for what you did out there," he said. "That was…very brave of you, Rei."
The First Child's cheeks flushed a delicate pink. "You are…welcome," she replied.
"But please, don't do it again," Shinji said imploringly. "It was also really foolish."
Rei lowered her gaze, looking rather embarrassed. "If I die, I can be replaced," she said.
"Not nearly as well as you might think," Shinji replied cryptically.
She gave him a questioning look in response, and Shinji just shook his head slightly. "Never mind," he said. "I'm going down to the Medical Ward to wait until Asuka wakes up. Would you like to come?"
"I do not think that would be wise," Rei said softly.
Shinji sighed. "No, it probably wouldn't be."
The two parted ways, and Shinji soon found himself in the NERV Medical Ward, as a visitor rather than a patient, for once. He grabbed an extremely old magazine (the only kind available) from the waiting room, and then proceeded to Asuka's room. The Second Child was laying in bed, sleeping silently.
Remembering the first time Unit One had gone berserk, he felt a surge of sympathy for her. He didn't like how willing she'd been to stab the Angel despite the way doing so hurt Rei, but he was forced to admit that he really hadn't had a better plan. He knew he really didn't have a leg to stand on if he wanted to get angry about that.
You gonna just wait here until she wakes up? Birdy asked.
"Yup," Shinji replied simply, sitting down in the room's sole chair and opening his ancient magazine.
Birdy grumbled something unintelligible but after that voiced no further complaints.
He sat there for two hours, and once the magazine had been read, found himself fervently wishing he'd brought his SDAT. Even one of Birdy's awful J-pop tapes would be better than doing nothing. Finally, Asuka stirred and opened her eyes.
"Ohayo," Shinji said, even though it was nearly even.
"Ugh, how long was I out?" Asuka grunted.
"Only a few hours," Shinji replied. "Less time than I was out when Unit One went berserk against the Third Angel."
Asuka smiled slightly at that, but her small, pleased expression soon faded. "She saved me," the Second Child whispered.
Shinji nodded. "Yeah, I kind of figured," he replied softly.
Asuka didn't say anything else, just staring off into space like her mind was a million miles away. Shinji somehow got the feeling that he was supposed to say something profound at this point, but he didn't have anything like that to say.
"It was a pretty brave thing Rei did out there," he commented instead.
Asuka's features immediately twisted into a scowl. "It was a pretty stupid thing she did out there."
Shinji shrugged, not feeling like he could really argue that point after he himself had chided Rei for her foolishness. "I think I know why she did it," he said. "She didn't want to be alone again."
"Huh?"
"If the Angel had killed me, she wouldn't have a friend in the world," Shinji said. "You showed Rei what it's like to have a friend. She doesn't want her life to go back to what it was before that."
Asuka sighed in exasperation. "You can just stop trying to convince me to forgive Rei," she said in irritation. "It's not going to happen. Now, let's get the hell out of here."
"The SEELE council isn't pleased with this turn of events," Fuyutski said. "That Unit Two nearly obtained an S2 organ has thrown them into fits of suspicion."
"Those suspicions can only lead them to faulty conclusions," Gendo said.
Fuyutski grunted. "Why did Unit Two behave that way?"
"We never had any guarantee that the production models would never go berserk," Gendo replied simply. "The duress that both the pilot and the EVA were under must have triggered that reaction. It's the only explanation."
Fuyutski made a skeptical little noise but didn't press further. "So, what are you going to do about the council's demand to see the First and the Second? They say they wish to question them about what they experienced when the Angel made contact with their EVA Units."
"Don't worry, I've given them something else to consider," Gendo said.
Fuyutski arched an eyebrow. "Indeed? I'm surprised you didn't just throw them the Second."
Gendo shook his head. "The Second is a weapon, one of our own design," he said. "However, I have little doubt that the council would not be above trying to point her at us if it suited them. No, I had to arrange for a much more harmless element to face them."
Ritsuko hated everything as she stood before the SEELE monoliths, as naked as the day she was born.
"We wish to proceed peacefully," SEELE-01 one said, the lecherousness that was detectable even in spite of the voice distortion putting the lie to his words. "We don't wish for you to suffer needless embarrassment."
"I'm not embarrassed," Ritsuko lied defiantly.
"A strong tempered woman," SEELE-03 said with a barely repressed chortle. "It's natural that Ikari wants to keep her by his side."
"However, it is none other than Ikari who presented you to us," SEELE-09 said.
"Indeed," SEELE-01 agreed. "He was quite insistent that we not interrogate the pilots of Unit Zero and Unit Two, despite the fact that they may have communicated with an Angel. He presented you as her replacement, Doctor."
I'm a replacement?
The mockery of a meeting continued for several minutes, before Ritsuko's ultimate indignity finally came to a close. Once she was finally released, the scientist dressed and headed to her office, a cauldron of quiet, deadly rage.
There was only one thing she wanted right then: revenge. Revenge against Asuka. Revenge against Rei. And especially revenge against Gendo.
And she didn't care what price she had to pay to get it.
Unfortunately, there were precious few avenues open for her to get what she desired, even when she was heedless of the cost. Asuka and the current Rei were both effectively outside her power, and she knew that Rei's clones were guarded by unyielding, robotic soldiers.
Ikari, of course, had doubtlessly formed contingency plans and taken precautions beyond number. Ritsuko knew only too well that she had little ability to derail his scenario, despite all the access she enjoyed to NERV's secrets. There was little she could do to hurt him, especially if he was expecting an attack from her direction, which he certainly was.
Yes, there was little she could do to hurt him. Little, but not nothing.
