Zeruel's eyes began to glow.

"Yaaaaaaahhhh!" Shinji screamed, a wild cry of rage and terror.

Unit 01 brought its rifle up to its shoulder and blazed away. The metal slugs slammed into the Angel's AT Field without effect. Zeruel merely hovered there in place as its eyes glowed brighter and its energy beam charged.

"The enemy's about to fire!" Shigeru warned.

"Shinji move!" Misato yelled.

Inside his EVA he either ignored her or did not hear her. Shinji continued to shoot.

When the high pitched whine reached a climax two beams of energy fired out of the Angel's eyes. They struck Unit 01's AT Field with a massive explosion.

The field held, but the rifle was sent flying from the EVAs grip as Unit 01 was knocked back more than a hundred feet. It landed sprayed out on the ground. Inside the entry plug Shinji gasped, it had felt like being hit in the chest with a baseball bat.

"Shinji!" Inside Central Dogma Misato turned to her staff. "Is he hurt? What's the status of Unit 01?"

"The pilot's readings are fine," Maya called out. "Except for elevated heart rate and metabolism Shinji is fine. Sync rate is at 55%."

""There is no damage to the EVA, the AT Field power levels have dropped to 87%." Mikoto said.

On the vast overhead screen they could see the Angel's eyes beginning to glow again.

"Shinji! You have to get up! Get moving before it opens fire again! We'll send up another rifle." Misato ordered. With Unit 02 destroyed and Unit 00 incapacitated all that stood between them and the end of the world was Unit 01.

Over the communications link they heard Shinji's reply.

"Make it stop," the fourteen year old boy whimpered. "Please make it stop."

They all heard him crying.

No not now! Misato had always been worried about relying on children to pilot as opposed to actual soldiers. It was the reason why she had tried testing military pilots to see if any of them could sync with the Evangelions. One of her fears had always been that one of them might break at a moment like this.

"Shinji! Shinji please you need to move!"

Zeruel fired.

Unit 01's AT Field remained active and caught the blast. The EVA was sent flying and then bouncing and skidding across the ground.

They heard Shinji cry out in pain.

When the EVA finally stopped moving it curled up into a fetal position there on the ground. Humanity's last hope was cowering and shaking.

"Stop, stop, please stop! I can't do this I'm scared! Please make it stop!"

Misato gritted her teeth. There was no time for sympathy or gentle words. "Shinji you have to get a hold of yourself! You need to stand up and fight! There is no one else! Please Shinji! You need to be strong!"

"I can't," Shinji mewled through his tears. "I just can't."

"Shinji if you don't the Angel will initiate Third Impact! Do you understand? Everyone will die if you don't pull yourself together and fight!"

"I can't, I can't, I can't…"

On the screen Zeruel appeared to be looking over the trembling Unit 01. It apparently decided the EVA was no longer a threat. The Angel turned about to face the pyramid that was the top of NERV headquarters.

Its eyes began to glow.

A moment later two beams of energy flashed out. In a single massive explosion the pyramid was completely obliterated.

In Central Dogma Misato was knocked to the floor as everything shook violently. Sirens began to shriek and the lights and instruments were momentarily knocked out before the emergency backups kicked in.

"Upper structures destroyed! Internal shaft in exposed!" Shigeru warned.

"Internal defenses activated, last line defenses activated!" Mikoto called.

"Units 00 and 01 on line but unresponsive!" Maya reported.

"Damn it." Misato struggled back to her feet. Up above her she could see the Angel slowly approach the open shaft that would lead it straight to Terminal Dogma. It didn't seem to be in a particular hurry and was ignoring the still intact EVAs as well as the tracers and small arms fire from the internal defenses.

She glared hatefully at the monster.

Oh? Do you think it's already over and we'll just tamely go to our fate? Fuck you. We'll fight to the very last.

"Activate the Dummy Plug Systems on Units 00 and 01!"

"But…"

"NOW!" Misato shrieked.

"Yes," Lieutenant Shigeru tamely obeyed.

Misato had never trusted the Dummy Plug and had thought of it as an emergency backup. Well, if this wasn't an emergency…

Red lights flashed across some screens.

"Unit 01 is refusing the Dummy Plug." Maya announced.

"The Dummy Plug is now active on Unit 00," Mikoto stated. "The pilot remains unconscious."

