Relapse:∣▍
Chapter 43: "…Running Near on Empty …"
Floating to the surface, Asuka watched wide-eyed at the spectacle above her.
The Wunder, the ship that they had worked so hard towards, was making mincemeat out of the Nemesis Class that had surrounded them. She watched as it maneuvered through the air, defying logic as the massive craft spun and weaved like a nimble jet.
Now running wouldn't be their first option, now they could stand up to anything that came their way. A ship with enough firepower to blast through any EVA that NERV could muster.
She brought her right hand up to her chest, gripping the cross which gave her a sense of comfort. Her arm still tingled from the newly attached appendage for Unit-02, but it was nothing detrimental.
As she waited Unit-02 rocked back and forth with the rolling of the waves, she was thankful that the cold wouldn't reach her in here. Despite her hatred of LCL, it did have its advantages.
Soon enough, the massive shadow of Wunder came over her, and a crane arm reached down to pick up the Evangelion.
"You did it Unit-01."
ʡʘʘʘʢ
Judging by the absolute chaos that was the hallways of this ship, Shinji guessed the rest of the crew hadn't faired any better than him.
He had crawled along as whoever was at the helm threw the craft around in unbelievable maneuvers, spinning, inverting, you name it. He had found some success in slowly crawling along the walls, grasping at any exposed supports or wiring while the G-forces constantly changed, pulling him in different directions.
Then there was the debris.
More often than not, loose cargo, crates, tools, or just about anything could come flying down either direction. A particular wrench nearly took him out, but luckily, he would instead have a massive bruise on his arm for a while.
Nearing a four-way interception, it seemed the ship was in a vertical dive or climb and spinning. Fighting the centrical forces, Shinji steadied himself at what was not a ledge of a vertical shaft.
Catching his breath, he looked up at the sound of shouting only to see the falling body of a crewmember. He couldn't tell, but he figured it was the persons named being called out, and judging by the ragdoll nature of the person, he suspected they were unconscious. The boy sighed as he took a step back and timed his jump.
Launching forwards, he collided with them and pushed them into the adjacent hallway, but Shinji himself nearly came up short, grasping at the corner and pulling himself up by a bundle of cables.
Steadying himself again as the ship spun more, he crouched down next to the crewmember he had just saved. Pulling off the anti-flash hood, he raised an eyebrow at the sight before him.
"He's our age…" Soryu muttered as the phantom knelt down next to him.
The uniform was foreign to him, a red jumpsuit and white vest that, judging by the thickness, was either a flak jacket or a life preserver. Written on the jumpsuit the words 'Damage Control' were rather crudely stitched in.
And on the left arm, a blue handkerchief of some sort.
The teenager seemed to be around his age, blonde, and the kid definitely could use a shower, reeking of diesel fuel. A small gash on his forehead concerned him and Shinji looked around his immediate area for anywhere to drag the boy. Only a few feet away, he spotted a doorway that was on what would be his 'floor'.
Checking the room, it appeared to be some sort of small storage closet but was completely empty, it was perfect. He dragged the unconscious boy to the ledge and hopped in what was only a small hole. Dragging him further, he started to swap clothes, which was easier said than done, especially as the world once again began to spin.
He could hear laughter and once again Soryu was standing in the cramped room, completely unaffected by forces that had been sending him flying.
"Seriously, you have no idea how funny this is."
Luckily it was easier to steady himself inside a small space as opposed to the long hallways and this torture would end soon enough. After making sure the unconscious boy didn't get hurt as the ship inverted once more, Shinji said a silent thanks as his world orientated itself properly, and he opened the door to see the absolute mess left in the halls.
Shrugging, he zipped up the jumpsuit properly and clipped the vest over it. The outfit was probably a size too large but he would manage. Propping his unknowing benefactor into a sitting upright position, Shinji took the blue handkerchief and folded it, before tearing a piece of the medical ground that he had put the boy in.
Placing the handkerchief against his skin, he wrapped the torn fabric around his head, figuring he stymie the bleeding. Walking into the hallway he pulled the fireproof hood over his head and looked back at the kid one more time to make sure he was firmly in place.
His hand went to shut the door, but he hesitated and looked at the red color now spreading to the surface of his makeshift dressing. Sighing, he only closed it halfway and placed a bit of debris in the doorway so that someone would notice.
He looked down both ways of the hall, seeing no one at first. And then placed a box in the center of the passageway so that it would garner more attention.
Looking back up he had expected to see no one, but instead, the white plugsuit of Rei Ayanami pass in his vision.
This disguise would buy him some time, but he figured he should at least try to talk to the blue-haired figure. If she was sticking around this long, she probably wanted to talk.
