X-X-X

Chapter 33

Ruins

X-X-X

"How soon do we get telemetry back?"

"Unclear," Ritsuko replied. "Hard to ascertain the ionization characteristics of the fireballs this early."

"Visual, then?"

"I'll do what I can to get some drones closer. There's still a lot of atmospheric turbulence."

The three camera feeds on the big screen moved, climbing higher before gently approaching their focus. Despite gyroscopes and stabilized gimbals, the pictures shook slightly as the drones were buffeted by gusts of wind and fluctuating temperatures.

Unit 00's posting, at NERV's airfield, was the most clearly visible. Dust and heat had mostly been blown off the plateau, leaving little haze or residual glow.

The crater had destroyed two runways and cut the middle out of a third. One hangar had been completely leveled by the blastwave, another damaged and partially collapsed; the further two seemed intact, although there was no telling for the aircraft inside them yet.

Unit 00 herself appeared to have been driven down into the earth up to her knees - one of which was bloody and showed protruding bone. She hung forward in an awkward slouch from her pinned legs. Most of her upper body armor was gone, most of her exposed skin stripped or severely burned. At least one of her arms had been obliterated below the elbow, and there was nothing but orbital bone where her eye had been.

"Bedrock might be damaged," Ritsuko murmured, jotting a note on her tablet. "We'll have to be careful rebuilding those runways."

In New Yokosuka, steam clouded thick over the impact point. Unit 02 was only visible on thermal because she was a hot silhouette in a crater half-full of cold seawater, apparently lying flat on her back. Half of the sea wall was destroyed, most of the jetties, even some of the dry docks; one cargo ship sat relatively undisturbed in the waters at the camera display's edge, but nearer ships - and all smaller boats - were capsized. The terrestrial structures near the docks were mostly flattened.

Downtown was impossible to survey. A single enormous crater lay under a thick cloud of dust and smoke. Thermal showed a blinding, searing heat all over the obliterated city blocks - but for a slightly colder streak crossing the bottom of the crater.

"Thank all gods we didn't try to evac civilians to the urban core shelters," Misato muttered, frowning at the central display. "Hyūga, how're the crown plates?"

"The damage to the geofront superstructure fried some of the sensors," Hyūga replied hesitantly, "but I'll try to work around. Hang on…"

"Still no lock on the evas themselves?"

"Everything in that crater is as hot as a nuclear reactor right now." Ritsuko's voice was tired. "And speaking of reactors, at least one of those evas is leaking radiation."

Misato felt her throat try to close up yet again.

"Coolant leak, or core breach?"

"Can't tell yet."

"Aha," Hyūga announced. "According to the geofront cameras, there's a crack through the crown. Looks pretty small so far, maybe half a meter or so at the widest points?"

"Thank you, lieutenant."

"Telemetry's coming back," Ritsuko announced. "Only a little so far, but that means the ion cloud is dissipating."

On the three battlefield displays, four pop-ups appeared.

Unit 00 is SEVERELY DAMAGED. Reactivation not recommended.

Unit 01 - no connection

Unit 02 is SEVERELY DAMAGED. Reactivation not recommended.

Unit 05-X is HEAVILY DAMAGED. Reactivate only for integrity checks.

"No connection to Ishtar?" Misato gave Ritsuko a sharp look.

"If she was damaged badly enough, her comm arrays could have been destroyed," Ritsuko replied, her voice tightly clipped. "Or her onboard computer system could have failed."

"… Those computer systems are built in and around the entry plug socket."

"Yes. Yes they are."

"Dust clouds are starting to dissipate," Hyūga announced. "Should have a visual momentarily, depending on wind speeds."

When the visual did return, it was ugly.

Unit 05X had been positioned off the epicenter of the impact. Her upper armor was obliterated, her bionic forearms bent and twisted, her shoulders clearly dislocated. Her leg assembly didn't look much better; the superstructures of the forelegs were bent as well, and every leg was strung with broken, protruding hydraulic rods.

She still looked better than Unit 01, which had been positioned at the epicenter.

There wasn't much flesh left on Ishtar, sprawled out on her back in the bottom of the crater. Her skull, collarbone and the stumps of her arms - one detached completely just below the shoulder, one hanging onto its rotator cuff by a thread of connective tissue - gleamed the pale white of burnt bone, and all of her ribs were completely exposed.