On the overhead Unit 00 rose to its feet. Zeruel stopped its approach towards the shaft and turned its full attention back to the EVA.

"Keep trying to reactivate the Dummy Plug in Unit 01. Order Unit 00 to charge in and attack the Angel with its prog knife." Misato ordered. "Send out an emergency recovery team to pick up Kaworu and bring him inside."

"Do you want to eject Rei as well?" Maya asked.

Misato hesitated for just a second. The Dummy Plug system was supposed to be able to generate an AT Field without a pilot on board. Somehow though they had never actually tested it on any of the EVAs.

"No," Misato answered. She cared about Rei, but with everything on the line she was not willing to take the chance of seeing Unit 00's AT Field fail.

As Unit 00 pulled out its box cutter the Angel's eyes once more began to glow. Unit 00 rushed forward. The twin beams fired. The EVA ducked and staggered forward as they missed. Unit 00 slammed it's AT Field against the enemy's. Despite having the stronger field the floating Zeruel was pushed back, away from the remnants of the top of NERV headquarters. With both hands gripping its prog knife Unit 00 slashed and stabbed in a wild frenzy. Misato and the others could see the effort working; individual layers of the Angel's AT Field were being destroyed, but unlike other enemies Zuruel had multiple layers.

Misato could tell that alone Unit 00 had no real chance of defeating the enemy.

"Maya what is the status of Unit 01?"

"It is still refusing to accept the Dummy Plug."

"Rescue team has recovered Pilot Kaworu and is taking him to receive medical treatment." Mikoto said.

"Reopen the com link to the Unit one pilot." Misato ordered.

As soon as it was done they all heard Shinji's tears.

Misato's heart felt for him. She knew what it was like to be a child and to be forced to deal with horrors. She knew he had never asked for any of this and was as much a victim of this war as anyone. He was no soldier, he was just a kid.

But she had no time to be gentle with him.

"Shinji! Unit 00 is fighting the Angel! Rei's life is in danger!"

"What?" He sounded dazed and uncertain.

"Are you going to just sit there and cry while Rei fights? Are you?" She demanded. "If Rei dies it will be because of you Shinji! Are you really going to sit there and do nothing? Are you?"

Inside his entry plug Shinji slowly uncurled and stared at his monitors. He saw Unit 00 battling Zeruel.

As Unit 00 drew back for another slash it was struck by the Angel's lazers. There was a huge explosion and Unit 00 was thrown back. Showing more aggressiveness than it had up to now Zeruel followed hot on its heels.

As Unit 00 tried to recover and climb back to its feet flat razor 'arms' slices off its right arm and cut deep into its side, sending out two massive gushes of blood into the air.

"Aaaaaaahhh!" Rei suddenly screamed in pain, coming awake inside her plug.

"Rei!" Shinji shouted. Unit 01 jumped up to it's feet.

"Unit 01's sync rate has spiked to 98%!"

Misato nodded grimly. She wasn't proud of it, but she had just played Shinji as smoothly as Commander Ikari ever had.

Zeruel's eyes glowed.

It's blast sent the damaged and weakened Unit 00 flying. This time when it crashed there was no further movement.

"Pilot is unconscious again. Dummy Plug system has failed. AT Field is at zero." Mikoto reported.

Zeruel moved to hover above the motionless EVA.

Zeruel's eyes glowed.

There was primal roar. Unit 01 raced across the space between them and charged straight into the Angel. Zeruel turned to face the new threat only to see it reach out and tear apart the remaining layers of its AT Field. As Zeruel was being slammed into the ground its eyes fired, but it was a clean miss. Unit 01 threw its head back and howled in raw fury. Its fists smashed down shattering Zeruel's skull.

With that the Angel ceased to move, but Unit 01 kept raining down blows, flattening Zeruel's head into a pile of black goo. The EVA then began ripping the Angel apart.

"Shinji calm down!" Misato yelled. It's over! Stop!"

"The pilot's unconscious," Mikoto said in a shaky voice.

Misato turned to him sharply. "What? Is the Dummy Plug…"

"The Dummy Plug is still offline." Mikoto told her.

Misato and the others watched in fear. None of the EVAs had ever behaved this way. It was acting with a will of its own, converting the emotions of its pilot into murderous action.

"I think it's gone berserk." Misato whispered.

As they looked on the EVA began to eat what it had killed.