"Oh, now we're on a wild goose chase, perfect!" Soryu shouted from behind him, as he took off down the hallway.
ʡʘʘʘʢ
"So this is the god slayers power," Ritsuko mumbled, "Wunder a fitting name for a ship of hope."
Misato just stood there, unable to say anything.
They had won.
And for the first time it felt as if it wasn't a close call, it felt like they had been the ones to outclass their opponent.
"All stations stand down to Condition two." She ordered, "prepare to recover Unit-02."
As their command sphere opened Misato hadn't really expected their prisoner to still be on the bridge, but she also hadn't expected all of his guards as well as his assigned medical personnel to be sprawled out over the bridge.
Rushing down, Ritsuko and her checked them over, eliciting more than one groan of pain. If the artificial gravity had failed here, was there anywhere on the ship that it had actually worked?
"Where is BM-03?!" she demanded, the voice carrying more than just command in it, it carried fear too.
The young medic grumbled something, but it wasn't useful. As she looked around all she saw were the other four guards assigned to the boy and finally, the gravity of the situation fell on her.
"Raise alert back to level one, search ever damn compartment, we have a prisoner loose in the ship!"
ʡʘʘʘʢ
Asuka looked up at the rotary cradle that held Unit-02. Dripping LCL, the girl didn't care that she would be making a mess, she wanted to see the whole process for the first time.
The rotary cradle could hold three EVAs each and they had two, one port and one starboard. It was ridiculous to have kept the whole contraptions in the first place. Maybe it was about redundancy, but even the thought of having six EVAs was absurd. They could barely keep the two they had operational.
She watched as Unit-02 was brought higher, and just frowned as the last bits of water ran off its armor. The mismatched and rusty armor panels were a testament to just how stretched their resources were, even though red was the predominant color on the EVA. With each year it seemed there was something else to be fixed, more maintenance time needed, or just another rare part to be replaced.
She was sure eventually they would have to scrap the thing and find a new one for her to pilot. That alone was a nightmare she really didn't want to think about.
Asuka began to walk to the showers while grumbling at the dull pain in her left leg which left her with a small limp. What she wouldn't do for her brace at the moment. Luckily, she could put it on after their debriefing and they'd be sitting for that too. The girl shivered at the light drizzle of water running off the behemoth, no heat at altitude was going to be a real drag.
Heading into the lockers, she didn't even bat an eye at the pink-clad girl who had beat her there and stepped under a showerhead while reaching for the handles.
"Oh, hello princess, have a nice swim?" she asked with a smile, her glasses were completely fogged up from the steam.
Asuka said nothing as she turned the water on, scrubbing the hardening clumps of LCL out of her hair and off her plugsuit. There was no reason for them to undress, they could do that in their cabins. It was standard procedure to wear plugsuit constantly while underway After all, there was no knowing when they would face an attack after all.
She held her pendent under the stream of water and just watched as the LCL was washed off it while the red stain remained. It had taken every abuse she had thrown at it, but there was nothing that would rid the cross of that mark.
Finishing, she lamented the rapidly evaporating heat and went to her locker to grab a towel and more clothing. She just looked over the patches applied to her suit, each eliciting a memory of the battles that had cased them. Unit-02 wasn't the only thing that had been neglected, though it wasn't like these were easy to replace.
"They have hot water but no heat?" she grumbled.
"Hey, it's a miracle at all that this thing is flying, it was barely ready. Be honest did you really think that would work?"
"Like the colonel always says, mission first, safety last."
"It's not the first time Katsuragi's had a crazy plan." She mumbled.
Mari just sighed "Well at least now we won't have to fight so hard, we have a whole ship that can take on the Nemesis series!"
Asuka was about to counter but ahead popped into their locker area, drawing confused looks from both the girls.
"Has anyone else been in here?" they asked through labored breathing.
"No," Asuka replied flatly and just glared.
They only received a slight nod before the person disappeared, the sound of a door closing ringing through the locker room signaled their departure.
"Any idea?" Mari asked, eliciting a shrug from the redhead as she donned her jacket and cap.
"Let's go to the debriefing, no need to keep the colonel waiting." The Second Child commented as she walked to the exit.
"You know she's a captain, right?" Mari shouted, scrambling after her.
She didn't get a response as Asuka had already begun her brisk-paced walk, despite her leg, the girl could move it when she wanted to. As the older pilot caught up, she couldn't help but feel there was something… wrong.
There was a typical instinct for crewmembers to move out of the way of the redhead, generally, her cold stare and demeanor were enough to move aside. Now though? It wasn't that they weren't doing just that, it just seemed they were… distracted.
