Well, in the last chapter you saw that Mayumi's role isn't done quite yet as she gives a little warning to Shinji about Sandalphon. Now this angel was a little bit of a 50/50 shot for me. I wasn't sure if I wanted to add it in or skip right to the next step in my insanity, but then I got an idea into my head to go ahead with this angel, and skip that lame acid-dripping spider, Matarael. So here we go!

14: Limit

The small group of pilots had gathered around a small mound in the Geofront under a tree, a rounded stone marking the grave. Each pilot held a bouqet of flowers, which the laid against the stone, each one saying a few words of gratitude to the person.

In all honesty, Shinji was happy about the burial site. It had been Kensuke's idea, and the commander had approved. Mayumi, invisible to the others, was sitting on the headstone, smiling briliantly at her friends. She gave a wink to Shinji once he placed her flowers down, making way for Rei's turn. When the quiet girl's turn came, Mayumi floated up, and placed a kiss on the girl's forehead, whispering soothingly into her ears. Rei blinked, not knowing what had come over her, but her heart felt lighter when she stepped back.

Touji was last, followed by Hikari, who had only just heard about what had happened. Shinji hid a smile as Mayumi herself nearly started crying over her friend's sadness at her passing.

So, Shinji thought at her, How's it feel to be so loved?

Mayumi wiped a small tear from her eye, It's wonderful. I never knew I had such good friends.

I know how you feel, he thought, then felt his cell phone start vibrating.

xXx

"And we're sure that the feed back from the probe is accurate?" Misato asked as the screen crackled with static.

Hyuga nodded, "There's no doubt about it. Blood pattern blue; it's an angel."

"Alright, lock down the compound, and call up the pilots," Misato said.

"Are you sure about that?" Hyuga asked, "It's barely been two days since...you know?"

Misato nodded, "I know, but this isn't going to wait. If that thing's dormant right now, then we have a window to kill it without damaging the Evas too badly."

The bridge technician nodded, "I'll call the commander."

xXx

"Um, what am I supposed to be doing, anyway?" Mayumi asked, watching the goings on down below.

Abraham sighed, "Well, since this is your first day as an angel, I'd like you to try and make sure Shinji doesn't try anything foolish." He said, "You know how he is from the reports."

Mayumi nodded, kicking her feet a little over the edge of their cloud, "I do...but how come he keeps pushing himself even though it's killing him?"

"That's just how he is," Abraham shrugged, then smiled, "But, I can say that he's the perfect person for this project of mine."

Mayumi looked up at him, "And that is?"

"Why getting the world back on track, of course." Abraham grinned, "Now, I have a meeting with my higher siblings. When the time comes, keep Shinji in check, and get him to pace himself."

Mayumi giggled, "I doubt it's him we have to worry about this time. I'm more worried about the others wanting to tear this angel to pieces."

Abraham nodded, "He can handle a little insubordination on their part, but remember, you can't reveal yourself to anyone but Shinji. Change your appearance if you must, but remember that Mayumi Yagamishi passed into the next life." He said, smiling sadly. "I'm truly sorry I couldn't do anything about that, by the way."

Mayumi huffed and floated to her feet, "You worry about me too much, Mister Abraham. I'm fine with this new life, and this job. I'll be fine. Now off you go, wouldn't want the higher ups to get upset."

Abraham smiled, "Cheeky." He then hopped off the cloud and flew straight up, "Just so you know, you make a wonderful guardian angel, Mayumi!"

xXx

"We're supposed to catch this thing alive?!" Touji roared, "ARE YOU FUCKIN' NUTS?!"

Misato took her fingers out of her ears, "Not that last time I checked, Touji. But the commander wants to try and study this thing since it's still in the egg stage of its life."

Touji just growled, looking over at Shinji, who was staring at the screen calmly, "You're not gonna tell me you're fine with this?! Those things killed one of our friends!"

Shinji looked over at him, "Sit this mission out."

"WHAT!"

"I said, sit this mission out, Touji." Shinji said, turning his body to face him, "If you're so filled with anger, then you won't be any good to me out there."

"But I can- "

"You will spend the entire time distracted by ways you could accidentally kill this angel without my father knowing." Shinji said, seeing Touji flinch, "I thought so. Look, I get that you want to pay them back for what happened, but Mayumi already saw to that. We're all still alive, and Third Impact hasn't happened. Get it?"

Touji opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't get the words out. Shinji was right, he would be looking for a chance to destroy the angel, no matter what.

