Chapter 24:
We Are The Dogs of War

"The most beautiful girl, that I did ever see..." I mumbled under my breath. Somehow everything had started down an irrevocable backslide into the mouth of hell.

R&D smelled like Jet-A, smoke, and ozone. I could taste the acrid bite in the air. The Viper Zero lay in bits on the floor of a hanger meant for something much, much larger. The workers were like dutiful ants, moving bits to and fro with a purpose that I couldn't readily discern.

But my father had ordered it. What it was, I wasn't told. After the 'Battle of Tokyo 3' as it was being called, the cannon had crapped out, and with all the abuse I'd been putting the jet through it could have used some maintenance, but what I saw in the bottom of that hanger was a jet stripped to the bones.

The wings were off, the skin was stripped down to the skeleton of the aircraft itself, and there was wiring hanging out of the cockpit. Whatever it was they were doing, I didn't imagine that what I saw in front of me would be flying any time soon.

And that didn't even address the greater problem of Unit Three. A lot had been different, sure, but a lot had been the same. Key events still played out in relatively the same way, usually. This wouldn't be any different. And what could I even say? If this didn't happen, if we didn't let it happen, then what form would that Angel eventually take?

Everything worked out mostly okay after this, I just had to let it happen normally rather than risk changing anything and putting Misato into a position where she might not be safe, where she might get hurt in the attack. The kind of hurt you don't get better from. I couldn't let that happen.

So they had to be unwarned, and let the chips fall as they may.

But for what that was worth, I still felt like shit about it. I was still anxious as hell about it. I was still not completely sure what would happen, much like I hadn't been for a while. With each passing day it felt more and more like those memories were just dreams, fading into the ether, and that before too long I wouldn't remember anything other than a vague notion of what was supposed to be.

Maybe that was by design, to give me a little help, but then let me stand on my own.

I wish I could be a stronger person.

And then the wish was granted, but what was I doing with it? I attached myself to Misato, who was more to me than I could have imagined she'd ever be. I found myself close to Ayanami, or as close as anyone except my father could be, right?

Asuka. The IPEA pilot: Mari. I'd spent time with Akagi, I'd had dinner with my father. Was this what the stronger person that is Rei Ikari was supposed to do? Was this what that scared little girl sitting in a car with a woman she never met would have done?

A deep, primal, part of me knew that this wasn't the case. Everything I did here was new, was me and was the product of Rei Ikari. Not the same Rei Ikari as climbed into that blue Renault Alpine so long ago, but a true Rei Ikari nevertheless.

To everyone I knew, to everyone who mattered, I was the only Rei Ikari that they had ever known. There was no other girl to replace or to change, they didn't lose a friend, a comrade, or even an acquaintance. There wasn't an over night personality change, to them.

But when my real memories had returned, no longer pushed to the back of my mind by the replacement memories from that dead girl, I knew that I wasn't the same person. At the same time, I knew that I was. My soul, my mind, who I am. The core of my being, my consciousness, that hadn't changed. I could not have been Victoria any more than Gypsy Rose could be Rei Ikari. Somehow I knew it couldn't work that way.

When it came down to it, Victoria would have warned Misato what would happen. Gypsy Rose would have done something to stop it.

But Rei Ikari was too scared of making things worse to do much of anything at all.

All I could do was stare at the mutilated remains of my escape. The thing that let me forget everything except the moment. True freedom was, and always had been, mach two at forty thousand feet. That was something I didn't have, something I couldn't escape into if it got too tough.

And right then and there, I could have used an escape. I could have used sky under me and stars above, with my worries left behind me on the ground, put on pause until I decided to come back, or until the fuel ran low.

I caught myself messing with my hair, twirling it around my finger. Silver blue locks, because Misato had said it was cute, I left it that way. I'd punched Asuka in the face because of this hair color, because she spilled my hair dye. But because Misato liked it, I left it alone. What had caused me great discomfort became something I accepted at the drop of a hat, just because of what she'd said.

So for her, I didn't warn them, so that she would be safe. Even if I changed my mind, it was already too late.

So fickle, and they trusted me with the fate of the world.

It kind of made me wonder how much shit they had on the shelf. How close to falling into the abyss we all really were. Should we fall in, it was assured we'd never climb back out again. Simply wallow until we drown.

As expected, maybe not at that moment, but it didn't surprise me, the alarms sounded throughout the base. An Angel blood pattern had been detected. If it played out the same, Matsushiro just exploded.

Enter the Kraken.

xxx

"-we'll fight until we die, and our enemies are gone forever more."

"That's a little dark, Mari," I commented. I shifted in my seat and brought the rifle up to the Evangelion's shoulder. "I like it."

Units Five and One had deployed immediately via linear carriage to intercept the 'Angel' en-route from Matsushiro test site to Tokyo-3. I knew what I was in for, even if I didn't like it. Mari was Mari. This would be our first fight together. At least, the first fight that I wasn't bleeding to death during.

"This time you are in an Evangelion. This will be easier than the fight in the Arctic. Don't get impaled this time."

I shook my head. "Yeah, I'll try my best."

It was a waiting game, really. We were limited by the range of our power cabling, and we didn't want to engage while already at our limit. We had to let the enemy draw itself well inside our operational limit. But that didn't mean I was blind.

I dialed the VHF radio-set over to a frequency I'd long since memorized. "Ikari to Cylon one-one. Got your ears on, Bucket?"