The socket assembly in her upper chest could be clearly seen; scorched, likely damaged, but at least not visibly breached. The reactor core, protruding from under the ribs, was not so lucky. The coolant system was torn apart, leaking glowing steam, and the core shielding beneath had been punctured by a broken rib.

"Well, her comm array is certainly destroyed," Ritsuko murmured, chewing the end of her cigarette. "No way to know the pilot's status before rescue crews get there."

"Well then dispatch a rescue crew!"

"Order's out," Hyūga replied. "Radiation safety slows up that process, though. We already have crews outbound to New Yokosuka and the airfield."

Misato took a deep breath, closing her eyes and clenching her fists for the count of five seconds. Then she exhaled, just as slowly, opening her eyes again - and fixing Ritsuko with a pleading look.

Ritsuko wordlessly handed her a cigarette.

X-X-X

This body is 10.69 years old and its heart has beat 448,873,380 times.

Rei's eyes shot open. The pristine white of the hospital ceiling tiles greeted her.

I lived.

The thought took a moment to sink in. She had gone into the mission convinced that death was the more likely outcome, yet she had lived.

Who else made it?

She cast out her AT field, reaching clumsily for other signatures. Dangerous to do in such a densely surveiled area, but a ping required a lot less energy than a probe, so -

Asuka is there. Asuka is alive. Rei felt like she could breathe again. If we two survived, perhaps the others have as well. I… I want to hope.

On her other side, Hiraki's tired, pained presence was unmistakable. Beyond lay Pilot Illustrious, who was unconscious, same as Asuka.

She didn't feel Shinji's presence, and the tense grief was almost as harsh as when she'd thought Asuka lost. He never asked for this. If anyone were to die, it should have been-

Pushing herself upright, she shook her head. No. Do not indulge that habit.

Rei took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Just as she was pulling her AT probe back, she felt a barely-perceptible trace further down.

It was Shinji. He was certainly present, probably alive. But Rei had never before felt such a weak AT field. Under normal circumstances, such a deficiency would cause a rapid and painful death from organ failures and tissue atrophy.

They must have him on special life support equipment.

This body is 10.69 years old and its heart has beat 448,873,471 times.

She moved to get up the bed. Fortunately, she stopped before she put her full weight on her legs; unfortunately, this was because the explosion of pain buckled her arms and caused her to fall back, stunned.

For a moment all she could do was stare at the ceiling, gasping, focusing her AT field inward. My arms are not snapped, my legs are not shattered, my back is not broken. The residual feedback is deception…

But AT resonance had limits, even more so when self-administered. And Rei hurt. For a few blessed moments there had been no pain, but the moment she had seriously shifted her body, the feedback shock had returned with a vengeance.

This body is 10.69 years old and its heart has beat 448,873,667 times -

Darkness overtook her.

X-X-X

When Rei next came to, Dr. Akagi was seated beside the bed, checking her pulse.

"You are extremely lucky I was in the radiolab when you pulled your little AT trick, whatever it was," the doctor immediately admonished. "Else I wouldn't have been able to head off another red alert. I doubt that would have ended well for you."

Rei closed her eyes again. "I was confirming that the other members of the corps were alive."

"And you couldn't get up to check?"

"No, I could not."

"… I see." Ritsuko's voice softened. "Well, they're alive. That's about all I can say right now. None of the others are conscious yet."

Rei opened her eyes again, focusing in on the ceiling tile immediately above her, trying to concentrate on the irregular pattern of its texture.

This body is 10.69 years old and its heart has beat 448,874,490 times.

I was only out for maybe ten minutes. It felt longer…

"I know we say this a lot in D wing, but it's hard to predict how the feedback shock from such severe injuries will affect you. I expect you're in a lot of pain right now, yes?"

"Yes," Rei replied immediately.

"If the pain ebbs today or tomorrow, you'll need to stay careful about moving. It could come back and put you back down at a moment's notice. Don't go too far from a bed or chair - at least, not without a capable adult who can help you out."

"Is Major Katsuragi a capable adult?"

"… When she tries to be, yes."

"Are you a capable adult?"

"Yes, but… I'm busy, I can't follow you around for the next forty-eight hours."

Rei tilted her head slightly, ignoring the jolt of pain the motion caused. "You're not a very good parent."

Ritsuko winced. "I know I'm not."

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