"Fine, I get it, Shinji," he growled, "I'll stay behind, but if you get into trouble - "

"I'll have Asuka as back up, so it shouldn't be a problem," Shinji said, jerking his thumb at the red-head, who was going over the specs of her Eva with Ritsuko. Smiling, he said, "If anything, I'll need to keep on my toes to keep my position of top pilot if she has anything to say about it."

Touji sighed, "Alright, already, I guess you got this covered. So what's the deal?" He said, "How we gonna catch this thing?"

Misato smiled, "Basically an Eva will be equiped with a special dive suit that will shield it fromt he lava, and allow it to descend into the volcano with a cage that will trap the dormant angel so we can bring it up for study."

Touji grimaced, "Sounds too hot to handle for anyone."

"That's why I'm the one diving," Shinji said, "I can spread my AT field to give me a little added protection, and I'll have Asuka up on the crater with a positron rifle if things get hairy."

Shrugging, Touji grumbled, "It'd be better just to drop an N2 mine on the damn thing."

Misato flinched, "That's actually the fall back plan if things do go sour...the UN intends to drop an aerial N2 mine on the crater, regardless of NERV's on site team."

"WHAT?!" Roared Touji, nearly deafening the poor major again.

xXx

Shinji looked down at the lava with a little hesitation. How the hell did I talk myself into this? He asked himself, then remembered having to dive into the lava without protection to save Asuka's life. Oh, yeah.

"Shinji," Asuka said over their link, looking worried, "You sure you wanna go down there?"

Shinji smirked at her, "Would you want to?"

She grimaced, "Not in that ridiculous suit they put your Eva in!" She said, "Honestly, how could you let them do that to your unit?! If it was my Unit 02, I'd -"

"Throw a royal fit," Shinji smiled, "Yeah, I know you love that thing, but come on, didn't I say I don't have any pride? I just care about getting the job done."

Asuka huffed, "Not me, I'm more of a - "

"Glory hound?" Shinji suggested with a smirk.

"I was going to say a prideful woman," Asuka growled, glaring at him, "You're lucky I can't reach you right now!"

Shinji grinned, "And what would you do if you could?"

Asuka raised an eyebrow at him, "Is this your idea of flirting?"

Shinji shrugged, still grinning, "Is it working?"

"No," Asuka said flatly, killing their link.

"Hmph, now that hurts," he chuckled, then turned his attention to the open channel, "And just how long were you going to keep listening?"

Suddenly Misato and Ritsuko appeared on his screen, looking a little sheepish. "Ehehe, sorry about that." Misato said, "But that was just to good to interrupt."

Ritsuko smiled, "He definitely has his father's talent with women."

Shinji gagged, "I'm not sure whether to feel insulted by that or not."

"It got your mother," Ritsuko pointed out, "By the way, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm good on my end," Shinji said, "Is Unit 01's equipment sound?"

"It's buttoned up nice and tight," Misato gave him the thumbs up sign, "No pressure for you."

Shinji rolled his eyes, "Yeah, sure, I just have to dive into a pit of boiling lava, and retrieve a giant monster's egg...yeah, no pressure at all."

Misato laughed, "Don't be such a baby, you did volunteer for this, after all."

"Yeah, yeah, just drop me in already," Shinji sighed, "I wanna get home and have a nice hot bath after this is over. This plug suit you got me in may protect me for the heat, but it's already got me sweating."

Misato and Ritsuko smiled at him, "There's a hot spring just down the mountain, we'll all go there after we finish up here."

Shinji smiled, "We should have brought Penpen, he would have loved that." He sighed looking back down at the red lake of magma, "Well, let's get this show go - "

Suddenly the ground started shaking beneath the Eva, startling him, and the two women, "What the hell is that?!" Misato yelled, "Is the volcano erupting?!"

"No, this is too small for an eruption!" Ritsuko snapped.

"What about the angel?" Shinji asked, "Is it still dormant?"

Ritsuko ran over to her computer, checking the monitoring system for the angel, but found the screen blank, the signal lost. "Impossible, the egg is gone!"

Shinji growled, "It's not gone...it's hatched!" He punched a link over to Unit 02, "Asuka, get that rifle ready! The angel's hatched!"

"What the hell!" Asuka roared, "I thought the thing was supposed to be dormant or something!"

"Not anymore!" Shinji yelled, trying to shrug his unit out of the D-type equipment, "Argh! This is a pain!"

Asuka was aiming her rifle into the lava, but nothing was moving to present a target. Damn, just where the hell are you? She thought. Then something passed below her just under the surface, something very, very large.