More than once someone had accidentally bumped into the girl and earning a quick growl, shove, and 'watch where you're going. They were all scrambling too, not just the damage control specialists, but auxiliary crewmen too. The alert level was also elevated, but they were out of combat, so why did she see crewmembers with PPE on?
What exactly was happening?
Before long both pilots had reached the situation room, the room was awash in the typical light blue hue from the holographic globe in the center of the desk, which also resided in the middle of the room. A dozen people ran about, coordinating something that Asuka couldn't quite grasp yet.
"What about the MAGI!" the irritated voice of a certain commanding officer roared.
"Please don't rile her up more," Mari whispered to her companion, who refused to give her a response.
"Nothing," Ritsuko called out, causing Misato to slam her hands down on the table.
"That's not good enough! You checked the MAGI, so why the hell is it acting like 10 years ago?!"
"Like what 10 years ago?" Asuka spoke up, causing the room to go silent at the realization the two pilots were there.
"We're here for a debriefing, per your orders," Mari said with a smile.
Asuka instead just looked Misato dead in the eye, "What's going on?" she asked, this time in a firmer voice.
"We've had an escapee." The captain replied.
"Since when have we captured any NERV personnel?" Asuka asked, crossing her arms.
"It's…" Ritsuko spoke up but was cut off by Misato raising her hand to stop her.
"Your debriefing can wait, go back to your cabins to get some rest."
Asuka's eye narrowed "Mind telling me just who escaped first?"
Behind her glasses, Misato also narrowed her eyes "That's none of your concern, it's being handled. Return to your quarters, Pilot Shikinami."
"That's an order." Katsuragi's stated, her tone changing to that of cold command.
For a few more moments the two of them just stared each other down. No one said a word, not even her fellow pilot, who had learned long ago not to get in between the two during their… scuffles.
Finally, Asuka turned and stormed out the door, quite swift despite that slight limp.
Mari quickly followed suit, not wanting to draw any ire from the captain.
ʡʘʘʘʢ
WILLE.
That was the name of this place or at least whatever organization this was. If this was some NERV-esc group, then he wouldn't be surprised that the Second Impact was much worse for this world. He had lived lives where the earth's population was below a billion, so that might explain the younger members he was seeing here.
It hadn't taken much time for people to again roam the halls, initially, it had been to clean the never-ending mayhem that had been spread over the ship, but the callout of an escaped prisoner had sent them all into a frenzy. Luckily, no one was looking for someone dressed just like them.
Soon he was maneuvering through a steady stream of people, following and trying to catch up to the blue hair he could see further down the passage.
How was he going to get out of this? He had no idea, he'd improvise sure, and this thing had to land sometime. What worried him was he would eventually have to take this hood off; the alert levels couldn't be elevated forever.
As the people began to thin, he quickened his pace, soon he was only a few feet away…
"HEY!"
He stopped and turned slowly to the voice that had called out to him.
A middle-aged man strode up to him, clad in a red jumpsuit the same as him.
"What are you doing over here?" he demanded, his voice was deep yet not as rough as Shinji had expected.
"Um…"
"Let me guess. Rookie." He said, leaning in. He wasn't wearing a hood, so Shinji had a clear view of the crow's feet around his eyes.
"Yes sir!" he bluffed, standing straight.
"Figured, c'mon, the wings are this way," he said, turning as Shinji figured he could follow him.
"Good to see you have your anti-flash gear on, at least you got retained something from training." The man commented as he quickened his pace.
"No bandana huh?" he asked, turning and looking at the boy's arm.
"I… had to use it to treat a wound."
The man just nodded approvingly, before turning back around. Shinji turned to look back for Rei, but the girl was gone. This was just getting better and better.
They must have strayed back into a congested area, as swarms of crewmembers lined the halls and Shinji was forced to press against on wall to allow people past.
"Hey, Hisoka! Over here!"
The man stopped, turned down a hallway which Shinji also peered down, a small group of people were standing back from something sparking from the wall.
Turning to him, the man, Hisoka, leaned in.
"Alright, keep going straight and you're going to go past some officer's cabins, but keep walking, you'll get to a bulkhead and someone will fill you in there."
Shinji did as he was told, making little progress as he went. He would keep going straight until he thought he was a decent distance away.
Turning away from his route he stopped, standing there at an intersection, two guards with rifles were checking crewmen as they passed by.
That definitely wasn't where he was headed.
Promptly continuing on his original path, he constantly had to shift passageways as they were increasingly becoming blocked by these checkpoints. Perhaps Misato had figured their escapee would try to blend in. Perhaps he could squat in some derelict part of the ship? Food would be an issue, but…
"Hey, you!"