"Cylon one-one copies. We're ten minutes out, we heard about Matsushiro. Is it another one?"

I winced, yeah it was another one. Might be the worst one yet, but I couldn't know that yet. "Affirmative, what are you bringing to the party?"

"We've got five birds and enough air to ground to put a hole in the earth. The Benfold, Fitzgerald, and Stethem are standing by to support as well. We've got approval directly from the Diet. If you need it, we'll bring it."

"Copy. I'll hold you to it, Ikari out."

I sat back in the seat and gripped the control sticks. Of course, they had a stake in this too, we all did. My mind wandered back to the conversation I'd had on the Kitty Hawk. They'd love to have people in the area, ostensibly to help us, sure. But then eyes on station meant they could direct a smash and grab to snatch a pilot if the opportunity presented itself. Somehow, I felt like the Diet knew this as well.

More cloak and dagger than I cared for, really.

I felt all the hair on the back of my neck stand up and looked up to the forward display. A large black figure was trudging in our direction. Unit Three. The Angel.

"Somehow, I knew." Mari said through the pilot-to-pilot link. That was definitely an understatement.

But there was no time to waste, I wouldn't have the time to wait for Asuka or Rei. I had to end this quickly and save the pilot. They put me back together, they could put whoever was in that entry plug back together too. I would make them do it.

My father's face popped up on the communications display. "Rei, that is-"

"The Angel. I know. Unit One engaging now!" I yelled and snapped the rifle up. My finger slapped the trigger and I directed my fire for the opposing Evangelion's head. The rapid staccato of machine gun fire filled the entry plug and projectiles the size of cars peppered the monstrosity's face.

An AT field flashed into existence in front of the Eva and stopped all but the first few shots from impacting. I wasn't close enough to neutralize, fine. I tossed the rifle and switched to my knife.

The black Eva launched itself into the air and landed in front of me, too far away for the knife, but close enough that I could clear the distance. The arms stretched out almost impossibly fast and the hands wrapped around my neck.

That was not what I was planning for. I jammed my knife into the Eva's left forearm as my vision started to blur. Sympathetic feedback from the synchronization, I knew that but my brain didn't.

"First date: No hands!" I heard Mari scream a moment before the blur of her Unit Five crashed into Three. The pressure let up on my neck, and I lunged. Whoever was in there, I felt sorry for, but I wasn't going to die.

Not with what I had to live for.

I snapped my finger down to toggle the radio mic and jammed my knife into the chest plate of the temporarily restrained Evangelion. "Becket, might wanna run a little hot, we've engaged the enemy. It's an Evangelion."

"Roger, ETA two minutes. Passing telemetry to the DDGs. TLAMs when you need them."

"Standby!" I yelled as another hit from the Evangelion knocked me off my feet and into a hillside. I shook the dizziness from my head in time to see one, and then another and another of Unit Five's mechanical limbs hit the hillside next to me.

"Goodbye old friend. Makinami is ejecting, now!"

There was a flash of light on Five's back, and then it went slack in Three's grip. A moment later the entry plug, propelled by rockets, departed the combat zone, and I was alone.

Three lost interest in the deactivated unit at that point and cast it aside. It was intelligent then, not just a beast driven by instinct. It knew it was no longer a threat, and useless as an ally to infect.

I made it half way to my feet before Three crashed into my chest and knocked me back into the hillside. Its hands went to my neck, and a second set of arms burst through the shoulder pylons and pinned my wrists to the hillside.

Again the sympathetic feedback forced me to feel all of it, in increasing clarity as my desperation and synchronization rose. I felt my air being choked off, felt the tingling of the infection entering me, felt my arms about to snap. I was on my back, even if I pulled the ejection handle I had nowhere to go.

But I was not alone. I would never be alone again. I might die, but it would be among friends, family. And It would not be today, not if I could help it.

"Becket, target my position, fire everything," I forced out through grit teeth. I couldn't move, couldn't fight, but-

"Say again? You will be caught in the blast."

"Send it!" I yelled. My tongue felt… strange. The infection was spreading. I didn't have long. My vision was darkening around the edges. My screen was full of that corrupted, twisted face. A face that was meant to be a symbol of hope, turned into one of damnation.

As my head hit the seat rest, I felt a smirk reach my lips. The Angel had over-played his hand.

The first bomb hit the Angel and it shook, the next nine took off the extra arms, and weakened the grip from the ones it kept. I brought Unit One's knee up directly into Three's codpiece and forced it up and over my head, and in that moment I was free.

I wasted no time and forced myself back onto my feet. Now, I could end it. I felt the heat rising again, like before. It started in my left hand, up my arm, and spread through my body. I dropped into a crouch and launched towards Three.

I punched it in the head with a left hook, then jammed a kneed into its chest to fold it down. I forced Unit One's left arm around the neck from behind and found my target, the entry plug. It was half out, they must have tried to eject it but it failed.

I wouldn't.

I jammed my knife into the back of the Evangelion's neck and grabbed onto the plug and pulled until it tore free from the mounting.

Unit Three immediately went limp and fell to the ground. I held the entry plug in my hand. It was surrounded by some kind of weird hard blue substance. I felt my blood chill, my breath caught in my throat.

The Angel did not infect the Evangelion. The Angel infected the plug.

I tapped the control stick and opened up the link to command. I was shaking, the plug was tight in my hand. I didn't know what to do, except…

"Father… Who is the pilot of Unit Three?"