"Got'cha!" She opened fire, plunging round after round into the magma, but the angel didn't seem to pay any attention to the shots. Part of the angel broke the surface, revealing a large shell-like armor. Asuka fired another round, and watched in amazement as the shot bounced right off. "Sheisse! This thing's armor plated! Shinji, we've got a problem!"

By now Shinji had ripped right out of the D-type equipment, lifting the helmet from Unit 01's heat last, and tossing it to the ground, "The heat and pressure from the lava must have made the thing stronger on the outside." He said, remembering the last time they'd fought the angel, "Bullet's or beam weapons won't work with this thing!"

Asuka growled, "Then what are we supposed to do about it?!"

Shinji looked around, noticing that UN bombers were already beginning to circle. Damn those UN bastards! Shinji growled mentally, "First thing's first," he said, calling up his link with the ground crew, "Misato, evacuate the personnel, and get the hell out of here! Asuka, carry them down as quick as you can!" Shinji ordered, stepping right up to the edge of the crater, watching as the angel circled beneath him.

Asuka nodded, then gave the purple unit a questioning look, "What about you?"

At that moment the angel rammed into the side of the volcano, sending another tremor through the mountain side. A crack appeared in ground beneath Unit 01's feet. "This thing's trying to get out." Shinji said bluntly, "I'm just going to make sure it stays put!" Unit 01 raised it's left foot for a step.

Asuka's eyes widened, "Are you crazy?!"

Shinji just gave her a smirk over their link, "Just get back here as fast as possible. Unit 01's armor is thicker than most, so it can handle some of the heat, I just can't go too deep." The angel rammed into the mountain again, this time with more force, nearly knocking the unit over. "Get going!" And with that Shinji plunged his unit into the magma.

xXx

Mayumi was sitting on a cloud, far too stunned for words until the gravity of what Shinji had just done hit her. "Oh, I really think this counts as foolish!" She doved off the cloud, flailing to gain more speed as she careened toward the crater, "Abraham was right! This guy needs supervising!"

She flew right by Unit 02 as the crimson unit was carrying handfuls of people down the mountain side as quickly as possible while making sure to give them a smooth ride, and darted to the edge of the crater.

Her eyes were searching the magma for any signs of the purple unit, but the surface was still. "Oh, no, please tell me I'm not too late!" She flew down closer, hovering just above the molten lake. "Shinji! Where are you?! Give a signal or something!" She yelled.

Heads up, Mayumi! Shinji roared mentally.

"Huh?" Suddenly the unit and angel burst to the surface, the Evangelion an angry boiling-red from the heat, and the angel trying to force it back below to drown it. Mayumi yelped in alarm and darted out of the way as the two wrestled, neither one giving in. The angel had the advantage, that much was clear, as it was larger, and better suited for the current environment.

Shinji and his unit fought tooth and nail with the angel, hammering it with the unit's gigantic fists, but the outer shell was just too hard for the unit.

Mayumi groaned, "You, Shinji Ikari, are the craziest person I have ever met! What the hell were you thinking?!"

She heard Shinji chuckle, I thought angels weren't allowed to use foul language? Mayumi huffed, placing her hands on her hips, "You think this is funny?! Ugh, just wait until Abraham gets back! He'll throttle the both of us!"

Well, I'm open to suggestions, Shinji said, I feel like a mud wrestler right now! And it's getting a little hot if you hadn't already noticed!

"And whose fault is that?!" Mayumi practically screamed at the unit's head, actually flying down to give the struggling unit a kick in its horn. "You're the one that dove into the lava after shredding your equipment! What were you thinking?!"

I was - Whoa! The angel suddenly plowed forward with all its might, ramming into the wall of the crater again, but this time it pushed through, taking the Eva with it as it bore into the earth.

Mayumi suddenly wanted to take a dip in the lava, "I'm so gonna get fired after this!" She moaned as she flew after them.

xXx

"Shinji!" Asuka yelled.

"What?!" Shinji groaned in pain, "I'm kinda busy right now!"

Asuka was back on top of the crater, looking for any sign of him or the angel. The umbilical cable was still going a mile a minute was about to run out. "Where the hell are you?"

"Underground I think," Shinji growled, "This thing's got a hold of me, and I can't get free! I'm disconnecting my cable. I can't risk getting tangled up with this thing."

Asuka blinked at his statement, "Underground?"

Below her on the mountain, the ground suddenly erupted as Unit 01 came flying out of the soil with the angel right behind him. The cable snapped off the unit's back and Shinji flipped away from the angel, landing heavily as the angel dove back underground.