Shinji's heart quickened, but he ignored the call and just increased his pace.
"You in the hood, stop!"
He was almost running now, maybe he could give them the slip, he just needed to find the right time.
"I said stop!"
He turned back to see just how close they were, now they were running and rapidly approaching. What Shinji couldn't see was himself walking into an intersection, and right into someone.
"Ah!"
Colliding at a decent stride, whoever it was he hit and him both fell to the ground. The bruise on his arm burned from the impact and he barely cushioned his fall, which earned a quiet hiss of pain. However, the person he had run into had sounded so…
"What the hell!"
Familiar.
Oh no.
A flash of red caught his eye and he instantly looked away, before pushing himself to his feet, refusing to make eye contact.
"Sorry." He said and turned to run, but he was too late, as someone slammed into his back sending him to the ground. His hood was ripped off and he could feel a pair of cuffs clamp down on his wrists as he struggled against the men.
"This is Unit 21, we have Shinji Ikari in custody."
ʡʘʘʘʢ
"Sorry."
She knew that voice.
She knew that voice all too well.
Asuka whipped around to see the person who had run into her, forgetting now about the searing pain in her leg. She knew that voice.
And the girl never thought she would hear it again outside her nightmares.
All her eyes landed on was the back of a damage control jumpsuit, belonging to someone who was now rushing to get away from her. The two guards that slammed into his back would keep that from happening and tore off a hood that they threw to the side.
"This is Unit 21, we have Shinji Ikari in custody."
Shinji.
Ikari.
She pushed herself up with a speed that she didn't know she still had. Around her, the crew just stood back, probably scared of getting involved with the guards or the girl herself, but the sounds of boots against metal signaled there were more guards coming.
"Turn him around," she commanded, but she got no response.
"Turn him around!" she barked again, but with the arrival of more men with rifles, they quickly pushed past her and blocked those behind them.
"LET ME SEE HIM!" she roared, shoving herself against one of the men, but to little effect.
"We're under orders not to let any pilot have contact with the prisoner." He said simply, as he pushed her away gently.
"Who's dammed orders?" she growled. Asuka already knew the answer, she just wanted to hear them say it.
"Captain Katsuragi has instructed that you are to have no interaction with the prisoner." He said simply.
Katsuragi. Damn that woman.
Asuka said nothing for a moment, just letting her head dip as the feelings she had tried so hard to forget bubbled up once again, causing her to clench her fists. That woman. That boy…
The Second Child pulled back her arm and punched the man, knocking him to the ground as she pushed past him and into the next layer of guards, kicking, clawing, and punching her way forwards, but it was all in vain. They were larger than her, and the fact there were a half dozen there didn't exactly help either.
Soon she was pushed back, as they helped their own comrade back up to his feet.
The redhead just stood there, fists clenched as she tried to look over and around them as they pulled the boy on the floor to his feet.
She needed to see him, she needed to see with her own two eyes that it was really him, that he was really here.
For a fleeting moment, she saw the dark hair she remembered, and, even though he wasn't looking at her, she laid eyes on the dark blue orbs she knew all too well.
Swiftly he was carried off, while the rest of the guards followed, a voice came over the intercom system signaling that the alert level was dropping back to normal and behind her, the crowd that had formed was beginning to disperse.
But she just stood there, not believing what she saw.
"Shinji."
Shoutouts!
UltraSpink of Da USA- Shinji's like, 'Fuck this shit I'm out.'
NoseGum- Oh yes.
kempn200252- Very true, Shinji who doesn't care about anything is
anirudhverma09- Just kinda tired, but he is Shinji Ikari at heart too.
EvaPilotFair- "It" oh yeah.
Berix – Thanks!
Akomis – Reunion in… 1…2…
tomdj1701 – Kyle Hybert?
Iraki01 – Thanks!
SheriffJohnStone – Thanks! We're all excited haha.
calborghete – Thanks!
Guest – Yep!
fonte20nit – "Don't get in the robot Shinji!"
Rookie231 – Haha!
skyf0x – Thanks for that, we'll get answers to all those questions haha.
Lupeskillz – Thanks!
dyinglittelstar – Haha, nice catching that.
JDH1080 – Thank you!
JIM D. ZAS – Thanks!
YodaMorpheus7 - …no comment.
GeHirNunDherZ- Thanks!
MooseTracks101- Thanks!
engel17white- Thanks for all the reviews! Hope you're enjoying it!
Alright, who wants them to meet face to face?
Until Next Time.