Ritsuko booted up her computer and connected to the MAGI, then she opened up the file on Unit One.
With a few keystrokes, the foreign entity contained within it was declared officially dead. Not only that, but she had programmed the MAGI to fail to report its presence in the future.
It wasn't guaranteed to jeopardize Ikari's scenario any more than it already was, and he might not ever even know this had been done, much less that she had done it. It was far from the dramatic, devastating vengeance she craved.
"But it'll have to do for now," Ritsuko said softly.
Late that night, Shinji awoke to the sound of somebody moving about in the kitchen. The Third Child roused himself reluctantly, half expecting to find that Birdy was the one who'd ventured out of bed for a midnight snack (it wouldn't have been the first time).
But this proved not to be the case. He found himself in his room, and Shinji could sense the stillness in his mind that indicated the Altarian was asleep.
He was tempted to just close his eyes and go back to sleep, but he forced himself out of bed anyway. If it was Misato out there, he might finally get the chance to tell her everything.
Shinji, clad in only a T-shirt and boxers, threw on a pair of track pants and ventured out into the kitchen.
The Ops Director wasn't there. Instead, the Second Child sat at the table, a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream he'd bought for Birdy (the Altarian seemed intent on consuming at least a gallon of every ice cream flavor known to man before she returned home) sitting in front of her and a spoon in her hand.
"Asuka?" he asked.
"Evening, Shinji," she replied, as if this scene happened routinely.
"Uh, are you all right?" he asked.
"I had an Angel in my head today," Asuka replied acerbically. "Also, my whole damn world was recently turned upside down."
"I'm sorr—"
"Shinji," Asuka cut him off, "if you apologize for telling me the truth about NERV, I really will have to smack you."
The Third Child blew a long breath out through his teeth. "What I meant was, I didn't want to bring you the pain I knew would come from telling you that," he said, "but I wanted your help, and I felt you had a right to know."
"I know you wouldn't want to hurt me, despite…everything," Asuka said softly. "You're good like that."
"Thanks," he said. "Hey, uh, should you really be eating all that ice cream?"
Asuka smirked. "I'm not the first girl to do this, Shinji," she said. "And I have a much better reason to do it than just a crappy date."
"Oh," Shinji replied, not knowing what else to say.
A brief silence fell.
"If you want to stop me from eating all this, then grab a spoon," Asuka spoke eventually.
Shinji considered for a moment, then decided that Birdy was just going to have to deal with the loss of her ice cream. He pulled a spoon from a nearby drawer, and the two of them ate ice cream in comfortable silence for a few minutes.
"I'm sorry I didn't pull you out of the Fifteenth Angel's attack," Asuka blurted out all of a sudden.
Shinji shook his head. "Please, don't be," he said, wondering how long Asuka had been trying to say that to him. "Having two people in my head helped protect me like it did against the Twelfth Angel. I don't even want to think about what would have happened to a normal person."
Asuka nodded, and they lapsed into silence again.
"Did you know," Asuka again broke the silence, "that I was terrified out of my mind when the Sixth Angel showed up?"
Shinji blinked. "Really? You didn't show it."
"Of course I didn't. I couldn't show weakness to the competition," Asuka said, her tone bitter. She shook her head. "Gott, I've done so many stupid things to defend something I never even really had."
She stared into the tub of ice cream without actually seeing it, contemplating the terrible truth of her own statement. She'd sacrificed so much in her attempts to protect her perceived spot as the top pilot, and she'd always tried to project the image of the invincible pilot girl. The tough girl who didn't take crap from anyone. The girl who was always on top of the world.
She wondered if there was anything left behind all the facades she'd built up over the years, or if she'd become her masks.
Shinji's hand tentatively reached out and touched her own, pulling Asuka from her grim musings.
"I've done some stupid things, too, like trusting my father," he said.
"What comes after NERV is over?" Asuka asked, slowly curling her fingers around his. "Assuming we live that long?"
"I plan on trying to get my mother out of EVA," Shinji answered. "We can try to save yours, too. Though, your mother's soul was absorbed differently. I'm not sure that she's, uh, whole enough to escape." He added, not wanting to get Asuka's hopes up too far.
"She's whole enough," Asuka replied.
Shinji nodded. If anyone would know after the events of the previous day, it would be Asuka, after all.
He didn't think he'd ever had such an intimate conversation with Asuka before. Whether it was because of what had happened during the battle, or because Asuka just really needed a sympathetic ear and he was the only one she could talk to, he didn't know. It was nice.
Shinji was tempted to broach the subject of Rei again while Asuka was in a mood to talk, but he thought the better of it. It would probably just get her angry and make her clam up. Besides, he was tired of having the "Rei debate" with Asuka; it never went anywhere. No matter what he said or how he tried to reason with her, Asuka refused to even consider forgiving Rei.
"What was it like?" Asuka broke Shinji's reflections. "Having your mom inside your head, I mean."
"It was nice," Shinji said. "Really embarrassing at times, but nice."
Asuka smirked. "Yeah, I'll bet it was," she said. "Hey, how many Angels are left, again? I want to know when we can finally make our move."
"According to what my mother remembered about the Dead Sea Scrolls, there are 18 Angels in total, so there's two left," Shinji said.
Author's Notes: For those you confused by Shinji's bad intel, remember that Yui had only ten year old memories of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Also recall what Misato told Shinji while she was dragging him toward Unit One.
Not much else to say, so as always, thanks to all my readers and reviewers. Oh, and sorry, but no omakes tonight.
Edit: A special thanks to Tribun for helping with Asuka's German in this chapter.