"Gah, I do not wanna do that again!" Shinji growled, rubbing his head, "That was the craziest ride I've had since that damned elevator!"

"Dummkopf!" Asuka yelled, "When are you gonna stop acting so reckless?"

Shinji grinned, "Worried about me?"

"About Rei!" Asuka roared, "You know she'd be devastated if you got yourself killed!"

"Well, I - Heads up!" Shinji yelled. Asuka yelped and moved off the crater just in time to avoid the angel springing out of the ground again, a torrent of magma coming with it.

"Damn this thing!" Asuka screeched, "It's trying to use the magma to attack us!"

"No kidding, and the shell's too hard for me to get at the core..." Shinji growled, thinking hard about how to deal with the angel. Asuka thundered down next to him, bringing him an umbilical cable which she attatched while he was thinking. Once she stopped moving, the angel seemed to lose them. Shinji caught sight of it breaching the ground, keeping low enough that it wouldn't present a target. Wait, he thought, is that thing...blind?!

"I don't think it can see us," Shinji said, voicing his thoughts. "Or else it would have attacked again."

Asuka, having noticed this as well nodded, "I think you're right. Any ideas?" Her unit was still in proper fighting condition, but she could see that Unit 01 had taken heavy damage due to the dip in the magma, "Maybe we should call in the other's for back up?"

Shinji shook his head, "No time, the UN is preparing to drop those bombs. We'll have to take this thing down ourselves." He said, sighing, "I have an idea, but you'll have to trust me."

Asuka rolled her eyes at him, "We live under the same roof, I've slept in your bed, and I've even let you kiss me - "

"You kissed me back," Shinji smirked.

"The point is," Asuka huffed, "I already trust you enough to go along with almost anything."

Shinji grinned, "Almost anything, huh? Well, that's something." He looked across at her, seeing her blushing slightly, "So what do I have to do for a date?"

Asuka blushed brighter, "A lot more than this!"

"Aw, come on," Shinji grinned, "Can't I have a little hint?"

"Ugh!" Asuka growled, "Can we please focus on the angel?! You try flirting some other time!"

Shinji laughed, "Fine, but you'll have to buy me some time. About five minutes worth." He said, "Think you can handle that thing?"

Unit 02 pound its fist into its palm, "Leave it to me."

x-Two Minutes Later-x

"Are you done yet?!" Asuka roared as her Eva grappled with the angel, which was trying, from the look of things, to push Unit 02 into the ground, bearing down on it from above as it dove in and out of the ground. Now Asuka had a hold on the angel, keeping it raised just above the Eva, preventing it from going back underground.

"Not even close," Shinji muttered from his concentration. He was glad that no one could see him right now. His sync rate was slowly climbing higher and higher, causing his body to be racked with pain. The LCL was boiling around him, and it was only a force of will power to keep himself going. He was now at three hundred, and started climbing again.

Mayumi had entered the plug by this time, and was berating him, but she was ignored. He had to keep going.

This is stupid! Mayumi yelled at him, You're going to get yourself killed at this rate! I may not know much about the Evas, but Abraham told me that if you push yourself too much -

I know! Shinji growled, But this is all I can do to kill this thing!

Outside, Unit 01 started to glow dangerously red, the eyes opening wide, glowing luminously pink as the sync rate rose, bringing the unit and pilot closer to becoming one.

Mayumi groaned, This is such a bad idea! What if you really take it to far this time?! You could die!

Mayumi, I know the risks! Shinji growled as the sync rate rose to the three-nineties. Shinji coughed, sending a cloud of red into the LCL. Mayumi whimpered, placing her hand on his chest to try to heal him.

This is terrible, she said, Your heart can't take much more of this, Shinji!

Shinji didn't answer. His sync rate was now at three hundred-ninety-nine.

Asuka, who was still fighting with the angel, looked over in Shinji's direction, and nearly let go of the angel in her shock. Unit 01 had a massive heat haze rising around it, the armor and bindings glowing red. "Shinji, what the hell are you thinking?!"

Shinji groaned as he tried to push his sync rate over the last point, finally succeeding as Unit 01 opened its mouth, the eyes and mouth glowing with a dangerous light.

Sandalphon gave a downward push against the red unit, causing her feet to slip. "Damn!"

"ASUKA THROW IT!" Shinji roared, shocking her.

Unit 02 acted in an instant, throwing the angel high. Then Asuka watched in amazement as Unit 01's eyes shone brightly, and suddenly fired off a powerful blast not unlike the beam she'd seen the fifth angel use against the pilot on the disc.

The beam struck the angel, shattering its outter shell, and blasting straight through, giving the angel no chance to even raise its AT-field before it came crashing back down to earth, bubbling and bulging out before it burst.

Unit 01 immediately turned back to normal, toppling over on its knees before crashing into the ground face first. Asuka hurried over to the downed unit as the entry plug ejected. She knelt by his side, ejecting out, and climbing down as fast as she could. Shinji hadn't come out yet, and the super heated hatch was too much for her to even get close to.

"Shinji!" She yelled, hoping he would hear her.

"Asuka!" She turned and saw Misato and Ritsuko driving toward her.

"Misato! I can't get him out!" The girl yelled.

The jeep screeched to a halt as the two women jumped out. Misato had a crowbar and plunged it into the hatch, ignoring the heat as the hatch broke open after a few minutes. Asuka darted in immediately, hoping to find Shinji awake and well...but that was a fool's hope.

Shinji was awake, but he was covered in blood from his mouth and nose. "Hi, there, Asuka." He said, smiling weakly.

Asuka bit her lip, "You idiot! What the hell were you thinking when you did that?!"

Shinji shrugged from where he sat, "It worked."

Misato poked her head in, "And now look at you! You're half-dead!"

"Misato, Asuka, get out of the way so I can examine him!" Ritsuko growled, trying to push her way into the plug, but finding it difficult with the other two females in the way.

Soon Shinji was taken from the plug, and laid out on the ground, his head in Asuka's lap as the blonde doctor checked him over. "That was insane, you know that, right?" She asked him as he smiled up at her.

Misato nodded in agreement, "If that's what happens when you push the sync rate too high, then I forbid you to even think about it again!"

Shinji turned his smile on her, "Don't worry, I don't think I can."

Ritsuko stood up, "We need to get him back to NERV. He's bleeding internally again, and it's worse than last time." She glared down at the young pilot, "You are officially grounded, Shinji. No more piloting until I say you're healthy enough!"

Shinji cringed at the glare she gave him, "Yes, ma'am."

Mayumi, who had been floating above them, grinned, Serves you right.

xXx

"Of all the stupid, idiotic things I've ever seen in my life - !"

"Will you keep your voice down," Shinji moaned, clutching his head, "I have a headache."

"Good!" Abraham growled, "You realize that you came this close," he held a finger up to Shinji's nose, "To meeting with the angel of death? I nearly fell off a cloud when Mayumi told me what happened!"

Shinji smirked, "Alright, I give up. I'll never do it again."

Abraham sighed, floating around the hospital room in an almost tired fashion, "That would be an ideal thing, Shinji, as if you went that far again, I have no doubt you wouldn't survive, unless Mariel let you go."

Shinji looked up at him from his bed, "Mariel's the name of the angel of death? I expected something a little more sinister. That sounds like a kind person."

Abraham smiled at that, "She hates her job, that much is true. And she is kind, far too kind for that line of work in our world. But as long as you keep your sync rate below four hundred, and get used to the higher numbers like I told you, then you should be fine."

Shinji nodded, "I'll try, and believe me that I didn't intend to go that far. It was a last resort."

"I know," Abraham nodded, "But next time you should really have another pilot out there. Touji may have been angry, but he could have assisted in Sandalphon's destruction."

Shinji nodded, "Honestly, I just didn't want him doing exactly what I did. Something stupid that might have gotten him killed."

"Oh, look the pot's calling the kettle black," Abraham grinned, a small laugh escaping him, "But I see what you mean. I don't want to sound cruel, but your friend is very much ruled by his emotions."

"All humans are like that," Shinji smiled, "One way or another."

"Yes, and it's what I love most about the Lilin," Abraham smiled, floating toward the window, "Rest well, brother. We still have a long way to go before this war is over. Soon, Tabris will make his presence known, and we still have the most powerful of my brethren to stop first."

Shinji sighed, thinking of Zeruel's attack on the NERV base. It was this angel that made Shinji nervous. He hadn't really defeated the angel, Unit 01 had. the berserk rage of the Evangelion had also nearly cost him his life, being drawn into the Eva's core to replace his mother's soul. Thankfully, he had avoided that fate.

"Hopefully I'll recover long before the next angel attacks," Shinji sighed, closing his eyes so he could rest.

Abraham smiled and disappeared, leaving the boy to sleep.

Well, there's chapter 14 done. As you've seen, Shinji has officially hit his limit. So, if an angel attacks, who's going to take point? What will happen if Shinji fights again? Keep reading to find out!

Don't forget to review!